1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo | Retro Review
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- Опубліковано 20 лют 2019
- Mean looking versions of corporate platforms were Pontiac's specialty at one point. This Grand Prix Turbo is certainly proof of that. It's not too late GM! BRING PONTIAC BACK
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Hard to believe Pontiac was #3 in sales when this episode originally aired. A shame that GM squandered the division and then ultimately shuttered it.
The Red Arrow had some great cars during their final years, the Firebird/Trans Am, Bonneville SSEI/GXP, 04 GTO, Solstice, and G8 GT just to name a few, and I liked the G6 Coupe & Convertible...but anyways, GM chose to keep Buick because they sell so well in China, effectively selling out the American customers to China.
The wrong people are running Ford and GM now
@@hakeemsd70m
Chinese buy american cars
Americans buy japanese cars
What a world we live in
@@hakeemsd70m American buyers turned their back on American vehicles.
The Chinese embraced them and bought them in the hundreds of thousands.
GM did exactly what any other company would have done.
It concentrated on the profitable market and left the non profitable one.
I bet a majority of people slamming GM and boo hooing the demise of Pontiac are driving Toyota and Honda products.
@@williamegler8771 Americans turned their backs on the big three because they allowed the bean counters to build cars that didn’t last. I’ve been a mechanic for 22 years, grew up on chevy small blocks, still own an s-10 with an iron duke and a 2000 z28, and I also own both a Toyota and an Acura, why you ask? Because they don’t break down like GM products. Can’t blame people for wanting a car that doesn’t need work every few months, especially when they are on a budget and not mechanically inclined.
When GM killed the OLDS and Pontiac, they basically killed off the car section at GM.
Not to sound insane but if the people who decided on that happening were mysteriously killed in a car crash I would not be upset.
@@devintariel3769 Oldsmobile has always drawn me in. They've been gone almost my whole life. Even an Alero draws my eye when it goes by
GM went bankrupt due to poor quality and corporate mismanagement. If Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer were actually making any money, they would have probably remained alive at GM. They almost killed GMC and Buick as well, but Buick sells great in China and GMC sells Denalis to people who can't afford an Escalade.
GM is dead. 100% of their product line is either manufactured in China or is a rebadged Asian vehicle. Their factories in North America are now "assembly plants," because they no longer meet the legal definition of a factory. Even the supposedly "American" Alpha platform Camaros and Cadillacs are manufactured in China and assembled in North America from knockdown kits.
GM has been dead for 40 years; they've just been surviving in zombie form thanks to Chinese millionaires and US tax dollar subsidies.
I hate they killed Pontiac, because they were the only ones doing something different. I just hate how much we don't have a modern Firebird - because you can find Camaro conversions and the Firebird skin on that body just looks so much better. Then you had interesting cars like the Saturn Sky / Pontiac Solstice, which just aren't made anymore. The Pontiac GTO and G8 were awesome cars, when Chevy did it, they jacked up the price so high that it didn't make any sense for a sedan being sold at a Chevy dealership. Overall its been a real cluster. Oh, and I forgot that Buick exists -- and that's a real issue for them since most people feel that way.
"Our only complaint is a squirmy feeling in the back end when the brake pedal is pushed to the limit." Perhaps this is because the rear wheels left the ground during the braking test at 2:48!
Good call, I missed it until i read your comment and looked again.
I noticed that too! I think it's the first time I've seen that happen in one of these MotorWeek videos.
Ed Ricco Music like a dog lifting its leg next to a fire hydrant.
I somehow imagined what would happen if the driver cut the wheel while braking! I think he would lose control!
I have had 4 of these. Still have one left. The brakes are usually what puts them in the scrap yard. Can’t find the parts. (Partly because I hoard them all). But when they work, that heavy car stops hard.
When I was in high school one of our gym teachers bought a brand new 1992 Grand Prix GTP that was black with the gold wheels. It was a sweet car for the time.
I had a 97 gtp and now it's my brother's and it still gets up and goes ! 3.8 supercharged.
