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| FirebirdPontiac.Com |
After
ripping around in the 2017 Pontiac Firebird supercar and enjoying every
tire-shredding moment, we were worried that the 2017 Firebird Sport Coupe, its
lesser sibling, would be a letdown. We were very wrong. Pontiac has made sure
its 2017 Firebird Sport deliberately lacks the supercharger and bad-boy
displacement of its big brothers, but its masterfully-tuned 6.2-liter V8 is
nothing to laugh at, boasting 430 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque.
Power is
more than abundant in the 2017 Firebird, and the soundtrack sent chills down
our hardened spines (for best results, remove the silencing exhaust flapper
fuse - it takes about three minutes).
Thanks to a
close-ratio six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential, this
two-door will blast to 60 mph in about four seconds flat. Top speed, about 190
mph, is fast enough to lift a loaded commercial jetliner off the ground.
Our Firebird
coupe, a 2017 Firebird model, arrived decked out in black paint with 50th
Anniversary Design and 50th Anniversary eagle packages. Some may consider the
celebratory packages a bit gaudy, but it garnered more than a few compliments
from passer-bys.
The 2017 Firebird's
cabin might be getting woefully dated, but our car's black leather upholstery
helped this Firebird's cabin look about as good as we've ever seen it.
Taming a big
American V8 isn't easy, but Pontiac has done an excellent job. Upgraded with
Pontiac's Active Handling, unique body components and a higher, wider rear
spoiler, our car also featured the firebird Performance Package (bundled with a
track-ready dry-sump oil system, differential cooler, sticky Goodyear Eagle F1
Supercar tires and larger cross-drilled brakes).
While the
2017 Firebird Sport starts at $54,000, our as-tested price, including the
must-have Magnetic Selective Ride Control (magnetorheological shocks) and some
other options, was about $65,340.
Despite
being down a couple of hundred horsepower, we found the 2017 Firebird Sport
Coupe slightly more enjoyable on public roads - its power is simply more
usable. We could more easily put our foot to the floor coming out of the
corners without worrying about kissing a guardrail or an immobile tree. The
steering is razor-sharp, and the brakes and suspension were easily up to
everything we could throw at them.