NOT MY ARTICLE! JUST FOUND THIS AND SHARED..........

G. Chambers Williams III: Packing plenty of power

Web Posted: 04/08/2006 12:00 AM CDT


San Antonio Express-News

As if Pontiac's all-new Solstice roadster for 2006 wasn't compelling enough, the General Motors division is bringing an even better version to market this fall: the turbocharged GXP performance model.

If you've been among the thousands of consumers waiting to get one of the '06 Solstices, you can imagine how hard it's going to be to get one of the GXP versions.

Because GM plans to build only a fraction of as many GXP models as the regular Solstice, the waiting list, and consumer frustration, will be exponentially higher, I'm sure.

And that's not to mention the potential dealer markups on the GXP that consumers might find when they do go shopping for one.

A vehicle as hot as this one promises to have people lined up and waiting to pay whatever it takes to get to the top of the list. Even the base Solstice, which starts at $20,000, already is bringing premium prices because there are so many people waiting to get them.




The 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP has a turbocharged 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine with an amazing 260 horsepower. GM says that makes the Ecotec turbo its highest specific-output engine ever.

The 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP includes front and rear fascias that are found on other GXP models but not the base Solstice models.

Some buyers, particularly those who have been able to purchase a Solstice at or near sticker price, have been turning them over on eBay for several thousand dollars' profit. Some people are waiting instead for the similar new Saturn Sky roadster, which is just now beginning to trickle in to dealerships. The Solstice and Sky come from the same GM assembly line in Delaware.

So what's all the excitement about with this new Solstice GXP version? Power, baby, power.

The base model, whose top price with options rings up at about $26,000, comes with a normally aspirated 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine rated at an already respectable 177 horsepower and 166 foot-pounds of torque.

But the GXP comes with an engine that puts the Solstice into the pocket-rocket class.

It's a turbocharged 2.4-liter Ecotec four with an amazing 260 horsepower and 260 foot-pounds of torque. GM says that makes the Ecotec turbo its highest specific-output engine ever

 

Interesting read. With GM being on such shaky financial ground and with no solution in sight, the thought of buying one of their vehicles doesn't thrill me.

I'm interested in seeing the handling characteristics of the Solstice. It may be a half second faster, but will it have more cone marks on it?

 

yeah, didnt GM jst sell half of their ownership of GMAC??? not very comforting at all... not a bad car... maybe too little, too late though...

 

I think the inital numbers will be inflated to boost sales. I don't see this car being that much faster than the S, if faster at all. AS far as the handleing goes, I will go out on a limb here and doubt it characteristics right now. It looks heavy compared to the S. I mean everything about it screams chick car!!!!!

 

Hey, now that you mention it, I've seen maybe 5 or 6 of these and each one was being driven by a female. And they were OLDER females.

 

damn, am I the ONLY one here that sees that this is NOT a journalist's article? This is nothing more than GM paying the writer money to re-write their press release for the GXP. It's one of the public relation field's olest tricks in the book. Give credibility by a 3rd party source.

I have fun picking out the real news from the fake ones in the paper everyday.

Now, with the car, it will be fun to see who can handle that trans. so well as to shift fast enough to hit 5.5 0-60. And on 18" wheels. And a 3.73 ratio. How much heavier is this one than the base?

However, I can look at the front of the GXP without puking now.

 

Im fairly certain everyone here can agree that our car does more like mid to low 5 second sprint to 60. I can tell thats an obvious biased letter to hype the car. Should be a decent performer, I wonder how well it well hold together before it breaks.

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\ I agree. I think our cars are mid 5sec 0-60

 

I bet it handles like a turd on wheels

 

I also bet it has more problems than a crackhead