2000 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi | Retro Review
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2022
- The Bonneville SSEi still looks soooo mean and beautiful at the same time. The world needs more Pontiac and less Buick.
Show 1905 | Original Airdate 10-06-1999
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Am i the only one who feels relaxed,and like I'm meeting a old friend again, everytime the intro to this show comes on?.....☺️
I'm with you. Yes, it's a very pleasant intro that feels like home. 🚗🏡
Shades of Mr. Rogers.
The Bonneville was a really good looking car. A long rich history of Pontiac Bonnevilles. It's a shame the brand is gone.
I hear you brother.
And Oldsmobile
@@tmklunk for real
It was a piece of shit. Poor reliability, low MPG, horrible resell value, and almost everything that can go wrong went wrong
@@AL-SH True, our 2001 Grand Prix had nothing but endless issues none stop and it started to fall apart only after 5 years of owning it however the old school Pontiacs of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s were very well made, very beautiful, and extremely high resale value.
Oh no, these retro reviews are getting dangerously close to the age of my current vehicle (2002)
2004 lexus for me lol. 201k miles and rolling good still.
@@REDVETTExxx I have a mk1 toyota avensis(a UK only car) and it's going to hit 100,000 miles this year I think! Got to love that reliability
02 rav4, 270,000 miles.
@@robertraft Our cars share an engine family, I have the 1az-fse 2.0 vvti, and I know that 2az-fe and 2az-fse engines were fitted to the Rav-4
@@joannaatkins822 i have the 2.0 vtii, good call.
Actually better looking than what GM has on the roads today
So much better!
You mean you don't think the Chevy Bolt is an attractive car?
Eh the current impala looks nicer in my opinion
So good looking that it got discontinued .
@@mannybananas1322 GM had to eliminate some of their car divisions to be able to qualify for the government assistance and loans - Sadly Pontiac was one of several that was eliminated as Buick had been selling better in the growing China market.
What a great looking car inside and out. If they still sold Pontiacs I’d be first in line to buy one.
Yup one of the few cars that look good from every angle.
lol if everyone who said this actually meant it they'd never have gone out in the first place
@@hellbound64 I was not old enough to buy any Pontiac new 🤷♂️
@@benjochs fair it’s too bad they really went downhill in the later years, only good cars they had were essentially rebadged Holdens
I saw a guy I knew at a pontiac dealership in the early 200's. He was there to buy a grand am. I told him I was there to get mine fixed again and that he should run out the door. The next time I saw him was when I was back at the dealership for another problem...and so was he.
What a nice car, styling that still holds up 20 years later. It was sporty, luxurious, loaded with tech features, and affordable. Why can't cars today be more like this?
I don't get why every car doesn't have HUD, in particular now when you can tie it into navigation. I've had it on a couple of BMW's I've owned and it's amazing, you never need to take your eyes off the road. It's such great safety feature, but it's also just really cool to be on the interstate, and have the car, on the windshield, showing you what lane you need to be in to hit an exit ramp.
I agree with both comments, that Pontiac and Pontiac in general was sporty, luxurious, needed tech and relatively affordable, why can't todays cars be more like that? so true.
And why isn't HUD widespread in 2022 already? so true too.
@@KenanTurkiye I have to agree with you brother
I think Pontiac today would be giving Dodge a run for their money in the horsepower department
@@conceptc4105 Yep you got it and the LS or LT based engines would probably be the sane displacement as the old school Pontiac V8s.
Take me back to the 90s and leave me at 2000 I miss that decade like a sweet dream
I've never been a GM fan, but this generation of the Bonneville was top-tier.
Agreed. It wasn't all that well-received back in 2000 from what I recall but I remember these looking really cool and futuristic through 16 year old eyes. Still like how it looks today even as an old hooptie.
I was a rental fleet manager when this car came out. 3 of 5 of our first bonnies had terrible interior fit with A-pillar trim either warped or falling off together. Also lost interior volume vs. the previous version. Can't say this was a bright spot.
