GTP Cool Wall: 1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am

  • Thread starter Wiegert
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1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am


  • Total voters
    128
  • Poll closed .

Wiegert

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United Kingdom
United Kingdom
1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am nominated by @The87Dodge

Pontiac_Grand_Am_SE_sedan_--_12-23-2011.jpg


Body Styles:
2-door coupe, 4-door sedan
Engines: 2.2L L61 Ecotec I4, 2.4L LD9 twin-cam I4, 3.4L LA1 3400 V6
Power: 140-175 hp
Torque: 155-205 lb-ft
Weight: 1391-1413 kg
Transmission: 4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual
Drivetrain: front-engine, front wheel drive​

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2005_Pontiac_Grand_Am_rear.jpg
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My uncle owned a 1999 GT with the Ram Air 3.4. He put over 200k miles on it with only the intake gaskets being an issue.

Uncool, Seriously so when it's a Ram Air GT with false sporting pretentions like that one was.
 
Looks like a Bonneville with some questionable bits. Add that to the typical early '00's American reliability and it makes a great recipe for being seriously uncool.

Or am I thinking the Grand Prix . . .
 
If nothing else, it really is impressive that GM managed to take what was essentially a warmed over version of a car that was already more or less just a restyled version of the mid 1980s model and turn it into such a humongous sales success. People bought these, used them up after 3 years or so and then marched right in and bought new ones. I knew a couple of people who bought a couple of the 90s ones that were similar over the course of that decade, then replaced them with one of these, and one of them bought a second one (the other person probably would have if they hadn't gone to trade in in 2006). In a market that even the Japanese companies were losing their shirts on, GM was selling hundreds of thousands of these things every year, with tooling that was probably paid off in 1994.
Not only were they everywhere, but unlike most of the cars GM sold at the same time they are still everywhere. Most of this vintage Malibus are already gone, even though they were essentially twins to this. Ditto Aleros. Even the G6 that replaced this and sold moderately well itself have seemed to mostly vanished, but the Grand Ams still go everywhere. And the amount of influence its success had on the industry is amusing itself, when GM of the time was almost always chasing everyone else. If you ever get seat time in a 3rd generation Eclipse, you'll know exactly what Mitsubishi was trying to pull with it. To a lesser extent, the Tiburon was the same way. Somehow, GM accidentally stumbled upon a market that was seemingly untapped, and people just kept coming.





None of that is cool, though, as much as I always secretly liked the "don't give a 🤬 about taste" styling of this era of Pontiacs.
 
About 75% of these I've seen have some sort of body damage or are total beaters.

Seriously Uncool.
 
My mom had one of these as a Mary Kay prize car. Peculiar thing - I don't ever recall being in it.

Looked awesome as a kid, but my dad's '01 Jetta 1.8T was better. Uncool.
 
Meh, it just... seems... meh. Something that you could just blend in with... but it really won't give you any sort of status or anything... aside from "Random Person #XXXXX"...
 
My mom had one of these as a Mary Kay prize car. Peculiar thing - I don't ever recall being in it.

Looked awesome as a kid, but my dad's '01 Jetta 1.8T was better. Uncool.
I also just noticed the top engine available was the 3400...Which happened to be the base engine for the Impala of the time. So my question is, why did they not put the 3800 in the Pontiac? It looks like the engine bay can handle it.
 
The twin cam 3400 would have been an interesting choice if it would have still been around to give the GT a little flair.
 
I also just noticed the top engine available was the 3400...Which happened to be the base engine for the Impala of the time. So my question is, why did they not put the 3800 in the Pontiac? It looks like the engine bay can handle it.

It can in the sense that you can make it fit, but it needs a different subframe, different engine mounts and definitely a different transmission because the physical dimensions of the two engines are so different. The previous two generations both had provisions and space for using the 3800 since they were originally designed for downsized versions of it, but the final model was built around the 60° V6 instead.



What you can do pretty easily in comparison is drop the 3500 from the Malibu and G6 into it, though you need a tranny change for that too because it will shred it otherwise.
 
It can in the sense that you can make it fit, but it needs a different subframe, different engine mounts and definitely a different transmission because the physical dimensions of the two engines are so different. The previous two generations both had provisions and space for using the 3800 since they were originally designed for downsized versions of it, but the final model was built around the 60° V6 instead.



What you can do pretty easily in comparison is drop the 3500 from the Malibu and G6 into it, though you need a tranny change for that too because it will shred it otherwise.
That explains it. They could've built the Pontiac around a supercharged 3800 and it would've hauled ass...Oh, what could have been.
 
Coworker in college had a 2 door GT was a decent car, and was actually surprisingly quick.

Cool
 
I have to admit I have a soft spot for this era of Pontiacs. I owned a '99 Grand Prix GT and my best friend's sister owned a (then) brand new '96 Grand Am which I rode in countless times.

Their cheap plastic exteriors blew around going down the interstate with, at best, decent interior but a rock solid engine. To 19 year old me, this was as cool as it got for new, inexpensive transportation.

Cool, albeit quite low.
They could've built the Pontiac around a supercharged 3800
Then just get the Grand Prix GTP. Heavier, sure, but infinitely more comfortable, too.
 
TB
I have to admit I have a soft spot for this era of Pontiacs. I owned a '99 Grand Prix GT and my best friend's sister owned a (then) brand new '96 Grand Am which I rode in countless times.

Their cheap plastic exteriors blew around going down the interstate with, at best, decent interior but a rock solid engine. To 19 year old me, this was as cool as it got for new, inexpensive transportation.

Cool, albeit quite low.

Then just get the Grand Prix GTP. Heavier, sure, but infinitely more comfortable, too.
I actually drove past one today. :lol: Driver was a jerk and tried to blow me away, but I think their engine gave up.
 
I actually drove past one today. :lol: Driver was a jerk and tried to blow me away, but I think their engine gave up.
Every once in a while I really miss the Prix, especially the megaphone exhaust tips with a cold start up and the holy-crap-this-is-factory?!? Bose stereo. The engine, except for overheating a bit going over the Sierra Nevadas on a 104F day, was nothing short of stellar. For the time that I had it, it was a great car.
 
This is probably the best looking generation of the Grand Am, which isn't really saying much.

Uncool.
 
The front reminds me of old bumper cars at the boardwalk. I can tell that the Grand Am wouldn't be as fun as the bumper cars. Uncool.
 
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