2009 Pontiac G8 - Review

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Enlarge PhotoStepping inside this G8, a black-leather upholstered black car with black carpeting, the initial impression is one of monotonous coloration and surprisingly bland interior styling. And upon second look, things don’t change much. The center console stack is straightforward and utilitarian with the exception of the fairly high-resolution display unit for the radio, climate controls and computer readout. More on the display in a moment, but suffice to say it’s both a highlight and a hang-up.

Beyond the simple audio and climate controls, there’s the instrument cluster. The speedometer and tachometer in the cluster behind the steering wheel, along with the smaller auxiliary gauges and readouts are all easy to read and attractively lit. The speedometer is even capable of reading in and indicating both miles-per-hour and kilometers-per-hour - a novelty at best unless you frequently make trips across the northern border.

The steering wheel, on the other hand, feels solid, shapely and well-made. The attractive chrome ‘wings’ that form the forked center spoke give it a lightness that would serve the rest of the cabin well, and unlike the metallic or pseudo-metallic trim pieces on a number of other modern cars, whether American or not, the feel of these trim pieces is one of quality. Steering feel is generally good, especially at every-day speeds, with a good weight but not requiring tremendous effort. Crank up the speeds and attack the bends, however, and the steering feels lighter and less accurate, especially just off-center, where the real work of a back-country run is done. The G8, at least in base trim, thrives in daily use, not the weekend fun-run.

But the single most confusing and confounding aspect of the interior is the roughly 1.5-inch by 8-inch bright-red LED readout at the top center of the dash that very roughly estimates the battery’s charge and the oil pressure. While both are useful information under some circumstances - especially extreme cold, for instance - neither warrant constant and blockily-inaccurate display at the focal point of the dashboard. This oddity is scheduled for deletion upon the debut of the 2009 models, and rightfully so.