Nuts and Bolts
Built more for touring then tearin’ up, the 2007 Saturn Sky does offer a healthy dash of sport thanks to excellent handling, big 18-inch wheels, a short-throw manual shifter, and a good-enough powertrain.
Built more for touring than hair-on-fire driving, the 2007 Saturn Sky comes across as a roadster built first for comfort and style, and then for sport. The theory, according to Saturn, is that those who place a premium on sport driving will be quite happy to wait for the Saturn Sky Red Line, due out later this year with a 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine. It’s inaccurate to portray the regular Sky as sedate, however, as its 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine is capable but a little whiny, working up 170 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 162 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,800 rpm. The base transmission, a five-speed manual with crisp short throws and a very workable clutch, makes the most of the engine. The optional five-speed automatic transmission is, uh, not really an option you should be considering at all. We’ll wait.
The reason is because the Red Line promises to fly like a mad bat, thanks to a turbocharged, direct-injection 2.0-liter engine that makes an eye-opening 260 horsepower at 5,300 rpm and a torque rating of 260 lb.-ft at 2,500 rpm. That beauty will cost you around $4,000 more than the normally-powered Sky, though, so if the decaf version is enough, well, we understand. And besides, the regular Sky has more than its share of attributes, like a compliant ride thanks to a short- and long-arm suspension setup that’s tuned differently than what is currently on the Solstice (though officials say the Solstice will eventually get the same tuning), Bilstein shocks, and special dampers at each corner of the vehicle to further soften the ride. Sky and Solstice are from the same chassis, a notably stiff hydroformed tube structure that’s proving to be an excellent platform for sporting vehicles. The Sky Red Line’s suspension will include bigger stabilizer bars and coil springs compared to the standard setup. Maneuvering the rear-drive Sky is accomplished with rack-and-pinion steering, stopping is handled by 11.7-inch ventilated front discs and 10.9-inch solid rear discs with standard ABS. Both the Sky and Sky Red Line get the benefit of beefy 18-inch wheels and 18-inch Goodyear P245/45R18 tires, pushed to the edges and on a wheelbase that’s three inches wider than the MX-5 Miata at 95.1 inches. The Sky is also longer, at 161.1 inches, and heavier by a whopping 459 lbs. over the Miata. That’s like riding around town with a fat, full grown steer in the passenger’s seat, so it’s hardly a surprise that the engine whines a bit, or that GM is springing for nice 18-inch wheels and tires. Yet another reason why we’ll wait for that Red Line.
|
