I've been wondering about the reliability of the Pontiac Grand Prix/Grand Am from the late 90s to early 2000s. The cars are dirt cheap these days and they look pretty nice, but I'm not sure how well made they are.
Buying used grand prix’s is pretty risky. Pontiac W bodies didn’t survive well in states where salt is used in the winter, like all other cars, but the 3800 series engine, series 2, is really reliable. The reason why it’s risky is because you really need to know the history of the car. I have an 03 Grand Prix GTP supercharged and ive taken tremendous care of it. The transmission is immaculate and the engine rarely has problems. The undercarriage of the car is heavily rusted however, there is no visible rust cosmetically on any
Of the car visibly other than all the way underneath. Due to that, it will most likely fail inspection within 2-3 years. But other than that, since I’m the original owner and I’ve taken great care of it, I love it, it’s been amazingly reliable. It depends heavily on the history of the vehicle, how it was treated, how it was maintained, etc.
@Dalthouse50 can you copy and paste your answer into the ‘Your Answer’ section below? Thank you.
The Grand Prix with the 3800 series V6 engines were reliable ENGINEWISE. But everything else falls apart.
Biggest pet peeve I get from customers is asking me about how to fix the round air vents that eventually wind up whirring around continuously.
The only Pontiac I would get is the Vibe, because it is actually a Toyota.
They were not all that well made that's why they're so cheap especially when you get into the 2000s Pontiac went bankrupt because they made poor cars that people wouldn't buy anymore
with my experience i would recommend getting a GP GTP. I have owned mine for 15 years and the car well be hitting 250k next much with very little trouble. I am looking forward to another 50k. I replaced a fuel pump water pump and power steering and that's it.
Personally think they are great cars and would buy again.
You wanna buy mine? 2004 pontiac grand prix gtp supercharged with 125500 miles on it. I had to replace all hydraulic lifters for 3,500 dollars. I replaced 3 rack and pinions but only had to pay for one because the other 2 went out during the 1 year warranty period. That was 1500 dollars. I bought the car from my mother because she never drove it and it had 60000 miles on it. I bought it 8 years ago and it has really been a money pit for me, but I like the car because the motor is strong and sounds and runs great. Now the heater core is leaking and I saw what was involved with fixing it on you tube and did not like what I saw. I really don't want to tare apart half the dashboard to get the leaking heater core out. So it looks like I will have another 500 dollars going into the pit, for a 50 dollar part. This car really killed my wallet. Oh yeah the first year I owned it a deer wiped down the whole drivers side of the car that was another 3500 dollars to fix. So I payed 6500 for the car and put more than that into it. OUCH!