2005 Pontiac GTO, Mislabeled and Misunderstood
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- A lesson in flawed marketing and the consequences of an established name, the GTO was a sales disaster and was here and gone in only 3 years. But underneath the misleading name lies the Holden Monaro, an excellent cruiser with sporty performance and a practical use case... if only it could be allowed to escape its American shadow.
all images used in this video are for entertainment purposes only
I own one, and I love it.. everywhere I go I get looks and questions as well. It's a fun car w more than enough power. For almost a 20 year old car, it still smokes dodge RTs and mustangs, etc.
Easily
My dad has one. Now I need one XD
yuuuup. Every 5.7 hemi thats been willing to run ive gapped.
I own the 2005 an extremely fast car
They stand no chance against a coyote car
I own a 04 GTO and love it. I bought it used and put over 200k miles on it, still a great car. I would own another GTO in a heartbeat.
I got a 04 GTO also. A great car
Fun to drive. I love people who look dumbfounded when I smoke them,
Yes I miss my 04 torrid red GTO. Hands down my favorite vehicle I've owned.
05 gto 400hp . Stock. I feel is a respected number compared to the most supercharger muscle and jdm sports nowadays. 💪
Best review of the GTO ever! Have own one from new in 05 and wouldn't trade it for the world. Everything is true in this review...Thank you! 😊
Great vid! I have a 2005 myself here in the USA but spent a little money rebadging it back to its original Holden Monaro look. Gets a a fair bit of attention only because most folks don't know what it is. Super fun to drive.
My dad has on 06. Let's just say... I need to have one now. I am always excited, happy, and gleeful to see and hear our Goat roar to life and hit the road. The Goat, to me, is the Toothless of cars. There to have a good time and be happy.
I have owned two 05's. I sold a red auto that looked just like your car, but I still have a yellow 6spd with 40k original miles. I bought the yellow car brand new in Lynchburg VA. The elements and sun / UV were not kind to GTO's so many of those that have survived this long have clearcoat peeling issues like your car. Fortunately my yellow 05 has rarely seen wet weather and is inside most of the time so it still looks like it did 17 years ago. Like you pointed out in your video most have salvage titles and even if you CAN find a clean title car it's probably had a half dozen owners and has tons of questionable modifications. I hang onto my yellow 05 like it's one of my kids.
I love Holdens. I have had a '13 PPV, '16 SS and an '04 GTO. I have noticed there are a lot of people who try to turn them into race cars or 1/4 mile cars and they end up ruining them. Not to say that it's a horrible thing to put a stroker, heads, cam, headers, ect on a GTO, more power and a few upgrades like shifter, clutch, driveshaft, 6.0 rear diff, strengthened cv shafts. But it seems horrible when they strip the interiors, do solid axle swaps, cages, crazy suspensions and so on. It just takes away the best part of the car. It's supposed to be a comfortable, unassuming looking(to avoid police attention), smooth, roomy, practical car, that has a mean V8 and rwd. I look at it as being very much a modern equivalent of what a '68-'72 GM A body Chevelle or GTO was in it's day. I see it as a car that you want to put miles on and so long as it's not wrecked or rusty, you can keep refreshing the engine, trans and running gear over and over again and keep using it instead of buying an overly sophisticated newer car. These GTOs are in the sweet spot of tech where they get decent fuel economy, certainly for the power they make, produce good hp/L numbers, are relatively high revving and are capable of running for 200-300k on an original engine if they are well cared for and with a little luck. I don't want my "muscle car" to be too flashy, I like that only car guys know what they are, I got away with driving very fast for years without a single ticket in my Holdens, driving the same way with a 2010 and 2011 Mustang GTs, I got 4 tickets in that same time and the cars were terrible for long trips and bad weather and rough roads in comparison to the Holdens. I think the GTOs were a sales failure because they began as $33k in 2004 money, the dealers were dickish about test drives, they were marking them up, then suddenly the Magnum R/T, 300C and 2005 Mustang debuted, then the 2005 GTOs showed up next o the unsold 2004s, then they finally discounted them to the price they should have been all along, certainly if they would have tooled up a factory to build them in North America, that could have build the Camaro5 and later G8s, PPVs and SSs. They could have a offered lower spec cars in higher volumes for less money and sold way way more of them, along with two length sedans, El Camino and wagon. What a missed opportunity.
