Hello folks,

I am looking for a supercharged 3800-powered car for a while. My preference is the W-body as my current 2000 regal LS serve me well( I did send it to shop for the known UIM/LIM issue and DIY 3 window regulators and 2 front wheel bearing). However, I recently found this SSEi as a local trade-in in a new car dealership. Carfax shows it is first owner car with only 84000 miles. With some negotiation, it seems that I can get it around 6K.

So here comes several questions,
(1) What is the reliability of this year SSEi. I am somehow concerned when I read the consumer reviews on different sites as there are more complaints than W-body. Maybe the owner of bonneville just higher expectation for a luxary full size sedan. By the way, the post by Stinger357 "list of repairs for 2001 bonnie" really scared me a little bit. Even I can do some wrench, it still will cause some serious damge to my wallet.
(2) Tranny issue, searching on this sites shows the PCS may fail. I wonder how common is this problem. Is 4t65E HD better than 4l60E used in W body?

Thanks.

They are very reliable if you keep up on maintainance, I'm not suprised you had to have the UIM/LIM repaired, was your UIM warped? and did they replace the LIM gaskets? with that many miles that was a maintainance thing actually

The PCS I don't know how common it is to fail, I don't want to say very common but there is a lot of threads about it on here, it is replaceable with the tranny in the car but tight, a shift kit could fix the problems you might have but you won't know until you drive the car

As the owner of an 00 SSEi i can honestly say these are great cars. However they are prone to the common problems found in pontiacs. Failed window regulators, LIM gasket failure, and in some cases wheel bearings as well. But alot of that depends on how well the car has been taken care. There were a few things i had to fix on mine when i got it and im still working on some of them. But still This is by far my favorite car i've had so far. The supercharged 3800 makes up for a lot of the common issues, most of which are easy to fix urself.

Yah, if you have a decent set of tools and hands we can help you fix your car

Thanks for all the information, folks. I went to the dealership and tested drive the bonnie.
The coolant looks clear and no sign of coolant leakage so far. However, the tranny jerks from R-D and I can also feel some hard shifts during local driving (the fluid level and color are OK although a service is needed). Frankly speaking, I am little disappointed, as my 2000 regal with 144K miles and 1999 cherokee with 110K have much better shift quality than this one owner, 84K miles 2001 bonnie. Also the head-up display is not working and interior trim seems loose. Given this is the top line model, I am expecting a little bit better quality.

i have a 2000 that i bought for $3500 and it had it'* issues but not too bad i have seen plenty of 02-03 with less issues that need fixing right away for $5,000-$9,000 and they have the better center console already i had to put mine in out of an 02

keep looking around you'll find a nice one that'll make ya giggle when ya romp the gas and everything works i have no issues with my trim only ones that have had the dash ripped apart and not reassembled properly have i seen loose panels and trim

The shifts could have been because the car was idling higher to warm up and there is this flimsy front mount on the transmission that likes to break, I broke one in a few months

I checked the shifting after highway driving when temp reached normal range. Still has the same jerk.

Might be a pressure thing, or just a little low on fluid, one of BillBoost'* shift kits can fix that if he makes more of them