Durandal wrote:I test drove a Sky. I wasn't impressed at all. It's a very nice looking car, but the handling was very sluggish, the automatic transmission on the model I drove didn't make any of the right decisions, and the engine overall just didn't do anything for me.
The Sky Red Line model feels like an almost totally different car than the base model, with most of the running gear upgraded. The turbocharged, DI engine has an almost impossibly flat torque curve (
PDF dyno readout), so the power is available at any speed. I still have a few complaints though: I'm still not completely satisfied with the 5-speed manual; the throws are too long, and the low-end ratio spread is less than ideal for a sports car (probably because it originally came from a pickup truck). that Aisin 6-speed they use in the Cadillac CTS would be a much better choice. Additionally, the brakes, while plenty strong, are a little hard to control precisely, and braking hard enough to trigger the ABS tends to pull the car from side to side. I also wish there was a hardtop model available.
I'd still buy one over a Z though, because here in Canada the Red Line has a base MSRP of $33K. The Z? just under $50K. For that much, I could buy that CTS I pictured earlier, equipped just the way I'd want it and still have a few grand to spare.
J wrote:...guzzles gas like a Hummer?
Well with an EPA fuel economy rating of 18/25 for the manual, not really, although that's certainly as much as my 4,000+ lb minivan. But it's also only 2 MPG worse than a Sky Red Line.
But still, Durandal should consider himself lucky he got his Z as an '07, because for '08 it will probably get slapped with a $1300 "gas guzzler" tax, thanks the EPA's new rating system.