Ended up doing a dealership trade in for $8000 at 132,000 miles. Left all the modifications on the vehicle because I didn't have extra time. Picked up a 2005 Pontiac GTO 6.0 with 45000 miles. Color is a medium blue/grey. Has the LS2 corvette engine 400HP. Exhaust and intake are modified. Not sure on exhaust yet, but intake is K&N with engine bay separation. Manual 6 speed transmission. Was really hard to let the c32 go, but it was time. Must have annoyed the sales lady a lot with my hesitation and doubts. Really went through so much with the AMG, and I'll write that off as a learning experience. Took a decent hit in investment towards modifications and especially maintenance. Extended 3 year full covered on this GTO...

It's been great being part of this forum, and learning plus helping along side all of you. Will probably stick around and still post maybe not as much though. Time to find a good Pontiac GTO forum to ask many more questions. For the most part not planning on modifiying to extensively right now, but down the road I'm sure stuff will be done just as with the C32. Leaning more towards cosmetic first instead of performance. The opposite for what I did before.

 

Here's some photographs of the GTO, and last time seeing the C32.

 

So how does the pontiac drive compared to your C32?

 

Sad to see you go, losing another helpful member. Good luck with the goat, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun. Hopefully you don't get beat by a c32.

 

Haven't had much time to drive it yet. Got on it a few times and WOW it is extremely loud. Definitely fast, but slightly slower than the C32. Know I've raced a few similarly modified 6.0 GTO's and took them out by some. Couldn't say on handling yet. Feels nice to be in a high HP car with full manual transmission though. The potential is there for some serious power too!
Knowing my luck it'll be my old C32 ahaha... Honestly though think they're going to auction it off, and not sale on the lot.

 

Sorry to see you sold it but congratulations on the new car. I would do the same thing if I had the same issues with mine. Good luck not supercharging it!

 

This is another sad moment but, I suppose it is inevitable as we are now looking at the C32 being over a decade old.

Best wishes with the GTO. Don't be a stranger.

 

Congrats on the GTO.

Came close to buying one of those many times. Great daily driver. My friend let me take his 05 GTO down the track. Babying it and leaving at idle I ran 14.0 lol.

I asked if i could go one more time, so launched at about 1000, and ran 13.5@106. Had alot more in it, but I got kicked out. He was running 14.1's all day in it.

With some bolt on's and driven well it can go 12's without a problem. My other friend had one as well. He was running 12.80's@110. Tune, Exhaust, and intake.

What did you end up picking it up for b4 Taxes and trade?

 

Really helpful member, glad you found another unique car. Australian built, correct?

 

Something planned down the road STS or charger once the warranty is out, and it's payed off. Thinking around 800HP would be enough.
Won't be. Still plan to post, and try to help out people.
$16900 list price.
Yes.

 

Congrats on the GTO! My neighbor has one and it is indeed loud as hell

I know you probably just didn't have the time or just didn't want the hassle, but you could have made a decent amount of cash and lessen your "investment hit" by parting out your mods before doing the trade.

 

Congrats on the GTO!

You'll miss the C32 - even with its problems, it's a great car!

 

To my untrained eye it is almost identical to the holden monaro gto save the grill and some minor tweaks of the lights and trim.

 

Definately an upgrade, the interior is nicer and the transmission is for sure! Nice getting one with the LS2 instead of the LS1. You'll be amazed how much cheaper it is to modify. Heads, cam, headers, and a tune will blow the doors off any C32. There are many times I wish I had bought a CTS-V.

 

sad to see you go but congrats on the new ride!!!

 

GTOh no

 

It's a beautiful car, but I know if I traded my C32 for one, I'd miss the rear doors. I'm just one of those who find them really convenient on my daily driver.

I can see myself in a 2 door coupe as a second car though, if I could afford one.

 

Sorry to see you go, but congrats on the Holden, err... GTO lol. Say goodbye to "Mercedes Tax" for upgrades! Hope you keep us updated on your mods, STS FTW!!!! Soooo easy to make more go with the LS2 Somebody is going to get one HELL of a deal with your 32 though!!!!

