Long term report 2004-2006 GTO

[pont3]

I don't care what people have to say about these car's styling but they are good reliable cars. I bought my 2004 in August 2004. It spent most of its infant years in the garage----until my wife decided she no longer wanted to lug around in the 2003 Z71 Tahoe. So in July 2006, she started driving the '04 and I traded the Tahoe for a 2006 GTO.

She daily drove the '04 until March 2010 when I bought her a new 2009 CTS. The '04 GTO currently has 34k miles and I rotate it with my '71 lemans sport for daily use. The '06 GTO still has less than 5k so my impressions are based on the '04.

In over seven years, the car still has all of its original parts except a tie rod and a battery, and, of course, tires. It has had ZERO issues, NO warranty claims or otherwise. It still has wicked acceleration and handles like new. There are no rattles and nothing is falling apart. The car drives and steers as new. The interior is like new and the paint has held up. Only one small door ding from a parking lot.

One thing I did find when I replaced the tie rod was that the sway bar link bushings were incorrectly installed. Perhaps a reason why these cars got a bad rap in the handling department. Other than that, the car is still dr jekyll and mr Hyde. It won't really grab your attention until you piss it off, then it's on. Too bad GM couldn't build on these cars.

I know this is a boring report, but I can't report anything other than the car has been overwhelmingly enjoyable. The only other car that came close was not the Toyota Supra, but the '89 supercharged Cougar, but I never could get the brake rotor problem to go away on that car

In the end, forget that you don't think this car should be called a GTO. If you want a solid reliable capable car that will still dispatch 99 percent of the cars on the road today, the GTO is still a good choice. Sorry, mine aren't for sale.

[Skip Fix]

I'll give my report for you 2004 bought in eatly 05. 34,000 miles mainly outside not araged. Had strut rub under warranty needing new tires. Rear seat seams started opening up after warranty. Window switch just went out, paint early on smal flekes off door handle now clear peeling off over driver's pillar/quarter panel and rear bumper clear starting to fog bad.

My 97 Chevy truck with 200K + and never garaged just this year started delaminating on the paint. The seats never separated at the seams.

Yes I like the car and it accelerates and handles well-but some definite quality issues.

[RossGN]

In my opinion, a 34k mile car should have little, if no, issues if properly maintained. My '09 GXP has 22k miles and has had no service issues.

[Verdoro 68]

At 54k and 6 years in, most of my complaints are cosmetic. Rear seat seams are long gone. Door handle paint on the passenger side chipped long ago. My gas filler door delaminated a few weeks ago but that can be repaired with some epoxy. The clear coat on my trunk panel just recently started to delaminate in a bad way. The amp for my stock radio kicked the bucket too.

It's still a relatively sound car with no major issues considering how much I've flogged it over the last 6 years. The drivetrain has been rock solid.

The biggest waste of money I put into it was the Pedders kit to eliminate strut rub at 18k miles. Didn't fix a thing with the stock 17" wheels. Found a set of stock 18s, got it realigned and it's been great ever since. GM should have owned up and done a recall for the issue.

[PontGuy]

55K miles on my 06, purchased 6 years ago next month. Rear seat seams are split otherwise no cosmetic problems anywhere. Only one mechanical problem- the A/C compressor died summer of 2010, ouch that was expensive. Replaced the battery last year. No strut rub problems with my 17" wheels, still driving on the original brake pads and clutch.

Garage kept, maybe 50/50 city and highway driving. Took it to the drag strip once and ran 1/2 dozen passes down the 1/4 just for fun, regularly stretch it out on highway entrance ramps but no street racing. Not at all babied but well cared for.

Still drives like new, no squeaks or rattles, everything works. I am happy

[Sirrotica]

65.000 on mine, had the door handles repainted under warranty, rear seats done under warranty, The front strut bushings done twice under warranty, all the problems I had repaired under warranty are well known problems. I've put 2 sets of tires on it last set was at 60,000 miles I've pulled the T Shirt trailer probably 6,000 miles, pulled cars on my tow dolly with it, nothing to complain about at all. I like it and I'm probably going to hold on to it being the only new car I have ever bought and I have 1 more payment on it.....

