New here.... looking to pick a Bonneville up!

[rightfullrudder]

Hey everyone, my name's Ben and I just turned 17 pretty recently. I'm really very interested in getting a Bonneville, though the circumstances by which I need a new car do kinda suck. I originally drove this:



1979 Lincoln Continental Town Coupe. It runs like crap though and I picked up a 2001 Audi A6 2.7 twin turbo. I'm not gonna lie, though maintenance was a huge pain it was practically the best car ever. My idiot friend hit it with his huge Dodge Ram and it was totaled. Now I'm back to square one, driving the Linc around in the South with no A/C and boiling while I look for a decent low-ish mileage SSEi.

Speaking of which -- any advice regarding acceptable mileage for a 2000-2003 SSEi? The A6 had 118k and, though cosmetically great, was kind of a basket case. I know the 3800 can last a very long time, but I'm not sure if a car with 120k would be a reliable daily driver.

Thanks for all your help and I hope to learn (and contribute what I can) a bunch!

[00Beast]

I have 173k on my 03 SSEi and have only done a transmission as major work. If you found a nice SSEi with those miles that checks out mechanically, I'd hit it. 03 has an upgraded interior (to most) and has XM satellite radio, and a few other things. 02 and 03 have the better cupholders, which seems to be a major selling point, lol. The 00-01 cupholders are designed for 2 cans and just suck.

[rightfullrudder]

I have 173k on my 03 SSEi and have only done a transmission as major work. If you found a nice SSEi with those miles that checks out mechanically, I'd hit it. 03 has an upgraded interior (to most) and has XM satellite radio, and a few other things. 02 and 03 have the better cupholders, which seems to be a major selling point, lol. The 00-01 cupholders are designed for 2 cans and just suck.

All right, thanks. BTW, when did the Bonnevilles get side airbags? I simply can't get a car without them because my mom was in an accident and is under the impression that her side airbag saved her life.

The Town Coupe has zero cupholders..... A6 had four of them but they were those stupid fancy pop-out kind.... one of them failed and a (thankfully closed) bottle of Coke hit me in the nose when I made a sharp turn.

[wake]

.... one of them failed and a (thankfully closed) bottle of Coke hit me in the nose when I made a sharp turn.

OUCH!

Welcome to the club!

[99BonnevilleSE]

Welcome! A lot of younger members lately, I'm 17 also and I love my Bonneville. The only complaint I ever have is gas milage compared to my friends much smaller cars. Like I said I'm also 17, so I drive accordingly and that probably doesn't help... But compared to what you have now, it'll be a dream in that department I'm sure. Not gonna lie, I would not mind crusing that Continental around. It looks pretty clean, and must attract some attention.

[00Beast]

All 00+ SSEi's will have side airbags. It does sound like your mom is a bit paranoid though...

[99BonnevilleSE]

All 00+ SSEi's will have side airbags. It does sound like your mom is a bit paranoid though...

In all honesty. I can't disagree. Side airbags save lives. I've seen it a bunch of times. But out of all the things I've seen during my Dad's towing job so far, it's bigger cars are safer. Big cars with side airbags are and absolute +.

[1oldman]

Welcome!!! Nice car! As to your question about a '00 to '03 Bonneville, I'm going to let those that own them answer your questions. - BC

[rightfullrudder]

Welcome! A lot of younger members lately, I'm 17 also and I love my Bonneville. The only complaint I ever have is gas milage compared to my friends much smaller cars. Like I said I'm also 17, so I drive accordingly and that probably doesn't help... But compared to what you have now, it'll be a dream in that department I'm sure. Not gonna lie, I would not mind crusing that Continental around. It looks pretty clean, and must attract some attention.

What sort of mileage do you get? All I know is it's better than the Lincoln, which gets 9mpg in mixed driving and requires premium fuel. It is pretty fun to cruise in but it just is not cut out to be a daily driver. More like driving out into the country on a Sunday sort of car.

All 00+ SSEi's will have side airbags. It does sound like your mom is a bit paranoid though...

Oh good. Yeah she is... I mean, my Lincoln has no airbags whatsoever. I guess I can understand her concern but, if you think about it, most people who own pre-2000ish cars or have driven them seem to still be alive.

[02ssei]

Welcome to the site.

First off, I like the lincoln. Not usually fond of them but that one catches my attention for some reason.

Second, the mileage i'm getting on my 02 is between 24-28mpg. I can hit 30 when i drive back and forth to work, 45 miles one trip.

(honestly i did not know the 00's came with side airbags.)

EDIT:Look someone using electronics while pumping gas. lol.. sorry, i had to.

[99BonnevilleSE]

Welcome! A lot of younger members lately, I'm 17 also and I love my Bonneville. The only complaint I ever have is gas milage compared to my friends much smaller cars. Like I said I'm also 17, so I drive accordingly and that probably doesn't help... But compared to what you have now, it'll be a dream in that department I'm sure. Not gonna lie, I would not mind crusing that Continental around. It looks pretty clean, and must attract some attention.

What sort of mileage do you get? All I know is it's better than the Lincoln, which gets 9mpg in mixed driving and requires premium fuel. It is pretty fun to cruise in but it just is not cut out to be a daily driver. More like driving out into the country on a Sunday sort of car.

All 00+ SSEi's will have side airbags. It does sound like your mom is a bit paranoid though...

Oh good. Yeah she is... I mean, my Lincoln has no airbags whatsoever. I guess I can understand her concern but, if you think about it, most people who own pre-2000ish cars or have driven them seem to still be alive.

