Get into the wet, however, and the Grand Prix takes on a new demeanor. Stomp on the gas pedal without traction control and you're either going to sit and spin until your treads wear down to their aluminum wheels or alternatively get punted right off the road. With traction control engaged though, the GTP at first spins before biting down onto pavement and rocketing forward at an alarming rate. But it's not without commotion. All the way to highway speeds the tires spin, searching for traction and gripping in continual sequence, disconcerting at first. Truly it's not the most seamless traction control I've ever tested, actually a bit crude, but it might just be the most fun.
 |
| The traction control may be crude but without it you won't get very far in the rain or snow. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
Crude might describe the power delivery too. While some sport sedans get compared to Japanese motorbikes, I'd put the Grand Prix in the bullet train category. That choice might have something to do with its simplistic PRDNL321 4-speed automatic gearbox, and therefore might improve with the addition of GM's TAP (Touch Activated Power) shift F1-style steering wheel buttons - not included on my test car. Still, the GTP charges with the ferocity of a rhinoceros, and only slightly more grace. Nevertheless, it gets were it's going quicker than 90 percent of its competitors, and is an absolute blast during the process.
 |
| At first the GTP's handling feels ponderous and awkward compared to a Japanese or European sport sedan, but after getting acclimatized it's actually quite agile. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
It's kind of like on June 11th of this year when NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon stepped out of F1 Championship hopeful Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams/BMW FW25 Formula 1 car and commented, "I really cannot describe the great feeling I had. The corners come up so fast, and the car brakes so well and turns so well, and at the exit of the corners it grabs it up and just goes. It is unreal, like slot car racing." To be fair to NASCAR, JPM was smiling like a kid after a turn in a shifter kart when pulling himself out of Gordon's Chevrolet. He had an awesome time slamming the big, heavy Chevy through the Brickyard's road course, sophistication or not.
The scenario fits perfectly for the Grand Prix's handling. At first it feels ponderous and awkward, but after getting acclimatized it's not that way at all. It manages corners with surprising agility, due to its fully independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering system, and tracks beautifully at high speed.
