I’ve written about this car in previous years, and said I believe it to be one of the most underrated cars on the road in terms of style and performance. Nothing I saw in the 2000 Pontiac Bonneville has made me change that opinion. It’s only been reinforced.

Pontiac has always traded on distinctive styling, and the newest version of its flagship sedan is no exception. It offers an aggressive stance that won’t suit anyone wanting to blend in to the crowd, but the Bonneville will turn those heads looking for a genuine sports sedan that can seat six in comfort. This is a car that can certainly hold its own with the European and Japanese genre of its class.

Although the 2000 Bonneville sports an all-new design, its overall dimensions are pretty much the same — as is what’s under the hood. But, there’s no mistaking it — even at a glance — for anything other than a Pontiac.

The Bonneville comes in three trim levels — SE, SLE and SSEi. The difference between the top and bottom of the line is about $8,000 on the sticker. Our test model was the SE, which I must say, is fairly well equipped for a base model.

GM’s workhorse 3.8-liter V6 sits under the hood of all three Bonnevilles. The SE and SLE come with the normally aspirated version which puts 205 ponies to the pavement while the SSEi is equipped with a supercharger that boosts the number of horses to 240. As much as I appreciate high-performance and naturally would have enjoyed the supercharged version, in my opinion, the SE performs very well when benchmarked against European and Japanese challengers in the same class.

The SE includes a pretty comprehensive list of features that include a four-speed automatic, air conditioning, tilt wheel, power door locks, windows and mirrors along with a reasonably good sound system. Anti-lock brakes on all four wheels along with front and side airbags are standard on all Bonnevilles. Most of the standard features on the more upscale models are available as options on the lower-priced models.

The Bonneville’s interior is long on space and the optional front bench seat has room for six — although I wouldn’t want to take a trip sitting there. Rear-seat head and legroom are excellent. The standard version is equipped with spacious, comfortable buckets in front, finished in a cloth material. Our test vehicle came with the optional leather. A six-way power front driver seat option offers an almost infinate number of possible adjustments at the touch of a button.

Rear-seat passengers enjoy a decent sized center armrest with cupholders and storage box. and there’s pass-through access to the trunk for skis and other long items when the console is folded down.

The cockpit boasts a center console that wraps around the driver much like in a sports car. Instrumentation is a group of six small but easy to read gauges — oil pressure, voltage, tach, fuel and water temperature — as well as the speedometer, all clustered in front of the steering wheel. All night, all are viewed in Pontiac’s signature red illumination. A second set of radio controls mounted on the steering wheel offers convenience as well as safety. A tire-inflation monitor that constantly informs the driver of each tire’s inflation status is a useful standard feature appearing on only a handful of cars before now.
On the highway, the Bonneville proves it’s more than just another pretty car. The powerplant has more torque than most of its rivals, which offers the instant gratification of strong acceleration. The transmission shifts very smoothly and this car delivers promptly.
The 2000 Bonneville has a much stiffer body than previous models and it shows up in the handling along winding 2 lane blacktops. This car offers a solid feel, void of the usual wallow common to much of Detroit’s full-size iron of years gone by. The Bonneville’s “wide track” design also leads to better, more surefooted cornering.

Thanks to careful suspension design, even though the car is front-wheel-drive, it doesn’t suffer much from torque steer. (Torque steer pulls the steering wheel of front wheel drive cars in one direction under hard acceleration.) Traction control (optional on the SE) helps keep the front tires from spinning under heavy acceleration. All models now come standard with a load-leveling rear suspension system, which helps handling consistency regardless of the cargo or passenger load.
The optional Stabilitrak system helps provide additional stability by selectively applying the brakes to the front wheels in emergency situations to counteract skids. This system used to be available only on high-priced European sedans.

Whines: Even though the base SE comes with a 205 horse engine, I’d prefer to see about 20 more horses. Then the base model would compete with just about anything in it class from Europe or Japan without an upgrade under the hood.

Kudos: This car, in its upscale versions, could be benchmarked performance-wise against the BMW 5 series, Lexus ES 300 and Audi A6 — it’s that good — although it’s not quite on a par in the luxury category.

Bottom Line: Anyone who needs a full-size car but doesn’t want to leave Coolville for the family sedan should check out the Bonneville. It has a unique, stylish image coupled with a roomy interior and excellent performance. It’s a value price-wise, offering as much or more than most of its import market competition.