@@bigsprinter These were typical GM junk of the era even brand new. Nice to look at (in my opinion) but generally not screwed together very well and filled with ultra cheap materials. Even the drivetrains weren't that great since the 3800 V6's were known to need intake manifold gaskets which caught lots of owners off guard by contaminating the oil with coolant and ruining the motors, and the transmissions in these and other G-bodies tended to be relatively weak as well with little tolerance for excessive heat build-up, although typically not expensive to rebuild, but these had such horrible resale value that they tended to not be worth investing much money into regardless.
@ Idgaf
You’re really reaching. GM interior fit and finishes were not that great and you could expect most convenience features to fail and GM brakes have never been good.
But the drivetrains was solid. A few intake gaskets? Please. Everyone still fawns over Subarus of this era that were eating head gaskets like no tomorrow. Lots of 3800s still on the road in tons of Impalas, Regals, Grand Prixs, Park Avenues, Le Sabres, etc etc. You want a dirt cheap car that will last forever, you buy one with a 3800 in it.
@@calvinnickel9995 No you're really reaching if you think you can minimize the intake manifold gasket debacle of the Series II 3800's. A shit ton of those engines died an early death because of them, not just "a few". I wrench on my own machines so for me it wouldn't have been a major issue, but for the 85% of drivers who hardly pop their own hood those cheap gaskets were a death sentence and likely added to GM's negative opinions for alot of consumers. You want a dirt cheap car that will last forever without having to replace shitty defective components just to make it reliable first, then you buy a damn Toyota. Now if we were talking about the Series III 3800's which didn't use the same crappy parts then that would be different, but you can't tell me shit about the over-hyped Series II's, they were only reliable if someone spent time/money/labor TO MAKE them reliable, they didn't come that way from the factory.
I bought my first SE in 2001 and am on my third Bonneville (SLE) now. Big comfy cars with plenty of power. I've taken 1000 mile road trips in them, get 28-30 mpg, and never get tired or cramped. The 3800 is bulletproof and easy to maintain. Plus the style still doesn't look that dated and still looks aggressive
Amazing and I completely agree. True road presence!!
How has reliability been other than the motor? I’ve read that this Bonneville had issues with it and various electrical problems
I always thought these last generation Bonnevilles were the best looking sedans of all time and I still feel that way today. Get a load of all the forward thinking features! They were 20 years ahead of their time!
I bought a new '95 Pontiac, Bonneville SSEI, that was one excellent automobile! Of course, that was when GM still sold cars, and Pontiac still existed. If I see one more damned SUV, I'll go mad! RIP traditional American vehicles.
I had a 2002 SLE. Best car I ever owned. Miss it dearly. I got t-boned, or I’d still have it. These are beautiful, pure luxury cars. They don’t make them like this anymore. Such a tragedy that Pontiac is gone.
I hear you brother, we had a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GT sedan and man that car felt very sporty for a FWD Sedan.
Wow I didn't recall this car looking that good maybe it's the combo of black paint and chrome rims. Every angle of that car looks great. This car has aged well!
I worked for GM dealers (Technician,then Service Manager) from 1972 to 2018. I will tell you,we were all in shock when GM closed Pontiac. It seems whenever there was something great,they shut it down. Lord !
@@charliechristie2949 I hear you brother.
@@CJColvin There's more. A friend of mine was the owner ( In G.M. lingo he is the Dealer Principal) of a large Pontiac / GMC store. G.M. did not tell him his Pontiac franchise was about to be lifted. He heard it on the radio like the rest of us. General Motors is ruthless. Take that from a lifetime G.M. guy.
Being a through and through ford guy, i always appreciated these cars. They look great, they were built well, and fun to drive.
The Bonneville provided a modicum of power, but long distance cruising with the cruise control set was where this car was in its element.
6
Thank you for saying that ! Let's just keep this car a secret for performance tuners!!!
@@wannabeetiger why?? Like people don't know about the Bonneville??? Gimme a break
@@jdubskiwright2380It has candy under the skirt. That supercharged 3800 v6 is a beast tuned. 💪Some younger people under 25 years old don't know about this!!!
@@wannabeetiger yea it depends really lot of these youngsters are into the hemi garbage and if it doesn't make 700hp or more stock they think its slow.. they don't know what it was like 25 years ago with true manual trans and cars without babysitters galore.
