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Help Pontiac Bonneville question

I stopped by a local dealership this past weekend and found a 1996 Bonneville SE.

42,539 miles on it, local owner (old fart) took very good care of the car in fact it is the cleanest used car the dealer has on his lot. I checked Carfax and everything checked out on the car. I have been driving my pick up for the past 6 years and feel it is time for a car. Since I have been out of the loop in a ways on cars how does this Pontiac stand up to others when it comes to:
  • Dependability
  • Servicing
  • Minor repair costs, brakes, etc
  • Your overall opinions!

I test drove the car twice since last Friday and love it, I took my teenage son for a test drive and he thinks it is far and away the best car we test drove over the weekend (16 cars).

I like to hear any positives or negatives you may have.

Thanks for your help!

Rip

Reply to
Ripples
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"Ripples" wrote

It's probably one of the better vehicles that GM has turned out.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

The Bonnevilles (96-99) are solid cars for the most part. I put 110,00 miles on my 97 SE, it was one of the best vehicles I've owned.

-- markwb

2001 Bonneville SLE
Reply to
markwb

I have a 92 (130k) and a 98 (75k). Really well built cars over all. The SE wont have those costly air shocks so for the most part the cost of replacing worn out parts is average. There is a problem with the plastic intakes (95 and up to 99 i think) on those cars caused by the egr pipe melting the plastic allowing coolant into the intake. At 40k the problem doesnt show up but at 80k you'll most likely will see a fast coolant loss. You can read up on it here at my webpage I made.

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That is the only thing that might tick you off if you get this job priced at the dealership. That however is really the only weakness these cars have but it is still worth getting fixed when it happens.

Just watch that coolant level, both reservoir and radiator and keep that rad cap clean. If you see a loss you you'll know what the cause most likely is. And also only use dexcool, if you start to suck in that silica coolant it may take out your O2 sensors and hurt the catalytic converter. Also consider using synthetic oil on that low mileage 3800. Those 3800's have no problem going up to and even past 300k if you maintain them. Again I gotta stress they are very nice cars :)

Reply to
Bon·ne·ville

If you do your own repairs its a pretty simple car to work on. Plugs, Altenator, Starter, Water Pump are all pretty easy to remove & replace. I can't remember if 96 has the motor mount on the side of the engine that blocks the serpentine belt from coming off. This was another gripe among owners who have to remove the mount to remove the belt.

Front Brakes hold up about 40,000 + depending on how you brake. Rear brakes if there drum brakes can go around 125,000 before replacing. At least my rears have gone 125,000 miles..

Exhaust should last a lifetime, except the converter. Mine is all original exceot the converter.

Like the other poster mentioned the main problem is the Plastic Intake manifold warping , cracking. Just keep an eye on the coolant level.

The AC works great. If you got the standard, manual controls I'd expect no problems from it.

The car gives a good ride with the base suspension. Keep up the basic maintenance and don't touch the rest of the car. It should be good for

300,000 miles..

Good Luck.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~269,000 miles_~_~_
Reply to
Harry Face

...

I have a '92 with 176,000 on it. I'm the third or fourth owner, and it's still the best car I have ever had. Nice ride, nice looking, only had one problem with it last year with the crank sensor. I could have fixed it myself if I could have gotten that blasted pulley off the end of the crank. Other than that - nice car. And I have no plans to replace it for a very long time.

JK

Reply to
Jknomail

Reply to
The Carrolls

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