Did anyone else notice?

[Texas RS6]

Has anyone else notice how similar a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT looks like our 2003 RS6s?

There are several G8 GTs running around here. They look very, very similar. Just take a long look at the rear end and fender flares. Not so much the nose.

[Spidercat]

Haven't seen one yet. I think the car's doppelganger in the Ford Taurus or 500 something from a couple years ago (in looks only)--same side window line, roughly same proportions, similar tails, wheel shape--it's so obvious which car the designer was dreaming about when he first penned it. It's like the bizarro superman! (for Seinfeld/old Sat am cartoon fans).

[RS6-4dr911]

That's because it's the same designer. I remember reading that Ford hired him away from Audi.

[Texas RS6]

Are you serious?

I have followed several around on the toll roads. I thought there was an amazing resemblance. Tough looking beast, but cant go toe to toe with the RS6 tuned or not.

[Yellow RS6]

The inspiration/target for the G8 was the previous (E39) 5-series. I have driven a GT and a GXP, they are really good cars (especially for the price). The GXP felt like it could certainly give our car a run for the money stock vs. stock.

I'm confused by the Ford comments, are you guys saying the G8 resembles the Taurus??? No way.

[Texas RS6]

A G8 GXP, 6 speed, is on my list of possibilities if I sell my car.

[Yellow RS6]

^ That's how I felt when I test-drove one (it was an auto though), it really felt like a comparable replacement for the RS6 as far as size/roominess, power, handling, etc., but no AWD of course. I'm just not sure when it comes time to replace the Beast if I want to stay with a similiar car (like a GXP, E55, etc.) or go smaller and lighter, but most likely end up with less power. Although a 335i is very easy to bump up.......

I will say with all the cars I've test-driven in the last year, the G8 GXP is one of the few were I got back into mine afterwards and was still impressed with what I just drove. Most cars that felt great while I was driving them didn't feel so great after getting back in the Beast -lol. It's a very hard car to find a replacement for, for under $40K.

[Texas RS6]

The 6 speed would be a blast to drive. In Texas the AWD is not appreciated. It is mostly dry with no snow, sometimes ice, but I certainly would not drive my RS6 in that anyway. The car is capable but 99.9% of the other drivers on the road....

[RS6-4dr911]

The inspiration/target for the G8 was the previous (E39) 5-series. I have driven a GT and a GXP, they are really good cars (especially for the price). The GXP felt like it could certainly give our car a run for the money stock vs. stock.

I'm confused by the Ford comments, are you guys saying the G8 resembles the Taurus??? No way.

Sorry if I was not clear. The Ford 500 resembles the C5 A6 because the designer of the A6, J Mays, left VAG for Ford and designed the 500.

http://www.slate.com/id/2094068/

This one-off may well give the beast a hard time though:
http://www.fordtaurus.net/news/550hp-ford-five-hundred-gt-r.php


PS - I don't care how good it is, or how few I've owned in the past, but I would never buy a Gummint Motors vehicle on principle alone.

[RS6NZ]

PS - I don't care how good it is, or how few I've owned in the past, but I would never buy a Gummint Motors vehicle on principle alone.

Don't know if it would make you feel any better, but the G8 is actually an Australian designed and built car (with a Chevy engine) - the VE Holden Commodore with a crappy nose job. Still a GM-owned subsidiary, but Holden in Australia was one bit of the GM operation that was actually a going concern. The car is pretty good bang for the buck. Clarkson tested it as the Vauxhall VXR8 http://videos.streetfire.net/video/127-Top-Gear-Vauxhall_168693.htm.

[Texas RS6]

That was funny as hell!

I like the Pontiac version better, what can i say, I like the hood scoops in front. :incar:

I get GM V8s and am capable of servicing this car myself when it goes out of warranty. Then there is always the previous generation of the CTS-V.

[Spidercat]

That's because it's the same designer. I remember reading that Ford hired him away from Audi.

I knew there had to be a back-story! Thanks for that. This quote from that article sums it up nicely:
****

http://rs6.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8826&stc=1&d=1258134897
The Ford, in contrast, is a bit characterless, but classy. The roof is a beautiful, smooth Audi-like arc (not an accident, since Ford's celebrity designer J Mays (http://www.moca.org/jmays/) used to work for Audi). The rest of the 500 might as well be one of those brandless Anycars used in insurance ads. Like many Mays-supervised designs (the Ford T-Bird (http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/overview.aspx?modelid=10760&src=LeftNav), for one) the 500 is so simple and pure that it threatens to look flat and lifeless, with the side effect that what you see most vividly aren't the shapes but the seams between the shapes, or the trim bits that disturb the shapes. One false detail and these Mays designs are dead--in the T-Bird's case the killer is a junky plastic rear license-plate surround.
*****
No way can Ford pull off the simple, clean, timeless look--too many other cooks in the kitchen tacking on extra crap do-dads and dingleberries all over it.