I hope no one is too jealous, but I picked up my new Solstice on
Monday, Jan 23, 2006! Black, with 2-tone interior. Car had 6 miles on
it (you know the owner of the dealership took it for a spin), and I
literally drove it off of the showroom floor... one of the sweetest
experiences of my life (so far).

For those of you waiting for delivery, if the salesman tells you that
they can't let the owner drive it off the floor (that they have to do
it for you), beat him with something until he agrees (j/k). That was
really unforgettable.

For those curious, here's my synopsis.

THE GOOD

Man, does this car look sweet! It's like a Corvette and a Viper had a
baby. Interior fits me like a glove, and since I've always preferred
late-50's model cars, the retro-style gauges are right up my alley. The
hood opens back-to-front instead of the usual front-to-back, which
makes it neat looking.

The rear-wheel drive is very cool, and something I haven't felt in many
years. I had forgotten how you could push someone into the seat when
you hit the gas with a RWD.

I have a surprising amount of visibility around me, for such small
windows. The mirrors are nicely placed, so I really don't have a blind
spot. And the trunk is short enough that I can back up to something
until I feel like I'm sitting right on top of it (and still be a few
feet away).

The car has plenty of power, once I got used to the weight of the car
(mentioned more in the "bad" section). In my area, cops are real tough
on speeders (I had a $200 ticket for going 6 over once), so we all just
do take-off races at stop lights, to see who can get to speed limit
first (isn't it funny how we all do that, but don't talk about it?). I
raced a Mercedes like that tonight and won pretty easily, so that made
me feel good.

Last but not least, my insurance is $300 every 6 months, which includes
collision.

THE BAD

This car is definitely NOT made for a tall person. I'm 5' 5, and it's a
perfect fit for me. I couldn't imagine anyone taller than 5' 10 driving
it, or even riding in it comfortably. I was able to move the seat
forward 2 or 3 clicks, then lay the back down until it touched the rear
wall, so I'm comfortable, but I can't imagine that it would be
comfortable for most.

My old car was an older Mazda MX-3 with a body kit. I had souped it up
with a body kit and a few performance extras, so it had a bit of pep.
After stepping out of that car into this one, I felt a major
difference. The Solstice is obviously a lot heavier, and it shows in
the steering, the pressure you have to put on the gas and brakes, and
even in the shifting. After the first day of driving, my forearms were
pretty numb.

Driving today was a bit easier, and I thought that the car had just
loosened up until I hopped back into the MX-3 to move it out of the
garage. My God, it felt like I was driving a bicycle! After getting
used to the Solstice, I'll have a hard time driving anything else.

I don't necessarily know if that's a good thing. The road that I live
on is pretty curvy, and with the MX-3 I could take it at 60 mph and
feel pretty good about it. So far, I've kept the Solstice below 50 on
those curves, but it feels like I'm flying. I'm sure that's just me
needing to get acquainted, but it's still worth mentioning.

I'm also having a hard time adjusting to the take-off. I've been
driving a stick-shift exclusively for about 4 years, but after 2 days
I'm still jumping-and-jerking when taking off or when going into 2nd
gear. 3rd and up are OK, it's just hard to catch the right tach on
lower gears. Again, probably just me.

The car is a little lacking on the features. Mine is fully loaded, but
I still notice a few things missing: manual top instead of power,
manual locks, a turn-knob to move the seat back, absolutely no
compartments to speak of (which means, nowhere for my cell phone,
sunglasses, or coins), manual seat belts, no factory alarm. It does
have keyless entry, which is fine, but with a car this unique, a
factory alarm would have been nice.

All in all, I'm tickled to death that I finally have the car, and it
was well worth the 2 years that I had to wait. According to their
website, the '07 Solstice is supposed to come with turbo, and I have to
admit that this would be a good addition to give you that extra kick.
But, I can't argue with the security I feel with having the
tried-and-true 2.4 in this one.