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
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.
@@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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
@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"
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 RU-vid. I can lose DAYS watching nothing but Retro Reviews.
@@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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
@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.
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.
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
@@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.
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.
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.
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
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.*
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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." 😆
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.
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
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.
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
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.
