as stated by those before me:

powertrain is more or less identical for the L67 equipped W and H cars

2nd gen W'* are ~3400 lbs and generally have a much tigher suspension from the factory with the exception of the granny models (97-up century, some of the 00-up impalas, etc)

fuel economy is similar

if it makes a difference to you, W'* can be found as coupes as well as sedans.

trunks are rather large in either platform, H has a slightly larger engine bay



for a good idea of what you'll be looking at, look up whatever interests you on cars.com, then look for the dealership listings that have like 20+ photos, you'll be able to get a good idea of what everything actually looks like without wasting time trying to find an actual one. this is how i convinced my wife to look at the 01-03 Auroras, and now she wants one BADLY!

What are some common problems to watch for if I'm inspecting a GP or Bonneville in person? Do either of them have problems that the other does not commonly develop?

I assume I need higher octane fuel in forced asp. cars. Do I need 93 octane, or would 91 suffice?

2nd gen Ws: inspect the rear strut area for rust, if it gets bad enough there, the car is essentially worthless.

otherwise, i can't really think of any issues a L67 W has that a L67 H wouldn't...

I love my bonneville SSEi! I hate the fact that'* its going to cost me $3000 to replace the tranny, but it'* worth it! The car has guts! Very comfortable! Next to nothing on insurance payments! Go test drive one, I bet you'll fall in live like I did!

W bodies.. commonly have a broken front sway bar at the endlink area. Window regulators go bad, but are cheap on ebay, ignition switch and blower motor resistor issues. All relatively cheap to fix yourself. except rust under the side skirts.

H body pre 00.. rust in rear right wheel well, water leaks.
H body 00+ window regulators, noisey intermediate steering shaft, water leaks...not too bad.

All factory supercharged Impalas are SS trim, very few other impalas are gonna be supercharged, because its not really an enthusiast car, unless you found an enthusiast who slapped a supercharger onto one themselves. Just thought I'd put some of my beginners knowledge out there

I finally bought a car today. I ended up getting a 1997 Bonneville SE 40th Anniversary Edition. It has 76,000 miles on it. It also has a CD player with graphic equalizer, leather seats, remote start (aftermarket), and car phone (lol). I'll need to fix the stereo display (doesn't light up), but otherwise it'* in great shape. I'm picking it up from the dealer on Monday. I'll get some pictures up when I have it at home.

Ive always wanted a 40th Ann Bonnie! Dark purple? I thought u were going supercharged? lol. They still have some gitty up tho.. Very low miles!

PICS!!!!!

i like the na engine, but it dont have to be a race car for some. see if you can get a record of if the intake manifold has been replaced, i think it was somewhere around that mileage that mine cracked

It IS supercharged.