I just bought a stock 2 owner 2005 with 42k miles, I think this will be a fun car.
Not any seat time yet, but comments and video are encouraging.
Try being the original owner of this beautiful machine. It’s the best cap secret GM has ever produced out of Holding Australia. People dismiss the European design, not realizing BMW designers, had their hands in the final design of this GTO. It’s unfortunate that the faster variance of these GTO‘s never made it to the United States Shores. There was one particular Holden called the VXR 500 with a supercharge 6.0L V8, with a specially tuned T56 and rear end. Not to mention the all-wheel-drive coupe 4. You did an excellent job on this video. Very good execution.
I love my '04. 26MPG on the highway, easy..and plenty of power to put a smile on your face. Ignoring some cheap plastic parts for the interior, it's pretty comfortable as well.
It has the heart and soul of the GTO. In the 60s the Goat was a rebadged tempest and lemans with a bigger engine. That is the essence of 60s muscle cars, big engine in regular cars!!
And that’s why General Motors was so wrong in closing down Holden. Australia, Holden and Ford built some very good cars. What a shame it’s all gone. I still drive a Holden Commodore SV6 and a Ford Falcon XR6. Great cars.
Alex, I want to commend you 11/10 stars on this video. You are absolutely right about what this car is and isn't, perfectly detailed it's strengths and weaknesses, and the text commentary had me rolling. Great analysis, excellent presentation, please keep making more videos!! In the meantime I'll keep sending my modded 06.
Appreciate the kind words, thanks for watching.
Great video! I bought mine brand new in 2006 and its still in my garage being used in the summer and I still love it! To me its a Monaro, not a GTO. Great touring car with plenty of power even to this day.
Have driven mine (an 05) coast to coast. Great road trip car. I'm always getting compliments on it. Great value for the money and it's definitely not slow.
The 05 was my first car! I loved it! Will always hold a special place in my heart!
Just saw the video for the first time. I am in High Point and have had mine for 18 years. It has been done up well and still a fun car. Good vid!
I owned an 04 GTO for 6 years and it was truly one of my favorite cars of many that I've owned. A couple of things though.
The interior was definitely NOT typical '00 GM. I've owned more than a few other GM cars from that era (Pontiacs included) and they all had way cheaper plastics with terrible gaps and dinky looking switchgear. The Holden styling department did a much nicer job from the cushy seats to the gauges to the BLAUPUNKT stereo.
As far as its mission, I agree, it is a GT car. But what is a GT car? It's more or less a modern take on the muscle car with a little more luxury baked in. This is always how I saw this car..a sort of cross between an M3 and a Trans Am. The Pontiac marketing at the time was too focused on the GTO heritage (which I get..thats a lot of cache), but it didn't speak to what this car really was; a poor man's Euro GT fighter. Yes, it could take on Mustang GT's and Dodge Chargers, but its appeal was more international.
I always wanted a GTO but people are asking ridiculous prices for the clean well kept one.
Because that owner did a great job keeping a legendary car in great condition. If you can’t afford it then go buy a beat up one from a sideshow🤷♂️
@@yeasure6726 you must’ve not seen my local ads some people are asking over 20k for one that has 95k miles. If they want top dollar I expect as close to perfect as possible.
@@yeasure6726 harsh truth about G8 GT’s too…. 😢
@yeasure6726 Except it's a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia mate
@@yeasure6726 never said I couldn’t afford I’m not paying 25-30k for a 25 year old holden. I can get a newer better car for the money.
