Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Pontiac Bonneville
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
I had even heard rumors that the Aurora would come over and replace the Bonny. But THEN I heard rumors that GM is discontinuing the 3.5 Shortstar engine.
I'm so confused! Any clarification would help!
Thanks.
LOL
Ken (counted 5 grays this morning!)
P.S. When I go pick up my Pontiac at the dealer today, I will try to rip off on of those Aztec visors if I can muster the strength in these ancient biceps!
Now perhaps an hour glass to designate decades lived!
Ken
Are you celebrating your B-day behind the wheel of your Bonneville SE on an open stretch of highway and your favorite CD?? (And good company?)
Claudio::: Glad to have a participant from Mexico. I am hispanic myself (Born in Colombia many moons ago)so it is nice to also gain some perspective and insight from fellow GM owners South of the Border...
Do you know any 2000 Impala owners that currently reside in Mexico?
Again, welcome!
Resuming my monthly biz trips to PA next week. Driving the 400 miles from Maine in the Bonneville is something I have been chomping at the bit to do since I picked her up in Jan. Looks like clear sailing weather wise and I'll have the new rear window installed as of today so I'll check out the defroster/radio interference situation - should be fine now. Also got that missing rear seat belt installed - all under warranty.
The dealer called yesterday to say the car needed to stay overnight since he didn't have the window molding - and he offered me a rental car to use - along with apologies. I was impressed! Didn't need the car though - borrowing my mother-in-law's Coupe DeVille for my 100 mile round-trip commute. She has 44K on a blue 88! Needed a good run I'd say!
Take care buddy
Ken
Sorry for the multitude of postings - I'll be quiet and listen now!
Ken
Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards
On another note: a guy in the service department pointed me to a local shop who can reprogram my chip to boost hp, remove the rev and speed limiters, etc. - all for about $350 (CDN!). This shop has a good rep and, in fact, I used to bring my old MX-6 there about 10 years ago. I'll be looking them up 2 be sure.
A few observations about the SSEi market in North & Central New Jersey follow. I have been using the gmbuypower site from Edmunds to find dealers and check inventory.
Black seems to be the most popular color. Silver is second. Not too crazy about those. I think black gets dirty about 5 seconds after you wash it! I haven't seen any reds at all. The dark bronzemist looks interesting (IMHO). My wife is partial to the midnight blue we saw. It was the only one with the 12-cd changer. Maybe I should go for that one for the endless tunes. And they all seem to come with the sunroof. I rarely use the one in the Accord.
One question about pricing: There are two dealers I have seen who have a base price that is $150 above the norm, and the heated seats are $70 more than other dealers are charging (on the sticker). Does anybody have a clue as to why? Are they printing their own stickers and "sticking" it to the customer for an extra $220? I believe the 2 vehicles in question are very recent additions to the dealerships, if that is any clue.
Well, thanks for listening to the rambling.
I say ask your dealership why the discrepancies in list prices for the seats/etc. and then ignore them - go for invoice price.
I also agree on the dark bronzemist - that's the colour I bought and it is a looker (IMHO) - I get lotsa compliments specifically on the colour. Washed and waxed, the colour plays with the light & has an almost "3D" character - I had a similar reaction to pearl '99 Auroras I was looking at before I finally settled on my '00 Bonneville. The bronzemist certainly hides the dirt better than black (crucial in the current "wiper fluid" season) but I will confess that this is one sharp looking car in black - freshly waxed with the chrome wheels. I'll also say that I don't think there's a bad colour for the Bonnie.
Buy that Bonneville!!!! and then come join us. Just promise us that you won't get a light chaser licence plate frame, dark tinted windows and the "BONNEVILLE" windshield emblem. We have an image, you know.
Ken: Does your SE come with keyless remote? I would think that would be a handy feature for you guys with walkers. And we'll be looking out for reports of visor-less Azteks on dealer lots in your area.
I had to take a short trip this a.m. on secondary roads and since had I gassed up only last night (the tank was pretty full), I was able to hit 537 miles (or 863 kms) on the DIC fuel range for a good stretch - then I hit towns & the fuel range sputtered. I guess that kinda makes me "King DIC".
Eagerly waiting to be de-throned, the iceman
You are wearing your green quite nicely!
Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards
I'm in the enviable situation of having three cars for two drivers, not counting my 1970 Camaro. Therefore, the Bonneville is almost never driven when it could get dirty. Also, because I've managed to keep it away from my wife and I'm a fanatic about where I park, after a little more than a year, it literally doesn't have a scratch or nick on it. My philosophy on washing the car is that even though hand washing is usually considered to be the best method, the reality is that anytime anything is wiped across the surface of the paint, you'll wind up with microscopic scratches no matter how careful you are. I go to the touchless washes and even though they're not great on getting road film off, you do avoid the accumulated dulling of the finish. I just chamois the car when I get home and it still looks like it did when we took delivery.
Also, the higher prices for the base and heated seats reflect pricing that went into effect Mar 2, 2001. But when negotiating, I may choose to ignore it.
And when I buy, I promise not to wreck it by adding all those fancy doo-dads!
mfahey1: thanks for the tips on washing. I'll have to check to see if there are any touchless car washes in my neck of the woods.
My question is, who do you trust? How do you get accurate answers? I don't mind so much paying to have the car repaired. If it costs $ 200 to fix and fix correctly, fine, so be it. But had I paid the $ 160 for wires and still had the problems I would be hot to say the least. This hunt and peck solution process with my wallet doesn't appeal to me.
It so happens I am designing a home for the gal who works at the corporate HQ of a local auto dealer enterprise, one dealership of which is a Pontiac dealer. So I can get parts reasonably.
Any thoughts on the idea of new coil packs? Seems to cough and sputter after the engine is warm, or after extended operation f elevated rpms.
Iceman - yes I have the remote and do enjoy it as much as anyone in their ancient forties is still capable of enjoying anything in life!
I have been looking out for a Dark Bronzemist Bonneville but have not yet seen one except in pictures which appear gorgeous. The green that I own is a great color on this car and I have not seen too many others this color. The Maple Red and Black seem to be the colors I've noticed most frequently. In my opinion, white does absolutely nothing for this car.
Yesterday afternoon I drove from my home in south coastal Maine to PA - about 430 miles the way I went. It was a great drive and I had been eagerly anticipating it for weeks. The Bonneville handled great and the ride was smooth, quiet and well mannered. I averaged 30 mpg traveling 75 mph most of the way - exactly what I'd hoped for. It was a very comfortable ride and I found myself deciding to take a little longer route to avoid the major congestion being reported around the various Hudson River crossings - what a shame - having to spend an additional 30 minutes in the Bonneville. Then I missed my exit for Rt 87 south and had to go 15 minutes out of my way to get back on track. YESS!!!
I played with the RDS system and found that program information does not travel the same distance as the actual broadcast signal itself. For example - approaching NYC, I searched for Classical stations and found nothing. I tuned in manually to the powerful classical station WQXR 96.3 and listened for quite a while before the program information appeared on the display. I was wishing I had the steering wheel radio controls - oh well - next car for sure!
Enough for now - have a great day everyone.
Ken
(I almost hate to say that about a car I love, however, the non-functional cupholder is ridiculous)
In my 2000 SLE, I have noticed that if I have my Driving Lights switched on, ALL exterior lights are on continuously regardless of daylight. Is this so for all of you?
This was not the case with the '93 & '97 Bonnies I owned. I am wondering if this is a problem with my Twilight Sentinel feature, or just another "hair-brain" change GM/Pontiac made for some unknown reason. Basically, I like to keep my Driving Lights on whenever I have the headlights on. I like the additional lighting and just think it looks good. However, I don't like driving around with all of the lights on in broad daylight. I know, I shouldn't be so lazy to want to not have to switch off the Driving Lights, BUT...
Let me know if this seems different than any of yours.
ICEMAN - I got my Fuel Range to read up to 549 miles. Just missed that 5 and ½ mark. My goal now is to someday see 600! Also, that was me with the dealer adjusted readout showing "HI MARTY ||||||||"
I think they just didn't know how to handle this, they even questioned whether it could be done at all initially. Apparently it defaults to all "|||||||||'s". When I go in next time, I am going to ask to have it centered and the extra |||||||'s done away with.
Later
And thanks again for the clarification on the driver name - I'll be getting mine cleared up. Stephen: maybe you could just post the name and ph. # of your dealer and Marty and I will pass this info on to our loser dealerships.
