For decades now the Pontiac brand from General Motors has favored racy cars with sporty styling and muscular powerplants in a collection tagged with legendary nameplates like Bonneville, Grand Am and Grand Prix.

That tilt toward sporty design intensifies this year as Pontiac works up a complete make-over for the mid-size Grand Prix sedan series.

Revamped versions of Grand Prix with 2004 tags are rolling out of a Canadian assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario.

The wide-track Pontiac gets a smooth new shell and a cabin design with fold-flat seatbacks that create surprising space for cargo.

There's no two-door coupe edition with the new design, although a pair of back doors on the sedan blend discreetly into the sleek flanks and merge into a fastback roofline so this new Pontiac looks more like a smooth coupe than simply another oh-hum family sedan.It doesn't act like a conventional sedan, either, thanks to innovative features for a flexible cabin design and the performance posture of a sport-tuned Pontiac.

The original Grand Prix coupe appeared in 1962 bearing the name of motorsport's ultimate series of open-wheel formula races, the Grand Prix -- or grand prize. At the end of the Sixties, Pontiac's car packed a huge V8 engine pumping out 390 hp.

Downsizing came during the 1970s, while a wedge-shaped design emerged in the 1980s, as well as NASCAR racer versions as driven to the winner's circle by Richard Petty. By 1988 Grand Prix was reworked into front-wheel-drive (FWD) coupe as well as a four-door sedan.

More aerodynamic designs followed in the 1990s -- including the last re-do as a 1997 edition with the shapely figure of a curvy Coke bottle -- and NASCAR victories also continued, such as topping the Driver's Championship Winston Cup series in 2000.

Yet the make-over for Grand Prix as a 2004 model goes further than previous generations and transforms this car into a stylish and fun-to-drive vehicle that's also practical and easy to use.

The Grand Prix of 2004 continues to use GM's G-body platform and retains the FWD format with a 110.5-inch wheelbase. However, the structure and components are new, including updated powertrains and more safety features.

Check the face and find a curvaceous low fascia with wide mouth and round foglamps set below bold corner headlamp clusters flanking the dual-port mesh grille.

A curvy long hood has a pronounced powerdome design, but flanks look smooth in the absence of any superfluous plastic body cladding that decorated previous editions.

A wedge-shaped profile is still apparent, although it seems downright slinky due to the smooth line of a fastback tapering down to the curt tail fitted with a subtle spoiler. (CONTINUE...)