Not As Big As You'd Think

Author's Rating:

Pros: Big trunk, fast engine, sound system audio levels adjusts in driving conditions

Cons: cramped interior, insane radio ergonomics, rotten cruise control

The Bottom Line: 
It's OK, but you can do better with competing models and for less money.

Author's Review
Our family rented a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville SE for a 3 day weekend and I thought I'd record my impressions of the vehicle.

The 2002 Pontiac Bonneville is mostly unchanged from the same bloated design that has plagued the car for the last couple years. Our model had a real spoiler, which didn't help the looks any.

Normally I drive a Toyota Corolla, but we needed a car with more trunk space. The Bonneville delivered a ton of cargo space. But once we got inside the car I sensed that it wasn't much bigger than the Corolla. Hard to believe, but true! It was a few inches wider, of course, but once I got the driver's seat in my most comfortable position (I'm just a bit of 6' 1" tall) and got in the back seat I found that my knees were totally cramped. This was shocking, especially since I've been in my parents' Dodge Intrepid and my in-laws' Chrysler Concorde and these vehicles are comparable to the Bonneville in size but have back seats which are practically living rooms compared the Bonneville!

The car's engine was very responsive, with lots of low-end torque up to about 40 or 50 mph and no detectable oversteer with the front-wheel drive. After 50mph, things got a bit sluggish with the pedal to the floor. It's still fast, but the weight and size of the Bonneville cut out any 'sporty' feel, which is probably expected. There's a pointless tachometer on the gauge cluster in this automatic tranmission-ed vehicle.

Mileage wasn't bad for this tank. After 185 miles I filled up the tank with just over 7 gallons in highway driving.

The driver's seat is OK. Positioning can be quite good with the power adjustments, but the back and leg support was quite poor. Lumbar support seemed to be lacking. My back felt like crap after about 100 miles of driving.

The ergonomics were typical for a GM vehicle; a mess of buttons and gimmicks. The sound system was probably the worst violator. It was sheer disaster trying to get good sound of the radio and the in-dash CD player. The system really wanted you to adjust the EQ. I just wanted simple adjustments for the treble and bass. Considering the age of the typical buyer of this car I doubt they'd care what the EQ is. There were a host of other buttons which were poorly marked and not intuitive.

The cruise control, mounted on the turn signal, was surprisingly poor. You could turn on the cruise, set the speed, reactivate it, and that's it. I didn't see a way to increase or decrease the speed of my cruising. Even my little $14,000 Toyota Corolla has the ability to do this easily and explicitly! Lame-o Pontiac! Can't GM spend an extra couple of bucks to have a decent cruise control installed in a $30,000 car? Talk about cheap!

There was also a button to switch the speedometer from mph to km/h. Why is it there? Other than to amuse my wife for 2 seconds, it's pointless.

I can't see why somebody would spend nearly $30K on this car when you could get basically the same features (with better cruise control and better interior space) for several grand less on competing models.

That's my thoughts. Hope they help you in your decision-making.