Welcome to the Hooniverse Obscure Muscle Car Garage, a feature in which we try and introduce you to muscle cars you may have never considered Muscle Cars, and to try and convince you that they are… During this series of postings, I have tried to convince you that FWD Sedans with beefed up performance V-8 Engines are Modern Day Muscle Cars. They have engines that are pretty powerful, driving the Front Wheels, and with the correct electronic aids, they not only perform as well as some of the real Fire-Breathing Muscle Cars of the past, but they also handle pretty good. We have inducted the stablemate to this car, the Pontiac Grand Prix GXP (Just Barely), but rejected the very similar Chevrolet Impala SS, and the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS (which lost by a huge margin). Well, let’s try a trifecta, er perfecta, or whatever… Introducing the Pontiac Bonneville GXP, with the Cadillac Northstar under the hood… According to all things Wikipedia:

The Pontiac Bonneville regained a V8 option on the GXP trim for 2004, its first since 1986, as a result of the discontinuation of the Oldsmobile Aurora. This opened up a “hole” in the GM lineup between Pontiac and Buick, allowing Pontiac to expand upmarket somewhat. The engine is Cadillac’s 4.6 L (280 cu in) Northstar V8, producing 275 hp, and 300 lb·ft of torque…

This was a strange time for General Motors, as it was quietly winding down the Oldsmobile Division, while gearing up for what would be it’s near catastrophic demise, the summer 2005 Employee Pricing for Everyone shell game. The company was building anything and everything they could to try and keep up with the likes of the Ford Motor Company, the newly merged Daimler Chrysler Corporation, and those pesky Japanese Transplants in an effort to keep the number one sales title firmly entrenched at One Renaissance Center. So while building every single platform for every division (Except the Corvette), GM spent very little time in developing new platforms of their volume products. We already saw a new (ish) 5.3L V-8 go under the hood of “performance” Chevrolets, Pontiacs, and even the Buick LaCrosse. They replaced the old Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet Minivans with FOUR updated ones (including one for Buick and Saturn). And in a Marketing Move destined to fail, GM decided to have a version of their midsize SUV available to mostly all the divisions, including Isuzu, and Saab. OK, let’s get back to the Bonnivelle GXP, shall we? The Bonneville Sedan was built on one of the Generals Large FWD platforms, the “G” platform, though Pontiac referred to it as the “H” platform, and was introduced in the 2000 model year. This was a rather unsuccessful update of the more stylish 1992 to 1999 edition, with fussier detailing, and an expanded use of “Body Side Cladding”. The fussy detailing did not stop on the outside, as the instrument panel was one of the busiest ever designed by man. In my opinion, it was a hot mess… The performance version of the Bonneville was the SSEi, which featured the 3800 Series II Buick designed V-6 with an Eaton Supercharger. By this time, the L67 V6 produced 260 HP and 280 lb·ft of torque. Wanting to take the Bonneville up the Executive Scale Ladder in late 2004, the GM division placed the LD8 Cadillac Northstar Engine (often referred to as the “Shortstar) which was rated at 275 HP, and 300 lb·ft of torque, which was really not a considerable increase over the old Supercharged Power Plant. The real shame comes from the fact that the transmission was a decade old 4T80-E 4-Speed Automatic, though it was beefed up for this application after it was initially the exclusive property of Cadillac in the late 90’s. Dependable though it may be, it is still one cog short. So, what is the perfomance of the Last Pontiac Bonneville anyway? When introduced it was wearing 18-inch 5-spoke alloy wheels wearing 235/50-series Goodyear tires, a rather aggressive combination for such a boulevard cruiser. With those tires biting for traction, the Bonneville GXP runs to 60mph in 7.8 seconds. The quarter mile ends in a best time of 16-seconds at 88 miles-per-hour, and this was according to Motor Week at the time (Car and Driver achieved times of 15.4 seconds at 91 miles-per-hour). These times were only a few tenths quicker than the earlier Bonneville SSEi with its supercharged V-6, but the Public Television Show felt that the GXP V-8 has a broader spread of power. Torque was instantly available, and is delivered much more smoothly that the boosted engine. Now, in your best John Davis Voice, repeat after me: “The Northstar’s satisfying rumble, combined with a firm but not harsh ride, gives the GXP a sporty character that is unexpected in a full-size sedan. Plus, it sounds great.” Handling was the most unlike a traditional Muscle Car, probably due to the Bonneville’s well-programmed and fast-acting StabiliTrak anti-skid system (first introduced with the Supercharged SSEi Version). It controls the brakes just enough to rotate the Bonneville back to course, a better safety strategy than a bag full of airbags. The ride is a different story, so expect the GXP to ride less like a Luxury Car, and more like a stiffly sprung sports car, with firmer damping and less suspension travel. Cars with more than a few miles under their chassis will have a full compliment of creeks and groans. That suspension includes a forked aluminum control arm in the rear that serves as both a trailing and diagonal arm. It is braced by a center-line-mounted (and hence, very long) toe-control link. This arrangement, odd-looking though it may be, nonetheless helped supply decent poise up to 7/10ths. A contemporary road test by Car and Driver concluded that this car was preferred over the elderly Ford Crown Victoria in a comparison test (but not the new Chrysler 300C). The instrument panel produced a divided opinion from publication to publication. Let’s just say this, you will never find a modern instrument panel like this one again… ever. The rest of the interior is also subject to questions, like this: Why the hell did they do that? The front seats are broad, yet lumpy, and not at all comfortable, with suede inserts on the door panels and seats. They have standard 12-way power and position memory for the driver, and the seatbelt system is integrated into the seat-backs for an uncomfortable belt position. The pricing for this Northstar equipped Bonneville started at $35,995, for the 2005 model, and with options like heads-up display and XM Satellite Radio, these cars pushed over $37,000 easily. They did not sell well at all, with only 2,420 Bonneville GXP sold for 2004, and about 4,193 produced for the abbreviated 2005 model year. The Bonneville was discontinued in February of 2005. Enough of all this fussiness, and let’s get to the meat of the matter. Does a Cadillac Powered, Front-Wheel-Drive, Full Sized Pontiac Sedan even remotely belong in the Hooniverse Obscure Muscle Car Garage? Remember, it was you who inducted its stablemate, the Grand Prix GXP, so there is precedence. Vote now in our poll, and remember to comment on this entry, as well as the series itself. Please Note: All Images are screen grabs from around the web. If you want credit for any image, please let me know in the comments section. Thank You! [poll id=”220″]