[vette68]

Just curious what everyone's story is. I know for me, it was June of 05 and GM brought the Auto Show in Motion to Cleveland. Basically they set up autocross style cone courses and let you beat on just about any car in their lineup. SSR, CTS-V, Corvette, even the Hummer, Saturn & Saab. Anyhow, I'd heard about and seen the ads for the 04 GTO's and was a little unimpressed by their styling (no offense to those that have one...) and this was the first time I saw the 05's. Then I drove it. And drove it again. And drove it again. Probably like 6 times that first day. I loved it so much I went back 2 days later and took my neighbor so he could drive it. From that point on, I was posessed. I couldn't stop thinking about the car. It wasn't until about 2 months later that I found a dealer locally selling a used 05 in the EXACT color combo I wanted (blue on blue m6). I didn't even need to test drive it, but I did just to remind myself of why I wanted it...

And the rest is history... So, that's when I knew I had to have it.

Bill.

 

[s2gordon]

For me I was at my local pontiac dealership test driving a G6 GTP coupe and the salesman saw my wife and I looking at an 06 they had on the lot. He came out with the keys to the G6 and the GTO. He didn't tell me until we were in the G6 that he saw us looking at the GTO and he had the keys on him, so we could try it out for "****s and giggles" when we get back.
Once we got back He started the GTO and i heard the exhaust.. that's the magical moment when I had a big grin on my face Sat in the car, lost myself in the most comfortable seats i've ever sat in and let the ever so slight vibration from the engine carry me away and everything around me was lost. It was just me and the car...
One week later I was in Jacksonville picking up my 05 MBM M6.

 

[BRunkelGTO]

I have yet to drive one yet and I still know that I must have one. I have always been a huge pontiac fan, introduced by my friend's Grand Prix GTP, and when I heard about the new GTO coming out I was curious. I fell in love with the subtle, yet aggressive look, and it took me to the bank when I was at a stop light and heard one roar with that beautiful V8 sound as it downshifted to stop at the light. So i've been checking out this forum lately and getting more and more interested. Starting to save for one now!!

-Ben

 

[MeanGoat]

Very nice topic.

My moment was when I went for the test drive at the end of March last year. I knew about the car already because I has just bought my wife a G6.

I started it off the lot and accidently broke the tires loose just doing what I thought was a normal clutch release. Took it down the the road and was first at a light to turn left onto a three lane state road. Turned the corner safely, shifted into second and it grabbed me and pushed me into the seat. Mashed the gas and went through 1-2-3-4 gears before I looked down at noticed I was doing nearly 70. That was my 'moment of Zen'.

I was infatuated. Couldn't get it out of my mind. I went and test drove an Acura TL, 350Z, '05 Mustang, and still I COULD NOT GET THIS CAR OUT OF MY HEAD.

Bought her on April 16th. Now I'm getting power hungry again and looking for easy mods for more hp. Hard not to get hooked.

Nice topic, vette98. Wanted to mention that I used to live just down Lorain Rd from you in North Eaton. Dad still lives up there off Rt 82. Thinking about bringing the goat up this summer so we can do some mods in his shop. :cheers

 

[bergenfelter]

I started my adventure when my buddy at work had already purchased a 2005 M6 GTO and let me drive it for a while while I was on home leave. Let's say the rest is history...

I was still living in Italy on a foreign asignment and bought my GTO over the internet. The GTO sat in may garage in the states for 2 months until my assignment was over and then it was time to have some fun...

I am going on month 2 of driving this car, and love every minute of it. Yes, I drive it in the winter, and need to be a bit careful, but in all the muscle cars I have owned over the years, this is one of the best.

My favorite is the upshift at 6500 RPM in the bottom three gears, can you say warp drive?

John.

 

[Yellow6.0]

Had an Infiniti G35 coupe. I was sick and tired of having to get the rpms up so high to get anything out of her. I felt like all the people around me thought I was trying to race. Nope - just girl who is always in a hurry.
My husband has a Corvette. He also has a daughter so guess who HAS to have 4 seater? Me! Doesn't make sense. I know.
Anyway, went shopping for something with the most bang for our buck. Found the wonderful GTO!!! First had my eyes set on a blue one. Then I drove it!!!!! HAD to have it!!!!!!
My husband already knew that I had a thing for yellow. He stole my G35 from work and then surprised me with the Yellow GTO!!!!!!!!!
It was love at first sight.
arty:

 

[redrocketgto]

My quest started in 04,after having my Z28 lemon lawed,I ended up with a Monte SS.I had this car for about 7mo. and just missed the ponies.So I had two options the goat or a 350Z,I stopped at a few Pontiac dealer's and they did not want to deal,So I got the 04 Z instead.I had it and enjoyed it for 10mo. and then came the incentive's.The Pontiac dealer is only 1 1/2 mi. from the house,I go on a monday for a test drive and was hooked,come 6/10/05,I was the proud owner of my GTO and I have loved every minute of it.arty:

 

[HTRDLNCN]

For me it was since I found out we would be getting Holdens imported to the US,,been wanting one as long as I could remember but you can only bring over Holdens that are 25 years old or older no new ones. So as soon as I found a good deal i bought one.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

My "gotta have it" moment started out as a "this will do" moment. I'm 23, about to graduate from Georgia Tech, and engaged to the best girl in the world. When my truck got rear-ended in December my fiance desided she wanted to trade her "toy" ('04 Eclipse Spyder GT) in for something for me since we were going to trade it for something for me when we got married anyway. Her rationale was why make payments on something she wasn't going to get to keep... I didn't complain.

