[Chris]

I just bought a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am, 111k miles for 1.2k... I'm pretty stoked about it.

Anything I should know about it. Anything that I should look out for in a Pontiac?

[j0k3r]

Just remember that it's a 12 year old car and you will be fine.
1992-1998 Pontiac Grand Am Reliability - Consumer Guide Automotive

[ThatHideousStrength]

I hear those are the worse cars to buy used. Good Luck!

[ninefivezero]

Out of curiosity, why did you pick that car?

[tweakmonkey]

Sounds like a good price. Those cars aren't that bad. They're cheap for a reason but I doubt you'd run into as many problems as people might think. I've known a couple people that owned them over the years and the maintenance was about the same as any other small-midsize American car from that time.

[MSP]

Congrats. But as mentioned I hoped you saved some money for maintenance and repairs.

[Juballharshaw]

You should definitely find the most hideous rims you can for it.

Oh and a pair of fuzzy dice.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by ThatHideousStrength

I hear those are the worse cars to buy used. Good Luck!

Whys that?

Most of the "this car sucks" talk on here is useless elitist mechanic bullshit. Just want some info to back that up.

[Juballharshaw]

No, it's not.

It's the fact that you bought a mid-90s Pontiac. The big 3 have been crap for years with a few exceptions (usually Buick and Cadillac models).

1996 Pontiac Grand Am Review and Specs

1996 Pontiac Grand Am Reviews - Carsurvey.org

$1200 is damn cheap and the fact that you don't need to worry about payments or insurance is a plus. Just remember that the phrase "you get what you pay for" is usually pretty accurate when it comes to used cars.

[super_Chris]

Originally Posted by Chris

Whys that?

Most of the "this car sucks" talk on here is useless elitist mechanic bullshit. Just want some info to back that up.

Do NOT run the gas low. Chevy's have a submerged fuel pump, it uses the gas to cool the pump. Low gas, makes the pump heat up and burn out. That's the one thing I know about Chevy's.

I've heard that a lot of their smaller engines we're originally Isuzu designs and are actually pretty decent, so you should be good on that front. Also remember, that car(among most others) were designed to be made on the cheap, and will act like it, especially as it ages.

My recomendations: Change the oil often (3-5k miles), don't run the gas low, check the fluid levels often(once a week), check the belts and hoses once a month and if you hear anything ask a mechanic before it gets louder. Then again, this will apply to any vehicle... If you want it to last.

[sims]

Originally Posted by Chris

Whys that?

Most of the "this car sucks" talk on here is useless elitist mechanic bullshit. Just want some info to back that up.

useless elitist mechanic bullshit? what exactly are you basing that on?

despite my Incessant bickering in 2000 my parents bought a 98 Pontiac sunfire, their other car is a 94 honda accord and I own two 91 Toyota’s. I’m not going to throw a bunch of trivial consumer reports in your face, I’ve actually worked on and been under these cars and there is no arguing, a GM economy car from that era is NOT in any way build to the same standards a Honda or a Toyota was. This is reflective in the original cost as well as the resale value.

Our sunfire has actually been surprisingly reliable for what it is, nothing extremely major has gone wrong with it which shocks me day by day but its 3 and 7 years newer then our other cars and has had more issues then the others combined with less mileage. Everything about every economy GM I’ve seen or worked on feels cheap and subpar to me compared to a Japanese equivalent. Through its entire life its always had little issues, all things I’ve been able to fix over time but are issues none the less, its gas mileage is also about the same as my dad’s accord which is a larger vehicle.

Its not bullshit, its fact. American car manufactures have the reputations that they do because of the cars they build in the 90’s.

All of that said though, you wouldn’t have found a decent shaped import for $1200, so theirs not point debating it. I strongly advise you go out and you get yourself a Haynes shop manual and perform ALL regular maintenance on it immediately. A full engine/tranny tune up done yourself won’t cost you more then $100 or so but check everything on the car, you can’t learn about cars without taking them apart and putting them back together and not only will you learn how to do future maintenance on every car you’ll own but you’ll get an idea of exactly where you car stands what the “problem” area’s are going to be and so forth.
The little issues that have come up with out sunfire over time haven’t been to hard to fix but I don’t doubt that it would have been several 1000’s of dollars worth of bills had a paid a mechanic to do it. They also could have become much more sever issues had they not been addressed in a timely manner.

It shouldn’t be common for major issues to arise on any car. It sadly is, but this is normally do to misuse or lack of maintenance, imports just seem to be designed to take owner abuse better. If you take proper care of it and go easy on it you should be ok assuming everything is currently in proper running order.

A word of caution though, DO NOT sink a bunch of money into this car. There are parts that over time deteriorate, most every part of the suspension, brake and emissions systems as example. You could be lucky and a lot of this stuff might have been done over the last few years, but if they have not you’ve got a long fairly expensive list of work that’s going to likely need to be done. If this is the case, or if something big does go on the car you’re better off finding a replacement then dumping money into it like that because its going to be a never ending list.

[Chris]

Thank you Sims. I appreciate you typing all that our for me

[MSP]

Originally Posted by sims

I’m not going to throw a bunch of trivial consumer reports in your face...

Hey, I didn't even mention reviews or reliability numbers.

But it's not trivial at all. Those numbers are put together based on hundreds of thousands of cars over many years. Does it represent ever car that came off the line? No, but they can give you as accurate a guide to car reliability as is possible.

[Chris]

So I just got the car today, had to go to the insurance agent and all that. It runs nice, minus needing some minor accessories (radio buttons/knobs) I'm very happy with it. We bought a 1yr warranty through the dealer so my mind is at ease for the first year atleast. Here's a pic:



EDIT: Oh yeah that's not stuff leaking from the bottom.. I moved a tarp to take the pic and there was water on top of the tarp, heh.

[Chris]

Double post

[MSP]

Congrats. Looks amazingly clean for $1200.

[super_Chris]

You now have transportation. Shit will change, big time now. You would be surprised how much life changes when you can drive anywhere you want, any time.

[sims]

Originally Posted by super_Chris

You now have transportation. Shit will change, big time now. You would be surprised how much life changes when you can drive anywhere you want, any time.

like the second job you'll need to pay for you're gas, insurance, maintenance and repairs! :P

jk, looks really good for $1200! have you checked all the fluids to make sure everything looks good and clean?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by sims

like the second job you'll need to pay for you're gas, insurance, maintenance and repairs! :P

jk, looks really good for $1200! have you checked all the fluids to make sure everything looks good and clean?

For the most part, yeah we have.. We're gonna have a family friend that's a mechanic take a look at everything once more this weekend, but the engine is SPOTLESS. I'll have to get pics of it but the engine looks like it just came from a showroom. All the hoses and belts are brand new, metals are shiny, etc etc.

[offroadin]

Originally Posted by Chris

metals are shiny, etc etc.

Should I post an useless elitist mechanic bullshit comment? Nah i'll hold back.

For $1200, i'd say just drive the wheels off it. Don't invest any money into it other than the necessities (fuel, oil changes). Possibly brakes, but anything more than that is not worth it.