2006 Pontiac Solstice

It's something like a grandfather who goes out and buys a designer shirt. Suddenly, he's not stodgy any more; the kids say he's way cool.

Pontiac was in that situation a few years back when General Motors hired a renowned car guy, Bob Lutz, as its vice chairman of global product development. In short order, he cobbled up a show car, a two-seater that was intended to be Pontiac's designer apparel.

Now, with the introduction of the 2006 Pontiac Solstice roadster, that effort has come to fruition. The Solstice is the new image car, tasked with injecting youthful spark to zap the cobwebs from one of GM's most important divisions.

From a price and styling standpoint, it gets the green flag right off the starting line. It's a popular-priced, rear-wheel-drive, two-seat roadster with flowing lines and a base price tag of $19,995. (At the outset, it was targeted as an under-$20,000 car).

Though that doesn't get you a great deal of stuff, all the basics are there. Standard equipment is minimal: a 177-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, five-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel disc brakes, cloth upholstery and a radio.

But even with options, the price doesn't get outrageous. The test car had antilock brakes, a limited-slip differential, air conditioning, an AM-FM stereo with CD player and MP3 capability, aluminum alloy wheels, cruise control, remote locking, fog lights, and power windows and mirrors. That brought the suggested sticker price to $23,380.

Major competition for the Solstice is the venerated Mazda MX-5 Miata, which has more refinement and a six-speed transmission, but also costs more. They're right in the same garage from a size standpoint, each at 13 feet 1 inch in length. The Mazda has slightly less power, but is lighter and therefore quicker off the line. It also has a real trunk, which the Solstice lacks.

The Solstice takes slightly more than seven seconds to reach 60 miles an hour. That's not what anybody these days would regard as neck-snapping acceleration. But it's not what small roadsters like this are all about.

What they are about is leisurely cruising with the top down on a sunny day, not too hot, following a twisting, traffic-free rural road that requires the driver's constant attention to details like shifting up and down and precisely clipping the apexes of turns.

In this regard, the Solstice acquits itself well. Cornering is flat and true, straight-line driving requires few steering corrections, and the ride, though sports-car stiff, is supple enough to keep rough pavement from inflicting much punishment.

With the top down, wind buffeting is minimal, especially if the windows are raised. With the top up, the driver is treated to a symphony of engine, road and some minor wind noise.

All car designs reflect compromises, of course. Given its price, the Solstice could not be expected to have a luxury interior, and it does not. There are many square feet of hard plastic. But the instruments and controls are thoughtfully designed, although digital readouts disappear in bright sunshine.

The shift linkage for the five-speed gearbox is stiff but positive, and the clutch action is light, although on the test car the clutch engaged with the pedal high off the floor, as if the clutch were showing wear.

The seats, covered in a textured cloth on the test car, were well-shaped, with decent side bolsters to hold the torso in place around corners. But they could use a bit more lower-back support. There's no lumbar adjustment.

Storage space inside the cockpit is minimal: a glove box, a couple of pockets and a small cubby located up high between the driver's and passenger's shoulders. There's no space in the console.

Manual top operation is fairly simple, but it cannot be done from the driver's seat, as is possible in the Mazda MX-5. The procedure is first to pop the trunk, either with the remote control or a button in the glove box.

That also releases two small fabric sail panels that are part of the top but are a styling feature to make the Solstice look sleek with the top up. However, they look more wrinkled than sleek.

A lever at the top of the windshield disengages the top, the rear-hinged trunk is lifted and the top then is manually folded inside. After the top is raised, the two sail panels must be snapped back into place, which means the operator has to walk around to the other side of the car.

There's not much space in the trunk with the top up--just four cubic feet--and there's room for only a few small soft items with the top down.

A couple of other minor annoyances mar the experience: with the power door locks, the doors stay locked, imparting a trapped feel, until the driver removes the ignition key or reaches up over the left shoulder to pull up the lock button. And the seatback cannot be adjusted for rake unless the driver opens the door and reaches back to manipulate a large knob.

by
Frank Aukofer

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

October 20, 2005