Hey Zach, it’s me Ishva just wanted to say I’m glad you got to enjoy my car and that this version of the Grand Prix and it’s siblings got some more attention. That I really enjoy all of your content man keep up the good work 👍
And some other things I forgot to mention about the car if you hold down the button for the HUD at night it puts it into a thing called stealth mode where the light on the dash are completely turned off and only the hud is on, plus there is a second 12v outlet in the center console with little slots in the console so the charging cables can navigate out of it. (I also have a correction (due to my own fault)to make on the rear wheel size because I had forgotten at the time when I told you what size they where but they are a 225 not a 235 before other people start correcting)
@@Ish_the_drift_boi if you live anywhere in Southern Illinois and would like to see what your gxp would do against a 04 gtp I let me know we can get something goin👍
unless you are pretty much everything including cams or a full stack intercooler dont waste his time my 3.2 e85 plogs downpipe intake 80 lbs injector 07 gt got walked by my dads bone stock gxp and we also have a .550 lift cam build with a nice combo and it should be around 400 crank 300-330 wheel range on cam but no dyno @@six2161
My mother had a 05 Pontiac Bonneville with the 3.8L v6. That car was a war horse. She bought it with 145,000 miles and managed to sell it with 325,000 miles. Big kinda floaty vehicle that was probably the most dependable shes had.
My friend had a 2001 Bonneville SSEI it had 22’s & that thing rode like a DREAM. I drove it once & i was blown away how smooth & responsive the car was even w/ rims & beat in the trunk & still shift smooth.. before this i wudnt even LOOK at a Pontiac 😅😎
I like that its front wheel drive. Its very unique. Not many cars were ever made in FWD v8. Also this setup makes it the perfect drivetrain donor for mid engine cars like the Fiero and MR2
@@nathanm8242 So sad how GM finally gave what enthusiasts wanted (Big RWD V8 sedan) and nobody bought them. Almost bought an 09' SS MT, but the dude wanted 50k!
The 2004 to 2008 Grand Prix and especially the GXP sedans are exquisitely designed and still look better than many current sedans. Too bad the performance models had weak transmissions and the interior materials could have been made from better materials. But the car is lovely and I wouldn't mind owning a GXP or even a GTP.
@@trentdaddydolla647 I see 04-08 Grand Prix sedans quite often in the Ohio Valley to this very day. Carfax had about 12 of them for sale near me, most of which are 3.8 base models. Sadly, the 88-03 Grand Prix sedans and coupes seemed have nearly disappeared 😢
@@hakeemsd70m that up north. Down here in the south all of them are dead🤣🤣the weak electrical system shows up alot more in this Louisiana heat. Every grand prix it's either a no start or alot of issues dealing with the electrical system. Nice body but crap internals
Had the chance to own a beautiful Maroon 2005 GXP. Loved the car, thing that suprised me the most was the handling. Those bilsteins are amazing. Eventually got bored of the 4 speed auto and sold. it. Imagine how much personality this thing would have had in a stick shift! The car had enough personality that it does creep back into my memory on occasion. I miss the old girl.
I had a 06 white with tan interior GXP even with 230,000k miles it still ran and shifted great. Yes the handling on these things are crazy! I’ve never took turns as fast in any other car as that car. It just would grip and hold on. The brakes as you said were also very very good. Loved the car a ton loved the way it looked the way it handled the way it performed. Definitely getting another one.
Got one exactly same as video but 2006 black on black .I bought mine as is from a dealer $ 1200 did brakes touch up some minor sratches paint correction and mother wax oil under coat repainted brakes red added led headlights dyed front leather seats repaired heads up diplay (which is made by sayko japan) repaired rack seal replaced front valve cover gasket replaced plugs air filter modded stock air filter to flow better . Cleaned engine added 2 rv transmission coolers I knew working 10 years at a small town gm dealership doing auto body paint and mechanical and detailing undercoating while going to school was better than school sports lolol
I love seeing someone your age figuring this all out. Sadly I've seen this writing on the wall for a long time. I went from being an early BEV adopter to now hating BEVs and loving my ICE. I recently bought an LC500 over a 911, M5, E63 mainly due to the 2UR-GSE and everything else. Its the slowest of the bunch but I have a motorcycle for that. The LC500 has an old school charm and feel to it. Long hood, rear wheel drive, big v8... its like a best friend the others left me less. Thanks for the vid. You should do a first gen Q45a if you can find one.
