Ooooh look, they dyed the same awkward layout tan instead of black, so much better, lol. All i really have to say about the interior is....16 HVAC vents? WTF?

As for my opinion of their trannies, i've known a couple people with them and none of them have ever had a tranny live more than 60-80k, and these were unmodified daily drivers. I could swear they also bitched about brake rotors, but i'm more fuzzy on that. But lack of perceived reliability still takes a back seat to the interior.

 

different color....still fugly....

 

I've always thought they were gorgeous cars, from the outside. I've never sat in one, so I can't comment on the interior. To this day, when I see one driving by, I think it looks beautiful, not quite as beautiful as the model it replaced, but very close. I might have to pick one up someday if they are depreciating as much as you guys say.

 

I spent about 2 weeks in a 06 GP rental . I didnt think it was as terrible as some make it out to be . Not the best Ive seen , but certainly not the worst . It felt well built and was comfortable . Among the many cars I shopped before I got my Cobalt SS was a brand new left over white 2004 Comp G GP . It was a sweet car . I just cant get past the awkwardness of the front and rear bumpers though . Like Ive said before about the GP , the greenhouse is fantastic looking . The qwirky front and rear bumpers kill any possiblity of me owning one though .

The bigger wheels and new bumper on the GXP improved things alot , but not enuff . The GXP is such a awesome driving car , possibly the funnest FWD car Ive driven save for my own SS . To bad it cant look awesome too .

 

Even she, being pretty much a total newbie in the car enthusiast realm, picked apart the interior a little bit when she complained last night about the dimples in the door pulls...which indeed do look like ****. They appear though to be inserts, so I'm wondering if I can pull them out and replace them with the polished metal accents they used '06+??

Otherwise though, the car seems to be making awesome impressions. Its in my body shop right now, as some paint is peeling off the mirror and needs attention...so we're spraying that and carefully buffing a few marks on it. I went into the shop last night, and 3 hardcore Mopar guys were pacing around it, complementing it. I was surprised With the SPO grills, spoiler and tips, in black with polished wheels, it seems to make a pretty good impression.

If the interior was G6-quality, I think the car would have gone over better. Regardless, I know we're gonna have a lot of fun with this car. I assume the GP nameplate is dead after '07? Calling the new car a G8 is gonna **** me off

 

I think the interior from the Bonneville GXP looks better than the Grand Prix interior, especially if you throw the new style steering wheel in the Bonneville. Both interiors have problems, and are from the old GM school of thought and design. The Bonneville dash flows a lot better than Grand Prix design.

As far as the Grand Prix goes, it would be interesting to see the sales #s for the previous gen. compared to the current gen. I'd guess that sales have fallen off quite a bit. A co-worker of mine use to have a previous gen 4-door Grand Prix GTP '00 or '01 model, he traded it off for a new Maxima SE back in '04 when they came out, I'd say the average previous gen. Grand Prix owner went somewhere else when it came time to trade-in there GP.

Last year I drove a '06 Grand Prix GT with the series III 3.8 S/C around a road course at Indy. I was really surprised how much grunt the engine had during kickdowns. It seemed quite a bit faster than the previous gen. GTP even though test #'s don't reflect much difference.

 

I was comparing interiors between the G.P. & Impala recently & I was struck by how nice the new Impala's interior is compared to the G.P.'s. To get a G.P.'s interior to look that good you have to get an GXP. Also, when I sat in a GXP it didn't feel as comfortable as I thought it would be. I haven't been able to sit in an Impala yet, so I can't make a comparison there, but, on a side note I did check out a GTO & was impressed with how good it felt. Everything was in the right place & the materials felt 1st class! But the point I'm making is that's it's pretty sad that you have to get a top of the line G.P. to get an interior that at least LOOKS as good as what you get in a base model Impala LT! Next to the Chevy's the S.E & G.T. interiors are an ode to industrial plastics! I know that the G.P. is a lame duck so Pontiac isn't going to spend any money upgrading them. But this car should have had the GXP style interior across the board when it came out in '04! I realize it would have made them a little more expensive, but they might have sold better in spite of it due to the upgrading.

 

How much was that car new? It sounds like the previous owner got absolutely destroyed on resale. I'm sure the dealer is making at least a couple of bucks selling the car to you for 14.6k. That guy is probably regretting buying one.

