Learn me about the Impala/Pontiac FWD V8

Son looking for first car, is this a decent strong not dangerous engine for a very inexperienced driver

2000 Grand Prix V8

FWD Grand Prix didn't get a V8 until the GXP in 07ish. If it's a 2000 it's either the anemic 3400 V6, the excellent 3800 V6, or the S/C 3800 V6. As long as it's a 3.8 you are good to go. We have an 01 GT (3.8 NA) that's got a nice bit of power, decent economy, and has been stone reliable. Great first car IMO.

It's called an LS4 and 4T65E-HD. Read this

http://ls1tech.com/forums/ls4-front-drives-2005-2009/556077-information-ls4-dod-4t65e-hd.html

i'd hardly call the 3400 anemic. the head an intake design is pretty nice and they were full roller motors. miles above the 2.8 that it descended from. i swapped one into my old 94 lumina after i removed the original 3.1 mpfi and it was pretty fun to drive.

i would however call the non s/c 3800 a boat anchor.

Interesting, sounds like a good engine to avoid, he doesn't need 300 hp anyway, my FIL has a 2000 3800 Monte SS which has 200,000+ trouble free miles on it. Fine engine IMHO.

Seriously? The 3400 GP's we drove couldn't get out of their own way! The 3800 GT we ended up with does mid-15 1/4's bone stock (which is quicker than my highly modified RX-7 mind you). She's put ~40K miles on that car for nothing but oil changes, the 100K service, and a set of LIM gaskets. It's been super reliable with great mileage and more than enough "get up" for daily driving/highway merging.

I've only ever heard good things about the GM 3.8L

My personal opinion is that a first car should handle great, but be underpowered. This forces a new driver who wants to go fast to actually learn how to drive the car, not just mash the loud pedal and make it go vrooom.

Now admittedly, I hated my first couple cars for that very reason, but I know that I'm a better driver because of it.

I had an 89 Grand Prix with a garbage motor, so me and my pops put a 3800 from a 91 Buick (with 112000 miles) in it. The cradles matched up. I drove that for a few years, and in those years, bashed the E36 M3 out of the body. So we took the motor out, and put it in another 89 Grand Prix.
I drove THAT around for a few years. 3800 rock solid. So much of that car didn't work, but I could drive that 3800 anywhere. Final mileage, easily over 250,000 miles.

I sold a 92 Bonni SSEto a guy I worked with that had the NA 3.8 in it. The car had 295K on it and was still on it original tranny. Those motors are rock solid.

Ive never heard anything besides wondrous applause for the GM 3.8...agreed they will run waaaay up in miles if you just keep fresh dino juice and a working radiator under the hood.

patgizz has lost his mind, the 3800 in my 99 Olds Intrigue (early 99, second half of the year got the 3500) is pretty responsive and definitely will move the car along nicely. The 3400 is nothing to crow about and has that wonderful exhaust note that tells you there's a domestic V6 under the hood.

The V8 Grand Prix was geared to the moon to fight torque steer. I think 2nd gear is good to over 70 mph. The Impala is geared normally and C&D painted ugly pictures of the handling in that thing. Would not touch.

Blower 3.8's last a long time although blower rebuilds seem to happen around 100,000 miles. Needs 91 octane. Wouldn't bother with the things to be honest if you can get the N/A 3.8 instead.

DO NOT give your son a v8 SS or GXP for a first car!!!

WAAAAYY too fast and heavy. Giving a kid anything that runs better than 16s in the 1/4 is asking for trouble. Those run 14s, low 14s@~100.

a 3400 is an ok motor (but not to work on), 3500 is much better. ive driven a 3500 impala and i think thats a decent car for a new driver.. big, safe, and borderline slow.. Its pretty decent if you keep it at high rpms but the gearing is so tall that 2nd goes to 100mph. 3400 impala would be good too, even slower!

