Well boys and girls... the SRT era is over for me yet again... I had a SRT4 that i traded in for a Scion tC... Then i traded the tC 4 months later for a SRT6... The SRT6 came by way of wanting something that wasn't completely **** slow as the tC was... The tC was going to be my transition car for when either the EvoX or the Challenger was to come out... However, i just simply couldn't take it any more... the tC turned out to be my winter beater as i only did have it for such a short time, i did take it to New York for new years.

The SRT6 was a PERFECT blend of performance, handling, style, and a decent level of luxury... I absolutely love that car and still do... however, it just simply wasn't big enough, a true 2 seater, not even a bench seat in the back... and the hatch, well rarely did anything ever fit back there. I now see why people that do have these cars use them as a weekend car for the most part... I wasn't able to break 12's in the 1/4 mile in the car, but i know its in the car under the right conditions in a pay, roll up to the line and go set up. I'm positive that with fresh stock rear tires, the SRT6 would of gotten a 12.99999, but none the less a 12.

I had seen the GTO's when i was originally looking for the SRT6... I drove a 5.7 in a automatic, and just wasn't impressed, i was also looking at a new one and didn't like the price tag for what you got. After my buddy got one... it put the idea back in my head of that car... and by this point, i had been thinking of changing again due to the lack of room in the SRT6... I began to look at GTO's and G35's... G35's were just as expensive to insure as the SRT6. Then we went to Canada for the Canadian SRT Nationals, my buddy brought along his GTO... seeing what he did at the track with a VERY lightly modded GTO only added to the interest of everything. My buddy ran 13.1x @ 106 compared to my 13.1 @106 the same day in the same conditions

All i want is a 12 sec street car, i dont have lofty goals of 11's or anything crazy. Suddenly I started to find really nicely priced GTO's on the market...

Yesterday, i was searching on one of the used cars website and came across a car at Bill Jacobs Mini/BMW dealership... They had a 2005 6.0 GTO 6 speed with 20,000 miles on it for $23,950. I called into the dealership and asked about the car, they said that they still had it so i made a appointment to view it in the afternoon.

I definitely have to give credit to the staff at Bill Jacobs, yes, i'm sure its their way of having costumers be happy and its all in the plans of getting you to pay what they are asking for, they make it feels like a great buying experience there. You usually end up dealing with some slimy used cars sales man. The sales man that i dealt with was great, he stayed late to help me out, right away as i walked in, they offered me something to drink, and if not, right away the car was waiting for me in the front for a test drive. I got on it and ripped on it a bit, scaring the sale man a little i think. We got back and he asked me how much i would take for my car as a trade in... I told him i was looking for around $20,500-$21,000 realistically, the manager came over and they took my car out for a spin.

When the manager returned, they went inside to look up information on the car, i remained outside looking over the GTO. I called my buddy and asked him a couple of questions... As i popped the hood of the car, i noticed that the headers had a stamp on them "JBA", the Intake looked different, and the exhaust tips looked different then stock. Also during the test drive, i found a switch, which looked like a toggle switch, as i flipped it, the exhaust tone changed... Cut-outs!

The salesman returned and asked me into step inside... its a very nice dealership... a couple of Alpine BMW's sitting on the show room floor, the M5 was pure sex!... So we sit down... he says that they know that i want at least $20,500 for the car but the best they can offer is $19,500. I paused and asked, is there anything they can do on the price of the GTO... the manager gave a nod, and said how about we give you $19,500 for your trade in and sell the car for $23,000... I smiled and said deal... it was literally a 3 minute conversation.

Now, I told them that i know that they are still making money off me, and thats what they are there to do... but i'm happy, the dealership is happy, what more can someone ask for. So i would have a remaining balance of $3,500 + tax which comes out to ~ $4,000... they said that they probably couldn't find a bank to finance such a low amount unless they cut me a check for $6,000 and then i finance $10,000... I called up the bank, set up my debit card to accept a transfer of $4,000. A swipe of the ol' card (who has been taking a beating as of late) and bam... I walked in with the title to the SRT6 and i walk out with the title to the GTO (technically but not literally, they will mail me the title).

