-Availability of aftermarket addons
-Cost of parts
-Comfort of Ride
-Mileage
-Stock tires lasted until 140000km
-ITS A PONTIAC

-BLIND SPOT
-Engine hesitates (when u press the pedal it takes a few seconds to react but when it does its quick)
-Audio deck isn't the greatest
-The hub caps make an annoying noise

I love this car. I have the 3.4 V6 engine (SE1 with engine upgrade) I bought it at 45000kms and its now at 190000kms (Ive owned it for about 2.5years)and only had 1 major repair and that was the front wheel bearings and tie rod. about 1500 dollar repair. Its gas mileage is great for being a V6 engine and its got some kick to it.

I would definitely recommend this car too bad its not made anymore oh well guess im moving up to the G6 or the Grand Prix next time.

This isnt personal experience but my grandfather had an old grand am that lasted 12 years and my aunt had one that lasted 10 years on both the engines died.

Similar Products Used:

Toyota Corolla
Lexus ES300
Grand Prix

Good looks and lots of room... thats about it.

Upgraded from a 95 Grand Am (which was in a garage being fixed at least every two months over a 1 year period) to a 02 Grand Am.. bad idea. Again nothing but problems bought it with 58K on. ABS started acting up in the middle of winter so we had to replace both front Wheel Bearings, typical maintenance I guess. The car eats through brakes like candy. Blinker clicking doesn't stop even when not using the blinkers (pretty common) after 5 minutes of driving its almost intolerable. Driver side window motor is going out (again pretty common) Just tonight I drove about 30 miles and went through a quarter tank of gas (not very pleasing with such high gas prices) THEN after sitting through a two hour movie we came out to a dead car because apparently our AUTO lights didn't turn off.. still haven't figured it out. Winter time sucks.. MI weather can be pretty bad sometimes but I'm the only person I know who had to crawl through their trunk at least six times in one winter because everything had completely frozen over. Bad seals I'm guessing but who knows. I'm never buying another GM!!

This is my second Grand Am.

Gas mileage.

Brakes, transmission, basically everything.

This car is a pice of crap! I would not reccomend to anyone. It was fine for the first few months, but after that, everything just started going downhill. I've had the brakes replaced about 6 months ago and they have already went to junk. I put in a new headlight/turn signal switch because it went out. Which was $140. This car leaks fluids like crazy. My coolant leaks so bad I have to fill it up every time I drive, just as well as my transmission fluid. The transmission is going to need replaced very soon. I now need a booster for the brakes which will cost me another $200-$300. The fuse for the locks/cigarette ligter always goes out for no reason. Needless to say, this car is a pice of crap!!!

Similar Products Used:

This was my first car. Trading it in soon.

Styling, features, handling, acceleration, reliability

Relatively low residual value, 4 speed auto

My parents bought me this car for my sixteenth birthday. I wouldn't be happier with anything else. The car looks agressive and drives like it should. It is as reliable as if made in Japan (haha). It has all of the features that a teenager needs. Plus, its extremely easy to drive. My parents are relieved that it gets good gas mileage considering they drive an Expedition and a Tundra that both get 13 mpg!

easy to drive, nice looking, good gas mileage, good acceleration no problems (at least for me)

my radio doesn't light up, it still works though, but the light doesn't come on, i my cousin has the same problem in his grand am, i dont know if its the luck of the draw, or a defect in the pontiac radios

i love this car. it is my first car, and i love driving it. it has great handling and is good to drive in the snow or rain. it is a good first car for new drivers. i would recommend this car to anyone actually. its also a sporty looking car to and has good acceleration.

Similar Products Used:

1984 corvette

acceleration, handling,fuel economy, stereo, seat comfort, looks, parts availability and prices, used prices are low

the fact that they've sold so well and so many people don't maintain them well enough---gives them a bad name

I love Grand Ams...Always have and always will.

I don't know why people are always complaining about them. My aunt owned an '85 grand am and drove it for 18 years with no major problems...and she didn't change the oil very often. It now has 180000 miles on it and still runs fine...never been rebuilt.

My little brother has a '90 grand am quad 4 HO. What a hot rod! He can hang with older bmw's and rx7's in races, and the best part is---the engine has 250,000+ miles on it.

I had a '99 se 4cyl and had zero problems with it for 80,000 miles. All I replaced was the alternator at 60,000. A friend of mine bought it from me and it now has 130,000 miles and he has done NO MAJOR REPAIRS!!!

I now have a 2005 gt with 30,000 miles on it and I'm sure it'll be fine for years to come.

Maybe you all need to just take better care of your vehicles.

Similar Products Used:

camaro, grand prix, cavalier, cobalt

It runs...barely.

EVERYTHING!!!!!

I truly believe that this is the worst car on the planet! At some point in the 3 1/2 years that I've had this car, every single light on the dash has come on. Luckily I got the extended warranty, so it still covers some things here and there. In the past month, I have had my car in the shop (it's there right now) once a week because my heat doesn't work. I've had to have the security issue fixed, pieces inside the car are breaking (that piece that moves the side mirrors actually fell inside the door), and the handles on BOTH sides of the car had just about broken off the car!

I ran into another woman last week when I brought the car in to get fixed, and she had the exact same car, exact same problems. She said she's been attempting to get it fixed for 2 years now (heater). Hopefully I can trade it in soon and not have to worry about whether or not I'm going to make it in to work each day.

I will NEVER buy another Pontiac as long as I live, nor will I allow anyone I know to consider it!

