1998 Pontiac Grand Prix Supercharged 3.8 from North America

Summary:

More expensive than having a girlfriend!!!

Faults:

I hardly know where to start with problems I've had with this car.

Had the engine completely rebuilt twice within 10,000 miles, because of poor engineering. Cost about $8000. First time was from detonation, and the second was from bearing failure. Mechanic said he would not fix it under warranty, because it was a performance car.

Car rides horrible, and has a lot of road noise and rattles.

HUD hardly ever works.

Brake pedal feels funny; like the booster is starting to go on it.

Water leaks into driver's side window when it rains, and windows are VERY slow to go back up.

Today I just noticed that I have a puddle of water on the passenger floor; I think it is coming from the A/C.

This car is stored all the time, and only driven on occasion, and the paint is still chipping and spider cracking all over where it is fiberglass.

General Comments:

I have owned this car for 4 years now, and have only put approx 27000 miles on it, and it cost me almost 11K in repairs.

I would advise anyone, if they are looking to buy one, to stay as far away from it as possible.

I also own a cheap 92 Toyota Paseo, and I would rather rely on that to get me someone than my piece of crap Grand Prix.

I have always taken pride in owning american cars, but I have to look out for my best interest, which is going with a foreign car that has much less problems. I will never again, unless I get one hell of a deal, buy another american made automobile!!!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 10th July, 2007

11th Jul 2007, 12:24

Sorry to hear all the problems, but I am not sure I would blame your engine problems just on poor engineering. First failure from detonation – do you mean the previous owner just kept driving it even though it was pinging and knocking? Small problem turns into a big problem. The second failure from bad bearing sounds more like a poor quality re-build than an engine design problem. The lack of warranty sounds strange too; I guess your mechanic did not notice it was a performance engine when he re-built it.

1998 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP 3.8 supercharge from North America

Summary:

P.O.S

Faults:

Very bad oil leak gaskets are going out.

Rear end went out had to get a new one.

Relay fuse blew.

Left window motor went out.

Cd player never did work.

Eating up tires had to replace 4 times in 5 months.

Air conditioner motor went out had to replace.

Battery cable was just sitting on there broke off.

Check engine light came on and has a hole in the air compressor had to fix.

Pulley for the turbo charge broke twice had to replace also.

The resistor went out had to replace that too.

And this has all happened within a year, but here is the dang kicker. My car started on fire today and totalled it. Started under the hood and we think it is the relay fuse box that started it. It was sitting in the garage and I had just drove it too. Only been home 5 minutes before it happened.

General Comments:

I would not advise anyone to buy this p.o.s. it is too much of a hassle and nickel and dimes you to death. I will never ever buy another one. They look awesome, but not worth the money and the time. just makes me mad and only had not even 90,000 miles on it. what a pile.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 25th May, 2007

17th Apr 2009, 23:34

Rear end went out? This car is front wheel drive... what are you talking about? The trunk fell off?

The window motors rarely "go out", they just get slow. It was probably the switch contacts getting dirty. Simple free fix.

Eating up tires? Have you had it aligned? Have you had your right foot checked?

Air conditioner motor went out? Blower motor, or A/C compressor?

Battery cable broke? That's interesting.

Air compressor? What do you mean?

Pulley for the turbo charger broke off? It doesn't have a turbo, it's a supercharger. And how does the pulley break?

I assume you mean the resistor to the blower motor, this is a common problem with Grand Prixs.

Your car probably started on fire because the valve cover gaskets were leaking and you didn't fix them. As a result the oil dripped on the exhaust manifolds after heavy braking, therefore causing a fire after you parked it.

Sounds like it wasn't maintained well and had the life beaten out of it.