Nice riding and good looking

I also have had intake manifold crack (TWICE) once at 72,000 and now at 111,000. Even once is unacceptable.

I am on my first and last GM product unless I get satisfaction. Every one I come in contact with will also hear it.

Power, comfort, looks, dependability, and ride options are great, not to mention the toys, (heads up display, compass, sunroof, articulating seats, bose speakers, stereo system,etc.)

The loud sound of air rushing in to the passenger compartment once you get out on the open road. With all the goodies on this car, I would highly recommend you always maintain a GM or dealer authorized bumper to bumper contract!

Overall we are very pleased with our SSEI. The smooth ride and handleing of this car makes even going up to the store for a quart of milk a real pleasure, not to mention the response of the supercharger, this car moves!!!!

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1996 Pontiac Bonneville

Roomy, very attractive instrument panel, plenty of power when I need it, I love the looks of the car.

If I am still having this problem with the fuel pressure regulator after the warranty, I will sell this car. I hope that GM is working on this problem, becuase I know 2 other people that have had this problem with the newer 3.8 and 4.3 liter engines. I can't afford to be replacing this regulator every 25,000 miles.

I recently have had some engine problems that has really put a sour taste in my mouth with GM. Last year at this time (1 year old car, with 15,000 miles) we could not get it started. Since it was still under warranty, I had it towed to the dealer. They claimed we flooded it, and the diagnostics did not show any problems. In the last few months, the car would cough and sputter when starting (25,000 miles). I was 100 miles from home when I could barely get the car started, and in order to keep it going, I had to power brake it all the way home, because it wouldn't idle at all at the stoplights. The dealer changed the fuel pressure regulator and it has run fine ever since. The dealer claims that GM is complaining about the high levels of ethanol in the gas within 150 miles of the St.Paul Minneapolis MN.

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I have a 1988 Olds Regency and a 1986 Mazda 323, and never had this problem that is supposedly caused by ethanol.

PAINT!!! What did they spray on this thing? The previous owner let it sit out and it still has nearly as much gloss as some new cars I see. It has the best leather seats I've ever sat in and plenty of legroom. Great sound except CDs don't play at first when its cold. Good ride, great cornering, especially for 118,000 miles. Starts on the first crank everytime, no matter how cold.

Cheap plastic interrior parts. Front doors rattle, moonroof rattles, but i fixed them with heavy grease (for awhile). Plastic clips on interrior molding break whenever you take them off. Cooling/heating fan doesn't blow much air. Transmission doesn't handle the power well during quick accelleration. May be going bad.

Been reading about the series II problems, but ive got to say that my series 1 3800 is AWESOME even without the supercharger. Only problem i had was a leaking gasket in the intake manifold that cost a few bucks. I'll keep this car as long as i can keep it running.

Nice looking, but I'm afraid that will be it.

Cheap Plastic Intake Manifold. No customer service what so ever...

Well I see I'm not the only one who has had problems with General Motors using cheap parts and placing the cost on their clients. Intake manifold is made of something out of someone's back yard playhouse. They know about it and are making their customers pay. I've had the car a little over a year and at 72000 miles BAM!! Intake manifold starting leaking antifreeze. I have been fighting with GM for over 2 weeks on the phone now and their answer was---I'm sorry it is out of warranty. What a lame excuss. GM takes the easy way out. Has anyone every won this battle with GM. I'm sending the plastic part to where my car was made along with all of these reviews and a nice letter explaining my displeasure. Like they would do anything about it, as they have know about the problem for years. They are laughing all the way to the bank. What a great idea they came up with...make parts that will last past warranty miles but not much longer and we can cash in on tons of parts and labor. And, oh by the way maybe we an replace a bunch of engines along the way!!! SWEET PROFIT! Give that man a big bonus who thought of that idea. Hopefully they have not had anything to do with military vehicles, I'd hate to have our soldiers and their families pay that expense sitting somewhere stranded in the middle of nowhere. I figure they have known about it for almost 5 years now and just don't want to admit it and God knows do anything about it. Would you if you were making that kind of money on repairs?? I think NOT!!

Snappy, fun to drive

Intake

I too fell into the alure of the bullet proof 3.8 liter engine. I purchased the vehicle with 21000 miles. The service records were in the vehicle from the previous owner. I figured I had a good one. I expected this to last 5 to 6 years. The problems started just after warranty. Fuel pressure regulator went out twice, defective parts they say. Intake manifold replaced at 51000. Water pump replaced at 53000. And then the bad news, new engine at 54000. GM customer service played me for two weeks finally saying the problem was oil starvation due to poor service. I too will not own a Gm vehicle again.

Comfortable and roomy interior. Aggressive and attractive body style. Very tight body. Lots of gadgets on the dash. Very good handling.

The only weakness is the vibration at highway speeds caused by Goodyear tires. I have had the vehicle in the shop 4 times for this problem and finally had to call General Motors to get involved. The problem is still there, but service is working on it. Only time will tell if this can be repaired.

The vehicle is generally a lot of fun to drive, very solid and comfortable. What makes this vehicle a bummer is the vibration that, so far, has not been resolved by the service department. There is a bulletin on this vehicle with 17 inch wheels. The bulletin addresses vibration on several GM vehicles and this one specifically with the 17 inch wheels. This vibration takes away a lot of the fun driving this vehicle. Without a vibration this vehicle would be highly rated by me, however, with the vibration I would rate it low and warn anyone thinking of buying a 2001 - 2003 Bonneville SLE or SSEi to test drive it on the highway at 60 to 75 mph to see if there is a vibration that shows up.

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2001 Buick LeSabre. Same problems with vibration that the Bonneville has. Got rid of this vehicle because dealer could not fix the problem.

Comfortable ride, good MPG.

Plastic intake just cost me $400 at 45000 miles. Driving a Ford F150 with 217,000 with no problems. Last Pontiac burned through 2 alternators at $300 each. We're done!!!

Overall the car rides well, looks good, but just joined the bad plastic intake club. Can't believe GM would propagate such a problem. How hard can it be to tool up a quality cast plenum instead of plastic? Sure makes my Ford look good.

Fast car with the supercharger. Comfort, traction control worth it.

See summary above.

GM should be ashamed to sell such crap! Ever since the 3 yr/30,000 warranty was up, i have had problems ever since. Where to start? Check this one out.... The car starts up by itself, no key in the ignition and car is locked and i'm standing outside it. Engine is running, radio is on, heat or air condition on, lites are flashing away in the interior. No one can figure it out. Leaks oil all the time. lites to show what gear your in are out....to fix would have to get all new gear box components...idiots at GM! Would not recommend this vehicle to anyone or for that matter any GM product. Going back to foreign products.

Good acceleration, handling, brakes. Just got 29.6 mpg on a trip. Styling is still fresh for a GM car that is.

None other than that plenum

Does anyone have information about a class action suit on the intake manifold? Good thing it happened at my mechanics shop. Was having some hesitation and took it by. He checked it out and couldn't find anything. He told me to keep an eye on things and if anything happened to bring it by. You should have seen his face when one of his mechanics backed it out and it started belching WHITE smoke. We shut it down and he called me the next day and told me about the broken plenum/intake manifold. Cost me $780. The good news is that antifreeze really cleans your cylinders. Have put 3000 on it since and it runs great. PS. the new bonnevilles look like Brunhilde meets the Batmobile. I would not buy one based on the styling