Loved everything you said, but I have to disagree with the mileage bit. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually averaged about 19.5 combined from my daily commutes.
my unmodified 06 GTO, 6-speed, certifies at 30MPG on flat ground at 55mph. Which is damned impressive. It will sip gas if you keep your foot out of it, but if you put your foot in, it grabs that straw and goes to town, like it should. My old commute averaged 21mpg, in town is about 14.5mpg, accelerating from a stop sucks a lot more gas in a 6.0L, but it's cruise manners sip fuel at moderate speed. Gas consumption goes up rapidly above 65. At 65 you will be down to a flat-ground of about 22, above 75, about 18. It is such a well mannered v8, sucks gas when it makes power, sips it when relaxing. In fact, it out performed the 4 door ford 4 banger for MPG on a 300 mile highway trip. The ford got 21mpg, the GTO got 26. That was at sustained 70+ MPH with hills and traffic. Averages calculated by filling tank to a number then refueling and noting consumption. After trip the numbers were crunched.
Hands down, the most comfortable car for long trips except one that I've owned. Done multi-day cross state trips. The GTO is a wonderful car to tour in. The only more comfortable trip I've had was in a 70's Matador with the bench seat you want to replace your couch in your home with because it was sooo damned comfortable and relaxing, plus on really long trips you could swap the driver without stopping. Gotta love bench seats.
I loved your closing statement this it always puts a smile on my face when I kick it down just for a second or two of course
I had a 2004, which had a bit less power and less sexy exhaust pipes. It was a great car with a few gigantic flaws. No trunk, no side airbags, and tires that were too narrow for the power the car made. But I loved it dearly.
High quality video, makes me fall in love with mine more! Paid $1k for my 04 and $6700 for my 06, but thankfully it only has 75k miles
Just bought one literally my dream car
I bought my '05 brand new. Daily drove it for many years. Now it is just my fun car. I averaged 22 MPG with mixed driving so not sure why you got such crappy mileage. Maybe I am not as heavy with the fun pedal. Something you stated that I want to reiterate is that this car is made to cover long distances at high rates of speed. I have taken it on epically long road trips and the only time I regretted being in the GTO was when I got stuck in Chicago rush hour traffic in 95 F heat. The car handled it little better than I did.
You've picked up on the Aussie traits for a V8. Wife has to be able to do the school run in it. You can do the office commute in it. You can do the trip from Melbourne to Adelaide or Sydney in it and once in a while, you take the longer twisty road home in it. Yeah its a muscle car, if you aren't fixated on a drag strip, but on a car that does everything you want and you really don't have to compromise to do it, then this car delivers. Heck in Australia, if you found a coupe a hassle, you got the ute, the crew cab ute, the wagon or the four door sedan. There was V8 options for all of them. They all went fast, just pick your weapon of choice, or get a V8 Ford Falcon. A car that goes fast in a staight line - yeah thats fun for five minutes, but compromises make it shit to live with. The Commodore and Falcon were engineered to still do their core duties as a family car, not find a corner impossible to negotiate and put a smile on your face doing it. Its what an American muscle car would be if it had grown up and completed college.
I own a few cars and you just have to drive one you will be hooked!!!! Parts are the only grip I have. Good God what a car. Bad brakes but I don’t use them. And they told me at the tag office there is less then 5000 taged in the USA. Good video
Is there any brakes that are better from another car you can swap over? You just have to order brembo or bear ?
@@jojokrump1998 Cadillac CTSV's will fit with minor mods.
Hey folks its@@martyfarrell9459the modern car lover.
Love all my Pontiacs
I saw one in 2012 and it was an old man driving it. The loap that that car made me fall in love with it. I thought he had work done to it and always watched as he would drive through the parking lot.
Today I saw one and it sounded just like the old man's and I had to look it up. I mean the odds of 2 GTOs being fixed up like this and they sounded pretty much the same. So I am assuming now that I missed out on one hell of a buy.
I really think this was Pontiacs hope of saving the car brand. Unfortunately I don't think it did.
Well if it had retro styling instead of being a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia 🇦🇺 it would've not only sold well but really saved Pontiac as well.
I have to disagree that Pontiac was "following a trend", it wasn't until a year later that Mustang started the whole traditional looking muscle car tribute trend, and the fact that GM didn't start the trend with the Pontiac GTO in 2004 is just a moronic crying shame.
