Pontiac Solstice: We Almost Had a Good Domestic Convertible

"Swayze Train GTi" (swayzetrain) 02/25/2016 at 16:50 • Filed to: None

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General Motors is a company made of non newtonian fluids, completely resisting shock and swift changes, preferring to slowly slide from generation to generation, often a few years later than they should have. And many times, when they do something radical, it only sticks around for a few years at most, a decision that is usually regretted years down the line. The Chevy II concept, Fiero, EV-1, Oldsmobile Aurora, Cadillac XLR, Cadillac Sixteen, Sierra Quadrasteer, and the Kappa platform roadsters.

Domestically produced convertibles have generally been Sawzall specials, Sebrings, Sunfires, 200s, G6s, but all of these cars have the same problem: What they gained in blue sky, they lost in structural rigidity, and generally looks. My experience with a Sebring LX was the perfect embodiment of this literal corner-cutting design. Imagine your 90 year old grandmother with Parkinson’s on top of a freezing mountain, carrying a large jello, and you’ll be close to the level of jiggliness provided by the Sebrings not so supple frame.

Removing the roof from a vehicle which was drawn with one originally also ruins the most fundamental aesthetic law of all, the rule of thirds. Ever wondered why every Aston Martin looks perfectly beautiful (and also the same as all it’s brethren)? Almost every design element on that car is divided into thirds. The greenhouse of your average sedan provides the middle third longitudinally, and the top third horizontally. You can see the problem, the only rule of halves there is states that my half must be bigger than yours.

Purpose-designed roadsters are truly the answer. With a clear vision in their heads, designers are able to make a car that is strong enough, and more importantly, whose proportions work with the top up or down. The General decided to give it a shot in 2006, producing the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, both dedicated roadsters built on the bespoke Kappa platform.

The Pontiac was the more restrained, classic looking of the sisters, with smooth curves and a front end strongly reminiscent of a classic British offering. It’s a cute, inviting face that’s reminiscent of the past without living in it, not an easy feat. Where the Solstice looked back to the past, the Sky was actually ahead of the times. It’s grille sneered contemptuously at a society that gave the Best Rock Album Grammy to a bunch of middle aged Canadians struggling to maintain relevance by taking cheap shots at a bad politician, and it’s eyes forecast a future in which even Hyundais all wore faces of anger. They’re two sides of the same coin, and it’s clear the artists were allowed to have their fun with these two, limited only by a few parts bin lights on the exterior.

Their exteriors were undoubtedly perfect, but you know the classic GM caveat that comes with that. These cars are filled with enough cheap plastic to sustain the Real Housewives of New Jersey cast, and run fewer options than an NFL team . But no one realized that while we didn’t need a million luxuries in our roadsters, but we did want what we had to look good. Legions of suburbanites teenagers in Abercrombie shirts convinced their mortgaged-to-the-hilt parents to buy them a new iPod every time they saw a silhouette dancing to a different pop song that was never by the Beatles, because minimalism was in again. Instead large HVAC dials from a Nike missile silo and the stereo out of an Impala rental car combine to ruin what had potential to be an excellent understated interior more fashionable than a Starbucks cup. Furthermore, the window switches were installed in the doors, a rookie mistake in roadster design. In my driving position they’re right next to my spleen, reaching for them makes you look like you’ve had an ice cube dropped down the back of your shirt while driving. Ironically, the gauges are minimalist, but you wish they weren’t. There are only three, tach, speed, and fuel. While the little readout between them can tell you everything else, I don’t want to scroll through screens to be told all the information, I want dials! I want little analog pods that tell me information and make me feel like I’m piloting a WWII Mustang fighter. I should get to know what my oil pressure is, because if you have a Solstice, you’re not the kind of person who’s going to take it in for service because “the teapot gauge keeps moving around”.

Even GM had the sense to give us cupholders where all MX-5 owners put their drinks anyways, plus one that was convenient if you didn’t have a passenger

Putting the top up and down presents a small nag as well. It’s not difficult or tedious, but as far as I’m concerned, you should be able to go from shade to sun in a convertible at any stoplight. It doesn’t have a slow and worthless electric system, but you have to open the trunk, which necessitates getting out of the car. Once it’s down though, the trunk reveals beautiful Fergie humps in true roadster fashion behind the headrests. Don’t go looking for any trunk space though, unless all you need to fit is a 10 foot extension cord.

Why is this even here

On the move, the 260HP, 2.0L, Turbocharged, direct injected four cylinder of the GXP and Redline trims brings the kind of power you’ve always wished the MX-5 would. 0-60 is up in 5.5 seconds, but push this car to the limit and you’ll find GM’s particular brand of car design disappointingly rears its head again. The 5 speed manual is pulled from a first generation Colorado truck, which is a vehicle designed to remind the blue collar working class of their place in the world. The ride is fine for it’s class, one doesn’t expect Roller refinement in a roadster, but when you’re pushing this car, it feels a bit like a forced conversation. She’ll talk to you, but you never know if that’s what she’s really feeling behind that rebadged Cobalt steering wheel, and this problem epitomizes what is wrong with the Kappa cars. First and foremost, a roadster should feel more than engaging. It should feel like you’re completely one with the car, like you’re getting into your second skin, like you’ve grown a car out of your hands and feet, like you’ve got one of those weird USB cables the aliens use to ride alien horses in Avatar. Instead, it still feels like you’re inputting commands into a keyboard, like you’re using a controller in Forza.

