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The Day - New London, CT: Impractical And Utterly Irresistible

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#1 · (Edited)
A loving review - very flattering...


The Day New London CT

Pontiac Solstice: Impractical And Utterly Irresistible

By WARREN BROWN
& THE WASHINGTON POST
Published on 11/26/2005

Reseda, Calif. — It's a hard question: Why do you love me?

The easy answers are cliches: You are beautiful. You make me happy. You're hot!

True love has deeper roots. It is planted in memory, nurtured by experience, sheltered by the soul. It is powerful. It takes over, transforms you in much the manner that solstice, the dates of maximum tilt of the Earth's equatorial plane relative to the sun, transforms seasons.

Love makes you silly. But you don't care. You see that 2006 Pontiac Solstice roadster sitting there. It is a car among thousands of cars, several of which are in your driveway.

There is a Porsche Boxster S. It is bright red with a tan interior. It has a deep, throaty exhaust note. It's sexy; and it is a Porsche.

There is a Saturn Ion Red Line, a thing of winged adolescent fantasy. You would have loved it when you were 18. But you're 40 years older. The Ion Red line fits neither your psyche nor your body.

And there is a Mazda MX-5 roadster — cute, very cute. It is the quintessential heartthrob next door. You've known and loved it for years. You could buy it. But it is the car you would jilt for a Pontiac Solstice.

There is something wonderfully raw about the Solstice. It is sinewy, sensuous, yet absent anything that could be considered extraneous makeup. It is seductive minimalism. It appeals to a driver's basic instincts.

As such, the Solstice is flawed in the conventional sense of automobiles. It makes no pretense of practicality. Trunk space is a minuscule 3.8 cubic feet. There are some interior storage pockets; but they hold precious little.

Operating the Solstice's cloth convertible top is a bit of a chore. It's a manual job. You must get out of the car to lower or raise it. It's not an onerous task; but it's more difficult, in terms of steps required, than operating the semi-automatic roof of the Boxster S, or dropping and lifting the manually convertible top of the MX-5 from the comfort of the driver's seat.

But neither the Mazda MX-5 nor the Porsche Boxster S — nor, for that matter, the ascetic Honda S2000 or the self-conscious BMW Z-4 roadster — engenders the warmth of the Solstice. The MX-5 has heritage. The Boxster S and BMW Z-4 have prestige and status. The purposeful Honda S2000 has performance. But not one of those cars has passion, an essential element of love.

Passion bespeaks honesty. It does not hide behind fancy badges or history, does not hold itself aloof from the lover. It is accessible, democratic — as infectious as the celebratory joy that moves a stadium crowd to its feet.

The rear-wheel-drive Solstice has passion. People young and old of multiple hues and ethnicities crowded around the car everywhere I took it. Other motorists followed me on the highway, honking horns and giving me thumbs up in approbation.

The Solstice was even a hit in the parking lot of a Starbucks meeting place in suburban Virginia, where some owners of million-dollar mini-mansions — houses too big for the small lots that once held modest brick residences — marveled that something so well designed, so exquisitely proportioned, could cost so little. Solstice prices start at $19,420. You can fully option the car at $25,000.

People wanted to know how the Solstice ran. A 2.4-liter, 177-horsepower, four-cylinder engine moves the relatively lightweight Solstice — 2,860 pounds — fast enough. Higher horsepower cars can pass it. But few of them can move so nimbly! Credit the Solstice's four-wheel-independent suspension, its nearly 50-50 distribution of body weight front to rear and its standard 18-inch diameter wheels. The car goes exactly where pointed. It's like driving a sharpened pencil.

I am unabashedly silly about this car with its clamshell trunk cover, splendidly sculpted body and down-to-the-bone-honest sexy ways. There's nothing coy about this one. It grabs you. It grabbed me; and I am seriously considering the possibility of letting it grab my wallet.

Downside: Virtually no storage space. The manually operated roof requires more physical effort than the convertible tops of rival models.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Very good ride and acceleration. Handling is superior — an absolute joy to drive.

Head-turning quotient: A motorized combination of Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez. You'd have to be dead not to notice this one.

Body style/layout: Two-door, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive roadster with a manually operated cloth top and clamshell trunk lid. It is built on General Motors Corp.'s Kappa platform, assembled in Wilmington, Del.

Engine/transmissions: The Solstice is equipped with GM's 2.4-liter, 16-valve, inline four-cylinder Ecotec (Ecology Technology) engine. It develops 177 horsepower at 6,600 revolutions per minute and 166 foot-pounds of torque at 4,600 rpm. The engine uses electronic variable valve timing and lift technology to help save fuel and reduce tailpipe emissions. A five-speed manual transmission is standard; a five-speed automatic is optional.

Cargo and fuel capacities: The Solstice has seating for two people. Cargo space is 3.8 cubic feet. Interior storage is minimal. Fuel capacity is 13.8 gallons. GM recommends premium unleaded “for best performance.” But unleaded regular is OK.

Mileage: I averaged 27 miles per gallon on the highway in the manual transmission Solstice.

Safety: Rigid body construction, standard four-wheel disc brakes, optional anti-lock brakes, load-sensitive front air bags, optional OnStar emergency communications system.

Price: Base price on the 2006 Solstice is $19,420. Dealer's invoice price on base model is $18,158. Price as tested is $22,005, including $2,010 in options and a $575 destination charge. Dealer's price as tested is $20,522. Prices sourced from Pontiac and Edmunds.com.

Purse-strings note: The cost is in the options. Some dealers are asking for premiums. Compare with Mazda MX-5, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z-4, Honda S2000.
 
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#3 ·
Google News Search

Chris Stack said:
Haha, this is my local paper, I read this article and it was quite complimentary, even considering how glowing newspaper reviews usually are. Tried to scan it, but it wouldn't fit in my scanner. How'd you run across it in the Midwest?
No day is complete without a couple of 'Google News' searches for "Pontiac Solstice". ;)
 
#4 ·
Finally - a reviewer that gets it :yesnod:

I don't mean that he is the only reviewer to accept the obvious superiority of the Solstice over all cars that have come before it :willy:

No - a reviewer who has been struck in that special way that convinced so many of us to line up and plunk down money on a car we had never touched, then wait for months (and some, years :banghead: ).

Not one new, or interesting fact - but fun to read :cheers:
 
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