Didn't mention Stealth Mode with the HUD 🙂(it's the "document" looking center button of the HUD control wheel where, when pushed, the cluster lights go dark - center stack stays lit - so all cluster info is coming form the HUD - fun to use that at night on a dark stretch of road 🙂). Also, for the folding front passenger seat, it's for giving more room when putting the back seats down and having long items (e.g., snow skis) coming in from the trunk (and not having to sacrifice your arm rest between the front seats). Regarding the fix-a-flat in lieu of a spare tire, yeah, you're hunch is correct - it's because of the differing tire aspect ratios between front & rear. I've been heavily into the Grand Prix world for over two decades now but the one thing I didn't know (and surprised me) was the OEM 4T60-E HD Hydramatic trans could be swapped with the Bonnie GXP's 4T80 Hydramatic 🙂. Keep up the good work! 🙂
I'm sure this is held back by the 4spd with acceleration as well. But GMs fwd transaxles aren't the most stout, I can imagine the torque steer and wheel spin tore these things up over time. We have a bankruptcy era GM, a 2012 Malibu 3.6 LTZ and although that V6 is nice, you can definitely see the cost cutting and over engineering. None the less, it'd be cool if they still did fun stuff like this.
@@davidbegaye6277 gotta upgrade the trans if you want it to last..gm really crapped out with the transmission on a lot of the Pontiacs with the 3.8 5.3 and supercharged 3.8. The trans are junk in all of them unfortunately..
@@hakeemsd70m not only that but GM had the bright idea to use the same transmission from the 3.1 and 3.4 v6 motors..they didn't make as much torque as the 3.8 especially the supercharged version and gm didn't upgrade the trans to handle the extra power.. anything more than very gentle acceleration and they will go out around 80k miles...and for some reason people seem to drive the hell out of the gran prix and the Bonneville tht had the same 3.8 and some Bonneville had the supercharger also..if gm would have beefed up the tranny they would have been great cars .I know several people that have gotten over 250k out of the 3.8 in the Pontiac but they would need a trans by 100k or less. My girlfriend had a 02 or 03 grand prix the motor made it 400k but it was on its 2nd or 3rd trans . I k iw a few people who have had the trans upgrade to a stage 1 and there great after tht..it's what gm should have done.. and the grand prix with the 5.3 v8 was the same way if you drove them hard at all the trans would give out around 60k to 80k regardless if the fluid n filter was changed or not.. too much torque for those weak transmissions..if you got one and it needs a trans get it built to at least a stage 1 and it will last a lot longer..
@@hakeemsd70m100% agree hada 2004 gt v6 put 408000 on it change trans fluid once a year suctioning warm out dipstick tube used trans max fluod 6-7 quarts and 1/2 bottle of lucas . Now i have a 2006 gxp 5.3 same as video colour and condition but cleaner engine bay lolo love the car 32 mpg highway imperial gallon at 70 mph or 120 km . They handle and brake great . Ps add a big transmission cooler and do a fluid service once a year
I had on 08 Lacrosse Super, which was the Buick equivalent to this car. It was a lot of fun and like yourself, nobody really knew these high performance W bodies came with the V8, which gave off major sleeper vibes.
my parents used to have an 08' BMW 550i SMG and yeah we thought it was fast. One time on the turnpike we pulled up next to one and just wanted to do a roll from like 75 mile an hour and the Gran Prix just took off when we got close. :) The next day at work a customer showed up with the same kind of car a Pontiac Gran Prix GXP and it was a runner from one of the local dealerships. Had to has the guy, hey does that thing out there move or what? He was like oh it goes
Gm didn't use the 4T80E behind the LS4 because the bell housing pattern is different and there is no way to mount the starter. Ls4kings RU-vid channel has videos on how he modified the 4T80E to work. Lot of fabrication though.
@@joshcrose6588 I don’t know why, if they already were developing an engine for this, to just make it use the North Star bolt pattern instead of the standard LS pattern.
