Pontiac G5 GT- talk me out of it...

Oppurtunity to pruchase a brand new G5 GT for way cheap. Car is a 5speed of course,. GT comes with 4 wheel disc, nicer trim, 17" wheels, somewhat better suspension. (stiffer spings and shocks I guess) Pontiac has a $6500 rebate on all its cars for a short time. With other discounts, trade, etc we're down to the 10k range... While he car has little to no pefomance potential, it looks decent and should provide many, many years of cheap DD. Of course I don't NEED a new car, but with a deal like this.... I could add on some Cobalt SS suspension goodies. How do you kill the stabilty management and Traction control on these? Unplug the Yaw sensor?

Other than resale, i don't see why not. Other than the trim the car is a Cobalt, possibly has the old non-turbo/supercharged Cobalt SS spec suspension bits on it already.

What's a Pontiac?

What would a pontiac matrix run with all the rebates and such? The top of the line one has a revvy little toyota four cylinder and a six speed, or at least the last generation did.

Pass.
I just went over to www.pontiac.com and I see that the GT starts at $21K and after $6.5K off you are at $14.5. Maybe another $500 off so $14.
The rest you say comes from trade in. You would likely get the same trade in at any dealer, on any car.

So, at $14k, what else can you buy and do you like that something else more?

It is an interesting contradiction that you make mentioning the GT has better suspension but then want to swap out that suspension for Cobalt SS suspension.

There are VERY big corporate incentives for dealers to clear the lots of Pontiacs and Saturns, like $7K per car. Parts and maintenance shouldn't be a problem for a few years, so if one can find a car worth keeping this is a good time to be shopping......... At least until January 4, 2010.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34621016/ns/business-autos/

Thanks for the input everyone.

Vibe? No. Toyota + 4 doors = just no...

Suspension? the GT claims "performance suspension" It should be better than the base car, but I was hoping SS parts would be a further step up.

Price. I get the GM employee price for further discounting.

Nitroracer wrote: What would a pontiac matrix run with all the rebates and such? The top of the line one has a revvy little toyota four cylinder and a six speed, or at least the last generation did.

Current one has a 2.4 litre camry motor.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Thanks for the input everyone. Vibe? No. Toyota + 4 doors = just no... Suspension? the GT claims "performance suspension" It should be better than the base car, but I was hoping SS parts would be a further step up. Price. I get the GM employee price for further discounting.

I'd say go for it. Sounds like a great deal.

pinchvalve wrote: What's a Pontiac?

What's an MR2? I've actually had a couple and am still pissed Toyota killed it.

I would buy another Cobalt base, I say jump all over a G5 GT.

I'd get a G5 XFE for probably 4K less than you'd get a GT. You're going into knowing that it's just going to be a DD type car so ultimate fun really isn't your goal. If your going to be swaping SS suspension parts you don't really care what you start with, and the 2.2L cobalt I drove was surprisingly peppy so HP from the base engine isn't really to bad. And you can't beat 37 MPG rating for DD use.

The Vibe is a pretty nice car though. If you could get one of those for near that price I'd consider it. What can you do on a V6 G8?

For $10k I'd go for it. While I'm not a big fan of the cobalt or it's twin, at that price point for a brand new car it really doesn't matter.

Unplugging a wheel speed sensor will usually disable all (ABS, traction control, stability control, etc...) of the driving aids on a car. You'll have to deal with a check engine, abs, and maybe another error light and some cars loose the speedo.

Performance Potential? Have you heard how much boost those stock ecotecs can hold? I have contemplated getting rid of my Stang for a SC Cobalt SS to have a smaller payment, more MPGs, and just as quick of a car, just powering the wrong wheels.

I've heard good things about the 'balts, but I firmly believe all small cars should be hatches.

Sounds like a good deal to me. And I really think the Pontiac is a bit prettier than the Chevy version...The schnoz and wheels are much nicer.

The motor is the same as in the base Solstice/Sky. There are aftermarket turbos and superchargers for them that yeild performance on par with, or even better than, the factory 2.0 turbo. With some dertimination and a little imagination I'm sure you can make something work in the G5 engine bay. Even NA there's potential for 200+ hp. If you want G5 performance stuff check out these guys: http://www.jbodyperformance.com/new/newIndex.php

GM usually makes their stability control systems fully defeatable. Should be an obvious button somewhere on the dash or center console.

I still don't trust the cavbalts, but that isn't a bad price.