My tribute to the last Bonneville...










Did I only post pics of the GXP; concept, concept, and production? ...Ooops. :P

The Bonneville's a good car. Too bad this generation didn't debut with the cleaner mid-season looks or a dashboard that doesn't look like it's designed for teenagers.

I liked the original exterior styling of the 2000 Bonneville, but the interior blew. No way anyone would pay that much for an interior like that!

If people have a gripe with the colors and materials used in the interior, fine. But I love people who bitch about the layout, which is actually quite intuitive with a few flaws (mainly, a DIC that's partially obscured when driving), or the red lighting with some inane comment like "its confusing because red traditionally is used for something that's wrong."

The SSEi and last Aurora were arguably the best overall values of any large car in the early '00s. Stabilitrak, traction control, OnStar, HUD, Connoly leather seats, beautiful 17" chrome wheels, dual unique trapezoidal exhaust tips, astroroof, Bose stereo, full power - all for $33,755 back in 2000 when we drove ours home.

Ironically, I hated the styling of the '00 when I saw the first pictures of it. Chalk it up to lousy GM photography because its a real stand-out five years later. People still ask my father if its new.

I think one of the biggest problems with its interior is the obsessive amount of vents. That it looks cluttered. The layout is perfect, IMO.




It just needs more unity and less clutter. More brightwork would have done it wonder as well...

If people have a gripe with the colors and materials used in the interior, fine. But I love people who bitch about the layout, which is actually quite intuitive with a few flaws (mainly, a DIC that's partially obscured when driving), or the red lighting with some inane comment like "its confusing because red traditionally is used for something that's wrong."

The SSEi and last Aurora were arguably the best overall values of any large car in the early '00s. Stabilitrak, traction control, OnStar, HUD, Connoly leather seats, beautiful 17" chrome wheels, dual unique trapezoidal exhaust tips, astroroof, Bose stereo, full power - all for $33,755 back in 2000 when we drove ours home.

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Yes my gripes center around the materials used and the design of the interior, not the layout itself. GM has some of the best ergonomics in the industry. I also agree with the value of the Bonneville, but is it worth all the grey plastic? IMO, no.

If it had brushed aluminum and maybe some faux carbon fiber accents, it'd be great.

I agree; once you peel off the cheesy cladding, grille, wheels, and foglamps, the Bonneville is a good looking car, particularly in GXP form. In fact, from the outside, the all-new Lucerne isn't that much better. I'm surprised it only lasted five years; with a new interior, some tweaking, and an "employee pricing" MSRP, it could go longer.

I think the interior only has 2 real flaws, other than the vents: the steering wheel looks melted, and the center stack is too "fat".