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There is nothing like building on excitement, and, at Pontiac Motor Division, they have done that with the new 1999 Pontiac Grand Am.

Pontiac comes to market for the ’99 model year with a formidable Grand Am lineup.

Featured is all-new sheet metal, a longer wheelbase, a wider track, a new 3400 series V-6, new four-wheel independent suspension, an all-new upgraded braking system, and a redesigned interior intent on making the compact a real driver’s car. For the last few years, Pontiac has been focusing on the excitement theme.

Its newest offering in the Grand Am line can claim “mission accomplished” via a head-turning selection of include an SE coupe and sedan and a GT coupe and sedan.

The Grand Am has been Pontiac’s volume leader since 1992 and it would appear that the winning formula continues for the 1999 model year.

The car is a pretty slick-looking automobile whose lines follow today’s aerodynamic flow.

The front end contains Pontiac’s design cues of a twin port grille, cat’s-eye headlamps, round driving lamps and a wide stance. Likewise, the rear is as distinctively Grand Am as the front. Integrated taillamp assemblies, exhaust outlets, and round cornering lamps that match the rounded driving lamps create expressive styling.

The car has a low, lean look to it via a 107-inch wheelbase that is 3.6 inches longer than the model it replaces. The front track is increased 3.3 inches in width to 59 inches – rear track is 59.1 – and obtains a-wheel-at-each-corner proportions. The wide stance is designed to give the front-drive Grand Am added stability when taking those sweeping right and left handers at speed.

The interior also is driver-oriented, with the circular motif of the instrument panel containing gauges that are easy to read quickly when going fast.

Thin frontal A-pillars, a higher seating position, and a lower cowl enhance driver visibility.

It pays to see where you are going when running a Grand Am with the hammer down, because the car is propelled by a pair of sprightly engines.

Standard is a double-overhead-cam four-cylinder featuring four valves per cylinder.

That, along with its 150-horsepower, puts the 2.4-liter (146cubic inches) engine in the fairly high-tech category. The 16-valver produces 150-horsepower and 155 foot-pounds of torque and is the type of motor that does its best work in the upper rpm ranges.

The Grand AM’s V-6, optional in the SE, is a bigger engine and consequentially puts out more power. But the increase in horsepower is not as great as that in torque.

Displacing 3.4 liters (207 cubic inches), the push rod/rockerarm V-6 offers 20 more horsepower than the dual-cam four cylinder, but produces 195 foot-pounds of torque.

And in GT form, this goes up a bit, courtesy of a Ram Air induction system and a less-restrictive-but-little-louder exhaust system.

In the GT, the V-6’s horsepower is 275.

Torque is 205 foot-pounds, fitting testimony to the fact that in normally aspirated form you c an’t beat fuel/air flow or inches. Completing the powertrain is the higher-torque-capacity 4T45-Efour-speed automatic that is new to the ’99 Grand Am and designed exclusively for cars using the 3400 V-6.

The 2.4-liter motor uses a 4T40-E automatic four-speed.The V-6/4T45-E package plus a 3.29-to-1 final drive ratio helps the Ram Air 3400 V-6 launch the GT to 0-60 mph in less than 8seconds.

Another design enhancement that helps deliver stellar performance to the Grand Am is a new body structure that is 32percent more rigid than the previous model. And this forms a superior base for a new four-wheel independent suspension.

A tri-link independent rear system enhances ride, handling and control.

All-aluminum suspension knuckles reduce weight and decrease unsprung mass for responsive handling and ride. It all works in conjunction with a new braking system that features aluminum front-brake calipers and larger front rotors and pads.

While the GT shares the independent sus pension w ith the SE, shock-absorber valving, rubber bushing durometers, spring rates and anti-roll bar sizes are all specific to this car’s high-performanceapplication.

Pontiac says that its Grand Am models have led the compact-carsegment of the market for the past five years, and that the car has ranked in the top 10 of the most popular cars in the nation since its introduction.