[josh995]

EDIT: contacted the dealer... Has been sold in the last week. still looking for a solstice though!!!

Hello! I'm considering a 2006 Solstice with only 17K miles. Asking price seems really low, $11,000. Is that low, or normal?

Here is the car: Link!

If you click the carfax link, you can see it says 3 owners. 1 seems to be the dealer though, so 2? And what concerns me is the 3rd owner seems to have had a lot of "inspections" done. Could that mean the car has hidden problems?

Another concern is you can see in the tire picture that the bumper is not aligned properly with the fender. I've read the Sky/Solstice gap PDF and it seems fixable, but I just want to ask any of you your opinions.

The dealer is a bit of a drive for me, so again, I just wanted to get owner opinions before I make the trip.

Thank you!

 

[rob the elder]

Welcome to the forum. This sounds like a very low mileage car. Potentially a good buy.

 

[bobbob160]

Hmm, does not sound like a good deal, you should pass on that. BTW can you get me directions to Waldorf MD?

Actually, I bought mine back in March with 22,000 miles and mine sold for slightly more than the asking price on this one. I would make sure to get a carfax on it and see if there is any incidents. Other than that, it sounds like a reasonable price.

 

[josh995]

Hmm, does not sound like a good deal, you should pass on that. BTW can you get me directions to Waldorf MD?

Actually, I bought mine back in March with 22,000 miles and mine sold for slightly more than the asking price on this one. I would make sure to get a carfax on it and see if there is any incidents. Other than that, it sounds like a reasonable price.

That was my fear in posting a link to the car, haha, someone in the area will see it and swoop in!

The carfax says no incidents, but there seems to be a lot of inspections done by the most recent previous owner, which make me worry that they were having problems with it. I've read that these were decently reliable though so that relaxes me a bit

 

[rob the elder]

Go to your local GM dealer with the VIN and ask them to pull a history on the car. Any work that has been done by GM will show up.

The cars are very different from what most people have experience with so its very feasible that the inspections were just that, the owner saw, heard or felt something that they did not understand and took it to a tech for an inspection. I have a friend at work who bought a new SUV and his wife could not figure out how to set the heater temperature. She took it in for service where they set it for her . . . go figure.

 

[TX08manualGXP]

Looks good to me. My 06 was listed at 9988 last february with 34k so that looks like a good deal. Go get it and welcome aboard.

 

[The_Ghost]

Hi…welcome to the forums. The Solstice is a sweet car. You won’t be disappointed. I’m not certain how much you know about these cars. The ’06 was the first model year and is normally aspirated (NA). From ’07-’09 (just a few ’10 were made) there were both NA and turbo versions (GXP). The NA had 173hp and the GXP is rated at 260hp and 260ft/lbs of torque. GM made a stage kit (GMPP kit) that will boost the power to 290hp and 325+ft/lbs of torque on the GXP. Many aftermarket tuners and parts are available that can easily put the GXP over 310hp and 350ft/lbs of torque, where the NA car you will get nominal hp and torque gains for more money. Just by adding a ‘tune’ to the GXP (ECM reprogram) for $400 will put you over 300hp. Where a tune on the NA might get you 5-10hp. I didn’t know how much you knew about the car and wanted you to know that the GXP has more hp potential (about $500-1500 more upfront, but less money to get more power) then the NA. I’m not talking down on either car, I almost bought an NA….and then I drove mine. And I’m glad I drove mine before I made my choice. I bought it within 30 seconds of the test drive. It’s all about choice and what you’re looking for out of the car.

 

[josh995]

Hi…welcome to the forums. The Solstice is a sweet car. You won’t be disappointed. I’m not certain how much you know about these cars. The ’06 was the first model year and is normally aspirated (NA). From ’07-’09 (just a few ’10 were made) there were both NA and turbo versions (GXP). The NA had 173hp and the GXP is rated at 260hp and 260ft/lbs of torque. GM made a stage kit (GMPP kit) that will boost the power to 290hp and 325+ft/lbs of torque on the GXP. Many aftermarket tuners and parts are available that can easily put the GXP over 310hp and 350ft/lbs of torque, where the NA car you will get nominal hp and torque gains for more money. Just by adding a ‘tune’ to the GXP (ECM reprogram) for $400 will put you over 300hp. Where a tune on the NA might get you 5-10hp. I didn’t know how much you knew about the car and wanted you to know that the GXP has more hp potential (about $500-1500 more upfront, but less money to get more power) then the NA. I’m not talking down on either car, I almost bought an NA….and then I drove mine. And I’m glad I drove mine before I made my choice. I bought it within 30 seconds of the test drive. It’s all about choice and what you’re looking for out of the car.