Thanks for the RDS update Ken - I haven't used it meself. First off, I listen to CBC (that's the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and they're in every major market in Canada so it's not much of an issue to me (since they're pretty easy to find).
Re. getting colors, I'll have to point you to any site which covers programming fonts and colors in html. It can actually be an eyesore in these kinds of fora, so I try not to use them too much. Still, if you can program html, it's pretty easy to do.
theiceman
One of the reasons I have had 5 Bonnevilles is the steering wheel radio controls. My '88 and '91 even had climate controls on the wheel. It is a fantastic feature I would not want to be without. I now feel the same way about the HUD which I had for the first time in my '97.
Marty - By driving lights do you mean Fog Lamps? I believe that my daytime running lights go out when I turn on my Fog Lamps when it is light out. The orange parking lights and the tail lights also go on. I don't remember what the arrangement was in my '97, but you may be right; you could just have only the Fog Lamps on.
For whatever it's worth, I never put my Fog Lamps on in the daylight. I only use them in rainy, foggy conditions. I really don't think it looks good to have them on when it's nice out.
jashou: yes, let us know - I know that I'm eager to hear about your experience. Considering going that way meself.
re. demise of the Bonneville (post #854): I had also heard that '02 might be the Bonnie's swan song and that '03 might see the Aurora coming over to Pontiac. Pontiac needs (okay, my opinion) a strong flagship and the Grand Prix just isn't going to cut it - without some serious upgrading. The overlap in size/performance with the Grand Prix is undoubtedly limiting the Bonnie's sales and further differention (and refinement) of the product is probably a good idea. The Northstar is an obvious first start but (again, IMHO) this does not require the demise of the Aurora - they could do that now. Cutting the Bonnie loose without a replacement would not spell good things for Pontiac. Hey, if/when the Firebird goes, they'd be left with Sunfire/Grand Am/Grand Prix - hardly builds excitement. (love that GP GTP though...)
theiceman
Mark
I hear you on the traveling vehicle situation - we use our 95 Suburban for the trips and pulling my boat back and forth to camp. The Bonneville is my commuting car ( I drive 100 miles a day back and forth to Mass plus these monthly trips to PA ). It's a pleasure to spend 8 hours behind the wheel of this fine road car.
Have a great day. Next time your coming through Kittery let me know - we could meet and talk Bonneville.
Ken
Consider: last year, Pontiac sold 60,000 Bonnevilles - an improvement over 1999's 45,000 units and a little over double the number of Auroras sold in the same period. Still, since about 60% of the Bonnie's sold were SE's, I suspect that Olds' profits rivalled or bested Pontiac's for their flagship.
Think about the 28,000 Auroras that were sold last year! Just what GM does to make sure that these buyers go over to Buick or Pontiac (doubtful they will move to Chev.) will be interesting to see. Just how this all affects Pontiac's flagship of course interests us Bonnie owners more.
On another subject, I saw my first dark bronzemist SSEi ever today - right behind me on the drive home and it had its fogs on. I thought the fogs on looked pretty cool - might make me rethink my "fogs-off" policy.
Stephen, you're right about the midnight blue - sharp looking colour but I'll have to imagine it on the Bonnie because I have never seen it in this trim, whether on the road or in the showroom. And Ken, I've seen another dark green SE and it is a looker too.
theiceman
I'm trying to get some feedback here since I might consider replacing the seats in my LeSabre one day. The seats are comfortable, but have no lateral support at all. I'm curious how everyone feels about the seats in the Bonnveille since they appear to have a little more support than the LeSabre seats. Also, the Bonneville seats are available in Taupe, which is the same color I have in my car.
Let me know.
- vtech83
Yes, many refer to them as Fog Lamps, I guess I am just use to calling them Driving Lights. I think of Fog Lamps as amber colored lights.
I pretty much leave my Twilight Sentinel alone, set to go off 20-30 seconds after turning the ignition off. I don't want any lights, other than the Daytime Running Light's, on during daylight hours. The problem is that if the Driving/Fog lamp switch is turned on - then all of my exterior lights (headlamps, taillights, etc.) come on as soon as the ignition is turned on, regardless of the amount of ambient light. In my '93 and '97 the exterior lighting only would come on when the dashboard mounted sensor sensed a definite decrease in ambient light (i.e. nighttime, parking garages, shaded areas during twilight, etc.).
