1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE 3.4L V6 from North America

Summary:

Excellent first car!

Faults:

Fuel gauge does not work right anymore (at about 100,000 miles). The faster or longer you drive, the more the needle moves to F, the longer it idles, the more the needle moves to E. Putting a lot of trust in the "Low Fuel" light.

The ABS and brake light are now on constantly, but there is nothing wrong with the brakes. The EBCM (electronic brake control module) went bad (at about 105,000 miles) from rust build up.

Electrical shortage/fire in the tail light from poor design. These cars really were not designed to handle the salty roads of NY.

Snow build up in the back bumper in the winter yanks on the cornering reverse lights and pulls the wires out shorting out the lights. This again is from poor design.

Rear spoiler has really bad sun damage. I noticed this on a lot of GA's. Within a year it fades really bad and looks like it's got thousands of small scratches on it.

General Comments:

This is my first car and honestly I still love it. I still get compliments all the time on how good the paint still looks and on its style. I love the 30 MPG highway I get with the V6, and how I know its always going to get me where I need to be.

These cars will treat you as well as you treat them. A few buddies of mine own GA's as well, and they don’t take care of them so they run like crap. I luckily have had no major issues with the car until the ABS/Brake light thing. It handles like a dream in the snow, and I never feel like Im going to lose control. It's just now starting to really show rust because of the area I live in and their use of salt on the roads.

Insurance on it is relatively cheap.

My biggest complaints about the car are:

The headlights are a ROYAL pain to change, and come out of alignment too easily.

There really should be a rear window wiper for when it rains, because of the angle of the window the rain just sits on it making sight impossible (at least on the 4 Door Sedan).

Change oil light turns on after about 5,000-6,000 of driving. I wouldn't trust this thing to tell me when my oils actually needed to be changed.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th February, 2008

1999 Pontiac Grand Am GT1 Sedan 4dr 3.4L V6 from North America

Summary:

Pretty good, but nothing special for this price range

Faults:

Ugh. This car has been okay in general, but here is the list:

-Alternator at 65,000 miles with no warning. Left us stranded.

-Key less entry works only when it wants to. Two dealerships have been unsuccessful in repairing saying "cannot duplicate problem"

-Water pump at 67,000 miles.

-Moon roof started leaking at 75,000 miles.

-Driver's seat support/springs broke and sagged at 70k to 80k miles.

-Another water pump at 90,000 miles.

-Head gasket began leaking and has completely blown at 104,000 miles. Repair estimate at two different shops was $1,700 so we have sold the car as a "mechanic's special" as the car is not worth much more than $3,500.

General Comments:

Well, despite all the problems, this car has served us well and we feel we got our money's worth out of it.

This car was fairly reliable, but seemed to constantly need attention.

The leather seats were extremely uncomfortable for me, giving me back aches after 4 or 5 hour trips. This car is on the verge of being considered a compact car instead of a mid-sized car as the leg room is limited, the back seat is quite small, and the trunk will be filled with only two medium sized suitcases.

Blind spots are terrible, causing my wife to back into a building (???) and have nearly caused me merging accidents.

The suspension is definitely expectant of a sports car as you can feel every little pebble or bump, but it justifies this by being a very responsive curve hugger.

Gas mileage was consistently in the 22 mpg range for mixed city/highway driving.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 8th February, 2008