Questions about a new purchase of 2005 Bonneville GXP

[jargarner]

1. What are the pros and cons of subscribing to ONSTAR?
2. Do you have to have a subscription to use a verizon phone integration?
3. Are there lights in the trunk lid or just on the tail light corners. (My old 97 ssei lit up across the back).
4. It has the Pearl White (Diamond)color - What other GM cars did that color come on? (Grand Prix?)
5. What else should I know about the car... from other owners. Totally happy with everything so far

[00Beast]

The only lights in the trunk lid, like all other 00+ bonnevilles, are in the 3rd brake light, just below the spoiler.

As far as onstar, Pros:
Roadside assistance
Directions (if you pay for that package)
Handsfree calling (you do have to subscribe to Onstar for that feature)
If you get in an accident, it automatically calls the police/EMT's/Onstar Calling Center
Other stuff I'm missing

Cons:
It's Expensive, especially if you don't use it.

I know some cadillac's could be had in the Diamond White, not sure what else. Never seen a GP in that color.

Brakes cause a LOT of dust, and the wheels are very sensitive to curb damage. Other than that, we've been very happy with our GXP. (It's my dad's DD, I drive it very rarely).

[ddalder]

1. What are the pros and cons of subscribing to ONSTAR?

I have OnStar and definitely like it. Of course there is a price. With the generation that's in our vehicles and the "Safe and Sound" plan, you'll have such features as:

1. Automatic airbag notification. The car won't contact OnStar automatically unless an airbag(s) have deployed.
2. Remote door unlock in case you lock your keys inside.
3. Monthly automatic remote vehicle diagnostics with an e-mail report.
4. On demand (limited) vehicle diagnostics.
5. Priority contact with an OnStar rep in an emergency by pressing the red emergency button.
6. Ability to purchase minutes for the built in 3 watt cell phone.
7. Ability to share cell minutes with your existing plan (if you're a Verizon customer). An additional fee is charged for this service. It's called the "OnStar Minute Sharing Plan".
8. Ability for the police to have tracking information if your car is stolen.
9. Perhaps one or two others I can't recall. Check out http://www.onstar.com for all the details.

2. Do you have to have a subscription to use a verizon phone integration?

There is a minute sharing plan. Details are in my answer above. You can purchase just OnStar minutes for calls anywhere in Canada or the US, but they are VERY expensive.

3. Are there lights in the trunk lid or just on the tail light corners. (My old 97 ssei lit up across the back).

Park lights are only in the tail lights. I do know someone who modified their car so the entire reflecter assembly across the trunk lit up. This is doable, just not stock.

4. It has the Pearl White (Diamond)color - What other GM cars did that color come on? (Grand Prix?)

If I recall correctly, the Buick Lucerne also came in Tri-Gold White. Not sure about others. Probably easy to find out with a little internet research.

5. What else should I know about the car... from other owners. Totally happy with everything so far

There are definitely some problems, many of them are shared with the other Bonneville trim levels. This includes such things as the intermediate steering shaft, sun roof and door water leaks, some interior lighting (radio and instrument cluster backlighting), power window regulators and others. Warranty has covered some problems for me (compass module, transmission problem, timing cover seal, oil cooler and transmission lines). They definitely aren't a completely trouble free car, but I'm still happy I bought mine.

[GXP_vince]

1. What are the pros and cons of subscribing to ONSTAR?
2. Do you have to have a subscription to use a verizon phone integration?
3. Are there lights in the trunk lid or just on the tail light corners. (My old 97 ssei lit up across the back).
4. It has the Pearl White (Diamond)color - What other GM cars did that color come on? (Grand Prix?)
5. What else should I know about the car... from other owners. Totally happy with everything so far

1. IMO dont get it, some people say get it for the safety. Unless you lock your keys in your car, or want directions, or safety features (like getting into an accident and Onstar calling the ambulance) Its pretty expensive. I do like the reports though thats a cool feature.
2. Dont know.
3. Dont understand your question.
4. I have recently seen, I believe, it was a Newer Buick Lucerne that had that color and I believe some Caddy's had that same color.
5. You might eventually run into Fog lights going out constantly. In which case you may have to replace a wiring harness. I had a strut mount break for no reason. Intermediate Steering Shaft might become an issue at some point also. Check your spare wheel hole for water... Haven't heard many problems with the Northstar in them.

Other than that I think it was a pretty good car while I had it.

[dpnewfie]

1. What are the pros and cons of subscribing to ONSTAR? A little more than an autoclub membership but worth every penny.
2. Do you have to have a subscription to use a verizon phone integration? Yes.
3. Are there lights in the trunk lid or just on the tail light corners. (My old 97 ssei lit up across the back). Just the tail corners.
4. It has the Pearl White (Diamond)color - What other GM cars did that color come on? (Grand Prix?) Just Buick.
5. What else should I know about the car... from other owners. Totally happy with everything so far. I have driven a very happy 106k miles. Small issues include fog light bulbs burn out quickly, intermediate shaft is problematic. No leaks but at the same time I don't have a sunroof. As far as brakes go; A good set of ceramic pads will clear this up.

[CMNTMXR57]

The Aurora as well as All Caddy's come in a similar white diamond color.

Issues with the car more specific to the GXP's than the other Bonneville's;
- Fog lights
- Brakes (their dust creating ability)
- Sunroof can leak
- Cam covers leak due to a combo of bolts coming loose and bad gasket.
- Prone to coolant leaking from the back of the block where it's inaccessible without removing the transaxle. I solved it by running a can of block seal through the cooling system.
- Electronics can go funky in cold weather.