So, there it is... a '05 GTO... its pretty nice, its huge in comparison to the SRT6. I parked it in my garage, i lined up the car to how i park the SRT6 and half of the trunk was still outside of the garage. So i had to pull in some more.

As i got on the highway on my way home, 3rd gear (from 60-90 mph) pulled incredibly hard. Now, a lot of that can be just from the new feel of a different car, different sounds... but i don't remember the speedo rising like that with the srt6.

So for me... the SRT6 era is over... I couldn't break 12's... but i got damn close at 13.06 bone stock.... Pics coming later today.

 

Hmm, that didn't take long. Good luck with the Goat. If isn't right, it isn't right. Something tells me you'll be trading that GTO for an SRT-8 Challenger in the future...

 

Yea, i bought the car thinking that i could live with a 2 seater... but in the end, it ended up being a hassle... I still very much admire the car though.

 

So what do you figure your total costs of depreciation have been over the past few years as you flipped so many cars?

I have an aunt that went through a motorcycle phase many years back. After having been warned that cyclists often go through an upgrade-upgrade-upgrade phase after getting into biking she set out to avoid this. She went bike shopping with her (now ex-) husband and bought the biggest bike she could stand up if it dumped on its side. She had that bike for years and years.

I wonder, what will be your "biggest bike" car?

Goats are nice. I wonder why imported-domestic fast cars rot on the vine?

 

Poor Marketing, Poor Pricing/Value Points, Fickle Buying public that frequently says BUILD AND I WILL BUY IT, then they don't...

 

The SRT4... they gave me $12,500 trade in, which the car had 71,000 miles on it... i think i got one over on them there.... I sold my mods from that car for a total of $8k, so i recouped some of the losses there also.... I bought the car new for $18,900 almost 3 years back

The tC i got for $17,200, i traded in for $15,800 with 8,000 miles on it, i picked it up with 20 miles on it

The SRT6 i got for $24,900 with 5,600 miles in April, I traded in for $19,500 with 19,101 miles on it

I just spoke with the insurance company... I was paying $1,200 per 6 mo on the SRT6... now i'll pay $743 per 6 months... i'm saving $914 per year on insurance... which doesn't hurt.

 

Not as bad as I would have feared.

 

enjoy the V8 Cavalier.

 

Its a Grand AM... get it right!

 

two door Catera?

 

Well I'll chime in here being an ex Pontiac guy. The GTO is not faster than the SRT-6. There are a lot of mods for the LS-2 engine however and cheap ones at that. Traction is the problem with the goats, especially the six-speeds off the line. I almost bought one. I also have a G-35, no where near a low 13 second car, so not in the same class as the GTO or SRT-6. So what I'm asking is, why trade for a car that's not faster and has far less head turning ability that the SRT-6? Just to have a back seat? P.S. My insurance rates on the G-35 and the SRT-6 are nowhere near what you are paying for the SRT-6.

 

According to what? Most cars other then myself, Needswings, and there might be a hand full of cars here on this site that are below 13.3's. My friend, the one that came with me to Canada to drag race at the Canadian SRT Nationals ran the EXACT same time on the same day, on the same track, in the same conditions... in fact in the same lane that i did... both ran 13.1 @ 106... i'm stock, and he has just a cat back that came with the car... he had only had the car for 2 weeks and it was the first time at the track with that car... if you ask me, with a little more experience then just 5 runs at that track that day, his car would be faster then mine...

On the way home... we decided to have some highway pulls... from 55 mph to a higher speed... we were dead even with me just barely moving up on him inch by inch, which i would contribute to him shifting the car... from a 70 mph pull, he instantly put 1 car length on me over and over, and we would then just hold it there until the end of the run.

I'm not sure what a GTO puts to the wheels stock.. but he put down 333 whp 2 days after he got the car. Yes, it has more power, but it weighs a lot more then the SRT. On the same dyno, i put down 290 whp.

As for head turning ability, I could care less if people turn and see me car, sure its nice, but as long as i like that car, what difference does it make what other people think. And btw, my SRT-4 Neon turned more heads then the SRT6, with the prices still dropping like a bad meal from taco bell, there are crossfires every where here in chicago now.

