Sporty Sedan for the Masses

I was in the market for a reasonably-priced full-sized sporty car that would take my whole family on the interstate to visit relatives or around town shopping in relative comfort. My wife and myself, then my 6 year old son, 5 year old daughter and 3 year old daughter can all fit quite comfortably, if not snug, in the car. Seating capacity is 5, but I don't think I would try to squeeze three adults in the backseat if they weren't inclined to eventually become amorous with one another. In any case, with my two daughters in the outboard position, each safely ensconced in their respective child seats, and my son snugly placed in the middle, we can cruise around and not be concerned that they will be on top of one another (fighting) like they would in any lesser (smaller) car.

DESIGN:

GM's sporty division, Pontiac, did a major redesign of their flagship sedan in 2000. The new Bonneville's exterior design is sleeker than the previous model but it's still easy to see the resemblence in the rest of Pontiac's auto lineup. The tell-tale grill is there along with the semi-funky side body cladding that Pontiac has somehow resisted doing away with. Other than the aformentioned cladding creases down the side of the car, the new design is actually quite attractive. The 16" aluminum 5 spoke wheels proudly show off the Bonney's 4 wheel disc brakes. On the inside, the Pontiac division theme continues with orange-red glow instruments. The particular vehicle I purchased was fully optioned out with such niceties as steering wheel mounted radio controls, heated and electronically adjustable front seats with leather cladding front and back, traction control, Onstar, and auto temp control among the most prized of them. The Bonney's trunk is fairly large and can swallow copious amounts of groceries or Christmas presents (as it currently has been filled with to keep out of the kids sight/reach).

PERFORMANCE:

The Bonneville SE that I purchased comes with the standard normally aspirated 3800 series II pushrod V6 that seems to have been around since the dawn of time. Why mess with a good thing is what Pontiac, and other GM divisions must think when choosing this archaic motor for their ever-evolving platforms. The engine is rated at 205 hp @ 5,200 rpm and 230 ft-lbs of torque @ 4,000 rpm. These power/torque ratings place the Bonney squarely in the middle of the pack among such cars as the Toyota Camry and the Ford Taurus. Certainly nothing to write home about, but just the same it gives you the ability to pass slower traffic without much trouble. The engine does it's job fairly quietly with some help from the 4 speed automatic transmission. The engine/transmission seem well matched with no sloppy shifting or abrupt upshift or downshifting occuring. The Bonney handles as well as any full-sized, 3,600+ lb car should. The fuel mileage sticker is a little optimistic at 19 city/30 highway. I would estimate with my lead foot I get 15-16 mpg city and around 25 mpg on the highway. Still, with these lower mileage numbers, the car will cruise a considerable distance with the 18 gallon fuel tank. The 4 wheel disc brakes haul the car down to a complete stop with little nonsense. There is a fair amount of front wheel torque steer which is common among front wheel drive cars that have a decent amount of power. This car has automatic headlamps along with daytime running lights. I don't like the daytime running lights much, but if it's a bit safer for my family then I'm willing to go along with it. The automatic headlamps is a nice feature. I don't think I've used the actual stalk-mounted headlight switch more than twice since I've owned the vehicle so the auto headlamp feature has done a commendable job of getting the headlights fully lit when needed.

COMFORT/CONVENIENCE:

The Bonney's front leather bucket seats are quite comfortable, even for longer trips. They are fairly supportive (as supportive as leather buckets can be anyway) and hold you when transversing from interstate cloverleafs. The one downside the car has is it's quite noisy at highway speeds. The sound system has a button that compensates for the increasing noise at speed by raising the audio level, but I think I would prefer that the engineers better isolate the interior of the car from road noise and tire noise rather than attempting to drown it out with the stereo. All controls for heat/AC stereo come easily to hand and the auto temperature feature is nice. Just set the temperature on the display to whatever you feel is comfortable, and the heat/AC will quickly adjust to the new temperature. The stereo in the particular model I purchased has a single CD and a cassette deck built into it. It sounds good even at higher levels.

CONCLUSION:

I would have to say that if I had the ability to go back in time to the day I purchased this car, I would do it again considering the comfortable ride/nice looking exterior design. Up to this point the car has held up quite well. It currently has 46,000 miles on it with no problems.