how did you get your beloved Bonneville

[PLAGUE PHANTOM]

Bought my 97 SE for $250. Only had 95,000 on it. It has been a dream owning it and i intend on driving it till it gives in (frame wise)

[Ghosthawk]

My knees turned to jelly the first time I saw the new 2000 Bonne at the Richmond Auto Show, but it was WAY out of my budget. I never stopped oogling the cars over the years. In 2003 I passed my beloved Dodge Intrepid down to my son (since he gave his car to his sister since she had totaled her Ford Probe) and I went shopping for another ride. I had long wanted another Firebird, and since I was empty-nesting I figured it was time.

Lots of test drives proved the 'Birds to be too expensive and too impractical for a daily driver, so I began a hunt for an alternate choice. Once again I looked closely at used Bonnes but they were still pretty pricey even for good used ones at that time. I wound up settling on a 2001 Grand Prix GT, and it proved to be a Pontiac love affair. I kept the GP for six years, which is a record for me, and the first car I ever owned that I completely paid off and still wanted to keep it.

My son and daughter both went through another car each, and when his mini-van croaked I set about trying to help him find some new wheels. In the course of my mentally exploring options, I shopped autotrader for used Bonnevilles, and I found three that were real eye-catchers. A black 2000 SSEi in North Carolina (really high miles) a midnight blue 04 SLE in PA (no heated seats) and a white 04 SLE that was a paltry 40 miles from my house. My next day off I drove down to Carrolton to test drive the car and it was ride filled with conflicted feelings. I knew if I really liked what I saw it meant parting with my loyal GP, and I wasnt sure I could do that. Needless to say the test drive went well and the ride home was all about how I could pull this off. I contacted my son and told I would finally agree to part company with my GP but it was going to cost him $3600, which I felt was more than fair. He agreed without complaint, and the day we bolted his plates on the car and I gave him the keys was like cutting off an arm, the only thing more miserable was the long 40 mile ride in the passenger seat of my old car as he carried me to Carrolton to pick up the Bonne.

Watching him drive away turned more toward feeling like I had done a good thing, and when I drove away from the lot in my SLE it was the beginning of a new romance, like you had finally found the girl you had been dreaming of all these years. She might need some attention here and there, but every time I go outside or I leave work and walk toward her in the parking lot I get that same feeling I had at the car show a decade ago. Its been along time coming, but well worth the wait.

[01BonnnivilleSE]

i am 17 years old and got my 2001 Bonneville se three days b4 my father passed away in november of 2009. pops paid 2500 for her with 170000 miles. i had a 1997 grand prix gt coupe in really rough shape, had to get rid of it once i got my girl. a week after we got rid of it the head gasket blew, so we got lucky lol. but ever since i drove bonnie the first time ive loved her, today she has 187300 on her and still runnin like the beast she is!! all stock for now but i already got the modding bug in me, cant wait for summer bc shes got big things coming her way!

[Speedin Demon77]

I just picked up my Black 2000 SSEi a few weeks back. Everything in my area was overpriced so I expanded my search. I live in Northern Illinois and found my Black Beauty in ohio! One $50 8+ hour train ride and a $40 15min cab ride lol! and I was in ohio buying my new to me pontiac. Dealer of course wasn't totally honest about the condition , but nothing a little tlc didnt fix. Doing the maintanance now with performance mods to follow . I love this car!

[In_da_boondocks]

Summer of 07, I was set on buyin myself a pickup truck. One day, my Mom, sister and I went to a dealership to look at one that I found on the internet. There must have been some issues in the listing because it wasn't there....but they did have an 05 Impala SS. The sales guy told us to take it for a ride, so the 3 of piled inside, me in the driver's seat.
I really liked it, but still wanted a truck so we went home. Fast forward to the end of October, the same dealership had a 03 Silverado that I was interested in. I went and checked it out and loved it. A week later, I was ready to do make a deal on it. But, I was a little curious if they still had the Impala, and they did. So I was talkin to the sales guy and he said they would get em both cleaned up for me to look over. So I went and took em both for a spin and decided that I don't need a truck every day....and...well I guess you can figure out how that ended. Needless to say, I've been really happy with her.

[John Deere Boy]

So I went and took em both for a spin and decided that I don't need a truck every day....and...well I guess you can figure out how that ended.

I really respect that. People that use a truck for commuting and grocery-getting really bug me. Four-door short beds especially.

[00Beast]

So I went and took em both for a spin and decided that I don't need a truck every day....and...well I guess you can figure out how that ended.

I really respect that. People that use a truck for commuting and grocery-getting really bug me. Four-door short beds especially.

Meh, some people want a truck, and if they can afford the gas, tires, insurance, etc. I say more power to them. It's their money, if that's how they want to spend it, so be it.

Most of my buddies in HS had trucks, and other than goofing off crap off-road, they rarely got used as trucks. I got better mileage and was faster than them, so I didn't say anything.

[In_da_boondocks]

So I went and took em both for a spin and decided that I don't need a truck every day....and...well I guess you can figure out how that ended.

I really respect that. People that use a truck for commuting and grocery-getting really bug me. Four-door short beds especially.

Thanks. Another factor was that gas was creepin towards $4.00 a gallon (and it's on its way back now) and 30 mpg looked pretty good.

[John Deere Boy]

The previous owner of my car sold it to me after he bought an extended cab chevy, and i've never seen him haul or tow anything with it. I hope he misses this car every time he sees me go by.

