New (to me) 2008 Grand Prix

[sleguy]

Some of you may have seen my other posts about being in the market for another car. Today I bought a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix. 43k miles, leather, sunroof, dual exhaust, etc. I traded in the Rendezvous that was giving us so many problems.

It was really cold outside today, so I didn't spend a lot of time out there taking pictures, but here are a few quick ones:











As (bad?) "luck" would have it, I did notice a few deficiencies on the way home and after getting home. There's wind noise coming from the front passenger door area. When I looked in there, it looks like its missing a cloth seal or something. You can see straight into the fender and up to the front of the car. The driver side has it. Looks like a $5 part from GM. The other thing I noticed is that there's a small amount of fog/condensation on the bottom of the passenger side headlight. I guess its not sealed well. Overall though, it looks and drives great.

[00Beast]

Looks great!!!

[Jim W]

Looks familiar to me! Kinda odd not to see a HUD dial and those funny bunny ear TapShift paddles on the steering wheel.

How do you like the Series III against the Series II so far?

[sleguy]

I don't know about the engine per se, but the Bonneville and the Grand Prix feel totally different. The GP has a more firm ride, tighter steering, and a more aggressive sounding exhaust note. Of course my Bonneville is a 99, so perhaps wear has taken its toll on the ride. I did briefly drive a 2005 Bonneville SLE last year and noticed it also felt a lot different than my 99. It was more similar to the GP.

The electronic throttle on the GP takes some getting used to. It almost seems like they tuned it to be ultra-sensitive, perhaps to make the car seem faster than it actually is. So acceleration, while fast, is not as smooth as the Bonneville. Of course, the GP is smaller than I'm used to. And I think they could have done a better job on interior materials. My Bonneville at least has some wood looking plastic to break the gray/black plastic monotony. And it would be nice if the stock radio had an aux in or MP3 support. I'll probably change that out at some point. But overall, I like the car. My scan tool won't talk to it, though. I think I need to pay AutoEnginuity for an upgrade to get CAN support.