[PontGuy]

A comment on the strut rub- I wonder if they put some fixes in place right at the end? Its a known issue and I have watched for it especially since I have 17" wheels, but no hint of a problem so far. The clearance is the same as it was when I first drove the car off the dealers lot.

[Sirrotica]

The reason for strut rub was twofold, first the GTO used a tire one size wider than the Holden cars did so there was less clearance to begin with. Secondly the Holdens never made a trip across the sea tied down on ships and then on the car convoys to the dealers with spacers in the front springs. The cars that stayed in Oz never had these problems. Removing play from the front suspension put all the suspension load on the rubber strut bushing/bearing and pounded them out before you even took delivery of the car. After shipping the cars like this for 2 years late 2005 they quit doing this and also changed the alignment specs so there was more initial clearance. 2006 cars usually didn't exhibit the problem like the earlier cars did because of the 2 changes made.

The rubber front end bushings used in the Holden design are quite soft and compliant and the front strut bushings are hollow and filled with a liquid. They do a great job of isolating the vibration from the body but are quite prone to premature failure. The upper strut bushing/bearing compresses and the front strut bushing ruptures letting the fluid inside escape. These 2 problems combined will cause rapid tire wear even when the car is within alignment specs static sitting on a alignment machine, going down the road the suspension is able to travel outside the specs and when the brakes are applied the suspension toes the tires out causing the inside edge to wear rapidly.

The aftermarket has made bushings less compliant and able to wear better than the OE ones that will solve the alignment/tire wear problems, however some are so stiff in construction materials they also induce a shimmy transmitted to the steering wheel. The materials must be somewhat compliant to hit a middle ground and not transfer the undesirable harmonics. This was an Achilles heel in the GTO front end, and can be taken care of with aftermarket replacements or the OE parts can be used with a life of usually less than 30,000 miles.

[IOWA552SLOW]

2004 bought with approx 30k on it spring of 07. since then i have driven it daily for 2 years and flogged it weekly. i have had slight strut rub issues, but only on 1 set of tires. think they may have been slightly wider than some others. the car has been flawless. now at 96k miles i am on the 2nd set of brakes but stock clutch. brakes are probably my fault since the rears where shot and fronts where just slightly warped. line lock maybe, might save some wear. my biggest complaint would be tires. they just don't last long enough. but i have a heavy right foot in that car. i tinted my rear windows as soon as i got the car and consistanly clean my seats with a good leather conditioner. no seat issues so far. tie rods have held up. suspension good. struts are starting to show some wear but to be expected with the milage i have on the car. now with over 500 hp i expect the stock clutch to go (already have a aftermarket on hand) planning on changing it when the weather warms up a bit. i LOVE this car!!! i do consider my self lucky after seeing some stories of issues others have had. i try to take car of my cars, but do beat on it. it looks great sitting next to my LeMans and is going nowhere anytime soon.

[wrp]

I first noticed the strut rub at 7,000 miles. Thought it was the end of the world. Fretted about it, cursed everyone in earshot and finally ran into the best front end man I've ever dealt with. He noticed a couple of things right up front. First the specs were wrong. You could clearly set the car up within the GM specs and still have strut rub. I forget the actual numbers but there was a small window between -.4 and -.1 where you could maintain some semblance of handling and not have the rub. The GM specs said something like -.7 on the low end. So technically you could be in spec and still rub. Many of the alignment machines came with charts set up to match the GM standards. The second part of the problem was due to the shipping damage mentioned already, you couldn't actually adjust some of the front ends beyond the -.4 necessary. This front end guy was able to get mine down to -.38 and I drove the car for another 77,000 miles without issue. A missed gear send me into a cow pasture one night and we had to go back and rework the setup to get it back inot the tolerances that we knew worked. This is just my experience, not meaning to be argumentative.