 

I know and it really sucks. Could have made an extra grand or even more selling the 185MM, K&N's, and carbon fiber. Lot of the modifications I couldn't revert back to stock because of the OEM parts being trashed. Basically it came down to the opportunity to buy THIS gto, and not wait chancing another expensive failure on the C32.
I do miss the C32 a lot. Hard to let go of something you've investing so much hard work and money into. Especially if you're not getting a great pay out for it...
Kind of preferred the C32 interior for some reason. Probably just all the buttons to play with, and I do miss BOSE sound. What kind of head work can be done, and I do plan for headers probably as first engine modification. Cams not to sure because of the decrease in MPG. Gas is getting expensive once again.
Thanks! I'm still here though don't worry, LOL.
LOL...
I've already hit my head several times getting into the driver seat. Haven't had a need to sit in the back yet, but I watched the sales lady getting in and out for test drive. Didn't look fun... At least there's some room back there though.
Mercedes Tax for sure. Couldn't believe the price of some modifications such as headers, or just OEM parts in general. So expensive! Will keep updated. Probably change my signature following same format but for the GTO. As for the C32 someone is REALLY going to luck out. Not just with the modifications, but almost all high mileage failures being taken care of. I'm sure the car will continue to have problems as it always has, but I don't think the next owner will have to deal with as much as I did...

Took the GTO to work first time today. It's about 30 minute highway drive. Was running late as always and did the usual 95MPH for most part. Seems like the gto actually averages about the same MPG as c32. Getting around 20-22 highway, and 16-18 city. Starting to get used to the manual as well. It's been several years since I last drove a manual transmission. Dropped the clutch down at about 2500RPM first gear launch. Lit up the tires like nothing. Makes for a hell of a take off. Can't wait for a chance to drag time it at the 1/4th mile strip. Thinking it's going to be faster than the C32 with good launch, and 6500RPM shifts.

 

Not bad at all. Congrats.

 

So what made you go for the GTO vs getting something else like another AMG?

 

Congrats! I drove an LS1 t-56 powered 2002 Camaro SS that I drove off the lot new for 7 years before trading and shouldnt have It was a heads/cam/headers/gears car and it was so much fun. got rid of it for my ex-gf, may she rot.
you'll learn quickly over at a gto forum or lsx or ls1.com but you will want to do a cam without a doubt. the LSx motors are so EASY to modify and parts are cheap. You can pick up a cam for $300. anyway - there are probably a hundred off-the-shelf cams, many with excellent street manners and virtually no worse gas mileage if any worse at all. with a mild cam that you desire, you'll still pick up 30hp for $300. not bad, huh? also with a mild cam, im thinking something like a 224/224 @ 114 LSA, you wont even need stiffer valvesprings. just drop the pulleys, pop the timing cover, drop the front pan bolts, slide in these handy rods that keep the lifters held up in their sleeves so u dont have to pull the heads even, and slide cam out and new one in. quick and easy half-day job even for an LSx newbie.
heads get expensive quickly, but when youre ready they do have reasonable cost ones that'll give you another 30-50hp on top of a new cam, but esp when combined with a larger cam.
headers are a no-brainer, get a quality set of long-tubes. easy 20hp. easy. if you're in a state w/o emissions crap like me, then get an off-road y or h-pipe and delete the cats. so many tuners available with software to tune the LSX ecu's thats been around for over 10 years. so, easy to get her tuned cheaply and w/ considerable gains from that alone. prolly another 20hp easy.



prolly could find most of this stuff in their forum classifieds even too if you really wanted to stick to a budget.

 

arhhh bummer... C32 gone. Enjoy the GTO (aka Monaro here) there are plenty of mods for that car and a specific tuner just around the corner from me (Walkinshaw). They do sound absolutely ballistic under WOT. You can get these GTO's going right up into the stratosphere as you know ( )
( )

 

Walkinshaw make some crazy stuff. There is a 750hp supercharged one at my local holden dealer. Brand new with warranty etc.

 

Thanks. With the current exhaust and intake modifications think my GTO is around 430-450HP to the crank. No wonder it seems faster than the C32. Not sure if it's tuned either. Today I ran into a E63 AMG with at least exhaust modifications. Did a quick 60-90MPH run. It started to pull slightly higher RPM, but not by much less than half car length. Would have really liked a longer run but traffic prevented that...
I assume you're not aware of what I went through with the previous AMG. Talk about hell of a lemon. Reliability, and cost of parts/labor. That is why... Still very much enjoyed the C32.
Thanks for the information man. Makes me really feel I made the right choice on getting a LS2 GTO.
Love the sound! Can't wait to modify the engine...