When I was a high school gym teacher, I bought a 1992 grand prix turbo in black with the gold wheels. R. Lange begged me to take him as my date to prom, so I did, he looked great in that gown!
@@markk3652 LMAO
Very well said. I think people are getting HUD mixed up with the touch screen systems that displayed mileage, navigation, climate, radio, and other various functions on a TV like display. HUD or Heads Up Display projected information onto the windshield such as the speedometer and other simple functions so that the driver didn't have to look down at the cluster to see vital engine functions and the MPH. Yes, once again, the Cutlass Supreme/General Motors was the FIRST automobile to offer this feature in 1988 on 50 1988 Cutlass Supreme Pace Car convertibles. Many were destroyed but some did survive due to weak body structures when GM recalled them back. The SECOND vehicle to offer HUD was the Pontiac Grand Prix/General Motors in 1989, the Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo. There were two HUD versions offered, the first one used a taller body unit on top of the dash and the adjuster for the height of the information projected onto the windshield in the 89-90 Turbo Grand Prix's was mounted on the unit itself. The same unit found on the 88-90 Cutlass Supreme had the adjuster mounted on the left side of the dash/steering column. The second generation HUD which came out in 91-93 on the Grand Prix and the 91-94 Cutlass Supreme was a shorter unit and had the adjuster mounted on the right side of the dash/steering column on the Grand Prix, and down in the center dash bezel underneath the climate controls/ashtray compartment on the Cutlass Supreme. The color of the font or information displayed onto the windshield is a bluish green color on both models which matched well to the dash light color on the Cutlass but didn't match the orange dash lights on the Grand Prix. Could have been a cost saving idea from GM or the fact that the human eye picks up the color green better than orange and therefor has a bigger safety advantage.
@@vicaras1 i miss my 96 bonneville ssei
Wow. Weird to see one that's not all ragged out and missing most of its clear-coat.
working on stuff like that on my unit. never seen a windshield leak and a roof rusting out so badly.
Yeah all of these cars are meth head specials these days
@Chad Wilkins I had a 95 GTP and miss it.
Thays what happens to a 33 year old Pontiac lol
@@aaronp9835 Where do you get 33 years old? Are you from 2023?
Head-up display in 1990? On a Pontiac?! Pretty freaking impressive.
Frank Burns Also available on the Oldsmobile Tornado Troféo, which costed about the same in 1990. The one I own retailed for $25k new.
Also an option on the '89 Nissan 240SX.
@@Lrules364 I believe the Troféo also had a touch screen at this time as well, if I am not mistaken
@@Lrules364 I loved the look of those toronados. I think the Corvette had a type of keyless entry central locking available in the early 90s.
Pontiac was actually the first brand to offer this feature. I think it debuted on the 6000 STE or Bonneville SSE.
2:48
Pontiac: We build Excitement.
*rear wheels literally leave the ground during emergency braking*
That explains the squirlley feeling ...
I bet the rear brakes locked up and made it jump
😃😃😃
@Joshua Knighten "Well you see, after the accident the doctors had no choice but to replace my nose with the Mute button embedded in my face from the steering wheel"
Well that is exciting
I love the Retro Reviews... Thank you for all the posts!
I used to watch Motorweek all the time as a kid (it was a show produced locally in Maryland and aired on PBS). It's fun to go back and watch reviews of these older cars when brand new. Plus, I started watching probably right around 1990 or so, so the older episodes are even more interesting, as are the ones I missed when they originally aired.
There's such a huge, interesting back catalog of these great reviews, I'm so glad someone decided to upload these to UA-cam. I can lose DAYS watching nothing but Retro Reviews.
@@itsjohnsonjackson I lived close by in Fairfax VA in 1990
Retro reviews is my program diary
I miss Pontiac, I would love to see them brought back and stick to sporty models throughout!
You can still buy a used one
@@Kgio-2112 Sadly they're becoming harder to find for sale. I'll be honest though, I still see the final gen Grand Am almost daily here in the Ohio Valley. So you're right, they're out here but people just aren't selling them. I was surprised to find my 2005 Grand Prix GT.
