GXP Grand Prix now mine!

[Neanderthal]

My 2007 stealth grey GXP was delivered bright and early and cold this morning. Trucking was easier than getting me over there to pick it up, and no more expensive.

So, first impressions.

The color is interesting. The contract said the car is blue, the key thingie said green, and GM says grey. Pontiac made a bleen (blue-green) car for a year or two, this looks kinda like they took that and added some dark grey to it. You can definitely see all three colors there, at one time or another.

Boy, these 45 profile front tires are darty suckaz! Definitely take a little getting used to, compared to the 65 series on the Spectra and 55 on the PT.

This car has nav and all the gadgets, not all of them are particularly user friendly.
Like the damn clock, for instance. I've tapped around on the screen and various buttons, there's no obvious way to hack it to change the time. Same with the nav.

Same with locking in radio stations. Tapping around just doesn't break the damned DaVinci code here at GM.
Maybe you have to pass an IQ or GeekQ test before GM will sell you a new car full of gadgetry.

My Garmin is very intuitive and it also has pretty good instructions, easily accessible, on its face.
Not so the GM nav, it's voiceless and will require going into the book to decipher.

These are just three examples of why IMHO the boyz upstairs at GM just don't get it. And the NAV really should be up by the windshield, not down in the dash. Garmin on a suction cup is easy to see, this suckah down in the dash bowels not so much.

The dread torque steer is there when I put my foot in it. But really it's no more squirrely than a RWD with enough power to break the rear end loose. No worse IIRC than a 3.5 Altima I drove a few years back.

I went out in the country where I could accelerate uninterrupted for a few seconds, but the combo of tires that need to retire and the slightly wet and cold (23 degrees) pavement got the trac going pretty much until about 40.
Which comes and goes real quick.

So in between getting a tad squirrely at liftoff and then hitting second at about 50 and zipping right on up to 80 in the blink of an eye, I can tell ya this car has sufficient power for me.

The brakes have big power and haul down fast. With no effort.
I forget the Gs I pulled, but the brakes pulled the most Gs of the positive, negative, and lateral acceleration figgers.
There's a G meter that will only talk to you when you're stopped.

Speaking of Gs, accelerating through a curve shows a bit of squirreliness too, the rear end will definitely come loose a bit, even though it's not making the power.

This power-performance car is a new adventure and I will have to play with it a bit to get down the car's characteristics. It's been a while since the 1992 SHO, that was different because it was a stick and it didn't have the torque that this Poncho does.

Given that the OE Bridgestones (NOT summer-only as far as I can determine by reading the sidewall) are fairly well worn by my standards, i.e. 5/32 or thereabouts, and new shoes are going on in a week or so, utilizing the worn tires is probably a good way to sort out the handling.
New rubber will only increase limits and increase the speeds I'll need to sort things out.
Old worn tires are actually a plus, kinda like a wet skidpad, a good place to shake things out.

Though I've heard of tire wear issues with these cars, specifically inside rear, the outside is the most worn section on this car.

So overall this is a very nice car to drive. Jounce and rebound are very tightly controlled, and the car corners flat. Flat.
That last little brake tic really isn't needed as you grab a corner, it's just habit.

The gadgetry is interesting. It took a long time for the ATF to get past about 155 degrees. It was low 20s today.
After a good deal of driving and then a re-start and waiting in line for a few, it finally hit about 170 IIRC.

The HUD is nice in its way, but it also detracts from the instrument binnacle and gauges such as the tach, temp gauge, and fuel gauge. BTW, the temp gauge stayed at about 1/4 for a long time.
Then, after the aforementioned activities that increased ATF temp also brought the water temp gauge up to 1/2.
I'll have to ask around at W-327 boards to see what a typical reading is.

While on the subject of ATF, have you seen the new proceedure for checking it?
Manual says because it's so complicated, you might want to take it to the dealer. It's like a 12-step program, yes let's make it so complicated that nobody ever does it properly.
New and Improved.

I should probably have the D**x Kewl replaced, even if it's with new DK, just on general principle.

The Ford dealer where I bought the car actually replaced the wiper blades. Kewl. They even mic'd the brakes.

Overall I got about 25 MPG on today's little 80 mile adventure. That included some interstate, some state highway, some big hills, some townie driving and finally waiting in line for a gourmet Carls' Jr. chickensomething. Not too shabby.

Glad I bought it. I like it, I like it!!

[Hitman1970]

Congrats and enjoy your new ride. What type of rubber are you buying for it?

[yyz_ltz]

There are two tiny buttons for hour and minute on the right side of the faceplate 3/4 of the way down. They are very small, maybe 1/8' dia. Great car, you will love it, I didn't have the GXP but we loved our GP.

