Good morning! I have a little bit of a theme this week: I’m going to seek out cars that have the same asking price, because I keep forgetting to include the prices in the poll like you all have asked. This way it doesn’t matter; both cars each day will be the same price. We’ll see if I can keep it up all week.
Friday, we stepped out of our comfort zone price-wise, but it was worth it to look at a couple of really cool little vehicles. I had an idea how this one was going to go, and I was right: For the majority of you, as it was for England Dan and John Ford Coley, LUV is the answer. (Yes, there were literally hundreds of musical references I could have stuck in there, but ’70s truck, ’70s song.)
I honestly could go either way with this one. That LUV, or something very much like it, is the only thing that could possibly replace my beloved Forest Service truck, if any terrible fate were to befall it. But the Honda takes up less space, and I have a weakness for tiny cars.
When it comes to cheap transportation, for my money, big General Motors cars of the ’90s are where it’s at. Yes, the interior will fall apart. Yes, you’ll be just a little bit embarrassed to be seen in it. But as long as you keep gas, oil, and a charged battery in it, you can virtually guarantee you’ll get home. What’s more, you’ll do so in comfortable seats, getting reasonably good fuel economy, and feeling just a tiny bit smug about having spent half as much as the next person did on a Camry with double the mileage. Still not convinced? All right, let’s check out a couple of them.
1990 Chevrolet Lumina Euro – $1,800
Engine/drivetrain: 3.1-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Hays, NC
Odometer reading: 210,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well, everything works
We’ve already taken our shots at Chevy for its flagrant misuse of the term “Eurosport.” I’m not going to pile on here. But I do find it amusing that when the Celebrity gave way to the Lumina, Chevy dropped the “Sport,” but doubled down on the “Euro” part. Really all it means is red trim instead of chrome, alloys instead of whitewalls, some added-on spoilers and ground effects, and a center console between bucket seats. It’s “Euro” in the same way that Blink-182 is “punk” (okay, maybe I’ll take one little shot) but it does suit the car’s styling better.
Some Luminas with red trim and spoilers had some cool stuff under the hood, like a 3.4-liter quad-cam V6 and a five-speed stick, but not this one. Here you’ll find a garden-variety 3.1-liter engine and a four-speed automatic, just like Grandma used to drive. It’s not exciting, but it’s durable and gets decent gas mileage. It has 210,000 miles on it, but the seller says it runs just fine, and everything works, including the air conditioning.
The interiors of GM cars this age are often a letdown and this one is no exception. It’s not trashed by any means and the seats actually look pretty good, but the more you look at it the more little flaws you find. The center armrest is toast, and the gray part of the plastic dashboard is warped and coming apart. But it’s an $1,800 car, you can’t expect showroom condition.
Outside, the paint is sun-baked and the clearcoat is coming off. But the seller is quick to point out that it has the same color scheme as a much faster, more famous Chevy, and suggests this would make a good tribute car. I guess, if that’s your thing, then yes, it would.
1994 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi – $1,800
Engine/drivetrain: Supercharged 3.8-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Sanford, ME
Odometer reading: 120,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives but has been sitting, needs some work
“We Build Excitement” was Pontiac’s slogan for years. But as someone who grew up in a town where a Pontiac dealership was the only game in town, I can tell you that there were a whole lot of Pontiacs that weren’t exciting at all: Iron Duke-powered Grand Ams, beige 6000s with bench seats, and the entire LeMans line from the ’80s. You had to get into the upper trim levels before you got to the good ones, like this top-of-the-line Bonneville SSEi.
To give the Bonneville a little something extra, Pontiac bolted a supercharger to the top of its already-famous Buick 3800 V6. It doesn’t magically turn the Bonneville into a sports sedan, but it makes stoplights and on-ramps a lot more fun. This one has only 120,000 miles to its name, but it has been sitting for years and has only recently been revived. It needs brakes and shocks, but more critically, the harmonic balancer is coming apart. That’s not an expensive repair to do, but ignore it and it has the potential to really ruin your day. It might be best to tow this car home.
This one looks quite a bit better inside than the Lumina, but it has a lot fewer miles. And a whole lot more buttons. It’s funny how we’ve now gone so far the other way with car interiors, with virtually no buttons at all in something like a Tesla Model 3. Personally, I like this better; KITT had lots of buttons, so it seems fitting that this car does as well.
It looks good outside, but as I was informed last time I featured a car from Maine, this car has been exposed to road salt, so it’s best to check underneath for rust. In that regard, having spent the last ten or fifteen years in a garage might have worked to this car’s advantage. Rubber stuff is replaceable; rust repair is a lot more difficult.
Eighteen hundred bucks isn’t a lot to spend on a car these days. But I think these two show that you can still have a decent car for that price. Not perfect, but decent. They’ll get you around (once you do a little work on the Pontiac, obviously), and for this price, that’s not nothing. So which one is more to your liking?
(Image credits: sellers)
I’ve always had a soft spot for the SSEI. Chasing the SHO without every really having the same cache.
If you’ve got some time, money, & ideas, the Pontiac is the better choice. But for just a driver, I went with the Chevy.
Found the ad by searching “1994 Pontiac Bonneville Sanford ME”.
I’m smashing the button for the Bonneville. There’s very little rust in the engine bay on fasteners. The front exhaust manifold being black and the airbag sensor strut being black say it wasn’t driven in the salt or washed well when it was. Plus the white paint and pinstripes being intact leads me to think this was garaged since new. For you who don’t know, in the 1990’s GM white paint would fall off in slabs if the vehicle wasn’t garaged. Something about the chemistry of the paint not working with galvanized steel IIRC. It was made worse by being stored outside.
