Nice to hear the GXP has some good brakes. I wish all cars came with good brakes instead of adding gobs of HP....

with red calipers you cant really deliver substandard brakes. Do you think they will let a 17 year old drive one?

This Pisses me off. I looked at what insurance would be for me. For fullt coverage with a $1k liability it would only be $203 a month. But then monthly payments on the car loan would be damn near $500, so $700 a month on the car payments alone -well a little too rich for my taste, but then again how many N* V8 Bonneville'* do you see everyday? Maybe next year or the year after the price might come down a tad or maybe I'll be making more than $8 an hour. Then again I will be making over $13 an hour -that'* my goal for this year is to find a good paying job, and hopefully I can get one then.

I drove one today. I have an SSEi right now, and I can say that the GXP was a bit disappointing.

I was expecting a fire breathing V8 monster, but it was pretty docile really. The acceleration was good, slighly faster than the SSEi but not what I expected.

The sales guy was raving about it so I thought I would show him how the Bonnie'* really handle, and I threw it around a couple of tight roundabouts at about 55Mph. Wheel squeel and it gripped like glue and it was a nice handling car. I actually scuffed up the sides of the tires on that roundabout !! The sales guy was freaking out I think. Did a couple of high speed standing starts 0-80 and 80-0 and it was pretty sweet. Nice brakes.

Engine sounds great, it just needs a little more power though.

Now they just need to supercharge the V8 and then I will be one happy camper.....

Thanks for the review

is the off the line power comparable to your 97 ssei? is the 97 stock?

well, i think it had a bit more power off the line than my SSEi but in a rolling start from about 20Mph and then holding it flat to the floor, I think my SSEi would have been faster. I was unimpressed with the 2nd gear acceleration.

It did rev out to readline smoothly with no obvious engine strain - it didnt sound like it was breathing hard or anything. It was interesting seeing the tach at about 6500RPM and just hearing the roar of the V8 (yes, it sounds good) . My SSEi at readline is loud and sounds like it doesnt want to be there.

Yes, my SSEi is stock.

I am looking at getting a newer car soon, and i think I have narrowed it down to one of these, or a 740iL BMW. I think they are comparable.

Cheers,

The salesman I bought my current Bonneville from called today. He said they had a GXP and would I like to test drive it?
It was a nice car and had good mid range power. However, I have been very disappointed in the quality of my 2000 so I'm not sure I'll buy another. Even without that, it wasn't enough nicer than my 2000 to make me want to pony up the money for the GXP.

Hi Mark,

I'm interested in what quality issues you are seeing. I know both of my other Bonnie'* have transmission issues, I'm wondering what you are seeing in the newer ones.

Cheers,

I swear, you name it, I've had it. It was in at least 6 times over a year'* time for the leaking trunk, the ignition module failed twice(once stranding me in Maine for a week), the hood had what looked like a hand print in it when new, the paint blistered up on the hood and was just repainted, new steering rack, intermediate shaft issues and probably some I've forgotten.