1994 Pontiac Grand Prix SE from North America - Comments

Brakes constantly wear out.

Burns oil and gas very fast.

Transmission slips and not to mention that Automatics suck.

Power Antenna and Hands free controls don't work.

Drivers door-Pretty much nothing in this works except the lock. I can also roll up the passenger's side window.

Engine is a pain to keep warm in the winter and constantly overheats in the summer.

Slow and handles very poorly. Also has a wide turn radius.

Everything electrical started malfunctioning around 97000 miles.

Sunroof and driver door leaks.

Seat belts don't really work.

Cup holders have no practical use.

Has a bad tendency to have something else break right after you fix another problem.

There are many, many more problems, but most are minor and not a really big deal.

Where do I begin? This car is by far the worst running car on the road. Granted some of the problems are "easy" fixes for people who know what they are doing or have money to fix it with.

This car is slow, handles poorly, and can't stop to save it's life. I had a mechanic check out my brakes and he said there was nothing wrong with them other than the fact that my back brakes weren't working. So he fixed that, but it hardly improved. My parking brake also sticks so I never use it.

The transmission on this car is terrible. It likes to shift for no apparent reason or sometimes the gear changes are jerky. Not to mention the fact that this car gets below 17 miles to the gallon.

Another problem I've had is that apparently when I got this car it had no air filter. I drove around 2000 miles before I discovered this. It also has a GTP badge, but there's nothing GTP about it. Where's the supercharger??? Oh wait, it doesn't have one.

To make a long story short this car's interior and exterior are pretty much flawless, the paint is still glossy, and there is no rust on it. Pretty good for a Michigan car, but Mechanically it is a nightmare. It's taught me to hate GM and all Grand Prixs ever made.

I loathed driving this since I got behind the wheel. I might like it better if everything worked and if it wasn't replacing my 1990 Eclipse GST. The only reason I can't drive that anymore is because some people can't drive in the snow and run into you at 40mph when you are waiting to turn right. By the way there was absolutely nothing wrong with that one, it only had 81000 miles on it too.

Huh, I like my 1994 grand prix. The exterior door handles can bite it though. I've had to replace 3 handles now. I live in Michigan, when the door freezes up it's better to gently apply pressure to the handle enough to work the release, and then with the other hand pry the door open by pushing your fingers down into the weather stripping a bit. The handles really don't seem to hold up well to being used as leverage to open an iced up door.

I completely agree about the cup holders... worthless.

Sounds like you got a pretty abused car.

It seems like you purchased a lemon, I own a 94 grand prix SE and I have 185,000 miles on it with minimal maintenance. The only things replaced since the car rolled off the line are a hood latch cable and wiper switch. Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Grand prix is a great car.

The wife just picked one up from a so called "childhood/neighbor friend". OK 1st rule, never trust a used car salesman, and 2ndly (not lastly) "friends" are the 1st to let you down! Car has roughly 170k some odd miles. Typical women purchase, "it's cute"...blah! So countless bulbs, tune-up, serp belt, serp idle tensioner assembly, a rear right strut (don't ask me why another so called "fried" mechanic told her only right needed. Left is still bad, stiff with no dampening. A few months later I'm still chasing the stuttering/stammering effect original poster is/was having. Kinda stuck with it now, I'm soon to be after the tranny filter/fluids. Does engage into gear with a jump. Oh yeah as far as I've seen with brakes, have issues there too! Interior/exterior are decent, stereo still jams. So, if I drive it, I just crank the tunes and hope to ignore the rest. LOL P.S. Overall: NOT IMPRESSED.

Sell it on, don't walk away from it run. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can make it reliable, they are all bottomless Moneypits.

I just purchased a 1994 Grand Prix SE with 211,000 miles on it.

Let me say this----If the car starts overheating, get it repaired. Do Not keep driving it (as these people did). It ended up being a blown head gasket and it destroyed the engine.

I am a mechanic and I got it real cheap. Found a 3400 V-6 from a 1999 Grand Am and installed it. Only one modification was the temperature sensor for the fan. Had to drill and tap a hole in the head for the sensor.

I then replaced both front ball joints, both front struts, 1 front wheel bearing, both rear wheel bearings, rear brake pads, and windshield. I have a VERY nice car for around 1200 dollars. I love this car!

Please understand that I have worked on these cars for a long time and I do agree that there are serious issues with the rear brakes. The calipers have a tendency to freeze up on the slides. This causes rear brake pad failure on the outer pad only. This is something that all you GP owners should have checked regularly.

Also, when changing or adding antifreeze, make SURE that you vent all air out of the engine by using the vent screws on the thermostat cap and the intake manifold. This will cause troubles like those listed in previous comments (i.e.---Overheating and not heating the interior during winter). It will also cause engine failure.

Grand Prix is the best looking car I have ever seen. I love it.

I have a 1994 Grand Prix. I purchased it at 34,000 miles. Its been fairly good. One of the pulleys on the main belt system came lose one day I thew it accoss the parking lot. The air conditioner compressor went out this year. There has always been a strange noise from the wheels. I'm not even sure if I can explain it, just very strange and has done it since day of purchase. It electric windows have been a pain in the neck the last 2 years, but working now thanks to a good mechanic. O ring gasket had to be replaced about 4 years ago. Then a water pump. That's all I can think of. Its NEVER overheated though!

It sounds like you do not take care of your cars or you do not know how to pick one out. So ride a bus!

Wow, that one doesn't sound like it's been good to you

-_-

I got myself a '94 Grand Prix with 160k miles on it. It's been runnin pretty good since I bought it. Only recently though, the transmission does like to shift to higher gears at unnecessary times. Aside from that, runs perfect for me. Any issues I've ran into, I've never had to drop more than $50 down to fix em. If you'd like to try and save urself a thousand dollars for transmission repair, consider purchasing a manual, and a transmission rebuild kit, and you can try it out for yourself. :)

...but those cupholders are the bane of modern existance. :P.

I also have a 94 grand prix gtp where is supercharger located.

And why do they always over heat

I just thought I'd write a follow-up to my initial entry. Since the original post I've done a lot of work to the car and now it has no mechanical problems what-so-ever. I bought a gasket set from Autozone and replaced all the seals on the top half of the motor, replaced spark plugs/wires, computer (later found out this didn't need to be replaced), starter, shocks/struts all the way around, rear driver side caliper (fixed my bad brakes), pads/rotors, thermometer, O2 sensor (the original one was black and had no air holes in it) this fixed my crappy gas mileage, and I probably replaced a few other minor parts. Anyway now the car runs fine and has no motor problems at all, next up is a transmission tune-up. I did this all for less than $1500 and now the car is not so bad.