 

The car new stickered for about $31,700...hers even has the sport package for $700 that added the nicer grills, spoiler and exhaust tips (I mean, how AWFUL are the normal tips on a GP???). The place I bought it from is my old Pontiac dealer I used to work for...he CLAIMS he made $400 on it at $14,400 (I got another $200 knocked off when I told him how cheap that 47k mile one I bought at the auction was), but I know he made more.

The previous owners bought a new G5 GT, of all things...talk about a step down! With almost no markup in a G5, they were probably shown somewhere between 13-14k...pretty bad investment, eh??? The bottom line is a GP makes a phenomenal used car deal because the residuals are sooooo awful.

Such a shame for such a nice car, but it makes a great deal for us

 

I've owned my Fusion Orange Metallic since 03/04 and I really love it! It is a really well built car. I had an 02 2-door GTP and the quality is much better with the new car. I like the front end of the 04 better, it is more aggressive. But, the rear of the 02 looked nicer than the 04.

Now, if you live and die by interior design, then yes, it inferior to most Japanese cars. But I judge a car as whole. And this car is far and away a better performer than my father-in-laws automatic G35. It beat him by .2 in the 1/4 stock to stock, even though his HP rating is higher. Oops, can't beat supercharged torque, even on that lo-tech 3.8 pushrod motor. I also get better MPG. Remind me again, what are the benefits of a 4-valve motors? Now with $150 in mods I beat him by 9 tenths. No japanese overhead cammer can hope to come close to that for those dollars.

Now, his G35 interior is very nice, much nicer than my GTP. BUT, it has been in the shop for over 90 days in the last 1.5 years he has owned for about a dozen different things. His most aggravating problems has been from the interior, the auto climate control and the audio system. Hmmm, design is irrelevant with poor function IMO.

 

I think people are beating on the car unfairly. The old car had a much worse interior and sold fine. The new cars interior is not great...but leaps forward in comparision. The biggest issue is that the car has been on the market now for 4 years with no attention at all. Slap a new dash...and a inoffensive front clip on the car, and I think it would sell fine.

 

Branden,

You say the old car had an inferior dash, but did it really? I mean, other than a modern radio, metal door handles and seats that have actual SIDE BOLSTERS, what the hell is so special about the new one? The materials are definitely no better...the design isn't as fluid...the space in front feels smaller because of the way the center stack juts out and the console rises up...

I lost a ton of GP sales when '97-'03 owners came to look at the new car, often solely based on the dashboard. My mom, after owning a '95 SE sedan, a '98 GT sedan and an '01 GT sedan, was so dissappointed with the interior in the first '04 GT2 she drove, she ended up going to an Explorer because while she wanted another Grand Prix.

I love the comfort and the amenities, but I wouldn't say it looks better than before...

 

It's amusing to me is to compare this thread to older commentary on this forum - and elsewhere, including the print media (for example, look here, here, here, here, here, and here). It'll be interesting to see if GM's newer interiors age better (I think they will, as I like the newest product, where as I never understood the hoopla over the current GP).

 

It looks like after the newness of the design had a chance to set in for a few months, I hated the design back then as much as I do now

That last link Eric posted (thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, BTW ) was from when I had an '04 GT2 as a loaner, and I remember hating that car, and just wanted to get back in my '01. A Comp G with leather and a sunroof goes over so much better than the base cars ever did...but they still lack. I just know how much nicer a G6 is on the inside...hell, even an ALERO looked good inside next to a GP when they were on the lot together.

I was waxing the GP in the shop last night after work, and I will say that through time the exterior styling of the car has really grown on me, but it is by no means the quantum leap the '97 was. I like the fact that at least our car has the SPO grills, spoiler and exhaust tips...the original spoiler and exhaust tips are ugly IMO, and the normal grills just look cheap. I guess through time I'll learn to live with the crappy dashboard in order to enjoy things like HUD and the fun driving experience. I will miss the s/c 3800 when it ends production...I would have loved to see this engine get another round as a "Series IV," and put out a true 300hp in s/c form...I'm sure it could easily, if GM had put the proper tranny behind it. Eventually I want to do a tune to ours to take out the TQ management, but I'll be sure to add a tranny cooler and switch to synthetic fluid before I do much else

At least the seats are way better than the old car...they actually look like leather and have decent bolstering...I remember my '01 seats looked like vinyl, and were completely flat!

 

ROTFLMAO!!