Literally had everything...the brand, the model, the intention of bringing back the original muscle car and the engines to back it up, but not the intelligence to make it look like a muscle car. 😔
I didn't like the 04 with the single side exhaust and flat hood as much as the 06 (didn't like the 05 tail lights) when it was in production. Today? It was near Toyota quality body gaps and LS motors. Love it.
It didn't help that GM didn't advertise the car. For years I was asked, "When did Pontiac build this?" I can honestly remember only seeing 2 commercals for the car, and not a single one of them during football season (prime Pontiac sales time) There were a few more commercials made but the only place I ever saw them was on the internet, and only because I was searching for them.
My strongest memory of this car was NFSU2, and it even had billboards for it, but yeah. Don't remember much else lol.
I found those commercials too though. Gotta admit they were cool.
@@alex_thecarguy And most of those commercials were for the 04, I don't even know that they made a commercial for the 06
Still got and maintain my 2005 GTO w/Autocross appearance to this day. Love it and will never part with it. Looks right at home w the other cars.
I have an 06....60-120 is super fun in these things. In Mexico, of course.
I'm have an 06 and I have about 55000 on it. And it's been a great car. Only have one issue with it with the water pump. Leaking new, you know, 06 no longer has the problem with the gas line going over the engine in the leakings they took care of that. And quite frankly, it's a fun car to drive and it's an automatic, so my wife can drive it when she needs to and love the thing it can be anything you want it to be if you want to make it fast as hell you can do that? You wanna leave it stock? You can do that. You wanna just go like 500 horsepower and stick with that? It works good too. It's. One of the most practical cars on the road when it comes to all around good performance Drive a Honda CRV is my everyday driver for gas mileage and practicality. And you don't see a lot of them on the road. So it's kind of nice not to have something. that everybody else doesn't as In mustangs
The fuel line that he speaks of does not run by the headers at all. It is a rubber line that comes off of the fuel rail and runs above the coil packs, which are above the valve cover, to the hard line at the back of the motor. The rubber line gets cut up from the plastic fuel rail cover that sits over it and if let go, it will eventually leak and caused a fire.
I also disagree with the fuel mileage review. On a trip from New Jersey to Missouri I got almost 30 miles per gallon doing about 75, 80 mph in 6th. If you are not getting good gas mileage in a 6 speed, there is something wrong with it or you are constantly beating the crap out of it.
It may not be the most impressive thing right off the showroom floor, but you can modify it as much as you want to your heart’s content and your wallet’s dislike. I have owned my 2004 since brand new, and I will never sell it.
Better review than he did
@@jojokrump1998 HaHa thanks. I’ve had my GTO since brand new. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t the fastest, and it doesn’t have any tech being stock, but it is cool and it does a lot of things well. A few suspension mods and some bolt ons for power really wake it up.
@@QkSilver04GTO well they are bad ass and values are going up. May not be the fastest but doesn't take much to be stupid fast. Who wants a perfect pretty car anyway? I want cars I can drive and romp on for the thrill here and there. Them cars as old as they are still are relevant and can surprise some people. I have a c5 Vette at moment but searching for something different is how I got here. Really thinking E55 but GTO is also in the running. Have a good one bud and thanks for answering back.
I owned a 05,6.0,6 Speed. It was the smoothest car I ever owned,it was a blast, was almost new when I owned it, divorce forced selling it. I got 26 Hwy , but it was very low miles, almost new
Should I buy a GTO? Did I? Yes, yes I did…
Btw we love our Australian hybrid freak
My son just bought a 2006 with some tweaks. Blows a lot of blue smoke hammer down. It needs work but beautiful. Red leather manual 6. What else do you need.
Dang you have a Maverick too, I want one of those. I have a 97 Econoline Van and a GTO, van gets about 7 MPG and my GTO gets around 12 MPG, I need that Maverick lol. I've had my GTO since 04 and its always just been a regular car to me, I never thought of it as a muscle car, I had a Grand prix v6 and just wanted whatever pontiac v8 was out at the time to replace it, it just happened to be the GTO.
I have a goat. Number one question I always get. “Did you Ls swap it” 😒😒😂😂😂😂😂
Love the creativity! Love the video!
I have a 2006 6.0. Accurate description!
