[101jinx101]

Hey,
I'm doing a school project, comparing the Sky and the solstice... I have to pick one side and stick with it, but I don't know what to do, becuase the solstice slightly outperforms the sky, but the sky looks way cooler.. so I dunno whether to do performance specs, or coolness factor, lol. Any help out there?

 

[mdlestat]

Performance is a tangible attribute, where "coolness" is subjective.

All you gotta do is decide if you want to do a factual comparison or an opinion/subjective one, and you've got your answer.

 

[101jinx101]

hmm, well i believe a factual comparison would be a more solid answer, and most likely get me better marks... thanks for the help

 

[brentil]

Well rememberthere's always a give and take situation for everything.

Yes the Solstice has more power and Torque then the Sky, but to that trade off it will more then likely require more reving to get to that power and lower fuel economy.

Yes the Solstice has a much sportier suspension setup and will probably pull higher lateral G's and perform better, but to be able to do that the Solstice will have a rougher ride then the Sky will.

You have to find the things that are benefits but then also look for their negatives that counter balance them. Because you never get anything for free, there's always some sort of negative to everything.

 

[Tazz2000]

I remember when I had to do an economic report on a car in HS. I did it on the WAY COOL Explorer Sport Track! w00! :willy:

LOL I wish we had cars like this to do reports on. :cheers:

 

[Delnari]

Power difference

Did I miss something here. The engine numbers were updated once the Solstice was installed with the working version of the engine. Won't the Sky have the same engine train as the Solstice? I don't think the Sky was detuned, but the numbers just haven't been updated.

 

[101jinx101]

oh, so the sol and the sky will have exactly the same amount of HP/torque? becuase if that's the case, i'll take other things into account...

 

[brentil]

According to ALL of the information they do not have the same HP/Torque values. At NYIAS-2005 where both cars were shown the Sky was listed as 170HP/162 lb-ft and the Solstice as 177HP/166 lb-ft. Going to the official Sky website on Saturn.com has those same numbers as well. Downloading the official Sky brochure, and all the brochures I've gotten from shows and the mail show the same as well too.

Yes these cars have the same engine/transmission, but the Sky is more then likely tuned differently. GM does this with most of it's engines on most platforms. The HHR, G6, Cobalt, Sky, and Solstice share the same engine, but if you look at thier official numbers they're all tuned differently for various reasons. GM has officially put the Dyno Graphs up for the 2.4L VVT ECOTEC engine in the Cobalt SS, Solstice, and G6. All three have different power values, and graph results.

 

[101jinx101]

Hmm... that might come in handy in my report, thanks

 

[achieftain]

the numbers could change anyway before intro. Even the Sol is now listed as preliminary 177 hp maybe the numbers will go up once the prepro cars(Sol) that are at the proving grounds now get through the wringer.

 

[Rik]

According to ALL of the information they do not have the same HP/Torque values. At NYIAS-2005 where both cars were shown the Sky was listed as 170HP/162 lb-ft and the Solstice as 177HP/166 lb-ft. Going to the official Sky website on Saturn.com has those same numbers as well. Downloading the official Sky brochure, and all the brochures I've gotten from shows and the mail show the same as well too.

Yes these cars have the same engine/transmission, but the Sky is more then likely tuned differently. GM does this with most of it's engines on most platforms. The HHR, G6, Cobalt, Sky, and Solstice share the same engine, but if you look at thier official numbers they're all tuned differently for various reasons. GM has officially put the Dyno Graphs up for the 2.4L VVT ECOTEC engine in the Cobalt SS, Solstice, and G6. All three have different power values, and graph results.

Both cars were probably certified as base models. That means the Solstice without A/C. Not having to turn the compressor could very well account for the 7 HP advantage. I had a 95 Z28 1LE, which means I couldn't get A/C. The motor in the car was the same as any other Z28, but I could consistently run quicker ET's than other local "stone stock" Z28's.

 

[brentil]

You're not going to loose 7HP from the engine just by having the A/C system in the car. You have to actually turn it on for it to drain that much power from the engine.

The engine more then likely has been tuned differently then the other 2.4L VVT ECOTECs. GM has the dyno graphs available online for the entire ECOTEC line. Look at any of the 2.2L ECOTEC based cars, they all have differently tuned engines for the different cars. They're all the same engine though. They've already done this for the 2.4L VVT anyways. The HHR, G6, and Solstice use the same engine but they're all tuned differently.

 

[Dante]

So then, given what you guys have said, it should be relatively straightforward to "tune" a Sky to the same specs as a Sol, or perhaps even more aggressively, and therefore have a stock Sky with more power (albeit probably less mileage) without actually changing out any hardware. Considering that the mechanical parts to the drivetrain are all the same, I don't really see why the Sol would be any better "tuned" via PCM/ECM tweaks than the Sky. I think that if anything, you are just still seeing preproduction estimates on the Sky. If you have a "production" dyno for both Sky and Sol and there is a difference, then I would admit that GM de-tuned the engine for the Sky, but to do so would be foolish, IMO.

 

[achieftain]

Another possibility is when an engine is originally used in one platform with certain sized exhaust and produces x hp and then is plopped into another chassis with less restrictive exhaust and therfore benefits. Carmakers usually test hp with most accessories and some type of exhaust connected nowadays. In the days of the musclecar hp wars engines were tested without any accessories, no water pump, even in some cases. That's one of the reasons a 240 hp v6 today will outrun a 1968 v8 with 400hp.

 

[brentil]

Dante: I'm betting it's just a ECU/PCM thing. If you were some how able to flash the Sky system with the Solstice's I'm betting it would give you performance values equal to the Solstice.

achieftain: That is true, but both the Solstice and the Sky already make very similair deep throaty sounds as is. Also GM is offering a performance intake and exhaust system for the Solstice. I'm betting this same system will be available for the Sky too. Since they sound about the same, and I bet they'll both have the same performance upgrade options I'm going to guess they have the same intake and exhaust too.