I miss the Pontiac brand. Who else?
I definitely do
I do and Oldsmobile.
Not me. My wife drove a Pontiac while we were dating. It was a turd.
I miss Oldsmobile, Pontiac a little less.
I had a 2000 Bonneville SE, in black, brand new. It was nice, comfortable, and moved pretty fast. The transmission crapped out a year after the warranty ran out (in 2006). I rebuilt the transmission for $2800, I didn't want another car payment. I gave it to charity after I needed a head gasket in 2013 so they could sell it for parts.
I'm surprised at the nearly 8 sec 0-60 time. When I was in high school and into college, my parents had a supercharged 3800 Buick Riviera (same power output and I figure similar overall weight). That thing felt so fast at the time. Some of that was certainly the seat of the pants feel from the prodigious torque of the supercharged engine. Our car developed a traction control fault, so it became a tire smoke machine, lol.
Those supercharged Rivieras were monsters. Severely underappreciated at the time.
THEY WERE SLEEPERS 4SURE, MINE MAKES 400WHP AND ITS STILL SLEEPING😴😎‼️
That does seem slow. I wonder if the weather was super hot or something. My friend and I took his 96 SSEi to the 1/4 mile track for fun a few times. It was pretty consistent around 15 flat. Or maybe this newer model was that much heavier?
@@matthewwolfe4509 probably the weight, the regals 3800s ran 14.7 1/4 mile from factory
My father had a Grand Prix GTP with the supercharged V6. That was a very fast car for its time and would still be quick even today I would think.
This car struck the strongest chord with me. I've always wanted one. I love how it looks inside and out. I want it with a 5.3😍
P.S. Today's Pontiacs would look amazing as the industry seems to be trying to replicate Pontiacs overtysled approach.
That 4-speed held the Bonneville, and many of it's supercharged siblings back so damn much. Thing was overstressed by the power and its gearing was closer to "diesel locomotive" than "performance luxury car." Good ol' GM making a surprisingly capable chassis and engine and then flopping on the powertrain. A real damn shame, too. Even with its setbacks I remember flooring a Park Avenue Super some time ago and you could tell if it wanted to _move._ But 4T65E said "no, I must stay in first to 60"
I agree it was a slouch
AGREED. Slip a modern day 8 or 10 speed tranny in these and it would perform much better. It would knock a good half sec or more off the 0-60. This is why modern automatics are faster than anyone can shift in a manual car.
Is there a way to put an 8 speed trans in this car?
@@StevenBe9799 It may have to be modified for fwd application.
@@Lucille69caddysure, and a $5-8,000 rebuild cost.
Pontiac had some cool cars back then like The Grand Prix, The Bonneville, The Sunfire, The Firebird/ Trans Am, The Grand Am, The Wave/ G3( hey I liked it) and The Solstice. Too bad the brand is gone, GM needs to bring Pontiac back.
I purchased a 2005 SLE this year, with 150k miles on it. I was 14 when the 2004 GXP came out, and I fell in love with the smoother bumpers and ribless update for the GXP and final model year 2005. I’m 32 now, and I needed a cash car, and saw how Car Wizard was recommending the 3800 V6 - I instantly persuaded myself to wax nostalgia and pull the trigger on a Bonne - and I love it! Big, comfortable car, surprisingly ‘sporty’ and easy to fix when the problems come.
If the money is right, its a great alternative to boring modern cars. Less complex drivetrains, comfortable seats and relatively modern amenities, plus they've already hit the bottom of the appreciation curve, you're not losing money by owning something from that vintage.
Goals
Those tail lights are worth a surprising amount of money on Ebay, guess since they were a 2-year-only design (04-05)
Wow, you got a 2005 with 150k? What did you pay for it? $300 or did the owner hold out for $340?
@@rodmunch69 I actually overpaid quite a bit, but hopefully she holds up. Sure still looks new.
Back in the mid 2000s, I remember drag racing a Bonneville like this on Perimeter Highway in Winnipeg MB. I was driving my silver 1985 Pontiac Fiero 2M4 automatic. Needless to say, I lost.
