Well, I didn't have as much fun as I expected. The day sort of went like this:
9:30AM, arrive at Honda dealership. Find out that there are NO S2000's on the lot. To get one to their lot, I need to leave them with $500 of my money, and wait about two weeks. Apparently there are less than a dozen of them at dealerships in Ontario... a quick search this past weekend on AutoTrader showed about 38 Honda S2000's... most of which were used. So, off I went to the Saturn dealership, as it was right down the road.
10:00AM at the Saturn dealership, and there's a Sky in the showroom - with a huge "SOLD" sign in the window. Doesn't look bad. Isn't ugly like the Solstice. Upon close inspection: The dash is made of cheaper material than the keyboard I'm typing on, and has a rougher texture to it. The body doesn't line up nicely at the front end where the hood meets the side fender (about a 1/4" gap - product shots show this much, much smaller). The trunk doesn't seem to close properly, leaving a larger gap on the passenger side than the drivers' side. And then, I sat inside.
There's a neat-o pop-out cup holder on the passengers' side of the Sky. This was the last cool thing I noticed about the Saturn. The glove box is big enough to fit an average-sized romance novel. There's also a small storage compartment between the seats, big enough to fit your wallet and phone. And... this center compartment doesn't lock! This is a major problem if you need to store anything in the car, due to the "limited" trunk space. I didn't see a lock on the glove box, but I assume there HAS to be one there: the "trunk" release is in the glove box. And, here's how you put down the roof:
1) Open glove box, and press "trunk" release.
2) Unlatch convertible roof from inside car (relatively easy)
3) Open rear boot (trunk) to accommodate roof
4) Lower roof into trunk
5) Close trunk
5.1) Close trunk again, as it didn't close the first time
5.2) Close trunk yet again, with more force. Still doesn't seem to close on passengers' side
5.3) Let salesperson slam trunk for you, as the car has been allegedly "sold" already - and I don't want to be responsible for breaking it (It never did close completely).
One thing you'll notice when you put the roof down, is that the roof completely fills the trunk. There is NO usable space remaining in this trunk with the roof in place. And no storage space under the hood. You're limited to the two small storage compartments within the car (one of which doesn't lock at all!).
Putting the roof back up is relatively the same, with two small differences:
1) Latching the roof is much more difficult than unlatching it - it doesn't meet up with the windshield without some conscious effort, and
2) once the roof is up, those "wings" at the back of the roof need to be snapped down.
Those wings were more difficult to snap into place than closing the trunk was. I never fully got them to engage - again, this is where the salesman needed to be rough with the vehicle for me. I have serious concerns about the long-term reliability of these pieces. Either those high-tension cables that hold the wings in place are going to break, or all that bending and pivoting is going to make the convertible top crack and break down over time.
I never actually got to drive the car, as there was only one there.
The verdict?
- NO trunk storage
- Very little interior storage, most of which cannot be secured
- Poor fit & finish
- Cheap feel to interior pieces
- More attractive than the Pontiac Solstice
- Looks and feels like a GM Product
Based on what I saw here, I decided that I didn't need to see the Pontiac Solstice, and headed off on my way to the Nissan Dealership.
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