The Last Pontiac
#1
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
The Last Pontiac
Here's a little nugget of how GM got itself to where it is today. OK, sure--Ponitiac knows it may be on the chopping block, and GM cuts off serious funding, so it churns out a half-a$$ed effort. But--if you want to try and preserve yourself, is that how you go about things? This car still has the "GM" logo on it, and leaves owners and others with a poor impression, and makes it hard to win them back to future GM products.
20 years later, it's exactly how the Fiero is remembered--a half-a$$ed piece of junk.
20 years later, it's exactly how the Fiero is remembered--a half-a$$ed piece of junk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/au....html?_r=1&hpw
Behind the Wheel | 2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe
The Last Pontiac
2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe
By JERRY GARRETT
Published: July 2, 2009
THE just-introduced (and just-canceled) Pontiac Solstice coupe is already assured a place in automotive history, and not only because its fleeting production run lasted mere months.
This new targa-top Solstice is the last of the Pontiacs, the final breath of a brand that failed to adapt to a changing world. Once-proud Pontiac is being phased out by General Motors, its parent, and will be gone in 2010. The Solstice coupe, a fixed-roof variation of the four-year-old roadster, is Pontiac’s last new model.
It could become something of a collector’s item.
“We expect that total production will be in the neighborhood of 1,100 units when we cease operations at the Wilmington plant by the end of July,” Jim Hopson, a Pontiac spokesman, wrote in an e-mail message. All Solstice coupes will have sequential ID numbers, so owners will know exactly which car of the 1,100 they have.
The coupe I tested was the hot GXP version, which comes with a 260-horsepower 4-cylinder engine. Its window sticker of $31,045 created an expectation of polish and comfort that I felt, considering the price, it failed to deliver.
Here is a car that essentially matches my definition a doomed romance. Its drop-dead gorgeous exterior made me yearn for a fling that would turn meaningful, but a week of companionship revealed a list of quirks that included nearly every imaginable character flaw. A love-hate relationship, I suppose, was inevitable.
The spartan cabin, finished in unrelenting black on my test car, was especially noteworthy: I believe it could be the first automotive interior styled entirely by an accounting department. The only minimum-security prison I have ever visited (honest, it was only to interview an inmate) had more luxurious appointments.
The seats are tolerable, but neither supportive nor particularly adjustable — there is no place else for them to go in the cramped cockpit. Plus-size drivers should shop elsewhere.
There is virtually no convenient storage — no handy place for a cellphone, no bin to hold coins, no storage in the enormous console, no cubbies or map pockets in the doors. But there is a slit along the door sill, long enough and wide enough for a package of Slim Jim jerky.
A package shelf under the hatchback rear window is only large enough to hold the bare essentials for a weekend getaway. But if you pop for the temporary fabric top to use when the removable panel has been left home (there’s no place onboard to stash the 31-pound targa panel), the package area is commandeered to store that. So plan your trips carefully, paying close attention to the weather forecast.
The power window controls are perfectly placed for someone with six-inch-long forearms; otherwise, use your elbows. The dashboard instruments are partly eclipsed by the adjustable steering wheel, regardless of its position. The gauge faces and the radio’s digital display panel can be difficult to read, but, hey, it’s only a problem during most daylight hours.
The shifter for the 5-speed manual transmission clanks like a tenement radiator in February. Wind and road noise with the top shut is intrusive enough to warrant constant checks that the windows are all the way up and doors aren’t flapping open.
The turbocharged Ecotec 2-liter 4-cylinder makes an industrial whine but it is capable of pushing this 3,018 pound package — that’s slightly more than the convertible, oddly enough — from zero to 60 m.p.h. in 5.2 seconds, according to Car and Driver magazine. The federal fuel economy rating is 19 miles a gallon in town and 28 on the highway with the 5-speed manual.
The suspension is tuned too soft for thrashing around during amateur hour at your local racetrack. Despite standard Bilstein monotube shock absorbers, there is a generous amount of bobbing and weaving on grip-challenged 18-inch Goodyears.
The stability control system can be turned off, but my advice is to avoid this — or be prepared for some anxious moments of oversteer in spirited driving. In normal driving — freeway cruising, errand-running and getting groceries (although there is little room for them) — the GXP coupe is generally quite pleasant and stable.
Despite its many faults, the shapely little coupe is a sexy attention-getter, another beauty designed by Franz von Holzhausen when he was a rising star at General Motors. (Mr. von Holzhausen subsequently left for Mazda and is now at Tesla.) Outward visibility is atrocious, but that’s the price of being so stylish. If you can’t live with that, buy an old Volvo wagon.
