Grand Am

[american_revolution_2005]

I am going to be starting a job soon and I have some money saved up so I may try to find a good Grand Am coupe for sale. I absolutely have loved Grand Ams, any generation and I have always wanted one as a first car. Pontiacs are great and I think I may rather get a Grand Am. Sporty looks, fair amount of power. I think I might try to find a 90s Grand Am coupe. I see plenty around but no body seems to be getting rid of any. They are beautiful cars nonetheless. I am scrapping all ideas except for a Grand Am, possibly a Sunfire, and some 3800 V6 vehicles. My dad has the idea of me getting a car with absolutely no rust. Up here with all the salty roads, there is no such thing as not having rust. I told him to look under his Expedition but he refused to. That thing has rust building up pretty fast LOL. Any certain years I should look out for or problems?

Edited October 31, 2006 by american_revolution_2005

[DetroitNut90]

What's you're price range?

Assuming you're relatively close to London (I know a bit about the geography of Ontario, and I imagine you're not near Thunder Bay) and that you haven't started looking yet, may I suggest this?

I can also vouch for the 3400 V6. It's got a nice sound to it and is resonably peppy for being in an AWD U-body. Imagine what it could do in a smaller FWD N-body...

[american_revolution_2005]

I am not that close to London. It is about 2 hours. I looked on that and that 96 2-door was nice and in Cambridge, I go to the Tri-city area often. The price however, too expensive. There is a 99 Grand Am sedan for sale in my area for the same price.

[DetroitNut90]

Maybe I know less about Ontario than I thought...

[american_revolution_2005]

London is south down the 401. On my way to Detroit though. I go through it every time. Nobody knows where Orangeville is anyways.

[PurdueGuy]

The Pick-n-Pull I went to a month & a half ago probably had 50-100 mid-90's grand ams in it, so parts will be pentiful... lol I'd definately suggest 6cyl.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Go for a 1999 GT coupe or sedan. Those particular Grand Ams are the best looking late-model, cladded GAs ever produced.

Avoid red, by the way. I think red looks pretty tacky on any Grand Am. Ever. A nice white, green, or black looks pretty sharp.

Good luck.

[Cory Wolfe]

Stay away from ones with the Quad4.

Why? Well, I have one. It sits in my yard. All of it's problems are engine related. For one, it overheated easily. Two, the headgasket went bad. Three, it ticked and there seemed to be no cure... too much money was spent trying to fix that without any progress. Four, it was almost as bad as a Toyota 4cyl as you had to rev the hell out of it to get any power. Five, it was a torqueless little bastard... even the smallest hills killed it.

As far as the actual car goes, the only thing you'll have to worry about will be electrical glitches and brakes. Well... and little things like the fuel door not always wanting to open, the cheap and noisy interior, random things breaking, etc. I was considering getting a different car even before I had any engine problems. I probably should have so I wouldn't have had to go through all the problems and ending up not having a car for more than half a year. Oh well...

[american_revolution_2005]

I wanted to go for the 6 anyways. Maybe if I get enough money I could get a cheaper one with a 4 and find a 6 to put in it.

[ToniCipriani]

If you're looking at a very late model Grand Am, may I suggest a '05 G6?

There's one in Waterloo.

[mjdecker]

If you get any 96 to I think 2002 vehicle with the 3100V6 or 3400 V6 engines check to see if the intake manifold gasket has been replaced. That's a common issue in those engines and has happened to my 97 Achieva, 99 Alero (dealership covered it under warranty after some finagling), and my dad's 00 Impala. Other than that and general maintenance, my family and I have to do very little to keep all three cars running (aside Achieva that was totaled, but that's a different story).

You can probably find some 96 or 97 GT models pretty cheap and I think those Grand Ams looks sweet in black or red.