[biscool12]

I love all the gadgets in my GXP. Any pics? I'd love to see the color.

Did you check out the tap shift?
What rubber are you going for? Later this week I need some new tires, I let you know what I end up with.

[ProjectRS]

pics?

[Neanderthal]

Congrats and enjoy your new ride. What type of rubber are you buying for it?

Thanks. I am.

Conti ExtremeContact DWS. Not to be confused with the old ExtremeContact. A new tire too fresh to have Tire Rack user feedback yet.
I made my decision based on TR Sveeden winter tests and a track shootout with four competitors.

I'm using a local Discount Tire instead of my usual Tire Rack order. I had so much trouble at their site I gave up. I got dumped at least four times as I was at "shipping charges" and finally called the local Discount Tire.

TR loses out on four, maybe six, tire sales. You snooze you lose.

I sent them another note and it looks like they're mailing me a (made in China I hope) pressure gauge for my trouble. I have sent messages to their geek dept. and gotten no response in the past.

Yes I am on AOL, yes I finally got on there using IE, yes they lost a sale.

There are two tiny buttons for hour and minute on the right side of the faceplate 3/4 of the way down. They are very small, maybe 1/8' dia. Great car, you will love it, I didn't have the GXP but we loved our GP.

Thanks. So far I hadn't run across that in the manual.
Yes, pretty kewl car.

I love all the gadgets in my GXP. Any pics? I'd love to see the color.

Did you check out the tap shift?
What rubber are you going for? Later this week I need some new tires, I let you know what I end up with.

Welcome to GMI, biscool. I see you're a MoTowner.

No actually haven't tapshifted yet. See above for rubber.

Pics soon!

pics?

[bdyman]

i have the same color on my gxp, its called crystal blue and it sucks to match
another thing that just is so wrong the same w-body platform, the monte carlo and the impala, both w-bodies, both use the same engine and the same ****ty 4t65e hd trans, doesnt have the 18x8 18x7 combo

why gm??? why??? same car?!?! why??????

we cant rotate the tires, so no matter what tire we buy its going to make such hoorible noise it will drive you nuts!!


here is the list of problems i have had so far

the 2nd week of owning the car, 2 rear wheel bearings, and the dic took a ****
serpitinte belt and belt tensioner assm snapped off
monsson amp replaced
steering shaft lubricated per the tsb thanks gm

HEATER CORE!!!!!! YES A HEATER CORE IN A 2005 CAR!!!

4 wheel alignments, to correct the negative camber it came with
brakes done twice
steering wheel replaced vynil peeling and the leather
hvac replaced
heater hoses for a water fall noise, tsb again
calipers replaced another tsb for them
and now here comes the main issues
the water leaks
first from the onstar antenna, replaced it, still leaked replaced it again still leaked replaced it for a 3rd and final time and finally i just panle bonded it shut finally fixed
the sun roof drain tubes came off the sun roof and the water was draining into the interior
so i cleaned the tubes out, and clamped them to the sunroof, but it ruined the headliner had to replace it, thank god im a body fender tech and get discount through the shop i work for
interior noise is driving me nuts!!! when i did the headliner i had almost ever piece of trim out, and it still made noise, panle bonded, pillar foam, strip caulk around the metal and the pieces, reassmebled the car and still have noise, thanks GM

now the trans issues
the first time, updated the tcm
2 weeks later, updated it again
2 weeks later another update
2 weeks after that, horrible tcc shutter and no 1st and no reverse gear
rebuilt trans i get
about a month later same issues
now i have a new gm trans

it looks great, the dod is flawless, the brakes are great, but so much is wrong with this car im sick of it, i cant wait to dump this pos car

[Neanderthal]

i have the same color on my gxp, its called crystal blue and it sucks to match
another thing that just is so wrong the same w-body platform, the monte carlo and the impala, both w-bodies, both use the same engine and the same ****ty 4t65e hd trans, doesnt have the 18x8 18x7 combo

why gm??? why??? same car?!?! why??????

we cant rotate the tires, so no matter what tire we buy its going to make such hoorible noise it will drive you nuts!!


here is the list of problems i have had so far

the 2nd week of owning the car, 2 rear wheel bearings, and the dic took a ****
serpitinte belt and belt tensioner assm snapped off
monsson amp replaced
steering shaft lubricated per the tsb thanks gm

HEATER CORE!!!!!! YES A HEATER CORE IN A 2005 CAR!!!