~Cute
~Fun

~Windows went off the track
~Doors fell apart
~Constant problems under the hood
~Not Reliable
~The company thought looks would drive the car.

1994 was supposedly a bad year for the Grand Am. Very true!

My mom owned a 94 Grand Am when I was growing up and almost everything that could go wrong with a car went wrong. Also, a friend owns a 94 Grand Am and it's always being fixed.

looks only

electrical, unreliable,

I think it is a good looking car but I have had three major issues and four small ones in four months since purchasing.
#1 the cruise control went, I had to pay $100(deductible) then
#2 a month later the car started on fire in rush hour traffic(alternator) another $100
#3 then the drivers seat started squeeking everytime I came to a stop, then
#4 the clock on the clock radio died(mechanic won't touch it) radio and CD still work, then
#5 this week the transmission began to surge and shudder as I accelerated and
#6 on the way to the mechanic's shop the dial for the heat choices lost its grip and I now have no choice for whether I want heat on the front window or in the interior of the car.
Can't wait to trade it in for a Mazda Miata, which gets good reviews.
Thanks Jerome for telling me about this site so I can protect myself and maybe help others.

Similar Products Used:

Lumina, Camaro, Tempo

2.5L engine is reliable, have to push it very hard to make a dent.
Excellent fuel economy for its age.
Fairly decent power.
Very good handling.
Comfortable interior, especially for an economy car. Cupholder standard (this is important...really). Easy-to-use controls.
Somewhat spacious interior/trunk for its size.
Solid body.
All-iron engine (2.5L); if you somehow manage to overheat it, it doesn't mean a new set of head gaskets.
All around pretty damn good.

Base model lacks Hazards/Cruise Control.
Ride is firmer than a lot of people like.
Rear brake drum auto-adjust mechanism freezes up and needs replaced, results in less overall braking power 'til fixed.
TCC Solenoid in transmission sticks (minor though, really).
2.5's timing gears aren't lubricated properly from the factory...may be expensive to fix.

After my T-Bird blew its head gaskets (and ate its piston rings as a result of the oil being contaminated), I needed a new car. Behold, my lifesaver...a little old Grand AM. Equipped with a 2.5L TBI engine and automatic tranny, it gets a fairly impressive 28-32mpg on the highway (managed 31mpg average last year driving into Kansas, hot weather with A/C on and an average speed of 70mph), and a decent amount of get-up-and-go for a 90hp engine.

The car itself is an economy car through and through (mine doesn't even have Cruise Control or Hazard Flashers, both were "optional" back then), yet its seats are comfy, it comes with a single cupholder (my sister's Dynasty doesn't, and it's a luxury car), the instrument cluster is easy to see and read, there's no feeling around for controls since they're all well-backlit, it comes with a floor shifter (which is a LOT better than a column shifter in my opinion) and center handbrake lever.

The car handles well, having a solid connection to the road---some might say a little TOO solid, the ride is firmer than a lot of cars, but remember it's an economy car---and handles highway curves with ease. It also has a impressively small turning circle for a front-wheel drive. It brakes well too, even with the back brakes near-inoperable (the adjustment mechanism is frozen on mine, I think), braking is solid with the front two discs and the engine-weighted front tires doing all the work. It should be noted that even with the front brakes working overtime, the pads still wear reasonably slowly, as well as the tires.

The three-speed (supposedly, mine shifts three times which means 3speed+overdrive, despite everywhere I've been saying that it only has three speeds...this confuses me.) transmission is both excellent and...not. It shifts smoothly and gets very good economy for an automatic (see start of review). The shift points I've observed are 1-2@7~10mph, 2-3@20mph, 3-OD@30mph. As you can see, with proper throttle usage you can hit OD in city traffic and basically idle the engine, which in theory should get pretty good gas mileage (and does in my case). BUT it also lugs the engine, so you won't have much power unless you give it more throttle, which too much in turn makes it shift down to third. You just have to find the balance---but if you can learn to use it as I have, you'll get excellent gas mileage in and out of the city.
The downfall of this transmission is a part called the TCC Solenoid. It controls how and when the torque converter "locks" (this creates a 1:1 connection with the transmission gearing, I MAY be confusing this engagement with an Overdrive shift). The stock version of it has the tendancy to stick after sustained high speeds in hot weather, thus forcing the transmission to stay in OD/1:1, which stalls the car when you come to a stop. Solution: wait a couple minutes for the transmission to cool down and the line pressure inside it to bleed a bit, restart, go. Eventually get it replaced, but that is a quick fix. Keep in mind this happens VERY rarely, my car has 246,000 miles on it, about 20,000 of which are mine, and it's only happened three times, all in the city where the transmission has heated up to a certain point. You might also consider buying and equipping a transmission cooler, it should prevent this from happening even with the stock TCC Solenoid, but I haven't tried it yet. Even if it doesn't help that specific problem, a good many auto transmissions generate a lot of heat; this will help make it last longer.

Whew. That last part was a bit long.

Another thing. If you have a 2.5L engine, and it starts making a rattling/clanking sound from the passenger side of the engine, the timing gears need replaced. It can go for a while like this, but soon the gears will start bumping against thier cover, wearing a hole and causing an oil leak (what happened to mine). If you take it to a shop to have this fixed, tell them to make sure they drill out the oil galley plug...this will help prevent the gears from running dry and wearing so quickly.

And...that's all!

Similar Products Used:

None. My first GM car, and dear god do I love the old girl.