1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE from North America - Comments

This car is awful for maintenance. After a year and some odd months of owning it, I am considering trading it in because it is just too expensive to maintain. Here's a list of some of the rather costly repairs it's had.

5 A/C repairs. Two were under dealer warranty, and they did a shoddy job. However, the other three were just because the A/C system is so problematic- 3 compressors, a seal, and an evaporator later it still needs work. Have yet to track the real problem down.

3 ABS repairs. All on the left front wheel. A sensor, some wiring, and a wiring harness later, it seems OK.

New ball joint, new rocket arm, and new rocker arm bushing on left front wheel. New rocker arm bushing on right front wheel. You might say it's normal maintenance, but in 80,000 miles it seems a little odd.

New heater core- there wasn't a problem with the old one- other than it being plastic. Who on earth puts a plastic heater core in a car? Last I checked, plastic is an insulator, not a conductor. Tell me how this conducts heat well.

New alternator. I can see this with the car's age and mileage. Same goes for the battery replacement I did a few months back.

There's been over $2,000 on general maintenance on this car in the past year and some months. Too much for me. Granted, this is including general maintenace... stuff you'd expect. I certainly hope for all the other Grand Am owners out there that my car is an exception, but I get the feeling A/C and ABS problems are common from what I've heard from others.

Update on the current status of this car- it now has 83,500 miles on it. I just got it back today, I needed new brake pads and rotors. Apparently, Pontiac ships their cars with rotors that are too thin to be turned, so you MUST buy new ones with the car. The back brakes, which were replaced 3 months ago, needed to be readjusted. The brake fluid had water in it and was possibly corroding the brake lines. Gee, another $400 down the drain.