Road Test of a Pontiac G5 coupe

[99Firebird3800]

Before you guys get too excited, I've had high HP to weight ratio front drivers and I wouldn't give you two cents for them in the rain. That puppy would have to include traction control or the car will be unsafe. There are people that will cite that FWD has the advantage in snow, rain, yada yada.......that may be true in the realm of basic transportation. When you have a high HP to weight ratio front driver, the tires get overpowered easily. As weight transfers rearward, the front tires unload and in the rain, that's bad. Very bad to put it mildly. When the driven wheels that are also responsible for direction are spinning, combined with reduced pressure per square inch of the tire's contact patch you're going to get into trouble.

In the dry, they aren't quite as squirrely if you know how to drive them.

I can attest to that, even with my old GTP - that thing was like riding a pig in slop when driving in the rain. Good tires helped, but putting 280 ftlbs of torque to the pavement at the drop of the hammer left you spinning even with stickies. And that's just the stock #'s, there's guys out there who are pushing 400 hp and drive those things daily.

[Steel2686]

I have quite a bit of power going to the fronts and I can also attest they are really tough in the rain. I have traction control, but with all that power going up front, it just kicks in way too often. I usually just shut it off and try to be real careful with the gas (not easy with throttle-by-wire).

[Wild Willy]

You just can't lay down serious horsepower through the front wheels and expect a vehicle to have such niceties as steering feel and feedback, directional stability, whatever- asking the front tires to steer, accelerate and do the bulk of the stopping just overpowers the available traction-

FWD is great for 100 HP econo-cars, not so much for 300 or more HP performance cars- seen any FWD Mercedes or Porsches lately? Lambo's? Astom Martin? I could go on and on, but you get the point- if you are serious about building excitement, and your definition of excitement includes V-8's and significant HP, then you are either talking RWD or AWD- and AWD comes with lots of weight, complexity, and cost-

I know, preaching to the choir here- I have been griping about this to GM for more than a decade, and I am a big fan, but, bluntly, they don't build cars for me any more- Nice trucks, one heck of a sports car, 2-seater, but if I want a family barge with RWD and a V-8, Ford is my company- If I want a sporty pony car with a V-8 and RWD, Ford has one- Funny how they are doing better financially, and GM is on the ropes.... and yet they keep telling us how much they know-

Another couple decades, and my baby-boomer generation won't be buying cars- and I can't even find the big block Olds or Buicks that I used to love, loaded up with leather, power moon-roofs and effortless torque- If I want to tow a boat or a camping trailer, I have to buy a truck that I don't need otherwise- probably won't happen- GM leaves me, and a good chunk of the market that has jobs and decent income, and then complains that they can't make it in todays business climate- go figure....

[FroSSty]

I agree...FWD=Wrong wheel drive. BUT, that is not to say that they aren't fun.

[Nightrage]

Joe, you left out the massive blind spots the G5 has