@@bobthbldr3 I think youre wrong but we can agree to disagree. I read obsessively about this car. Wanted one so bad. I knew all the specs. But for some reason I still liked the 1997 to 2003 body style more. I had a 2002 gt and I absolutely loved it. I miss Pontiac. Old car memories
I was shopping for one of these or a 2005 Bonneville GXP about 7 years ago and I did a lot of research. If you think about it, understeer is when taking a corner the front loses grip and wants to slide straight ahead. With oversteer, the rear wants to slide out. By putting larger front tires on (and wider rims) you get better traction at the front than the rear which should make the car more neutral. From what I've read, torque steer can be corrected by changing the length of the half shafts that drive the front wheels, from one side to the other, which sort of changes the leverage. I couldn't find a nice GXP but I ran across a 2005 Bonneville SLE in excellent condition. It has the appearance and some of the same features but with the 3800 V6. It was an awesome driving car but I got carjacked about a year after I bought it. I think they thought it was a GXP.
yes before there was throwing mp3 on to thumb drives, you could burn them to CDs .. ! Think if it as a 700MB round thumb drive that plugs into that slot :p
Just as a heads up, the Malibu is still being sold. My mother just bought a new one. That said, it’s future is on shaky ground. Great review on this Pontiac!
Sweet, I had an '06 Grand Prix GXP, silver with black interior and factory NAV. Miss that car. Man it's too bad the last Pontiac's we're some of the best!
I bought a brand new 06 GXP in the Fall of 05. It was so much fun and deceptively fast. It was burgundy with black leather and the only option it didn't have was NAV. For the staggered wheel setup...yes, the front tires were larger but I think you meant to say wider. The front alloys were actually an inch wider at 8 inches wide, the rears were an inch narrower at 7. The front and rear alloys were both the same 18 inch diameter. For the 05-06 cars, GM used the terminology of Displacement On Demand and black center caps with the red Pontiac arrow. Starting in 07...like this car, GM changed to Active Fuel Management for the same system and silver center caps.
these fwd ls cars always sound good for some reason... gm seemed to suck with any 4 speed trans at the time. and to the owner if you see this, if you plan on keeping this car. GET RID OF THE AFM. my caprice is on the operation table because of it.
@@SGTNinja-ee6rw Thanks! All the cylinders work all the time on my supercharged 3800 Series II. There are aftermarket attachments that turn off the AFM.
I enjoy driving mine. They set out to make a four season car and they accomplished that. The government told Gm to get rid of Pontiac due to slow sales. A GP refresh certainly would have helped sales. These cars are becoming collectable and for good reason. They are fun to drive. Has anyone located Bilstein rear shocks for their car? The fronts are available but not the rears.
This one was interesting, I also had no idea a V8 FWD Grand Prix existed. Pretty cool though. I also recognized the park in the background of the b-roll footage in the parking lot being Mather Wood's Forest Preserve!
Great review on a car that didn't get much attention. I have a 2008 GXP just like the one in the review and I love it. What brand of after market mufflers are on this car?
This is a damn cool car. They are not easy to work on, but that's to be expected. Driven these before as I worked at a Pontiac dealership, and they perform well.
It's crazy how far engineering has come in the past 20 years. My 2024 A4 Allroad can 0-60 in 5s flat, albeit with Quattro, with 261hp 273lbs torque & weighs 3800lbs. It does have VAG's I'd say best in class DSG (sTronic for Audi), but these GXP's with the LS were great for the era, minus the transmission that couldn't handle the power thru the front wheels. In fact they should have just been RWD from the jump. I think I saw something forever ago showing these originally were supposed to be RWD, but something down the line pushed it to what ended up in production. Modern equivelant timed cars would all be turbo 4cyls which is funny to me, similiar powertrain output modern V8 vehicles would be in the low 4s or better now, but still for the mid 2000s these were still great. Not even 5 years later when GM would switch their 3.6V6s to GDI, those got up to 303hp as well, & the non GDI 3.6 of the 2007-2012 was making 265hp or something like that. We used to have an 2012 Malibu 3.6V6, wasn't GDI so like 265hp or whatever, but it had a way better transmission their new for the time 6spd auto, & best I got on that was like 6.2s 0-60. I also had an 2006 Sonata 3.3V6 back in the day with 255hp, & that thing was honestly quick too for the time, like 6.5s 0-60s, but it really shined once you got into high speeds, it could just keep pulling but that was also just Port Injection or whatever they were using back then. Wish we had more V8 & V6 cars these days, it's a bummer. But that turbo 4 in my A4A is quick asf man I love that powertrain, but you gotta pay alot to get it lol
The next best thing to an FWD V8 is an FWD twin-turbo V6 such as the Taurus SHO. Also if you want a fun-to-drive comfortable little sedan with V8 power and 4 cylinders efficiency, consider buying a used Mercedes Benz CLA 45 AMG.
