2001 Pontiac Grand Am SE review from North America

This 2001 Pontiac Grand AM has been a nuisance to own. From day one there was a vibration when shifting in 1st and 2nd gear. The car also rolled backward when parked - while in gear. The 5-star dealership could not find anything wrong. Blaimed the noises on heat shields. The noises and rolling continued. Brought it in again and showed the techs the noises and rolling. they replaced the shifter assembly and blamed the noises on exhaust system. Still noisy - brought it in again - this time it was the air dam and brake lines. The fourth time, they found a GM bulletin that blamed the noise on gear rattling and performed the bulletin repair - Saturn transmission fluid was installed. The noise was reduced. Called GM - they directed me to try another dealer - did this. Found my power steering motor was gone - steered me to the bulletin and pretty much said there was nothing to do about the gear rattle. 2 months later, when in got cold (upstate NY) the fluid made it nearly impossible to shift - that is until the car heated up to 150 degrees or so... Brought it back in and had them put Dex tranny fluid back in. Of course the noise is worse than ever. Had an arbitration hearing on the car - GM pulled all the stops - flew in big lawyer with 3 GM managers. All said that the noise is normal. I should have stuck with Dodge. I owned my Colt for 9 years and never heard "gear rattles". Incentives and discounts don't mean a thing when you're stuck with a noisy, embarassing car that will be hard to sell...

Don't buy a GM unless you test drive it for several hours - get the car hot... Listen for noises. And if it starts making noises later on - your doomed.