Flawed beauty
Introduction
Pontiac Solstice GXP – Review: Pontiac wasted no time making early adopters who bought a Solstice over sticker feel like they got ripped off. The new Pontiac Solstice GXP is the car they should've pined for, the car they should've waited for, the car they should've paid over sticker for. It's got the same great styling but includes a few refinement tweaks and a sweet new turbocharged engine that delivers the performance promised by the Pontiac's design. It's a flawed beauty to be sure, but like that crazy girlfriend in college, its fun factor trumps its personality quirks – for a little while, anyway.To gauge the difference between the regular-strength Solstice and the new extra-strength Solstice GXP, we grabbed an Aggressive Red model with the standard five-speed manual transmission. To the $25,995 base price, which includes the $600 destination charge, our test car added leather seats, air conditioning (not standard, can you believe it?), OnStar, an upgraded Monsoon audio system, XM satellite radio an auxiliary input jack, a rear spoiler, and a premium acoustic headliner. The options ran $3,394, bringing the as-tested price to $29,389. The car spent part of our test week at a local Pontiac dealer because the trunk ajar warning chime wouldn't stop its incessant ding-ding-ding-ding-dinging, even when the trunk was solidly closed.
Performance
Seamless, prodigious power flows from the Pontiac Solstice GXP's 2.0-liter direct-injection turbo four, one of the best power plants GM has produced in recent memory. Thanks to 260 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque the car is quick and pulls all the way to redline, all while delivering a test average of 21.1 mpg. The transmission, on the other hand, is not as enjoyable. The clunky manual from the 2006 is improved thanks to the installation of a torque tube which makes shifts smoother and isolates the mechanicals (though several drivers thought otherwise). Now all GM needs to do is fix the spring-loaded clutch, which in this car is somewhat tiring and difficult to modulate.
Handling
Grip from the Pontiac Solstice GXP's 18-inch Goodyear Eagle F1 tires is impressive, but at lower speeds this rubber squeals easily. Fortunately, the problem abated while running hard in local canyons. Or, maybe the wind noise and cabin buffeting overtook it. Either way, the Solstice GXP sticks. That's good, because the steering sure isn't interested in having much of a conversation and the brake pedal lacks emotion. During one panic stop, the Solstice took its sweet time coming to a halt. Around town, the suspension is supple, soaking up bumps without transferring them to occupants. Plus, the Solstice is impressively stiff, with noticeable cowl shake only on the roughest pavement or transitions.
Visibility
Visibility out of the Pontiac Solstice is awful. Top up or down, changing lanes and reversing is an educated guess. The side mirrors are too small, the headrest fairings too large, the top's quarter sails too wide, and the driving position too low with no option of adjusting the seat height. The narrow sliver of a rear window is glass with a defroster, though, so the Solstice has that going for it.
Fun to Drive
If all you ever did was dump the Solstice GXP's clutch and run to redline through the first three gears, it would be easy to fall in love with this car – more so when running along a palm-lined coast at sunset. Fast in a straight line, equipped with plenty of grip, and featuring a comfortable around-town ride quality, the Pontiac Solstice GXP has plenty going for it. But to deliver classic roadster responsiveness, it needs to communicate better through its steering wheel and brake pedal, and it could use a taller driving position. There's a promising fun-to-drive factor here, but as it stands there's room for improvement.
Front Comfort
The Pontiac Solstice GXP is not comfortable. Even for a roadster, the driver sits too low, there's too much lumbar support in the backrest and not enough lateral support in the side bolsters, the steering wheel rim can bruise your palms, and the gauges and controls seem to be about six inches too high and aimed at the driver's forehead. Making matters worse, the side sills are too high to serve as an armrest, forcing the use of those molded into the door panels. The center tunnel has a padded cover, but the gearshift boot cover falls readily to hand rather than the lever.
Interior Noise
Top up, wind noise starts at 35 mph and gets louder from there. At 60 mph, it sounds like a rainstorm is pounding the roof. Top down, there's so much wind buffeting, even with the windows up, that any other interior noises are drowned out, including the muddy-sounding stereo. Get earplugs, or noise-canceling earphones. But then you wouldn't hear the turbocharger whooshing on and off at lower speeds like a Peterbilt, which is kinda cool.
Loading Cargo
Rumor has it that Bob Lutz insisted on keeping the sexy headrest fairings of the Solstice concept car intact for production. That's why the Solstice has a rear-hinged trunk lid and stupid twin top clips that make it a complete pain in the ass to put anything in the trunk. Loading must be done from the tall sides, and if the roof is sitting in there, as in this photo, forget putting anything inside except for a few plastic grocery bags. Top up, there's the centrally located fuel tank to arrange luggage around. Unquestionably, this is the worst aspect of the Pontiac Solstice's design.
Build Quality
The Pontiac Solstice is no poster child for GM's improved build quality. Our car's hood was tweaked to the right, overlapping the front fenders. The decklid was also tweaked to the right and didn't fit flush with the bulkhead section. The rear fascia, likewise, was tweaked to the right. It's as if the car was constructed in a stiff wind that was hitting the Solstice on the driver's side. Interior construction was similarly disappointing, with warped plastic covering the windshield header, large and inconsistent dash panel joints, creaking hand grips, and a loose center tunnel pad.
