Parents came to town, and I didn't get the SC's tranny seals done in time so I had to go with a rental (There are some things for which F-bodies are pretty useless). I wanted the 300 again, but was told they had a few Magnums, and getting one would be no problem. Naturally, Alamo with their no guarantee policy didn't have one when I got there 20 minutes later. Choice came down to a row of Buicks, and the lone Bonneville. Guess what I took.


The Bonneville is an old person's car disguised as a good modern car.

First of all, it's a dog. Unlike the Impala, the 3800 V6 in this car just simply is irritating! You have to floor it to pass California speed traffic. The transmission is horrible. In "D", the overdrive kept on shifting back and forth and got so frustrating I drove with the car in "3rd" on the freeway.

Driving down to Monterey at night, a driver drifted into my lane and slowed down quickly (the light traffic was moving around 75) even though no one was in front of him. I swerved around him, and if anyone else was behind the wheel, I think we would have spun out! The ride is oversprung and soft & the tires have little grip on dry pavement.

Finally, there is a delay between pressing the pedal & the engine responding. I had to get used to flooring the pedal 3 seconds before I expected to need it.


On the plus side, the Bonneville is very quiet & very smooth, it has a very large trunk, and the seats took less adjusting to get comfortable than the 300 I rented last year. But the Bonneville's interior reminds me of my '97 Camaro. It has that plastic, snap together, toddler safe feel.



Overall, the soon to be discontinued Bonneville is lousy if anything is asked of it other than moving along in a straight line at low to modest speed. But even that is iffy. The Bonneville is a "road wanderer". Making constant road corrections is all part of the game.


To date, the car I've liked the absolute least was the Nissan Maxima. It had great fit & finish in the interior, was a fun and very quick car in the city and on short jaunts. But that car felt downright dangerous over 80mph, it couldn't take a corner worth doo-doo, and the whole Japaneese car thing seemed over rated after driving the Maxima. But now, the Bonneville holds that title. It drives completely different than the Grand Prix GT (another car I've rented before) and even the Impala feels better overall.

And that is, IMHO, why the Bonneville is such a slug in sales. It has sharp good looks that would appeal to people like me that might have a family, but still wants a sporty sedan.

Though the Bonneville most certainly LOOKS the part, it drives the way you'd expect a Buick to drive. It's looks say "excitement", but it's driving feel says "retirement".

People who'd like the way the Bonne rides are put off by it's styling and it's futuristic buttons-everywhere interior controls. The people who'd like the way the Bonneville looks and would tolerate it's interior are put off by it's dismal road manners.

I've never said this about a car I've driven before, but it's a good thing this car is going away. It has zilch to do with excitement beyond it's exterior.

I hope in it's replacement, Pontiac actually decides what it wants the car to be.

 

thanks for the review guy
i always thought they were sharp but now i'm tempted to actually drive one sometime, just to experience the drivetrain issues you mentioned (and suspension, etc.)
or maybe i shouldn't after looking back at your post again....

 

i take it wasn't a GXP then.

 

Yeah...I wonder if a GXP is any better. I remember just outta high school, I had a job washing cars for Avis. We got the Bonneville in, and it was the first year of the new generation. Everyone looked at it, and went on about how great it is. I dont remember the interior being that offensive at the time. It's crazy how time changes your veiw of things though.

Thing that makes me the maddest, is GM seems to have no issue tossing away once great names because they ruined them with 30 years of ****ty product. The Bonneville name should stay...I don't want a G7, or G8, or G10...just has no personality.


For the record...I also think Cadillac's tag line should also be changed back to "The Standard of the World"...very powerful, and just what Caddy needs.

 

Not much better.

 

Curious as to what model you rented ? I really have been temped to trade my 97 Bonneville SSE for a 02-03 SSEi or a cladless 04 SLE . I dunno though , the interior has kept me from already making a trade . The newer Bonnie's are such a good looking car on the outside , especially with the 18" GXP wheels . Its just the interior and now your review that will prolly keep me lookin elswhere .

 

the cadillac V8 makes a huge difference

 

 

Even the SLE is much better in my experience. My dad had 2 Bonnevilles in sucession - an SLE and a base model. The SLE handled very well- better than my GTP actually. Very surefooted. It wasn't fast - 200 hp after all - but it wasn't slow either.
After his time was up on the SLE, my dad had to pick a new car. His comany had cheapened up the options, so only the SE was available. Still, because our experience with the SLE was so good, we went for the base model. How much different could it be? As we found out, the base is ALOT different. Its a LeSabre with tacky cheap Pontiac cladding on it. It wallows all over the road. The steering is light and totally numb. Its even slower in the straight line. The interior, which seemed very sporty and driver oriented when loaded with leather and a sunrood, felt like total crap in base trim.
Pontiac should have canceled the SE Bonneville, and made the SLE as the "base" and kept the GXP as top dog. In the last year, the GXP was accounting for a significant amount of the car's sales.

 

I own a 2001 bonneville as a winter car and it is terrible. It's very slow but you would expect that. But the car has several problems first off there is so much body roll that anytime you take any kind of quick turn the tires are sqealing, granted its an old mans car it shouldn't be quite that bad its nothing like either of the 2 other 3800 series vehicals we've had. The biggest complaint I would have though with it is you have to use your brake CONSTANTLY, it becomes incredibly anoying. The car simply does not slow down at all on its own. I believe read somewhere that gm did that to increase gas mileage. Other then that though it's a very comfortable car, sometimes it can feel more like floating on a cloud then driveing.

 

Is your car a base SE or SLE ?

 

Guy,

Sounds like your biggest beef was with the engine... I would have to agree that in the bigger Bonnie, the standard 3800 is lacking, since it has more work to do with the bigger car.

When I was shopping for my Monte Carlo SS back in 2002, I test drove a 2002 Bonneville SSEi, and found the power to be more than adequate. Also, the handling was much tighter as well, as you know the sportier versions of these cars are "tightened up" suspension wise...

 

3800 was great in my 99 Grand Prix, but that was also a lighter car.

your review make me worry about the 3800 in the new Buick Lucerne. THat car should have received a HF 3.6L for a base engine.

 

I'm glad that you give good upcoming product information, guion, because this review is hogwash. All I can gather from your expirience is that you had a beaten Bonne rental.

Being that I have driven around 30, to be conservative, Bonnies (ranging from SE's to GXP's) I truely am suprised to see this come from you. Especially the road correction parts. You will find that Bonnies are not this way if you drive a decent (not beat) one.

Power wise, true that it may not have a top end surge like you may have wanted, but down low to around 70 is where the 3800 has it's specialty in the full size models.

I think it is you who has not decided what the Bonnie is. The SE is intended to be a soft full size Pontiac, targeting the customers who want traditional luxury (think Buick) but wrapped in Pontiac skin. If you wanted to go fast and have the cornering speed too, get the GXP which gives you an entirely different expirience all together.

End rant.

 

That was your first mistake. I never accept a Pontiac (Buicks and Caddys are better rentals) and I always get bumped up a category (or two) at the rental counter - then I typically upgrade another category.




1. The tired old NA 3800 V6 is totally overwhelmed by the weight of a G-body car. I can't imagine why GM is choosing to burden base models of the"new" Lucerne with this the engine. Whoops! I forgot that lots of those 3800 V6 Lucernes will be going into the rental fleets.

2. I noticed the same sort of strange double shifting (shift up? shift down?) behavior in a Park Ave. It didn't bother me that much, but it was perplexing.