Im from Europe and Pontiac is my favorite Am-car brand.
Still remember Knight Rider, when i was young. Firebird of that period is still the best looking front end on a production car for me. Pontiac and Olds have something special in design, factor-x. What a shame that they kill Pontiac.
Jarek Nowak
It’s one of our most underrated brands.
Definitely not a fan of Pontiac but Kit was a great car.
Wise Guy
I remember I went to Universal Studios where you can talk to kit
A lot of times they wouldn’t admit that it was a Pontiac just a Kight Industries such and such
One time this guy was on point. When I asked if he was related to the firebird he said that Knight Industries in order to offset his development costs licensed his likeness to General Motors. Equated it Jorden and his shoe deal with niki.
I was like dude they aren’t paying you enough
@@adamlemus7585 Knight Industries Two-Thousand (KITT)
That's funny, good cover story licensing it to GM.
Jarek, the really stupid thing was GM decided to kill the brand right as they started making their best cars in recent years (same with Olds). You had the GTO, which was a great V8 RWD coupe based off the Holden Monaro, and the Pontiac Solstice, a great roadster based on the Opel GT. Oh, and we can't forget about the G8. And none of these cars were beaten with the ugly stick by adorning them with way too much body cladding like Pontiac used to do all the time in the past.
As for Oldsmobile, the Alero and Aurora were great cars, and I thought surely the sign of a new resurgence of Oldsmobile making products worth buying, but again, shortly after, the plug was pulled.
Buttons! So many buttons on the steering wheel!!
That was their signature :)
Imagine if it had an airbag. Then in a wreck they would find your face impaled with plastic buttons. It would look like you motorboated a bucket of Legos.
@@billgateskilledmyuncle23 ... or waffle iron.
And awkward position too fot the buttons even for the horns.
Like the Banshee!
That interior cockpit was designed by Michael Knight....
Pontiac was leading the way in interior control button usage
... and confusion.
By 94 they got it down.
Crazy
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Still less confusing than most modern screen infotainment/control systems. At least you could learn all the buttons by feel.
6:44 John: IT BLISTERS DOWN THE ROAD SCREAMING, I'M EXCITING! LOL
Please clap
@@artbyty Hilarious and relevant 😂
Yeah - all 205 horsepower. . . .
@@herman452 That was a lot back then you goon.
@@wullahblack6452 That wouldn't have been a lot in 1956. Spare me your drivel.
Lets see... Rear wheels leave the ground under hard braking, a turbo v6 with only 205hp, more buttons in the cockpit than the spaceX shuttle, a clunky auto slushbox transmission, and a seatbelt that tries to tangle and strangle you... But dammit I still want one. Ah the late 80s. Such a cool time for cars. All the experimentation that was done, most of which was ahead of its time was great!
60-0 in 112 feet was very very good even by 2020 standards.
Yeah, to the point of almost flipping the car over! 😆
It shoulda had the 3.8 v6 engine. That would've made it into a screamer!
The Grand Prix did get the 3.8 in 1997, and you could have it in either normally aspirated or supercharged form.
Incredible...I’ve never seen a car lift rear tires off the ground while braking.
Steve V. that was scary to watch! That car definitely needs higher spring rates and more bound dampening on the front! No wonder why it was able to rotate in corners with a throttle off in put.
That must be some sticky tires, also!
it's called gymkhana autocross racing xD
Same, I have never seen a car do a Stopy before
😂😂
I'm in awe at how lush that interior looks for a 90's Pontiac. You won't find seats like that nowadays unless you're driving a very high end luxury car. Quite impressive!
Now the question is how long did those seat adjusters last, especially the bolsters. Always a problem spot, even on many Japanese cars.
Great Car! With Head Up Display in 1990!
In a car it is fancy... But the technology is from the 50s.
@Donald trick Trump Has STD's from Stormy D.
It's a cool car. If I had one today I'd be proud of it.
@Donald trick Trump Has STD's from Stormy D.
That's a lot of kit....by contrast i'l never buy a brand new car because I take all my cars through the forest and get them banged up. But my current car detects people speeding behind me and warns me not to change lane into their path... That's fancy.
