1988 Pontiac Bonneville SSE review from North America

This SSE has been good to me. Very few problems, more of annoyance type, nothing major.

No paint or rust problems. Thank god!

The awesome Radio and power antenna stopped working about 4 months after I bought the car. $400 & $150 from GM Respectively.

Front drivers side stabilizer bar link was broken when I got the car, but my previous '88 Bonneville LE was the same. Could it be a common Defect???

The headlight washers didn't work either. Because someone, who shouldn't even be allowed to own tools, tried to fix it. (Was Relatively easy & cheap to fix)

Air Conditioning went bad 1 month after purchase. (Evaporator core & Compressor) under $1,000 if I do it myself. I'm a HVAC/R Student so I can.

Most recently the compressor for the Air Ride suspension went out. ($450 from Pontiac)

Other misc. stuff like gages, fog lights, rear defroster croped up, but that was just bad/incrocet fuses or simple crap like that.

This is not the easiest car to work on, I have seen better, but also seen worse.

TIP: if you should ever have ANY kind of moderate electrical probilem, (Doubtful) take your time! These cars are full of wires. If you know your stuff you should be OK. I plan on getting the GM repair manuals for this car due to this.

I Absolutely love this car. I previously owned a 1988 Bonneville LE that I bought as a temporary car for the winter for $450. It had 226,226 miles. on it. When I read the owners manual and saw all the options the SSE's had, I knew I had to get one!

This SSE has been good to me. Very few problems, but since I spent all my cash getting the car, I haven't been able to fix that much. So it may seem like a beat up old thing to others, but really just needs about $3,000 invested in it. The "Standard Catalog of Pontiac" puts its value just under $7,000 so what's a few thousand.

I plan to add this car to my Permanent collection. I will fix whatever crops up in the future.

I see the LE's & SE's everywhere, but few SSE's, I've got like one of ten in a 30 mile radius.

This car handles like a dream, with the variable ratio power rack & pinion steering, & 32mm front roll bar & 20mm Rear. (Rally-Tuned Suspension)

I have taken mine up to 115 MPH. now that I got the original tires on it.

"Goodyear Eagle GT+4" P215/60 R16

A bit pricey, but well worth it.

Unfortunately mine didn't come with the power sunroof, or alarm system, but I am working on adding these.

I highly recommend getting and hanging on to these cars, Very comfortable seats, & dashboard is really cool too.

With so many options this car is worthy of the title (SSE).

"Super Sport Edition".