Zoops! Those of you with long memories may remember how I cooed and gushed over the Pontiac Solstice GXP's essentially perfect 2.0-liter turbo mill. That's the same motor in the Saturn Sky Redline, the Cobalt SS and the HHR SS. But you'll also recall I asked, "How can Pontiac get so much right (looks, engine) and, at the same time, get so much wrong (everything else)?" According to the Detroit Free Press, I'm even more right than I thought I was. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating 40 reports that drivers have to press down too hard on the brake pedals. Allegedly, all the complaints originated in parking lots and driveways when starting the car. Twenty thousand Solstii and Skys are being examined. I don't remember this happening during my time with the car, though I do remember the GXP's driveline trying to eat itself. GM is offering the NHTSA full cooperation.
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I promise to all the TTAC readers out there that the Solstice/Sky is a better car than what is probably perceived. I am an import guy, I had a Solstice and I know.
Sensationalist headline alert!
It’s not a sudden acceleration problem. It’s a brake boost assist problem. When the engine hasn’t warmed up, there isn’t sufficient vacuum in the system to properly operate the power brakes.
I said this when the cars FINALLY came out, all it takes is a misstep in engineering and a huge embarrassing recall to sink the ship.
Ford just got raped for 86 million because people can’t drive SUVs without flipping them over, I guarantee lawyers are warming up over this one.
# frontline :
March 12th, 2008 at 8:59 am
“I promise to all the TTAC readers out there that the Solstice/Sky is a better car than what is probably perceived. I am an import guy, I had a Solstice and I know.”
That’s an interesting sign of just how pointless it is to put too much faith in one reviewer’s opinion of a car. I’ve driven and reviewed every model of the Solstice and Sky and remember thinking they were probably the worst modern roadsters I’d ever driven.
Who’s right? frontline or me? I could go either way…or that neither of us is “right.”
Stephan Wilkinson: Well, it’s pretty obvious that in this case I’m right, right?
Stephan and Jonny ! Lets find some common ground. Do we agree that the Chassis/structure is pleasingly stiff? Very impressive considering it is an open car.
Do we agree that the Chassis/structure is pleasingly stiff?
Is it so stiff that you would compare it to, say, a bathtub on wheels?
The solution is obvious: we’ll part out the car. Jonny gets the engine and the sheetmetal, frontline gets everything else, and I assume Wilkinson will be happy with nothing.
Either that or I take the car and raise it as a Hindu.
I’ll just smirk smugly as I drive my late-model Miata into the sunset.
Nope… No brake troubles here.
The only thing remotely wrong is a seat slightly too narrow for my ample tuckus.
Somebody inform me please.
Were there eye-catching headlines here when Toyota
recalled nearly 800,000 Sequoias a couple years ago because the ball joint was disintegrating, causing loss of steering control?
I wasn’t looking at this site then.
Thanks.
Miata? Built by Ford-owned Mazda?
This isn’t a domestic bashing article if it’s true. I already submitted a correction to the title and he changed it appropriately.
Every brand has recalls… including Mazda.
This one sounds spectacular… an engine mount bolt could come loose and cause the drive train to become misaligned possibly snapping the drive shafts.
Raskolnikov: It’s like a beautiful woman that does something off color or digusting , it’s a bad deal but she is so very beautiful only she can get away with it!
I think you can get these cars pretty cheaply now in the used market, now that demand has worn down. I think i saw a few for around 16-17k. Still, the absolutely tiny, basically unusable, trunk is a deal-breaker for me. And i’ve owned 2 Miatas and am a current 350ZR owner. The trucks may be small, but at least there isn’t a huge gas tank in the way of what little space there is.
GM should give the people complaining about this McCarthy era boats with drums all around for loaners. That should shut those panty-waists up pretty quickly.
frontline: I promise to all the TTAC readers out there that the Solstice/Sky is a better car than what is probably perceived. I am an import guy, I had a Solstice and I know.
You HAD a Solstice?
And now you don’t?
And it’s a better car than what is probably perceived?
Yeah, right.
And why don’t you have it anymore if it was so much better than what is probably perceived?