The Pontiac Grand Am, beautifuly styled American car.
The Grand Am comes in 2 basic packages: The SE and the GT. The SE has three basic subcatagories:
  • SE
  • SE1
  • SE2

The GT has 2 subcatagories:
  • GT
  • GT1

Lets take a look at each of these cars
All packages are avail. in a coupe or sedan which is basiclly 2 doors, or 4 doors, respectively. The Coupes are usually a bit less and weigh considerably less.

SE: Bare bones - Engine: GM LD9 2.4L Long. mounted 4 cyl engine puts out around 150 HP. Cost at about $17,000 fully loaded it's a nice ride. Like all grand ams it's front wheel drive, automatic only (there's on exception, the SE1 is avail. in a manual transmission) and comes in a huge spectrum of colors.

SE1: Adds power _EVERYTHING_ (doors, mirrors, driver seat...). Otherwise just a few minor cosmetic changes, but deff worth the extra $300.

SE2: Add the GM LA1 V6 engine for 170 hp, and you're getting into the real cars now. We're hittin' the street with 16" cast Aluminum wheels. If you can live without being the fastest Grand Am on the road, and still wanna look good this is where I'd drop my cash.


mmmmm...GT's
GT: The "basic" GT package. Powered by the 3400 SFI General Motors LA1 V6 (same as the SE2) but with the Pontiac Ram Air induction system. This engine will lay 175 HP stock. The GT package also adds the Uber Sexxxy body paneling, quad tip / dual exaust, and 16" chromed alum. wheels with GT specific styling. Lets not forget the optional leathers, moon roof, CD _AND_ cassette players, and a Bose stereo that's almost compitition worthy. yummy.

GT1: How can it get better? Oh, I can tell you, it DOES get better. (I own a '00 GT1 myself. The GT1, based on the GT base package, comes with almost everything standard except leather seats and chrome wheels. Leather adds about $1000-1800 unless they have one with leathers on the lot. I got my leathers for free because I got pissed off at the dealer.

I chose not to go with the chrome wheels, prefering the brushed aluminum look. I on't know about the stock stats, but for around $700 you can make this into a street racer that will _SPANK_ a base Mustang, base camaro, or base firebird on the street. When you consider the cost, economy, and insurance....well.. the numbers dont seem to add up right.

If you're looking for a very fast, very fun car to drive, I would highly recomend the Grand Ams, they just have so much more style and grace than any honda save the S2000 and cost far less than anything else one should like besides this car.

Much of the info in this review came from http://www.grandam.com and http://www.gmpowertrain.com as well as from various brochures, friends, and experiance with these cars. If anything was omited, misrepresented, or need's a good whackin' with the hammer of fixing stuff, please email me: greysoul@greymatter.org