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Not sure where youre at in Chicagoland but in NYC I'm seeing 04s for 12-14, 05s for 18-20 and 06s for 19-23 all with similar mileage (sub 50k)
I'm seeing the 04's less than that with a wide difference between that and the 05's and 06's. Of course the 04 doesn't have the updates of the others, but I dunno when the time comes I might go for the unloved 04.
I freakn' loved my 2006 GTO. I bought it new on the showroom floor with 3 miles and sold it 18 months later with 33k miles. There was nothing else you could buy with 400hp, a great interior and a 6 speed manual for around $30k NEW at that time.
Sold it only because I moved from Vegas to Colorado and needed something more practical where I live and work.
I love it even more that it's very rare. I can go a week without seeing one. I see a Mustang or Corvette every hour.
It ran 13.0 at 109mph at Phoenix in December (DA was just about perfect) with just a Superchips tune and some flowmaster mufflers. Had crappy 235 tires with only a 2.0 60', so it was a 12 sec car with a tune and some better tires easilly.
I installed 1" lowering springs in the front and .5" in the rear, along with shocks (Pedders for everything). Handled like it was on rails and looked sweet!
My big gripes about it:
1. Was an import (not made in America)....other than the engine and tranny
2. Trunk was small
3. No easy way of putting some bigger tires to handle the power (roll fenders, etc to get 275s). 235/245's from the factory is a joke
The 04-06 GTO's were very underappreciated cars, except by the people that owned them. I have honestly never run into someone who owned that car who regretted the purchase.
The exterior styling is bland and IMO the 05/06 "updates" actually ruined the lines. It is a simple, yet beautiful car when you take the time to look at it in person. The interior was a strong suit and was one of the best GM interiors in the time period the car was from. The stereo sucked and it lacked a lot of the little techno features you would find on other cars of the era, but the seats, materials and overall design were very good. The seats were fantastic and I consider them to still be the best blend of comfort and sport I've ever had. The car was also extremely roomy and the back buckets were fantastic and could hold actual adults quite comfortably. The trunk was a major disappointment as it was very small as a result of the fuel tank mounting to meet U.S. crash standards.
On the performance front, they were pretty quick out of the box. The 05/06 are just a couple ticks slower than the current gen Camaro in the 1/4 and many people have managed 12.9 or better at 108+ in bone stock trim. The 04 was slower out of the box, but had equal potential for modding. The 05/06 had much better brakes than the 04 and I would almost recommend one from that year, just for the better brake system as the 04 was woefully inadequate for a car capable of going well over 150mph.
The car was heavy, which certainly blunted it's performance and the suspension was softer than what you would want in a true sports car. However, I think they were actually lighter than the current Camaro and the suspension was fantastic for high speed highway cruising, it just wasn't that good at carving corners. The tires were another issue as the wheel wells and suspension made for very few options for fitting bigger rubber that didn't take some effort to make work. The manual transmission was very strong, but the shifter was pretty bad and that ruined some of the driving enjoyment.
People tried to pretend the 04-06 GTO's were "muscle cars", even GM did this. What they actually were was a very good grand tourer for the money. I did a 1k mile (each way) roadtrip in mine with 2 other passengers and our bags in the trunk. We cruised effortlessly at an average of 75 mph with the A/C on full blast and managed to still get over 27mpg on the highway. I actually had people fighting to ride in my car on the way back as the folks in mine were the only ones not to stagger out of the car with stiff legs and backs at all the rest breaks.
To buy one now is to realize the potential the car has. They are essentially a blank slate that while a good all around performer in stock trim can be made to be anything you want with modifications. Mine (04) had a heads and cam package, nitrous kit, upgraded brakes and suspension. I put down over 420whp N/A and about 550whp on the spray. The car needed no driveline upgrades (outside of a clutch) to handle the power and never had a mechanical problem. It was raced regularly and ran high 11's N/A and managed a best of 10.8 on the bottle in race trim. It still drove flawlessly on the highway and had fanastic street manners. It would have been even faster on the track, but it would have required some major sacrifices to optimize the suspension for drag racing and fitting bigger tires.
Overall, IMO it is one of the best performance car buy's in that price range and is certainly "better" than Mustangs of the same vintage and is faster than virtually every import car from that time period in it's class in stock form. It will run with M3's and will murder EVO's and STI's on the highway. G35's and 350Z's don't stand a chance. Please don't misconstrue that statement to mean that the others aren't better in specific circumstances, but when you catch another fast car on the highway (usual amateur racing situation) and want to stretch your legs a bit, the GTO will never let you down.
Not sure where youre at in Chicagoland but in NYC I'm seeing 04s for 12-14, 05s for 18-20 and 06s for 19-23 all with similar mileage (sub 50k)
I used nationwide data.
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