Being fully loaded also meant thicker sway bars and slightly firmer shocks/springs. That L67 will also keep up with modern traffic just fine. They also take well to old school mods like porting and polishing. Just make sure the transmission can hold it.
The headlines for each car are always a link to the car’s ad, just in case you didn’t know. They just don’t show up in red like other links.
I had no idea! Thank you for dropping that nugget of wisdom!
I went with the Lumina because I am a little sick of working cars right now and sure don’t want to spend the time and effort and end up with a Bonneville in the end.
I actually own a 92 Lumina Z34 (not a Euro like this one here) as well as a Supercharged 92 Bonneville SSE, and if the Lumina in question here was a cammer with a wiggly stick, I’d probably pick that since I have the SSE and my Z34 is an automatic, but white over tan with the crosslace wheels is a classic combination on the SSEi, and those are the cars that helped kick start my car hobby at a young age, so Bonneville me once again.
I’ll probably be in the minority, but give me the Lumina. This was our family vehicle back in the early to mid 90’s, and at a minimum I know that these seats are comfortable and hell, at least it’ll provide some nostalgia. Overall I think it’s a better looking car too.
In the end, I don’t really want to do a lot of work to either of these cars. The Bonneville needs work and I don’t want to kill a bunch of weekends to end up with a Bonneville, even if the powertrain is a desirable one. So I’d rather take a cheap Lumina, enjoy the vibes for a while, and then when it blows up, move on with my life.
You had me at supercharged 3.8 v6.
I had a ’93 Park Ave Ultra with the same engine setup I picked up for $900. Really nice car, but the owner told me the supercharger was going out and making noise. Turned out it was the harmonic balancer. Ended putting around 50,000 miles on it, sold it to a renter for $2400 who put close to another 50,000 miles on it before having lots of little issues with it, and just gave it back to me. I fixed it up again, sold it to a different renter for $800. He drove it for a year and the transmission went out. I think it was north of 250,000 miles at that point.
Best bet? Big beautiful Bonnie.
Definitely the Bonneville. It would be even better if it was green.
Running > needs work
Advantage Chevy. But!
Supercharged > granny spec
Advantage Pontiac. In the end…
All the buttons > worn out
That Bonneville represents peak 90s GM styling. Pontiac all the way.
(Googles “what’s a harmonic balancer”)
Yep, we’re good. We’ll take the Bonnie.
tow it home, road salt, ‘needs work’, sat for a while and a supercharger that requires premium grade fuel? that’s an easy one to just look past.
I’ll take the runs/drives/has AC/cheap gas burning cheap car every time.
I’d already decided on the Bonneville before even seeing it was un-naturally aspirated. I always liked the look and ride of those cars.
The Bonneville is such a good looking car, especially for that era. I’d take the risks for that one.
Lumina, because I want to rattle someones cage
If you really want to rattle some cages, get a couple of big rainbow-colored “3”‘s to slap on the doors.
Easy win for the 3.8 with a puffer over a NA 3.1 with some fancy trim
Same, but the Lumina does something for me (and could presumably be driven home). Inexplicably so; I love JDM but if I was wealthy I’d have all Alfas and Citroëns and the like. Why do I want a Lumina and a Bonneville???
I absolutely have no current use for a pushy-pig plush cruiser, but had to vote for the supercharged one—even needing work—between the two. I couldn’t in good conscience vote for the Euro after endlessly needling someone who represented his as having more motor, better handling, and different gearing
I think the design/surfacing on the Lumina is very late 80s/early 90s JDM-ish. Clean, crisp, minimal, it looks pretty good.
I agree to a point; six-foot overhangs are definitely neither JDM nor Euro!
My SSEi had the gray interior, but otherwise this is the same exact way that it looked.
Talk about a blast from the past.
My first car all the way. Loved that thing.
I put a Hot air intake on it before I knew what that meant and I loved the whine that came from that thing. Many dollars were spent on gas just listening to that whine.
Growing up my Friend’s Mom had a Bonneville SSEi in red with grey leather, That thing hauled ass and was comfortable as heck. He then inherited it to drive around in High School.
SSEi.
As an owner of N/A 3.8L I’ve always been curious about the supercharged version. As a resident of New England, I know enough not to bother looking at a 30 year old car from Maine without seeing pics from underneath.
I thought the Bonneville SSEi was a cool looking car in its day. On the other hand, as a kid I wondering why Chevy was obsessed with putting “Euro” on everything.
3800 Supercharged > 3.1 V6.
And if I want a Dale tribute, I’m getting the real deal Monte Carlo edition.
I’m gonna get on that Pontiac and RIDE!! PONTIAC RIDE!!!
Chevrolet should have named that trim package the NASCARsport.
I’d rather be seen in the Buttonville.
Given how clean it looks, and is in better shape in general, I’ll risk the minor mechanical work and potential rust on the Bonneville.
If the Lumina was the 3.4 and 5 speed however the game would have been afoot!
As much as I like the styling of the Lumina, the Bonneville with four doors presents a more useful vehicle.
I look at these contests from two perspectives – 1) do I want this car or 2) what would I get for a single mother with two kids.
I want neither of these cars, but a single mom could really use that Bonneville.
The Bonneville is the better car because boooooooooooooooost