2004 Pontiac Grand Am Review
Fuel Economy
21 - 27 mpg
Summary
What Edmunds.com says
A viable import alternative, but don't expect Camry- or Accord-like resale values or build quality.
Pros
Lots of standard features, available five-speed manual transmission, crisp handling.
Cons
Price has crept up in recent years, five-speed not available with V6, cheap interior pieces, iffy crash test scores.
What's New for 2004
An upgraded four-speaker sound system is now standard on SE models, while an MP3 player is standard on uplevel GT models and optional on all others except the base SE.
Consumer Ratings & Reviews
Good First Car
Overall Rating
| Performance: | 7 | Fun-to-Drive: | 6 | Build Quality: | 7 |
| Comfort: | 9 | Interior Design: | 4 | Reliability: | 9 |
| Fuel Economy: | 9 | Exterior Design: | 4 | ||
Vehicle
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE 4dr Sedan (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Review
First car ever. While I mourn the lack of power windows, the car itself isn't all that bad. Has quite a bit of zoom for a 4cyl, with excellent freeway acceleration. Also, good gas mileage. I've done 400 miles on a tank. I've made a few boo-boos, and drove for over a year without the passenger side mirror, as well as crunched a few fenders. However, this car has a horrid side crash safety rating, which occasionally gives me nightmares. On the whole, it makes a good first car, since it's fairly cheap but has some power.
Favorite Features
Zoom. This car can get up and go if it needs to. My sister has a 6cyl small truck, and it struggles with things this car breezes through. Also, wonderful gas mileage.
Suggested Improvements
BAD side crash safety ratings. Cheap plastic exterior and interior needs to go. The glue of the side molding started falling apart the first few months, and the weather strips on both driver and passenger sides fell out soon after. The factory hub caps look like silver-spraypainted styrofoam. Eew.
Great First Car!
Overall Rating
| Performance: | 7 | Fun-to-Drive: | 9 | Build Quality: | 6 |
| Comfort: | 9 | Interior Design: | 6 | Reliability: | 9 |
| Fuel Economy: | 7 | Exterior Design: | 8 | ||
Vehicle
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE 4dr Sedan (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Review
This is my very first car, and I'm still loving every bit of it. Though we've had to change the front brakes once at about 84000 miles and just replace the signal flasher (?), which was only about $150 (But that was doing the labor from my dad). Even though it has only about a 12 gallon tank, it still gets fairly good gas mileage. I figure I got about 19 to the gallon...could be worse.
Favorite Features
All my friends say how comfortable my seats are. (haha) So I guess that would be my favorite feature, plus the original sound system is pretty good. The bass is amazing.
Suggested Improvements
It's a great car, I have no improvement suggestions.
Poorly made car to say the least
Overall Rating
| Performance: | 3 | Fun-to-Drive: | 3 | Build Quality: | 1 |
| Comfort: | 3 | Interior Design: | 2 | Reliability: | 1 |
| Fuel Economy: | 3 | Exterior Design: | 5 | ||
Vehicle
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE2 4dr Sedan (3.4L 6cyl 4A)
Review
I had bought this car used in '05 and am the first real owner as it was a rental car prior to my purchase. For a kid I put quite a few miles on it, came with 28,000 and now it has 93,000. Brakes were a huge problem, replaced them and front rotors a couple times. Caliper went out, wheel bearing went out, and now I've been facing these electrical problems which eventually led to the passing of this car. No dash lights, smoking from the dash area, no brake lights, and now the fuel pump is shot. Interior falls apart each time i sneeze, and I've had nothing but the worst experiences with it (excluding the time I topped out at 120). Do yourselves a favor and buy a Honda, Toyota, or Mitsubishi.
Favorite Features
style I guess, it has a decent look to it.
Suggested Improvements
everything
Best purchase I made.
Overall Rating
| Performance: | 10 | Fun-to-Drive: | 10 | Build Quality: | 10 |
| Comfort: | 10 | Interior Design: | 10 | Reliability: | 10 |
| Fuel Economy: | 10 | Exterior Design: | 10 | ||
Vehicle
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE 4dr Sedan (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Review
I happened to walk onto a car lot just browsing and laid eyes on this car and had to have it immediately. It was used with 80k miles for 7000 dollars at the time. I grabbed the car up, since then I added a K&N air filter and new 17' rims and low profile tires and omg yes 2 12' subs in the trunk. Awesome Car. I love the way the car handles and feels while driving it. Working on dual exhaust and a new paint job because white isn't my style, but over all that car is hot. No mechanical problems and I keep maintenance up on the car.
Favorite Features
Acceleration and cornering. This car handles well.
Suggested Improvements
Almost Five years of Fun
Overall Rating
| Performance: | 9 | Fun-to-Drive: | 10 | Build Quality: | 7 |
| Comfort: | 8 | Interior Design: | 7 | Reliability: | 8 |
| Fuel Economy: | 6 | Exterior Design: | 10 | ||
Vehicle
2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE 4dr Sedan (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Review
I am still enjoying my car, I love the pick up on the open freeway. The CD player went out a very long time ago. All of the repairs I have had were minor such as radiator, waterpump.. when I first got the car I had problems with the sensory switch (or security light) but that was fixed under the warranty and it never happened again. When I sell my car next year (to up grade) someone will be getting a heck of a deal..
Favorite Features
The Acceleration, I am a speed demon!
Suggested Improvements
make the front row a little more driver friendly.. if something falls in between the seats its lost forever... the cupholder could take up less room...
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