$25,560 base price in 1990 = $49,225 adjusted for inflation.
I did not know that it was so expensive.
Sticker on mine was almost $27k in 89.
Blue06LT sounds like tons of money now but you have to consider the 80s superior salaries back then too
Roddy Dykes I was a kid in the 1980s so I have no idea who was paid what back then. Although with the current trend of money staying at the top so executives can have eight figure salaries while the average joe scrapes by, that doesn’t surprise me.
Donald trick Trump Has STD's from Stormy D. Few grand more you could have a vette.
Bring Pontiac back!
It cant because gm signed a contract to goverment when they ask for a debt to the government if im right if it is the government and the change is they must reduce car companies/shut down their other car companies FOREVER.The government do that do reduce cars in roads in the future and less more roeads to make too but that gives Toyota and friends advantages now.The Dodge now is a try hard Pontiac based on my observations but I think they just removed dodge instead of pontiac because pontiac is better than Dodge.If pontiac company is still on going today it will probably faster than Dodge and GM already have a car company to fight Buggati's speed
...let's trade Buick for Pontiac.
@@jGRite they wouldn't do that, Buick makes too much money in asian markets
@@capybaravangogh7427 Fuck the government. I hope some rich guy with big oil money from Texas buys the rights to Pontiac and brings it back as a separate entity from GM.
@@jGRite Agreed! GM should have kept Pontiac instead of Buick.
I miss my 02 GrandPrix it was one of the best cars I had I wish I would of still kept it till this day
25K was pricey back then
You could buy an Eclipse turbo for something around $15k back then, which was a faster car despite having two fewer cylinders and less horsepower.
You could get 2 '90 Daytona ES's that I just watched for that loot. And smoke the tires in braking too.
Or a Ford Probe LX V6 for a bit less
I only paid $42k for supercrew cab 2.7L twin turbo F150 with 302A package or whatever it's called. Has a rear locking differential and has a transfer case in it. With 93 octane, I can it 60 in 5.9 seconds. I wasn't aware there was a turbo Grand Prix in 90. I bet the 3.1L block was a weak as POS that would split if you add 20 more horsepower.
@@charleslowe522 You say that when you drive a Fix or Repair Daily, Driver Return On Foot vehicle?? LOL
And it still looks good today!
What a beautiful car! I LOVE IT!
Thanks for uploading this car!! Someone else removed it a while ago and I've been wanting to watch this again. My next door neighbor had two of these Pontiac's that they bought brand new and had the two for several years. My family had the Bonneville SSE and an SSEi. I wish I was able to have bought at least one of them to have today. These are definitely under rated and another forgotten about car.
I Want to be Rich by Calloway at 5:22 playing on the stereo!!!📻🎶
Very nice, nostalgic 1990s song!!!! 🦅👍🤙😎
la la lalalala ooh
Good catch!
@@curt.p.4363 Thanks buddy!
@@curt.p.4363 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s music is better than today's garbage.
I agree on that, pop music has really gotten lame and redundant!
In 1990 this was cutting edge in styling , and with heads up display, McLaren tuning, turbo power. Not all 90s GM cars were junk. Japanese mid size coupes were no match for this thing. Nice car
I agree, this thing looked better than even the Firebird IMO
Hair gel, Raybans, and a mustache were required accessories.
Gel was more of a mid to late 1990's thing ! Heck,I still use some otherwise my hair is crazy !
@@01trsmar Gel never goes out of style!
Crack as well
@@elonmust7470 Yes, the perfectly level glove box door that opens up was a hold over from the GM coke days.
What a beautiful machine. I miss Pontiac. What an awesome brand.
This body style had a good amount of success in NASCAR in the late 80's and early 90's.
When you hear "steering wheel mounted controls" you would think the buttons would be in comfortable reach of your fingers while driving, *not in the middle of the wheel.*
thats just a typical european lack of size of hands xD got french hands in there, boy?
Jack, I agree; in my mind I could see myself banging on those buttons as if it were a bongo.
