19th Dec 2006, 19:42

Thanks to clueless magazine writers who like cars with suspension that jars the fillings out of your teeth and are made anywhere, but the U.S., the Grand Am has become a real jewel on the used car market now. I'm seeing some incredible prices on the late model GT's now, and having driven V-6 Mustangs, as well as several popular imports, I can assure you that the Grand Am is vastly superior to any of them in performance. The Mustang is sportier, but I had a 5.0 Mustang before I got my present GA and I'd take the Pontiac hands down any day.

27th Mar 2007, 13:08

It's been great to read all the other stories about the Grand AM GT with ram air, my wife and I just bought a 2004 and just love it We had a grand AM before and there is no other car in it's class. Like the other reader said they should never of stopped making them. Was 2005 the last year Grand AM was made?

28th Mar 2007, 20:00

Unfortunately, Pontiac did drop the beautiful, sporty and grossly UNDER RATED Grand Am in 2005.

I'm blessed to have a mint condition, brilliant red 2001 SE-1 with only 60,000 miles on it. The car is a dream to drive, is fast, gets great gas mileage and has never required a single repair. Mine has the sporty body side cladding that was dropped from the SE's in 2003, making the SE models look like cheap fleet cars. The beautiful GT was made up until 2005 in its sporty styling.

My family are all car enthusiasts, and members of my family currently own everything from a 1972 Dodge Challenger Hemi to a Dodge Viper, as well as a Porsche, a Jaguar Vanden Plas, a C-class Mercedes convertible and a Hummer. For the money, I like my humble little Grand Am as well as anything in the family, and it cost a LOT LESS than many cars that I don't feel are nearly as good.

I've driven the new V-6 Mustang, and the Grand Am GT ram air will eat it alive and make you feel like you're riding in a limousine while it's doing it.

9th Apr 2007, 13:24

I bought a Grand-Am in 2004 that was 6 months old. For the most part, I like it. But... I recently had to replace the front brake rotors (rather early for a 2 yr old car). Also I am getting a intermitent clicking sound near my steering column. I've replaced my hazard signal unit, but no luck so far. It's pretty irritating.

9th Apr 2007, 14:40

To the poster above:

Having to do brakes at 3 years of continuous service is not that unusual. As for the intermittent clicking sound, it is dirty contacts in your signal selector switch. Remove the combination switch from your steering column, spray some electrical contact cleaner on the contact points and viola! You're done. I did mine one year ago and haven't had any issues since.

9th Apr 2007, 19:28

The ticking sound might be your flasher unit getting ready to go out (a very MINOR issue).

As for the brakes, that's a tough one. My GA has 60,000 miles on it and the brakes don't appear to be HALF worn out yet. Likewise with my wife's 4-year-old GM car. You may have a warped rotor or mis-aligned caliper.

11th Jul 2007, 01:58

I bought a 2001 Grand Am GT with the Ram Air V6 a few months ago. It had 106,509 miles on it and the week after I bought it the transmission went out on it. After getting the transmission and a small electrical problem fixed, the car has run like a dream. It has takeoff power and quick acceleration even after I'm already going 80 mph. It's a beautiful car that comes loaded. Mine even included nice stock rims. The highest speed I could achieve was about 120 mph, but who really needs to go that fast. The only thing I can't say that I really like is the gas mileage. I get 18.5-20.5 mpg in the city and about 26-28 on the highway. If they re-introduce it after the G6 dies out, I will definitely look toward another one.

3rd Aug 2007, 02:01

In June of this year I bought my 04' Pontiac Grand Am Gt coupe with the ram air. The car was in unbelievable shape when I bought it. 32,000 miles for about $14,500. I was looking at the 04' V-6 accord coupes before this and they were going for over $19,000. I'm going into my junior year in college so money was a concern so I took the cheaper, more sportier car. Hands down though, this car is amazing. I can't believe how underrated it is. Only problem I have had in two months was a clicking sound behind the hazards. Took it to the shop and they fixed it for free under warranty and haven't had the problem since. This car is really fast though. Just got it up to 95 yesterday...easily. I'm not sure how much faster it is than these mustangs, but it for sure can beat them in acceleration. Driven 2,000 miles since buying it and no regrets. Definitely would recommend to for anyone.

4th Aug 2007, 09:17

I bought a 2004 Grand Am GT with the SCT package in February 2005 as a short term replacement, with the intention of passing it on to my daughter when she got her license (this year). I got a great deal on it, since the Grand Am was being replaced after 2005. The only car I owned that people actually made favorable comments on when I'm putting gas in it!

The car has been a very pleasant surprise. It now has about 56,000 miles and the only problems have been some small trim issues like the front window trim coming off (easy enough to glue back on) and the AC knobs shearing off (easy to find inexpensive replacements on eBay). NO mechanical issues so far, unlike my previous 1999 Dodge Intrepid that had one thing go wrong after another.

I had the brake pads replaced at about 50,000 miles, and it does seem to go through brake pads fairly fast, as my shop said they needed to be replaced again at 65k, but I commute in a lot of stop and go traffic. Getting the brakes done isn't all that expensive in the scheme of things.

A great looking car that performs well, and has a lot of nice features. I just bought a 2007 Grand Prix GXP that I LOVE, but it really makes me appreciate the Grand Am GT.

As for the turn signal noise. It's caused by dirt building up on the contacts. There is a fairly cheap fix that doesn't take much time. It involves some cotton swabs, dielectric grease, electric contact cleaner, and torque screwdrivers. You can find step-by-step directions at http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50126&highlight=turn+signal+clicking.

I'm thinking of adding a sun roof to it if my daughter intends to hang on to it. Anyone have any insight or suggestions into the cost of doing this?