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billspohn

Jedi Knight
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Guess I should fess up as I let it out on another forum.

I bought a new car - a sports coupe with 290 BHP, made in small numbers (267 with manual trans. Saw them and liked it far more than the convertible version.

Pictured behind my other coupe, 50 years older.

couple1.jpg


sol1.jpg
 
That roof does improve the looks. How's the room inside? More pictures?

Even more regrettable that the plug's been pulled on Pontiac...
 
I understand that because so few coupes were made, they will hold their value more than the convertibles. I wouldn't count them out completely though. GM's not dead, thank goodness, and hopefully, this car could re emerge at a later date. I also don't think the Pontiac line is forever dead, just resting.
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Those aren't your black marks on the ground are they? :devilgrin:
 
WOW!! I've not seen one of those yet....do they also make a Saturn Skye coupe?
 
Well, I like that! What is the color? Might look good on my TR4.
 
Its not much of a difference but it has 260hp not 290 (and 260lbft as well), unless they are marketing them differently north of the border. Same engine as the Solstice GXP convertible, Saturn Sky Redline, HHR SS, Cobalt SS, etc... 2.0 Direct Injected Turbo. I've driven both the 5-speed manual and the five speed automatic. They are both nice. Outward visibility in the coupe is rather poor. No worse really than the convertibles with the top up or my TR8 FHC for that matter, but not stellar, with huge blind-spots. The placement of the antenna seems like an afterthought on the coupes as well. Very nice color though!

There is a fairly active Solstice forum. Lots of speculation on the exact number of coupes made, especially between GXP vs Standard. There seem to be a good many dealers throwing unsubstantiated production numbers around and GM seems to be keeping quiet about the exact numbers. There was even speculation of a 2010 production run but according to one of the members on that Forum, that worked at the Wilmington Delaware production plant, the plant is closed and locked up.

If you keep yours standard, unmodified, it could become even rarer. There seem to be many that are being heavily modified from the get go.

Tony, I don't believe there are any plans for a Sky Coupe. There are some aftermarket hard tops supposedly in the works. The Sky's were made in the same Delaware plant as the Solstice and I haven't heard any news about what Penske plans to do with Saturn, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see a Saturn name plate in NASCAR in the next couple of years. You might be aware that the Saturn Sky (which was designed in an Opel studio in Coventry) shares the same body work as the modern Opel GT, there is even a KIA version identical except for badging, not being sold in the US.
 
Any side or rear views of that beautiful thing?
 
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Sorry for the late response - I don't get notification of responses to my posts (I expect it is some site software glitch) and don't always get back here that often to check.

They made 1152 coupes, of which 768 were the GXP and the rest were base model non-turbo. Of those 768, only 267 were manual 5 speeds like mine - no idea why so many went for autos! Miniscule numbers for American cars, simply because they went belly up 2 months after starting delivery of the coupes

Shawn, you are right, the standard issue was 260 BHP and 260 ft-lbs. They then issued an update for the programming that boosted that to 290 BHP and 340 ft-lbs. and allowed over 20 psi of boost. My car has that update and so is indeed 290 BHP, where it will stay until the warranty runs out in 3 years.

The convert was a bit too 'boy racer' for me, but I fell in lust with the coupe when I saw one and decided to get one while I still could. They shipped less than 100 to Canada (all the high power turbo model for some reason).

No, I didn't make all those black marks, I just took the pictures in an area that is a favourite for the local cars and bikes to 'play'.

Tony - couple more pics, plus a couple of professional ones.

sol2.jpg





112_0803_01z+2009_pontiac_solstice_coupe+side_view.jpg

112_0803_04z+2009_pontiac_solstice_coupe+rear_view.jpg
 
WOW!!
 
Yeah, I was wondering if I could find an MG eblem large enough to cover the Pontiac spear on the nose. Love to take a picture and tantalize people into thinking that it is the 'new MGB GT'......
 
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