I literally just saw a white one of these last week! Driving !
This car was way ahead of it's time! I owned the non-turbo version with the 3.4ltr engine & man how I miss this car! I still have these exact seats in my garage nearly 30yrs ago now for sale!!
Thank you once again more more GM footage! It is appreciated. I forgot about this one. I enjoyed this one too. I hope you still have more to come for GM and Lincoln. Did they have film any Holdens? I am looking forward to seeing The Ninety Eight, Toronado, and many others from 1981- until now if it has bot been posted.
Yessssss! These are actually pretty cheap to obtain now-mine was $1k. But prepare to fix/replace the ABS system because they all fail!
Hello Road / Ethan Tufts the vacuum swaps are popular on them. I prefer the PowerMaster.
i bought a Sedan model here in Finland for 300€, it a freeze plug issue, still havent gotten around to getting it fixed, but in every other way its mint, mint interior, and apart from a few minor scratches on the paint, its Bueno.
Pontiac was GM's best brand. they were always hurting the camaro and corvette poor wittle feelings so GM was always shitting on Pontiac
Trust me you’re not wrong, but more extensive in reality. Only place that seemed to hate it’s employees and customers alike. Everyone lived in fear of losing their job. Engineers often ignored. Unproductive meetings that you can’t imagine. Sad, because there were some talented folks who knew their stuff.
@@DatMat Pontiac did in fact make their own version of the Corvette, GM declined the first concept of said car, due to its lightweight body style (weighed as much as a Miata) and rear mid engined turbo 4 banger design. The car was still made and outsold its Japanese rival, the MR2, but eventually failed under GM's crushing weight on Pontiac. So, 35 years later, the Fiero is nothing more than a rare to find "what if?". Like "What if GM had allowed the Fiero to be built with Pontiac's newly designed turbo 4 banger like the japanese do so well?" Judging by Pontiac's figures, that new engine in the new car would have most certainly wiped the floor with the Corvettes of the time. In fact, that original concept could have very well put the car in elite status, with Ferrari like looks and Ferrari like power, but from a tiny, lightweight car. Instead, the car got a 98 HP Iron Duke not designed for a low 2 seater, car fires that ruined the reputation(entirely not Pontiac's fault, the engine should have never ever been in that car), and an estimated 45 mpg from a car that needs all it has to beat a Prius, maybe.
ruen125
It was such a royal shame. Pontiac finally got the Fiero right and then it was killed. For being a car parts bin car, it was still something special. Pontiac deserved a better parent company. I wish they could have gone independent or maybe got bought out by another company. I know this is blasphemy but imagine a trans am based on the Mustang platform with Pontiac styling cues
@Frank White
I owned two Fieros: Mint 1987 GT and a 1986 GT. All stock with the 2.8 v6. A girl hit my 87 and totaled it right before I was going to put it in storage. My 86 was not mint and I sold it in 2006. I wish I would have kept it.
I enjoyed the Fieros more than my 1976 Datsun 280 Z. GMC= Good Man's Car.
I LOVE these videos! Keep up the GREAT work!!! 👍👍❤️❤️
I just like how these looked, I want one
Love the FOUR bucket seats, also!
The outside looks great, the inside looks good but the instrument panel switches and other doodads look flimsy and too busy though.
thats because it looks like a 200 buck R32 Skyline:D
It looks like Mercedes sent a W124 coupe to GM to americanize it. And I love it. It looks so badass.
Great car! Never could figure out why GM didn't put a turbo or the supercharged 3800 in this car
Not sure. I think I turbo setup is more expensive to manufacturer. There are more components, an intercooler required even in low boost, and harder to tune. Alot harder to tune without modern wideband oxygen sensors like they use now on turbos.
This car is turbo charged.
They supercharged them later. Pontiac Grand Prix GTP and Buick Regal GS and I think the Park Avenue Ultra.
@@86twin they did but that was the 3800 motor.
they did put a turbo in it
Is that Hoovie's car?
Yes
Yes, the same Hoovie that will build a 75,000 sq ft garage to house 30 year old pieces of crap like this car
Lol looks like it
@jason9022 you must be fun at parties...
