[bradsky]

Ok...I drove the Miata Mx-5.

It was fun, it was peppy, and it was TINY!
I'm 5'6 and 178 lbs.....that car was like wearing small sized underwear over my jeans. The cup holders in the doors rub your knees and there is not much foot room in the passenger seat at all.......the tranny/engine intrude on that side of the car.

Of course they were willing to take $2000 off the sticker...but only my 7 year old nephew would have been comfy in that car.

Now I have to get my butt on a Sky list like everyone else, and I'll be waiting patiently, like everyone else.

I figure I'll have a Sky by this time next year!!!!!! geez......hope a few locals back out of their deal, so I can pick one up sooner.

Best to you all and no more distractions ... The SKY is the only place to be!

Bradley

 

[Angelqute1]

I don't know about the Miata MX-5, but I have a Saturn SKY and I don't think there's any comparison...

 

[krazygoat]

I test drove a Miata before putting my deposit down on my Sky.

My everyday car is a 06 Carrera S, so whatever I was going to get had a lot to live up to. My wife told me to get a Z4 or TT. Personally I hate the looks of the Z4 (liked the Z3 and Z8) and I have a friend who has one and I was not overly impressed with the interior styling (seems cheap) or BMWs recent reliability. The TT is a great looking car, but a bit feminine for my tastes, and the new one wont have a convertible for a while. I came REALLY close to getting a Lotus Elise, but then I decided what the heck do I need another expensive crazy fast car for, I have my Porsche and it is much more comfy than the Elise and does 0-6 in 4.6 and can carry 4 people. I also ruled out the Boxster, because I already have a faster/nicer Porsche.

So it pretty much came down to MX-5, Solstice, and Sky. First I drove the Soltice. I loved the ride and handling. It was smooth and hugged the road like my Porsche. I loved the exterior looks, but the deal killer for me was that interior dash. The seats are comfy and the shifter is comfy and has nice short throws, and in a good location BUT that HUGE swoop of plastic for a dash was just butt ugly to me and the interior plastic felt cheap cheap cheap.

So off I went to drive the Miata. Since auto reporters rave about it and I test drove and older model and liked it a lot I was expecting to be impressed. Maybe since I drove the last one my tastes have changed but I did not enjoy it at all. The interior is small and the seats felt really stiff and cheap compared the the solstice. The dash materials were nicer but they still looked cheap and ugly. The car feels light, almost too light to the point of feeling squirrly over rough pavement and you feel like it is not very well planted to the road. If I wanted to do drifting I would throw a turbo on one and be happy, but I don't want the ass sliding all over the place. I want to stick to the road. I also did NOT like the 6 speed manual. It didn't shift as smoothly as the solstice and I kept missing gears. This car has no need for a 6 speed anyway.

So I started calling Saturn dealers and dropped my deposit on a Sky. I was still very worried about the car till today. I drove to go check out a sold one that the owner had not picked up yet and all my worries went away. While I didn't get to drive it the exterior and interior styling is my favorite of all three cars. That plastic is not very nice, but the design is good enough that the cheapness of it doesn't scream at you like the other two cars. I have heard the handling is just as good if not a little better than the solstice because of different suspension tuning so I feel much better.

The only thing that has my stomach in a knot is the car at the dealer was silver pearl and looked very very classy. I am getting a silver graphite since all the silver pearls my dealer was getting are spoken for and now I am worried that I will be disappointed with the graphite color vs the pearl.

 

[Angelqute1]

Let Me Tell You

I have the Silver Graphite and I get nothing but compliments here in Los Angeles. I also compete against Lamborghinis and Ferraris here. The Silver Graphite is terrific with the black top! Don't despair, I promise you, it's worth it. It really is. I get whistles down to an accident yesterday on the freeway where some workers in a little pick up truck rammed into a Camry from staring so hard. The Silver Graphite is a sure keeper...

 

[kingarthur]

I rode in my neighbor's Miata and was surprised at how incredibly cramped it was, even for him (he's 5'5"). I owned a 1963 MGB and that car was never a problem for me , at 6'3". I really don't know why the Miata was built so small -
it's a car for pygmies. Small pygmies.

 

[TexSon]

I have a '71 Vette and have driven or ridden in a lot of roadsters (and the ride that got me started on them was with my uncle in a MG when I was about 8 or 9 and loved them since) from various manufactures (Porche, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Mazda, etc.). The Sky has more room than my Vette and I find it a comfortable fit and ride. I do recommend folks sit in it first as some just don't like the cockpit feeling it has.

 

[krazygoat]

I went and did some more test drives on Saturday as I (im)patiently. If anyone is close to Rusnak Pasadena they have a Buggati Veyron you can peek at in the Rolls Royce dealer. Tried a TT and a Boxster and a Z4. TT seemed heavy and weak compared to the other two, the new version seems to solve that but no cabriolet version for a while, plus I actually prefer the older styling. The Boxster S was awesome, that car handles like it is on rails and runs like it is on fire, it also costs 70+K when you start tacking on options. It also has two trunks since it is mid engine, so it is actually more utilitarian than my 911 if you don't think about the extra 2 mini-seats my car has. The BMW was blah in my book. It rides nice and is plenty quick, but new BMW interiors feel REALLY cheap to me. The Chris Bangle styling on the outside gets better with time, but I still prefer the more classic Z3 and Z8 styling. You see them all over the road like Honda civics here too. And I have heard grumbling from friends on quality recently too. The Boxtser is very tempting although the price is silly and I hate Porsche service compared to other luxury brands, I really think the Sky is the best band for buck out there, and the RedLine will be the killer for a lot of these premium brands and especially Mazda on the low end.

After having a Lexus and a Porsche, the squeaking top in the trunk, the rubbing wheel wells have me a bit worried, so I am trying to qualm my fears. But the Sky and Solstice truly are class leading cars. Hope GM can work out all the niggles.

 

[Phil]

Silver Graphite

Hey you crazy old Goat.

I also thought i wanted Silver Pearl until i saw the Graphite.

I live in Rhode Island and there is only 1 Saturn Dealer here and they had a Silver Pearl on the floor so what i did was look up Saturn.com and located dealers in Mass.

I called all the ones in a 60 mile radius until i found one that had a Graphite on the sales floor then i went and checked it out.

Ordered my Silver Graphite right then and there they were charging MSRP wheras the dealer in R.I was addind 9.6%

Glad i checked or i would have ordered Silver Pearl and paid an extra $2300

 

[SKY USA]

The BMW was blah in my book. It rides nice and is plenty quick, but new BMW interiors feel REALLY cheap to me. The Chris Bangle styling on the outside gets better with time, but I still prefer the more classic Z3 and Z8 styling. You see them all over the road like Honda civics here too. And I have heard grumbling from friends on quality recently too.

Many of the small roadsters on the market today - including the Z4, the previous Z3, and the Honda S2000 - appear to me to have the cockpit set too far back on the body. Or said another way, the hoods look way too long and the trunks are too short, giving the impression that the layout is "unbalanced". One of the features of the Sky that I really admire is the centralized position of the cockpit, relative to the hood and trunk dimensions being pretty much equal.

On the topic of Chris Bangle, yeah, he sure has messed up the look of BMW's. The 745i looks bloated and ugly compared to the "classic" lines of my 740i, and the 745i's trunk is just plain ugly. They made it look a little better with the new 750i, but still, if you put my 740i alongside a 750i, my car looks much more attractive. Same can be said for the older 5 series vs. the new 5 series body style. The new 3 series isn't as bad, but I guarantee you that the only reason it wasn't completely "Bangle-ized" is because his previous designs were so poorly received.