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About

(Reprinted from Gannett's Desert Sun)

At just under 3,500 pounds, the 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix comes in three flavors: GT1, GT2, GTP and GTP with something called "Competition Group Package", or in shorthand, "Comp G".

Okay, now I am out of my weekly allotment of Gs, Ts and Ps. If anyone has some extra, please e-mail them my way…

As with almost the entire Pontiac line, Grand Prix lost its way in the past decade. Impossible to tell apart from what was once its cousin and most recently its virtual twin, Monte Carlo, it appeared the GP was to be relegated to the position of a slightly upscale Grand Am, a car which spends most of its life in the service of daily rental fleets at airports around the country.

Pontiac’s apparent savior doesn’t run in on a white steed; No, Bob Lutz comes into town piloting one of the retired jet fighters from his collection. The former Marine Corps officer started his automotive career at GM in Europe. Lutz (who was born in Switzerland) had a lengthy stay as one of the two top people at Chrysler (before the Daimler buy-out) where he green-lighted some true winners, including Prowler, Viper and PT Cruiser.

Now back at GM, the over-70 exec has ordered Pontiac to return to its roots as GM’s performance division, resurrecting the "Wide Track" name and marketing imagery. Lutz also planned for 2004 by re-introducing the GTO, a warmed-over version of an Australian car called the Holden Monaro, outfitted with a 345 horsepower version of the Corvette V8 drivetrain and 6-speed stick shift found in that car.

So Grand Prix remained for Lutz to play with, and it has come to represent the current pinnacle of a sports sedan priced under $30,000. In fact, GT1 models start as low as $22,395.

GT1 and 2 GPs come with a 200 horsepower 3.8 liter V6, probably one of the two or three best V6 powerplants in the world. Our GTP model sported a pleasant surprise on the top and side of the engine --- a Roots-type supercharger!

That blower adds 60 horses to the total, bringing the final number to 260, a downright usable and respectable figure for a relatively lightweight car. Torque in the GTP models has 50 more ft. lb., than on the base models, 280 versus 230. We averaged an acceptable 22 miles per gallon in freeway and in-town driving during our test week.

The only transmission available with GP in 2004 is a floor-mounted (shades of GTO!) four speed automatic which is not too exciting. Order the GTP car with the topline Competition Group Package, or Comp G, and this Pontiac comes with wickedly fast and accurate paddles on the steering wheel called TAPshift. This is apparently General Motors’ first foray into these popular thumb-shifting devices which, in the Comp G case, allows for crisp and quick shift action without having to take your eyes off the road or hands off the steering wheel. You are still out the door for under $30K.

Suspension is tight enough even on the base models, but on GTP and especially on that car with the Comp G package, Grand Prix becomes an excellent real-world performance car. Take it to a driving school and really learn the limits of your own skills. What you do at the school is increase your own skills to come as close to the car’s capabilities as possible. Using the Grand Prix as a baseline will give you a solid, predictable, powerful and fun package. GP is fun to drive to the corner store, much less on the skidpad at the San Bernardino Sheriff’s EVOC facility (where teenagers take driving lessons and FBI and Secret Service drivers brush up on their own unique skills). Or call Danny McKeever at Fast Lane Driving at the Willow Springs race track outside the upper desert’s Rosamond, and let this car teach you a thing or two.

Exterior-wise, GP breaks wonderful new ground for Pontiac. Gone is the tacky plastic side cladding, which kept more than one male over 35 from buying the car. Sure, you want to attract young buyers, but those buyers are spending $20,000 on a new car, not closer to $30,000. So killing the side cladding and "wanna-be boy racer" look did nothing to harm actual sales. Be happy for small favors like this. Remember, Pontiac is the same GM division which brought us ("foisted" might be a better term) the Aztek. GP is so smooth, in fact, that from the rear it looks more like an Audi A6, one of the world’s best-looking conveyances, than any recent GM product.

Inside, the front seats could be more supportive. Someone from Pontiac should sit in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and see what real performance seating feels like. In the rear, squeeze three USA-sized adults, but only in a pinch. The GP’s a sedan, of course, so those four doors make getting in and out a breeze for all ages.

Instrumentation on GTP should use more traditional dials and gauges (or "gages", as GM has traditionally spelled that term). A performance car, especially equipped with a supercharger, needs to offer the driver more info than you get from the GP dash. And center console.

On the very plus side are the tight and taut suspensions with anti-roll systems front and rear, Ferrari-ish Brembo four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, a traction control system which works very effectively to keep you and GP on the straight and narrow when applying the right foot liberally, and an overall feeling of low-slung meanness (they used to call it "Wide Track", and they’ve wisely decided to do so again).

This auto was a pleasure to drive and fun even to write about. Sure, Pontiac is making a huge deal out of the "return" of the GTO (I didn’t know it had been sent to Australia for R&R between US appearances!) and they should, 40^th birthday and all. But Grand Prix GTP, even though it is a front-wheel drive car, is something very special to offer folks like us who miss Firebird and Camaro, looking and wishing and hoping and waiting (there’s an old song!) for the 21^st century version of Detroit muscle in a family-sized sedan.