You’ve heard your grandfather’s opinion a million times before; everything was better in his day. That, and he had to walk 2 miles to and from school, uphill, both ways.
In this episode of Motor Trend’s Generation Gap, we get to hear both sides of the old vs. new argument, as the guys debate which is the better Pontiac GTO: the 1969 GTO Judge, or the 2006 GTO.
A comparison between the legendary limited-run Judge against the base 2006 GTO would hardly be fair, however, so this particular 2006 example is a very special one-off from Ken Lingenfelter’s collection. It features a widebody kit, and twin turbochargers to feed air to its mammoth LS2 V8, bored out to a whopping 6.5 liters.
This pushes the 2006 custom GTO up to 750 hp, versus 366 hp (both measured in gross hp) from the Judge’s 400 cubic-inch V8 (also approx. 6.5 L). But as we study the cars for the vastly different experiences that they offer the driver, is doubling the horsepower and bringing it into the 21st century necessarily enough to make this 2006 example the more desirable GTO? Watch the video to see the guys’ pick.
Comments
If one is an ancestor, wouldn’t they have to be related???
Why use a Highly modded 06 GTO? A Stock 06 would have beat the Judge in every way except looks. Although, these days I prefer the Modern 05-06 GTOs to a Judge as well.