Pontiac Grand Prix

Which Pontiac Grand Prix years should you avoid?

Going by 5,184 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Pontiac Grand Prix years to avoid are 2000, 2001, 1997, 1999 and 2002.

• 2000461 complaints, 2.2× a typical Grand Prix year, most often about the engine; and 2.7× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (162 fires, 10 crashes).
• 20013.9× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (106 fires, 14 crashes, 8 deaths).
• 1997810 complaints, 3.8× a typical Grand Prix year, most often about the steering.
• 19992.8× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (125 fires, 13 crashes, 2 deaths).
• 20022.7× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (96 fires, 19 crashes, 1 death).

2 more years cleared the same bar; they are marked in the table below.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →