We all know what car “is always the answer,” but it’s really just an answer, and others have done their best to attain at least some of the answer status the Miata has enjoyed so long. We have two such cars today via Pontiac and Toyota, each with their own faults and fandoms, but none of the staying power of Mazda’s seemingly eternal roadster. Which of these might you choose? We’ll get there.
First, let us consider the results of Monday’s Showdown (I’ll leave results coverage of David’s Showdown to him) betwixt an Opel GT and C3 Corvette, which was a study in contrasts between two visually similar cars. Steel body versus fiberglass. V8 versus inline-4. Green versus orange. All there versus no door skins and woodshop dashboard. You can see the long line down there, the Corvette got trounced.
I get it. While the Opel GT left unanswered questions of its own, the “somebody else’s project” factor (and the incompleteness / dubious repair solutions of said project) really did the poor C3 in. I thought perhaps the built engine might be a saving grace, all painted-red and all, but that too was as much a red flag as it was red Krylon.
Now let us turn our attention to today’s contestants.
2007 Pontiac Solstice – $6,200
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter EcoTec VVT DOHC inline-four, 5-speed manual transmission, RWD
Location: Carrollton, TX
Odometer reading: 109,000
Operational status: “Great running, driving, and looking car.”
Looks pretty good, right? From this distance, sure, but if you check out the full ad (or look closely at the rear angle farther below), you can see Bob Lutz’ baby is marred by some clearcoat issues. That’s a bummer for parking lot inspection, but when you’re cruising down the road looking all cool in your convertible roadster, no one’s gonna notice. And I think I’d take the Solstice over its Kappa platform mate Saturn Sky in otherwise identical nick – that one never gelled with me.
The interior looks pretty good, especially for the mileage, and minus that dreadful steering wheel cover. Has it protected the wheel? Is it hiding damage? Has it caused any? Of course, when I say the interior looks pretty good, I mean condition-wise. Styling-wise, ehhhh, not so much. It’s aughts GM at its finest, sarcastically speaking.
This ain’t no GXP model, so you’re getting a naturally aspirated 177-horsepower Ecotec engine. It’s fine, especially when mated to a manual as this one is. A 0-60 time of about seven seconds flat makes the Solstice a match for the same-year Miata, if you care about that (I wouldn’t).
You can see the clearcoat there where the bumper cover meets the trunk lid, and that top is looking a bit scruffy, but it’s all there and appears undamaged, if a little stretched out.
2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder – $6,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter VVT-i DOHC inline-four, 5-speed manual transmission, RWD
Location: Tyler, TX
Odometer reading: 167,282
Operational status: “Drive good.”
Where my fans of the bug-eyed Mister Two at? I know I’m supposed to gush over the baby-supercar W20 even if it does want to kill me, and yeah, they’re great, but I’ve always felt the W30 was closer to the original MR2 spirit. And hey, the top goes down. This one looks like the hood’s fitting a bit goofy, but maybe the owner just forgot to fully latch it before taking pics. Side note: I will never not be baffled by what sellers consider “good enough” for ad photos. Gee whiz.
This looks like a nicer place to be than the Solstice “IMO,” and I’m sure your eyes went straight to that stick. Then again, what else would be there? You could only get the car with a manual, after all (OK, fine, there was a sequential gearbox later, but there weren’t any torque-converted-equipped W30s). Everything looks to be in good shape for 160,000+ miles.
Here we are in the back of the MR2 – it’s mid-engine, remember? I’m sure 100% of you do. Things are looking pretty grimy back here, but the description says “drive good” (is that a description or an instruction?), and it’s a Toyota 1ZZ, so the VVT-i engine with its sixteen valves and variable timing should be pretty OK if maintained at all. And performance? You’ll be neck-and-neck with the Solstice.
I’d argue this MR2 looks even better from the rear than the front, even without the addition of nicely manicured nails. I don’t recall the W30s bulging light treatment being well received at the time, but I’ve always liked the car’s friendly, froggy looks.
So, what’s it gonna be?
Top graphic images: Facebook Marketplace
The MR2. If it’s straight it would be a great starter for autocross. If the 1ZZ leaves the chat a 2ZZ makes it something of a budget Elise. As a daily, the W30 is just so impractical. I had an AW11 and I needed to use the rear trunk a lot. It’s odd Toyota would delete that.
You could do the V8 thing with the Solstice but it seems more of a hassle/expensive. I guess it’s better if you just want a street car. It would be a fun flex to buy a cheap Solstice and drive it through winter solstice and beyond.
