Topic: POLL: GM is phasing out Pontiac by the end of 2010. How are you reacting?

[BIO Hazard]

Curious to see how today's news is affecting everyone here on the forum.....

[Acadian]

with a charlton eston voice....

From my cold dead hand !


as for today...
i'm just sad...
but still glad i own one...

[Charlie W]

I kept my 75 Triumph Trident for 33 years. Finally sold it last December. I'm almost 65 so they may have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

[gxpsly1]

We bought the Solstice for fun, not an investment. I’m sure many 401Ks lost a greater % of their value than the GXP. The fun will remain after the brand is, unfortunately, gone. I just feel bad for all the good folks who will lose their jobs because of the GM restructure.

[Sly Bob]

My answer to the poll would be:

"I am in this for the long haul. Love the car too much. They will have to pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands or I will drive it into the ground which ever comes first."

but I will be looking at another car sometime this year and I may well buy another Pontiac. You can bet there will be some great deals coming soon!

[Sol Asylum]

I currently own two Triumph sports cars the newest being almost 30 years old so its no big deal to me to have a car whose brand is no longer in business.  If I can keep two British rust buckets running it should be no big deal to keep a relatively new kappa going.

Its kind of funny kids today don't even know what a Triumph is I keep hearing who makes um?  How long do you think it will be before kids won't know what a Pontiac is?

[RUTurbo]

The only negative for me has been that the price on the G8 GXP I was looking at buying went UP!!! Ridiculous! My local B/P/GMC was already 5k above sticker for it and called me today to inform me that the were going to be asking an additional 3k to bring the price to an even 45!!!! I'm sure it will make someone happy but as for me looks like I'm going to buy a used GT and save the 20k for mods on it and my Sky.

[snaponbob]

I kept my 75 Triumph Trident for 33 years. Finally sold it last December. I'm almost 65 so they may have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

How in the hell did you keep a Trident running for 33 years !?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Geos GXP]

I currently have 3 Pontiacs and wouldn't trade them for anything! Also 1 GMC?

[Charlie W]

How in the hell did you keep a Trident running for 33 years !?!?!?!?!?!?!

I quit ridding it in 1988 with 33000 miles on it. I put it away dry and all it needed was a battery.

[snaponbob]

I quit ridding it in 1988 with 33000 miles on it. I put it away dry and all it needed was a battery.

I quit ridding it in 1988 with 33000 miles on it. I put it away dry and all it needed was a battery.

THAT is cheating. When they first came out it was hard to get 3300 miles out of them, and they went dry because everything leaked out !! I'm old school as well. A GT6+ and TR8 in the garage, and the last bike was a 1975 smoke Indy black R90S.

Back on topic, I am not really reacting to all this much at all. The KC area Saturn dealers are now gone and half the Pontiac dealers here can't even balance tires. What is NOT being talked about is the comments in the latest GM statements about how many more dealerships they plan to shed. Personally, I am more concerned about keeping the Outlook in top shape. To that end there is a Hendricks Chevy dealership about 35 minutes away and they will handle my warranty issues. So far after 20 months and 24000 I have had ONE minor issue that was handled. This mirrors my previous multiple new GM product ownership experiences except the Sky, which while being fun, is really sort of a warranty magnet ALL small crap but by many measures sort of junk. Certainly am glad I had a great Saturn store for the great help they provided. Oh well. 

[crisco]

Since I haven't bought one yet! I had to say other.But if I had one they'd have to pry it from my hands.
I only test drove a regular solstice (fell in love at once) but been lusting for a GXP since.
Still looking for one,hope to have one by summer!
P.S. is there any chance of sliding the Kappa to Chevy or Buick?
                                                                Crisco

[lil goat]

AFTER it really happens I may think about it for about a minute, I am not going to worry about it it has absolutely no effect on me or my current car, it will however effect my buying choices in the future, I will be very sorry to see Pontiac go if it does. Government or no governmnet if people want to buy Pontiac's someone will make them, Pontiac has a loyal following I think a smart business plan takes advanatge of this instead of trying to sell Buicks to people who are going to die soon. Buicks have zero appeal to the below 60 crowd, but there still making them.

[Critterman]

I'm glad my car still says Pontiac on it, that way in the future and can talk to the young wippersnappers and say "back in the day when GM build performance cars there was this division called Pontiac and they build real cars.....Let me tell you about................."

[MomsSol]

Since I haven't bought one yet! I had to say other.But if I had one they'd have to pry it from my hands.
I only test drove a regular solstice (fell in love at once) but been lusting for a GXP since.
Still looking for one,hope to have one by summer!
P.S. is there any chance of sliding the Kappa to Chevy or Buick?
                                                                Crisco

Yesterday Fritz did say that the Kappa Platform is dead .. there will not be a Chevy or Buick Kappa. 

However, it would not surprise me in the least to see a Chevy or Buick roadster appear in a few years as GM tries to appease that crowd wishing for the more affordable roadster/convertibles.  I would much prefer that Chevy be the one to take the Kappa one step further - maybe along the lines of "Little Brother to the Corvette". 

There were once rumors of the Kappa moving to Bowling Green ... wonder if the designers were thinking ahead to 'changes' 

[GTO3296]

As I’ve posted in other threads, the three Pontiacs, GMC PU and HD M/C my wife and I own will probably all outlast the both of us (I’m 63, you are not suppose to tell a woman’s age, so I won’t, but I am a year older). The good news is that after her PU is paid for, no more car payments.

