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Comments
I have an SE1. I chose that one based on the fact that it was the cheapest model that I could get with the 6 cyl. I have various comments on it in some of the posts above. If you get the 4 cyl. be warned that it is buzzy engine during moderate to hard acceleration.
thanks
jack
The interior lining of the door is coming off and has to be replaced. I've been having lots of trouble with the steering column and the connections to the stabilizers. Has anyone had similar problems?
i also have been having a problem with the door interior lining coming away from a rear door, right where it connects to the window. and oddly, enough my steering wheel has been feeling kinda loose. it seems when i drive at speeds slower than 50-ish my steering wheel is sloping to one side or the other. when going over 50 my steering wheel looks perfectly straight and a couple of times it felt really loose on stops. almost like the steering wheel itself was loose compared to the actual handling of the car. with the difference in speeds i was wondering about the variable control steering being the cause.
karn.
That could be the effects of the variable effort steering. I have the variable effort in mine and it is pretty tight on the highway and deffinetly looser around town. The steering wheel seems to be pretty well aligned with where the tires are pointing. It is fairly sensitive to if there is any arc to the roadway.
Still no sqeaks and/or rattles. I hope it stays that way. It has taken my Buick over 135,000 miles to develop what might be called a tick not even really a rattle.
Stephen
First, thank you all for your help. I just myself a Grand Am GT Sedan today. Originally I was going to get a SE1 but when I saw the GT, well, the rest is history. I do need help in one more area. The dealer is asking me to buy extended warranty on the car for $995 for 6yrs/60K miles. Is it a good idea getting extended warranty on this car. I have financed the car for 5yrs. Also, he is asking me to get a passive alarm on the car. As far as I know, the car already has a theft deterent alarm factory installed. I was told that the factory alarm only protects the steering column. Is that true? Please help as I need to get back to the dealer on Monday.
Thanks once more for your help. Edmunds, thanks for all the price info. It was a great help.
I would appreciate any response?
I was the one that had posted about the molding around the gear shifter moving. As much as I hate to say it I am thinking that it might be a design flaw. I have not done anything about mine yet. I was going to wait and see if I saw anything go wrong with my car or maybe closer to the end of the warranty to do something about it. My main concern is that it will become looser with time or even squeak. It just does not give me good strong feeling about the console, and that bothers me the most. Please post if you notice anything new with the molding.
Otherwise I am loving the car and have been getting rave reviews from everyone I have shown the car to. The universal response so far has been "This is a Grand Am?"
I am loving my car though. I agree it does make it fun to drive!
I have noticed that it doesn't get very good gas mileage. I have been filling up a lot. Any other complaints about this...or am I just driving too much?!??!
I really love the 6 in the GrandAm. I find myself driving faster on the highway just because it goes so easily.
I have been very happy with my gas mileage. I have gotten between 25 and 30 miles to gallon. I average usually 26 to 27. I have been trying not to rocket away from every stop sign but I do drive it pretty fast on the highway.
Good to hear some feedback from others.
At first when you mentioned raised manholes I cringed thinking you were flying over them. Playing slalom around them is much safer (unless you are crossing the double yellow line.
Also, has anybody noticed that you really have to shut the doors hard or they won't shut completely? I was used to another car where you shut the doors real slowly so this was a change for me.
I don't seem to have any trouble closing the doors.
My GrandAm has about 2000 miles on it and quite a few tanks of gas. I think on its first tank it got around 24 mpg. I had been driving it pretty easy until it got its first oil change. I now drive it harder, these BFGoodrich's are not going to have the longest life expectancy.
I deffinetly did not go over the man holes covers, I just went around them. I also did not cross the yellow line. Only once when I had to straddle two of them did I nick a tire. It was fun.
Doors work really well. They have not been hard to close at all. Short of closing with a very light touch they always close. My friends seem to slam my doors rather then go easy with them. The only time have seen really hard to close doors was on a Camry that my brother had for a little while, it was when the current generation had been out for only a short time.
