design as two of GM's dowdiest midsize cars, the Oldsmobile Achieva and Buick Skylark.

It's amazing how some plastic body cladding and a few hot rod touches, like an air

dam, aluminum wheels and that rear wing, can give the Grand Am such a young and

aggressive personality.

This is clearly a car that GM hopes to sell to young singles and families who aren't

ready to let kids and mounting responsibilities take away all of their fun.

And even though the basic design has been around since 1985, GM is still refining both

the styling and powertrain.

The '96 Grand Am has a slightly cleaner, smoother look thanks to new headlights,

tailights, front and rear bumpers, wheels, spoiler and grille. (Two horizontal vents

have replaced the car's original honeycomb grille.)

The car is safer too, with daytime running lamps and a passenger side air bag joining

the driver's side bag and antilock brakes as standard equipment. A hand brake on the

center console has also replaced the old foot-operated parking brake.

But the big story continues to be under the Grand Am's hood, where the standard

four-cylinder, 16-valve engine continues to be modified and improved.

The original version of this engine was quite powerful for its size, but it also

created a lot of noise and vibration that annoyed many owners.

For '95 the engine was equipped with so-called balance shafts that rotate in the

opposite direction of the engine's crankshaft to damp out most of that vibration, and

the result is a definite improvement.

This year the engine grew quite a bit, from 2.3 liters to 2.4 liters, to make it

smoother and increase torque, or pulling power, at low engine speeds. So, while the

engine produces the same 150 horsepower, it will haul a Grand Am from zero to 60

m.p.h. about a second faster than last year's version.

For $395 more, you can get a 155 h.p. 3.1-liter V6 that has even more muscle at lower

engine speeds, which allows it to work more smoothly with an automatic transmission.

A quick peek at the window sticker shows that the base price for a two-door or

four-door SE model is $13,999, including destination charges. The sportier, more

heavily equipped GT coupe and sedan start at $15,999.

The SE sedan we tested had a package of options that included tilt steering, air

conditioning, cruise control and a few other amenities that boosted the price by

$1630. Other touches, including automatic transmission($795) and power windows

($355), upped the final price to $17,690.