Bought a new car.. saying good-bye to the Bonneville

[thekalman]

In August 09 I bought my first car, the 1996 SLE in my sig below. I love the Bonneville, and I think as a first car it certainly set the standard for comfort, performance, and features that I have to have in any future car I own. I've been trying to find a newer SSEi for the last little while. Unfortunately what people are asking for a 9th Gen SSEi in good condition in these parts just isn't worth it for a 6-10 year old car. There's nothing really wrong with my Bonneville (although in a year I've spent what I paid for it in repairs), I just wanted something quite a bit newer, a bit more sporty with better pickup than the L36 has when you hit the go-peddle.

So today I took a little road trip and bought a newer car to replace my Bonneville:







47,000 kilometers on the ODO. I didn't really want to part with the Bonneville, but they offered me what I felt was fair price for a trade in, especially since I don't have anywhere to store the extra car and can't justify the expense to keep two cars insured.

So on Saturday I say good-bye to my 3800-powered friend that served as my foray into car ownership, and I hope I won't miss it too much once I get the new one on the highway for a good, long stretch

[repinS]

AWESOME!!

I've been following G8 prices here a lot lately, in preparation for getting one myself (though I haven't ruled out a GTO). How much did this set you back if you don't mind me asking?

[Jim W]

Nice ride! Congrats on the bright red GT!

I see yer in Oakville now...werent you in Barrie?

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Nice trade! How do you like it so far?

[Lanaue]

In August 09 I bought my first car, the 1996 SLE in my sig below. I love the Bonneville, and I think as a first car it certainly set the standard for comfort, performance, and features that I have to have in any future car I own. I've been trying to find a newer SSEi for the last little while. Unfortunately what people are asking for a 9th Gen SSEi in good condition in these parts just isn't worth it for a 6-10 year old car. There's nothing really wrong with my Bonneville (although in a year I've spent what I paid for it in repairs), I just wanted something quite a bit newer, a bit more sporty with better pickup than the L36 has when you hit the go-peddle.

So today I took a little road trip and bought a newer car to replace my Bonneville:







47,000 kilometers on the ODO. I didn't really want to part with the Bonneville, but they offered me what I felt was fair price for a trade in, especially since I don't have anywhere to store the extra car and can't justify the expense to keep two cars insured.

So on Saturday I say good-bye to my 3800-powered friend that served as my foray into car ownership, and I hope I won't miss it too much once I get the new one on the highway for a good, long stretch

Great Choice!!

[thekalman]

AWESOME!!

I've been following G8 prices here a lot lately, in preparation for getting one myself (though I haven't ruled out a GTO). How much did this set you back if you don't mind me asking?

Came to $23,000 before all the other fees. There was one in Niagara with 10,000km on it going for $30,000.. it was sold in less than a week :( I didn't get to it in time.

Nice ride! Congrats on the bright red GT!

I see yer in Oakville now...werent you in Barrie?

Yea, moved to Oakville last weekend. Closer to work. My 2 hour commute is now 30 minutes. The only disappointing thing is I take the train, which means I get to drive my car for 2 minutes each way. So about 5 minutes of driving a day if I don't go anywhere else lol.

Nice trade! How do you like it so far?

I pick it up on Saturday, but for the while I drove it I simply loved it. Handles quite different than the Bonneville. It feels a heck of a lot smaller than it actually is.

[00Beast]

<<<<<<<< JEALOUS!!!


Nice ride!! I do agree that it feels way smaller than it is. My ONLY caveat with the G8 is view around the A-pillars, but that's just something to get used to.

[repinS]

Came to $23,000 before all the other fees. There was one in Niagara with 10,000km on it going for $30,000.. it was sold in less than a week :( I didn't get to it in time.

$23,000 after trade and before fees is a GREAT Price for a GT with that mileage. And if that's before trade, then its a SMOKING deal!!

Yea, moved to Oakville last weekend. Closer to work. My 2 hour commute is now 30 minutes. The only disappointing thing is I take the train, which means I get to drive my car for 2 minutes each way. So about 5 minutes of driving a day if I don't go anywhere else lol.

I take it you work downtown Toronto and take the GO train? That's not a bad commute at all, the train is pretty painless. I'm at the Bell Trinity Centre, Bay and Queen. Hydro One. I remember you saying you worked for the government?

