From the 2008 New York Auto Show, Cars.com's Joe Wiesenfelder takes a look at the 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck. It competes with the Dodge Magnum and Honda Ridgeline.
Transcript
(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Joe Weisenfelder with cars.com here at the New York auto show with the Pontiac G eight sport truck. Sport truck is in the official name, they're letting consumers name it. What it is basically is a car and a pickup truck.
You might've seen this before inthe Chevrolet El Camino back in the day, Ford Ranchero was the same idea. It is quite simply a car with a pickup truck bed. So the truck is based on the new full-size G eight sedan. It has the same front end. It's pretty much the same all the way up to the doors, actually behind the doors, and has that same aggressive look. A little bit nostrilly, I think. And this one has a six liter V eight. Now the powertrain is shared with the GT version of the G eight sedan. Now with 360 horsepower, this isn't super efficient. So if you are looking to save fuel, maybe you want to go from a compact pickup to a small power type pickup. You're probably not going to save much fuel. Now, Pontiac said, there's no reason they can't have a V six in this model because they offer one in the base G eight, but there isn't one planned yet. Now the wheel base on this sport truck is a few inches longer than the sedan, but it's still rear wheel drive. It's called the sport truck, seems to be a little bit more sport going on because it's jacked up in the rear, it has that sporty look. But there's also the truck part. So the bed is just over six feet long with the tailgate up. It's just under four feet wide between the wheel housings. It will come with this standard composite bedliner, and it will also come with a soft cover, which gives you some advantages in terms of aerodynamics and such, keeps everything hidden too. The G eight sport truck interior, again mirrors the G eight sedans. It's pretty nice in terms of quality. We had one in the fleet recently, the sedan to drive. It doesn't quite look like your average Pontiac because this car is based on a Holden. That's the brand that GM owns in Australia, where these small trucks are still very popular, they're called Utes. Overall, it's totally roomy in the front just because there's a bed back there, there's no back seat. So they give you as much room as you need. There's actually a little bit of storage back here behind the seats. It's a lot like a regular cab pickup where you really don't have that much storage inside the cabin. While cars like this have been off the market for decades, the question everyone's asking is who is going to buy the version today's version of an El Camino. And we're not sure we know the answer yet. It may be a car and a truck. They call it the sport truck for now until it's named. Right now I'd say with this giant engine, there's a little bit more sport than there is truck, but we'll soon see. <v Announcer>For additional information on this car or any other go to cars.com and our blog Kickingtires.