@jason9022 You're correct, but that doesn't excuse Maclaren for putting their name on a GM W-body
One of my favorite cars, particularly the ones with the ripped-off-from-Mercury front lightbar.
I remember those horror show seat belts. So popular, they disappeared forever.
W-Bodies should have been RWD. They’d be way more popular nowadays.
boss12 Agreed!
Exactly! Especially the Olds-Bodied Cup cars.
I agree. In the 80's the G body Cutlass was a huge seller, that would have continued if they kept a rwd Cutlass. Anybody wanting front wheel drive already had the Ciera, Calais/Achieva, Toronado, and the bigger cars to cross shop with. A rear wheel drive Cutlass would have stood out.
No kidding even though I had the 97 GTP it really was disappointing for the wide body to be front wheel drive
If Luminas were RWD, couple thousand more people would be dead or injured over the years
Oh my GOD I forgot about those amazingly irritating automatic seat belts.
In fact it is why I ended up buying a car without those
darn things.
I ' m a Limey , I drove one of these on my first trip to the States in 1990. It was a great vehicle . I wish I could have had one . Cruising around in a Pontiac listening to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers , life could n 't get better , and it did n 't . Thanks for the memories Yanks .
I miss Pontiac. My first car was a '70 Firebird. What a fun car for a high schooler and college student.
Holy shit! When they hit the brakes it nose dived so hard it pull its rear wheels off the ground for a moment!!!
R.I.P. Pontiac.
Love it. I had an 87 SE. Seatbelts never bothered me at all. The exhaust note used to make my friends green. The only problem was the horrible clutch in my manual. Only lasted about 20k idf I remember correctly. Would love to see a vid on the 89.
Your SE had to be an 88 or newer. First year for the GP W-body platform cars. Also first year for the 5 speed option for the W's.
I had a blue 1992 Grand Prix GTP.... luv'd it...looked fast sitting still, nicest looking cat that I ever owned.
My goodness. Say it is not so.
Ugh the wheels were always hard to clean!
Anonymous User As a current crosslace owner for the last decade, holy shit are you correct. Absolute bullshit to clean.
Especially because the one I bought was from Kansas and Ohio, so there was a lot of road salt in them...
I had them on my 87 Grand National and you're not lying I had to spray an extra coat of clear on there so I can wipe it off easier
Use a parts cleaner brush
i'll take that. But trying to find oem wheels. love them.
R.I.P Pontiac 😥
No sound..
I use to have this car, but in the non-turbo variant. It was So needy. There was something wrong with it every month. If I road 2 months without a peep, i actually got really nervous. Fortunately, there was a Great guy who was a Grand Prix enthusiast who lived blocks from me fixed it right up...every month. 'Jay, you are the Man!'
Went Japanese since then.
Valkyry5
Unfortunately, that’s been my experience with GM. You probably made the right decision to go foreign as a great number of people did. I went the other way and stuck to Ford
I bought my 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix for $950 back in March 2020. It runs like a dream for being 25 years old!!! I'm fixing it here and there to avoid having it crap out on me unexpectedly one day. But I am so happy I bought it when I did.
Pontiac of the Early-90's made some of the best looking cars
No, no they didn’t. Cheap looking with hideous body cladding.
That's a cool looking Lumina
Beretta
BWX. Yep the Grand Prix, Lumina, Cutlass Supreme, and Regal all shared the same platform at that time.
At first I thought so, not so sure now. Might be same platform as Beretta? Just looking at the weights of the cars it seems that's the case. I dunno.
@@bwxmoto The Grand Am, Achieva/Calais, Beretta/Corsica, and Skylark all shared the same the platform.
You're right..Beretta was the L platform, I was wrong.
My family had the ultimate Grand Prix GTP with the 3.4 litre. Black on saddle interior with gold honeycomb wheels. Absolutely stunning.
I’m glad I had the chance to drive one when I did detail work. I don’t remember very much turbo lag.
torque engine, the gm hi-value economy unit, that one
I want one! 😃
This car is sexy !