Finally, an episode devoted to the last generation of the Pontiac Bonneville... thank you MotorWeek!! 😊
I had a 2003 SLE that felt faster than it really was, and actually did 33 MPG on its longest road trip. In fact, I still miss that car, and would love to get another one... especially when it had every option except the supercharger and the heads-up display.
Unfortunately these cars along with most other Pontiacs got absolutely dogged and tore up beyond repair and just sent to the junkyard
All of the 3800 cars from this time were amazing long range cruisers. These and the La Sabre/park Ave were pinnacle. I would also love to have a full-size Gm 3800 car again.
@@jdubskiwright2380 Alas, this. Rust belt cars were reclaimed by the earth, Desert Southwest cars were faded into oblivion, and Southern cars driven into the ground. You might find a "retiree" car in Florida.
@@jdubskiwright2380 search bring a trailer or cars and bids you do occasionally see these come up for auction with low miles and one owner, however though they usually won't be giving them away but if you want one in nice shape that's the best place to look. Otherwise yes most of these were handed down to the teenager or college kid after the parents bought something new and hot roddded or not taken care of very well and sold for scrap once they were done with it. If i could find any Pontiac from this era I would like to find a 2 door grand prix with the supercharged engine
@@jhomrich89 yea good luck with your search any of them with the supercharger really got dogged out and usually people don't know how to take care of them..and of course the transmission was the weak link and they always crap out around or before 100k especially when driven hard. Gm really failed on that powertrain design they should have built the trans to handle the power not used the same trans tht went behind the 3.1 v6
That 3800 V6 one of the best engines gm made and produced
I agree, that's y I had no doubt in my engine when I made 400whp🤟
Put it in a Fiero and it’s a match made in heaven!
@@raz_nick4048 yeah that FIERO was much lighter. My Regal is like 3800lbs
I wish GM had kept updating it with new technologies, such as variable valve timing and direct injection. I’d take something with a 3800 over a 3.6 any day.
I had an older neighbor as a kid that bought one of these brand new. He drove it very slowly, and I remember thinking it was pretty cool.
Always loved Pontiac. Wish they were still around
I recently sold a 2002 SSEi that was my daily driver when I commuted. Great car! Comfortable, unique styling, and indestructible 3800 engine…paired with a glass transmission and window actuators made out of cardboard that it went through about 2 a year.
Yeah, early 2000s/late 90s were definitely the peak of Americana and nothing to worry about. I was only a kid then, but looking back at older videos and the lack makes me realize just how good those times were.
I've owned a 1969 Bonneville 428 big block coupe and this 2000 Bonneville SSEi. The 2000 Bonnie is probably my favorite car of all time having owned north of 50 cars during my years.
Majorly let down by the 4T65E-HD in modern times. A reason why the GXP equipped with the Northstar and the bulletproof 4T80-E was so much better. And, Northstar problems were resolved by then.
The Bonneville Northstar is a super cool and rare car.
Just gotta watch the overdrive solenoid that fails on the 80, its buried inside and, well... no. No, no, no.
But yeah, the 65 was too weak for these powertrains.
@@matthewbowen5841 done all the solenoids on multiple of the 80’s, not a huge deal tbh lol
@@matthewbowen5841 The bigger issue was the stock torque converter as the viscous damper always failed by or near 100k miles. Never did any catastrophic damage, but the money light would always be on, failed emissions, and fuel economy would suffer. Not a cheap repair when these were in service. All but dead now.
This is why these cars needed manual transmissions.
I can SMELL the 2000's GM rubber interior.
Haha you must’ve worked at a GM dealer back then. I did and i think the worst stinkers were the cavalier and malibu. Really pungent plastic smell lmao
This generation had a particular smell, especially the "leather" equipped cars. Started with the 97 Park Avenue and ended with the 09 Trailblazer.
Well, I guess you can get a little bit of that in the unicorn relic known as a leather-equipped Express van. If they still make civilan models.
