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New to Grand Prixs. Looking at this 97 GTP. Advice needed

M

minimalist

New member
Hey all. So for a while now I've been looking for a DD I can drive year round come rain, sleet, snow etc. I want something with reasonable fuel economy but I still wanted to have a decently fast car with a decent aftermarket. My search has led me to the Grand Prix GTP. I love the way they look and they fall right into my price range. I've been scanning craigslist for about a month now and this car just popped up today. It's a 97 GTP with 90k original miles. It looks clean as anything and he wants $4k for it. Are there any major disadvantages to getting the first year that these were produced? Are the 97s as reliable as the other years? Is it worth the price? I haven't seen it in person yet so is there anything I should look out for when I do? Thanks.

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Check for rust on the rockers underneath and in the trunk on the strut towers. It's really overpriced too.
 
97s have a few things specific to just that year.
Car looks clean but not 4k clean the car is still what 17 years old and is probably going to need some maintenance to it if you want to keep it reliable but that's to be expected. Imo loe to mid 3k range is what I would pay assuming it doesn't have rust and the trans is shifting good. Also I would bring up to the guy what gas type he runs and if he ever did a trans flush on it. My mom got burned from a dealer doing a trans flush on a her car before she bought and it started slipping 8k miles later, to be fair it had 150k on it but nontheless. If the guy ran anything under 91 octane st any time I would feel a little nervous.

Sent from the Milky Way
 
In my opinion if you get the green light in all the right areas and the car is really clean, then 4k is not too much. You could possibly go a little lower if you wanted. But sometimes you have to dish out some money for a clean, reasonably low miles car. I threw out some money that some would find unreasonable and others would not. A lot of it depends on what you think the car is worth and how much you really want to guarantee you get a clean, nice car.
 
As was mentioned above, the '97 had several 1 year specific things. The PCM's physical design, the coolant reservoir bottle design (and location), the air intake and the driver info centers are all different. The throttle body is '97 - '98 specific. They're also known for some slight mechanical and electrical gremlins that are a pain in the ass to diagnose/find. I think there are a few other differences I can't think of off the top of my head.

The rest is standard across the board. Super important on a GP that old to check to see how badly the rocker panels and rear strut towers are rusted. Even with well maintained and cared for GPs, this is inevitable, especially if the car has seen any salt throughout the years.

Pricewise, as ILOVEGM said, it's your call, but between the age, and the 1st year Gen II w-body drawbacks, that's too expensive.
 


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