Had a 2003 GXP. That booster was a monster. Pontiac had smooth rides and crazy sports handling.
Those gold cross-laced wheels! So nice so 90s
2:48 rear wheels come off the ground! Haha
Thats how they tested cars then..Porsche 911's wheels always came off the ground in older tests !
I bet this car would respond well with some modern mods
It's funny you say that, I'm swapping a 5 speed into my 91 Beretta with the 3.1. when that motor goes, I'm gonna attempt to find a wrecked one, and swap the motor and do a few small things with it. I don't have the heart to tear apart a good one.
William Singer don’t bother. You’ll get far more bang for the buck out of a 3400/3500 and far easier to find.
The movie "Josh and Sam" made me one of these Grand Prix's when I was younger lol.
2 things here: those cross lace wheels were a pain to get and keep clean. They attracted brake dust like crazy and why didn't GM put that turbo 3.1 in other cars? I had a 1990 Cavalier Z24 with the 3.1 and sure could have used that turbo engine in it! That car was pretty fun to drive but even more so with that turbo 3.1.
@2:48, the rear tires actually come off the ground when braking hard! Haha!
Holy Shit it did an endo. @2:48-49 the back wheels leave the ground....
Brings back memorys had one in high school
Finally an ASC retro review
Accounting for inflation, this car would be nearly $50,000 today. That's an absurd amount of money to pay for a car that was mediocre at best even when it was brand new.
Not really what car's in 1990 were as fast as this? Not many at all and if you had one today in great shape and low miles you could get as much as $13,000 to $15,000 so that's a pretty good return on your investment!
@@davidhesington3490 SHO made this look slow.
Also what do you mean an investment??? This car was $25,000, if you invested that in an index fund in 1990 and even used a VERY conservative 5% rate of return, you'd have over $110,000 today.
I have to agree my mom had one exactly like this and got rid of it because of so many electrical issues. It did turn alot of heads when we had it.
This car was a POS. I had a 1994 3.4 v6 and it was the embodiment of poor reliability. And I'm convinced that Fisher Price supplied the plastics for this car.
I had the 95 GTP and it was the slowest piece I ever owned !!!
The 3.4 was a bastard engine, even if you found a mechanic capable and comfortable working on one you'd pay out the ass to get anything done on it. The regular 3.1 liter models were far more common and would get well into the 170-200k mile range with standard maintenance. Not to be confused with the 3100 engine that had the intake manifold issue
@@303nitzubishi4 Ive got a 3.4l 5 speed in my 94 firebird, It HAD cooling issues but i fixed it. It wasnt a blown headgasket but it was overheating, and if you swap out the dexcool for green coolant its a solid motor its at 203k currently... Its not the best or most powerful but it does move the car off its ass
My favorite Grand Prix model of all time. Damn, I miss Pontiac.
I remember when I was a teenager my neighbor had one and I used to dream driving it.
A neighbor had a '90 SE and he thought he was Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder with that thing. Washing and waxing that POS, acting like it was hard to keep on the road because of how powerful it was. Having never seen that movie, us kids would call him "Goose" behind his back because we had seen Top Gun, and Goose was a loser.
Cowards talk shit behind someones back
@@jessjohn6157 and talk shit in the UA-cam comments section.
Faux Craig Singhaus Basically Top Gun, just replace the F-14 Tomcats with NASCAR stock cars and there ya go. Oh and a scene of Tom and another guy racing and slamming into each others rental cars on public streets and even a beach.
This thing really does seem like a total POS... Even by 90s standards.
goose wasnt a looser yo. iceman was.
Attack of the cheap plastic body cladding!!
90s American interiors! everyone run for the hills!
@Donald trick Trump Has STD's from Stormy D.
What would you consider right & tasteful? I don't associate either of those with Pontiac typically, lol
Haywood Giablomi Indeed! I love the retro reviews simply for the comments alone. You have very clever sarcasm, and then you have the blind, deaf, borderline mentally handicap brand loyalty folks vehemently defending these almost criminal subpar products.