@@matthewbowen5841 oh remember the smell. Different among the models. Some where nice, the olds aurora smelled nice but I remember the cavalier having an almost bitter putrid smell! Do you remember the smell of the early 90s pickups? Also i just remembered pontiacs had a burning smell?
@@matthewbowen5841 I do remember the smell of the GM leather interiors then. I liked it. Car leather now is a joke compared to what it was 20 years ago.
I vividly remember being in one of these and there were multiple trim pieces coming loose around the seats/ door pillars
Thank you for posting another GM review. Thank you for sharing the 2000-2005 Pontiac Bonneville. The car was a nice car especially in SSE trim. When it has the snowflake wheels and the Oldsmobile Aurora seats it got later it is really nice. I look forward to these reviews and seeing what is next. Thank you again.
I bought a 2003 Bonneville SLE from Copart in Oregon for $800. Later, I removed the updated and cleaner taillamps off a 2005 GXP. Just had to switch the turn signal lamps with the back up lights! A very cool car.
I laughed at the beginning when he mentioned tats and piercings. If he only knew. I miss Pontiac even though at the end they were so blah you could not pick them out from any other car on the street. These were back in the era when GM 's buttons even retained their lettering. Unlike now where they and everyone else has buttons with paint that wears off. As a teen in the mid 80s my mom and I would wander the lot on a Sunday and I'd sit in the unlocked cars. Ah, the new car smell, they'd still have the plastic wrap on the steering wheel. Firebirds, Fieros, Bonnevilles, Grand Ams, Sunbirds, I loved them all. Good times with Mom.
That pass mirror going on a downward angle is brilliant. Makes looking at the lines much easier
GM's best looking sedan by far!
Love these
I used to have a 2001 SSEi and I loved it! Mine had the multi spoke style wheels and was fully loaded, including HUD and a power sunroof. I miss that car. Even though the car is dated, I wouldn't mind having a 2004 - 2005 GXP model. I really enjoy these retro videos.
I bought a 2007 Saturn Sky a couple of years ago, and coming from newer cars, it felt very dated. I fixed that really easily, I replaced the stereo with a modern unit with Apple CarPlay, then replaced the headlines with LEDs, and replaced the interior lights with LEDs. You would not believe how huge of a difference that made. Suddenly I have full smartphone integration with GPS, voice control, etc - and my lights are nice and bright, which is a big upgrade if you're coming from more modern cars. I also put some new ultra high performance summer tires on it, and bam, it was like having a new car. If you got one of these with the heads up display, and just swapped out the radio and lighting, put on new tires (good ones, not cheap ones), just make sure it has a proper alignment done, and you'd be amazed at how modern it felt.
@@rodmunch69 I feel the Sky’s will be future classics
@@ionbusman2086 you don't see them often and most people have no idea what they are, and assume they're really expensive. The big issue, however, is parts. Anything exclusive to the car and wasn't just a generic GM part is getting almost impossible to find.
*”Tattoos, Dreadlocks, & Body Piercings…”* *Ahhhh… the Good Old Nü-Metal Era.*
People are gonna say it's slow because it doesn't have 700hp but despite the weight, under matched transmission (pure GM) and the questionable styling these are cool, reasonably quick cars with a motor that will last forever.
4:44 John: COMPREHENSIVE SET OF ANALOG GAUGES! LOL
Considering nearly no one gives you Volts or Oil Pressure gauges these days, that was pretty true.
Shia Lebouef's dad inbound at 4:18. On a more serious note, this thing was both attractive and well-equipped for a 2000 vehicle. Heads-up display!
I had a black Pontiac Bonneville SsEi .. I actually enjoyed the car back then
Our 92 model is still going strong. A buddy of mine just passed 500k with it. Original engine is starting to smoke a little oil but is still running good. The original transmission is still trouble free.
It just utterly amazes me that I see at least a couple of these old Pontiac Bonneville,s still driving around.
These were gorgeous cars and I loved the Pontiac interiors.
Had a group of friends who were driving home late in one of these, the backseat guy started having a heart attack. The driver hit the limiter on the speedo racing to the hospital and everything turned out okay. No police escort needed 😄. These were nice cars.
beautiful bonneville, that interior looks awesome, 2000 it looks like it can be 2020
This car was way ahead of its time.
