I've read, on and off and back and forth, that anything from a full set of golf clubs to as little as a box of kleenex and a pair of underwear actually fit in the trunk of a Solstice or SKY.
Opponents to the kappa siblings will always exaggerate to the minimal side - like edmunds or any number of competitor-oriented forums...
...and those that are true-blue, dyed in the wool, kappaphiles can tend to be a bit pollyannish about the true trunk capacity.
So, I decided to start this thread to sort of document what people have put in their trunk. It is a common theme - and one of the weaknesses ALWAYS pointed to by detractors and supporters alike. The placement of the fuel tank is very awkward, and the hinges for the trunk take up a ton of space... put anything beside the fuel tank and you are relegated to top-up driving. The rear placement of the hinges makes you lean against a nice paint job in order to access things in the trunk on the opposite site of where you are. Which is where everything always moves to after driving.
After having spent a few days in a Solstice (you can actually rent them at National car rental in Tuscon, Phoenix, and LA), I was actually quite surprised at what I could fit in the trunk with the top up.
One thing that does NOT fit, no matter how you try, is a standard carry-on [22” X 14” X 9”].
The dimension from the fuel tank to the hinge area is about 1" too narrow (maybe only 8 1/4"). If you DO manage to have packed light and the bag is not rigid, you can't rotate it enough to get it to fit.
HOWEVER, the
contents of a carry on EASILY fit if you have luggage that is soft-sided, and you can still put the top down, so there's AT LEAST 2 cubic feet of storage space with the top down. (Std carry-on is 1.6 cubic feet).
I also had the opportunity to rent a MX-5 NC from National last year in Phoenix. A friend of mine (he's tall) is an avid golfer, and I don't mind driving the golf cart (I'm not really a golfer). He asked if I could pick him up - and said sure, thinking that there should be no problem with his golf clubs. I mean, after all, the MX-5 is SOOOOoo much better than a Solstice that most certainly, golf clubs fit.
Except, it turns out, they don't. His driver and other woods ended up in his lap, because no matter how we tried to get it in there, it just simply did not fit. I wondered how in the world this could be - isn't the claim that a set of clubs fit?
After I looked online, it turns out that I'm not the only one who's had trouble fitting clubs in the trunk. Other miataphiles have too - in the NC. You apparently have to pull all the really long clubs out, and then you still might not get them fit.
On a return trip, my friend did have the opportunity to golf with a friend who rented, of all things, a Solstice.
The funny thing: his clubs FIT in the Sol
I wish I had pictures.
So, here for your entertainment, is a collection of pictures, links and discussion of the trunk capacity of the Solstice. Maybe in all of this, we can find the reality of the situation, which was my assessment years ago - that while it is awkward, there is USEFUL trunk capacity. It's not zero, but not exactly roomy either. Could it be better? Sure.
Could it be worse? Absolutely.
WHY is it the way it is? Well, prolly only the engineering and marketing team for the Solstice and the SKY know for sure.
It is up to the consumer to decide whether having gobs of trunk capacity matters that much. At some point, too much trunk space is a waste of structure, size, styling, and dilutes the 'mission' of the particular car (in the sports or sporty car niche).
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