Great info, thanks! The potential Solstice will be replacing an 07 Dodge Caliber R/T with AWD. The Calibers got 173HP but is heavier, so I think even the NA Solstice should be a small improvement. Maybe more than I'm expecting. I'm really not looking for a whole lot of power and I can't find and GXP Solstice near me in my desired price range. They are all about $5-6k more than this one, and since this will be a 2nd vehicle (I also have a 2012 RAM Sport) I don't want to spend a whole lot.

I don't know a whole lot about them, other than I owned a Miata a few years ago as a "toy" and it was quite fun, so I know this should be just as fun or even more fun!

 

[TX08manualGXP]

Sounds like the 06 is just what you're looking for then. Ghost made some interesting points and it's good to know the differences before you buy. I have an 06 NA and an 08 GXP and I love them both. That Green is a sharp lookin color in the sunlight. Looks nice and sleek at night too.

 

[D-ROD]

Josh995, bought my 06(na) new, ordered it with the same interior as the one your looking at. Mine is dark blue metallic, and I have about 32000 miles on it. I see from the photos that the car still has the stock tires. Replace my tires at 22000 miles, they weren't wore out or any thing, just the car would get a little squirely on wet roads. Still a fun car to drive. Like the car so much I bought a 09(na) coupe in September of 2012.

 

[josh995]

Well... It wasn't meant to be. I e-mailed them and it sold within the last week.

I still want a Solstice. There is one in my town, it's Red and is at one of those side of the road small dealers. Those always make me nervous though.

Also, it's got 43K miles. They're asking $11K, I may offer them $10K. I am a little hesitant to buy a vehicle that someone else put 43K miles on though.

-sigh- I guess I'll do some more digging.

 

[TX08manualGXP]

Is it an 06 as well? You really never know what kind of driver the PO was. best thing is to take it for a test drive and give it a reall good inspection. Carfax will give you a general idea of the history too.

 

[Sting Ya]

Let me welcome you to the forum as you can see there are a lot of great members here that are willing to help you to find the right car,and deal with maintenance issues,dealer issues, to modifying your car it has been an invaluable tool for me.That said understand what you want out of your car,a base Solstice is a fun car , a GXP is a real step up.This not being prime car selling time, especially cars like ours ,put the word out on our forum ,look at Craigs List, go to Auto Trader .com you should be able to find a good deal.The right car will come along .Good Luck in your quest and once again welcome aboard! Just did a Cars.com search up to 500 miles from my zip code outside of Cleveland Ohio and they had 300 listings for Solstices by the way they always list the cars starting with the highest price so don't freak out at a $35000.00 NA Solstice .Hope this helps

 

[twowheeladdict]

The ad doesn't show any accessories at all. I would verify what accessories it has. AC, Power windows, locks, mirrors, ABS, etc. etc.

Like the color. Multiple owners and 17,000 miles sounds strange.

 

[chickenwire]

You step into a sort of heroin den and ask the people "should I try this?" And the group around you says "of course you should try this - look at how happy we all are here?"

Mwaaaa haaa haaa haaa . .

 

[Sting Ya]

You step into a sort of heroin den and ask the people "should I try this?" And the group around you says "of course you should try this - look at how happy we all are here?"

Mwaaaa haaa haaa haaa . .

Heroin den? How about a bunch of Kappa heads?

 

[TX08manualGXP]

I found both of mine on Car Guru's. had it set up to email whenever a new listing posted. I didn't know what I was getting when I bought the NA in February and then in April, I set up the search and was looking for specifics and as soon as my GXP listed, I hauled ass and bought it. That's a good price for the miles but if there's anything on it you don;t really care for, you owe it to yourself to do a little searching.

 

[josh995]

**Question** Ok so I went to look at the one in my town. It's got 43,000 miles. It's red, which I like. There are body gap issues but since those are common, and fixable, I won't let them deter me. Started right up, didn't idle rough, sounded good, however there was one slight sound I was concerned about.

You know those little handheld vacuums? It had a VERY faint sound like that. Like someone was using a little handheld vacuum a couple rooms away. Is that normal?

 

[kwtoxman]

IMO, I'd stay away from 06's as they were the first year run of the car. And there were many running updates to the car to improve it over the next few years. The newer the better.

 

[TomatoSoup]

Was the cabin heater fan on?