Still, find yourself a GXP coupe and you’ll enjoy your weekends more while watching the price appreciate

Now, I’m not going to go and pretend that GM should have gotten it right on their first try, everyone knows they never get anything right on the first try. But what I do know is that if you give them a few years, let that non-newtonian fluid do it’s thing, they almost always do get it perfectly right. The last year of the Fiero, the modern Camaro, the Suburban, hell, even the Corvette, while not bad before, is now the best car you can have for the money by a large margin. If they’d only held on a bit longer, if they’d only kept at least Pontiac around, the MX-5 wouldn’t have the market all to itself. And even if you don’t like the idea of a modern Solstice or the Sky, imagine how good the Miata would be if they were forced into a competition? We might even have gotten a turbocharger!

Chariotoflove > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 16:59

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Even now these things are not cheap. In many cases, they cost more than a similar Miata. It’s too bad GM put so much into it and didn’t finish the job.

DoYouEvenShift > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 17:04

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Neat cars, but just get a Corvette.

Your boy, BJR > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 17:09

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Those aren't even a little bit outlook tail lights

Swayze Train GTi > Chariotoflove 02/25/2016 at 17:12

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In my area at least, the prices are comparable to a similar gen NC Miata, unless you opt for the turbo engine. Those cost a bit more, but the extra power makes it worth the price.

As I noted, however, the much rarer Coupe form is a car that has held it’s value quite well, which, while bad for those of us on the secondhand market, is good for those who already have one.

Swayze Train GTi > Your boy, BJR 02/25/2016 at 17:14

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Shit you’re right! Weren’t they shared with something else though? I could have sworn I’ve seen them somewhere else....

Swayze Train GTi > DoYouEvenShift 02/25/2016 at 17:21

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You could go for a C4 Corvette in the same price range I suppose, but many people are looking for something newer.

Not that the C4 is a bad car, I would say the later years are some of the best bargains on the road right now. In fact, I owned a 1993 6 speed myself, and it does have the power advantage, I sold my Corvette for 11 grand, at that price you’re looking at a great condition low mileage NA Kappa car, which doesn’t have the same level of excitement when you put your foot down, and also isn’t as engaging as the Vette.

Birddog > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 17:23

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Probably on the Opel these were cloned from.

Your boy, BJR > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 17:56

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They look similar to the aura but aren't the same.

Chasaboo > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 19:24

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It was a bad car. Test drove both the Pontiac and the Saturn. Just felt so cheap.

ranwhenparked > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 21:36

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It almost seemed like the Kappa roadsters were set up to fail intentionally. GM dedicated the entirety of their massive Wilmington plant to build these, and only these, they needed to sell something like 50,000 a year to break even (for comparison, MX-5 Miata sales typically hover around the 15,000 mark). It just wasn’t going to happen.

Had they squeezed the production line into a corner of a plant that also built higher volume models, or contracted out to a company that can more easily build lower volume cars at a profit (eg AM General), they would have had a shot at surviving the bankruptcy. In typical GM fashion, the first generation is largely practice, with the second generation moving things onward by learning from the mistakes of the first. A Mk2 Kappa probably would have been a truly excellent car.

wiffleballtony > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 22:47

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I still like these cars. However at this point you can pretty much get a Porsche Boxster for the same price.

Swayze Train GTi > ranwhenparked 02/25/2016 at 23:04

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Very insightful, I hadn’t looked into the production of the vehicle so specifically. Given mazda’s sales, it was certainly a pipe dream trying to shift 50k a year. Thanks for sharing!

ranwhenparked > Swayze Train GTi 02/25/2016 at 23:16

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A lot of it was to placate the UAW. GM really wanted to close Wilmington, but the union put up a fight, so they agreed to find something to build there - probably knowing full well they were going to take a bath on it. IIRC, the Daewoo and Opel badged variants were afterthoughts to try and fill up more capacity. Unfortunately, the platform wasn’t designed to easily accommodate RHD, so no Holden or Vauxhall variants happened.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > Swayze Train GTi 02/26/2016 at 00:53

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Great insight! I have always been upset that they unceremoniously killed off these cars. There’s clearly a market, now more than ever perhaps, for a sub-Camaro sports car. The base model Camaro turbo 4 is nearly 300 hp and it’s crazy to think about what a modern Solstice /Sky would be like with the Camaro V6.

Hold on, I need a moment...

Swayze Train GTi > Carbon Fiber Sasquatch 02/26/2016 at 01:05

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I’m currently working on an article about why they should have told the government to shove it instead of getting rid of Pontiac, because you’re right. Nowadays performance cars are in demand more than ever, and Pontiac had finally been getting back to where they were in the late 60s with Delorean at the helm, backed by the Trans Am and the GTO. I’d love to see what they could have done with this car if it was still around.