Most of the problems I have had on this vehicle is general wear and tear. Wearable items, brake pads, drive belts, rotors, have all been replaced. If you put the time and investment in this car, you can have a great time with it. If you let other "peoples" (dealerships, mechanics) do your maintenance for you, you are going to get ripped off and they will definitely sabotage your vehicle in ways that will make you mad, but the sabotage is so minuscle if you complained, you would have no case. I have done all of the maintenance for my grand am, and I have had no problems with it. I have read some other reviews by others, and it leads me to believe they got taken to the cleaners. Not that I care about these people losing money, It makes me laugh.
The passenger seat doesn't work right, mainly because obese people ruin seats. I don't believe GM ever made seats to get hurled backwards by a 350 pound person and survive. So any comments about the seats, WE LIVE IN AMERICA.
I have done a lot of work on this car in sooping it up. There is one thing GM did to lower its potential from the factory. The ram air system is not ram air capable until you plug up the extra hole in the air filter box. There is a whole on the bottom of the box that lets all of the intaking air escape before going into the engine. I believe GM did this to make engines die quicker, have less horse power, and less fuel efficiency. I have plugged this hole up and gained incredible horse power after 35 MPH. I have also added a performance exhaust system to my vehicle. With the ram air modifications and the extreme exhaust, I now get 30 miles to the gallon city driving. I have not tested this on highway yet, but I would have to imagine I would get 40 miles to the gallon. I highly recommend closing the ram air boxes extra hole, get a K&N air filter, and ripping out the extremely constrictive GM exhaust and putting a performance exhaust on. The exhaust cost me 450 dollars, 80 for the air filter, some duct tape for the air filter box hole. All in all, the car has incredible pick up and speed with these modifications, and I think people are surprised to see this car fly down the road. Over all, if you take care of your car, It is an impressive peace of machinery. I Love my Grand Am GT and I look forward to keeping it till it falls to the ground.
Amen Brother!! I plugged the hole in the Air Filter box and the difference was impressive immediately! Thanks for the tip, I've been looking for a quick way to get a little more out of the performance of my '00 GT.
We bought anew 2000 Grand Am G.T. in July 2000. We now have 80,000 care-free miles, other than a battery, and new tires at 65,000 miles, and general maintenance, this has been an excellent, trouble-free automobile. Car still looks new, and rides and handles like new. Great car.
I just had to laugh at the comment about the obese people ruining the seats!! Some years ago a very very fat friend of ours (who just had stomach stapling to try to get below 300 pounds) bought a new domestic car, and at about 50,000 miles a bolt that held the seat adjustor on snapped off.
MP Racing PCM Tune FTW!
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Wow, I seriously hope no one has taken the OP seriously on the 'air hole plug' comment. Honestly, don't freaking do it. You will end up with worse engine problems. That hole is used to draw air from the fender well, which will draw colder air than the 'Ram Air' setup will. Speaking of the 'Ram Air', if the OP knew anything about what he was spouting about, he would have said that the 'Ram Air' a Grand Am has is NOT an actual working Ram Air system like you would see in a Trans Am. There are two bends in the plastic shroud before the air gets to the air box. Think about it for a sec. It's a little hard to RAM AIR IN if it has to be deflected around two separate turns in the piping. It doesn't help performance, and you CERTAINLY won't get a boost from plugging the only other hole in the air box.
BTW - I own a 99 GAGT so yes I do know what I am talking about. They are awesome cars, just have to watch out for the usual (also, Lower Intake Manifold gasket is prone to leaking coolant, fyi). If you want real tips and info, check out forum.grandamgt.com
It's a great site and community for our cars!
Fyi for you guys, the factory ram air does next to nothing for performance, and plugging that extra hole in the box actually hurts performance. An engine will only pull in as much air as it needs for it's rpm. No air "escapes" out the other hole. It goes to an intake tube behind the head light that pulls colder air in from the fender, rather than from the convoluted routing of the heat soaked "ram air" ducting in the engine bay. Colder air is denser air, which means more oxygen to burn with fuel, which means more power. This is internal combustion 101.
Comments 15:37 and 19:22 are both right on. I'm a mechanic and car enthusiast, and the point about the bends in the "ram air" being a hindrance to performance are correct, as is the comment about colder air being denser and aiding combustion better.
I own a 2001 "Quad 4" Grand Am as a third vehicle and wanted to up the performance of it cheaply. I fabricated my own cold air system using a very short tube and hi-flow cone filter with a curved heat shroud (to facilitate smoother air flow). The increase in power is amazing. It is a much more noticeable increase than I got in my 2007 Mustang using an after-market cold-air system. The aftermarket system has a 90 degree bend and an incredibly long tube. Neither of those features really contributes to better performance.
Take off the 90 bend and it will help performance don't plug up the hole. Think of this as the engine breathing through a straw. When removed it will increase cfm and improve throttle response. Don't forget to use a K&N. The Battery acts as a heatshield.
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