Hello all!
I am the owner of a 2008 Solstice GXP, whose name is Flash. My wife refers to it as a "he", I am prone to referencing it as a "she". In deference to my wife's wishes, I shall refer to it as neutral gender or by name.
Flash is Carbon Flash Metallic (Magnetic), and through a string of fortunate events is the recipient of the first official aftermarket install of the Performance Upgrade Kit for the Solstice/SKY.
How did this happen, you may ask.
Under full disclosure, I am an engineer that works on the platform for General Motors. I cannot answer questions regarding future product plans, so please do not ask. My name is Steve Padilla, and I have met with many of the members here on the forum and have been involved with the forum through many channels almost from the beginning. I have spoken to and/or met with just about all of the administrators, supermoderators and moderators on this forum. I have had to be very careful about any information disclosed, and have only recently decided to register on the forum after buying and taking delivery of Flash, since I am now an official owner. Any opinions expressed in my posts are my own, and I do not represent General Motors, nor am I participating on this forum as a GM representative.
When a new performance upgrade kit is developed, it is necessary to try these kits on production vehicles. Sometimes it is with a company-owned saleable vehicle, but many times in exchange for being a trial install guinea pig, a lucky actual owner of a production vehicle becomes the first install. This owner also becomes a 'sentinel' for potential issues or problems, and the install becomes a test case for checking the proper part numbers, correct instructions, and such.
This is the case with me. In exchange for the 'rental' of my car for the day it took to go over the installation instructions and install it, Flash is the first recipient of install #1 for a GM SPO dealer install verification. There were no saleable company cars available, and since I am an engineer with lots of experience with the platform and the vehicle, and one who actually loved the product so much he ran out and bought one, it made sense to make Flash the first test install.
Keep in mind that test installs do not always go well. This one went fairly well, though, so fear not. There were a few typo errors and wrong part numbers in the installation instructions, and an issue with the calibration availability that were found. I also had to have a new tire installed because the porter accidentally cut the sidewall when driving Flash onto the hoist. This was done free of charge, of course, but also added hours while the service garage obtained a replacement tire. Better to find these issues during a trial install with a patient employee than have customers have a very bad time at a dealership.
So much for the story of how Flash became install #1, I can forward some official information and my observations so far in my next post. If you have other questions, post them here and I'll do my best to have accurate answers for them.
I am the owner of a 2008 Solstice GXP, whose name is Flash. My wife refers to it as a "he", I am prone to referencing it as a "she". In deference to my wife's wishes, I shall refer to it as neutral gender or by name.
Flash is Carbon Flash Metallic (Magnetic), and through a string of fortunate events is the recipient of the first official aftermarket install of the Performance Upgrade Kit for the Solstice/SKY.
How did this happen, you may ask.
Under full disclosure, I am an engineer that works on the platform for General Motors. I cannot answer questions regarding future product plans, so please do not ask. My name is Steve Padilla, and I have met with many of the members here on the forum and have been involved with the forum through many channels almost from the beginning. I have spoken to and/or met with just about all of the administrators, supermoderators and moderators on this forum. I have had to be very careful about any information disclosed, and have only recently decided to register on the forum after buying and taking delivery of Flash, since I am now an official owner. Any opinions expressed in my posts are my own, and I do not represent General Motors, nor am I participating on this forum as a GM representative.
When a new performance upgrade kit is developed, it is necessary to try these kits on production vehicles. Sometimes it is with a company-owned saleable vehicle, but many times in exchange for being a trial install guinea pig, a lucky actual owner of a production vehicle becomes the first install. This owner also becomes a 'sentinel' for potential issues or problems, and the install becomes a test case for checking the proper part numbers, correct instructions, and such.
This is the case with me. In exchange for the 'rental' of my car for the day it took to go over the installation instructions and install it, Flash is the first recipient of install #1 for a GM SPO dealer install verification. There were no saleable company cars available, and since I am an engineer with lots of experience with the platform and the vehicle, and one who actually loved the product so much he ran out and bought one, it made sense to make Flash the first test install.
Keep in mind that test installs do not always go well. This one went fairly well, though, so fear not. There were a few typo errors and wrong part numbers in the installation instructions, and an issue with the calibration availability that were found. I also had to have a new tire installed because the porter accidentally cut the sidewall when driving Flash onto the hoist. This was done free of charge, of course, but also added hours while the service garage obtained a replacement tire. Better to find these issues during a trial install with a patient employee than have customers have a very bad time at a dealership.
So much for the story of how Flash became install #1, I can forward some official information and my observations so far in my next post. If you have other questions, post them here and I'll do my best to have accurate answers for them.