Quote Originally Posted by Nickp View Post
Hey guys what's up? I've had a few LT and LS F-body's over the years I've enjoyed molding and racing. Now it's time for me to get something with 4 doors. I have been considering picking up a gtp and am just starting to research and look at them. They seem like a pretty solid platform for price vs performance, compared to some other cars I've been looking at. I am looking for advice on what years to look for and or any problem areas I should keep in mind when looking at or test driving them. My end goal is nothing crazy, I'd just like to have a solid mid 13 second car that is reliable. Thanks for any help or advice!
Since you live in Ohio, I would stick with a 2001-2003, reason being the 97-00 years had issues with the rear strut towers rusting out. GM redesigned something in the wheel wells to prevent this from happening for the 2001 model. However, they are all subject to rocker panel rust. It is a freaking shame that GM did nothing to help prevent this from happening and I bet that alot of otherwise nice grand prixs have rusted rockers. Aside from the rust, these cars in my opinion are very easy to work on and some simple mods to a GTP will get you to your mid 13's easily. The only other negative I see is how much longer the platform will have support... Pontiac died in 09 and the last grand prix was an 08. There is a fair amount of stuff out there now, but for how long? I like my GTP as a lightly modded daily driver. I gave up a Crown Vic LX Sport for it and I do miss it. Just couldn't get good MPG out of the Vic. As far as a test drive goes, just look for all of the normal things you should look for when buying a used car. GTPs that have been beaten on and had the tires smoked more than once will most likely have a tired trans. I got boned when I bought my car... previous owner changed the trans fluid so that it was nice and red and smelled normal when I pulled the dipstick to check it. A month later it was getting rebuilt to the tune of $1800. Grand Prix hub bearings like to check out early so listen for the hum and do some figure 8s or other means to load and unload them to see if the hum comes and goes with it. Make sure all of the electronics work. Bad ignition switches can cause other things not to work properly. Window motors and regulators seem to fail more often than they should as well. There is a few good sticky threads on this site about safely modding the 3800 cars and common problems to look for. Check those out and ask questions. Most people on this forum are really helpful.