1988 Pontiac Bonneville LE review from North America

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.

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 ]