thebig33tuna

Well since no one has been the annoying fanboi, i'll take a stab

A Story:

so it's a pleasant saturday and i have an hour drive ahead of me to Columbus to visit my parents.

i load my trunk up with guitar, amp, bag of clothes, second bag of dirty laundry to do while i'm home, and my laptop bag.

i put the top down and head out on the road.

it starts raining... drizzle at first, then downpour. i slow to 35 and pull into the side of the road, throw the ebrake up 1 click, top up... back on the road again. slightly damp, but otherwise fine.

This Story, with a Saturn Sky:
i go to try and put my stuff in my car. i can fit maybe one bag in the tiny trunk. i try to put the top down manually, it takes me 5 minutes. i can now fit nothing at all in my trunk. i pack everything in the front.

when it starts raining, i have to pull over and stop. everything in my car gets soaked while i fight with putting the top up for 5 more minutes.

i wish i'd bought an s2000 (with top down while driving mod)

/end of story.

In all seriousness though, the sky is a GREAT looking car and i'd have seriously considered it... if i was getting it for a 2nd car only.

s2knoob89

I think the sky/soltice looks cheaply made IMHO.

Saki GT

I have a friend with a Redline Sky with the factory power upgrade, and its a fun car to drive. For the money, especially used, its a great deal imo if you can live with its shortcomings. He had it as a second car to his Si, but sold the Si to just drive the Sky Redline.

The interior is nice, people complain about the plastic dash because its that super hard plastic, not softer plastic like in the S. The seats are nice and the cabin is big, although headroom is kind of limiting - at about 6', the top comes in on my head when its up which I find annoying. The seats are fine - good support.

The stereo is awesome, loud, great bass, unlike the S2000s anemic stereo. The Sky also has fog lights, a plus for fog and stuff...

The car has a ton of grip because it has huge tires. It also has traction control so it will mind traction for you during normal driving.

The down side is the top operation and trunk space. Getting out of the car to change the top is a PITA to me, but my friend does it in under a minute - you just have to get out o the car to do it. The trunk holds just about nothing, no way to get around that.

If you can get over the trunk and top operation, its a great car. The factory power mod is great and you can't beat a factory warranty on it.

Lithium Lotus

I'm surprised by the responses here, a lot more positive then I would have thought. Maybe it's a roadster owner thing?

Anyway, the top does take a little getting used to at first. But it becomes really simple to open/close after a week of doing it.

As for the interior, the hard plastic makes it really easy to clean. I use Meguiar's interior wipes to clean it, quick and easy. But if you want to impress the dash-molesters, you can always have your entire interior custom done by JPM Coachworks [vendor on the sky and solstice forum]. He will cover your interior anyway you want with whatever material you want, and will do custom stitching/embroidery and padding. So if you want your interior to look like it comes from a Porsche or Bently, he can do it.

Some people will say the car feels numb and unresponsive when driving it on the stock suspension. But you have to realize the car comes with 18x8 wheels with 245/45/18 tires. A bit bigger then what's on the front of an S2K and much bigger then what's on a Miata. That, and GM tuned the suspension to induce understeer, since it's safer for novice drivers of short wheel-base rwd cars. But if you want to carve corners, you will need a set of adjustable coilovers. KWV3 and BC are highly recommended on the forums for quality and tuning. BC is also a vendor. Then you'll want to upgrade the swaybars to the GM Z0K package and use the Z0K alignment [much more aggressive then non-Z0K cars]. And to stiffen the chassis, several people make driveshaft tunnel braces and rear differential braces [the Z0K cars come with a stiffened differential mount/brace, but costs over $300 from GM, the aftermarket ones are half the price]. SSR and OZ make lightweight forged wheels that will fit the car.

If you want to keep the reliability of the stock turbo, then the Redline is car you want. Go with the GM tune to keep your warranty. But if you want to get as much horsepower as you can, get a base model and get a turbo kit from Hahn or Dejon Powerhouse [both are well known DSM tuners] to pump out 400+ horsepower.

ace123

I was really set on getting a Sky Redline.

I took a test drive, and for some reason it didn't work. There's nothing I could point to and say "that's why I didn't like it." The only negatives I can remember specifically were smaller things--I didn't care for the exhaust note, the top, and some of the interior looked cheap/cheesy to me. I could have gotten over all of that. The car is plenty quick, and I really like the styling. But the bottom line was, it just didn't make me feel alive like I wanted.

I test drove a used AP1 at my buddy's prodding, and it just worked. So I bought a new one a week later.

I can't say anything bad about them--they really are nice cars with a lot of great attributes. But it just never quite came together for me in the test drive. YMMV.

Saki GT

He's a member here and I've seen his work on S2000s - it is very nice.

rockville

I drove a first year Sky. It felt like driving a Corvette with an I4 motor. Unfortunately the Corvette's motor is part of what makes it such a great car. The Sky was extremely stable and planted but didn't feel playful. However I still liked it. I see a black turbo Sky in the lot near work and every time I see it I think how damn good that car looks.

BTW, the shifter is good. It's not S2000 good. I would say it was on par with the BMWs I've driven.

foxy_s2k

I also am stunned by the 'less body roll' comment, ESPECIALLY from an AP1 owner!

Hot-wheels-tastic in my humble opinion, I think they look like toys on the road. Midlife-crisis-mobile driven by forty-something divorcee men.

Yes, I have an unreasonable dislike for the car. Sue me.

asiliat

I actually considered a sky before I bought a used S.

The 2 deal breakers for me were
- you had to get out of the car to lower the top
- There wasn't enough trunk space w/ the top down for anything meaningful

Other than that, it's a fantastic looking car. I really don't care about performance as much as before, now that my commute went from 15 minutes to 1 hr each way.

SpudRacer

The few reliability issues I remember about the car are...
Differential failures. Repeated failures in some cases.
Gasket leaks at the windshield and trunk. Trunk makes a nice little Koi pond.

Design issues...
Stone age top.
Plastic fantastic GM interior.
Cheapo suspension from the GM parts bin.
Chassis designed to a price point rather than a vision.
Zero storage space (see also, neolithic top)

The good...
Ecotec 2.0L I4 Turbo is a nice little engine. Dunno about lifespan. It is a GM.
Styling. Both the Sky and the Solstice were very nice looking.

I looked at the Solstice when shopping for the S2000. There was a Pointyack dealer next door to my Honda dealer. I really wanted to like the car. But it was obvious that the Kappa's were just another platform rushed to market by a desperate company taking the easy way out. Again.