2007 Saturn Sky
Expert Review

Consumers, it seems, weren't quite ready for a stylish, eye-catching Saturn when the Sky debuted in spring 2006 as an early-introduction 2007 model.

I can't recall the number of times during my test drive that people wanted to know "What is that?" But I was asked this a lot.

Folks evidently didn't recognize Saturn's logo on the front and rear of the Sky. Or, if they did, they couldn't believe that Saturn, the car brand known for catering to customers but lacking in memorable vehicle designs, had a car as good looking as the Sky.

But, Saturn does. The Sky is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive-convertible—and Saturn's first open-top car. Besides boffo styling, the Sky has good road manners and agreeable, though not aggressive, base, four-cylinder power.

The Sky's sporty interior, in particular, looks far upscale compared with other Saturn vehicles, especially when the optional premium trim package that includes leather seat inserts is added.

I came away without a doubt that the Sky convertible is going to help change Saturn's image. But I still wonder if the Sky, like its sibling, the Pontiac Solstice, will have the kind of long-term livability and reliability qualities that consumers want.

Pricing is a plus
At introduction, Saturn officials priced the car right, which is to say not much beyond the starting prices of other low-end, small convertibles.

With a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price of just over $23,000, the Sky was just a bit higher in starting price than the two-seat Mazda Miata MX-5, four-seat Volkswagen New Beetle convertible and four-seat Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible. It was substantially lower than the more performance-oriented, two-seat Honda S2000, which started at more than $33,000.

The base Sky includes a 177-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission and compared with a 166-horsepower, four cylinder in the 2006 Miata and 150-horsepower four cylinder in the 2006 New Beetle ragtop.

A performance Sky Red Line with 260-horsepower, turbocharged four cylinder is due out in summer 2006 to vie with the likes of the 237-horsepower, naturally aspirated, 2006 Honda S2000.

All Sky cars come standard with a manual cloth top that's nicely finished inside, has glass rear window and goes up and down manually. Honda's S2000 fabric top is electrically powered. Meantime, the base Miata Club Spec model has a less attractive and cheaper, vinyl top. Fabric tops are on upper-level Miatas, and the Miatas also have been offered with a manually removable hardtop. But in the next year, Mazda will offer its first Miata with power, retractable hardtop.

Lastly, another obvious competitor is the car that the Sky is based on—the 2006 Pontiac Solstice two-seat convertible that has a starting MSRP of around $20,000.

Sibling convertibles
Saturn and Pontiac have the same parent company, General Motors Corp. of Detroit. So, the Solstice and Sky are built at the same Wilmington, Del., assembly plant and share the same rear-wheel-drive platform, engines and transmissions, roof mechanism and other major components.

Both cars feature long hoods and short rear ends which epitomize roadsters. But every body panel on the outside of the two cars is different.

Thus, where the Solstice is a lighter-weight car with bold styling that exudes a raw roadster personality like that of roadsters of the past, the Sky comes across as a less macho car with more contemporary styling. (Note: The Sky's body panels are steel, not the plastic that typified early Saturn vehicles.)

Another difference between the two cars: The base Sky also comes standard with more creature comforts.

For example, remote keyless entry, cruise control and anti-lock brakes are standard on the Sky but optional on the base Solstice.

Slightly different rides
Also, while the Sky has the same basic, independent, short/long arm suspension in the front and back as the Solstice, it has different tuning.

This explains why the test Sky felt so comfortable to drive. I was surprised at how many road bumps the car absorbed so passengers weren't jarred or jiggled incessantly, even though they sit quite low to the ground. (Note: Don't expect to see very far down the road. Riders in the Sky pretty much stare at the bumpers of other, taller vehicles, including sedans.)

A few big road shakes came only on major potholes, old railroad track crossings and rough road. Yet, the Sky tester stuck easily to the pavement on curves, and the power rack-and-pinion steering had good on-center feel so I didn't have to keep adjusting the steering wheel to stay on track.

The Sky felt stable, even in emergency maneuvers, which I attributed in part to the Sky's track, which is some 2 inches longer than that of the more narrow Miata.

The Sky also wears standard, sizable 18-inch tires that are quite grippy. Base tires in the Miata are 16-inchers.

The Sky's roof has additional acoustic isolation over the Solstice's, so the Sky tester seemed to be a bit quieter than the Solstice with the roof up. But passengers still readily hear a lot of outside noise.

About that top…
The Miata roof is so lightweight and easy to maneuver, it can be put down with a driver staying in his or her seat in many cases.

Unfortunately, both the Sky and Solstice force drivers to get out of their vehicles to put the tops down and back up. Basically, a driver must push a button inside the car to spring the rear clamshell cover and rear roof buttresses. After that, the driver unlatches the roof from the top of the windshield and climbs out of the car to push the folding roof into the rear, shallow holding area that doubles as a trunk.

