2001 Pontiac Bonneville SSEI review from North America

I bought the car in December 2006 with 138,500 miles on it. At 139,974 the supercharger idler pulley seized & consequently the serpentine belt had to also be replaced. That was about $36.00 in parts.

At about 140,000 I started leaking coolant & could not figure out where it was coming from. A friend of my dad's who works at a dealership let us try this pressure mechanism that attaches to the radiator and pumps air through so you can see where it is leaking from. That helped a great deal & we were able to solve the problem by just replacing 2 heater hose elbows. We found them at a local auto store for only $3.25! Not a drop of coolant since.

At 140,000 miles my oil gauge was buried at 120 psi, so I replaced the oil sending unit. I bought the unit direct from the dealer (About $70) & the gauge worked for about 2 months, then went back to 120 psi. The dealer gladly gave me a new one (I had to give them the faulty one) and so far it has been good. That was about 1 week ago that it was replaced.

Overall I love this car. It was a big step up from my 97 Ford Taurus. It handles well & has great power. I would recommend it to anyone. However, I have been lucky on a few things, and my dad & husband are both very handy with fixing vehicles, so I can save a lot by not having to take my car to the dealer. I can understand where some people could drain there pockets on these things.