Creature discomforts aside, friends and family all wanted to ride in the coupe, the longer the trip the better. Beware of straying too far from home, though: Consumer Reports found the reliability record of the Solstice convertible and the similar Saturn Sky to be dismal.
So what sort of epitaph, if any, does the Solstice GXP coupe suggest for the once-mighty Pontiac nameplate? In many ways it is a rolling testament of G.M.’s shortsightedness: a pinch of pizazz, a dash of panache, all mixed into a package of unmet promise.
Behind the Wheel | 2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe
The Last Pontiac
2009 Pontiac Solstice Coupe
By JERRY GARRETT
Published: July 2, 2009
THE just-introduced (and just-canceled) Pontiac Solstice coupe is already assured a place in automotive history, and not only because its fleeting production run lasted mere months.
This new targa-top Solstice is the last of the Pontiacs, the final breath of a brand that failed to adapt to a changing world. Once-proud Pontiac is being phased out by General Motors, its parent, and will be gone in 2010. The Solstice coupe, a fixed-roof variation of the four-year-old roadster, is Pontiac’s last new model.
It could become something of a collector’s item.
“We expect that total production will be in the neighborhood of 1,100 units when we cease operations at the Wilmington plant by the end of July,” Jim Hopson, a Pontiac spokesman, wrote in an e-mail message. All Solstice coupes will have sequential ID numbers, so owners will know exactly which car of the 1,100 they have.
The coupe I tested was the hot GXP version, which comes with a 260-horsepower 4-cylinder engine. Its window sticker of $31,045 created an expectation of polish and comfort that I felt, considering the price, it failed to deliver.
Here is a car that essentially matches my definition a doomed romance. Its drop-dead gorgeous exterior made me yearn for a fling that would turn meaningful, but a week of companionship revealed a list of quirks that included nearly every imaginable character flaw. A love-hate relationship, I suppose, was inevitable.
The spartan cabin, finished in unrelenting black on my test car, was especially noteworthy: I believe it could be the first automotive interior styled entirely by an accounting department. The only minimum-security prison I have ever visited (honest, it was only to interview an inmate) had more luxurious appointments.
The seats are tolerable, but neither supportive nor particularly adjustable — there is no place else for them to go in the cramped cockpit. Plus-size drivers should shop elsewhere.
There is virtually no convenient storage — no handy place for a cellphone, no bin to hold coins, no storage in the enormous console, no cubbies or map pockets in the doors. But there is a slit along the door sill, long enough and wide enough for a package of Slim Jim jerky.
A package shelf under the hatchback rear window is only large enough to hold the bare essentials for a weekend getaway. But if you pop for the temporary fabric top to use when the removable panel has been left home (there’s no place onboard to stash the 31-pound targa panel), the package area is commandeered to store that. So plan your trips carefully, paying close attention to the weather forecast.
The power window controls are perfectly placed for someone with six-inch-long forearms; otherwise, use your elbows. The dashboard instruments are partly eclipsed by the adjustable steering wheel, regardless of its position. The gauge faces and the radio’s digital display panel can be difficult to read, but, hey, it’s only a problem during most daylight hours.
The shifter for the 5-speed manual transmission clanks like a tenement radiator in February. Wind and road noise with the top shut is intrusive enough to warrant constant checks that the windows are all the way up and doors aren’t flapping open.
The turbocharged Ecotec 2-liter 4-cylinder makes an industrial whine but it is capable of pushing this 3,018 pound package — that’s slightly more than the convertible, oddly enough — from zero to 60 m.p.h. in 5.2 seconds, according to Car and Driver magazine. The federal fuel economy rating is 19 miles a gallon in town and 28 on the highway with the 5-speed manual.
The suspension is tuned too soft for thrashing around during amateur hour at your local racetrack. Despite standard Bilstein monotube shock absorbers, there is a generous amount of bobbing and weaving on grip-challenged 18-inch Goodyears.
The stability control system can be turned off, but my advice is to avoid this — or be prepared for some anxious moments of oversteer in spirited driving. In normal driving — freeway cruising, errand-running and getting groceries (although there is little room for them) — the GXP coupe is generally quite pleasant and stable.
Despite its many faults, the shapely little coupe is a sexy attention-getter, another beauty designed by Franz von Holzhausen when he was a rising star at General Motors. (Mr. von Holzhausen subsequently left for Mazda and is now at Tesla.) Outward visibility is atrocious, but that’s the price of being so stylish. If you can’t live with that, buy an old Volvo wagon.
Creature discomforts aside, friends and family all wanted to ride in the coupe, the longer the trip the better. Beware of straying too far from home, though: Consumer Reports found the reliability record of the Solstice convertible and the similar Saturn Sky to be dismal.
