Anyone Own/Sold an 04-06 GTO?
 

What are your opinions on these cars?

i hear that there are lots of problems. The main one is the security system

hilarious

My girlfriends dad has one, I personally think they are fun to drive, but I know he has had some problems with it (not exactly sure what though).

I think that the inside is pretty cheap though, things like his shift now looks like crap because it is all chipped up and peeling off, and he takes pretty good care of it.

It seems like you can pick them up for pretty cheap though, considering the HP you get with them. That my .02.

I've got an 06 GTO for my primary car. I love the car, and Holden did an good job building a good GT car, but the dealers are horrible. I had thought about getting an extended warranty since mine goes out in April of 09, but I've started to rethink that because of dealership problems I've had.

For the car overall:
I have no complaints about my interior, it seems well put together, and the seats are comfortable. The interior was one of the big reasons I bought the car.

As for problems, the most common on the 06s is the strut failure, but that only affects certain months. There are little things like the trim peeling off the steering wheels and the paint flaking off the door handles (neither problem I've had) that seem to be more common. It just depends on the particular car, and whether the Aussie unions were pissed off that day or it was just a Monday build.

For the buying vs. selling issue... if you want to buy and keep for some time it is a perfect time to buy as their resale is horrible and you can get a very good price. But, if you plan on selling any time soon the resale again is horrible, and on top that you have to find a buyer.

For me though it is a perfect primary vehicle, I love mine for the conservative styling, interior, LS2 with 400/400, and the comfort it all offers in a fun all-around driving experience. All of this makes it a perfect car for me. I don't really worry about the resale as I don't plan on selling it soon, and I probably will just make it another garage queen here in a year or so.

Thanks for all the help guys. Really appreciated!

I've got (well my son) a 2005, Yellow, Auto............ Outstanding vehicle. I'd not blink in a second to buy one. It is definately NOT what you might think of as "GM quality........or lack there of........well accept for the Vett and their trucks". First look shows the materials used is MUCH MUCH better than most cars......... the initial look of the whole dash area is VERY nice......... not that typical "plastic look". Great analog gauge w/digital backup. My only complaint about the car is the tight areas in the fender wells if you wanted to go with a wider tire.

If you plan on any back-seat riders, they will have just-as-good of a seat as the
fronts.

The handling isnt bad at all, but, the car would be excellent with an "upgrade" on the suspension. (considering they come stock with the softer F55 units, which is almost stupid). I would suggest going with the 18" wheels if you can (although the 17"s which I/we have are more traditional for the RallyII look)...... but you'll naturally get less sidewall movment, and with the car weight and height, the bodyroll is there (a bit)......so the 18s would be better.

Great great car, engine is a beast, interior is outstanding...................Or better yet, for the price, compare all the features......nothing will touch it. (literally on the road either).

I owned one for 2 yrs and no issues what so ever.

:confused: What are you talking about?

A buddy of mine has an 05 6.0 and he has had some problems with it...Its been to the dealer for warranty work a couple of times...If you want to know exactly what it was Ill ask him.

I've got an '06. Initially the GTO wasn't even a consideration for me. I was looking at the G35C (complete bore to drive IMO), the Evo and STi. My wife wasn't big on either of those and MADE me go drive the GTO....I was hooked after the test drive.

I absolutely love this car, I put roughly 15,000 miles on it in the first 6-7 months. I have upgraded a few suspension pieces that do NEED to be changed (the front radius rod bushings tend to leak, so you can put in a solid poly bushing up there). I also repaced the rear subframe connectors, this helped cure a little of the wheel hop (It's an IRS car with BAD wheel hop). I've also done front and rear sway bar tweaks.

I've actually been amazed how well this car handles, considering it weighs almost 4,000 lbs. I did a drive up the canyons with LuisGT3 (996GT3) and SuperD when he had his elise. They couldn't believe how well the car actually handled. Also, the stock shifter is JUNK, I replaced it with a unit by an aussie company called GMM, it's 100x's better.

As far as build quality, I haven't really had any problems, my AC vent was noisy, dealer fixed. My front seat squicks a little, but the dealer is taking care of it (and i'm a big guy 6'1 250) so it's natural for my seat to loosen up a little bit.


I bought this car to be a good cheap GT car, and it's perfect for me. My wife and I do road trips all around the country and this car performs well. The power is great, I frankly don't think it needs much more, I put down 370/370 to the wheels with a mild tune.




The aftermarket bugs me, there is plenty of motor stuff, but the suspension options are rocky. Their is one big Aussie company that has dominated the market called Pedders, but frankly...I think they've fooled most of the general GTO public. In AU they are looked at as a "replacement" part, not a "performance" part. But up here in the states the GTO guys think they are god, simply because there aren't many other options.

BTW, the value is starting to stabilize a bit. The LS1 '04 cars took a HIT and some were able to get nearly 10K off NEW once the 05's came out.

I bought my '06 in January of '06 and got a good 4-5K off the MSRP. They've seemed to hold their value "fairly" well over the last few months.


There wasn't much of a better value out there for a car like this at $30K. Sure some people have problems, and you hear a lot more of it on the internet, but it's a great value car. I've got 6 new 7-series in my family and 3 have been lemoned, but I still think they are fantastic cars. I would try to find a car with some warranty left though. Another problem is since these cars are made in AU, it does take some time to get replacement parts. I had an accident over a year ago and it took roughly 1.5 months to get a new trunk lid.





I also put the monaro front bumper on

Thanks again for the informative replies. I test drove the other day and loved it! I'm going to look at another one this weekend.

uhhh theft

(Update from my previous post)

I would say, if you can find an 06' take it over the 05'.......ONLY........ because the seat moves faster (an update/fix for 06). On the seat, to get into the back,there is a tiny button under the seat-belt retractor (on the seat itself). Push to move the seat forward. Our 05' is a tad slow.

We keep the oil changed every 3500 with M1, engine never looses oil...... runs perfect.

Only single issue we ever had was the rubber stopper/holders for the glove box. The newer ones are solid, where-as the 05' was a framed style that broke on one side. (Yea. all of 5secs to swap out)