Pontiac's G8 is an American sport sedan with a Bavarian personality, inside and out.

"Hmmm, it looks just like a BMW except for the nose," my friend Dave said when he caught his first glimpse of the 2009 G8.

He wasn't the only one to notice the resemblance to the Bimmer.

Car and Driver magazine featured a grille-to-grille competition in its June issue between a G8 GT and the Dodge Charger RT -- both fine examples of American muscle car heritage -- and the G8 won.

"A German via Oz" headlined a series of photos of the G8's interior, referring to the styling of the car by Holden, General Motors Corp.'s Australian division.

"The G8's handsome interior has a Bavarian look and feel that reflects the car's dynamics," the magazine said.

The wife noticed this right away, too.

"It looks very European," she said.

Pontiac touts the interior as having a "world-class fit and finish" and a level of comfort and sophistication not often found in this price range ($31,000 on the test model).

The G8 pretty much lives up to that corporate boast, although the glove box door looked a little worn and out of place.

The interior of the G8 was spacious and comfortable. While most of the instruments were easy to read, the red lights illuminating the center display made that task difficult during daytime driving.

One nice touch is the location of the controls for the automatic side mirrors, side windows and door locks. Rather than incorporate them into the door armrests, Holden's designers put them on the center console just behind the shifter.

The leather seats, part of a $1,375 option package, were comfortable cruising the freeway or on two-lane canyon roads. Both the driver and passenger seats could be automatically adjusted six ways for optimal comfort.

And the heating and air-conditioning system could be adjusted on both the passenger and driver's sides.

Pontiac introduced the G8 as a 2008 model, so the current version pretty much looks the same. For 2009, Pontiac added a GXP model that offers a high performance 400-horsepower engine.

And the company gave the model some technology upgrades. They include XM Satellite Radio and Bluetooth capability on all models. And Bluetooth capability will be integrated into the G8's standard OnStar system.

That will be a nice touch.

While the G8s are attractive -- dual-port grille, fog lamps, big wheels and flared fenders -- the test model had a hard time standing out. It was painted what Pontiac calls sport red metallic.

At one stop light, I counted five GM models painted the same color. And we encountered lots of cars painted the same hue during the test week.

The test model featured a 3.6-liter V-6 engine that didn't pack as much punch as the GT or GXP models. But it was peppy enough, and the five-speed automatic transmission featured a manual sport mode.

This model featured variable valve timing, which optimizes engine power and efficiency across the rpm range, and gave the car the best performance at all speeds.

And while it's not the biggest beast in this lineup, it still looked just like its more muscled brethren.

And that's not a bad thing.