Wow these were actually pretty loaded, heads up display?? That dashboard is wild though with all those air vents haha.
I've noticed the bonanza of dashboard vents and it looks rad.
This was my first brand new car, 2002 SSEI, it was a great car and trouble free, really miss that car.
I still see these early 2000s Bonnevilles kicking around occasionally. Someone who works at my local supermarket has one in pretty nice shape.
Also, that passenger mirror that tilts down when in Reverse sounds... interesting. It's a feature that sounds useful on paper, but I'd imagine it'd get annoying with time.
That interior is very much of its time. Lots of oddball early 2000s design language going on. I kinda love it.
They have the tilt mirror on a lot of modern cars, I know my BMW does it. Personally I don't like it, yes, it's useful to cover that blind spot so you don't run over a kid by accident, but I've literally never had a kid behind my car when I was backing up, literally never happened in my entire life. Anywho, with BMW you can turn the feature on and off very easily, so for me, it's off. But I was surprised to see that on this early of a model, along with the side impact airbags - which I didn't even realize was a thing in 2000.
Yeah I know a guy that had like three of them at the same time at one point! his newest one I think was a 2005 and he loves them! he swears its one of the best cars he’s ever owned!
@@rodmunch69 I hadn't considered it for the purpose of watching for pedestrians, but in a way, I could absolutely see some executive pinning it for that purpose, especially since this is a good decade or so before backup cameras became common.
I figured it was more intended as a way to assist with parallel parking. After all, lots of people tilt the passenger mirror down so they can judge where the curb is, so having the car do it for you sounds handy... on paper.
You could turn off that feature if you wanted to. It's great to see the curb when parking.
The tilt mirror doesn't annoy me much. It helps with my parking skills better.
That 4-speed auto had unbearably long gearing, 2nd went up to at least 90 mph! With a 5-speed auto, or better yet, a 6-speed manual, the 0-60 time would be at least a second quicker.
i believe the twin impala SS was a second faster
I doubt that many people would have bought a full-size luxury sedan with a manual transmission. It would have helped a lot had they selected a more performance-minded ring/pinion.
@@JDMHaze the impala was a smaller car, not a twin to this car. W body vs H body. Plus or minus 300lbs difference in weight.
@@DrewLSsix it was same architecture
@@JDMHaze no they dont.. totalement different chassis.
I’ve been waiting for this gen bonneville! Loved my moms 03’ I was obsessed with it lol.
I had a 2005 SLE, and the naturally aspirated 3.8 delivered instant throttle response, not like the lag of today's turbo motors. And there were soft touch materials everywhere even the lower door panels. Manufacturers today brag about soft touch this and that, but they can't touch the interior quality of this generation of Bonneville. One of the best vehicles I've ever owned.
I had one also. I absolutely loved that car! Drove like a dream after I put some ultra high performance all season tires on it. That generation Bonneville had the most comfortable seats ever! The instrument panel was a perfect layout with full gages. I was looking for a GXP for a long time and ran across this one that was a one owner in excellent condition around 2015 with just under 100,000 miles on it. It had the same appearance as the GXP but with the V6. I had it less than 2 years and got carjacked and it was found wrecked. Made me sick! It was my third used Bonneville in a row and put over 200,000 miles on the first two.
This car was ahead of its time
Surprisingly quick for its time. Always liked these cars.
I love the final years of this car with the Northstar V8 even though that engine wasn’t great. I think by then though they had figured some of the problems out. The final years had a really clean look without that body cladding
I believe they had LS engines
@@nathanlopez5667 the Grand Prix got 5.3 LS derivative at the end. The Bonnie never did. had northstar only.
@@2steaksandwiches665 I would love to have the 5.3 over the North Star only because it's more reliable
@@nathanlopez5667 That’s a fun engine. I’d like to pick up a Buick Lacrosse super with it
@@2steaksandwiches665 did the Northstar engine have as much power as the the 5.3 LS I believe the North Star was a 4.6 dual overhead cam?
