The Pontiac Solstice & its cousin, the Saturn Sky is unique in its rapid timeline to production. Initially, the Solstice was planned to be an affordable mid-engine roadster, almost like a spiritual successor to the Fiero and unique to what the US market had offered at the time. The Solstice first started as a concept in 2002, then transitioned to a production model in early 2004, and hit dealerships as 2006 models by 2005. This speed was unusual for developing a completely new car, but it was necessary due to time constraints. In the early 2000s, Pontiac had been demoted to a lackluster mainstream brand compared to its strong legacy and household name throughout the 1900s. Pontiac needed a grand slam to not only retain but catapult its relevancy into the next decade. This haste caused significant issues for the car. On paper, the concept seemed promising, but the rushed development process resulted in a mishmash of GM parts. While using shared components isn't necessarily a problem, the rushed nature of the Solstice's development meant that these parts didn't integrate well with each other, leading to various difficulties that we will soon cover.
The rush to bring the car to market quickly led to significant issues. The goal was to produce an affordable mid-engine roadster, a departure from the typical offerings of American car companies. Despite appearing promising on paper, the hurried development process resulted in a chaotic mix of GM parts, such as interior pieces from the Hummer H3, or the transmission out of the Chevy Colorado. While using shared components isn't always problematic, in the case of the Solstice, there wasn't sufficient time to ensure that all these parts worked seamlessly together.
The concept’s sleek styling gave a lot of optimism to the car community. The Solstice quickly became popular among car enthusiasts, leading Pontiac to triple their initial production target from 7,000 to 21,000 units. Ultimately, over 65,000 Solstices were sold during its lifespan. The rush to meet the high demand resulted in General Motors hastily pushing the Solstice into production, causing a decline in build quality and giving rise to various problems in different versions of the car. Despite its striking design, the Solstice fell short in terms of driving performance.
Despite this, the Solstice received nominations for the North American Car of the Year and Design of the Year awards in 2006 from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. Pontiac experienced immense success with 7,000 orders within the first 10 days of availability and an additional 6,000 orders before winter. Despite initial plans for 7,000 units, GM faced delays and increased production to deliver 10,000 by March 1.
While critics often mention the Solstice's lack of power, roadsters like this are not meant to be high-performance muscle cars. The 2.4-liter engine's 177 horsepower was suitable for a roadster weighing 2,888lbs, which comparable to other models like the segment leading Mazda MX-5. The real issues with the Solstice extended beyond power, partly due to using a previously mentioned truck transmission from the Chevy Colorado, which wasn't ideal for a sports car. The driving dynamics had mixed results, with some aspects performing well while others fell short of expectations.
In 2007, Pontiac introduced the GXP version of the Solstice, featuring a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that delivered 260 horsepower, upgradable to 290 horsepower and capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 in around 5 seconds. This model, and the equivalent Saturn Sky Redline received enhancements like a limited-slip differential, anti-lock brakes, cruise control, power windows, locks, and improved suspension components, making it a true sports car that offered great value at the time.
Despite the regular convertible Solstice's appealing design, something about the Solstice Coupe's shape and rarity outshines it greatly. Pontiac produced around 850 Solstice GXP Coupes before discontinuing them, making them potentially valuable investments compared to the convertible model that's expected to depreciate over time. On Autotrader currently, there are several low mile examples of the Coupe listed for over $40k, which may give a glimpse of the Solstice Coupe GXP's future collectability factor.
The rush to bring the car to market quickly led to significant issues. The goal was to produce an affordable mid-engine roadster, a departure from the typical offerings of American car companies. Despite appearing promising on paper, the hurried development process resulted in a chaotic mix of GM parts, such as interior pieces from the Hummer H3, or the transmission out of the Chevy Colorado. While using shared components isn't always problematic, in the case of the Solstice, there wasn't sufficient time to ensure that all these parts worked seamlessly together.
The concept’s sleek styling gave a lot of optimism to the car community. The Solstice quickly became popular among car enthusiasts, leading Pontiac to triple their initial production target from 7,000 to 21,000 units. Ultimately, over 65,000 Solstices were sold during its lifespan. The rush to meet the high demand resulted in General Motors hastily pushing the Solstice into production, causing a decline in build quality and giving rise to various problems in different versions of the car. Despite its striking design, the Solstice fell short in terms of driving performance.
Despite this, the Solstice received nominations for the North American Car of the Year and Design of the Year awards in 2006 from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. Pontiac experienced immense success with 7,000 orders within the first 10 days of availability and an additional 6,000 orders before winter. Despite initial plans for 7,000 units, GM faced delays and increased production to deliver 10,000 by March 1.
While critics often mention the Solstice's lack of power, roadsters like this are not meant to be high-performance muscle cars. The 2.4-liter engine's 177 horsepower was suitable for a roadster weighing 2,888lbs, which comparable to other models like the segment leading Mazda MX-5. The real issues with the Solstice extended beyond power, partly due to using a previously mentioned truck transmission from the Chevy Colorado, which wasn't ideal for a sports car. The driving dynamics had mixed results, with some aspects performing well while others fell short of expectations.
In 2007, Pontiac introduced the GXP version of the Solstice, featuring a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that delivered 260 horsepower, upgradable to 290 horsepower and capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 in around 5 seconds. This model, and the equivalent Saturn Sky Redline received enhancements like a limited-slip differential, anti-lock brakes, cruise control, power windows, locks, and improved suspension components, making it a true sports car that offered great value at the time.
Despite the regular convertible Solstice's appealing design, something about the Solstice Coupe's shape and rarity outshines it greatly. Pontiac produced around 850 Solstice GXP Coupes before discontinuing them, making them potentially valuable investments compared to the convertible model that's expected to depreciate over time. On Autotrader currently, there are several low mile examples of the Coupe listed for over $40k, which may give a glimpse of the Solstice Coupe GXP's future collectability factor.