Front wheel drive staggered wheel fitment?

"We think Pontiac's engineers should leave their computer terminals for the test track every once in a while."

Enough said.
 
From a distance the GXP looks just like a regular Grand Prix,
Why, yes, it does look like ass.
only with big alloy wheels. Subtle differences include side badges and chrome grille accents.
Ok, ass with big alloy wheels, side badges and chrome grille accents!

Pontiac should have been put out to pasture with Oldsmobile.
 
i recall one of those "best motoring" vids with a yellow integra with staggered wheel fitment (if not rim size it was tire size at least) so it isnt unheard of.
 
i kinda feel bad for pontiac -- they try so hard, and yet fail almost every time. what am i talking about...it's not just pontiac, it's pretty much gm as a whole!

about the gp, I have no idea what pontiac was thinking when they designed the car. the previous gen wasn't too bad...fun to drive at least, but this new design is just butt ugly. i still can't get myself to warm up to those things. the interior is so cheap feeling. everything is made of this hideous looking plastic....and i mean everything. and the steering feels so disconnected, you wonder sometimes if you are actually the one driving. and then they put a v8 in the thing?!? Nice looking hp ratings, but for god sakes...in fwd platform? come on....this is supposed to be your "performance" gp? right...
 
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yeah i saw one of these the other day and was likeWTF?? the bonnevile v8 on the other hand is tight i usually HATE gm products but that new bonneville is sweet i must admit
 
Thapro1 said:
yeah i saw one of these the other day and was likeWTF?? the bonnevile v8 on the other hand is tight i usually HATE gm products but that new bonneville is sweet i must admit

I agree with you on that. The Bonneville is sweet. I like the GTO also, I mean Holden Monaro.
 
When we asked Pontiac why all four corners didn't get the 8-inch wheel, we were told a computer simulation determined this is the optimal setup for handling and acceleration
 
last months issue of SCC showed cusco WRX and EVO. both of them had staggered fitment with wider front wheels than rear ones. although AWD setup is different.....
 
redrims said:
I agree with you on that. The Bonneville is sweet. I like the GTO also, I mean Holden Monaro.

yeah, the new bonne is looking good. have you seen that pearl paint they have? it's like a $500 option, but damn...the thing glows. it's sweet. and i agree with you on the gto, it is a nice car. all the magazines who review it seem to praise it...but i still can't get myself to accept that it is a GTO. gm said they took some time out to convert it for the US and change some things around...but have you seen the two next to each other? they're the same freaking car! i hope the next gen is better...more deserving of the gto name.
 
redrims said:
All I can say is WHY!?!...

um, b/c that's where the weight and power are. FWD autocrossers have been doing it for YEARS. i wonder why it took a carmaker so long to figure it out...and why people act like it's some sort of breakthrough, or worse, some sort of heresy. biggAr tir3s on teh fr0nt? oh noe5!!1!!!1!!

what's the difference between that and an S2K (215s on front, 245s on back), or a Benz, or a Vette? where is it written that staggered wheels are for RWD only?
 
dmitrik4 said:
um, b/c that's where the weight and power are. FWD autocrossers have been doing it for YEARS. i wonder why it took a carmaker so long to figure it out...and why people act like it's some sort of breakthrough, or worse, some sort of heresy. biggAr tir3s on teh fr0nt? oh noe5!!1!!!1!!

what's the difference between that and an S2K (215s on front, 245s on back), or a Benz, or a Vette? where is it written that staggered wheels are for RWD only?


Chill out!...

I wasn't asking WHY? about the staggered fitment. I was asking WHY put a V8 in fwd platform?

What you said was nothing new to me. I was running wider tires on the front of my Nissan for a while, but decided to go back to all the same size for looks.
 
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ah-ha. damn intArweb.

i suppose b/c people like V8s, and pontiac lacks a RWD sedan platform at the moment. it's not my cup of tea, but the reviews i've read have actually been relatively positive. it's also not the first time (by far) that GM has put out a FWD V8.
 
One of my guidelines for a good performance car is that the engine make at least close to 100hp/liter. 5.3L V8 making 300hp isn't impressive to me in the least. Not to mention that when you get into serious performance car, they really should be AWD or RWD. The dynamics of FWD sucks in comparison.

The only thing that car is good for is passing people on the freeway, which is for kids that can't drive and bitter old men.
 
the people that car is targeted at consider smooth highway cruising and ample passing power to be good performance. they're not particularly concerned with awesome handling or 0-60 times. for many people (who not surprisingly aren't on this board), a V8 is a prerequisite for a performance car. *shrug*

those people wouldn't even consider something like an S2000 or WRX...and in many cases, probably not any import.

you have to keep the target demographic in mind.

edit: is the new Z06 a good performance car? it's a 7.0L making 505 hp. that's less hp/L than the Mazda 3i makes.
 
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dmitrik4 said:
the people that car is targeted at consider smooth highway cruising and ample passing power to be good performance. they're not particularly concerned with awesome handling or 0-60 times. for many people (who not surprisingly aren't on this board), a V8 is a prerequisite for a performance car. *shrug*

those people wouldn't even consider something like an S2000 or WRX...and in many cases, probably not any import.

you have to keep the target demographic in mind.

edit: is the new Z06 a good performance car? it's a 7.0L making 505 hp. that's less hp/L than the Mazda 3i makes.

Good point, but I would rather see a Z06 with a 5.0L making 500hp.

I totally agree with concentraing on the demographic, but it just happens that I'm not in it. I pretty much described the demographic that would be interested in that car (ie - my father, who is currently waiting on his new Z06). The Vette has the correct torque/gear ratio to take advantage of the powerband. Chevy is still using pushrod engine, which I don't agree with, but they make it work. Kudos to them, but I will leave that car for someone else. I have huge amounts of respect for it, I just prefer tight-winding, small discplacement, fuel sipping, lightweight "tech cars" that extract more power per liter than they should be able to. It's all preference.
 
Spooled said:
Good point, but I would rather see a Z06 with a 5.0L making 500hp.

I totally agree with concentraing on the demographic, but it just happens that I'm not in it. I pretty much described the demographic that would be interested in that car (ie - my father, who is currently waiting on his new Z06). The Vette has the correct torque/gear ratio to take advantage of the powerband. Chevy is still using pushrod engine, which I don't agree with, but they make it work. Kudos to them, but I will leave that car for someone else. I have huge amounts of respect for it, I just prefer tight-winding, small discplacement, fuel sipping, lightweight "tech cars" that extract more power per liter than they should be able to. It's all preference.

to get these type of hp per liter number many factors come into play. The easy one is to look at the cam or cams. Design a profile that increases the hp but the end result is les torq. So in the case of the vette's 6.0L or 7.0L there is an equal medium of hp and torq. Torq is what makes a car "feel" fast to most. Take a hardcore V8 guy that has a car with 500 rwhp and let him drive a 500rwhp S2000 he's not gonna think its as fast or faster than what his car is. So it is more important for gm to make a car look, feel, and be fast.
 
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