The 84 through 87 (2 door) were the best IMO and this version 2nd. When I was 25 years younger I had an 86 I kept for many years and put that car through hell. I currently own a 08 GXP Ugliest Grand Prix has to be the 86 and 87 2+2 aerocoupe. That thing was FLUGLY but I would love to have one today..
Over all,Pontiac styling has always been my favourite of GM's North American designs! I was sad when GM scrapped the Pontiac brand! They should've scrapped Buick,instead,in my opinion. Even Oldsmobile had better styling in its last decade.
FWD V8 was done way before this car came out! 96-99 Ford Taurus SHO. They front passenger seat folding forward was a trend GM, Ford and possibly Chrysler were doing in this era to increase interior cargo room from folding the rear seats down and using from the trunk going into the interior. Example enough room to haul a carpet through the trunk to the front dashboard or pair of skis ect. Lol was really useless now that most ppl have trucks or SUVs now but then it came in handy you didn't have either one to haul things that were long in length. But I totally agree this era of cars were odd but cool from the Big 3 American Automakers.
I'd love to find me a decent condition Grand Prix. Always had an eye for them. Having occasionally driven it's 1st gen sister lacrosse, it has a strong pull for even the base 3.8 liter 200hp. BTW have you done the Buick Lacrosse Super?
In 2012 GM came out with a GDI V6 with very similar power #'s. I got a 2012 Impella with one. I also got a Pontiac G8 with the 6.2L LS3 V8. Love it. If I had this GXP, I would upgrade the back tires to the same size as the fronts.
Nah if anything you put fatter tires on front, remove some camber from rears and get softer rear shocks. Gxp is a heavy beast that tends to understeer bad under high power in turns. But can do highway s-curves at 120+ np
Good old GM, throwing a 300HP V8 onto a front-wheel-drive platform. Even though this was a slightly more exciting Impala SS it still looks sporty. I really like the engine turned gauge surround. A HUD is interesting in a Pontiac. That's a lot of climate vents. This looks like a pretty decent survivor, there are no Pontiacs left where I live except for the odd G8 or GTO. We all wish Pontiac and Oldsmobile hadn't been killed but off I wonder where they would fit in GM's lineup today. GM just had too many brands making similar cars and they needed to trim things down. I heard that GM almost killed Buick instead of Pontiac but left Buick alive because of the Chinese market and because it had cars which GMC didn't. Saab probably could have survived if GM hadn't sucked the life out of it, today it would probably be like Polestar making quirky EVs.
I had an aftermarket CD player in my 02 Focus that MP3 capability...yes, it would just play MP3 files from a CD. The benefit was that you could pack a LOT more music on a CD than you could by "burning" a traditional audio CD
I bought a 07 gxp in 2009 Didn't realize until years later how great this car was... Wish i would have kept it a bit longer, she was beautiful. Traded her in for 2011 Cadillac DTS loved her too till she blew up at 92,000 miles 😭 another great v8 vehicle though
That passenger seat is a fold down table top. The designer paid tribute to the old business coups and for salesman that live on the road can fold the seat down and eat
I currently have a G8 GT that I'm trying to baby. I would love to have a grand prix gxp as a daily that I can love but not worry about as much but still be fun.
MP3 in this case does mean MP3 CDs. The letters are where the tapes would go if equipt. A good auto detailer can fix that paint issue. Probrably cheaper to get a clean one out of an auto wrecker though.
