We generally don’t tend to feature vehicles this new here at Barn Finds, but this 2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE is something a bit out of the ordinary. This 20-year-old vehicle has a genuine 3,700 miles showing on its odometer, and its condition is all that you would expect from a car that has seen so little work. I have to say a big thank you to Barn Finder Ikey H for spotting it for us. The Pontiac is located in Winchester, Virginia, and has been listed for sale here on craigslist. You can drive this spotless example home today for $7,500.
The Pontiac is finished in Bright Red, and its overall condition could best be described as spotless. There are no signs of any chips or marks on the paint, and the panels are laser straight. While it isn’t explicitly mentioned, I suspect that the Grand Am has spent its life in a garage. There is no evidence that it has spent time exposed to the elements or UV rays. The car comes equipped with 15″ steel wheels, and the original hubcaps have no signs of scuffs or damage. A bonus is the fact that those wheels wear a new set of tires. Given the vehicle’s history, it is no surprise to find that all of the plastic trim and the glass also present perfectly.
The SE was the entry-level offering in the 2000 Grand Am range, and it was available with a choice of two engines. This car is fitted with the 2.4-liter DOHC 4-cylinder that produces a respectable 150hp. That power finds its way to the front wheels via a 4-speed automatic transmission. Power steering, traction control, and power front disc brakes with ABS are also part of the package. The engine bay presents as well as you might expect in a car of this type. Just because it has done very little work over the past 20-years, that doesn’t mean that there is a pile of work awaiting the buyer before this car is roadworthy. The Pontiac is ready to go, and the owner states that it could be driven right across the country immediately. It is interesting to read contemporary road tests of the Grand Am because they praise the level of power that the engine provides, along with the smoothness of the ride, and the crisp-shifting of the automatic transmission. I also looked at a series of reviews by people who have owned these cars on a long-term basis. Once again, these reviews seem to be very positive.
The interior of the Pontiac still features the majority of the plastic covers, so the Pewter cloth upholstery beneath is is perfect condition. The same appears to be true of the carpet and all of the plastic trim pieces. This is a car that is capable of seating five people, but it is more comfortable with four on-board. One of the most significant criticisms that was leveled against these cars when new was the fact that the rear windows are fixed. This doesn’t have to be a major issue because the vehicle is fitted with ice-cold air conditioning, and this is ducted into the rear passenger compartment. Being the SE, it doesn’t come loaded with equipment. That means that apart from the A/C, the buyer will find power front seat adjustment, power locks, a remote driver’s mirror, a tilt wheel, and an AM/FM radio/CD player.
When this 2000 Pontiac Grand Am was new, it would have set the original owner back somewhere around $16,000. Today, you can drive this one away for $7,500. It is in as-new condition, and on the face of it, that does sound very tempting. The reality is that the asking price is a long way above what you might expect to pay for an average example. However, an average car will have somewhere around 115,000 miles showing on its odometer, and you will be hard-pressed to find one with less than 50,000 miles on the clock. The owner says that you will struggle to find another car with this sort of mileage at the asking price, and I have to agree with him. Is that enough of an incentive to make you want to park this car in your driveway?
Essentially a new car for short money. I sold new and used Pontiacs and Chevys when this was new. At the time I admired the car. Sporty looking with a comfortable interior. Crank windows are a bit of a bummer, but it’s a short enough reach from the drivers seat to passenger crank.
I once bought a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero brand new, which was Oldsmobile’s version of the Grand Am. It was equipped exactly like this GA. LOL It was a good car but at around 30 K miles whenever it rained the carpets inside would get sopping wet. We took it to the dealer multiple times for warranty repairs and they couldn’t solve the problem. Eventually we had to get rid of it because it started smelling moldy. I don’t know if any FWD Grand Am’s will ever get any value but I would buy this simply it’s like buying a new car cheap and I like Pontiacs a lot and would take care of it…and not drive it in Oregon rain! LOL
Just sold my 2002 Grand am se Loved that car but rust got to the rear sub frame and brake lines I may but this car
I’ve had power windows fail a couple of times, in the winter, partially open. Crank-operated windows look pretty good under these conditions!! :-) :-)
Only 3700 miles! If you’re lucky, you may be able to drive this for another 10K until the Quad 4 needs a head gasket :-)
😂
I had a bought new 1989 Grand Am SE with the Quad, head gasket puking, 4. After the third head gasket, I drove it into the ground, just kept changing oil and fouled spark plugs ever other month. Parked it in the backyard in 1998, only sent it to the wrecking yard 3 years ago. No GM since.
Well, anyone that wants to see what a car with a claimed “ultra low mileage” looks like, here you go. While I always thought these were nice cars, I never cared for FWD anything, and I knew people that had nothing but trouble with these. New, I think they were okay, but these became the modern “beater with a heater” in short order, and nobody maintained them properly, which these motors sorely needed, and it was off to the crusher. Nobody kept a Grand Am. Nice find, and with this low a mileage, you’ll get to find out why everybody junked them, eventually.
