Just wanted to let everyone know that Motorweek will have a road test on the Bonneville GXP starting the weekend of 20 Aug. Here'* the list from their website.

MotorWeek #2351
With Host John Davis
PBS Broadcast Window Begins August 20, 2004

Road Test: The V-8 powered 2004 Pontiac Bonneville GXP sedan
Road Test: The small and mighty 2005 Lotus Elise sports car
Goss' Garage: A Baked-On Finish
High Road: Happy 40th Birthday Ford Mustang
For a Cleaner America Series: Renewable Gas from Trash

they are either late as hell or its a rerun. I would have never thought they would test drive an all new car thats already out.

Living in Germany and awaiting my new GXP (expected within 2-3 weeks) I have been anxiously awaiting complete coverage in all the major auto magazines and on Motorweek and was perplexed by the lack of complete coverage. I have been following Motorweek since early this year and this is their first coverage of the GXP. BTW, I am very curious to see how the Germans react to this car over here. I had a 2003 Bonneville SSEi but it got totalled last year with only 3000 miles. Every time I would drive anywhere here in Berlin, Germans would swarm over the car wondering what this thing was. I believe GM should seriously considered selling some of these in Europe. The Germans do love American cars but they just don't seem available. When I tell them what I paid for the car they think I am BS'ing them. They literally drop their jaws and shake their heads. To get a car over here with the options in the Bonnevile, they pay an exorbitant amount and these options are only in high end cars like Audis, Mercedes, and BMW'*. The tax and tariffs on American cars must be very high. The recent gas price increases don't help much either but there is still a market for American cars. I have noticed a ton of Chrysler products over here for obvious reasons.

With the very aggressive final drive ratio, the GXP probably won't be that great on top end on the autobahn but I'm not one to cruise constantly at 130 mph for long stretches. The SSEi topped at 135 mph and that was good enough for me.

That ridiculous governor should be lifted in countries that have No Limit HIGHWAYS..like the Autobahn

My goodness...

I bet you are one of the few in Europe that drive such a car. Out of curiousity, how much do they cost? And is it considered an "import?" :P

In C&D, the bonnie GXP topped out at 141 mph. That should be good for the autobahn.

I'll believe that if the GXP Bonneville comes standard with V-rated tires.

i find it odd the gxp is drag limited at 141mph, my heaver 4.0 aurora has done 140, im really starting to think these engines need some miles to really open them up, ive got way to many miles (143k) and i can do 140 not sure on my 1/4 times though

I work in the U.*. Embassy here and so I bought my car through what they call dipomatic sales. It was basically as if I bought the car in the states. A little cheaper actually because there was no sales tax. I paid $32,818 for the car. Now, I didn't get all the rebates that were being offered in the states. I got the one with the $3000 rebate but that was it. I trieed to get the extra $2000 but that was not availble for us. That price is with every possible option available, fee for the diplomatic service ($550), and shipping over here. In reality, there was no charge for shipping it to Germany. Being in the military, I get to ship a car over here for free. Acctually, I got to ship two, but there was a special reason for that. So getting back to the question, "Is this car cosidered an import?", yes. In Germany, as in the states, you have different spec requirements. All cars made for the German market have bigger brakes, higher speed rated tires, higher speed limiters/governors, different lights/lenses, and speed in Km. The cars over here have to be able to sustain higher brake temps and speeds. As far as I know, Pontiac does not make any Bonnevilles for the European market. You could probably get one converted to Euro specs but that could be extremely expensive. Our emissions regs in the states I think are more stringent than here but getting the other things and having them installed would be exorbitant.

One other thing I wanted to mention and that is the octane for gas here. Because of the high speeds and possibly bumped up timing, the octane for all grades are much higher than in the states. Regular is like 91, Super is 95 and what they call Super + is 98 to 100. And that'* at every gas station! The price? About $1.45 per liter or about $5.48 per gallon. Fortuantely, we get to buy gas "coupons" and don't pay nearly that. About $2.20 a gallon. Still more than the states but nothing like the Germans shell out.

You nailed it. I know my 98Z71 'woke up' at 30,000 miles. I checked with the dealer, and he told me that most of the GM engines do that. Both in efficiency and power.