First Drive Review
We like the Saturn Sky on account of its son-of-Corvette styling, similarly slick interior and smooth moves on twisty roads. However, even from the get-go, we had significant misgivings about other aspects of this fetching roadster, and its sister, the curvalicious Pontiac Solstice.
With the new Saturn Sky Red Line, which we just sampled on a recent drive through Santa Barbara's lovely wine country, Saturn has rectified at least one of our biggest complaints about the standard Sky: lack of power. Indeed, the new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, endowed as it is with a monstrous turbocharger, has 83 more horsepower and 94 lb-ft more torque than the 2.4-liter four-banger in the standard Sky, which does remarkable things for its character: not only is this car a dancer in the turns, but it's a sprinter in the straights. Saturn claims a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds with a 13.9-second quarter mile at 100 mph. Believable? Sure. Fun? Oh yeah.
Other modifications include a slightly stiffer suspension, a unique front fascia with a different foglight/grille treatment, as well as blackened headlamp surrounds and a rear bumper that has two fat rectangular exhaust tips, a single reverse lamp and a cute little "turbo" badge on its cheek. Inside, the Red Line gets leather wrapping for that still-too-big steering wheel, unique embroidery, metallic sill plates, stainless steel pedal covers and unique gauges with a digital boost gauge in the Driver Information Center.
Complaints include the bucket seats that have as much lumbar support as a salad spoon, as well as the pittance of storage either inside the cabin or inside the clamshell trunk. We hate that there's no way to flick and toss the top into the trunk as you can with the Mazda MX-5, as the top-stowing process of a long-multi-step manual affair. Oh well, you can't have everything.
But, as the new Red Line shows us, you sure can have fun with what you've got.