4 wheel alignments, to correct the negative camber it came with
brakes done twice
steering wheel replaced vynil peeling and the leather
hvac replaced
heater hoses for a water fall noise, tsb again
calipers replaced another tsb for them
and now here comes the main issues
the water leaks
first from the onstar antenna, replaced it, still leaked replaced it again still leaked replaced it for a 3rd and final time and finally i just panle bonded it shut finally fixed
the sun roof drain tubes came off the sun roof and the water was draining into the interior
so i cleaned the tubes out, and clamped them to the sunroof, but it ruined the headliner had to replace it, thank god im a body fender tech and get discount through the shop i work for
interior noise is driving me nuts!!! when i did the headliner i had almost ever piece of trim out, and it still made noise, panle bonded, pillar foam, strip caulk around the metal and the pieces, reassmebled the car and still have noise, thanks GM

now the trans issues
the first time, updated the tcm
2 weeks later, updated it again
2 weeks later another update
2 weeks after that, horrible tcc shutter and no 1st and no reverse gear
rebuilt trans i get
about a month later same issues
now i have a new gm trans

it looks great, the dod is flawless, the brakes are great, but so much is wrong with this car im sick of it, i cant wait to dump this pos car

OUCH! Sounds like you got the GXP from Hell.

I've heard the 2005s had lots of trannie problems. Not so much the other stuff.
And I've heard a few war stories about alignments, specifically the rear tires wearing the inside down to steel.

Heater core. WTF?? Leaking onstar? Seems to me some gasketing done properly would make that a go but I ain't been there done that.

As for your other woes, I hope I don't get to enjoy similar.

The staggered tire fitment seems a bit of good and bad.
I understand the engineering concerns in a 64% front weight bias. Bigger fronts do make sense from that point of view. It's just that the engineers probably have a large supply of tires. Or perhaps they don't actually own these cars, though I'd guess some do.
The Impala according to road test specs is 61.5% front bias.

A number of other cars have staggered fitment too, some even running different diameters front and back. Almost invariably they run wider tires on the rear.
So they'd all be forced to do side-to-side rotation, providing their tires aren't directional.

There definitely IS something to be said for four same-size tires.

I'm considering running same size all around, 235.50.18 instead of the staggered arrangement. These will be non-directionals so I can rotate in the standard manner should I go that route.

Sorry for your woes, if I'd had that much trouble the car would be history.

[Jimmy Jive]

Post a thread about buying a new Pontiac, and don't include any photo's? Blasphemy.

About the wider front tires... I believe I read somewhere, that Pontiac went wider upfront to help with cornering... I'm not 100% though. But if you go narrower, you might lose those 'flat corners'. Again, I'm not sure how substantiated that is.

[OLDSCHOOLGMFAN]

Congrats partner! Enjoy her! I certainly did mine!

[bdyman]

dude trust me i wish the car was gone but im so upside down i cant do anything so im stuck with a problem car
and its not just the 05 its 05 and up that have trans issues and other issues i have stated as well

the water leak is common on the grand prix, not only have i fixed mine but we get allot of grand prixs in for warranty work, for the water leak and lower door hinges rusting out


the 4t65e is used in allot of w-bodies, in grandmas buick same trans, impalas same trans, gm uses crappy internal parts built in mexico, when i saw mine being rebuilt with only 25k on the clock every clutch and band was so burnt the tech was shocked i still have a trans left

i dont beat on my car i dont drag race my car, once again its a gm fail for using a trans that shold only be mated with the v6, and even then the v6 wbodies have trans issues as well, so just give it time you too will have trans problems, it will start off as a small tcc shutter, then it will only get worse from there

dude dont think becasue of the year you bought your going to be problem free, not going to happen you will have issues trust me its a gm so be prepared

about the whole staggered fitment, gm says its to handle torque steer, due to the ls4 torque, the negative camber on every gm i see, gm says its for performance, well its not a nascar now is it, i had mine fixed with camber bolts, and also there are allot of guys running the 18x8 all the way around, with no problems at all

it is a good car minus all the problems i and others have had, but just some of the things gm does just makes me shake my head in amazement

[biscool12]

Anyone else just get a letter from GM about fixing the power steering? Not sure if its just the 2005s or what.

[cdp326]

Congrats on the new-to-you Grand Prix.
We've had good luck with Discount Tire here - good prices, quick service, and they do a good job.

[ponchoman49]

It's a good thing you got the 07 model with the 5/100 powertrain warranty. That 4T65 tranny has a lot of engine sitting beside it. Congrats on your new ride. These cars a lot of fun.

[AirCleaner]

Upside down in a 3 year old Pontiac is not exactly my idea of driving excitement.