Any wheel is prone to damage if you "curb" them!! The trick is, putting a set of tires on the car that have the rim protecting lip.

[00Beast]

Ours are nasty from the people who drove it at my dad's work (was a company car before he bought it). The back two are shot, and someone tried fixing them with silver paint, and just made it worse.

/offtopic

[05gxp]

Any wheel is prone to damage if you "curb" them!! The trick is, putting a set of tires on the car that have the rim protecting lip.

The "trick" is to not hit curbs.

[CMNTMXR57]

I don't.

Just stating the obvious. :D

Actually, I noticed my one wheel got scuffed up at the car wash the last time it was there...

[Bvill_GXP]

Had mine for going on 2 months now and it's great.. besides the fog light going out every 3 weeks and the fact that it likes to drink fuel it's great!!!! I wouldn't trade it for nothing!!! I'm also thinking about on star too... But FYI you may want to check with on star on the Verizon b/c i called last Tuesday and they told me that they no longer let you share mins with your Verizon mins anymore and they had stopped doing that pretty recently like late last month some time... I called Verizon and they told me that they couldn't set it up and they gave me on star number... then i got the bad news from them!!!! But I'm not to certain i got the truth on that Verizon deal... I do plan to call back later to ask again though....

[two bonnies]

1. What are the pros and cons of subscribing to ONSTAR?
2. Do you have to have a subscription to use a verizon phone integration?
3. Are there lights in the trunk lid or just on the tail light corners. (My old 97 ssei lit up across the back).
4. It has the Pearl White (Diamond)color - What other GM cars did that color come on? (Grand Prix?)
5. What else should I know about the car... from other owners. Totally happy with everything so fa

I've had Clyde for nearly three years (Bonnie died last year July RIP, my beautiful Silver Taupe 96 SSE!). So a few opinions.

1. I have a cell phone and a GPS, therefore, cannot justify the expense of ON-STAR. But I do keep him parked in the garage most of the time (only 42k thus far) so if you travel alot and don't have a cell, or travel to cell dead zones, it *might* be useful.
2. No idea
3. The best car I ever saw for lights across the back were the old Buick Century's . Beautiful. Next prolly the 93 Grand Prix STE, which is my second favorite car of all time to a 91 Bonnie SSE.
4. Only Caddy and it is not the same paint code. Not sure if the mixture is the same, but its close.
5. Intermediate rack goes bad. Fog lights will drive you crazy until you ground them to the frame, don't expect it to be miserly on gas, but expect EVERYBODY who know cars to ask you about it. Every time I take mine for any routine maintenance all the shop guys want to sit in it.

The gauge cluster represents man's perfection of the analog dash. No one will ever attain such perfection as the Bonneville GXP gauge cluster. I used to think the '91ish Olds Calais 442 gauge package was perfect, but it even can't compare to the Bonnie GXP. The air compressor is invaluable - it has saved me several times and many an underinflated friend. I WORSHIP the HUD and the seats come nowhere as close to as comforable as the "corvette" seats in the SSE, although they are heated, which helps.

Did I mention the melodious sound from the exhaust? I used to think the 3100's had a great rumble. Nothing compared to an N* in a Bonneville.

I have a motto when the obnoxious Mustang or Corvette pulls beside... I can haul a$$ AND a family.

[00Beast]

1. I have a cell phone and a GPS, therefore, cannot justify the expense of ON-STAR. But I do keep him parked in the garage most of the time (only 42k thus far) so if you travel alot and don't have a cell, or travel to cell dead zones, it *might* be useful.

Problem is, On-Star runs off of cell signal. So, if your cell isn't working, then On-star probably won't either.

[two bonnies]

I learned something today.

So really, there is NO need for On-Star if you have a cell. I thought it was satellite based.

[00Beast]

The digital On-star *might* be, but I know the analog was cell based, so I'm assuming that since cell phones were required to switch from analog to digital signal, the same thing happened with On-star, and they switched to digital cell signal.

[two bonnies]

If you are correct, then there really is NO reason to have ON-STAR if you have a cell.

Very interesting. And glad I never activated it in the GXP.

[CMNTMXR57]

The gauge cluster represents man's perfection of the analog dash. No one will ever attain such perfection as the Bonneville GXP gauge cluster. I used to think the '91ish Olds Calais 442 gauge package was perfect, but it even can't compare to the Bonnie GXP. The air compressor is invaluable - it has saved me several times and many an underinflated friend. I WORSHIP the HUD and the seats come nowhere as close to as comforable as the "corvette" seats in the SSE, although they are heated, which helps.

Did I mention the melodious sound from the exhaust? I used to think the 3100's had a great rumble. Nothing compared to an N* in a Bonneville.

I have a motto when the obnoxious Mustang or Corvette pulls beside... I can haul a$$ AND a family.

Well, not to split hairs, but I gotta disagree with you on the gauge thing. it IS a nice one, one of GM's nicer analog setups, but it isn't one of their best. I can think of a few Vette's, especially ZO6's (which the owner of a Vette doesn't give a sh*t whether you can haul a$$ and a family, because he'll be in the next zip code by the time you cross the intersection, but hey...), a few Caddy's, and even my GTO. I have a built in shift light on mine! I have it customized with HSV startup logo, my own display when off (it says "Lanes GTO 2004"), turned up the intensity of the LED's, changed colors to be Pontiac Warm Red with orange needles, and the lighting is all LED, not bulbs, which ensures more richer, evenly distributed lighting, and several other things like chime indicators (like when the shift light goes off, so do the alarms in the cluster as well as it displays "Engine at redline"

Here's the biggest one I have uploaded currently;


Here it is in the car;