Hmm.. Mileage on my N/A Bonnie can be great when I'm not stepping it on it. If I drive normally in mostly city driving I can pull off almost 25mpg. If I step on it leaving school and other times I like to be heavy on the throttle well numbers can drop as low as 13's. As for safety, these our some of the safest cars ever made. Ask 00 Beast, he's seen this first hand. If I ind the youtube video showing it, I'll add it in.


Edit: Here it is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dP9dllIICc

[00Beast]

An SSEi will also require premium, but it should get around 20 MPG.

The side airbags are in the seats, they're not side curtains.

[99BonnevilleSE]

An SSEi will also require premium, but it should get around 20 MPG.

The side airbags are in the seats, they're not side curtains.

Yepp. The side curtains weren't available till later model H-Bodies unfourtenetly.

[rightfullrudder]

Welcome to the site.

First off, I like the lincoln. Not usually fond of them but that one catches my attention for some reason.

Second, the mileage i'm getting on my 02 is between 24-28mpg. I can hit 30 when i drive back and forth to work, 45 miles one trip.

(honestly i did not know the 00's came with side airbags.)

EDIT:Look someone using electronics while pumping gas. lol.. sorry, i had to.

That's not bad at all though I assume it's highway mileage.

(I had no idea you weren't supposed to do that, but I was standing pretty far away from the gas pump. I also didn't explode so I think I'm fine.)

It's REALLY hard to find nice SSEi's here. Here's one I was looking at: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/2377605530.html I'm not a fan of the gold colors on these cars though....

[99BonnevilleSE]

That looks pretty good from what I see and read. 100k is like a starting point for these engines. lol. When shopping look for all the normal stuff when purchasing a used car. A musty smell and failed electronics, stuff like that. A few 2000+ Bonneville specific stuff would be rust around the gas door due to poor design. And hood herpes (chipping paint on the hood I believe.) I'm sure there's some others that somebody who actually has a 2k+ Bonneville will chime in with. But those are the majors I've seen so far. Oh, and when test driving make sure the trans feels good, shifts well, etc.

[rightfullrudder]

That looks pretty good from what I see and read. 100k is like a starting point for these engines. lol. When shopping look for all the normal stuff when purchasing a used car. A musty smell and failed electronics, stuff like that. A few 2000+ Bonneville specific stuff would be rust around the gas door due to poor design. And hood herpes (chipping paint on the hood I believe.) I'm sure there's some others that somebody who actually has a 2k+ Bonneville will chime in with. But those are the majors I've seen so far. Oh, and when test driving make sure the trans feels good, shifts well, etc.

right, from what I've seen it seems like the trans is the Achilles heel on these cars. Rust is thankfully less of a problem here; some of the flips haro has done have had awful rust which you just don't see here in the South.

General sketchiness is what I try to avoid.

[Jrs3800]

Welcome to the forum...

99BonnevilleSE

13 is horrible... You should do better than that beating on it... I drive hard and still have not averaged less than 20... My average now is 22... This includes multiple 6000 Rpms shifts and shall we say speeding down the freeway... Worst I have done in town is 18 on the 95 Bonneville... The van was as bad as 16 but that was due to a tune that was way too rich... Right not its averaging 20 mostly through town, speeds from 25 to 60....

Only time I ever managed 13 in town was with a lazy O2, happened to both the van and the 95 Bonneville... The 03 has yet to do less than 21 in town...lol

Back in the day with the original( well Vin L Motor anyway ) the van managed 28 Mpg with the cruise set at 80 Mph... with the current motor in the van modded, the Ultra gauge shows me doing 30 Mpg at 70 Mph...

The 95 Bonneville always managed 29-32( still does )

The 03 managed 27-31( still does )...

[2003SSEi]

My 2003 SSEi computer average reads 21.4mpg and it keeps trending upward. I drive 32 miles round trip to work. Combination State Road and city loop.

[99BonnevilleSE]

Welcome to the forum...

99BonnevilleSE

13 is horrible... You should do better than that beating on it... I drive hard and still have not averaged less than 20... My average now is 22... This includes multiple 6000 Rpms shifts and shall we say speeding down the freeway... Worst I have done in town is 18 on the 95 Bonneville... The van was as bad as 16 but that was due to a tune that was way too rich... Right not its averaging 20 mostly through town, speeds from 25 to 60....

Only time I ever managed 13 in town was with a lazy O2, happened to both the van and the 95 Bonneville... The 03 has yet to do less than 21 in town...lol

Back in the day with the original( well Vin L Motor anyway ) the van managed 28 Mpg with the cruise set at 80 Mph... with the current motor in the van modded, the Ultra gauge shows me doing 30 Mpg at 70 Mph...

The 95 Bonneville always managed 29-32( still does )

The 03 managed 27-31( still does )...

Really? Wow, I don't know then. But that's also with me shifting through the gears manually and such. Driving really hard. And competitive driving to it's max. During those late night games of fox hunt

[human]

If you're looking for lower total cost of ownership, I'd avoid the SSEi and GXP trim levels. The supercharged 3800 in the SSEi and the Northstar V8 in the GXP both require premium gas and are a bit thirstier than the naturally aspirated 3800, which takes regular.

I've never owned a car with a supercharged 3800, so I can't speak firsthand to issues of reliability or cost of repairs; however, I've owned two Northstars, an Olds Aurora and a Cadillac Deville, and I can tell you that while they're generally reliable, they're much more expensive to repair when things do go wrong. The reason I now have my Bonneville is that my Caddy sprung a major oil leak and it was much cheaper to buy the Bonneville than to fix the Caddy.

Another similar car you might want to consider is a 2001-2003 model Olds Aurora. They're well equipped and came with either a 4.0L V8 or a 3.5L V6, both based on Cadillac's 4.6L Northstar engine. Both are pretty good on gas, but the 3.5, which is more common, gets a little better MPG and it takes regular.