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buyers remorse

john cola

john cola

New member
I love the styling of my 2000 gtp daytona, but quite honestly, if I would have known all the problems with the 3800 series 2, i would not have bought this car or any grand prix. leaks caused by poor quality gaskets, dex cool, poor engineering, and interior electronics that crap out because of cheap parts, bad solders etc. I've had hondas for 15 years and never had problems due to poor quality engineering, parts or assembly. no wonder gm was on the verge of going tits up two years ago and had to be bailed out by obama. I would take my 93 honda accord wagon back in a heartbeat, but I'm stuck with this lemon. the frustrating thing is, a guy could be very conscientious about the maintainence of these cars and they will still crap out because of poor quality. honda knows about quality. sorry to rant, but it just makes me sick to think american made cars can be such bad quality, from design to parts to manufacture. united auto workers union, you should be ashamed.
 


Aside from the lim gaskets, the 3800 is pretty bullet proof as far as the motor itself goes. Accessories can go out just like on any car, at my work I see tons of asian and european cars replacing alternators, ps pumps, water pumps, gaskets, etc like they're socks or something, Volkswagens especially.... I think I hear more complaints about those than any other make. Other cars are known for throwing axles at a low mileage, burning crazy amounts of oil, cat problems... just like a certain period of 3800 motors are known for their LIM gaskets.

1998-2003 GM cars I hear are notorious for electronics, but I've had 2 different GP's 2004-2008 and I havnt had a single electrical issue in almost 4 years now...

Some guys goes 120-130k without seeing any problems... just sayin they're pretty average when you break it all down, whether it's foreign or domestic.

Dodge, GM, Ford... Hyundai, Honda, Subaru, Toyota... BMW, Volkswagen, MB.... every day at work I get to listen to people talking about what a piece of crap their car is, all makes and all models, and how it's worse than every other make and model, lol.
 
Ok, I understand feeling the need to rant, but you do happen to own a 12 year old vehicle. Also, how many of these issues have you experienced personally? I have zero issues with the electronics in my 15 year old sh!tbox. And being that it is MY car, I have every right to bash it; just as you have every right to bash YOUR car. However, taking your frustrations out on an entire car line isn't the way to approach things. I have horror stories for days about your precious Honda...or Toyota...or Chrysler...VW...Mercedes... Get my point? It's a car, bud. One thing I've learned since I got into this many years ago...if it's got tits or tires, it's going to give you problems. Get the little bugs worked out in your car, and you'll enjoy it. :)
 
I replaced the original water pump. Had 214k miles.

Darn good for a cooling system. Just did the original motor mounts, and will be doing the original MAF soon.

The uim was done in 07 though.

I'd say besides living in the salt belt and havin the suspension rust around you lol the engine is solid.
 
All I can base my opinion on is my personal experience...and i loved the top to bottom quality of my hondas. but I've had a 69 gto, 72 ventura 2, 84 chevy s10 pickup, 77 ventura, 71 nova, three buick centuries, 66 biscayne, 67 bel aire, 76 monte carlo, 84 chevette, 2001 grand prix se and currently have a 2000 impala. In other words, i've had a lot of gm cars and i love gm...and since buying this gtp in may, it's just been an never ending litany of nagging problems that piss me off because of poor quality. I am not giving up on this car and hope i can start to get ahead of the problems. this forum has been invaluable and other people's experiences have helped me a lot. i"ve had my impala for 8 years and have put about 120,000 miles on the 3800, so i like the engine. I was shocked this summer to find it still had dex cool in it.
 


You had a 01se a and a 00 impala which are the same car a your current gp. Did you like those? My car hadn't given me much problems and I'm at almost 224000 miles
 
dsmuts said:
You had a 01se a and a 00 impala which are the same car a your current gp. Did you like those? My car hadn't given me much problems and I'm at almost 224000 miles
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still have both of them. impala has 208,000 miles, and the se is my son's car. it was because of my son's car that i bought the gp...like the body style. it's been a good car even though he's put it through a lot. the impala is like a new car, but we've put a lot of money into keeping it up.
 


john cola said:
still have both of them. impala has 208,000 miles, and the se is my son's car. it was because of my son's car that i bought the gp...like the body style. it's been a good car even though he's put it through a lot. the impala is like a new car, but we've put a lot of money into keeping it up.
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Hopefully the impala has the 3800 as well as the se? If they have the 31/3400 I'll bet you had to put a lot of money into them. Those motors are junk.
 
LIM gaskets are cheaper to do then a timing belt/water pump, and they dont have to be done every 60-90k miles... Im tired of people saying that their hondas are so much better, these cars weigh more, have bigger motors, likley more elctronic options, and so on then a 93 honda, if you have twice as much moving parts in the engine bay, twice as many elctronics, twice as much power and so on then yes stuff is going to break more, and lets be serious, you have a supercharged grand prix... chances are some highschool kid owned it before you and abused it,
You should know better then to blame the model of car when you have another as well as an impala on the same platform that have served you well!
 
dsmuts said:
Hopefully the impala has the 3800 as well as the se? If they have the 31/3400 I'll bet you had to put a lot of money into them. Those motors are junk.
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they are not as bad as you think, keep the LIM gaskets dry the 3100/3400 motor is easily capable of 200k+, as for the rest of the car on the other hand...
 


And put blame on yourself..if you bought the car without doing your research or have a mechanic or trusted person look it over. It's a used car there's bound to be some issue that needs addressing.
 
NR92 said:
they are not as bad as you think, keep the LIM gaskets dry the 3100/3400 motor is easily capable of 200k+, as for the rest of the car on the other hand...
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They are junk. They suck to work on and are super slow. If you do the maintenance on them of course they will last my wifes gagt had 190K on it when we got rid of it.
 
I have a rule with buying used cars...if it's off road/4x4, or is not naturally aspirated, I'm not buying it used because you have NO idea what abuse that thing has seen. Too often you see the GTP models that have been absolutely pounded into the ground and treated like crap, and once you have one issue with a supercharged motor, there are more than likely many problems to follow. I bought my 2001 GP GT this past winter because of my dad's experience with the exact same car (same color and everything...lol), and the reputation of the 3800 series II motor. Keep oil in it, and it will run forever. Throw a SC on there, and the game changes a bit, especially if it's used and abused.
 
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