Like I said, no big deal, but it is just a little annoyance (for me) that I hadn't experienced in the older model years. Just wondering if this is so for all 2000 models, or maybe a lighting module problem with mine. I haven’t asked my dealer about this (yet).
Later
theiceman
Back in '88, I bought a Mazda 626 (a nice car for its time) off the lot and the only one they had in the colour I wanted had a sunroof. My sole condition for the sale was that they pull out the driver seat, cut 1" out of the chair supports and re-install. It cost me $150 (Cdn - at current exchange rates, that's about $3.75 US - or does it just feel that way?). They made me sign a waiver absolving the dealership of any legal liability in case of accident, blah, blah, blah.... Who cared? They did a great job and the extra inch made that car liveable. I owned it for 4 years and never gave the headroom another thought.
I'm not sure that the Bonneville's driver seat has the kind of support structure that would allow the same modification but it would be worth examining - especially if you love the car. I would think that headroom would be worth the investment more than HID (but that's just me).
Message to Pontiac: there are people over 5'11" in this world! Make a car within decent headroom & the (tall) world will beat a path to your door.
Wonder what Michael Jordan drives. Get me one of those.
Ezrapon: My 2000 SLE has "Pontiac" embossed in the rear bumper. Like yours, "Bonneville" is on the headlight cover but the SLE's badge also contains the word "Bonneville". You don't see too many SLE's on the road up my way and I'm not sure that I've yet seen an '01. I'll keep my eye out for sure. Yeah, and the Aztek loaner that I had last week had a sunroof and still had tons of headroom.
BTW, just noticed that my previous post got contorted by spell check (Either that or I had been drinking) as it should have said "Odd for a car that prides itself on customization". Cut me some slack, okay?
theiceman
SO, guys...is there a PCM out there for our ride that works? Is it available?
Gas mileage averaged 27.5 on the return leg - not as good as the 30 I experienced going south on Sunday - and I always found this to be true on my old Grand Marquis as well - not certain why. No. 1 son says "It's because your travelling up not down!" Maybe he's got a point. LOL
On the way home I saw very few new Bonnevilles - perhaps 3 or 4. One was an SE in the dark Bronzemist with beige leather - VERY NICE!! New Impalas and LeSabres abound and Auroras are easily sighted too - where have all the Bonnies gone??
Wood Dash - wow that's interesting - anyone ever seen one installed? How much is it and where do you get one?
Badging - going to have to check this out on mine. I know there is a Bonneville nameplate at the base of the trunk lid and I think Pontiac embossed into the rear bumper - right I think - will have to notice tonight when I go out to the car.
Headroom - is fine for me at 6'0 and no sunroof. I have wished that the seat would raise higher as in the Impala but that might bring it too close to the ceiling. Will have to sit in a LeSabre sometime and check out that headroom.
Back to work - have a great day all. If you're here in the Northeast - stay dry!!
Ken
I noticed that SLE and SSEi sedans now carry the "Bonneville" name embossed into the left side of the rear bumper last year at the two car shows I attended. These were all 2001 models but I have also seen some 2001's (with window stickers, so I know they were '01's) without this new feature. I think it may have been a late production change after last year's supply of bumpers ran out. I kind of like how the name is not obvious on my 2000 SSEi - it keeps people guessing ("Is that a new Grand Prix?").
On my car all of the exterior lights turn on when the Driving Lights are activated, even when it is light out. I think I can defeat the headlights by turning the headlamp switch to the parking lamp setting (as you can do at night to douse the headlights), so if you really want the driving lights without the headlights, it can be done. There is a Bonnie SE I have seen running around my neighborhood with all of its lights on all the time. I think the driver must have the driving light switch pushed in and not know it - or not care.
The headroom issue doesn't affect me but we have good friends and he is 6'3". When we drive with them, we wind up taking our van because he doesn't have near enough headroom. He has a new Beetle and has more than enough headroom in it.
The rear leg room in this car is minimal for one this size. When I have adults in the back, I have to move my seat forward to allow them enough room. I was in the rear seat of my friend's BMW 740 a couple of weeks ago and could not believe the amount of leg room.
mlm4 is right about the Fog Lamps. If you turn them on with the head lamp switch set on parking lights, the head lamps will turn off. The tail lights will still be on however.