2005 Pontiac Solstice (it was released in 2004, so it counts...). What's not to like? A two-seater, turbocharged roadster? 260 horsepower in a light, nimble car? With decent styling and an affordable price? That sounds like a winner no matter who you sell it to. Oh, sure, they're 15 years behind the Mazda Miata and even 5 years behind the Honda S2000, but this is the first American coupe since, well, the 1953 Corvette...
So, naturally, they got a few years out of it and Pontiac ceased to be...
It's like the Cadillac Allante. The last couple of years, they wised up and dropped the monstrous Northstar V8 in the Allante, giving it respectable power and the oomph to compete against the Mercedes 500. And then killed the model. Hell, the entire Pontiac division was just *crushing it* in the waning days - the renovated GTO, the G6, the Solstice; Pontiac really was making good on the 1980s slogan of "We build excitement."
Which, in the 1980s, was immediately bowdlerized to "We build sh*tboxes. Pontiac!"
That is all.
5 comments:
I guess the 11generation Ford Thunderbird no longer counts as a coupe any more? 2000-2005.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thunderbird_%28eleventh_generation%29
If you bought a hard-top Solstice with a turbo, you're sitting on a gold mine...
Don't forget the Pontiac Fiero. Another turd that managed to get a nice polish just before getting killed. But if you have the time, money, and incentive, a Cadillac Northstar can be stuffed into the engine compartment.
Also don't forget the Solstice's Saturnalia Sister, the Sky:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Sky
Mom drove a Solstice for a couple of years. She really enjoyed it, but I never really cared for it. Couldn't see squat from the driver's seat, and the Pontiac "design language" never did anything for me. The MR2 Spyder they traded for the Solstice was a better driver's car, IMO.
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