Hello all. Got my Red/Red GTO 6 speed on Tuesday. VERY happy with it. For those (like me) who can get the GM family discount this week, I got the car for a 12k/24 month lease at....$1380 at signing (first month payment, $780 cash down, tab transfer, and all taxes on the rebates) and $213/month for the remaining 23 payments. This equates to $263/mo. if you average out my total cash outlay for the two years. How could I not do this for the price??? Needless to say, I didn't have any trouble parting with my loaded red '02 Alero. Lease pull-ahead is awesome as well. I got out of the Alero 7 months early.
And my two car seats fit just fine in the back seats for those wondering.
My kids love the car too.
Now on to business. My only two real complaints so far are what's missing under my feet: no dead pedal and too big a gap between the gas and brake for heel-toeing.
I was amazed how quickly I became uncomfortable with nowhere to put my left foot. I don't like riding or hovering over the clutch, placing my foot all the way to the toeboard felt unsafe, and resting it flat on the floor was uncomfortable. Has anyone out there fabbed up a matching dead pedal? I saw some of those retrofit deals that are meant to go over existing dead pedals, and some of them look -exactly- like the stock aluminum ones. The problem is that there's nowhere to attach it. The panel on the left side of the footwell is not sturdy enough to bolt into. My only thought would be to create a structure that fills the gap between the pedal, floor, and toeboard. I need it sturdy since I typically use the dead pedal to push against as I'm getting seated. Any other thoughts? I know the '05 gets one, so my other thought is to see if I can retrofit it with the '04.
And has anyone out there found a way to get the gas pedal and brake pedal closer together (without bending the pedal arms)? I have a fairly big foot, but I can't get my usual inside of the foot on the brake and right side on the gas to blip for downshifts. I saw the typical retrofit pedal covers that most add to their rice rockets, but those typically rely on the ability to remove the typical rubber pad. My basic thought is to make the gas pedal wider on the brake side.
So far my only real long tern concern is whether I can get the same deal in 2 years for my next one...with 400hp and hopefully a sunroof and heated seats. We'll see how winter goes too.
- Dieter
And my two car seats fit just fine in the back seats for those wondering.
My kids love the car too.Now on to business. My only two real complaints so far are what's missing under my feet: no dead pedal and too big a gap between the gas and brake for heel-toeing.
I was amazed how quickly I became uncomfortable with nowhere to put my left foot. I don't like riding or hovering over the clutch, placing my foot all the way to the toeboard felt unsafe, and resting it flat on the floor was uncomfortable. Has anyone out there fabbed up a matching dead pedal? I saw some of those retrofit deals that are meant to go over existing dead pedals, and some of them look -exactly- like the stock aluminum ones. The problem is that there's nowhere to attach it. The panel on the left side of the footwell is not sturdy enough to bolt into. My only thought would be to create a structure that fills the gap between the pedal, floor, and toeboard. I need it sturdy since I typically use the dead pedal to push against as I'm getting seated. Any other thoughts? I know the '05 gets one, so my other thought is to see if I can retrofit it with the '04.
And has anyone out there found a way to get the gas pedal and brake pedal closer together (without bending the pedal arms)? I have a fairly big foot, but I can't get my usual inside of the foot on the brake and right side on the gas to blip for downshifts. I saw the typical retrofit pedal covers that most add to their rice rockets, but those typically rely on the ability to remove the typical rubber pad. My basic thought is to make the gas pedal wider on the brake side.
So far my only real long tern concern is whether I can get the same deal in 2 years for my next one...with 400hp and hopefully a sunroof and heated seats. We'll see how winter goes too.
- Dieter
