1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE Base 2.4 from North America
Summary:
Good car
Faults:
Front brake pads where worn through, replaced the front rotors and pads with ceramic, very nice.
Replaced the alternator at 145000.
Replaced the front struts with KYBs.
Water in the tail lights, replaced the tail lights with custom and sealed with dialectric grease. A neoprene seal on the factory lights would stop the leaking.
The rollers and guides for the front windows where either lacking grease or sticking, lube'd them up or replaced.
Service Light came on for the rear O2 sensor. A wire was frayed so I installed a new one.
Rear synthetic leather was de-laminating, re-glued and is staying on.
General Comments:
The car was not well taken care of before I purchased it. I was aware of some of the problems and have fixed most of them.
Still need to change the rear struts and some of the sway bar bushings. Added a front strut tower bar and that reduced the body roll significantly. I really enjoy how the cars corners now even with 15" rims.
I've installed iridium plugs, synthetic oil and a cold air intake which has added some more performance to the engine. Accelerates very quickly for a four cylinder.
The factory seats where very uncomfortable. I replaced them with some Grand Prix seats. Those are much nicer on long drives.
I removed the factory shift know and installed a smaller straight up shift knob to give the cup holders more room, looks better also.
The front headlight covers are roughed up. After I replace those I will put clear headlight covers on them to help them last longer.
I commute in the car a lot and really enjoy driving it. I've put 20K miles on it in the 6 months I've owned it. Considering the miles, the car appears to be holding up quite well.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 31st October, 2006