Faults:

Alternator, and back passenger window sometimes will not go up.

General Comments:

I am 18 years old and I bought this car from my dad for $500. I do a lot of driving, putting about 16,000 miles a year on it so far and I think it's great especially for my rough driving style. This car is tough. Very few problems with it and I can always depend on it.

My Taurus was always falling apart, I had to replace just about everything in it, transmission etc. My Bonneville is in beautiful condition and runs great, I am modernizing the car now as I have put a CD player in it, soon it will have a sunroof, and I have a few other things in mind.

I would definitely buy this car again.

Faults:

1. Rusted out line on the power steering cooler.

2. Fuel pump.

3. Problem that I have been unable to correct - the car will not start if the temperature is below 20 degrees. It will start if I put a 100 watt light bulb under the hood all night. Once it starts, the car runs perfectly and always starts above 20 degrees.

General Comments:

This is my second Bonneville. Both had the 3.8 V6, auto, and air. The previous one was a rear wheel drive. I love the luxury and will continue to buy Bonnevilles.

The front wheel drive performs great in the snow in the mountains of New York.

Faults:

Although this car sat in a southern carport for the last 10 years and very infrequently went anywhere, a few things broke without reason during limited normal use.

The right front window is broken, the gearbelt type drive mechanism seems to have fallen apart or basically broke...

Now that it has traveled a substantial amount in the last 8 months, the brakes and various engine components (mostly due to dryrot) have recently failed and been replaced.

AC diffused (dried seals), water pump in engine was leaking and deteriorated (expected due to its idle existence)...

But the highest concern is the failure of both rear struts, especially the rear left, which can barely hold the wheel, no less vertical and stable (This is a major problem now, as the brake system failure and various other components were replaced last week).

Of note, an engine cleaning (automated) drastically increased the functional performance of the engine, so it is now able to show its designed power... Too bad it's not going to be tested without the rear wheels/tires going straight.

Has anyone attempted to put an SE/SSE steering wheel (radio buttons) and (possibly?) console on an LE model? I am curious as to the state of the wiring in the LE's without having to strip it apart to check.

General Comments:

Physically sturdy, good performance (especially for a vehicle of its size and weight) and well made overall.

The standard engine puts it in the grey area between normal large cars and high-performance sports car performance, which is very noticable compared to anything else of its era...

It's just the little dainty things on this specific unit that are a hassle (window dysfunctional, radio/climate/etc controls in an awkward position, mirror motor problems, etc...)

Has anyone coupled the SE/SSE console and steering wheel components to the LE system? Given practically everything is identical, is the chassis wired similar? Are the computers the same or physically different, what algos? etc...? (steering wheel is a priority)

[ Wilfred@Cryogen.com ]

Faults:

I got a rebuilt engine when I bought it so nothing so far and I'm proud of it. Only thing that went wrong was I got a few shorts in the electrical system.

General Comments:

I think the Pontiac Bonneville is a quite superb car to be driving.

Faults:

Okay.. well I put a lot of miles on the car for my job so all of these things that I've had replaced are pretty much normal to me.

1. Transmission line.

2. Water pump.

3. Right front CV shaft.

4. Rear ball joints (at 140K miles) and springs.

5. Front brake pads twice.

6. My interior light 'dimmer' switch practically melted one night while I was working. Started smoking up and melted somewhat so now I cannot move the switch. Still haven't gotten that fixed yet. Headlights and interior lights work fine. Just can dim the inside.

7. Exhaust became detached after cat. converter and before the muffler.. had it replaced.

Hmm.. I think that's about it. :)

I work as a delivery driver.. jobs like that totally (but slowly) wreck your car.

General Comments:

Out of the 4 cars that I've owned (only drove 3 though.. one didn't start ever), the Bonnie is definitely the survivor!

The 79 Caddie wasn't too bad, but it was already beat up somewhat when I got it.

My bonnie has a 3.8 6 cylinder engine. I haven't had any problems with the engine itself (good thing) so far.

It's not the fastest car when it comes to acceleration (my Mom's 92 Lumina Euro can attest to that), but it's a great, comfy ride that will just keep going.