GTP Cool Wall: 1989-1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC McLaren

1989-1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC McLaren

  • Total voters
    60
  • Poll closed .
GranTurNismo

GranTurNismo

3,656
United States
Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
1989-1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC McLaren nominated by @ZGBox



Body Style: 2-door coupe
Engine: 3.1L turbocharged V6
Power: 205hp
Torque: 220 lb-ft
Weight: 1610kg
Transmission: 4-speed automatic
Drivetrain: front-engine, front-wheel drive


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I've got to be honest, I have a guilty pleasure for GM's "euro sport" style mid-size cars of the late-80s and early-to-mid '90s; as un-European as they may be, they still do have a certain charm that was lacking in other 80s and 90s American cars. I'd bargain that the GP McLaren is my favorite of the "euro sport" cars, as it is relatively handsome but also quite flashy and chintzy at the same time. And the interior is also pretty fascinating, having a million different buttons on the steering wheel as well as an electronic display screen (the only other car to this in '89 was the Buick Reatta). Perhaps this was GM's vision of a mid-size car of the future?

But, the Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC McLaren is quite far from cool; a standard '89-96 GP would be plain old uncool, while this variant is about as seriously uncool as you could get. First of all, a poorly-made American car that calls itself a "euro sport' car, yet has absolutely zero in common with actual European sporty coupes is seriously uncool by default. But the GP McLaren was the epitome of how ridiculous the GM-10 project really was, and I don't say that as a compliment. I mean, what competition did a car like this even have? Though it might look fast on the outside, in reality it's a bloated, heavy turd, which didn't even have a manual transmission option. The only people who actually own these today are boomer American car nerds, or maybe a sketchy meth addict or two, neither of which are remotely cool.
 
This is very, very uncool. But it's uncool in such stupid ways that I would love to have it. I still rated it uncool, of course, but not seriously so. An FWD Pontiac with funky bumpers and rims and "McLaren" in the name is just too funny to send to Hell.
 
Personally, I would put it in Lord Kelvin's Ice Box. It's like the 80s were summarized and dropped into one car. It even has a McLaren turbocharged engine. But there's no other way to go here than uncool or lower.
 
Cool. It's back when GM had a sense of humor about the cars it was building, or at the very least contracting out to be built and/or tuned. I put it right up there with the GMC Typhoon and Syclone as a vehicle that has no business existing, but the late 80s/early 90s are better off because it did.
 
It's cool. Definitely wanted one when i graduated high school in '89. Then, one of my friends got an '89 Mustang GT as a graduation present.

GM used those mesh styled wheels for some of their cars: Firebird GTA, Calais I4(turbo?), GNX.
 
Haven’t seen one of those yet but I have seen these Mclarens
3B91A87A-8E51-4C0C-A10C-1750543454DC.jpeg
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Bottom one is a prototype.
 
Meh, definitely Meh. I'm not a fan of these cars. I can even say that I don't like them.
 
Usually I wouldn't care much for this sort of car, but the McLaren association is just enough to nudge this into a low cool.
 
It's one of the most '80s car in existence.
I'd REALLY love to have one, my kid self would love it so much.
I mean, it has a turbo and it has the McLaren name, and it's red, it has all of the coolest gadgets, and it has no good reason to exist...
It can't be cool at all, but I'd rock one.
And here in Europe it's so obscure and eye-catching it's amazing.
 
GranTurNismo
GM's "euro sport"
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GranTurNismo
a poorly-made American car that calls itself a "euro sport' car,
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Where are you getting this from? Nowhere have I ever seen Pontiac advertising the Grand Prix as Euro-anything, much less any other GM models of the time. The closest thing I can think of are the Euro-Sport trims for the Lumina and Celebrity, but having that doesn't necessarily mean they were positioning them as direct opposition to European brands. The styling also wasn't meant to be European, rather hopping onto the 'aero-look' trend that was popular after the Taurus took off.

GranTurNismo
I mean, what competition did a car like this even have?
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See, not everything needs direct competition to justify it's existence. You could make an argument for the Taurus SHO, Thunderbird Super Coupe, Dodge Daytona Turbo, and "insert affordable performance coupe" here being the Turbo Grand Prix's rivals, but this was more of a brand exercise. The 80s and 90s were the height of Pontiac's performance revival after their slump in the 70s, hence why they plastered "We Build Excitement" over everything and made their products look as aggressive as possible. And it's why cars like this, the Bonneville SSE, Turbo Grand Am/Sunbird, and 6000 STE existed in the first place regardless of how many competitors there were.

GranTurNismo
electronic display screen (the only other car to this in '89 was the Buick Reatta).
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The little overlay in the center console didn't hold a candle to the Visual Information Center in the Reatta/Riviera/Toronado. The Grand Prix's had a few functions like a compass, ajar door indicators, date, time, MPG, but it didn't have a touch screen, built-in climate/radio control, or the large number of statistics the VIC could keep track of.

GranTurNismo
Though it might look fast on the outside, in reality it's a bloated, heavy turd, which didn't even have a manual transmission option.
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It really wasn't slow for it's time. Power wise it's pretty much right there with a TPI 305 Trans Am. 3,500lbs makes it no featherweight, but it's about par for the course for a mid-size car. The lack of a standard transmission came down to GM not having access to any transaxles that fit the 60 degree V6 bellhousing that could also handle the torque of the turbo 3.1. Plus, having a slushbox probably helped it accelerate faster since the turbo could stay on boost.


As for my own opinion, I've always really liked the way the first gen W-Bodies looked, and the Grand Prix is my favorite. I mean, it has rear bucket seats, that's an instant cool in my book.
1990-pontiac-turbo-grand-prix-mclarenasc-5.jpg

Only thing holding it back from Sub-Zero is that it isn't the more obscure STE Turbo (basically the same engine in a sedan body that was only dressed in all white).
 
Seriously uncool, something about 80s American Cars rubs me the wrong way and I can't put my finger on it.
 
I totally understand the uncool votes, but I had to vote this as cool, let me see if I can explain why.

It’s a special edition car that you don’t *have* to explain to non-car people, but that you certainly *can* explain to people who actually are into cars.

It passes the Kristen Scott Thomas/Scarlet Johanssen test while also passing the “cool backstory and quirky specialness” test.






(This is coming from someone with a hawkeye STI, where almost every day I have to explain to a friend “No, it came with a giant wing,” or, “No, I didn’t put the hood scoop on it,” or best of all, “No, I don’t have a sexually transmitted infection, it stands for something else, cherry blossom red, etc etc”. The idea of having a “special” car without all the faff is nice).
 
No hard feelings for this car. In fact I didn't know it existed until I saw this thread. Meh.
 
The butttons on the steering wheel are a turn off, but exterior wise, damn, another car I never heard of from these 80's times. Times where Camaros, the Buick GNX even Foxbody 'Stangs were still the ****. I think.

Low cool, just barely.
 

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