Complete with the Cadillac Northstar. Great cars, I absolutely love the final gen Y2K Bonneville. I feel like the Grand Prix GXP is more sought after, though.
Loved your video it was awesome the reason I was watching it was that Rainman Ray was doing some work on this particular model on his channel and I just wanted to see the car in a little more detail. It's awesome I love it.
This car seemed to slip under the radar. I'm sure many people would see this car and just assume it's another mundane V6, but no, this one packs a FWD V8 punch. Damn, this should have received more orders, sleeperish looking 340 hp V8 FWD American sedan.
These comments made me realize just how much I love the Grand Prix. I hope someday to find a really clean 02-03 Grand Prix GT or GTP. An 07-08 GXP would be super cool too.
I remember reading that the 4t80 transmission from the Northstar powered models wouldn't fit in the W-body for being the reason for using the 4T65HD. Has anyone actually swapped a 4T80 in one of these? We lost more than V8s being used outside of trucks, SUVs, Conversion Vans, and sports cars, we lost cars with personality. The Impala was designed for mass appeal making it more the experience of an appliance whereas this was designed more as average person's enthusiast car. They were reasonably reliable, fun to drive, a bargain for what you got, and had more interesting interiors and exterior styling. They actually still had the supercharged engine in this generation selling along side the GXP until they dropped it for model year 2008. In this generation of W-body car, the supercharged engine was exclusive to the Grand Prix as the Lacrosse used the high feature 3.6 as the top engine (until the Grand Prix was dropped then they gave it the LS4 as well) and Chevrolet had the 3.9l V6 as it's top V6 (and shared the LS4 )
People have done the 4t80 swap. Most guys do it for turbo setups. If your only gonna make a little more power it’s better to just build the 4t65 with triple edge performance parts
@@Acobolan interesting. I guess GM didn't use it in the factory either for cost reasons or some other reason (crash test?). A real shame they didn't use it from the factory.
Search here on RU-vid for ls4king Monte Carlo ls4, it took over 600hp and lots of hard passes down a drag strip until the 120k mile 4t80 gave it up under the ls4. I got a Gxp sittin in my driveway waiting for that $4k mod.
HEY BUDDY ITS NOT WEIRD ABOUT THE PASSENGER SEAT FOLDING FORWARD,, ITS MADE FOR IF YOU HAVE A KAYAK YOU LOWER THE BACK SEATS AND WALA THE KAYAK NOW FITS IN THE CAR,, KNOW YOUR FACTS
I’m not gonna lie, GM did put a whole bunch of V8 engines in any car that had the engine bay to fit it in. This made a lot of cars & trucks fun. With this car and it’s cousins I just wish GM put a more advanced transmission (5 or 6 speed) that could handle all the torque. And that they ditched the multi-cylinder displacement crap that makes the engine unreliable.
Getting a Stealth Gray one next weekend, or a blue 2004 blue GTP. Can’t make up my mind. I had a 2001 GTP; great car. Wore the weak ass transmission out drag racing it. I’ll be much easier on whichever one I get this time!!
One very big negative on these w body's is if your looking to upgrade the suspension well 4get it... these have been dropped from the aftermarket performance 5yrs ago or more and the only place that's around that supports them is zzp.. really not any other options,, otherwise if your happy enough 4 a soft yet sporty looking reliable car them these will do fine but not any sport inspired driving and the few that are around with upgraded suspension I can promise you were installed many yrs ago 2010 to 2017 were last yrs aftermarket was still good, not anymore....
@@hakeemsd70m I kno there's some on rock auto, AGX struts, Umi trailing arms, Gmpp sway bar(s) Bmr Lateral arms, But no koni or spoon, but I'm mainly referring to the Gt, Gtp, But those Gxp you have one more option I kno of which is bilstein struts, or the fe4 struts, I really wish I could find more like back in the day but there's just no options for them anymore compared a decade ago
You didn't mention the problems caused by the cylinder deactivation system. I looked into buying one of these around 2015 but did some research and decided to pass.
Northstar was not a terrible engine. 04’ and up (which is when the boneville got n*) seldom had issues as they had fixed the head gasket problem. The blown headgaskets had a lot to do with owner neglect and a refusal to maintain the cooling system.
