The 3800 engine has been around since the 60's so its been the recipient of lots of refinements and tweaks that make it an extremely solid engine, very reliable and if memory serves me correctly, was listed in the to ten engines of the century. I think some 20+ million have been made so there should be no shortage of spare parts around for a number of years to come. I was extremely disappointed when they discontinued production a year or two ago.
The 3800 (particularly the supercharged 3800) has lots of power and torque but still manages to get excellent fuel economy that gives even some of the 4 bangers a run fo r their money.
I find the Grand Prix as a whole to be a particularly great combination of sports car and family car. I have been a Pontiac fan all of my life, which I picked up in part from my mom actually. Its one of the few cars in my opinion that seems to have combine the needs of a family daily driver with the excitement and performance package of a pure sports car to satisfy the performance enthusiast in the family.
For as young as you are and probably looking for something with serious get up and go, but parents that want something sensible and safe, the Grand Prix or even the Buick Regal or the Monte Carlo (all with the 3800 either supercharged or not) would probably meet both demands and would probably be cheaper on insurance for both.
And the thing you REALLY want to take notice of is that you have a community such as this that would be able to not only help you learn about the car but also help you if any issues should arise. THAT alone is worth what I paid for my Grand Prix.
There are some known issues that should not be ignored either. The Lower Intake Manifold gaskets, known as LIM gaskets are a known issue. The original design was a plastic design and did not hold up well and is almost a given to eventually leak coolant most likely into the motor. The newer design is an aluminum type and holds up much better. Not an expensive or difficult thing to replace for anyone with basic mechnical skills, but it is a bit labor intensive.
The Crankshaft Position Sensor seems to be another common failure part. Again, not an expensive part to replace, not all that labor intensive but takes time.
There's probably a couple of others to consider. The transmission itself is a good design, and reliable if you take care of it and treat it right (like dont do burnouts all the time, or generally abuse the crap out of it). If you start to modify the engine there will come a point you need to take the transmission and what it can take into account. For which we have the nations best 4T65E rebuilder and troubleshooter right here on these forums and could rebuild (if necessary) the transmission better than what it came from the factory.
Generally speaking, if you take care of the car, its going to be there for you. You can still have fun, enjoy the excitement and perfomance it offers as long as you know where the limits are.
