KAPPA write up in Grassroots Motorsport magazine
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I look too, must mean the June 13 magazine?
BTW, kudos to wspohn for positive remarks:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/kappa-with-a-bent-eight/17185/page1/
BTW, kudos to wspohn for positive remarks:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/kappa-with-a-bent-eight/17185/page1/
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As I stated in one of my earlier posts this is the August issue of the mag on the cover is a red Daytona Charger and in the upper right hand corner is a pic of a Solstice with the caption "Hidden Gem" I get the paper version mailed to me but I'm sure if you go online to all you tech savy guys and gals you should be able to pull it up hope this helps!
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Looks like the most recent issue available online is June '13.
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404 Posts
Ok right. But, it seems like the Base Solstice gets a bad rap everywhere. I don't get it. I must be getting old. :yawn:
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2,319 Posts
Not old, but better! MoPower is nice, but so is finding the right shift point to stay in the power band. Drag racing is fun, I suppose, but so is taking twisties and staying in one's lane at the same time. Feeding a V8 from a 13 gallon tank DOES give one a chance to empty the bladder more often, but a peppy 4-banger gives you a chance to see what is around the next curve without it having to be a HESS station. Spending 5 to 7 g's for a V8 is impressive, but with the fun-per-mile quotient so high in the Kappas, and for around 26 g's, delivered, total [new 2007 car price] and 25 mpg average, I don't feel too old. Say, more mature maybe.
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Thanks for the offer Sting. Picked up a copy @ B&N. The review comes across as being mostly accurate facts wise, but review wise still contains some of the same standard regurgitated complaints. In fact, after reading it it made me wonder if he had actually every driven one. Also, it doesn't appear he even read the Solstice book. Because if he had, he would have learned that Kappa engineers were tasked under very tight time frames, financial constraints, and expected to hit a very specific and very low price point for a sports car. All with knowing the finished product was going to be reviewed and compared with a vehicle that has been in continuous production since 1989 (Mazda MX5). So instead of auto writers acknowledging that GM engineers had achieved some positive accomplishments (under the circumstances) they instead took them to task for NOT only not delivering a perfect car but not delivering one that didn't surpass the competition. Point being auto reviewers never seem to acknowledge or recognize how difficult it is to engineer a new vehicle based on the limitations that management sometimes places them under.
Now if GM taken the much longer industry time frame of bringing a concept car to production and market, then chances are GM may well have been forced to cancel the Kappa program before it was released. Considering that GM was already in the middle of hemorrhaging car sales and money.
Having said that, could GM have addressed some of the more popular criticism during Kappa's production; probably. But those are answers we'll probably never get answers too. Maybe its because it was considered a low-production product (similar to the Corvette). But unlike the Corvette which is considered within GM to be their premium halo sports car, the Kappa's was just an entry-level sports cars (niche models) that wasn't going to be producing the same amount of profit, or return, the same halo effect that the Corvette program does for Chevrolet, but more importantly for GM.
Whatever, we still have nice sports cars. OK, they aren't great sports cars, and they aren't perfect sports cars, but they still are nice looking sports cars that perform adequately and give a level of satisfaction to their owners without having to mortgage your life, appendages, or give your first born away. They are more similar to what many of the sports cars of the 50s and 60s were and they still managed to become very collectible. A lot of them weren't perfect either but still managed to give owners a lot of satisfaction, a lot of smiles, and make a lot of memories...in spite of their inherent flaws and weaknesses.
Long live the underdogs. :lol:
:lol:
Now if GM taken the much longer industry time frame of bringing a concept car to production and market, then chances are GM may well have been forced to cancel the Kappa program before it was released. Considering that GM was already in the middle of hemorrhaging car sales and money.
Having said that, could GM have addressed some of the more popular criticism during Kappa's production; probably. But those are answers we'll probably never get answers too. Maybe its because it was considered a low-production product (similar to the Corvette). But unlike the Corvette which is considered within GM to be their premium halo sports car, the Kappa's was just an entry-level sports cars (niche models) that wasn't going to be producing the same amount of profit, or return, the same halo effect that the Corvette program does for Chevrolet, but more importantly for GM.
Whatever, we still have nice sports cars. OK, they aren't great sports cars, and they aren't perfect sports cars, but they still are nice looking sports cars that perform adequately and give a level of satisfaction to their owners without having to mortgage your life, appendages, or give your first born away. They are more similar to what many of the sports cars of the 50s and 60s were and they still managed to become very collectible. A lot of them weren't perfect either but still managed to give owners a lot of satisfaction, a lot of smiles, and make a lot of memories...in spite of their inherent flaws and weaknesses.
Long live the underdogs. :lol:
:lol:
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404 Posts
Right Chop Top. I am more than satisfied with my Base Solstice. I used to be a Triumph and MG man. TR4, TR4A, Spitfire,B and Midget. Won't even go into the issues there, but suffice to say if you want to drive an exotic car, you have to deal with its unique issues. More to the point, own or look at any production car long enough, and you'll find plenty of things "wrong" with it.
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10,476 Posts
The car won 2007 and 2008 SCCA T2 so it was not "perform adequately".
We have a great 2 seat roadster that can embarrass the likes of Honda's, BMW.s, Porches, and even Corvettes.
No it is not perfect but it can hold it's own with a lot of other so called sports cars.
We have a great 2 seat roadster that can embarrass the likes of Honda's, BMW.s, Porches, and even Corvettes.
No it is not perfect but it can hold it's own with a lot of other so called sports cars.
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Nope. That was from 2006.
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My thought exactly, and I posted so on the GM site. Most facts were OK (a few minro stumbles like the fact we didn't get a 6 speed box, and the number of coupes made with manual trans) but the 'problems' he cited looked like they had come straight out of someone else's review. Bad power steering? I think I'm the only one around here that I've ever seen saying that a manual steering would be better due to loss of feel. And I have no idea whatsoever what he meant by saying that described the LNF engine "as lacking finesse "to control the engine power band". WTF does that mean?
Thread is here if anyone is interested.
Grassroots Solstice/Sky Article: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Classic Motorsports
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