The dilemma with a car like this is it would be a shame to just make it an everyday driver and rack up a bunch of miles on it, but (to me at least) it’s not very interesting and doesn’t have much in the way of performance. Even with the ultra low mileage its not worth the asking price, imo. You are sure to be the only one at the car show with one though. I came across a black 90’s Beretta GT with around 20k miles at a swap meet for $2k last year. I really thought about buying it, but have too many cars as it is! The fact that it had an auto trans as opposed to a manual was the deciding factor.
There is no such thing as too many cars.
They are just like Jello, always room for one more.
My Mom bought a new 2002 Pontiac Grand Am GT. Drove it to 225,000 miles with zero trouble. Just sold it last week. They are great cars and the GT was very sporty and fast.
My mom bought ’91 and ’95 Grand Ams brand new. The ’91 had the neat W32 Sport Performance Package LE model with the Quad 4. It was an automatic so it had the 160 horsepower LD2 version of the motor.
It was quick. Per automobile-catalog, it wold run mid-16s in the quarter. I believe it, and that was fast for that type of car at the time. The manual models with the 180 horsepower LGO H.O. Quad 4 and 5-speed ran mid-15s. I liked that car, and it was too new to have the problems the Quad 4 later became known for.
The ’95 wasn’t as cool. It had the 3.1 liter V-6 and wasn’t as fun to drive. It wasn’t as quick either but, in the long run, it was probably more reliable. I don’t know what these later “balance shaft” Quad 4 variants are like but I’d research the engine to see what you’re getting into. While they’re no 350 diesel or Cadillac V-8-6-4, there are a lot of trouble spots with these Quad 4 motors, even the later ones.
No denying that this is a clean and nicely equipped little car with amazingly low miles that also appears to have been maintained properly.
$6500 cash would, and should sell it.
Oh, too bad that the A/C only cools the rear seat passengers. I never have understood why Pontiac did this on these. Fortunately they did straighten it out the following model year and it cooled both the front and rear from that point forward. Obviously, sales improved.
I would take the 2004 Accord EX-L with 80000 original kilometers I just purchased for $5875 CDN certified over this poorly made, low quality GM junk any day, regardless of mileage. Honda spends millions upon millions on product development and new technology. GM purposefully makes low quality throw away junk. Most of GM’s profit comes from parts and service. The opposite is true for Honda.My DOHC VTEC 16 valve engine will be running strong while this Pontiac is rotting in a salvage yard.
When I see a newer car like this that hasn’t been driven, I think it might have been a car that has an unfix-able problem and they parked it.
Now 20 years later they want big money for it.
Do we know why the car only has 3700 miles right now?
Back in the day, winter if 2000, a very good friends wife drove one of these, in GT trim with the V6. I remember hearing her say she lived the car and lived driving it. One night the three of us went to a concert in Boston, that later till midnight. I also remember my friend driving home, with his wife passed out in the back seat and I was riding shotgun. At one time I looked at the speedometer and was surprised to see we were effortlessly traveling at a steady 100 mph!! With my friend telling me he was at half throttle mentioning how it felt like the 69 Grand Prix he had 20 years earlier, only burning less than a quarter of the gas! I just mumbled yea and said to wake me when we get home, I’d rather die in my sleep! Oh, we made it home safe an all, she ended up driving that car for the normal 5 years and 140,000 miles good cars lasted her in the higher mileage private investigator job she has still!
This would be a nice car to buy, maintain, but keep the mileage low. It will be a great find in another 20 years. Wish I had the room and time.
These cars quickly made their way down the auto food chain. If you see one now, it’s a smoking, grinding piece of trash.
Are you sure about that? Or are you just a die hard foreign car fan? Because from the many I’ve seen, between friends and the ones I’ve actually rented at times, were all decent cars with some actual styling! Very reliable and easy to get anything done on.
I had a black 2002 GTP coupe with the Series III 3800 Supercharged V6, along with a white 2001 SE sedan with the 3100 V6 for my wife. Both cars were very reliable and smooth driver’s but the 3800 really pushed you back in your seat! (3.4″ pulley on the huffer, headers and a free-flow exhaust helped.)
Loved the leather and heads-up display in the GTP, tolerated the cloth in the SE. Both cars had ice-cold A/C. Traded the SE with 189,000 miles on it, gave the GTP to charity when I moved from Houston back to Florida and couldn’t find a buyer who would appreciate it. Shoulda kept it.
I owned a white one with a 5 speed manual. It had a lot of get up and go! Also had the power windows and such. I really liked that car. It drove really nice :)
I would buy it for no more than $5K, and give it to my friend who has an aggressive form of cancer. She lost hers due to an accident that totaled it. I bet she’d love it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t buy it at all.
My wife had a 01 just like this except color and four door. Was a pretty nice car except every time it had less than a half of a tank of gas you had to “bounce” the rear of the car to get it to start. Two different mechanics could never figure out why. Granted I never took it home to pontatic to fix it.
I had one of these, when the monthly repair cost exceeded the car payment, I traded it in.
If someone *really* wants a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, and didn’t mind if it had a few thousand more miles on it than this featured car, I saw one for sale for $1,450. The mileage?? 103,744 :-) :-) Again, If someone *really* wants a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, a $3,700 mile car for $7.500 looks like a pretty good deal.