2003 Pontiac Bonneville SLE 3.8 V6 from North America
Summary:
Great car. Dealers are a crap shoot
Faults:
Door seal water leaks. Interior electrical short.
General Comments:
I purchased my Bonneville, SLE, in February 2004 Loved the car color, interior, performance and handling. It did have a small, but annoying vibration between 6- and 70 mph. The dealer indicated that it was tire balance and it would be taken care of before I picked up the car. When I brought the car back a week later for the same thing, they had it for ½ day and said that the car was grossly out of alignment. This did not fix the problem either. This went on for months with two new front tires put on the car, which did not help.
I took the vehicle to another dealer after the left rear tire had worn through to the cord with 19,000 miles. This dealer has a reputation for having one of the best front-end specialists in the area. The obvious assumption on the part of the dealer was customer abuse, but after having the car all day, they determined that the first dealer had made an erroneous diagnosis and had realigned the vehicle unnecessarily. The culprit was out of round tires from the factory. GM put on four new tires and properly re-aligned the vehicle. The result has been no more tire issues. I will not buy another vehicle from the first dealer again. The new dealer gets all my business.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 14th May, 2006
17th Jan 2014, 08:18
Change the S/C oil yourself for 10.00. Takes an allen wrench, a turkey baster and the oil for 10.00. This assumes you get your wife's turkey baster from the kitchen :]
20th Jan 2014, 18:11
Any car needing an alignment at only 20,000 miles has either been in a pretty major accident or was built by a Japanese company. I've never had an alignment on any of my Ford, GM or Chrysler vehicle with up to a quarter million miles on them. One of my Fords hit an 8-inch curb head on at 50 mph. I took it to the alignment shop to have everything checked, but they said everything was perfect and didn't even charge me for checking it.
9th Mar 2008, 11:32
I own a 2003 SSEi with 56000 miles on it. I purchased it a year and a half ago with 31000 on it. I love most everything about it. I have not had any issues with any aspect of the car other than wear items (a fog light burned out last month, and my tag light burned out last night (3/8/08). Other than that they could have used a better cup holder layout in the front.
Great car, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but maybe a bonneville GXP :)
Tires have worn evenly throughout its life with me (It had the original brand and model tires (Were they the originals, I don't know but they were worn the amount I would have expected with 31000 miles).
Great engine, great handling. So far it has been nothing but reliable with only oil changes being needed so far.
Remember to change the supercharger oil every 12-15k miles or so. Most places I've taken it to for oil changes have never changed it, nor have they ever said anything about it until I asked all three places if they changed it and they all told me that don't do it. There were no signs that said anything about not changing SC oil, so ask them if they do. A dealership would, but some retailers might not. It is a very important part that spins very fast. Make sure it gets changed.
Great car.