It is like discovering your wife is working at a brothel behind your back, and defending the behavior because "times are hard. China took all the jobs."
😆
Pretty cool car for it's day. I don't miss those door mounted seat belts though.
It’s a great looking car. I didn’t realize these were a 2+2 configuration
Grand means big and prix means pricks.
The new 1989 Nissan Maxima SE with a non-turbo 3.0L V6 with a lot less power did 0-60 in 7.9s as well. I've driven both cars and the Maxima felt a heck of a lot sportier than this bloated, floaty Grand Prix. Keep in mind this was GM's "sporty" division. Keep in mind this thing cost as much as a Volvo 740 Turbo, which not only was such a better quality car it's comedy to even compare to a Pontiac, but it had a 2.3L 4cyl Turbo and did 0-60 in 7.8s. Anyone who bought this Grand Prix paid an arm and leg for a lot of gimmick and not a terribly good car.
I'd rather have this than a Maxima or a Volvo. Those are boring and everywhere, this is flashy and rare.
@@GobotWars The Grand Prix Turbo was a flashier and rarer car, I'll give you that. I'd describe it as gimmicky and tacky, though.
The only thing bloated and floaty is your opinion, foreign car fanboy😆
@@Lucille69caddy praise where praise is deserved. Pontiac died for a reason.
They died because GM lost focus on what the brand was, and started making random boring cars with no style out of it. Nobody cared.
My all time fav car, especially in high school!!
A grand prix GTP was my dream car in 1995. Good old high school days.
These cars used to be everywhere! I always liked them. It always felt like Pontiac was the only American car company that made attractive sporty sedans that were Front Wheel drive
Same here. But well they died and even before that I'd laugh at rebadged Chevys.
and now I own a Chevy myself. lol
My dad had a brand new 1995 Grand Prix GT coupe in white with the gold wheels. Loved that car
For 95, no GT coupe was available. The GT trim was only offered on the sedans. For a 95 coupe, it would have been an SE or GTP.
Never seen a turbo version in person. So cool.
So much more interesting than 12 camera, phone integration, driverless bla bla of current vehicles
I've been looking for the episode with the Oldsmobile Firenza in it. Can you post it?
I loved my 94 GP SE, wish I still had her..
My aunt had the supercharged 3.4L. The paint got sun faded and didn't age well but I loved that car when it was new.
Dungzoo I assume 3.8. That was the only one that came supercharged.
Ah. Yes. It was the 3.8L.
I really liked those seat belts. Lap belt was comfortably low on your lap had it’s own latch and separated from the shoulder belt. That was also comfortable. But you had to let the shoulder belt retract when you opened the door before getting out. Unless you unlatched it too.
My roommate and I owned a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix STE with a 3.1 Liter V-6 engine and a 4 speed automatic transmission and 4 doors taking Premium Fuel and a fuse box in the glove compartment, even though the one we owned was a sedan and it had multiple headlights in the front .
That thing damn near endoed on the panic stop damn. I can’t imagine turbo a 3.1 lol but they were raspy n/a with good low end torque so the turbo would make mid range and high range much better and cover turbo lag I bet. It left the line like it was in boost but probably wasn’t.
Only 200hp from a 3L V6 turbo? Ouch, the Eclipse made that from a 2L turbo the same year.
eclipse had a low torque high revving unit. this was more a cruiser with a touch of sport unlike conventional sports cars meant for real track day thing. Eclipse didnt have that kind of ample space and accessory with a "luxury" stigma all over it. In the end, GP became a 200 buck sister-fucking, cow-stinking small town drug dealer car and Eclipse became a face of tuner scene with "BRO" written all over it
Those were my favorite front seats of any car I've owned!!
RIP Pontiac. You are still missed in 2021.
@2:48. When you're tires LEAVE the ground during braking...not dangerous. "Driving Excitement" by Pontiac
I love these cars. I hope I can find a nice example of one before it's too late and they become impossible to find.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s. These cars were awesome brand new and for about three years to follow. Chevy buttons, seats, transmissions, motors and all front wheel drive elements broke down fast. Just like they do today.