CD Article: Pontiac Grand Am, 1999-2004

[CD_Editor]

         
Used Vehicle Review:


Given the Pontiac Grand Am's poor reliability record, Contributing Editor, Chris Chase doesn't recommend buying one.  There are other used cars with better reliability for about the same money, he says.
 
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[Juke1]

Only one word to describe this car  J U N K

[alienc]

I had a 1995 V-6 model.

The worst car I ever owned, I had it for 2.5 years and spent about $3000 repairing it.  I still owed money on it when I got rid of it.

Problem areas:

Rotor/Pads 3 times
Strut mounts (they were rusted and they caused the steering to bind)
2 set of front struts
Steering Rack (likely caused by the above problem)
2 set of Spark Plugs and wires
2 Ignition coils
2 alternators
Intake Manifold Gasket (I only had to replace this once)
Several AC Components (Compressor, all lines & Condensor)

The transmission and motor worked well and it was plenty powerful.  Just the cost of maintenance wasn't worth keeping it.

The way they wedged the motor under the hood caused it to run constantly hot and the cooling fan never turned off.  I think this heavy engine is also what contribued to the constant Strut and Brake replacement.

I stick to 4-cylinder cars now, alot easier to work on and not as hard on brake and suspension components.  I do miss the effortless torque though.

[BlackS40]

The '95 was a different animal from the '99.  I owned a '99 and ran it up to 242,000 km without too many issues.  Mind you, I couldn't wait to get rid of it to get into the Volkswagen. 

[Matthew]

Finally, an issue that I am passionate about. I have looked for information of this caliber for the last several hours. Your site is greatly appreciated.

[FiestaTT]

Alero typically got around 7-8L/100km while my buddies Grand Am usually hovers around 11-12L/100km so I am told.

Did the Grand Am have a fuel line leak?

[Greg B.]

I owned a Oldsmobile Alero, an infinitely superior car in every way.  The Alero other than motor and tranny is completely different.  The front subframe on the Alero is hydroformed Aluminum and much stiffer, which gave the Alero a ride and handling edge over the Grand Am.  

Hate to tell you this but they are the same car, were built on the same assembly line, and are identical mechanically, structurally and chassis-wise. Only styling and trim differs.

[Careener]

Your friend's Grand Am has piston slap..quite common on that engine.
Has your dash warped on your Alero? Also do you have an extra shifter knob? My coworkers fell off and he can't source a new one.

[Winklovic]

Those Grand Ams are also ridiculously easy to steal.

[Honda Owner]

The Grand Am is one of the worst cars ever built. It was typical of GM cars of the era, ie it was designed to look good but fall apart one km and one second after the warranty was up. What is really ironic is they were not cheap when they were new.

As for the other poster's views on the Alero, they are the same car. The part numbers for all the mechanical components are identical.

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

Honda Owner  "it was designed to look good but fall apart one km and one second after the warranty was up."

Funny, guess I was lucky. Mine is almost 7 years old, over 171,000km and is still running fine (engine, transmission, A/C, etc.), no intake manifold problem, no leaks and everything is solid. Was maintained every 3 months/4000-5000km. Prevention and the way it was taken care of and driven are key.

[Spec5]

Honda Owner  "it was designed to look good but fall apart one km and one second after the warranty was up."

Funny, guess I was lucky. Mine is almost 7 years old, over 171,000km and is still running fine (engine, transmission, A/C, etc.), no intake manifold problem, no leaks and everything is solid. Was maintained every 3 months/4000-5000km. Prevention and the way it was taken care of and driven are key.

My wife had an '03 fully loaded (even had the ridiculously heavy ram air hood) and it was great to her. I was actually quite surprised how tight it still was when we sold it. Of course it only had about 60k kms on it I think over 3 years. I was worried about the intake issue though as I know thats been a huge problem on the 3.4L engines in general.

[footlong58]

So.... 2 good ones out of 1 million then.

[Spec5]

So.... 2 good ones out of 1 million then.

 

[mmret]

Hahha I had one of these!

My tastes were pretty non-discerning. To a college student any car that runs and carries 5 people is great. And it ran.

It did have a misfiring cylinder once and I couldn't accelerate at all going uphill (fixed for a hundred or so)...and it chewed up 12L / 100km for some reason, and it was rusting, and the AC gave up all within 70k..........but whatever, it carried me and my friends to many adventures.

[johngenx]

We need to carefully preserve some of the GM models from the 90's.  Every new GM employee needs to be exposed to them, and management needs to see them as reminders of not only how far GM has come, but where not to go back to.

Seriously, look at those cladding festooned Pontiac models.  Misaligned panels, horrible interior fit and finish, poor paint, early rusting, mechanical problems galore.  Even the last of the crappy GM products (Aveo...) are not in the league of those 90's junk cars.

The other day at the grocery store I saw an Alero parked next to a new Malibu.  Hard to believe they were built by the same company...