Autoblog

Has anyone noticed that this car looks just like a Dodge Avenger? I mean JUST like my old 1995 Dodge Avenger. Welcome to 1995 GM.

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see for yourself:
http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/used/reviews/photos/index.cfm/id/2133/img/95103441990506

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i do like the holden's wheels and grooved disks better.

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similar yes but I'm guessing when you see a GTO in person you'll notice the difference in the stance most.

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yes, pontiac cloned the monaro....

i'd love to have a monaro but i doubt it would pass emissions inspection. (i love you, bunch of dirty aussies!)

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Yes JP its pure 90's nostalgia trip. But, why retro nineties? There is nothing more outdated that something RECENTLY outdated.

I now that cars in Australia are like animals in Australia, very different. But at least GM could have thrown a different body or something. If what they were trying to do was to please 5000 GTO fans they did it quite well I just think they spent too much money in the process. Not worth it. And to make things worse, along came the Mustang to deep into de GTO misery.

About those nostrils on top of the hood...whatever.

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I bet that GM could make some money selling that more agressive Monaro nose and wheels to GTO owners. Put those Monaro wheels on the GTO and it would help a lot.

Do you really think those hoods are differnt? They look identical to me.

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I'm 99.99% sure that the hood (bonnet) scoops are the same. All Holden Monaros, Pontiac GTOs, and Vauxhall VXRs are assembled in Australia and there are, as far as I'm aware, only detail differences in trim or legislated safety equipment. Holden is a tiny company by world standards and I can see no reason for them to make two very slightly different hoods for what is basically the same car.

The Monaro/GTO/VXR body is most emphatically *not* retro Dodge Avenger. It is a coupe version of the 1997-ish Holden Commodore, and if you believe the story, was designed in Mike Simcoe's (then Holden's head designer) lounge room in tape on the wall before a cut-and-shut prototype was built and shown in 1998. The Monaro program was rolled out for tiny, tiny cost and the option of putting a body on it to please the US market is absurd. However, I imagine it will be done for the next generation, US built, shipped back to Australia, Monaro/GTO/VXR.

For what it's worth, the VXR more closely resembles the HSV (Holden Special Vehicle) "GTO"/GTS than the vanilla Monaro. A Monaro has a smaller, less agressive grille/bumper than the GTO or VXR. The wheel and tyre package on the VXR is also pretty much that from a HSV GTO/GTS, a specification or two higher than a basic Monaro/Pontiac GTO.

But then, if you want to think that Bob Lutz's favourite GM division builds boring, derivative, cars, come to Australia, where Holden and Ford have never stopped building big capacity, rear wheel drive, powerful, cheap, family cars with a sporting bent. Cars with the same basic architecture as the 300C, which is (somewhat) revolutionary in its design as well as its return to V8 RWD layout, have never left Australia, not even when Ford US was building the Taurus (which they sent here and no-one bought because it was more expensive than the larger, faster, more powerful, RWD, Australia-only, Falcon.)

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You all been saying that GM been going back to the designs of the 90's nostalgia? Take a good look at the new BMW M6! That thing looks like a GTO/VXR with a little more body molding added to it.
I think the Monaro VXR looks better than the GTO and I think thats heavily due to the front end and wheels. You Aussies are a bunch of lucky bastards!!!

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ahh i think that should read "we were a bunch of lucky bastards" nobody in australia likes the nostrils and im starting to believe that nobody in the US does either, which is funny given that the were stuck with them because the states wanted them.

"I just think they spent too much money in the process." actually they spent very little, the GTO was allready built and when it was revised here (just before the states got it) they only had to move the fuel tank to meet US requirements and give it a nose job.
The monaro was allready a GM vehicle, simply swap from left to right hand drive and watch the bean counters laugh with glee.

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"i'd love to have a monaro but i doubt it would pass emissions inspection. (i love you, bunch of dirty aussies!)"

Actually the emissions were fine, the problem was safety. Monaro has a metal fuel tank under the boot (trunk, for you Americans...) whereas the GTO takes a plastic tank behind the rear seats (halving trunk space).

And the Pontiac GTO and particularly the Monaro VXR are actually based off the HSV GTO. The plain Holden Monaro is a much more subtle looking car.

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does anyone know if one of these pontiac/monaro bonnets will fit my 2002 vu ss ute? if so, where can i get one.

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Marcel,
I am pretty sure it will. I've seen a picture with a Ute with the Monaro GTO front end on it before, so I assume it all works.

Also one must remember that the HSV Monaro is $80,000 AUD BASE! That is nearly $60,000 USD. My GTO was HALF that price. Even the normal Monaro CV8 is $60,000 AUD (~$45,000 USD), the price of a base model 2006 Corvette.

I think the VXR/HSV nose is way too busy. I like the upscale looks of the Coupe4, but the whole kit comes out to around $7000 with shipping from Oz. A nice compromise is the good ol' VZ CV8 nose. Its subtle, very clean, and it flows with the car alot better than the weird looking GTO nose, and for about $700 (gonna do it eventually).

I love my car, but they really screwed up calling it a GTO. They should have stuck with the CV8 or something like that so people wouldn't be expecting a Retro-styled muscle car and then get a Bimmer/Lexus-fighting sports coupe.

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The new GTO is what the Avenger should have been.
Unfortunatley Chrysler compromised too much. Otherwise we would have a legitimate Avenger GTO showdown.

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