Pontiac's forgotten supercharged sedan: Bonneville SSEi

My uncle had the Bonneville SSE, let me tell ya, that was a real touring performance sedan, it had impeccable road manners and great highway cruising power , and very smooth ride, just a home run , would hold up today as a highway cruiser

As someone that drove a few Bonnevilles, and several W-body cars from the 1980s and into the 2000s, the SSEi was a nice, smooth comfy, "sporty ish" sofa on wheels from Pontiac. As for the supercharged 3800 cars over all, the 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP is my favorite with the Regal GS a close second. From the factory the 1997-2003 Grand Prix had the best balance of handling and comfort, and the GTP had what my 2003 Grand Prix SE lacked, the power and torque. When a friend with a 1997 GTP was still getting 33 MPG at the time he was making about 400HP on 98 octane gasoline, and I was stuck with 160HP max..... The supercharged 3800 was worth the extra cost stock or modded.

I was with my grandad when he bought his 96 ssei and it was given to me when he passed in 06. This was his family dinner night car as he usually drove his 89 Silverado daily. (I was given this too). It was garage kept and in 06 had a whole 20k miles on it. Unfortunately I didn't have a garage to keep it but kept it in as clean as possible the 5 years I owned it. Where did it go? A busted supercharger belt and a trip to a bad shop rendered the car useless to me and at the time couldn't afford to take it elsewhere. I needed transportation quick to get to and from work and was forced to sell it. It was a beautiful iridescent green that looked blue in certain light. I upgraded the stereo as age made many radio buttons stop working. I had all windows tinted and Cadillac CTS wheels cuz I hated those 3-blade wheels. I really miss that car. Had I known then that 401k loans were a thing, I'd gladly have done so to save my granddads wonderful car.

The Bonnie’s were always cool, big, comfortable, and quick for the time, plus a damn reliable ENGINE.

This was a stunning car, ahead of its time with the interior, very comfortable, and beautiful to look at. You could not mistake it for another brand.

I’ve had 2001 & 2003 SSEI’s both black and my dad had a white 1992 SSEI. Love these cars so much! Glad to see this!!

Please don’t apologize for your content. We should be the one thankful for your videos.

I love those bonnevilles. I had an 88, a 1992 and a 1993. I live in Germany and had so much fun with them. For me as a musican, it was great cause I could even fit bass and guitar cases into the trunk. Head display was also an amazing feature. Miss cars like this

My dad bought one brand new in 1989 from Midway Pontiac on Bell Rd in Phoenix AZ. The Bonniville was so cool.

Holden in australia had these motors but rear wheel drive. Absolutely bullet proof.

I had a 7th 8th and 9th gen and I absolutely loved them and all gm vehicles were some of the best most comfortable seats I ever had in a car/truck/suv

My best friend had a 1990 Bonnie SSE in high school from 2004-2006. I remember it being sooo nice for a 14 year old car. White on white wheels with the body kit and the interior was plush even with cloth. Not super punchy but you could get where you needed to get without fuss. I loved that car so much I would have him pick me up for school even though I had my own car 😅

I owned a 91 SSE in high-school and it was a blast

My pops loved it. The 90s was a good year for cars.

Had a 9th gen, Bonneville SE. Had a 3.8 with almost all the options. Miss that Pontiac

Happy New Year! Very good! You did a great job on this video and did your homework. I believe the first Bonneville was 1957. I liked the footage, the information and I liked the fact you discussed the 3800 V6 and you went into detail about the Bonneville and the trim levels. I liked the fact you mentioned the Oldsmobile Ninety Eight. A lot of GM cars used the Supercharged 3800 V6. Holden ( GM Australia) used the 3800 V6 and Supercharged 3800 V6 as well. I heard at one time SSE stood for Sensuous Sport Express. I do not know how true that is. I hope you will do the last generation Bonneville. The SLE trim level sold well also. SSE was replaced by GXP with a Northstar V8 in the last generation. I have been a fan of the Bonneville for decades. I liked the older models from the past and 1975-1976, 1980-1981, 1982-1986, 1992-1999, 2000-2005. I was not too thrilled about the downsized 1987-1991 model because of its length, trunk space and exterior door handles. It as a difficult time at GM. The Bonneville was the only full sized GM car that never offered digital gauges. The SSE offered a heads up display. It has always been analog gauges all the way up until the end. I also liked the Pontiac Grand Ville. That was a combination of Grand Prix and Bonneville. It was basically in the Pontiac lineup above the Bonneville in the early to mid 1970's and it was like Pontiac's version of the GM C-Body. The car became Bonneville Brougham in 1976. Thank you again.

I loved when GM body colored the rims to match the body - looked especially hot in this car, the 6000 STE and the Trans Sport.

I have two 2001 SSEi Bonnies (one is in poor condition and the other is in amazing shape and fully loaded). I was very lucky to get the fully loaded one with Android Auto pre installed for 3 grand in early 2020. I'm very happy to be so satisfied with owning a car. I plan to drive a Bonnie for at least the next decade. It is the perfect balance between modernization and simplicity for me (as long as the head unit is upgraded to one compatible with Android Auto (the head unit even has HD radio, something my brother's 600 dollar stereo upgrade doesn't have in his newer car). I love showing off the unexpected features like the air pump (most people have never seen a car that can pump up its own tires) and the heads up display (it's actually a bit baffling to me that these weren't mandated by law in the mid 2010s when you consider the extremely low cost it would take to implement such a feature with more modern tech, especially now in 2024). Really looking forward to your next Bonneville video. These cars already stand out in some places (I've met plenty of people who have never seen one before). I'm lucky to have one that's in such great condition (it's at over 150k miles too, which means at least most of the previous owners loved their car too).

The '92 SSEi was truly a sports sedan. fun to drive, luxurious, on the windshield display, all leather, very nice. I was a dealership delivery driver, when dealerships would swap cars, I got to drive brand new cars, from one dealership to another, a hundred miles or less away. Lots of fun for an 18 yr old.

I was born in '84, so I was 10 in 1994. The Bonneville SSEi and the Grand Prix GT-P had the same engine and both were very respected amongst people who were into fast cars. In 2000 I was 16 and these cars were still in production at a time when the Prelude and Civic Si were on the road and people were street racing. When a supercharged Bonneville or Grabd Prix showed up to race, people were afraid to lose to them, which they would, and again, these cars were respected. At the time you were able to replace the pulley on the superchargers and get 300hp out of them. I really wanted a Grand Prix GTP.