Thread: Greatest car ever.

I have a 2006 GP GT I bought with 9000 miles on it in Jan 2007. Never been to the dealer for a repair and just crossed 100k miles. Had to replace brakes, shocks, bearings, and tires along the way. It needed a new gas cap and the heater core needed flushed to get restore warmth and get rid of a gurggle.

I am posting this just to vent. I gave the car to my daughter and got myslef a new fancy german ride that spends half of its life in the shop. I am starting to equate "german engineering" with "intermittent functioning"

Suck? Nope. Most reliable car ever made. I had a 98 GTP before and at 37,000 miles neede thousands of dollars of repairs.

I got a BMW 535xi. Hoot to drive. When it works.

Originally Posted by E IN v Y

04+ Grand Prix suck.

The OP makes a thread about how much he likes his grand prix, and the very first reply is that, I lol'ed haha.

I dont know if you are just being a jackass, but what is wrong with 04+ ? I probably would have gotten one if they werent so much more expensive. Only sucky part is the 4 door issue.

But speaking of maintinence, I wonder if it's bad to run the factory spark plugs to 114k miles and beyond.

What possible mantinence, costing thousands of dollars, did you need on that 98 at 37,000 miles other than the expected stuff? I hope you don't say lower intake gasket. I bet if that was from a shop recomendation, they just wanted to make a sale off you. Unless you never drove the car, that should still be under warranty anyway.

and require specialty tools and dealer parts to repair.

This is how what happened. It is 2001. My GTP turned 36300 miles, just 287 miles after warratny runs out and I am driving to work and the car just dies and coasts off to the side of the road. I get it towed to the nearest dealer. I will not name any names. They get the car and say a relay/computer box under the passenger seat went bad. With the cost of the tow it is almost $1500. I get the car back and there are no interior lights. I tell then that and say that was not there before and they say it si a different problem and for $90 they can diagnose the problem. I drive the car to the dealer where I bought it, talk the the service manager, and tell him the problem. He pops the hood and connects a wire the ther dealer forgot to connect when they put the relay thing in. He charged me $0. Then developed a vibration and needs hubs for $800. (Since then I have learned to change them on my own). Then one more thing happened, which I now can not remember. Then I got rid of the car.

And my sample size is small. We have I was born and raised a GM guy and the first 10 cars I bought were GM. In no particular order, including my wifes cars, we have had a Chevy Blazer, Pontiac leMans, an Olds cutlass, a chevy beretta, a lumina APV, 2 saturns (first one taken back as a lemon), 2 grand prix's, and an Olds alero. After having massive repair bills at less than 50K miles on all of them I quit buying GM. I kept the last Grand Prix because it keeps going. Now we have an Excursion with 180K, the BMW has 85K, an Audi, and the Grand Prix with 100K. I am the poster child why GM went bank rupt.

When I replaced the hubs on the 06 grand prix I called the dealer just for parts. They want $336 for each hub without labor. I paid $130 each for timken hubs on ebay and they are still going strong after 50K miles, which is when I had to replace the originals. I had to replace the hubs on the alero at 60K miles. I think OEM quality for the hubs sucks.

Originally Posted by dgjks6

This is how what happened. It is 2001. My GTP turned 36300 miles, just 287 miles after warratny runs out and I am driving to work and the car just dies and coasts off to the side of the road. I get it towed to the nearest dealer. I will not name any names. They get the car and say a relay/computer box under the passenger seat went bad. With the cost of the tow it is almost $1500. I get the car back and there are no interior lights. I tell then that and say that was not there before and they say it si a different problem and for $90 they can diagnose the problem. I drive the car to the dealer where I bought it, talk the the service manager, and tell him the problem. He pops the hood and connects a wire the ther dealer forgot to connect when they put the relay thing in. He charged me $0. Then developed a vibration and needs hubs for $800. (Since then I have learned to change them on my own). Then one more thing happened, which I now can not remember. Then I got rid of the car.

And my sample size is small. We have I was born and raised a GM guy and the first 10 cars I bought were GM. In no particular order, including my wifes cars, we have had a Chevy Blazer, Pontiac leMans, an Olds cutlass, a chevy beretta, a lumina APV, 2 saturns (first one taken back as a lemon), 2 grand prix's, and an Olds alero. After having massive repair bills at less than 50K miles on all of them I quit buying GM. I kept the last Grand Prix because it keeps going. Now we have an Excursion with 180K, the BMW has 85K, an Audi, and the Grand Prix with 100K. I am the poster child why GM went bank rupt.

Right there is another reason why I hate chain shops. Before even touching anything on a comeback, they want to start charging you, especially for something that was probably their fault to begin with. But that can also go both ways. You bought all of those cars new? Oh my.

Originally Posted by jerZcavy4120

your problem wasn't with the car. it was with the dealer.
i've been there, done that.

i still don't understand how you paid $800 for hubs when the cost ~135 each.

Have you not been to a chain shop or dealership? The shop I used to work at had a 300% parts markup. They sold bearings all day long for around $300 a piece. As long as people are stupid enough to pay that, they will continue to do it.