I've had Corvette Fever since I was in 6th grade and dad took me to the Corvette Museum and Factory in Bowling Green. I even had her convinced to let me get an '01 C5 Corvette. We'd been shopping around for a few weeks and had narrowed it down to a couple (white vert at carmax, green couple somewhere else). We'd driven both and had done the price/payment/trade dance with both dealerships. At that point she said she wasn't 100% comfortable with a car that old with that many miles (60k on both) for the kind of money we'd be spending. She also wasn't crazy about the car itself, lack of a back seat, and insurance prices. She asked if there were ANYTHING else out there i'd be happy with. That's when I showed here the GTO.

Almost instantly she remarked at how much more she liked the GTO and how much more sense it made. I knew everything she was saying was true but still felt like i was settling... until I drove it. The powere was responsive but much more linear and easier to control than the Vette (mainly due to the weight difference I'm sure). The exhaust note was a bit more subdues but opened up as you pushed the accelerator. The seats were more firm but also more supportive and better constructed. Goosing it when turning at a stop sign and feeling the rear end start to move out made me realize this wasn't a compromise at all... just a more logical packaging.

We ended up with an '04 Torrid Red on Black A4 with 14k miles. I love the car... I love my fiance even more... I still want a Vette but it can wait until "someday" when it makes more sense. The GTO will keep me grinning every day until then.

 

[raven1124]

Great topic vette68!!!

My story goes back to 04 when My friend told me that they were bringing them back and that he saw a commercial for it. Well I saw the commerical one day with the stoplight theme and later I saw the one with the GTO sliding sideways into the garage. So I did so research on the Internet and drove to the dealership at 1:00 in the morning to see if they had any. Sure enough they had a red on red A4 04. The next day I test drove it and fell in love. The dealer talk to me about the price and I just couldn't afford it. So I saved up for about a year and got my baby in September of last year and couldn't be happier.

 

[derf]

I knew about the Holden Monaro and Commodore back in 2002 or so. Learned about the Saudi version (Chevrolet Caprice) that is left hand drive and started casually looking into having one imported. I wasn't too serious but as soon as I heard about the Monaro being imported here in 2003, I got in line.

I bought my GTO in January of 04. I was one of the first few to own one in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. :cool

 

[Yellow6.0]

Great topic vette68!!!

My story goes back to 04 when My friend told me that they were bringing them back and that he saw a commercial for it. Well I saw the commerical one day with the stoplight theme and later I saw the one with the GTO sliding sideways into the garage. So I did so research on the Internet and drove to the dealership at 1:00 in the morning to see if they had any. Sure enough they had a red on red A4 04. The next day I test drove it and fell in love. The dealer talk to me about the price and I just couldn't afford it. So I saved up for about a year and got my baby in September of last year and couldn't be happier.

Did you end up getting the '05 or the '04?

 

[raven1124]

Did you end up getting the '05 or the '04?

05 black on black M6. I was so down when I didn't get that 04. I can remember going to the Pontiac web site and seeing the 05. The first thing I noticed was the hood scoops. Then I read that they were putting the LS2 in it. I'm so glad I couldn't afford that 04!

 

[Verdoro 68]

I don't know about "it", but I got into GTOs at around 11 or 12 years old by watching old Monkees reruns. At the time the first musclecar boom was starting to hit. My cousin and my uncle had a really nice '70 Mach 1 which planted the seed for me. Around the same time I bought "The Big Little GTO Book" and read it until the pages fell out.

Somewhere along the way I settled on a '68. So, my dad and I picked up my '68 in May of '91 by cashing in a savings bond I was to use for college. Heeding the warnings of those who said "never sell that car", I didn't and don't plan to anytime soon.

Even back then I was eagerly waiting for Pontiac to come out with a new GTO. Pretty much all we had to go by for a new GTO back then was a lame GrandAm GTO concept. When the GTO show car came out around '98 or '99 I thought it was a good sign, but nothing ever became of it. By late '99 the Firebirds were looking really gaudy with all their body cladding and in a moment of weakness I settled on an '00 Eclipse. The honeymoon ended shortly after I bought the car and I spent the next 6 years regretting the purchase.

When they announced the '04s I was excited that the nameplate had been revived and applied to a RWD mid-size V8. I admit that the plain styling put me off a bit, but I thought it was kind of cool that it was a sleeper. I tried to convince myself on a regular basis that I didn't want a new GTO.

