1999 Pontiac Grand Am GT review from North America

It had a leak in the water pump.

The battery was weak.

The drive belt needed replaced.

The front spoiler was cracked.

Granted, we haven't had this car very long. But we love it, especially compared to the Dodge Neon we traded in. It seemed to be "beefier" than what I would have expected.

The dealer had gotten it in on trade just the same day we bought it, so they didn't have time to check it out. Since we had already sealed the deal, they fixed all of the problems it had at no charge. I have a feeling that if we had waited to buy it, they would have figured those repairs into the price.

The dealer replaced the battery, the serpentine belt, the front spoiler and the water pump. It's good to go.

We bought it for about $500 less than the Kelley Blue Book retail value, and got about three times the average trade-in value for our Dodge. So, we came out pretty good.

The car is quick and just fun to drive. Since it seemed so meaty, I had my mechanic son look it over. He pointed out the "high output" label, then popped the hood and pointed out the Ram Air and the sequential firing.

I've heard from others who have said they had owned or driven Grand Ams and were not impressed. I think the high output seems to make a difference. My son drove it, and he was duly impressed with the pick up it had.

I've only had it up to 95 mph, and it handled really well at that speed.

The interior is like sitting in a cockpit. We like the way the controls are laid out. It has a lot of extras we weren't used to, like CD player, electric windows and locks, etc. This is like a Cadillac for us poor folks. My wife and I have a standing wager as to who will be the first to be ticketed in it.

It's red, which we refer to as "Ticket-Me-Red."

After reading some poor reviews, I thought it would be prudent to let people know that we're very happy with ours.

It did have some problems at 44,000 miles, which is probably why it was traded in, but they were easily fixed.