1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE from North America - Comments

Bought 1996 Grand Am for $1600 with a rebuilt title from my brother in law who has a business repairing wrecked vehicles. Has been a good reliable car, even with all it's been through. After about a year, someone failed to yield at stop sign and smacked the rear side of the car. Got $1400 for it from the insurance, spent $15 and elbow grease to fix it. Soon after, my wife flooded it in a huge puddle across the road in a rainstorm. Water in the intake, cylinders, and all. Spent another $100 on a rebuilt starter and cleaned the engine from the water. After new tires, alignment, new gaskets intake/up, I am about to $1600 total in the car, and could still probably sell it for that. Considering what it's been through, with all the power options and A/C still working, I am still glad to have bought it. Yes it takes work to maintain this or ANY car, but if you have some know-how, you'll be just fine! ;)

KH.

I have a 96 Pontiac Grand Am GT V6 that I've had for almost 3 years now and is fully paid for. Since I've had it I put a fuel pump and intake gaskets on it. Gaskets started leaking again about a year later and the same mechanic fixed it for free. FYI.. if your motor is ticking or knocking as it does when gasket leak... shut it off immediately to save unnecessary expensive damage.

Other than that, brakes and rotors are just wear and tear that happens on any car.

Today I put my car in the shop for a number 3 at 132,000 miles. So if I spend 1000$ this year on repairs, then it's better than paying 300+ a month for the next 4 years on a newer car with more expensive parts and at least 75,000 miles already on them. TREAT YOUR CAR RIGHT AND IT WILL RETURN THE FAVOR.

"Today I put my car in the shop for a number 3 at 132,000 miles. So if I spend 1000$ this year on repairs, then it's better than paying 300+ a month for the next 4 years on a newer car with more expensive parts and at least 75,000 miles already on them. TREAT YOUR CAR RIGHT AND IT WILL RETURN THE FAVOR."

Believe me, these are words to LIVE BY. As a mechanic I get very tired of people who rant and rave about how unreliable and "crappy" their cars are when they abuse them horribly. If you take care of ANY car (even less reliable Japanese cars) they will last much longer.

One of my prize possessions (I own 4 cars) is a mint condition 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. In 9 years it has been flawless. All I've ever done in the way of repairs is one headlight bulb and brake pads at 70,000 miles. I know there are issues with broken window clips on these cars. I have a VERY SIMPLE remedy for that problem: Every time someone gets in your car, simply say "PLEASE DON'T SLAM THE DOOR". It works for me. I've NEVER replaced a single window clip.

Another VERY IMPORTANT issue on these cars is to NEVER allow the engine to over heat. If the temp gauge reaches the red zone, STOP IT RIGHT THEN!! See what the problem is (usually VERY minor, such as a leaking hose) and FIX IT before driving any more. Once these engines are run hot they will NEVER be reliable again, and that is NOT their fault. My best friend, who knows NOTHING about cars, ran his very expensive Japanese import until it got so hot the engine seized. It cost him over $7000 for a new engine and related repairs. The cause? A little pin-hole in the coolant overflow hose. It would have cost a whopping FIFTY CENTS to fix and taken less than ONE MINUTE to fix.

I was about to buy a 96 grand am se for $2500 with 81000 miles on it. It's a beautiful car but after reading all these reviews I changed my mind and fortunately have not given him the check yet.

"If you take care of ANY car (even less reliable Japanese cars) they will last much longer."

Less reliable Japanese cars? Yeah right! Every American car I've ever owned has crapped out at just over 100,000 miles, and I'm a mechanic as well! So yes! I DO take care of my cars! All of the Honda's I've ever had have made it well past the 180,000 mile mark with the same maintenance I gave my domestics. Japanese cars are more reliable!

We took immaculate care of our family's Honda Civic. After 40,000 it was one problem after another. The CV joints went out at 60,000 miles. The ones on our Dodge made over 280,000 miles. We finally sold the Civic to a scrap dealer when the engine blew up at 99,000 miles. To me that is NOT very reliable. Fords for us from now on.

I have had my 1996 Pontiac Grand Am for 2 years.

Lots of problems! Sensors, heater core, A/C, brakes, cracked vacuum hose made the car shut off when at a stop. It would start right back up no problem. Finally found a bad hose when replacing the starter (hard to do, it's in a bad place, no room) and the key not turning off. Thanks to whoever posted about the button, now I can get key out easy without playing with thing for 5 10 minutes.

NEVER AGAIN BACK TO FORD.