Today I drove a 1997 Bonneville SSEi. The dealer said it was his personal car for 3 years, even though I saw him roll into the lot with a mercedes convertible that sounded a little (and by that, I mean a lot) more powerful than some SSEi. However, I was curious of the difference between the SE and the SSEi. He claimed to have new valve cover gaskets (even though I saw oil running down the front of the motor), new tires (even though they squeeled on slow turns and appeared to only have 50% tread remaining), and the supercharger just had new synthetic oil put into it. I don't know anything about superchargers, so I couldn't confirm that.

I drove it... the gauge hit 7 psi and I didn't feel a dang difference between my SE and that SSEi after three and a half grand. I think my rental 99' Buick Lesabre would give it some competition easily. I have to believe that car wasn't in very good shape tune-up wise. He said in the three years, it'* had three trans flushes and two coolant flushes. I figured that was true considering he was a dealer and only had to pay for materials. 128k mi.

What do you guys think? Sound retarded or typical? The features I liked very much was the normal vs. performance shift, and didn't notice any difference between the ride buttons, and the Heads Up display was pretty sweet. I think the guy was talking out his *** maintenance wise, he wanted $4500.00. I would be willing to put money down that I could beat him from a 30 mph start.

What'* your guys' opinions?

EDIT: Oh yeah, I know it'* not just me, I forgot to mention the guy I brought along said the same thing.

your car 0-60 -- 9seconds ish

SSEi - 7 seconds

there is a huge difference. the car was obviously not running right

Car not running right, salesman talking out his behind

I'd check out other places

Wait, synthetic oil in the supercharger?
How much does anyone want to bet the dumba$$ dealer put 10w30 in it?
Skip it. Trust me, you drive an SSEi that'* running well, and you'll DEFINITELY notice a BIG difference.

according to my FSM GM 12345982 supercharger oil is synthetic oil.. but its not motor oil

Since the dealer obviously wasn't honest about the tires, gaskets..there'* no reason to beleive any of his 'claims'.

What you need to learn is to get the dealer to admit to 'things' without realizing it. Saying something like "Wow its Supercharged! Hows that WOT?" "all this and it runs on regular? Thats amazing!" Then later you can use what you know to haggle a better price. "Well those gaskets are still leaking, since you already changed them it could be a warped head (not really but its 'ammo') I'll have to get those shaved to seal up right" "man these tires are going to be really bad by winter, theres another $400 she'll need"

and then make your lowball offer.

be sure to check the */c over too.

Yes point out all the negatives in the car. Its a car buying tip for you Also check out carbuyingtips.com its pretty good.

Well... It really depends what dealer it is. Some dealers know enough to know there'* something special, almost to the point where they consider it a rare collectors care or some kind of Mercedes or something. Case in point, there'* this SSEi down the road from me. It'* a pretty nice '03, but not really fully loaded. No XM, no HUD and the leather was starting to fray. Not only that, but there was some BAD pulley action going on. It sounds like how my SSEi started up with it'* CAI, only this had the stock airbox. I had a lot going for me. The car has 60k miles, and they want 16k for it. . So, I found this car in January of this year, and every 3 months I came back offering 12k. They laughed in my face. Flash forward to September (present day) and it'* still sitting there. They still won't budge at all, and they use this stupid trick on me: "Well, these days it'* all about payment, price doesn't matter at all, but most people looking at a car like this don't even think about price. Just because it'* a luxury sport sedan and all...."

16k You could get an 04 GXP for less

Hmm... trust me... I can haggle. They wanted me to pay 6200 for my se, ended up paying 4300 plus a 3 yr warranty for 900 bux extra. Grand Marquis, listed at 8k, I explained to them that they weren't going to get near that at the auction that the car was getting ready to be shipped to, paid 4k for it. I'm well aware of how to haggle... and I have the ability to walk away. Thing about today was... the guy sent his mechanic to ride with me, and when I got back, he wasn't there, so I said I'd keep in touch by phone.

Besides.. I didn't want the car, it was wayyyy too dirty for my likes, and my curiosity got the best of me when I compared SE and SSEi together in my head. Just so happened the dealer down the road from my gf'* house had an SSEi lol. Guess I gotta find another SSEi to drive before I really know the difference from the sounds of your replies lol.