The Pontiac Solstice was General Motors' attempt at a proper rear-wheel-drive roadster at an accessible price, and it arrived looking like nothing else in the showroom. Styled under Franz von Holzhausen and built on GM's Kappa platform with hydroformed frame rails and double wishbone suspension at all four corners, the Solstice was a two-seat convertible designed around driving rather than around a spec sheet. This 2008 example is finished in gray over a two-tone interior with a black soft top, showing 72,000 miles with a clean CarFax, and it carries a handful of tasteful modifications that suit the car without changing what it is.
Power comes from the 2.4L Ecotec inline-four, rated from the factory at 173 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque, paired with the five-speed manual transmission and driving the rear wheels. A Fujita competition air intake replaces the factory airbox, freeing up intake noise and airflow on an engine that responds well to breathing better. The manual gearbox is the configuration most Solstice buyers seek out, and in a car this light it remains the right way to use the available power.
The exterior sits on 18-inch Azara wheels, filling the arches and giving the car a more planted look than the factory setup while staying in proportion with the body. The black manually operated soft top folds under the rear deck when down and keeps the roadster profile clean when up. Inside, the two-tone treatment breaks up the cabin nicely, and the dash has been updated with a touchscreen head unit supporting Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto, which addresses the one area where a car of this age typically shows its years.
The Solstice had a short run, built from 2006 through 2009, and Pontiac itself was gone shortly after. That makes clean, well-kept examples with the manual transmission increasingly worth paying attention to. This one is a straightforward, usable roadster with light modifications, a documented history, and mileage that leaves plenty of road ahead.
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