Early on, Solstice was intended to come in at the Miata's size and weight class. They missed that by several hundred pounds BTW. The reason Kappa is a simplified 7/8ths Ycar, is because they wanted a new architecture fast...and starting conceptually with Y-car was an expedient way to do it.

Most of Solstices charm comes from it's price. A $40,000 5.3 Pontiac Corvette would be a miserable flop...even if you assume it would have come out earlier, which is a big assumption.

 

That is the kind of answer I was looking for. An opinion on IF the car would have been a hit a $40,000.

No I don't like it when people don't understand the question and go off on tangents. Also I don't like it when people hyjack my thread because they want to sound important.

I have done my research. I know once the Solstice was shown to the public on the cobbled up J-body GM talked about it being a cheap car. What my question was asking is that IF GM had gone the route of a Pontiac Corvette would it have been as big of a hit. What do you have trouble reading. Z28x provided me with the type of answer that instead of sounding like a douche actually answers the question.

I would appreciate it if we could focus on the "Would the Solstice have been as big of a hit had it been on the more expensive Y-body and cost higher?"

Thanks and have a nice day.

 

No.

1) It would have cost anywhere from 30-40K. If you put the 4 cylinder in it you might hit 30k, but you'd still take away only about 100-200 lbs from the corvette's weight, so you'd end up with a 3000-3100 170hp pig. If you increased the engine size to a V6 or V8, you'd lose most or all of your weight savings and likely push the cost up to 35K. At that point, the extra $60-80 more a month for a base corvette would make a lot more sense especially if you have the disposable income to spend on an expensive two seat car.

2) Name all the <$30,000 roadsters. Name all the $30-50k roadsters. Which crowd is easier to stand out in? Also: How many $30-50K roadsters including the SSR are made by GM? How many below $30,000?

3) Forget about roadsters. How many inexpensive RWD cars are out there?

4) What hotrodder ever gets excited about putting a smaller engine in a bigger car?

5) Why does the contemporary and refined GTO sell in far lower numbers than the big motor in a penalty box 4th gen camaro did? Could price be a factor?

6) Could the much of the T-bird's failure be the result of being an expensive but good looking roadster on the wrong platform?

6) If some of the solstice's delays were due to the convertible top, would another platform have changed that? Maybe?

7) With the miata being pretty much it's sole competitor, it has a rival, ensuring it ample amounts of press.

Consider items 1-7. How could it be as successfull if it were on the more expensive Y-body?

 

Hey that is not what was supposed to be debated in here. Wanna talk about that get your own thread I simply gave people a question as to weather a Y-body solstice would have been a success if you didn't say so then just say it. Don't get off topic in my thread because you want to sound important.

Miata, S2000, formerly MR2
Crossfire SRT6, Boxter, Corvette Vert. Maybe a totally bottomed out Mercedes SL.

Now that I think about it the cheaper market is easier to stand out in but that wasn't the question I was posing.

SSR and Vette between 30 and 50K. Below $30 was nothing before Solstice.
Perhaps there is a reason for that. The general American public is not to big on RWD if you haven't noticed.

Ever met anyone from the F&F crowd? They go from 2.0 Honda motors to 1.8s all the time. I am not saying I would do it BUT that is how you can justify a higher price for the bigger motor one.

Could it be that GM didn't have any more capacity than 15K units per year? Do a little research and then come back and talk to me.

Could be BUT if could be that people didn't like being gouged for it so they stopped buying it and the market was turned off by that. Or it could have had something to do with the styling, it did get dated rather quickly.

Lets see already designed, working, and being built convertible top VS new design with new parts AND new manufacturing processes. You make the call.

The SRT6 would have been a direct competitor to a V-6 Y=body. But once again that wasn't the question.

I am not saying that it would have been more sucessful. I didn't even vote in my own poll because honestly I am not sure how I felt about it. I could defend this from both positions as I see reasoning in both. But we won't know if it could have been more successfull because it wasn't done. My question has been repeated. I don't really care to continue this conversation. If you wish to try to flame me again so be it I don't realy care.

 

Oh my god. This has got to be the dumbest thread I've ever seen in my entire life. We are supposed to speculate on whether a y body Solstice would be successful but we can't actually discuss what would happen if the car were actually based on the platform because thats "Hijacking the thread", "going off topic" and being "self important."

You need to be coddled. Since I'm not going to do so, there is no point in any further posts from me (or anyone else who disagrees with you) in this thread.

Eveybody vote yes! I did!

 

Once you post something on a public internet message board, it's public domain. There is no such thing as "my thread". If you can't deal with that, get your own message board. Or blog. See how many people will want to talk to you about your topic. Especially with that attitude.

P.S. You single-handedly derailed this thread by going dictator on us. Have a nice day indeed.

 

Yeah, you did come down pretty hard on WERM for no apparent reason. Sort of a thread buzz kill.

 

Thinking this out...

So spend more then a hard top Corvette, get less performance....and all I get is this lousy tshirt?
Pros: Trunk, faster to market ability
Cons: Not a soul would buy one.

Solstice's major attraction is its design at teh price level its on!! The biggest thing I heard people say at the Solstice and Sky is "wow, that looks to be about 40k". The price of the car is what makes it such a killer buy.
I dont understand the attracton of a V8 Solstice. I give you 2 options
1- Go to Mallet with your brand new Solstice, give them 35k and some time, and tada
2- Buy a Corvette
Its that simple!!!! The Solstice was not designed to be a drag strip burner, but to be a simple sports car that anyone can afford to buy and take out on the weekends. This car is a clear home run, why bother messing around with it!!!!

 

Ahh...there's so much more to the story than just the "Solstice on a Y-Body vehicle" than people know.

The Solstice in concept around GM was so much more than the 'Vette...hense the reason it was shot down (from what I understand). In styling, in performance, in nearly everything. From what I know, it was not the 4 cylinder we know it as.

The more I learn about the Solstice, the more I believe/have learned it was worked on before Lutz. He saw it, he said it had to be made, then modifications were done which is why we have Kappa.

 

Pontiac studied making a Y-body based Firebird replacement 4-5 years ago as a Firebird replacment. There were extensive studies done, and so forth, but it was axed. How much of that translated to the Solstice program I am unsure. I know when the Solstice Concept debuted, Lutz claimed it's design originated from a contest that was held only 6 months before the actual autoshow. Seeing as how they did not build the concept on the Vette platform (which would have been easier than the cobbled Delta they actually used in the concept)...and that Lutz immediatly announced it would be under $20K...I would imagine that since before it debuted it was intended more as a Miata fighter than anything else. Also...what would have happened to the Delaware plant had it been Y-body based? I don't see GM making the Y-body at more than one plant.

 

I have known alot of Honda guys, and typically this is never the case. What 2.0L motor are you thinking of that Honda guys are dumping all of the time for a b18? Most Honda guys looking to do engine swaps are looking for older Civic hatches and they dump the crappy d series 1.6 out of there and go with a version of the b16 or b18. Although I am sure guys have done it, woudn't say they go from 2.0 to 1.8 all of the time.