a friend of mine who is a sales manager at a local pontiac dealer let me go along yesterday to Lakeland Fl where GM had a ride and drive program for sales people with the Solstice...MX5 and they also had an S..pretty interesting. The Solstice is not bad looking in person, but the amount of plastic IE grill, and the trim just scream GM. I drove the Solstice and MX5 and I gotta tell ya the MX5 is a much better road car IMO than the Solstice..the GM rep that ran the show kept talking about the lack of low end on the S..I couldn't keep my mouth shut and chimed in with "what about after 6K" he fessed up and said the Solstice was not meant to compete with the S, but rather the MX5 was it's main comp. He again said that GM was trying to emulate the handling of the S..and BTW it's not even close. The Solstice was pretty sloppy in the corners..I drove it like I drive my S and it was very loose and sloppy..all in all it's a nice car for the price point, but if you want it loaded...ABS, AC it's 26K...I hope they sell a ton of em..can't imagine what a 250HP Solstice will do...I'd be a little scared to drive one with that much HP and the handling characteristics I experienced...not much there all in all

 

Haha...

 

Hahah what about after 6k!


I think a better comparison would be a MX-5 vs. Solstice, Edmunds.com already did this one. I'm sure if GM decides to combat with a turbo solstice (which I posted in Car talk with pics), Mazda could do the same.

 

And.what if they all come out with Turbos,and tuned suspensions?
What will Honda do for that?A Turbo "S"???

 

competition can only be a good thing in the long run.

Personally, I've heard good reviews of the Solstice's handling.

 

I, also, hope that the Solstice will be a contender. I also trust that Honda will step up their game, if that happens to be the case.

 

drive one..then respond.

 

I saw a new MX-5 yesterday. That car looks a LOT better in person than in photos. In person, the lines are much cleaner, and everything seems much more proportional.

I still like the S2000 styling.....aggressive, yet understated.

John

 

A friend is getting one tonite;if he gives me a ride i'll let you guys know my thoughts

 

and you didn't try to talk him out of it?