Hello Everybody,

I have a 2003 Bonneville that had a lot of problems initially. Fortunately, most were covered by an extended warranty. The steering joint issue, front suspension hubs, leak in the plastic manifold and several minor issues.
But once fixed, the car has been fine and I do all required maintenance. (76k miles now)

If I wanted to buy a newer car similar to the Bonni (Gran Prix, Buick, or even Chev Impala) my question is: Does anyone know if these well known issues have been fixed by GM? If not, I will not consider buying but if the newer ones do not have these problems, I do like the car.

I originally was drawn to these cars because the Buick Regal lead the dependability category for several years. I was shocked when so many issues arose on the Bonni since they share common running gear.

Thank you,
Willydo, Tucson Arizona

all cars have issues, at least you know what you have with the one youve got. my bonnie has 155k on it now and after the manifold i cant remember having anything your going to have to worry about in arizona. just wires and plugs. now at 150k though my trans just went out. but thats not any different then the other cars your talking about.

haveing both the h and w bodies myself and takeing care of others it seems the w bodies have more problems with wheel bearings, struts, the bonnie just seams to wear better.

JW,

Thanks for the reply. I see now that the larger cars are H body (Bonni, LaSabre) and the W bodies are the smaller (GranPrix, Impala, etc). I actually thought these were all the same except for wheelbase. I did have the problems with the struts, steering shaft, manifold in my 2003 Bonni but it sounds like you see the same on the W body. What bothered me about these specific issues is that GM has been making FWD cars for a long time (we had a couple) and didn't have problems. Maybe just trying to "go cheap" or something. The manifold is legit; we need lighter and better materials.
Cheers,
Willydo

ive had a bunch of w bodies back to 88 when they redesigned and they were defiantly worse, as far as the body. i put an untold amount of door handles struts wheel bearings, etc. the rear discs on the early ones were terrible, fuel pumps and those are hard to get to. the newer ones have really come a long way, real good handles hinges, the brakes are way better. and i havent had to do a fuel pump in a while but if i do the car has a trunk access panel.

all you have to do though is work on some other brands a few times and it makes you really appreciate what you have. my father in law has a 05 ram quad hemi, that i unfortunately have to work on. the short story is they have poor engineering that lead to a $800 fuse box swap and no relief for that it will just happen again in 6 more years, the wheel bearings go with out warning and the wheels fall off the truck as your driving. and these are know and popular problems yet i still see that configuration on the newer trucks.
a guy at work has a toyota and everything on it is very expensive, i drive a ford at work dont even get me started on that pos.

so any way i think youll be fine with what you got.