"You know there was a time when a tattoo made you stand out in a crowd but nowadays we're so buried in tattoos, dreadlocks, and body piercings that you almost have to set yourself on fire to get noticed." This comment rings more true today than ever!
These where nice when new had a buddy that had one he loved it....his biggest complaint the transaxle was weak....
Looking at this 2000 Bonneville kind of reminds me of my 1997 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi with that same engine layout. The one before has a 16 way power adjustment seats, while this one here has 12. And more buttons on the side of the automatic transmission then the 2000 version. But either are I was a big fan of this car from 1990 till 2005. One of my favorite Pontiacs of all time.
So, this Bonneville reminds you of a Bonneville only 3 years older? Wow. What a statement.
@@markbrinton6790 it was a different bodystyle? wow.
@@Funlu it was still a Bonneville. A big 4 door Pontiac. Get serious.
I never realized this was an all-new car, I thought it was just a refresh. Good looking car in any case.
I rather have one in a. Burgundy SLE with leather and a sunroof with the GXP front rear bumper and side skirts to go with it. It was on a 2005 model. I don't do base models and that garbage North Star V8.
Love these.. Love the previous gen even more.
We owned a 2000 Bonneville SSEi and loved it. Just needed to move up to a 3 row Suv for the growing kids. We sold it to my nephew so it's still in the family. Great car.
Had one. Bought it new. Loved the power but never liked the way the transmission shifted or behaved.
The 2000 Bonneville was one of my favorite cars as a child growing up in the early 2000s. For mostly nostalgic purposes, my first car was supposed to be a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville SE that I found earlier this summer online, but I waited too long to give the dealer a call back, and when I called them one Saturday morning the car had been sold the day before. It was the only Bonneville from this era for sale in my area. What I missed opportunity, it still stings. Now I wonder if I'll ever find a final generation Bonneville that clean again, since so many of these beauties were mistreated and are now long gone.
Pontiac always had the best designers and engineers and never had to try to stand out from the rest of GM. They were supposed to be GM's performance division but the jerks at Chevy never would let that happen (they let this slip with the 70s Trans Am and had to get the Corvette killing future Fiero killed really quick).
Who knows what we'd have had GM not given Chevy so much say and power in the corporation.
The last good years of GM
Love John's intro on this one! haha
00-03 still look good to this day
God damn, a HUD and tilt-in-reverse mirrors in 2000?! This car was at least a decade ahead of its time
I always thought Pontiac styling was horrible in the 90s, but you can't deny the performance value of this car.
Pontiac made some cool cars back in the day. The Grand Prix, Grand Am, Bonneville, Sunfire, Firebird/Trans AM. Lots of great cars made by Pontiac. Imagine if this car had RWD, it would have been very popular today. Still looks very tough and mean!!
The performance top of the line SSei version was 32,500 which is 55k in todays money. This was pretty much a near premium luxury car.
1995
Sunfire, not so cool.
I had a silver one of these. It ranks towards the top of all the cars I have owned. Hard to believe looking back that HUD isn't a thing now on all vehicles
JD said, "you got a problem with that?" :-D What a legend.
Fast forward to 2022; I'm pretty sure there are less people without tattoos than with. Extremely rare to meet someone without multiple tats let alone full sleeves these days.
Wow I didn't recall this car looking that good maybe it's the combo of black paint and chrome rims. Every angle of that car looks great. This car has aged well!
His opening statement seems more relevant today than 22 years ago
Had that same car fully loaded but a different color with a moonroof. The most comfortable car I ever drove, loved it on long trips the one major problem was the design of the moonroof water drainage. It would literally fill up the whole back floorboards with water then under the front seats and front floorboards, took a couple yrs to find the serious design flaw with their drainage system it was an easy fix. On a side note even the dealer could not find where it leaked
GM should have turned Pontiac into a performance focused line to compete with Mopar, instead of ditching the brand.
This is my dream car that i cant stop dreaming about
Wow! Irony with the tattoo remark. It's even more so today! I loved this car when it came out. I thought it was so bad-ass.
This generation also shared a platform with the 2nd generation Oldsmobile Aurora, which was only sold for model years 2001-03.
N84th st
Can't wait to buy one this year !!