I am still bummed at having my dealership change the oil they did just about everything wrong on it. They must have spilled some oil on the einge somewhere because I get a burning oil smell when I am idling at lights. I don't think the engine is burning since the level of oil stays the same and there is now smoke coming out the tail pipe. It really make me angry since this my first brand new car. Oh well I will do most the rest of the work myself.
Does anybody else have similar experience and/or advice on how to avoid this syndrome?
Also, does anybody have an idea on how long the low-profile tires on the GT will last before replacement (during normal usage, not burning rubber)? 20K, 30K, 40K miles?
Finally got my 1999 Grand Am GT last Saturday. It is a real fun car to drive. Just a couple of comments and a questions.
1. The gas consumption is pretty horrendous at this point. I got the car with 12 mile and a full tank of gas. Right now, it is 175 mile and 3/4 empty. I have not been driving the car hard at all. A mix of city and highway driving. I am putting the bad gas consumption on the 6 and city driving. Will keep all posted on how it goes in the future.
2. I was looking at the maintenance book and read that the first scheduled oil change is at 5K miles. Is that correct or should I have it looked after sooner?
3. I have also noticed that when brake is half-applied on an incline, there is a grating sound. I read in the owner's manual that it takes sometime for the brakes to adjust. Any comments?
Other than the above, eveything is awesome. The car flies and without much ado, it is in the 70s. The sound, air and all the other amenities are also working OK. I did notice though that the GT is slightly lower than the SE sedans and if the steering wheel is tilted down, getting in and out can be slightly difficult. Anyways, that is it for the moment. Will keep y'all posted. Happy and safe driving everyone.
That is deffinetly not good gas mileage. I will be curious to hear what you get out of future tanks.
I got my first oil change at right around 1500 miles. I had mine done early since the engine is in break-in. I have heard some say with modern manufacturing that it is no longer necessary to worry about the early oil change. My thoughts are cheap insurance on an expensive piece of equipment. I just wish I did it myself instead of the dealership is all.
I haven't heard the break grind noise on an incline. I will listen harder. Being around 2000 miles I would guess my brake brake-in period is done.
Enjoy your new wheels.
Stephen
Thanks for your message. Will keep everyone posted on the gas mileage in the future. I did call up my dealer this morning to tell him about the brake noise. I was told that it is the roaders and they need to be broken in. Will see how that goes.
One thing that I did read in your posts, was about poor oil change by your dealer. Why did that happen? I assume that all an oil change would require is opening the engine oil container and putting a new bottle in it. Am I missing anything here?
Catch ya later!!!!!!
Mechanics spill oil when they are not careful removing the old oil filter. I drips onto engine parts and begins to smell when the engine heats up. Some oil filters are in a difficult position to access and thus the spills.
Haven't noticed any brake noise except in the morning after a rain. I goes away after a few miles. I do notice that you realy have to get on the brakes to stop hard, something I was not used to in my previous car.
Also, the GT is slightly lower because of the low-profile tires. It really adds to the sporty look. But it does make it a little harder to get in and out.
1. My battery died at about 10,000 miles and I had to use Roadside to tow it to the dealer, who kept it overnight to put in a new battery.
2. Two of four doors have had the lifting of the interior covering, which I have had replaced. This may be because I'm in the deep southeast U.S. and interior heat is rought on it.
3. At 29,200 miles, while driving down the highway, my transmission went out, leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Roadside tried to get me a tow, but after 2 1/2 hours of waiting, I got my own in 5 minutes. GM did pay for the tow. After begging my dealer for a loaner car, I spent the next 11 days in a rental while the dealer rebuilt the entire transmission. It had no third or fourth gears at all, and parts were ordered three times to get it all right (I hope).
My friend with the Grand Am has also had all these problems, only her transmission went out at 37,000 miles, just outside of warranty, and she had to fork over a HUGE check to fix hers. Guess I was "lucky" mine was still under warranty.
