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Pontiac Grand Prix - 2000-2005
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Comments
1998 Grand Prix GTP
32,000 miles
Had heated seat unit replaced
No other problems.
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think it is a lumbar issue with my passengers. The angle of the back of the seat is too low vs the front of the seat. People complain about feeling like they are sitting in a hole. I need some type of a short, wedge type pillow as an option for passengers to sit on.
All the reviews I have read talk about the support and comfort of the GP seats. I guess the reviewer only sat in the driver's seat.
If I hear of a lumbar solution, I'll let you know.
Things we like about the GP: All the important, major things like Style, interior volume and comfort, back-seat room, trunk volume, finish, quality of fabric, carpet, etc. Plus, we prefer the sound system to the one in our Bonneville (our GP has the equalizer). Even little things like the overhead console seem better thought out than the one in our Bonnie. Of course, the really big things are there in spades: nice, useable power (esp. torque) and smooth, effortless shifts.
Things we don't like: Not much actually. The dashboard/instrument panel uses flimsier plastics than I'd like to see - it's especially noticeable on the ashtray - but it's acceptable. Just not on a par with competitive Mazda and Toyota sedans I have owned in the past. This is one of a handful of GM's weaknesses. And... why, oh why doesn't GM have an illuminated gear indicator on the shift console? That would have cost them all of $2.00 to install on the assembly line and, while not a critical necessity, would have eliminated a small gripe about an otherwise extremely well executed car.
Problems so far: 3 problems corrected under warranty: - gasket under spoiler was distorted and allowed water to collect under spoiler (you could hear sloshing when you opened the trunk after a pressure wash); - Park LED on instrument panel didn't function (all other gear LEDs worked fine); - windshield contained a minor imperfection that caused a slight distortion in the driver's field of vision (this one was hard to find but it was there and it was distracting).
Seats: Our driver's seat has the power lumbar and I find it very comfortable (I have rented GP GT's before for long business trips and have not experienced any discomfort in those either). Perhaps it's dependent on your height or body type - chair comfort is rarely a "one size fits all" thing. Still, neither my wife nor I have felt anything untoward in either the driver's or passenger's seats (I'm 6'2" and about 180 lbs, she's 5'1" and would kill me if I even considered including her weight here but let's just say she's "petite").
I'm sure there's more I could write but those are the issues that come to mind.
theiceman
I'm getting 23-24 mpg but that's mostly city driving. Maybe 1/4 of it is interstate driving, if that much. Don't know if that's good for city driving or not. I've got the 3.1L engine.
I've got 1800 miles now and the only problem seems to be pinging when I exit my car. From what others have told me, it's the exhaust system cooling off.
I've been happy with the plastic on the car but my other car was 10 years old and anything would be an improvement. Now the plastic on that car rattled! I got the taupe cloth interior and I think that's one of the prettiest interiors that I've ever seen on a car--naturally I'm biased.
That pinging is almost assuredly the exhaust cooling off - something that happens more in single exhaust systems with higher-revving, high-compression engines. Your (SE I'm guessing) has the former so you should expect it. I haven't noticed it yet on either of our Pontiacs (but both have the 3.8 Series II with dual exhaust).
I agree that the taupe cloth is sharp. We have the grey cloth.
On the plastic issue: Next time you're at your Pontiac dealer, ask to see a Bonneville and you might see what I'm talking about. GM can do it - they just don't do it on all of their cars.
What I'm curious about is if there is a safety recall and a car on a dealer's lot is one of the cars to be included on the recall, would the dealership fix it. I read about a air bag recall and mine would have been included. It was sitting on a lot when the recall was issued. There was also a seat belt buckle recall but my build date did fall under the recall.
I'm assuming they fixed it. Would sure hate to find out the hard way that it wasn't fixed!
The gray interior is nice too. My other car had a gray interior and I was looking for a change.
theiceman - I imagine if my car was built in August, it would have been one of the earlier 2001 Grand Prix's built. I don't know exactly when they start building cars for the new year. I have yet to see if I'm going to get that sloshing. My car just hasn't been exposed to that much water as of yet.
The information I'm going by from the NHTSA is from their web page. I imagine that's accurate.
Instead of pouring money for mods into a car, why not just buy a faster car?
Camaro or Firebird.
Thanks!
I've always had to keep up with these things myself and would think that if you wait for a light to come on, you're in a danger zone. The book says the car knows when to change oil and you have to reset something and so forth. I guess it goes against my nature to depend on a computer to make my decisions.
I was wondering what you planned on doing.
kdstan
Dan - even though the book says 3000 - 10000 (miles) for oil changes, if your light is registering at 7500, that's pushing it. Sometimes I wonder if car makers do stuff like that on purpose so you'll have more car repairs or buy another car sooner!
