Ok, I’ve had the car a week now and I’ve put on about 650 miles now. Thought I’d do a little (ok not so little) review of what I’ve found so far about the car. For those who don’t know I owned a Mysterious base Solstice vin xx101068 which means there were the first 1000K made (vins xx00YYYY) then the vin sequence started around 1007xx for post 1st 1k cars so this means my car was a very very early car made, it even squeaked past the window seal lockdown and never had the issue. So my review will also be a good indication of all the changes GM has made so far across the line.
I’ll start with the interior.
I didn’t have the audio controls or leather in my base car but I did have cruise control and the DIC. The buttons on the steering wheel have been redesigned since my car. They used to be flat and contoured to the steering wheel but now they actually stick up and have ridges between each button. Now I can just run my finger across them without looking and can easily count positions to know where I am where as before you were pretty much guessing or looking. The little lettering/images on the buttons has been redone to be a bit larger and there’s a much brighter light behind them so they can be seen clearly now.
The glove box is still as small but now it’s much sturdier. You could lock the old one but it felt very loose and that all it would take was a quick jerk to rip it open. My new one has a much tighter feel when it is locked and doesn’t feel so weak.
The little cubby between the seats also is a little different with the way it opens. On my base car the button was very quick and would pop right out and then when opened the door would kinda just fall open. This new one seems to have something in it the makes the latch open slowly and then when opened the door will just kinda glide down.
The auto-adjusting speed based audio levels is far more noticeable now. The difference between moving slow and fast with it set to high is a tremendous difference and actually useful now. It’s still hard to read in the wrong light though when the lights are dimmed…
My seats are the black leather with red stitching (freakin sweet!!!). I’ve noticed the slight stretching/wear of the seat bottom like others have noticed with their cars. This doesn’t bother me too much. My car however was luckily built 3 days after the height adjusters went in so I have it in my car. I don’t know if this is something with the 2007 MY cars or cars with the adjuster but it really seems like the seats sit lower then in my base car. I can see out the front windshield much better now since I set extremely tall even though I’m only 5’9”. The rear aero ferrings are much more pronounced in my vision now since I’m sitting lower. Several people who had seen me in my base car many times and now in my GXP have commented on how I seem to be sitting lower in the car now, as well as one person who had driven my car before and has sat in my GXP now. The adjuster brings you up and forward when used.
There are two stickers inside the car now I didn’t have in my base. There’s one under the roof latch telling you how to do it properly, and one by the drivers left leg that shows you where to find the hood release.
Some exterior things I’ve noticed.
Compared to my early base Solstice there are more seals in various places. Not sure what all of them are for necessarily, but I’m sure they’re all for a reason.
The trunk lid now opens much farther then in my previous car. It used to pop up like 2”~4” at most before, now it’ll come up about 8”~12”. This might have to do with the optional headliner I have since it makes the trunk lid push on the roof more when closed since it’s such a tight fit. It also doesn’t open as far as the trunk in my base car. The base car would pretty much go vertical where this is a couple degrees off from being straight up and down. I was hoping we’d get the plastic liners for the trunk area under the roof that’s not the storage area like the Sky has, but I guess not. I might try getting them from a Saturn dealership.
The roof itself looks exactly the same except now the latch is a red color instead of black. The major difference comes in the form of the headliner though. It’s definitely a major visual difference from the inside. It’s also a major PITA from the outside. The top is soooo hard to put down correctly now. I used to be able to just undo the top and push it back behind me and that was pretty much all I had to do. Now it kinda stays open most of the way and I have to get out and push it pretty hard in various places to get it down far enough to permit closing the trunk lid. Also if I try to close the trunk from one side the other side never closes completely, and when it does it actually makes the trunk lid become unaligned. If I put my hands between the aero ferrings and push from behind the car pretty hard I can get it to close in one push. Otherwise if I do it from either side I have to re-pop it and do it again. Putting the roof up and in place is a lot tougher now too. Before I could put the roof up from outside the car and line the pins up with the holes then get in and quickly close the latch. Now I have to get in and wrangle the roof close enough so I can force the latch to close. I bitch about it now, but I’m betting after a month or so the headliner with brake in some and the entire process will get easier hopefully.
Oh also in the trunk itself the Velcro strips used to prevent the roof guide pins from clacking against their resting points has been redesigned too. It’s much larger and looks like it’ll stay in place better.
My thoughts on the tires and the suspension.
The GS-2s look a heck of a lot better then those RS-A tires. First thing some people have asked me is if I’ve upgraded the tires because the tread pattern just looks so much better then what they remembered the base car looking like.