Although this car is fun to drive, I'm dumping it ASAP because of this major problem. Longevity doesn't seem to be its strong suit.
GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY!!
Anyone else have these problems? Got any suggestions? Thanks!!
Is there any chance that some of the problems could be related to a car that was built during the GM strike period? Maybe some parts were installed improperly? Probably not, but I have to give myself hope since I want my Grand Am GT to last a very long time. The last few American cars I've had have been real losers and this may be my last try with a GM (or American) car.
The mirror is attached to the windshield by an adjustable shaft about 1" in length. Push your mirror all the way to the top (as far as the shaft will rotate) and then adjust the mirror itself. This will raise the mirror and give you more visibility.
Anybody else have 20K-30K mileage on their Grand Am and would like to talk about the reliability of the vehicle?
To help compensate for the spoiler you might also want to try and raise the arm of the rear view mirror like midlife crisis described. With mirror sitting up higher it should be a little better angle over the spoiler. You can redirect the mirror so you can still see it even with the mirror arm raised. I have noticed a little cutoff with mine but nothing really serious. One nice thing is that it blocks some of the bright light of cars waiting at a traffic light behind you. I think that visibility problem with spoilers has plagued quite a few cars. Good Luck.
The service engine soon light keeps coming on. It only comes on when I drive on the highway. I had it to the mechanic many times and he said everytime he puts on the computer he gets something different. Could it be the oxogen sensor? If anybody has had this problem please let me know what you did to repair it.
I change the oil last night on our 99 Grand Am SE1. You have to remove a plastic covering on the bottom front of the engine with a couple of wing nuts to get to the filter, but its pretty easy. The only complaint that I had was that with the filter being mounted on an angle, some oil was bound to spill on the engine. Not much, though. Just make sure you drain the oil at the plug before you remove the filter.
Thanks again.
Stephen
Biggest: ALTERNATOR!! I don't know what it is about this car, but that blasted alternator has been replaced 6 times. My last two were new ones, and not rebuilt, and the most recent one has lasted 3 years.. So yea for that. Maybe becuase the alternator is right there on the top of the engine so it heats up real easily???
Transmission. Went out around 50,000 and again at over 100,000. Not huge, but not cheap.
Air Conditioner: The blower motors, even new ones, always wear out or die. Don't know that this is typical of the make/model or not though.
Muffler: Thanks goodness for Midas lifetime warranties. Already used that TWICE.
Dealer paint job sucks. Just peeled really nastily after about 6 years.
BUT, the good points:
Just now replaced the starter for the first time ever. Easily done and not expensive.
Engine as maintained, runs well and has another 4-5 years life to it MINIMUM. It sounds very good.
The repairs haven't been all that much, considering the car is almost 9 years old. Replaced the alternator a few times, the transmission, the heater core once (in the past 10,000 miles), the air conditioner blower 3 times, no timing belt to worry about, brake cables only once so far. The car will drive probably a long time, without needing a major motor job. So, aside from the occasional alternator and a/c problem, repairs haven't been too bad. A lot more than is relevant, but just thought I'd add a comment for the heck of it.
Not that I'd recommed the Grand Am, but it seems like there are plenty of people who like later models, so there ya go.
Over the weekend I performed my first car wash (in NJ we are on water restictions due to the drought). I was told to wash the car with a sheepskin mitt instead of a sponge so as not to scratch the paint. When I was done, the bright red paint almost hurt my eyes it was so brilliant. This car is definitely a head-turner. It is however hard to keep the wheels clean due to the brake dust and dirt that accumulates on the five-spokes. Oh well, guess I'll have to wash it more often. I better get a new pair of sunglasses so I don't damage my eyes looking at the bright red paint. See ya.