Then, the driver must slam down the clamshell cover. I noticed that a GM official who demonstrated the top mechanism for journalists had taken to standing right at the back of the Sky to position himself centrally over the clamshell as it goes down. This seems to help get the clamshell hook in the right position for the latch that's located behind and between the two seats.

But at 5 feet 4, I can't stretch myself easily over the metal clamshell for this maneuver—not to mention it gets my clothes dirty. So I would stand by the side of the car, in front of the tires, and push the clamshell down. But I often had to repeat this once or twice before the hook and latch would catch.

The problem seems to be how flimsily the latch mechanism was attached there behind the car seats. Even I could move the latch on the test car one way and another with a finger. And while I didn't have the trouble with the Sky roof that I had with an early production Solstice, where the latch for the clamshell trunk lid intermittently wouldn't line up properly, I still could see on the Sky where bare metal was rubbing on bare metal on the trunk lid latch mechanism. This was after only 700 miles of use.

GM officials now give buyers more information about using the Solstice and Sky soft-tops. Where a glossy "Getting to know your Sky" pamphlet said simply "close the trunk lid" after putting the top down, a one-page, more complete "convertible top operation guide" warned owners to "close the trunk by pressing down on it with a swift, firm motion."

In the test car, there was annoying wind noise from the back part of the driver's side window, right by the driver's left ear. It was still there after I opened and closed the driver-side window and after I had put the roof down and back up again.

Additionally, I wonder how the rear buttresses on the fabric top will look in a couple years. On the test Sky, the fabric already had some puckers and didn't look tight and streamlined. Would this get worse after the fabric is stretched and used?

Lastly, Saturn advises Sky owners to ask car wash operators if their automatic car wash "could damage your top." And if you wash the top manually, which Saturn advises should be done "often," a soft sponge is best. "A chamois or cloth may leave lint on the top, and a brush can chafe the threads in the top fabric," according to the owner's manual.

Four-cylinder power only
The base Sky engine is linked to the five-speed manual and worked well in a test car. The shifting is a bit clunky compared with the short, fun throws of the Miata and the Honda S2000, however. Maybe this has to do with the fact that the Sky, like the Solstice, gets its manual transmission from the GMC Canyon pickup truck. Saturn's parent company, GM, also builds the Canyon truck.

Another test Sky had the base engine mated to an optional, five-speed automatic, and the package also performed with good spirit. I could keep up with city traffic easily and had decent power for passing on highways. Torque peaks at lb-ft at 4800 rpm. Be aware that there is some noisiness from this engine, and it's not always pleasant.

Still, I wished that this sporty-looking car had an automatic with a shift-it-yourself function, but it does not. Note the Miata's automatic is a six speed with racing-type paddle shifters on the steering wheel.

Buyers will be stopping regularly for fillups in the Sky. The gasoline tank, which bursts up from under the carpet in the middle of the trunk/roof storage area behind the seats, holds only 13.6 gallons. I traveled just 267 miles—much of it hilly highway miles—before the warning light came on telling me I had to get gas for the Sky with automatic. Granted, I wasn't driving with economy in mind. My resulting mileage was less than 20 miles per gallon. Premium fuel is recommended but not required.

Safety matters
The only airbags in the Sky are the two frontal bags that deploy in front crashes. There are no stationary or pop-up roll bars in the Sky, and the windshield pillars provide only "a degree of roll bar" protection during rollover crashes, according to a Saturn official who noted that "in the real world, roadsters are exempt from (government) roof crush standards."

Safety roll bars are found in some pricier convertibles, however.

The Saturn, like the Solstice, does not offer electronic stability control that can help a driver regain or maintain directional stability. This feature is standard in Honda's S2000.

Not a lot of storage
The stylish interior of the Sky is surprisingly comfortable and sort of spacious—remember, this is a wider car than you might expect. I did, however, bump my right elbow now and then into the two cupholders that pop out of the rear wall between the seats.

Storage space is limited. At each door is a small, narrow channel that can hold a pen and other very small items. But these channels are so shallow, they can't substitute for the missing map pockets, and there's no storage room at all in the Sky's center console. The glove box in the test Sky was pretty much taken up with the owner's manual, warranty information and OnStar emergency notification package. So my cell phone wound up lying next to me on the driver seat.

There is a small storage compartment between the seats on the back wall. And I found I could put my purse behind the driver seat, because my short legs required me to move the seat up a ways.

A single cupholder pops out of the dashboard over by the front passenger. But my passengers felt it rested too close to their legs and could be easily bumped if that seat is occupied.

The Sky's trunk has the irregular shape of that of the Solstice. Neither can accommodate even a small, hard-back suitcase, so small, loosely-packed, soft-sided bags are your best choice.

No groceries fit into the Sky trunk unless I arranged items loosely into several plastic grocery bags. I wound up keeping them in their paper bags and stuffing them all onto and around the front seat.

Maximum trunk room is 5.4 cubic feet with the roof up. It's only 2 cubic feet with the top down.