I’ve driven my car on my Falken Azenis RT-615 tires (extra track only tires) a little, but not enough to really know them like I knew the RS-A tires on a daily basis. These GS-2 tires are far and beyond better then the RS-A tires. They seem to grip fairly when launching the car or taking corners where in lesser conditions the RS-A tires would give up grip much sooner. Now some of that might be the suspension setup, but some of it is tire too I’m betting. The most impressive difference so far for me has been the wet traction. Situations that used to cause the base car to fishtail completely out of control have remained pretty solid with the new GS-2 tires (and no, this is not because of traction control). I feel much more confident driving in wet conditions with these tires over the older RS-A ones.
I kicked off my first full traction control event today. I’ve had a couple small “Low Traction” events but nothing where it completely takes over. I had never driven a car with traction control before my GXP, but my friend with his new 2007 Mustang GT has it in his. He had told me about what it felt like when it kicks off in his and when it does don’t try to drive like you would normally when trying to correct a RWD car in a fishtail otherwise you can over correct the corrections. So I purposefully initiated a “severe traction control event” as I’d like to call it (WoT while turning right into an incline after it had rained overnight so the road was still wet) on the way to work this morning. Just want to state that I did this with no traffic around and was going onto a 3 lane road with grass on one side and another 3 lane road with no traffic on it on the other side so as to not harm myself or anyone else. It took a lot more then it used to take in the base car with RS-A tires but with those conditions I created what would have put my in at least a 180 if left unchecked. As I felt the car begin to loose traction I just let it go instead of trying to correct to see what the traction control would do. I felt the engine power begin to throttle down even though I had the pedal to the floor and the wheels began to come into check pretty quickly and I was off in a straight line pretty fast. Nice little feature, will definitely save a lot of people from getting into way too much trouble with this car. It’s going to take some getting used to not trying to correct a condition like that myself because I can easily see trying to correct something like that the way one normally would without traction control and causing the system to over correct and get into an accident.
When I first got the car it very much felt like I had to work harder to turn the car. Like the car was planted much more firmly and the desire to turn was much less then a FE2 equipped car with RS-A tires. The car is far more precise handling wise then my base car ever was. However it’s not as darty ( ::edit:: I had used the word agile before but through conversation in this thread I've edited it to darty as that better describes this ::edit:: ) feeling as the base car. The base car felt easier to throw around but ease of throwing a car around does not imply its better then the GXP. With the GXP I have to work a little harder but as I said the results are far more precise. I can rely on the GXP to be more where I want it to be and to stick there too. The base car was quick to adjust but it didn’t feel like it was securely planted all the time where I wanted it to be. This is a combination of the better tires too though of course.
My thoughts on things engine related.
The engine cover seems far more secure and solid then the base one was. The base engine cover seemed to be pretty flimsy plastic and twisted around very easily. The GXP engine cover feels very solid and doesn’t want to move at all.
Wow are my exhaust tips black… The back end of my car is pretty sooty too. GM should black enamel the inside of the exhaust tips and leave the outside chrome. I just gotta remember to clean the tips more often and wax the inside of the tips more often and the rear end too.
If the radio is off and the top is up one can really hear that SIDI engine ticking like a little time bomb. The times I drive around with the top up and radio off are not very often, but I could see how it could annoy some people.
The engine coolant in this car really jump up pretty quickly compared to the base car. My bet is the turbo helps heat the oil up at a much faster rate. If I keep the heat off I average around 199 F while driving and it’ll creep up to 205 F when I’m in stop-n-go traffic. With the heat on though it’ll average 210 F while moving and up to about 214 F when in stop-n-go traffic. We’ll see what it does once the Florida summer strikes.
As others have mentioned the GXP clutch engages MUCH sooner. I almost stalled leaving the dealer and actually stalled pulling into my driveway when I got home. I haven’t stalled since then though. Took some getting used to but it’s not much of an issue now in daily driving. I actually find the earlier engaging clutch to be easier to drive in stop-n-go traffic then the base clutch. It takes some getting used to since it engages earlier, but I find the quicker engagement makes it easier to get the car rolling at slower speeds. That might be a product of the more powerful engine too, but it feels more like it’s clutch related to me. In my base car it was impossible to get the car moving at pretty slow speeds (under 10 mph) and maintain that low speed for stop-n-go traffic.
This engine when running seems to cause more wobbling/vibration then my base car did. The base car felt pretty smooth when running but the GXP seems to be jitterier when sitting around idling. Also I feel a lot more driveline lash with my GXP then I ever did with the base car. I can feel slight power fluctuations from when I’ve feather my foot on the gas and gotten a little more power then let it back off slightly the engine looses power from the turbo spooling down. It feels like it lashes back up the driveline and makes the entire car slightly lurch. I bet the torque arm has something to do with that. Without the arm slight fluctuations in the driveline probably got absorbed by the rear suspension and the part of the driveline that mated the axel up to the rear diff (everyone’s favorite clunk part). With the torque arm now though I can feel those slight changes coming back up through the car. It’ll take a bit of getting used to. On the subject of clunking my car does not clunk at all, I can’t even get it to lazy shift clunk either. No whining either too.