As for insurance, people pay what they pay based on age and location.... I don't have a bad driving record, most companies quoted me $1,600 - $1,800 per 6 months on the SRT6, i went with All-state because there are 2 other cars on the policy and my home.

 

The Goat is a nice car. Congrats and enjoy it.

 

Thanks FP, it was nice meeting you... but after i saw what kind of characters own this car... i just had to get out of it I kid, I kid!

 

fflores -
Good luck w/the GTO. I thought very hard about getting an '05 or '06 (6.0).
Had they made a vert - I would own one.
I like the looks of them (even if it looks like a bloated Grand Am, or a previous gen Grand Prix).
The interiors are top notch and you should have a blast w/mods; reliability should be pretty good too.
I can already smell the rear tires burning!

 

Not sure if I understand your first paragraph.
I pay $1,200 every six months for the cars in my sig and for one that is not, a '99 Mazda p/u, my daily driver. I'm 41 with a reckless driving ticket 2 1/2 years ago. Full coverage on all except the Mazda and '78 T/A.
The GTO has the best interior ever found in a GM. I'm not knocking a car I came close to buying. Just saying I like a rare car and one that turns heads. I have beat an 06 GTO with my stock SRT-6 in the quarter mile. The GTO was stock also. Enjoy your Goat.

 

I owned an '04 GTO with headers/exhaust/tune. It ran even with an '05/'06. Decent car but dam are they heavy! I'm still heavily involved in the LS1 forum. It is definitely not as easy as you think to run 12's in the GTO. MANY LS2 GTO's I have witnessed go mid to high 13's at 100-105. It really is all about driver in those cars. They are incredibly tough to launch and you cannot fit a very wide tire on back due to fender rub issues. I had my fenders rolled which allowed me wider tires. Good luck.

BTW here is a video of my '04 Auto vs an '04 Stick with the same mods...I am on the left and beat him by 1 tenth of a second!

http://media.putfile.com/GTOByron

 

I don't deny that a driver makes a ton of difference... All i'm saying to those that want to put down the GTO and say that it can't be possibly as fast or faster then the SRT6. Is that with all variables the same when it comes to condition at a track. Someone i know with a '06 6.0 GTO with only a cat back as a mod on his car ran the exact same time as i did that same day. We both ran 13.1 @ 106 mph. The race on the highway, from 55-125 mph, we both were neck and neck... from 70-125 mph, he instantly put 1 car length on me.

My friend with the GTO had only driven his SRT4 front wheel drive car to the track, launching front wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars are 2 different beasts.

Numbers don't lie... The last person said that they have witnessed GTO's go at mid to high 13's... what was your car running that day at the track? That is really the only way to compare 2 different cars. If they both run in the same conditions.

I'm not knocking either car, obviously i have owned both of them and had been one of the few that actually went out and took the SRT6 to track events, I actually Dyno'd the car, I actually road raced and probably had over 50 passes in the 1/4 mile. I know what the SRT6 is capable of first hand. I've seen what the GTO has done they are both pretty close when it comes to straight line speed. Handling, thats a completely different topic lol.

 

A few of my buddies went from SRT-4's to goats. It's a matter of taste and needs... Wife has the SRT6 and I drive the Stage 3 SRT-4. More of a road course guy than a straight-line guy, but they are both great for what they do... Kids get hauled in the SRT-4, has that back seat. Wife and I go out for dinner/fun in the SRT6. Works for us. Grocery getter and long-trip driver is a Honda Fit, believe it or not. You can throw a lot of **** into those things with the seats folded down in those things, mileage and zip is OK for a 1.5l non-turbo engine... Just a matter of needs/use of the car you use.

And wow, your insurance does seem awfully high. SRT-6 coverage with $500 deductible is $875 A YEAR for us. SRT-4 is $959 a year since they have bad records of collision repair. Save some cash on insurance and call Nationwide Insurance.

 

Nice cars... I'd be tempted! http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108691

That's a great picture in your sig and I'd like to see your new one.