I was at a retirement party (going to a lot of these now days) Saturday night. A friend (a FoMoC0 fanatic) was chiding me about Pontiac’s demise and said I was now going to have to buy a Ford. I replied, “ Well…….Um, maybe……but only if they mount an arrowhead between a pair of split grills. Something tells me they are not about to do that!”

There is an article in the latest GTOAA The Legend by Jim Wangers, how GM Execs and General Managers at PMD had screwed up consistently since Delorean left Pontiac in the early 70’s. After owning twenty-one GM vehicles (fifteen off the showroom floors and one straight out of the factory), I will never buy another new one. No un-American cars (that includes foreign companies assembling vehicles in the U.S.) are allowed either. GM has constantly stressed “Brand Loyalty” and maybe they did what they felt they had to do, but loyalty is a two-way street and I will respond by doing what I have to do…..

[LatinVenom]

I will keep my 2007 GXP as long as I can.

[EnviousSol]

I would not even think about getting rid of my 2008 GXP.

[Chemist]

Yesterday Fritz did say that the Kappa Platform is dead .. there will not be a Chevy or Buick Kappa. 

However, it would not surprise me in the least to see a Chevy or Buick roadster appear in a few years as GM tries to appease that crowd wishing for the more affordable roadster/convertibles.  I would much prefer that Chevy be the one to take the Kappa one step further - maybe along the lines of "Little Brother to the Corvette". 

There were once rumors of the Kappa moving to Bowling Green ... wonder if the designers were thinking ahead to 'changes' 

Moms,

I would, for a number of reasons, love to see Chevy come out with an affordable, drop-top, twisty-worthy two-seater. If it comes out of Bowling Green, so much the better, as I have good friends who live there. They might even let us have plant pick-up like the 'Vettes.

I'm just enough "polyanna-ish" to think that GM will keep the plans for the kappa frame around for "inspiration."

As I was saying yo my wife on the way home from a banquet last night. "I can't go back! I've got to have a convertible that I can run in the twisties."

When I replace my Solstice (I've only got 40,00 miles on mine ), I hope it's with another GM.

[tazz]

Doesn't really bother me as far as if I should or shouldn't have bought the vehicle.  I knew that this was probably the direction of GM back in Feb when I purchased the Sol or that GM would go into Bankruptcy protection but to me that really didn't matter.  I liked the Sol and that was what I was going to get period. 
Warranty work really won't be an issue but getting parts quickly to fix warranty work might be an issue.  Since our vehicle is a niche vehicle GM doesn't have tons of inventory on hand for the Kappa platform as it does for the other major platforms.  So getting parts may take a bit longer as Ive already heard and experienced already.  Most of the items I needed for warranty work or that I purchased have taken 2 weeks to get hear.  Of course that is not all do to low inventory on hand but also to shorten work weeks for sorters and packers shippers of the parts.  I can see this being more of a problem as time goes on since Gm will certainly have there suppliers only make a certain amount of product for our vehicle and then no more.  That's just the way the ball bounces and even with a popular non niche product it still happens that way but they just produce more of that inventory on hand.
As far as the brand being discontinued I am actually sad but glad that I purchased the vehicle when I did since the dealers might actually go up in price now since it will be a discontinued model.  The Turbo as well as the NA versions will also hopefully hold there resale value better since the model will no longer be manufactured.  Though it could go the other direction and tank the resale value if no one wants to buy a discontinued model new or used only time will tell on this angle what people will do and how the market will react.

[DRM]

I'm just glad GM let Bob Lutz make this roadster. 

The only problems I have had with my GXP is when a dealership got ahold of it and lifted it incorrectly.

For me, my Solstice GXP has been a very reliable and well made car.

This car is a keeper for me.....and I hope that all of you folks from the Solstice community continue to stay around to add to the enjoyment of this little car.  I learn so much from your experiences.

[HAMMER DOWN]

I got the car for what the car was & is to me. Not because it was a Pontiac  or a GM. But the last two didn't hurt the Sol-GXP chances.  

[G8TR]

I loved the Sky from the first day I saw it. I bought it and it has given me great pleasure, and hopefully it will continue to do so as long as I'm still breathing.
It's amazing how many of us that have these also have, or have had, British Leyland cars. I had 4 different Spitfires and an MGB. In fact I just recently gave my 18 year old daughter my last Spit, a '77. She brings it to me for maintenance on a regular basis, as if there would be any other way. She was so excited she was dancing out of the tax collector's office after we transferred tag and title. She has such a great time driving it and I have a lot of fun watching her do so. 
Back to the original matter at hand, I hope I can keep it running until it passes to my wife or one of my children.

[GXPsy Rose]

I currently own two Triumph sports cars the newest being almost 30 years old so its no big deal to me to have a car whose brand is no longer in business.  If I can keep two British rust buckets running it should be no big deal to keep a relatively new kappa going.

Its kind of funny kids today don't even know what a Triumph is I keep hearing who makes um?  How long do you think it will be before kids won't know what a Pontiac is?

Same here..............2 Triumphs are included our stable of vehicles

[G8TR]

Funny that a lot of us seem to have cut our teeth on Triumphs and now moved up to Kappas.