Car and Driver Jan 94

SHORT TAKE: 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP

Showing the door to the Shrinking Violet Club.

BY MARTIN PADGETT JR.

If pampering yourself with a noiseless, flavorless, isolated-as-North Korea
coupe is your idea of a good time, then go read about another car. The
Pontiac Grand Prix GTP is not a car for wallflowers or shrinking violets.
It's bold and brazen, ready to display its considerable power at the drop of
a throttle. With all those slits, ribs, creases, and bullet holes, it doesn't
ask for attention--it demands it.

Once it has it, the GTP commands your respect with an array of hi-fi hardware
from the top drawer of the GM parts bin. The General knows powertrains, and
the GTP's four-cam 3.4-liter V-6 is one of its best. A wave of torque pulls
the Pontiac to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds (just 0.1 second slower than a V-6
Probe), as the muted ripple that issues from the exhaust becomes a sexy
shriek near the redline.

You can't rev higher than six grand despite the promise of 7000 rpm on the
tach. The electronically controlled four-speed automatic censors a thousand
revs from the GTP's power vocabulary, even when the lever is rowed manually.
In exchange for the lost grand of revolutions, the drivetrain snaps off
immediate gear changes without jerkiness or electronic hiccuping.

The powertrain's zeal can overwhelm the front tires, but the Grand Prix's
handling is as predictable as any Lethal Weapon plot. Applying 210 horsepower
to a front-driver usually means a cornucopia of torque steer, and true to
form, the big Pontiac does take a second or two to be arm-wrestled into
submission and onto a straight line from a full-throttle launch. Clicking the
first-gear lockout switch at left-knee height keeps a leash on the
sky-sniffing, but it also puts a hex on intended acceleration.

A generous dollop of understeer makes it hard for ham-footed drivers to shoot
the GTP into the weeds. So does the steering, which feels a little heavy but
is responsive enough to match big and quick direction changes. Braking is
more of a mystery--fade gets in the way of good pedal feel and puts a
middling 195-foot space between a 70-mph pace and a full stop.

Things get really confused in the ride department. The GTP's suspension is
brashly stiff by luxury-coupe standards. The unusual rear setup--struts
suspended with a transverse leaf spring--helps to smooth out long, low
undulations but clamps down hard on sharper bumps, translating much of their
impact rather than absorbing it. The all-season tires damp some of this
motion, but they thrum at speed and give up grip rather early, at 0.79 g.

Even with a mild mid-life restyle, the GTP is still not the kind of car that
Martha Stewart would park in her garage. It has a chiseled, let's-play-Zagato
look that is all but extinct from the competition's playbooks. The ribbed
plastic gingerbread fattens its underside, though, making it look every bit
of its 3450 pounds. The Ford Thunderbird SC, comparable in size and mission,
looks leaner and sleeker even though it outweighs the Pontiac by 440 pounds.

But like the current T-Bird, the Grand Prix met with the interior decorators
for a makeover this year. They came up with a pleasingly rounded dash stocked
with big easy switches. The revisions include a new set of instruments, a
passenger airbag (the seatbelts stay fastened to those long, heavy doors),
rubber-coated rotary climate controls, and a new radio with Chiclet-sized
preset buttons and a grabby power/volume knob.

The functional theme reaches to the steering wheel, which has Pontiac's
trademark radio and cassette controls incorporated into the hub, and to the
head-up display. A new power control lets you adjust the HUD readout more
easily than the old manual lever did. The projection area reflects a dark
black square on the windshield that must be looked through to see the road,
but otherwise the HUD is unobtrusive, easy to read, and useful on heavily
patrolled turnpikes.

So turn away from this one if you're not up for gasps and stares. There are
plenty of oatmeal-plain coupes that won't cause any ripples in the Safeway
parking lot. But not the Grand Prix GTP. It's too firm, too quick, and too
flashy for anything but a showy splash.

Vehicle type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door sedan
Price as tested: $20,956 (base price: $17,395)
Engine type: DOHC 24-valve V-6, iron block and aluminum heads, GM
engine-control system with port fuel injection
Displacement.....204 cu in, 3350cc
Power (SAE net).....210 bhp @ 5000 rpm
Transmission.....4-speed automatic with lockup torque converter
Wheelbase 107.5 in
Length.....194.8 in
Curb weight.....3450 lb
Zero to 60 mph.....7.5 sec
Zero to 100 mph.....22.9 sec
Street start, 5 to 60 mph.....7.9 sec
Standing 1/4-mile.....15.8 sec @ 87 mph
Top speed.....(governor limited)121 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph.....195 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad.....0.79 g
EPA fuel economy, city driving.....17 mpg
C/D observed fuel economy.....22 mpg