http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_d5-K109DQ

 

WOW! great video! that was very neat to watch thanks!

GO GM!!!

 

And hopefully that ends the discussion, once and for all, about whether or not GM can be competitive.

"It's cheaper, faster, and easier to drive (than the Miata) . . . GM should bring this car to Japan," says the Japanese test driver.

 

Nice, that's good to see...Now lets hope that the GXP/Redline stomps whatever Mazdaspeed decides to put out

 

What you guys didn't see was the GM-paid ninja standing behind the camera threatening to split the reviewers in half with a stroke of his sword if they didn't praise the solstice.

Duh.

 

I dunno ... I think maybe they were pulling the old MXC trick on us here with the translations ... "right you are, Kenny!"

Seriously though, their main complaint is what most everyone else says: the gear ratios suck. GM probably did this for cost savings / CAFE / NVH reasons, but still, I thought this was more of a 'no compromises' car design.

But overall a very cool video. It was fun watching him heel-and-toe through the corners and work the controls. Odd that a Japanese reviewer puts the Solstice on top, yet most American comparisons put the Miata on top. Great job, Pontiac!

 

Did I miss what time it ran in comparison to the Cayman and the 350Z?

 

cayman s: 1'29'55 (00:47 in the vid)
350Z: 1'31'65 (00:47 in the vid)
miata: 1'35'01 (05:02 in the vid)
solstice: 1'35'59 (02:37 in the vid)

i know it contradicts what they were saying about the solstice being faster.. but that's what it looks like.. mind you the vid quality is horrible

 

I think it looks to be 1'35"91 for the MX5

 

Wasn't that one of the writers for Road & Track with him?

 

now that you mention it, you are probably right..

 

They keep saying the Solstice is much easier to drive - easier to predict and to make it do what you want it to. That's great to hear as it's very important in cars like these. It's one of the things I love about my Audi is I don't feel uncertain at ALL when I push it to its limits. It's easy to make it do what I want it to do and the 'do not cross' line of handling is very very wide - you get lots of forwarning before it just loses it.

With that said I was really hoping this test would have been of a redline.

 

That's what I thought, too.