Thread: Best Year to Buy for the Wife

So I just recently got into the Grand Prix GTP and I love it. Unfortunately.....so does my wife. I swear that woman has driven my car more than I have since I got it going.

Anyways we have decided we gonna buy her one. She doesn't care if its SE/GT/GTP/CIA/UPS/Give-A-Dog-A-Bone.........but I do. I've ruled out SE and the GT with the 3.4L. We've decided to stay within the 98-04 Yrs.
Definitely going to stay with 3.8L (S/C or not) and I do have a few questions:


Did any GT come with heated seats?
HUD?
Dual Climate Control?

I've been trying to find answers and either I'm not looking in the right spot or the damn Gremlins keep moving the pages on me. I can find TONS of info on the Engine differences (naturally ) but very little info on actual differences in the......creature comforts.

Does any Particular year stand out as better? I know 04 had a Redesign. 05 starts to get beyond our budget in our area. She REALLY likes the HUD and heated seat so if those are GTP only then obviously I'll need to rework my search parameters lol.



Also I'm well aware of transmission issues and I know nothing is CONCRETE (I'm a diesel mech) but whats the longevity of the transmissions driven by someone who rarely rarely sees past half throttle primarily in the GT 3.8L?



Come to think of it, don't think the Accord has seen past 1/4 throttle unless she going up hill or I'm driving.





Thanks in advance everyone.

Yes a GT can have a heated drivers seat with dual climate control and HUD, they are just more rare in a way I guess. More than half of the GTP's have HUD and heated seat. 98-00 will have the digital climate control and the 01+ will not but it will still be dual zone for the most part.

To me no year is that much better than the rest but I'd stay away from 97-98's just because of the few year only parts they have and because they are the early builds. I owned a 2000 and think it's one of the "best" years to own. Anything with no rust and somewhat lower miles from 00-03 is something to look at.

Transmission life is always a toss up, no real way to say how long it will last. Once rebuilt with quality parts it's pretty much a non issue though.

Thanks a ton for the info.

So pretty much 00-03 GT with a better chance of the options she wants if we stay GTP.

I think the body style you like is the 97-03, but since you mentioned 04...

A majority of 04-05 GT2s had hud, heated seats, and dual climate control as well.

Thanks Explicit.

She doesn't mind the body style of the 04-05 (but does prefer the 97-03). For some reason in our area 04 run anywhere from 1500-3000 and the 05 jump to $5000. I have no clue why lol.

You probably don't have this problem much in Oregon, but the earlier cars had problems with the rear strut towers rusting out. It was either 2000 or 2001 that this problem was fixed.

Also, the 2001+ cars have more durable steering wheel radio controls.

If it's just a daily driver, I'd recommend an 01+.

Yea it will be the wife's daily.
And yea I rarely see rust on any car here unless its from out of state or spent it's life on the coast.

Sounds like I'm keeping my search to 01-04 GT/GTP

Thanks everyone for the advice

00 or bust, 01 is gay

Thanks everyone. The more opinions the better


Just curious what's up with the 97's lol? I know they had Tire Pressure monitors and that deterred me from them (can't fix tires with a malfunctioning sensor). Is there something else bad about them?

They actually don't use a pressure sensor like newer cars do. It works by checking tire rpm and comparing to the others. So it actually does not work all that well.

For a daily, 97's are fine. It's when you start to mod them, that they can be a pain. The pcm isn't real friendly.

Just pay attention to the LIMs if youre going with a GTP. if sticking with GT's you'll need to replace the upper intake manifold before it corrodes away into your motor.

Thanks again.

I LOVE this place, everyone is nice and sharing lol. Really increasing my knowledge of these cars.

It will not be modded at all. Wife wants it for a Daily Driver. She won't let me mod her Durango at all (would sound GREAT with magnaflows dammit). And her 88 Accord is absolutely comepletely bone stock.