When it came out I felt like I was the only one who knew about these
The GTO was brought here long before the trend of retro style muscle cars came out in the mid 2000's and later.Good review though.
had an 06.......great car!!!!!
Down here in NZ they are called a holden Monaro, geat cars and very popular. Don't understand why they didn't sell well over there.
they're basically a coupe opel omega right ? Came from the commodore/omega/senator family ?
@@comiumapedra5397No not really, it was initially based off of that platform but so heavily re designed that it only shared one part in common and this was used for the vt commodore, which the next car was the vx commodore which the Monaro was based on (pretty much same car but face lifted and upgraded from the vt). So the Opel omega is more of a distant cousin to the Monaro, although the chassis is very similar, pretty much nothing else is the same.
It’s a cv8 Holden Monaro. The GTO and GTS Monaro were a different kettle.. the GTS had the stroked call away motors.. you guys just got the stock as a rock bare bones monaros we didn’t want
The original GTO was a muscle car, the later GTO was a pony car. I personally love the 2004 and 2005-06 GTO.
Why do you drive domestic if you married an import?
Love my 06. Not salvage title only because I bought it 10 years ago from the original owner. Yes it's had it's share of issues, but get it out on an open road and put your foot down and just feel the smile come across your face. And yeah, I've gotten my share of boomers going "That's not a real GTO, how can they put a GTO badge on that" etc etc. What was the original GTO anyway? A normal car with a big V8 and some body tweaks. Seems to me the new one is exactly that...
The modern GTO is nothing but a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia (which there for not a real true Pontiac like the originals from the 1960s).
@@CJColvinokay but buick and oldsmobile had the exact same body styles back in the day, just with different badges and bumpers. Pontiac has always shared body styles with other GM manufacturers, doesn't make it not a gto
@@trashbandit2449 Yes but they had different engines as well so think about that.
@@CJColvin it made about identical power to the olds 442, chevelle ss, gran sport at the time. All of which are slower than the 04-06 GTOs.
I forgot about the chevelle earlier. There was more rebadging back then than I thought. The classic GTO is nothing more than a rebadged version of what I said above, who cares what v8 it has when it barely makes less/more horsepower than the other versions
@@trashbandit2449 You forgot the Beaumont as well (which was a Canadian version of the Chevelle as well with GTO dash in it).
Collectors Item holden monaro in Australia
The name "gto" represents "V8" only and 2 dr. coupe. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. I love mine regardless of the name and have had it 11 yrs. salvage title. Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers could not survive with only V8 offerings.
Nice, now I have a question? If you were going to buy a new F150 just to keep miles off you're Monaro base Goat, which one would you chose? The Coyote V8 or the EcoBoost?
@@CJColvin Coyote. My neighbor has a 2018 F150 with the 3.5 ecoboost. His truck hasn't moved in 2 yrs. as it has a spun main bearing, no oil pressure.
@@kevin122759 Yep, small turbo engines in big trucks don't mix, for me I would also get the F150 with the Coyote V8 as well if it weren't for the cylinder deactivation so there for I just bought a 2024 Nissan Titan instead with the 5.6L Endurance V8 that also (like the 04-06 GTO as well as the 21-current 5.0 F150s) has 400 HP but makes 413 Ibs of Torque.
@@CJColvin Titan is a great choice. I got a 2014 Chevy Silverado with the 5.3 V8. I had the AFM disabled. Great truck, no issues. I never thought about Nissan when I bought it. Shame on me.
@@kevin122759 Hey no worries mate
I cannot wait to get my GTO, it’s definitely a muscle car. When you build up the suspension a bit. It smokes other muscle cars of the time and even holds up well today. Very easy 450whp they feel and look great.
suspension needs completely overhauled, i almost got out handled by a chrylser 300c on the highway lmfao.
@@StelioKontos42069 well mine isn’t close to stock she fuckin rips 😂 suspension isn’t that bad but you can always put the power down better.
@@FalseHoodx shiiii they rip when they're completely stock lmfao. i know dudes with fbo r/ts n sti's that are still hesitant to run it. Is your suspension already done up? im on stock and its mushy garbage.
