[Chip]

OK we all have seen the changes made to the Solstice since it came out as a concept car, but what of the Sky? How many focus groups will have their way with it before its launch date. Let's do our part. What small changes would you make to make it a cleaner platform?
I am not fond of the two color dash & steering wheel and I think the square tail pipe could use some work. Either center it in the back, (not sure about that) or run duals off the muffler with one collector on either side of the rear fascia. How about you?

 

[LatinVenom]

I like the square tail pipe, however as I mentioned in another thread, add the same design and run duals off the muffler with one collector on either side of the rear fascia. The other change would be to the grill like the original VouxHall concept, and put the same side mirrors it also had. I like the dual fabric interior but with a camel color instead of red, also as someone mentioned take the center stiching from the dash, it should flow smoothly from one end to the other. The soft top should also not be black but the same camel color as the seats inserts.
Give me 205 horses instead of 170 for the base car, you done it for the ION. :smile

 

[Fformula88]

Hey now, don't run off my two tone interior! I am sure there will be a boring single color interior to appease the masses. I really like the red/black combo! :thumbs

Its too soon for me to come up with any major changes. In fact, I am really feeling this car as a whole. GM is creating a dilema for me.

 

[WPG]

1) Eliminate the horizontal bar on the tail lights (the 1980's called and they want their taillights back )

2) Rake the side mirror more instead of having them go straight up from the door (Vauxhall concept for reference)

3) Dual exhaust tips

4) Haven't seen any other colors yet, but if the windshield surround is silver on all colors of cars (like the Crossfire), a big no, no, no. Make it body colored.

5) Remove all the Saturn badges. I don't mind actually buying and driving a Saturn, I just don't want to be reminded I have actually purchased and am driving a Saturn. (But I will probably be reminded that I have bought a Saturn when I have to return it every month to the dealership to receive crappy service )


That's my two and a half cents on what I feel can be initially changed. I am still trying to figure out what is "wrong" with this car.

 

[WPG]

6) Make the openings in the side coves wider.

 

[Chip]

... GM is creating a dilema for me.

John; What a sweet dilemma to be in! :cheers

 

[Michael]

What to do, what to do...

 

[Rik]

duals will come with the Redline. old Camaro trick, put single outlet on base model dual on hi-po model even though both only have one muffler.

 

[ho2go]

Interesting idea Rik, hope you're right! The Sky kind of looks unbalanced from the rear as-is.

The only other thing I'd change is that seam separating the left & right halves of the upper dash... can GM not make this a single skin all the way across?

 

[svdwoodsz]

If it is truly two parts on the dash (not just a crease down the middle of one piece) then it would be doubtful that GM would make such a change as the tooling is already done. They would have had several molds made to produce each piece and each mold costs upwards of $100,000. Perhaps not a lot of money for such a large company but for such a little change this late in the development of the design it wouldn't be enough to justify re-tooling.
Personaly I like the break in the dash, having a continuous one reminds me of something cheaper like the dash on my cavalier.
I like the two color dash/interior but it would be nice to see at least a couple of different options with the black besides the red. Not that its cost effective but perhaps matching the outside color at least with some inserts on the interior (i.e. the GTO with its matched instrument cluster).

 

[SkyHawk]

1)
5) Remove all the Saturn badges. I don't mind actually buying and driving a Saturn, I just don't want to be reminded I have actually purchased and am driving a Saturn. (But I will probably be reminded that I have bought a Saturn when I have to return it every month to the dealership to receive crappy service ).

I'm O.K. with the Saturn badges, but I will remove the "SKY" badge fom the trunk as I think it will make the back end a little cleaner (and the moniker "Sky" for such a great looking roadster is kinda lame - IMHO).
Badges are really easy to remove these day. A little floss and 5 seconds work and the badge is history..

 

[ho2go]

...The only other thing I'd change is that seam separating the left & right halves of the upper dash... can GM not make this a single skin all the way across?

If it is truly two parts on the dash (not just a crease down the middle of one piece) then it would be doubtful that GM would make such a change as the tooling is already done...Personaly I like the break in the dash, having a continuous one reminds me of something cheaper like the dash on my cavalier...

It looks like I was wrong & that svdwoodsz was on to something. A few pics in our forum (when viewed at high-res) suggest the seam down the centre of the upper dash (and beneath the radio if you look closely) is actually an intentional styling element.

It seems (no pun intended ) that the seam is a slight indentation in the upper dash, not the junction of two separate pieces. This indentation is also present in the interior of the Vauxhall Lightning concept (from which the Sky's interior & exterior styling was inspired), perhaps suggesting further that it's intentional.

Sky interior 1 (high-res)
Sky interior 2 (high-res)
Vauxhall Lightning concept interior

 

[brentil]

Yeah, it looks very much like the crease is both a styling and and functional panel seperation area. Probably makes it easier to switch out when damaged.

 

[svdwoodsz]

Any time you can add a crease, or rib into a plastic part it helps the piece to become more rigid. Chances are that point in the dash is the weakest point in that pannel. Adding that there might very well have been for both visual and structural reasons.

 

[andrewplanet]

3) Dual exhaust tips

I would much prefer one exhaust in the centre

 

[brentil]

I would much prefer one exhaust in the centre

The older Solstice Concept had the exhuast in the center. Personally I didn't like it, but that was because the way they had two pipes stacked wasn't appealing to me. If they had used a different outlet pipe I probably would have liked it a lot better. I uploaded a pic of the Concept Solstice and Concept Solstice Coupe for those who haven't seen them.

I can understand why they went for one outlet on the right hand side though. From seeing the underside images the main pipe runs from the passenger hand side of the engine to the rear drivers side. The muffler is wedged sideways up against the back of the car below the trunk hinges. Then the outlet comes out of the rear passenger side of the muffler so to miantain simplicity they just output it there. As I said though I really hope a Solstice GXP/Sky RL will offer a dual tip outlet, mainly for looks.

 

[andrewplanet]

Yeah I wasn't a fan of that stacked exhaust either. The production sky has a triangular area in the centre that would be the perfect place for a triangular exhaust pipe. That would look good IMHO. But if that's not possible... I'll take the dual one over the single anyday.

 

[brentil]

Yeah I wasn't a fan of that stacked exhaust either. The production sky has a triangular area in the centre that would be the perfect place for a triangular exhaust pipe. That would look good IMHO. But if that's not possible... I'll take the dual one over the single anyday.

Problem is that triangle area appears to be the backup light for the Sky. So you would have to relocate it somewhere.

 

[swatthefly]

Problem is that triangle area appears to be the backup light for the Sky. So you would have to relocate it somewhere.

i mentioned this earlier in another topic. all you need are two foglights. either mounted under the bumper or in the bumper behind two holes. no biggie. $40 and fifteen minutes.