Buy This Car Before It’s Gone for Good

I’m not in the business of making official car recommendations, but every so often the stars align in such a way that compels me to…recommend. Right now, when you get finished adding up various cash incentives, financing offers, cash for clunkers vouchers, and the trade-in value of whatever you’re currently driving, you owe it to yourself to at least test drive a Pontiac G8 GT.

Not the G8 GXP, mind you, which will be produced in small numbers and may well be snapped up by true enthusiasts (Corvette engine, manual-transmission). The G8 GT is a rear-wheel drive, 361-horsepower BMW killer that can do 0-60 in 5.3 seconds. I’ve driven it. It’s quite good. And right now, you can pick one up for substantially less than $30,000. A base BMW 5 series sedan will by comparison set you back something like $15,000 more.

Pontiac is going away, a consequence of General Motors’ (GMGMQ) Chapter 11 brand winnowing, so it’s unclear how long the G8 GT will remain in the States before it reverts to being an Australian-made Holden Commodore sold only in the Pacific Rim. There was some talk—well, there was a remark made by GM’s recently un-retired product czar Bob Lutz—that the G8 would live on as a Chevy. But apparently that’s not going to happen.

You may not be in the market for a high-performance almost-mid-luxury sedan at a bargain-basement price, but just for kicks, give the G8 GT a whirl. It’s the kind of emotional, American vehicle that GM has needed to build for some time, and finally did imported from Down Under. Too much, too late. But this little piece of Old GM’s former glory will be around for at least a little while longer.