@@StelioKontos42069 completely stock besides engine, clutch and a short throw. The suspension really isn’t that bad. But mine only has 110k on it 0 rust it’s still quite tight. Idk about you. But yeah I totally agree, GTO’s stock rip really good. Even fbo tune can hang pretty well.
@@FalseHoodx my goats got 80k and a short throw n thats it. Just ordered mavman carbon fiber grilles for it too. I guess im being a little hard on the suspension, it is way older than chryslers. We were doing 100-120 around corners and thats when i noticed the suspension big time.
that thing is hideous , no wonder it didn't sell well
Agreed and not to mention that it was a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia (which there for not a real true Pontiac unlike the original GTOs from the 1960s).
i live the uk a have monaro vxr its the secound one i have owned i just love it , also had a new mustang but it to unpredictable not like the monaro.
I bought one too and all I do is work on it everything they put on it is wrong so I'm redoing the whole car
I like off the intro alone lol
Better than my 99 accord v6
My ‘06 taught me to drift but it had more problems than Joe and Hunter
These are 800-1000 lbs. lighter than current pony cars. Stock '05-'06's make Scat Pack and Mustang owners cry when they lose. My procharged '06 will beat a Hellcat from a dig, but not a roll. That's on only 6 lbs. of street boost. A quick pully change and tune switch puts their $$$$$ modded modern goliaths wishing they spent their money on something original.
on the street hellcats are beatable as long as you dont go over a quarter mile.
Hey folks its @marryfarrell9459 the modern GTO lover.
Ah, Metal Head my kind of dude!
I owned a 2005 GTO it was a quick car
I want a c4 vette but I also want to pick one of these as well
daily driver gto weekend fun car may aswell get a ls2 vette.
If you are making less than 27 instant mpg at 1,800 rpm.. you need a tune up. I average 22.5 over long term driving.. including play time sometimes when traffic is sparse.
I find a BIG difference in mileage between driving at 1600 than 18oo rpms. 1,600 is 60 mph.
I think mpg was actually 17/24.
Maybe I'm mistaken though. Been a while since i cared lol
@@brad8987 I found the 06 mpg at 17 25 but the 05 and 04 both show 17 29, which makes no sense as the LS2 in the 06 is also in the 05 while the 04 has an ls1
i averaged 26 mpg in my 05 during a 6 hour drive, got home and wanted to get right back behind the wheel lmfao
@@alex_thecarguy The window sticker on my 05 has 17 city, 25 hwy. I have averaged 22 but that's because I don't beat on the car.
Do you still have the car?
I do not. I sold it before buying my tahoe
I'd leave the leaf in the back seat 🤷
🔥
who ever owns this car beats the hell out of it I have a 2006 and i don't lay rubber with it tires cost to much
Looks like nothing but a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia mate (there for not a real true Pontiac unlike the original GTOs from the 1960s).
Thank you for the echo chamber. Now try watching the video ✌️
@@alex_thecarguy I already did mate.
@@CJColvin then you really did just repeat everything I said in it. Well done.
@@alex_thecarguy LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@alex_thecarguy Called me a Redneck or a Hillbilly but it looks like a bloated Grand AM with a Pontiac badge and looks like a bloated Cavalier with a Holden badge mate.
I’m Australian. They are a Holden Monaro. The front bumper and bonnet you Americans have look atrocious 😳. Keep it original.
I see you commented without even watching a second of the video. Nice
fuck this shit annoys me. you think americans don't know anyting about GM cars. Everyone knows what this car is, im australian as well and i cringe with comments like this
It's not only a slap in the face to the original GTOs from the 1960s but it's also a huge slap in the face to the real Holden Monaros from Australia 🇦🇺 as well.
It is definitely a muscle car by any measure . I'd say as a RWD ,V8 powered midsize car ,even though it's got a decent ride , it's more of a muscle car than grand tourer. The original GTO was a better Lemans . This gen is a better Monaro .
You sir are very correct! How can any vehicle sporting a Corvette engine and tranny be considered anything but a muscle car?
Gran turismo baby 🫡