I looked under the rear end last night to make sure my dif isn’t leaking and checked to make sure the bolt holes were still there to permit a hitch to be installed and they are. Saw the toque arm too; I’ll get some pics soon of the underside once I get a chance.
Shifting isn't as graceful as it used to be for me in my base car. Things were pretty smooth between all gears and clutch movement was easy to master with throwing the shifter. With my GXP though I've found I'm not shifting or working the clutch as cleanly. I think this has to do with the shorter clutch throw and me needing to re-adjust my technique. I haven't had a bad shift yet, but it's taken some extra effort sometimes since it seems like part of the system might still be partially engaged somewhere. Gotta get this down before i go to the track or autox though.
I'll add more once I get to go to the 1/4 mile track and do my first auto-x too.
Location: Yuba City, California .... The BIG Cowpie!
Thanks for posting such a detailed and informational review. I can't wait for Part II, after break in.
Noteworthy is your impression that the GXP FEELS less agile than your old Solstice. This has been consistently reported by everyone from LV to birdliver. I wonder what the cause is. The weight gain is minimal, but it is all on the front axle. Or is it just the superior tire grip? I don't think so, since LV had the GS-D3s, which should have at least as much wet/dry grip as the GS2s.
Hmmm... Very puzzling and interesting.
Thank you,
Jimbo
__________________ Solstice GXP Coupe You still don't need a trunk to haul ass...
even at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas!
I have to agree on the tire points mentioned above. I was a bit worried about these tires before getting my GXP, but I have been pleasantly surprised by them after driving them for a few weeks now. The base sols' RS-A's are almost universally hated. I had some RS-A's on my old car and never liked them. The GS-2's were a new OEM tire from all the info I could gather, so there was no baseline data for these GS-2's (the other GS-2's out there are EMT's so it's not the same tire as ours). I really like the GS-2's traction in the rain, they really give this car alot of grip when you need/want it. That being said there are many other performance tires that would beat the GS-2's hands down, but for an OEM tire they do the job quite nicely.
Very profesional. Picked up my gxp today and found the same thing with the top. I DONT have the headliner, and mine wont go down far enough to close the trunk lid properly. Maybe there are some stops that need to be adjusted. will check later.
Great review! Maybe we should create a list of reviews from folks. Sort of our own Driver Magazine if you will. These will be far more entertaining than the regular rag mags.
Thanks Brentil!!!
__________________
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Team Solstice 2008 HOT SHOT Aggressive 2007 GXP Auto-minus On*Star, spoiler, and smokers pkg. Delivered December 4, 2006
Ave mixed driving 26 mpg
2 failed pinion seals...300+ miles, and 9,700+ miles...and one more under recall at 12,636 miles for a grand total of 3!
Driver's outside door handle came apart in May 2008...repaired June 2008
Canvas top replaced June 2008.
Gas cap replaced.
All repairs covered under warranty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pontiac builds excitement... Saturn has rethought it's image...
The time has come for the enthusiasts... NASSOA
Founding Member - Recording Secretary - Northeast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh that is what I forgot to mention ... you are right about major changes in the top between the early models let alone the headliner. I also have it on good authority that they are constantly tweaking, testing, evaluating things like the design and materials.
__________________ #118042 11/18/06 GXP Mean Darkside loaded wo On-Star
MODS: ED IC Pipes, Dejon IC, Magnaflow Catback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pontiac builds excitement... Saturn has rethought it's image...
The time has come for the enthusiasts... NASSOA
Founding Member - Recording Secretary - Northeast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nice, complete review. The only thing I wanted to say is, whe you're talking about 'traction control' and not correcting with your steering, I assume you mean stability control. In which case you will want to correct with the wheel. If you don't correct the fish tail the system doesn't know that you're in trouble, or at least it won't know as quickly. Basically, steer where you want to go. With slow, smooth corrections the system will feel smooth as well, and allow you to carry speed through the maneuver.
The top is soooo hard to put down correctly now. I used to be able to just undo the top and push it back behind me and that was pretty much all I had to do. Now it kinda stays open most of the way and I have to get out and push it pretty hard in various places to get it down far enough to permit closing the trunk lid. Also if I try to close the trunk from one side the other side never closes completely, and when it does it actually makes the trunk lid become unaligned. If I put my hands between the aero ferrings and push from behind the car pretty hard I can get it to close in one push. Otherwise if I do it from either side I have to re-pop it and do it again. Putting the roof up and in place is a lot tougher now too. Before I could put the roof up from outside the car and line the pins up with the holes then get in and quickly close the latch. Now I have to get in and wrangle the roof close enough so I can force the latch to close. I bitch about it now, but I’m betting after a month or so the headliner with brake in some and the entire process will get easier hopefully.
I just gotta remember to clean the tips more often and wax the inside of the tips more often and the rear end too.