Around November of last year I noticed the dealer in town still had a new '04 on the lot. Just for kicks I decided to check it out. All it took was one test drive and I knew this was the car for me. It had a lot of work to do to convince my wife I needed it because we had just paid off the Eclipse. Finally, she relented. Things were tense between us for a few days, but she got over it and actually enjoys the car now.

 

[GTOJon]

05 black on black M6. I was so down when I didn't get that 04. I can remember going to the Pontiac web site and seeing the 05. The first thing I noticed was the hood scoops. Then I read that they were putting the LS2 in it. I'm so glad I couldn't afford that 04!

I had a similar experience. In August of 2004 I went to the dealership and saw a beautiful Torrid Red GTO and had such a gut feeling that this one was mine (still have the pics on my computer). After crunching some numbers we came to the conclusion that it was just not affordable for me at the time. I was completely heartbroken and from that August to April of 2005, when I finally got my GTO, I would look at the Pontiac website daily and always catch myself thinking about the car. But it worked out, I knew I'd get one at some point but with the changes for '05 I'm glad I couldn't afford it in '04.

 

[raven1124]

I had a similar experience. In August of 2004 I went to the dealership and saw a beautiful Torrid Red GTO and had such a gut feeling that this one was mine (still have the pics on my computer). After crunching some numbers we came to the conclusion that it was just not affordable for me at the time. I was completely heartbroken and from that August to April of 2005, when I finally got my GTO, I would look at the Pontiac website daily and always catch myself thinking about the car. But it worked out, I knew I'd get one at some point but with the changes for '05 I'm glad I couldn't afford it in '04.

Exactly. I was just so sick that I couldn't get it. I always thought about it and my friends got tired of me talking about it. I would just say to myself "you'll forget about this thing in a month" and that never happened. I love it just as much now as I did when I saw that first commercial.

 

[GoatLovin]

I should start by saying my name is Mike, I'm 19 years old, I go to college in NorCal, work 4 - 5 days out of the week and do not have a GTO yet.

I never really followed the GTO when it came back in '04. I wasn't really even following the car scene since I didn't need a new vehicle. About 7 or so months ago it hit me... I am bored with trucks! My first truck was a 2000 Toyota Tundra SR5. I cannot tell you how much I loved that truck... perhaps only because it was my first vehicle. I now drive a 2005 Silverado and am bored to tears with it and trucks overall. During this time I started looking at sporty cars. Of course the immediate ones that went through my mind were 350Z's, Mustangs, G35's and last-gen Firebird Trans - Am's. (I still love those Firebirds by the way.) Anyhow one day after school I dropped by my local Pontiac dealer just to check things out... there it/they were. Two 2005 GTO's. One IBM/Blue A4 and a Torrid Red/Red M6. I was talking to salesperson who didn't look to be over 22 about the car... actually he was talking to me, but I wasn't listening... the car had my full attention. Next thing I know I'm sitting in the drivers seat taking in the interior. Amazing! I hop out and am ready to leave when IT happens. The salesman runs inside and comes out with the keys.

I am riding shotgun with him at the wheel. He takes me out of the dealership and down a long straight road. He turns into the Intel parking lot and tells me switch sides. Now keep in mind I'm used to trucks, so my idea of power was tainted at the time. I drive out of the parking lot and onto the main road normally. He tells me to jump onto the freeway and to drive it like it was mine. This is when I KNEW I HAD to have it. I wouldn't say I mashed the pedal down, but enough to think "Holy sh!t I think I'm in love!" A few moments later I'm in the fast lane doing 120MPH with the salesman looking out the window like this was normal. I drive it back to the dealership knowing I would have a GTO someday.

Well, it's February now. The way things are going I will be buying an '06 sometime in the June - August region. The car has been on my mind every day. It's getting worse as time goes by. To those of you that own this car, I salute you.

Damnit, I want a Torrid Red on red so bad it hurts.

 

[raven1124]

Man, I know how you feel. I obsessed over this car every day and still do. just keep saving up and you'll have your goat in no time. And welcome to the forumarty:

 

[Tom]

I knew I had to have it when they raised the rebate to 5500 and upped my 900 in gm card earnings to 5000 and left the residual at 18700 at 3.5%

 

[noz34me]

I knew I had to have it when they raised the rebate to 5500 and upped my 900 in gm card earnings to 5000 and left the residual at 18700 at 3.5%

I know what you mean! Same thing happened to me late in '04. Found one in WV and my "out the door" was about the same. If I hadn't just gotten a '68 Chevelle that year, and back from bodyshop that fall, I would have gotten it then.

Kept thinking about it tho, and got the green light from the wife to "just get one" this past fall. I waited and waited for a similar GM Card deal, but it never came. I finally got my '05 PBM 6M for $23,500 just using my hard earned GM Points, GM $2500 rebate, and whatever negotiating skills I possess about a month ago. Haven't regretted it!

My "realization" came when I was within a gnat's arse of buying a CrossFire. Thought about it, and it just didn't measure up (even though I think the exterior and interior are one kickass design). Killed that deal, and within 2 weeks had the Goat.