But, really, get your kid a slow car. And even that is no guarantee. I have personally driven right by a freshly dead 15 year old corpse who was driving a slow car. His friends were all staring around like zombies. Im sure none of them thought this 'death' thing was real until their friend bit it. Make sure the judgement and maturity is there before you let him worry about HP. Im 25, graduated high school class of '02 and i keep seeing in the papers and obits where people i went to class with are dropping off in car accidents, many of them alcohol related. Again, maturity and judgement.

We have had a 3.8L Regal and 3.5L Intrigue in the family over the past few years and they were both solid cars. The intrigue made it to 180k and the transmission was starting to die, so I could only imagine the V8 will exacerbate that problem. The 3.5 was way faster and better on gas than the 3.8 too. The regal is too slow for my mom.

Time for a 300D!

theres nothing wrong at all with a 3800, it's just an all iron heavy engine hanging out 90% in front of the front axle. they run forever and are torquey.

i have not lost my mind. i just prefer the lighter 60* engine. plus the new 3900 makes the same 240hp n/a as the series 2 supercharged 3800. aluminum heads and roller rockers make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

I wandered by a cavalier z-24 site the other day ( like the 86-90s) and noticed an n/a 3500 swapped z24 had run a high 12. The 3500 and 3900 are cool motors now that they make power past 4k rpm.

I mean, the 3400 is a decent motor to drive, but the thing i hated about it is it doesnt do anything better than my dodge 3.3Ls but is a bitch and a half to work on by comparison. That bugs me.

I think the 3800 is the same engine we got in the VN-VR Holden Commodores. Real tough motors, with more than enough power for a first car, IMO.

Yeah Luke it is the same block but runs the wrong end of the car. I have knowledge on the 3800, just wondering about the 5.3.

He is most likely to get a 2000 or so Grand Prix 3800, he want this model, is a straight A student, smart, doesn't drink smoke or do stupid stuff.

I have NO IDEA where he got any of that

Steve

He is most likely to get a 2000 or so Grand Prix 3800, he want this model, is a straight A student, smart, doesn't drink smoke or do stupid stuff.

Very glad to hear it! I think one of those is a good car for a new driver. Fairly big and safe, cheap, replaceable, and reliable enough to take a major beating without crapping out. Only thing is the tranny's not half as good as the motor.. but it might be fine anyway

Vigo wrote: Only thing is the tranny's not half as good as the motor.. but it might be fine anyway

Our transmission died in the ~130-140k mile range. I expect the motor to easily outlive the new one along with the rest of the car.

I think the only real issue with the 3.8 in these cars is that they put Dexacool in it at the factory. After that it's either the transmission or weird little electrical faults showing up after 100k miles. For a while the trans in my Olds was shifting extremely hard into 2nd gear under light to moderate throttle, under 50%, although that issue seems to have gone away for months now.

I'm hoping to scrape together ~$6k cash for an early Acura RSX as soon as I can to replace the Olds.

Vigo wrote: DO NOT give your son a v8 SS or GXP for a first car!!! WAAAAYY too fast and heavy. Giving a kid anything that runs better than 16s in the 1/4 is asking for trouble. Those run 14s, low 14s@~100.

I had a '69 Mustang with a 351 Windsor when I was in high school.

When I was younger, I was gifted an oldsmobile with a 3800. it had 275,000 on it at the time. I kept driving it well beyond 450,000...still ran when I junked it (it was rusting around the engine, and had a bad shake at 50)

I had a '69 Mustang with a 351 Windsor when I was in high school.

Yeh, theres plenty of people that lived through things like that.. and we hear from them.. but you know what?

You DONT hear from the guy that died. and you DONT hear from the guy whose kid died, still on the car forums talking about how happy fast cars make him! So for every person who said I lived, i think of 5 people who arent here with friendly banter because it DIDNT work for them and they dont want to spend their time talking to a bunch of guys on the internet who lived through stuff they WISH their kid had lived through.

Vigo you are assuming he is as irresponsible as you were. He isn't, I was/am.