And speaking of long drives, the Grand Prix comes standard with an eight-speaker Bose sound system, with no less than nine adjustments. It's all that you might expect in sound quality and volume. With selector controls on the steering wheel, and CD and radio data alongside mph in the windshield's head-up display, it's clear that tunes are a high priority among Grand Prix buyers. The self-dimming rearview mirror, part of the option package, is nice. Over-the-shoulder visibility is restricted, however.

There's less head room in the back seat than front, but it feels like more because a passenger's head is aft of the headliner. Two cupholders are contained in a wide shared armrest, which folds down and steals the third seat in the rear, while allowing limited access to the trunk. There's a pocket on the back of the front seats, but no storage in the rear doors, which have a reflector but no light to warn traffic of an open door at night. (The front doors have lights). There's a grab handle over each rear door, but unless your passengers' shoulders are double-jointed, they'll be grabbing the front-seat headrests to exit.

Fresh-air lovers will appreciate the big sunroof and rear windows that open all the way. The steering wheel seems skinny for a performance car, while the gear selector is shaped like a big leather pear. The layout and visibility of the analog gauges is very good, and the head-up digital display of speed in the bottom of the windshield is not a gimmick, it's an excellent technical innovation and a safety feature that hasn't caught on. As for the orange-red instrument lighting, opinions have long been strongly subjective. An information center offers useful data and some gimmicky stuff. Unfortunately, it lacks a compass. The information center indicated a 22.4-mpg average after 820 miles that included quite a few floorboard shots just to feel that supercharger rush. That's good mileage for 240 horsepower, and one virtue of supercharging. The bad news is that 92 octane is required.