I have a 1996 Grand Am SE with about 78,000 miles on it, and I'm debating about trading in before it hits 80,000 miles (at which point I'm told makes the value drop considerably), or keep it for another year or more. I've had the car for just a little over 3 years, so I obviously put a ton of miles on it. I haven't had any major problems, and for the most part, I'm very happy with it. I had to get new rotors/brake pads around 22,000 miles, and also replace them around 60,000 miles. They're starting to get a little soft again. I've also needed new tires, of course, and will probably have to replace them again within the next few months.
Back in the spring, the "Low Coolant" light would come on every few weeks. In the owner's manual, it says to pull off the road immediately and not to drive the car. The coolant was obviously leaking somewhere, but it wasn't going on the ground. I took it to the dealer and they couldn't find the leak, but said if it continued to happen, to come back again. (At that point I also had to have the air conditioner re-charged and they replaced the fuel filter.) I wound up buying a couple of gallons of the orange Dex-Cool coolant the car takes and filled it up with a 50/50 mixture of that and water (which is what the manual calls for) on a fairly regular basis. Luckily the light always seemed to come on when I was close to home, and I kept the jug of coolant and some water in my trunk just in case. I was really getting annoyed at having to check the coolant level every other day, so I made an appointment to take it back to the dealer. (My air conditioner that was supposedly "re-charged" was also not working well at all - I would drive the half-hour home from work and it wouldn't cool down at all.)
Well, the evening before I was due to take my car back to the dealer for them to check the coolant leak and A/C, I was stopped at a stop sign about 2 blocks from my house. When I hit the gas to go, the car was VERY sluggish and would barely move. I made it home. The following morning, I figured I'd try to make it to the dealer (about 15-20 miles away), but only got a mile before I had to turn around and go back. Same problem as the evening before - no pick-up. So I wound up having the car towed to the dealer. I was thinking, "Great! A new transmission!" and figured I'd have to shell out some big bucks. Well, the dealer had my car for almost a week, and by some stroke of luck, I didn't need a new transmission - they flushed out the old transmission fluid and put in new and it seems to be running fine (knock on wood!). (This was the first time I had the fluid replaced.) They did however, have to take half of the engine apart to get to the coolant leak, and they also said that there was a hole in one of the tubes for the A/C. (They didn't charge me labor to fix the A/C, because they didn't find the problem the first time.) The total bill wound up being about $420. So now I'm wondering - (1) Do I keep the car for another year or two until it dies (and figure I'll have to throw some more money into it)?, or (2) Do I just get rid of it now before something major happens? I'm really kind of stuck and can't seem to make a decision. Any comments/suggestions would be a great help.
Sorry that this is so long, but I figured I'd tell some of the newer Grand Am owners some of my experiences with the car. Thanks!
Personally I would trade the car in on a new Grand Am (or other car) if you can do so financially. It's a good time of year to be purchasing a car, especially with incentives and rebates at the end of the 1999 model year. You may have just been lucky with the $420 repair bill with more expensive repairs lurking around the corner, but you never know for sure.
I have bought used cars twice in the last 10 or so years and been burned big time both times (lemon cars). So personally I don't trust cars with higher mileage, even if I was the one who maintained them. I put about 20K miles a year on my car and then trade it in every 3 years or so, depending on how well they hold up. I can't imagine ever having over 100,000 miles on a car because the repair costs always seem to exceed the car payments. Car payments can be expected and budgeted for, large repair bills cannot. One transmission job can cost close to $2000, and then you are likely stuck with an inferior rebuilt transmission.
This is just my 2 cents, for what it's worth. I'm sure most others will wholeheartily disagree with my methods.
I have a 97 Grand Am GT that is great. It rides smooth as can be at high speeds. Just to let you know the 97 I have is difinitely limited at 105mph.
I have a 99 and it has been in thunder, hail and some of the worst rains I have driven in an it has not leaked a drop. It has been parked, on the highway and around during these rains and it still has not leaked a drop. They must have got the weather stripping wrong. That really is too bad. That is really a poor dealership.
Sorry to hear,
Stephen