1997 Pontiac Grand Prix - Driving Impression - Suspension

Pontiac stylists wanted to recapture the ground-hugging stretch and width for which the brand was once famous. That meant adding three inches to the wheelbase and almost two inches in length. More than two inches was tacked onto the front track and three inches to the rear-axle stance. Interestingly, the new car's height actually decreased by only 0.1 inch, despite what looks like a major chop job on the roof-so even taller drivers should fit comfortably behind the wheel, particularly with this year's longer front-seat tracks and convenient back-rake adjustment.

"The Grand Prix is a visually complex, in-your-face car," boasted one Pontiac marketer. We agree with him on the car's curvy surface complexity. GM body-panel diemakers must have flipped when they saw the torture they were going to put sheet steel through.

Besides the obvious wide track, low roofline, and steeply raked (63-degree) windshield, the Grand Prix's most arresting design element is the flattened ellipse described by the car's greenhouse and door-window frames. This football shape is also echoed in the body-color door handles. Other slick styling elements are flared wheel openings, twin-post side-view mirrors, standard foglamps, clear headlamp lenses, wrap-around taillamps, and a wide variety of alloy wheel choices, including a mirror-polished aluminum five-spoke design.

Both the MacPherson strut front and coil-over Tri-link rear suspensions underwent major revisions, mostly for ride improvements. At the front, each lower A-arm was replaced with an L-arm, plus offset springs and new bushings that provide more aft compliance for improved pothole and impact-harshness absorption. Pontiac also swapped in aluminum steering knuckles to reduce unsprung weight.

In back, coils replace the former transverse plastic leaf, and one lateral and two transverse links support the spindle for fully independent action. SE, GT, or GTP, the suspension spring and damping rates are all the same. Pontiac is still sorting the tire and wheel possibilities; the SE was shod with 205/70SR15 and the GT pilots we drove were fitted with touring-type Goodyear Eagle LS 225/60SR16 tires. The hotter GTP sedan and coupe we sampled were equipped with Goodyear Eagle RS-A 225/60HR16 tires.

The ride in all three versions felt smooth but well damped, and with only minimal roll even during spirited cornering. Still, this is a road-going-rather than a track-style-suspension with tuning similar to that in German luxury sedans.

As in the previous GP, there's an ABS-assisted disc brake at each corner of the new model. But these units are all 10.9 inches in diameter; last year's rotors were 10.5-inch in front and 10.1-inch at the rear. GM engineers redesigned the calipers, master cylinder, and front rotors for a vastly improved pedal feel and longer rotor life. The previous model's long, sloppy pedal travel has been replaced with a short stroke and a sweet, linear action, making it much easier to dial in just the right amount of stopping muscle for tricky bends.

In redesigning its rack-and-pinion steering system, Pontiac boldly aimed at one of the industry's finest setups: that of the BMW 325i. The German maker's arrangement was dissected piece by piece, and from that examination, Pontiac decided, for example, to increase friction in its steering column and reduce it in the tie-rod ends. The result is perhaps the best GM front-drive steering system we've sampled. Gone are the numbness, lash, attendant swerve, and lane wander of the previous unit; in terms of ultimate communication, however, it still falls a bit short of the Bavarian rear-driver.