When Pontiac moved the Bonneville nameplate to a front-wheel drive platform in the mid Eighties, I didn't pay much attention at first. The Bonneville hadn't really had any real pretensions to performance since the early Seventies, after all.
I kinda liked the looks of those late Eighties Bonnevilles, especially the performance-oriented SSE. The aggressive aero bodywork and alloy wheels were a little let down by the 165hp LN3 3800 Buick V-6 under the hood.
When the second generation of the front wheel drive Bonneville came out for the 1992 model year, however, there was a new top-level performance version. Dubbed the SSEi, it featured even more aggro bodywork than the old SSE, but under the hood was a supercharged version of the 3800 GM corporate V-6.
This 3.8L L67 had a Roots-type supercharger nestled in the valley between the valve covers and cranked out 205 SAE net horsepower, which had been small-block V8 power not many years before that.
Car and Driver tested one in their February '92 issue, and it managed a 7.5 second zero-to-sixty dash and a 15.9 second quarter at 87 mph. It managed 0.78g on the skidpad and managed to get up to 125 before the motor couldn't overcome the wind resistance.
It also sported novelties like an array of buttons for cruise control and the sound system mounted on the steering wheel hub and a speedometer readout projected onto a heads-up display. All this came at an as-tested price of $29,605 in 1992 dollars, or about $67,500 in today's money.
The Dark Green Metallic one in the photo was snapped in May of 2025 using a Canon EOS 40D and an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens.
In 2001-03 I had a '95 SSEi in that same green, and it was a mighty fun car to drive! Unfortunately it also had the troublesome digital/HUD dash, and after having its circuit board fail twice I decided the car needed a new home.
ReplyDeleteIn a classic example of GM beancounting, the engine was built with a plastic heater hose fitting located under the supercharger snout. It failed when I was about about 2 miles from home, and when I later went to get a new fitting the GM parts guy handed me a metal one. Just like the original should've been, for just a little bit more $$$.
Apparently the factory coolant ate intake manifold gaskets, too.
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