2002 Pontiac Grand Am SE1 review from North America

Nothing so far (fingers crossed!), just the usual maintenance items for a car at 100,000 kms.

Purchased for CDN $8700 plus taxes in May of 2006 in south eastern Ontario, Canada.

My main criteria for a vehicle was a compact or mid-size that had lots of leg room for the driver (I'm 6'4"), wouldn't cost me a fortune in gas and maintenance, and still looked nice and was fun to drive. This has tons of leg room and is very comfortable to drive even on long trips. My gas mileage has been excellent (about 25mpg, with a large part being city driving). Other than the normal maintenance items for a car at 100,000 kms (and with an unknown service history, unfortunately), like coolant and transmission fluid flushes, engine tune-up, etc, it's had absolutely nothing go wrong with it.

Pros:

- Starts great on really cold mornings (without the use of a block heater), and heats up and defrosts fairly quickly. Air conditioning is ice cold too.

- Really cool looking, even though the styling is somewhat dated (2002 was the last year of the side molding ridges on the Grand Am). Rear spoiler and alloy wheels make a big difference in the appearance.

- Great acceleration and overall performance from a four cylinder engine. I test drove the V6 option before purchasing this one and it was hard to notice much difference under most driving conditions.

- Tons of cool features and options on most of the trim levels. SE1 has air, cruise, power windows/locks/mirrors, spoiler, alloys, CD, keyless, pretty much everything you could ask for!

- The first time I drove it at night I was blown away by how cool all the switches and instrument cluster look! Everything glows red and makes you feel like you're in an airplane cockpit.

- Tons of unexpected extras, like automatic headlights, lots of wiper speed options, and even song name display on the radio screen.

- Fairly sporty, lots of fun to drive on short and long trips.

Cons:

- Braking power could be better. It really should have the four wheel discs that are available on the GT trims.

- Seats could be more supportive on the sides, and the manual adjustment isn't terribly precise.

- Doesn't have much in the way of towing capacity compared to other similar mid-size sedans.

- Extremely minor, but annoying every time, the washer fluid reservoir holds ALMOST a full 4L jug, leaving just enough that you don’t know what to do with it!

This is the first vehicle I've owned, and so far it's been excellent for me. It's no Porsche, but I never expected it to be. It's a fun and reliable car that didn't break the bank, and I've enjoyed it greatly so far.