These and the Grand Prix GTPs were super cool back in the day.
Back then in the late 90s/early 00s everyone made fun of Pontiac's styling, nowadays everyone misses Pontiac despite whatever generation. Pontiac is sorely missed by all generations that got to grow up with these cars. The Grand Prix GTP and GXP, Bonneville's SSEi, TA WS6 and last gen GTO are all awesome cars
It was really only the gotham era Grand Am that got ripped on..."Ribbed for her pleasure" was a common thing overheard as one drove past.
I hated it when it was new, now I miss these days and love the design …
September 2021 bought 2 for 3500 ,that's 10% of what one cost new ...me and my bro each have a ssei now..needs lil work ..but holy crap..perfect car ..fast, comfortable, looks like a grand prix...and at 22 years old. 175k miles. Can only imagine how good is was off the showroom floor.
This is the best looking Bonneville they ever made IMO - especially in Black.
I rented this exact car from Hertz for an overnight road trip to Bakersfield (about 280 miles 1 way)
Hertz didn't know it was an SSEi, they thought it was a regular Bonn. I told them when I returned it.
The 500 miles I drove it was sublime. Perfect car for a long highway trip. Even though I've never
owned a GM product, I really miss Pontiac.
As an owner of two of them, I agree.
@@awesomeferret It's regretful I didn't persue owning one. They were out of my price range if I'm honest. A lot of GM products I wanted were out of my price range. But shit man you had two of them? Same year as the one shown here?
Or an older one & a newer one? Scoop!
Always been a fan of these
I miss the simple heating controls. Just turn a knob and be done with it. I don't need to know the temp in the cabin and hit an up/down button 1,000 times. Bring back the knobs!!!
Loved this design!
The year is 2022 and these old vehicles are almost nonexistent, this speaks volumes for the longevity of these vehicles.
I live in Michigan, I see tons of these cars.
This review has the hottest vaporwave song I've ever heard!
I like this car. And other cars with the GM 3800 V6. Like the Bonneville, Impala, Grand Prix, and the Buick LaSabre. I also like Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys.
MY 3800 V6 MAKES 400WHP, THEY'RE PRETTY COOL CARS. I HAVE TWO REGALS‼️
Used to want one of these for the longest time.
Still looks good even today
I have a 2000 SSEi and it still is great to drive. Everything still works on it. Those 1/4mile times are slow. Mine does 15.1 bone stock. After a tune and a few bolt ons, it should be close to running 13s.
I miss these old full size sedans, they were great vehicles and way more reliable and comfortable then most anything new these days. My grandpa had the park avenue which was basically this with nicer trim I remember that thing was basically a road yacht seemed so big and imposing when I was a kid and I thought the steering wheel controls were the coolest thing and the digital climate control
I miss Pontiac. But they would all be SUV's and crossovers now, so a part of me is glad the brand didn't live to see such foolishness.
The Torrent was disappointing
Imagine a pontiac grand prix crossover....
They dodged a bullet by not surviving past 2010
I had a Saturn Sky, and Pontiac had the less attractive sibling the Solstice. Anywho, I like to think that had Pontiac stuck around, they would have made a Firebird variant of the Camaro, and maybe a 2nd gen Solstice/Sky.
I would hope they would've made Pontiac a direct competitor to Dodge
@@megatronusorionpax4900 I was hoping the Fiero would make a come back by now. No such luck.
Damn, I still got this car with the same year and ssei trim, its just silver. 246,000 miles with a intense racing pcm 3.5" pulley 180 degree thermostat intake exhaust and a rebuilt Transmission with a stage 1 shift kit. Also the ABS module was repaired and all it took was soldering relay contact pins to the board. It keeps up with traffic perfectly and gives you plenty power when you need it. Id say the real modern replacement for this car would be a 2021 Acura TLX Type S if I had it any other way to be honest. Literally the modern day version of the Bonneville with AWD and linear pricing if you want to Calculate inflation. GOOGLE IT!
I always wonder what a modern day Bonneville would look like. The latest Buick LaCrosse and Chevy Impala were gorgeous, the Pontiac would’ve been amazing