German Car Zone

bmwrules · 08-31-2006, 06:30 PM

1st Place - 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP

Despite its sizeable warts, the GXP is a seductress blurred and standing still. The price of admission to big-league sports car performance and style has just been slashed.

5-Speed manual
Base price - $26,595
As tested price - $29,334
260 hp @ 5300 rpm
260 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm
Weight to power - 11.7 lb/hp
Observed fuel economy - 23.2 mpg

0-60 - 5.5
0-100 - 14.3
quarter mile 14.1 sec @ 98.7 mph
45-65 - 2.9
Braking, 60-0 - 121 feet
Lateral acceleration - .89 avg.
Motor Trend figure eight - 26.2 sec @ .66 g avg.
Lap time around Willow Springs race track - 1:36.7 sec

2nd Place - 2006 BMW Z4 3.0si

If you can afford the best, we're envious. The Z4 recalibrates your expectations of how involving a sports car can be - peerless in quality, with pinpoint accurate road manners.

6-Speed manual
Base price - $42,795
As tested price - $50,095
255 hp @ 6600 rpm
220 lb-ft @ 2750 rpm
Weight to power 12.0 lb/hp
Observed fuel economy - 24.1 mpg

0-60 - 5.1
0-100 - 13.8
quarter mile 13.8 sec @ 100.1 mph
45-65 - 2.7
Braking, 60-0 - 104 feet
Lateral acceleration - .94 avg.
Motor Trend figure eight - 25.6 sec @ .70 g avg.
Lap time around Willow Springs race track - 1:35.9 sec

3rd Place - 2006 Nissan 350Z Roadster Touring

A smart choice with generous helping of fun and practicality - and serious good looks. And wouldn't a lighter, cheaper version sans the power top machinery be neat?

6-Speed manual
Base price - $38,255
As tested price - $38,845
300 hp @ 6400 rpm
260 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm
Weight to power 11.9 lb/hp
Observed fuel economy - 18.9 mpg

0-60 - 5.7
0-100 - 14.6
quarter mile 14.3 sec @ 98.7 mph
45-65 - 2.9
Braking, 60-0 - 112 feet
Lateral acceleration - .90 avg.
Motor Trend figure eight - 26.5 sec @ .65 g avg.
Lap time around Willow Springs race track - 1:38.3 sec

Quote:

Picking an it's-only-money favorite here is like dynamiting fish in a pail. The BMW is effortlessly the best of the three: its road manners like a Luger's pulled trigger; its accuracy, pinpoint; it's quality, peerless. You'd never know the Solstice GXP's steering is as wooden as it is or its shifter as pedestrian without first spending some time behind the wheel with the propeller emblem. Nor would the 350Z be so obviously the cheerful compromise between the two.

The trouble is when you bring your toys to the register. The Z4 is a great car, but a frightful deal: Its $42,795 entry fee (ours is $50,095 as equipped with the powered top, extra leather, and sport package) is indigestible. No doubt, its residual at the lot is impressive, but it makes our $38,845 350Z ($38,255 base) look like a smart PLan B until the Solstice GXP's sticker removes your socks - $26,595 base price, with destination. Figure $30k out the door if you put your fingers in your ears while the salesman's talking.

If the Solstice GXP didn't look so damn good, it wouldn't be our pick. Nor would it be if it hadn't rattled us by showing the 350Z its taillights around the track. The Solstice is a car of giant flaws (the trunkette) and some weaknesses (carpal-tunnel steering, amateurish ergonomics). But it's also a major deviation from the predictable sports car for the money curve. Our advice? Sell you creaky MGB with the turbo-kit instead of your mother and buy the Pontiac.

bmer · 09-01-2006, 03:51 PM

So a car like this...:

...beat a car like this:

So were the point categories price, price, price, price and finally price?

bmwrules · 09-01-2006, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmer

So were the point categories price, price, price, price and finally price?

Unfortunately, Motor Trend doesn't show any kind of point break down like most other magazines. However, they at least now will list the finishing order. They used to not even do that and you had to figure out for yourself.

That said it would seem that your right in that all the categories were price. I can't see anybody who could afford a Z4 would ever buy a Solstice. Even if you didn't like the Z4 you'd buy a Boxster or SLK if you had the cash.

kovachian · 09-01-2006, 05:29 PM

At this price level a $20K+ difference is impossible to ignore but like they say, you get what you pay for.

siko · 09-01-2006, 10:04 PM

The GXP has more hp, a better weight/power ratio yet it cannot beat the Z in anything (acceleration, fuel economy)... how can that win?!?! Plus it gets thrashed in braking... yet it wins?!

Did they ignore everything but price!

OMG... from this point on I will ban MotorTrend.

bmwrules · 09-02-2006, 02:36 PM

I edited the first post to add lap times for Willow Springs Raceway and also made a couple of minor corrections in the last paragraph of the article.

The lap times are:

Z4 - 1:35.9 sec
Solstice - 1:36.7 sec
350Z - 1:38.3 sec

YoungWarrior · 09-02-2006, 02:47 PM

The Z4 is ugly and over priced compared to the competition.

Just_me · 09-02-2006, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoungWarrior

The Z4 is ugly and over priced compared to the competition.

So is Boxster and TT

Deutsch · 09-02-2006, 04:01 PM

American automotive politics is all this is, sad to say.

YoungWarrior · 09-02-2006, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just_me

So is Boxster and TT

Boxster and TT arent ugly. Boxster is class leading, and has a porsche badge. BMW's are run of a mill motor these days, no more exclusivity.

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German Car Zone

Motor Trend: BMW Z4 3.0si vs Pontiac Solstice GXP vs Nissan 350Z roadster