Materials Quality
GM has taken heat for the Pontiac Solstice's interior materials, but it's not all bad. The graphite dash panel looks and feels good, the knobs for the stereo and climate system have rubber grips and refined action when spun, and the leather on the seats is decent. Even the center tunnel is padded in low-gloss, durable feeling material. What deserves criticism is the black plastic used to construct the dash, the door panels, and the rear bulkhead trim. It's so low rent it could have been cut out of a 1995 Chevy Cavalier. For example, the silver plastic bezels used to surround the power mirror and window switches mimic metal as convincingly as Whitesnake.
Styling
This is a beautiful car. Look at it. It's sexier than a damn Corvette. There's not a line that's wrong. Well, except for the cheap-looking mast antenna, and the funky way the origami roof looks when it's raised. Inside, the Pontiac Solstice's dashboard is too tall, the seats too low, the gauges too deep, and the passenger airbag warning light looks like an afterthought. But, from a few feet away, it still looks good.
Top Design
Forget about tossing the Pontiac Solstice GXP's roof over your shoulder from the driver's seat like in a Mazda MX-5 Miata, or powering it down like a Honda S2000. With this car, you release the center latch, jump out of the car, pop the trunk, fold the top into the luggage compartment, slam the lid, and get back in the car. This takes 21 seconds. Putting it up takes longer at 39 seconds, because you've gotta clip the top back into the decklid on each side. But those headrest fairings…mmmmm, yummy.
Storage
Another Pontiac Solstice shortcoming, interior storage is tough to come by. There's a small glovebox, a covered bulkhead bin equipped with a frustrating twist knob release (shown here), a couple of webbed pockets sewn into the front of the bottom seat cushions, and useless trays molded into the door sills. The cupholders are cheap, flimsy plastic things that pop out of the rear bulkhead from under the bin in this photo. When your elbow bumps them accidentally, they deploy. This happens frequently enough to become a frustration.
Infotainment Controls
Equipped with GM's common stereo setup, the Pontiac Solstice GXP's radio display completely washes out in bright sunlight. That's the compromise of using common parts-bin equipment for purpose-built automobiles. Otherwise, the system is easy to understand and use, though we don't quite get the odd centrally located power and volume knob and the smaller tuning knob at the upper right. Our test car had satellite controls for the stereo mounted to the steering wheel, but they were on the small side.
Climate Controls
Three simple, logical, well marked knobs with integrated buttons, rubber grips and refined operation make adjusting the Pontiac Solstice GXP's interior temperature a snap. This is fortunate, as the cabin is quite drafty and requires constant temperature correction.
Secondary Controls
Clearly, GM takes the term “secondary” literally. The power window controls are located halfway along the driver's door panel armrest, right about where a taller person's left elbow falls when the seat is all the way back in the track. Using them requires the skill of a contortionist. The power mirror switch is easier to use, thanks to its location on the door panel assist handle, but not by much. The power door lock button is comparatively simple to use. An array of small twist knobs sits on the dash, half of them obscured by the steering wheel rim. Adjusting the seatback angle is hard because it's a twist knob, and with the doors closed it's a futile endeavor.
Competition
Few automakers build affordable roadsters, so the Pontiac Solstice GXP's competitive set is a small one. There's the essentially identical Saturn Sky Red Line, and any list of two-seat droptops under $30,000 needs to include the Mazda MX-5 Miata (even if in this case it's pathetically low on power). The closest thing to the Solstice in terms of power and price is the superior Honda S2000. The least expensive BMW Z4 without a single option runs $6,000 more than our well-equipped test sample, and stretching to the SLK requires significantly more bank; enough that you could consider what you really want, which is a Corvette Convertible.
2nd Opinion – Keith Buglewicz
I really wanted to like your little sports car, Mr. Lutz, but instead I feel let down. The basics are there: The engine's great, the chassis is rock solid, and the steering and suspension are first rate. But the rest of it just feels junky. Why is the interior so cheap? Why does the transmission rattle like it's full of beer bottles, and why is the shifter so stiff? Why is opening and closing the top such a joke? The original Viper could ask such compromises because of its rich-man's-toy nature. The Solstice is priced like a real car for regular people, but it comes up short whenever you ask it to be anything more than just a plaything. – Keith Buglewicz
2nd Opinion – Liz Kim
From almost every angle, the Pontiac Solstice GXP impresses with its confectionary red paint and sexy muscular bulges that rival Brando in his heyday. However, driving the Solstice is not as satisfying as looking at it. Start with the seating position: Sports cars are supposed to sit low, but even with my longish torso I found outward visibility to be problematic. Power delivery and shifter action was lively but impeded by an overly lengthy clutch. Putting the top down? Way too complicated.
Unless you prefer high-maintenance types, life is simply better in a Miata. – Liz Kim
2nd Opinion – Ron Perry
Slapping a turbo on the Pontiac Solstice is a guaranteed way to improve its fun factor, but isn't enough to make you forget the roadster's shortcomings. There's still a cheap feel to the poorly designed interior, a clunky driveline we were told would be fixed with the addition of a torque tube, and a grabby clutch that usually resulted in tire chirp when leaving stoplights. The GXP is also shod with tires that scream for mercy at the slightest turn. On the upside, the GXP version of the Solstice is a blast to drive with quick response to both throttle and steering input and brakes that give good feedback. – Ron Perry
Photos courtesy of Ron Perry