[jonnevilleSSEi]

My '99 Regal has almost 200,000 miles on it and I can feel that it's going to need some "this and that" soon (any time now). I happened to be talking to a friend of mine (who buys and sells used vehicles for a living) about the concerns I had and he mentioned having something I'd "love". I went and saw it and was only 50% enthused at first. It had a few cosmetic things that concerned me and the car needed a little TLC but with 97.5k miles on it (in dealer talk to him that was 95k! ha) I realized it was time to make the switch.

I always liked the sporty aesthetic and performance on Pontiac's and had actually considered Grand Ams before but never thought much about the full size Bonne although I'd certainly given SSEi's more than a glance before. Things which sold me: Sportier handling and ride, heads up display!, Bose, closer to 100k than 200k. Drew (my slick sales guy friend), The Pontiac Bonneville Club (I found some answers to my questions HERE before I made the purchase), the Supercharger (though as much as I like the power, I had and still have concerns about the extra hardware), The cool looking dashboard in red, even the cool looking compass graphic. My Bonne has the comforts of a sedan, but more fun to drive than the Buick. As soon as I got the car I ordered 4 General Altimax HR rubber which improved the handling and ride.

I am now a Bonneville Fan, thank you for asking.

[rm25x]

I was actually on my way down to pick up a 03 silver Grand Am SE 3.4, got half way to the dealership (3 hours away) and they called my cell phone and told me someone just came in and bought it. This was 8 days ago. So started driving around looking at cars, and saw a bonneville in a used car lot. It wasn't in the best of shape (dirt road car) but I liked the styling and new I had to have a Bonneville. So spent the weekend looking on autotrader.com and found mine at a dealership in Ohio. Left at 4am on Monday morning, and was there when they opened the doors. Left with it an hour later and couldn't be happier. I needed something better in gas to replace my Z71 pickup.

[dpnewfie]

Took my Yukon in for its 60k mile service and decided to walk into the showroom to see what was in there and there she was in all her glory. The sales guy offered me $25k for the yukon and I wrote a check for the rest. Well, here we are nearly 7 years later and I'm still lovin' the decision.

[rm25x]

Love that car, 05 GXP will be my next one in a few years, and my 01 will be my winter car.

[ricosuave420]

i hear all of you guys, its just impossble for someone to hate a bonneville, i personally plan on having my bonnie until the day i die

[repinS]

Both of my Bonnevilles have been forum purchases. The 95 SSEi I bought in July 2008 off Peter G - it was actually his winter beater that he rescued and did a bunch of nice paintwork on it. It had to be sold when he bought his G8 GT. He paid $850 for it and sold it to me for $2250 - a nice profit although he definitely got a smoking deal buying it, and then put a lot of time and energy with the body/paintwork to make it look super good.

The 04 GXP came from Erik (bigerik) in December 2010. He had gotten a company car, 2010 Chrysler 300C, and didn't have space or time to keep the GXP around. I managed to score it for $6200 with a few known issues that I'm still working out. It has a one-year-old Northstar rebuild in it and I'm totally loving it!

[ricosuave420]

repinS, didnt the 04 gxp already come with a northstar v8? is the one in your gxp just a swap? are they the same engines is what im trying to ask

[repinS]

Yes, it always did. The original motor had some sort of catastrauphic failure at 120,000km (74k miles) - broken valve spring if I recall correctly - and was completely redone. The body has 145,000km (90k miles) now.

[ricosuave420]

dam, a valve spring, those are a pain, and you never know when they are going to go, and such a tiny little thing can completely muff up your engine

[patriottuba]

I have been through 3 Bonnevilles.

The first one I received the last year of high school. It was a 1997 SE that my now fiances mom gave to me, it had about 180,000 miles on it and when I let go of it it was at 225,000 miles. I loved the car but found another on that was nicer...

Number Two was a 1997 SE with the SLE interior package, which is why i traded up. I found this car one morning on my way to work and instantly fell in love with the leather seats, steering wheel controls, cd player, etc. Unfortunately this vehicle was in an accident on December 26 of last year, and took a little bit of damage, still in the process of fixing her up....


Number Three, my personal favorite, came along mid January; this car was being auctioned on ebay and one of my friends pointed it out to me. This car was in Hagerstown, MD and I live in Huntington, WV, but after one look at the pics, I knew it had to be mine, no matter what the cost. I got the car for a steal and after replacing the lower control arm, the car rides like it is brand new, even with 178,000 miles on the clock.

[sleguy]

My first Bonneville was a 1991 LE that my father bought in 1993 with 30k miles on it. I remember thinking it was a really cool looking car when I was a teenager. I started driving it in 1997 (at 106k miles) while I was in college. In 2003, it started developing a transmission problem. Since it had 186k miles on it, I decided it was time to get rid of it. So I traded it in on my current Bonneville and paid $8100 cash difference on my 99 SLE at a local dealership. Since the 91 was near worthless to me with a transmission problem, I think I got a great deal. I remember the salesman was impressed by how clean the interior was on the 91. We had taken good care of it. The 99 had 53k miles on it when I bought it. 8 years later, I'm up to 148k. The 99 has probably been the best car I've ever owned or driven on a regular basis.

I noticed a recurring theme in this thread of people growing up with Bonnevilles in their family. Interesting...