The Pontiac Solstice Was a Better Miata from General Motors
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Channel: Doug DeMuro
Views: 838,330
Rating: 4.7929344 out of 5
Keywords: pontiac solstice, solstice, pontiac solstice review, solstice review, solstice gxp, solstice gxp review, saturn sky, sky review, saturn sky review, doug demuro, demuro, opel gt
Id: gLwtMDx9MKU
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 22min 22sec (1342 seconds)
Published: Tue Aug 04 2020
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Wait till r/miata hears about this blasphemy
This particular car was apparently sold in Canada, given the speedometer is in kph.
The Solstice GXP Coupe is absolutely gorgeous, something I didn't think I'd say about a 2000's Pontiac product.
I do think the Saturn Sky is the better looking of the twins, though.
The cup holder situation is comical today, but Was very common in the mid ‘00s.
Automakers realized people wanted more cup holders, but the interior wasn’t designed to easily fit lots of large, obvious cup holders. So they started hiding them all over the place. There are some pretty cool mechanisms on some of them (like in the Solstice).
I remember there were a couple years at auto shows where I would hunt for the hidden cup holders in every car. I think my favorite was the Saab 9-5 from this era. The there was a cool little twirl/flip thing as they descended from their vertical dashboard hiding place.
I almost forgot got about the 9-3 one that does a fake out. It’s facing the driver then it flips over to face the passenger.
Examples of operation:
Saab 9-3
Saab 9-5
I like these cars. I really like the looks of the Saturn Sky. But these are absolutely not better Miatas in my personal opinion.
Evo X incoming!
What's the license plate supposed to be? Shart Cat? It definitely seems like a cat sharted in there with how dirty it was
Pontiac Solstice Curb weight: 2,860 to 3,018 lbs
Miata Curb weight: 2,441 to 2,527 lbs
Fun review by Doug, I own an '07 base model Sky so I am happy to see the Kappas get some love on his channel.
I've really enjoyed my car over the years, and I think it makes a great second or third car if you can keep some perspective on what it is.
As a sports car I find them to be better cruisers than canyon carvers or track cars. The handling and balance are nice but you can feel the weight, especially when compared to a NC or NB Miata. That being said its cool to go back to a rack assisted hydraulic steering system after years of driving cars with EPS, and the car is willing to slide even at legal speeds. The base model cars are just plain slow, you definitely need the turbo model or an aftermarket blower to spice things up, but the 2.4 can handle boost pretty well. Swapping LS's into these is an obvious choice. It fits easily and an LS powered kappa car can be extremely competitive in the SCCA CAM-S autoX class.
As a cruiser, it checks a lot of the right boxes. Great looks, great driving position, and it makes decent noises even with the stock exhaust. The Saturns came with slightly nicer interiors and much better headlights. I see a few others running up and down Woodward on Saturday nights and its nice to see them get some love among the endless Corvettes and Hellcats in Michigan. Just a great car to put the top down on a nice night and go for a drive.
Doug didn't really get into it, but the trunk storage with the top down is abysmal, and that center storage cubby is basically impossible to access when your driving. I dont know if the development team had an additional joint in their arms or what but I basically have to turn all the way around in my seat to open it with my left, or do this weird 180 degree, upside down backwards reach with my right arm to spin the latch open. Better to just let your girlfriend open it for you.
One other fun part of these car's backstory is the parts sharing. I am sure somewhere on this site or this thread someone will go into the full details, but GM searched high and low to pluck parts off the rack and fit them to this platform. Engine and trans out of a first gen Colorado, diff out of a Sigma CTS, those tiny mirrors are off a Fiat Barchetta, lights off an Envoy, HVAC out of a Hummer, etc etc. Its a fun look back into the development style of GM at that time, all of it in an effort to keep dev costs down.
And Doug is right about the price. You can find these dirty, dirty cheap in Michigan, even the manual ones. If someone is looking for the Miata experience but a little more American style and a bigger interior I would not hesitate recommending one.