Hey guys

I know that we all love and cherish our Bonnevilles dearly but even I admit that I have some gripes about it that Pontiac should have included in its design process.

Example. I would have liked to have split fold rear seats instead of that puny opening in the middle. Or less crap underhood and easy access to spark plugs (much easier) and stronger emergency brakes. Remote close trunk, if they already have a remote to open the trunk, why not have one that close it, a power antenna would have been nice (I don't have one) Better HVAC in base models, the rear passengers are hot while the fronts are freezing and there'* no vents for back there.

How about you guys?

Fuel

I agree about the split fold rear seats, but doing that makes the body less stiff and would probably affect handling.

The split fold would have been nice. Better brakes wouldn't be complained about. I have no problem getting at the plugs. It'* a FWD v-6, nothing you can really do about that. The rest you can get with a higher trim level, other than the remote close trunk. Not a common option, from what I've seen.

Split seats would be nice, but it was orignally done with the pass-through to reduce noise from the trunk. Which is fairly important in a luxury car.

Less 'crap' underhood? Which vital engine system would you like removed? I can think of nothing under the hood that is frivolous or useless. Well, maybe the HUGE washer bottle on the SSEis. Fact of the matter is, you won't get much better spark plug access on a FWD car. The nature of the design eliminates easy access. And, truth be told, you haven't begun to experience difficulty until you've tried to change the plugs on a Chevy Venture/Pontaic Montana or a Pontiac Transport, hell, any FWD minivan. The Bonne is probably one of the most easily accessible FWD vehicles.

It takes a lot more to remote close the trunk over remote opening. All remote opening does is open the latch and allow the trunk to pop open on springs. Whereas remote closing would require something electrical or hydralic (sp) to close the trunk. AKA something else to go wrong, one more thing to fix, and more weight for negligible benefit.

Power antenna and HVAC are great on SSEis/higher optioned cars, so I can't comment.

About the only thing I agree with you on is the brakes, very inadequete considering the size of the car and the power of the L67 cars (even the L27/L36s I'm sure).

I think they could have also gone with one notch bigger wheels on SSEis (17s), just because the wheels look so ridiculously small compared to the car.

I'd love if I could get to the plugs easier to, but I'd rather have the FWD and all that "crap" that'* under the hood. That "crap" carries some get-up-and-go with it. Split seats I could live without. I could even do without the pass through door if I had to (did with my Eagle). And about the antenae, was this only offered on the SLE and not the SE? Mine has it. It doesn't work, but it has it.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention to the underhood, my apologies. You mentioned that if we had split fold rear seats, we would lose rigidity, correct? Well, why couldn't we add a strut bar right below the height of the headrests so that the bar doesn't infer witht the cargo. You're right on the spark plugs, only thing easier is a four banger. The remote close would have been cool.

The power antenna, that I really don't need because I can't hear the music (I'm deaf) but I got my antenna ripped out by a hose from the local carwash. I mean there was a big gaping hole in the side. That'* repaired but it would have been nice to have it be down when I need it to. Some of you have SE or have experienced a SE must admit that the HVAC is very poor for the rear occupants. I think I may do some ductwork so I have heat and air back there this spring/summer

Fuel

Aren't there still vents on the centre console? Or I guess it may just lack a console all together.

Are there SEs with consoles?

Well I can tell you that there'* definitely no vents on my center console. I knew that some Bonnevilles had them and I was disappointed that mine didn't have it but that didn't stop me from buying it.

I think you have to have bucket seats in order to have rear vents because then the ductwork can be run under the center console and be out of view while bench seats has no console at all and the ductwork would be visible and the storage compartment that folds up and down wouldn't be a good place for the vents because it'* constantly moved 90 degrees upright then folded down.
That'* from my observations.

Fuel

the cars with the Buckets have rear air/heat...you have to pay alittle more to get all the goodies....they are out there some cars dont have all the features

As far as plugs are concerned, I don't have a problem getting to them.

No one has ever complained about not having enough AC or heat in my back seat.

I would have liked disc brake in the rear though, just cause they look so damn cool