At least now both our Bonneville and our GP will behave similarly - at least in these two regards.
The only thing I don't like about mode 4 is having the car unlock automatically in a parking lot. I just relock the car as soon as it unlocks but it would be better not to have it unlock in the first place.
SO basically my question is, how can you tell when it's worn out?
Plus one more question is, the GTP was timed at 6.7 seconds in the 0-60 MPH on Edmunds. Recently my friend timed mine at 8.5....but that was with his stopwatch, so could it very that much then if he timed me with a G-tech thing?
So if i could get those questions answered i'd be VERY HAPPY
Thanks a bunch.
As for 0-60 times, cars aren't computers and no two are going to produce the same times. Times recorded by professionals tend to be "tuned" for it and, as you say, electronically recorded. Rubber matters big time here as does weight of the car. Dragsters have done things like removed all but the driver's seat. And, of course, you've got to take the traction control off.
Still, a true 8.5 seconds will beat most cars on the road today.
Anyone got some ideas on how i can trick out my GTP and make it faster? I'm looking at spending maybe $1,000 on it. I really don't want to go the SLP way, lookin for something different. What would you guys do to a GTP with $1,000?
Thanks.
Best of luck in getting the problem resolved!
Stacy
BTW, my wife (who wears contacts - I do not yet need them) is shorter than I am and this distortion does not bother her as much as it bothers me and since the GP is her car, the replacement isn't urgent.
In my case, the factory rep must approve glass replacement, between this and the sm not seeing it, I'm getting very uncomfortable about the situation. I'll post again tomorrow after I hear back from the dealer.
I wonder if anyone else has noticed this problem?
Here's what I did: I parked the car in a spot that gave me a clear view of a fixed object on the horizon. Then, while keeping my gaze on that object, I moved my head around inside the car. At some point, the object appeared to suddenly jump or bend. Once I had this, I brought my hand up to the inside of the windshield and, using a grease pencil, I began marking the area of distortion. Even with that, the service manager couldn't see it and tried to suggest that maybe I was seeing dashboard glare. Fortunately, I had the sales manager on my side and, in the end, the part just got ordered. No questions, no factory rep.
As Stacy suggests, maybe you can find somebody of our height and give them the keys (on a sunny day) and suggest that they drive it for a while. Barring that, it might be worth a call to a local auto glass shop and ask them if they've ever heard of this problem.
Good luck - I hope our replacement windshields are better.
I can't see that a windshield would be any different now than it was 10 years ago. But I also never heard of drying off a car after washing it. I found out the hard way that the new paint they use requires drying. (It could just be metallic paint that needs drying and I've always had non-metallic paint on cars.)
HTH
Thanks!
Stacy
Ah! the joys of a northern clime!
Now the bad news, the windshield has been replaced, but the problem is still there. The distortion is a little different now, the edges are much better, but horizontally across the windshield it is the about the same and now, the problem is noticeable in about the bottom 3 inches of the window. Again, noone at the dealership could see it, except the salesman did say he noticed it at the bottom of the windshield.
Oh, the service manager said I could try adjusting my seat to see if that fixes it - I don't think so. When I complained to the salesman, he said I'd have to talk to the general manager, who wasn't in at the time. What's bad is, I really do like the car otherwise and I don't see this problem getting resolved easily.
I did call a couple glass companies and they were more than willing to take a look at it. So that is one thing I can do. Otherwise, not sure at this point. I've been trying to find some information on this topic, but pretty much coming up blank - I did find someone with windshield distortion on an Audi. If anyone knows of any standards windshield are supposed to follow or what is a reasonable amount of distortion, I'd appreciate it.
It's a shame cars don't come with a 30-day return policy!
Stacy: maybe our fluid is cheaper than the stuff available in the states. If you there's not much call for it where you live, there might not be much availability or competition. You know what that does to the price.... Check out Wal-Mart (they carry the stuff up here). One last thing about tap-water: aren't you the one with the rusty water???? One of the advantage of the mixed stuff in the jug is the absence of minerals which will eventually deposit in the bottom of your reservoir - potentially flaking off and lodging in your hoses or nozzles.
So far, our water hasn't been metered but they are in the process of metering us. I imagine the homeowners will be raising cain if they meter us without replacing the pipes. The ones we have now are pretty old--thus the rust sediment.
As long as there's discussion on the new 2002 Grand Prix, I have a question. How long has the current styling been out? It seems like it's been out for awhile.
dave
I've noticed that GM tops up the windshield fluid - but in our "soupy" springs, you can go through a litre of this stuff in a 2-3 weeks! So, I still go through a lot of it. I tend to buy it by the case at either Costco or Canadian Tire (that's a sort of a cross between Pep Boys and WalMart - without the clothing or groceries - with a little bit of Home Depot thrown in for good measure) and therefore pay about $US1 a jug.