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Junkyard Gem: 1991 Pontiac Grand Am LE with Quad 4 Engine

GM introduced the N-Body compact platform with the Oldsmobile Calais and Pontiac Grand Am for the 1985 model year and continued building N-based cars through 1998. Most of these cars weren't interesting from an enthusiast standpoint, but a handful rolled off the assembly line with raucous DOHC Oldsmobile Quad 4 engines and manual transmissions, and those cars were plenty of fun. Here's a 1991 Grand Am with that rare setup, photographed in a self-service yard in California's Central Valley. The base engine in the 1991 Grand Am was the 110-horsepower, 2.5-liter pushrod Iron Duke, an engine that might have been fine on a Romanian tractor in 1953 but had no place on an American street car as the 21st century approached. Fortunately, GM started bolting the modern 2.3-liter DOHC Quad 4 engine into 1988 cars, and this was a proper four-cylinder. The Quad 4 ran a little rough and uncivilized, and it had its share of reliability problems, but you could rev the piss out of it and it made good power. In 1991, this engine was rated at 180 hp. That made this 2,592-pound sedan pretty quick. Unfortunately, the slushboxization of America had progressed with depressing rapidity during the 1980s, and by 1991 most Grand Am buyers — even the ones who opted for the Quad 4 — chose the automatic transmission. That didn't happen with this car, though — it boasts a rugged Getrag 5-speed instead of the happiness-amputating three-speed automatic. Yes, that's the kind of odometer reading you'd expect to see on an Accord or Maxima from this era. Someone loved this car and took care of it. Here we see an interesting mix of 1980s and 1990s car-radio technology. CD players in cars were still costly luxury items in 1991, seldom seen in affordable cars like the Grand Am, while 1980s-style slider-style EQ controls were on the way out. This Delco unit straddles both decades nicely. I seek out Quad 4-equipped cars during my junkyard travels, and I have photographed quite a few: this '89 Cutlass Calais, this '90 Cutlass Calais, this '90 Grand Am, this '91 Quad 442, this '93 Achieva SCX, and this '98 Cavalier Z24. It's a shame that Buick never put the Quad 4 in the Reatta, which was a fine car ruined by a somnolent and obsolete V6. The music in this ad is even more early-1990s than Crystal Pepsi. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

This or That: 2005 Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 vs. 1984 Pontiac Fiero

Welcome to another round of This or That, where two Autoblog editors pick a topic, pick a side and pull no punches. Last round pitted yours truly against Associate Editor Brandon Turkus, and my chosen VW Vanagon Syncro narrowly defeated Brandon's 1987 Land Rover. In fact, it was, by far, the closest round we've seen, with 1,907 voters seeing things my way (for 50.8 percent of the vote) versus 1,848 votes for Brandon's Rover (49.2 percent). Sweet, sweet victory! For this latest round of This or That, I've roped Editor Greg Migliore into what I think is a rather fun debate. We've each chosen our favorite terrible cars, setting a price limit of $10,000 to make sure neither of us went too crazy with our automotive atrocities. I think we've both chosen terribly... and I mean that in the best way possible. 2005 Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 Jeremy Korzeniewski: Why It's Terrible: Taken in isolation, the Chrysler Crossfire isn't necessarily a terrible car. In fact, it drives pretty darn well, and there's a lot of solid engineering under its slinky shape. Problem is, that engineering was already rather long in the tooth well before Chrysler ever got its hands on it, having come from Mercedes-Benz, which used the basic chassis and drivetrain in a previous version of its SLK coupe and roadster. Granted, the SLK was an okay car, too, but even when new, it hardly set the world on fire with sporty driving dynamics. Chrysler took these decent-but-no-more bits and pieces from the Mercedes parts bin – remember, this car was conceived in the disastrous Merger Of Equals days – and covered them with a rather attractive hard-candy shell. Unfortunately, the super sporty shape wrote checks in the minds of buyers that its well-worn mechanicals were simply unable to cash, though an injection of power courtesy of a supercharged V6 engine in the SRT6 model, as seen here, certainly helped ease some of those woes. In the end, Chrysler was left with a so-called halo car that looked the part but never quite performed the part. It was almost universally panned by critics as an overpriced parts-bin special, which, I must add, was damningly accurate. As a result, sales were very slow, and within the first few months, dealers were clearancing the car at cut-rate prices, just to keep them from taking up too much of the showroom floor. Why It's Not That Terrible, After All: I can speak from personal experience when discussing the Chrysler Crossfire. You see, I owned one. Well, sort of...

New Forza 6 car pack will let you race the Pontiac Aztek

Just in time for this weekend's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the new Alpinestars Car Pack for Forza Motorsport 6 on the Xbox One lets you slip into the driver's seat of last year's winner. If you want to take something much weirder for a spin, the collection also includes a 2005 Pontiac Aztek. The download is available now for $6.99. The Ford #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Mk XXVI Daytona was in a four-car battle early in last year's race, but it eventually was victorious. Forza Motorsport 6 also challenges drivers who download the car to a new Rivals event around Daytona, and the fastest people could win Alpinestars prizes. If you're nostalgic for a classic Daytona racecar, this pack includes Mercury #15 Whistler Radar Cougar XR-7. The V8-powered beast won the IMSA GTO class in the 24-hour event in 1990. It should be fun around the game's longer road courses like Road Atlanta. This collection also has an eclectic mix of vehicles that aren't racecars. The controversial Aztek and the equally-controversial 1996 Subaru SVX take their places beside a lineup that offers drivers three eras of performance cars – a 1967 Sunbeam Tiger, 1974 Toyota Corolla SR5, and 1992 Alfa Romeo Milano Quadrifoglio Verde. The video below shows all of them in action. Race to the Finish Line with the Alpinestars Car Pack for Forza Motorsport 6 By Xbox Wire Staff posted on January 27, 2016 at 8:00 am With the racing season set to kick into full gear during this weekend's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race, Forza fans now have a chance to get their own taste of endurance racing glory with the Alpinestars Car Pack for Forza Motorsport 6, available on Thursday, Jan. 28. Leading off the pack of seven cars is last year's 24 Hours of Daytona winner, the 2015 Ford #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Mk XXVI Daytona Prototype. The prototype will be fielded in this weekend's race, which begins at 2 p.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 30 and can be viewed live on Fox Sports 1 in the U.S. The Alpinestars Car Pack features six additional cars, each with a unique pedigree all its own. From the 1990 Mercury #15 Whistler Radar Cougar XR-7 – also a competitor in Daytona 24 Hour events of years past – to the inimitable 2005 Pontiac Aztek (famous more for its fictional owner than its performance), this pack has something for every kind of car fan. Forza Motorsport 6 is the only game where players can drive last year's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winner on the recently remodeled Daytona International Speedway.