Hang on a second, didn’t the Vibe GT make 180 horsepower? Indeed it did, although it only made 130 lb-ft of peak torque at a high 6,800 rpm. of torque, so it’s reasonable to assume that the Vibe GXP made around 175 horsepower and 168 lb.-ft. That base model made 130 horsepower and 125 lb.-ft. Still, Pontiac claimed up to a 35 percent increase in power and torque over the base Vibe. Sure, they looked cool, but legibility wasn’t brilliant. Otherwise, the interior of the Vibe GXP is identical to that of a production Vibe, right down to the rather annoying all-red gauges on early cars. Of equal joy, special sill plates really do offer a fun sense of occasion. Alloy pedals always bring a touch of childlike joy, so I’m pleased to see them here. What has aged well though are the strategic metal accents scattered about. Honestly, it classes up the joint a touch, although I’m not sure if gray faux-suede has aged brilliantly. Obviously the biggest interior change is the upholstery, a blend of leather seat bolsters, gray suede-like inserts, and the same gray suede-like material on the door cards. Honestly, a bit of color-keying, removing the roof rack, and slapping on a classy set of wheels made the Vibe GXP a really handsome little hatchback. A relatively subtle set of new bumpers, some simple five-spoke forged wheels, a nice little spoiler, and red brake calipers were paired with with a deep gray paint job Pontiac called Shadow Black Tri-Coat. Unlike most wild show cars, the Vibe GXP appeared remarkably restrained. Pontiac rolled out the Vibe GXP Concept at the 2002 SEMA show, right at the height of underglow and squash-scented air fresheners. With that in mind, Pontiac told GM’s performance division to get to work on a functional Vibe GXP prototype. Unlike the Sunfire, the Vibe was actually exciting, and Pontiac wanted to capitalize on that. It had proper utility, strong reliability, sharp styling, and an available 180-horsepower engine that wailed to 8,200 rpm. See, the Pontiac Vibe was largely a restyled Toyota Matrix built in GM’s NUMMI assembly plant, so it wasn’t exactly a cheaply-built snoozefest. Photo credit: SellerĪ strange thing, considering how it very much could have. While the GXP treatment did transform the Grand Prix into a quick, gearbox-nuking monster, it never made it to the lower end of the Pontiac range. An interior as dour as your middle school principal? Give it a G meter. Hideous understeer? Reverse staggered tires with wider rubber up front. Need more power? Transversely-mounted 5.3-liter LS V8. While it never quite shed the Grand-means-big-and-Prix-means-pricks, Juggalos-crushing-Faygo-while-screaming-down-the-Lodge image of its GTP sibling, the Grand Prix GXP was a great exercise in trying to make a car do stuff it was never designed for. The GXP line may have spawned the most ridiculous whale tail ever to grace a midsize coupe, but it also was a high water mark for retail-grade performance cars. Remember GXP? Pontiac’s special sauce treatment for vehicles as varied as the G8 tire-frying wonder from down under and the Torrent crossover? More power, more rubber, more brakes, bigger wheels. The Pontiac Vibe GXP concept is one of those latter ideas, and it’s currently up for sale on eBay in Tucson, A.Z. It produced some absolutely groundbreaking ideas in production vehicles like Quadrasteer, night vision, telematics, and integrated coolers, but some even more interesting ideas were tried out, then discarded on the cutting room floor. You just have to love GM’s pre-bankruptcy approach of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck.
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