[thekalman]

<<<<<<<< JEALOUS!!!


Nice ride!! I do agree that it feels way smaller than it is. My ONLY caveat with the G8 is view around the A-pillars, but that's just something to get used to.

Indeed, that's one thing I noticed right away. Visibility is more limited than the Bonneville. I guess just with where I sit and the mirror positions I had very small blind spots in the Bonnie. It will be a bit of an adjustment.

Came to $23,000 before all the other fees. There was one in Niagara with 10,000km on it going for $30,000.. it was sold in less than a week :( I didn't get to it in time.

$23,000 after trade and before fees is a GREAT Price for a GT with that mileage. And if that's before trade, then its a SMOKING deal!!

Yea the 23 was after trade. The salesguy I was dealing with didn't know if he could get it that low after trade (it was 24.9k before), but went and talked to the owner of the dealership and he said do it. In a private deal I *might* have been able to get more than 2k for the Bonneville, but I doubt it, and what it would have cost me to keep it another month or two until it sold would have really eaten into the profit margin.

I know it's a saleman's job to be likeable, but I thought this guy was really good. I said I wanted to do a short highway run, and he was like "It's a nice day, lets do a long highway run. It's the only way to test this car anyway." So we ended up going from the south end of Barrie almost to Orillia.

I take it you work downtown Toronto and take the GO train? That's not a bad commute at all, the train is pretty painless. I'm at the Bell Trinity Centre, Bay and Queen. Hydro One. I remember you saying you worked for the government?

Yup, I work at the corner of University and Adelaide.

[thekalman]

Picked it up today. I love this car already.

[01bonneSC]

Nice!

Just curious where you get 9th gen from?

9th Gen SSEi :

[J Wikoff]

The 00+ was the 9th generation Bonneville, IIRC.

Nice choice of car! If you want it to really sound like a V8, I recommend an intake and an axleback exhaust. I've got the SLP Blackwing FWI and the SOLO axlebacks with j-pipes. They delete the huge rear mufflers, but have Helmholtz resonators. The result is actually a nice refined deep tone if you keep the stock mid-muffler and resonators. The wife hasn't even mentioned the change in sound. lol It's not loud like I thought it would be with the removed mufflers.

[01bonneSC]

The 00+ was the 9th generation Bonneville, IIRC.

EDIT:::
Actually only 8. Thought he was talking about SSEi specifically.

[J Wikoff]

Wiki shows 9. Maybe two gens weren't really that different?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Bonneville

[01bonneSC]

Wiki shows 9. Maybe two gens weren't really that different?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Bonneville

I used the contents and not the side bar that seperates em. I digress.

[thekalman]

The 00+ was the 9th generation Bonneville, IIRC.

Nice choice of car! If you want it to really sound like a V8, I recommend an intake and an axleback exhaust. I've got the SLP Blackwing FWI and the SOLO axlebacks with j-pipes. They delete the huge rear mufflers, but have Helmholtz resonators. The result is actually a nice refined deep tone if you keep the stock mid-muffler and resonators. The wife hasn't even mentioned the change in sound. lol It's not loud like I thought it would be with the removed mufflers.

I wouldn't mind a better V8 sound. It's quite subdued stock. I'd have to see what I can do though without voiding the warranty (I have 4 years and another 50,000km). Apparently GM has been getting really picky recently with the newer performance cars and voiding warranties if any non-GM work was done.

[00Beast]

Well considering John broke a bolt off trying to put in his new mufflers and they fixed it under warranty, I wouldn't be worried, LOL.

[comatoast]

love the car! I was hoping to get one myself in a year or 2

[thekalman]

I hope you can still find them in 2 years! GT's are getting rare in these parts. That's half the reason I jumped on this one.

[ZLTFUL]

Nice choice. Congrats!
Been eyeballing G8 GXPs myself for a while now. My only problem is, I have to start working again to justify the payment. But I am in luck...my god-father has a silver G8 GXP that he has promised me he wouldn't sell until I am ready to buy. Of course, when you have 4 other cars to drive ranging from an S65 AMG to an Escalade, the G8 would be a bit of a downgrade...but not for me!