So what sort of epitaph, if any, does the Solstice GXP coupe suggest for the once-mighty Pontiac nameplate? In many ways it is a rolling testament of G.M.’s shortsightedness: a pinch of pizazz, a dash of panache, all mixed into a package of unmet promise.
#4
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I always liked the Soltice (& Sky) but the soft top made them ridiculous to own around here ... T-roof on the other hand ... oh well I guess.
Who has Saturn now? (I forget)
Who has Saturn now? (I forget)
#7
Lexus Champion
yep G8 + Vibe are their only decent cars...nighbor just bought a new Vibe - looks pretty nice - sticker was like $21k got if for $14k.
never did like the Solstice...the Sky looked much better IMO.
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#8
Lexus Fanatic
The Fiero I reviewed in 1984 was a 2.5L "Iron Duke" engine model....the same engine I had in my own 1980 Chevy Citation (another piece of junk), except with throttle-body fuel injection. Brand new, right off the lot, on my Fiero test-drive, I noticed numerous squeaks/rattles, a steering wheel cocked 30-40 degrees off-center, a speedometer cable that clicked and vibrated (they weren't electronic back then), an inoperative oil-pressure gauge, shimmies in the steering wheel from tire mount/balance, and an engine running a little warm (some Fieros were recalled for engine fires).
Fiero problems, especially with the early models, were so numerous among owners that Pontiac sent out teams of factory engineers to various dealerships, on a rotating schedule, to deal with them personally, because the dealer service people were just being overwhelmed.
#9
Lexus Test Driver
Yes the solstice has many flaws, but at least they built it. I think the solstice coupe will become popular in SCCA racing, because of the lightweight and stiffness of the hardtop.
#10
Lexus Champion
Calling the Fiero a half-a**ed piece of junk would be understating it. I've been driving and reviewing cars for some 40 years, and without question, the 1984 Fiero and 1987 Hyundai Excel (which was really a Mitsubishi precis) were the two worst-built new cars I ever drove....though some of the 1969-70 Chrysler products came close.
The Fiero I reviewed in 1984 was a 2.5L "Iron Duke" engine model....the same engine I had in my own 1980 Chevy Citation (another piece of junk), except with throttle-body fuel injection. Brand new, right off the lot, on my Fiero test-drive, I noticed numerous squeaks/rattles, a steering wheel cocked 30-40 degrees off-center, a speedometer cable that clicked and vibrated (they weren't electronic back then), an inoperative oil-pressure gauge, shimmies in the steering wheel from tire mount/balance, and an engine running a little warm (some Fieros were recalled for engine fires).
Fiero problems, especially with the early models, were so numerous among owners that Pontiac sent out teams of factory engineers to various dealerships, on a rotating schedule, to deal with them personally, because the dealer service people were just being overwhelmed.
The Fiero I reviewed in 1984 was a 2.5L "Iron Duke" engine model....the same engine I had in my own 1980 Chevy Citation (another piece of junk), except with throttle-body fuel injection. Brand new, right off the lot, on my Fiero test-drive, I noticed numerous squeaks/rattles, a steering wheel cocked 30-40 degrees off-center, a speedometer cable that clicked and vibrated (they weren't electronic back then), an inoperative oil-pressure gauge, shimmies in the steering wheel from tire mount/balance, and an engine running a little warm (some Fieros were recalled for engine fires).
Fiero problems, especially with the early models, were so numerous among owners that Pontiac sent out teams of factory engineers to various dealerships, on a rotating schedule, to deal with them personally, because the dealer service people were just being overwhelmed.
#11
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
I can't really slap them on the back for "just" building it. Any car company can "just" build an unreliable, poorly made car. Do that for 20 years, and then go to the govt for a bailout...
#12
Lexus Fanatic
Yes it was certainly a lame division over the last decade, contributing billions in losses to GM's problems.
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Calling the Fiero a half-a**ed piece of junk would be understating it. I've been driving and reviewing cars for some 40 years, and without question, the 1984 Fiero and 1987 Hyundai Excel (which was really a Mitsubishi precis) were the two worst-built new cars I ever drove....though some of the 1969-70 Chrysler products came close.
btw, I've been driving and testing cars for 37 years, and a few years beyond that too but not legally.
#14
Lexus Fanatic
I thought the solstice was the best looking new american car since the relase of the viper back in the day. Its a shame the solstice is gone. The rest of pontiac can take a hike. I still hate, and always will hate GM. Just wanted to say that one more time
#15
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Actually, which manufacturers do you like? (not trying to start something here but I can't seem to recal you actually liking something)