Sandbox showdown?
I had to go back and look. New as of today. Weird.
Tricky. I had that model of MR2 (I’ve had all the MR2s) and as I bought mine for £1,100 the day after I sold my Elise for £14,000 it always felt like a bit of a let down. Hilarious to drive in the snow though, the standard fit LSD was an unexpected bonus for doing skids.
Mine ended up being the departmental loan car at work, and everyone loved it. I hated the soft top (I just don’t like driving roof down) and storage was just terrible. The other two models of MR2 had enough luggage room to cope with a week’s holiday, but this thing has neither a trunk or a frunk. They have a reputation for eating their close coupled catalysts leading to bore scoring, but mine just rusted away instead, like my mk1s and mk2. Thanks Toyota, for skimping on the rust proofing.
So I’ll take the other car, whatever that is. We didn’t get those over here.
Note to DT: these are sportscars. Note how they aren’t either a MINI or a Golf.
Believe y’all had them in Opel form. Looked pretty close to what we had as the Saturn Sky.
I posted a chunk from Wikipedia that’s waiting on approval likely because it had links, but the Kappa platform included Solstice, Sky, Opel GT, Daewoo G2X, and Tauro Sport
LHD only maybe? We don’t get Opels in the UK either.
“Vehicles based on this platform:
Oh Solstice is the 9 out of 10 choice. Simply because with that car right there and a few adapters a cheap 5.3 will slide right in.
Both?
Since that’s not an option, I’ll go ‘Yota. I already have an FR in this general performance category, and the MR2 is shorter in length, so it’ll fit easier in my spare space.
Both for these prices, MR2 if I need to choose.
MR2, no question. I have a Sky Redline and it’s a great car. But the turbo engine and associated hardware (suspension, LSD, etc) are the way to go, and well worth it. A Solstice GXP will only be a couple grand more than this base model. Base for base, you’re on level ground with the MR2 and Miata, both of which (price, mileage, condition) all things equal are generally better cars.
That frunk to bumper panel gap on the MR2 isn’t sitting well with me so I’ll go with “what if the Miata was 10% bigger” instead.
Objectively, the MR2 is the better deal. However, I have a soft spot for the Solstice and Sky, so that gets my vote. A good reminder that car buying isn’t always rational.
Are you me?
I’m not positive on this but I’m also willing to bet you could get a super/turbo charger to bolt up to that echotech without too much difficulty.
I voted MR2, but that is dependent on whether I could actually fit behind the wheel. The Solstice would be fine, but I have never owned or driven a mid-engined car before and that is definitely a bucket list item. The Toyota reliability would be a plus so I don’t have to contort myself in the engine bay for repairs as often.
Pontiac – despite trying, I simply don’t fit in the MR2.
MR2, easily. While I do think this generation is a shameless “we have a Boxster at home” situation I still like them and think they’re a fun Miata alternative. This one has the correct transmission as well, although apparently the weird SMG thing is kind of charming in its own way. A lot of folks are revisiting the pre-DSG automated manual transmissions because they feel a lot more connected than modern sporty autos that fade into the background.
That SMG sapped a lot of ‘performance’ IIRC. I was on the hunt for this MR2 for a while as I am pretty familiar with the 1zz and had dreams of a 2zz swap.
I applaud GM for going for it, but the styling of the Solstice/Skye inside and out never did it for me.
Buy that MR2 and put a couple thousand miles more on it. Friend had an early 90s MR2 and it was indestructible, except when he mistakenly pierced a rear quarter panel with the forks on his loader.
I’m in a forgiving mood, so I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that not closed hood on the Facebook lady’s MR2 photos [facepalm emoji], and choose that one.
I don’t think it’s simply unlatched; it’s lined up perfectly on the driver’s side, but significantly out on the passenger’s side. At minimum, it’s badly warped.
Yeah on second thought, pass on that one 🙂
I would drive good in that MR-2.
Tough choice today since I’d like to own an example of both cars at some point. The Pontiac is probably the safer pick between the two since it looks like it’s been well taken care of throughout it’s life, but I’ve wanted a W30 since I first drove one a few years ago, so that’s my pick assuming it’s not burning 2-stroke levels of oil and the pre-cats aren’t on the verge of disintegrating. A good hand wash and some soapy wooder should have the engine bay and frunk looking much better.
Ope wrong prices in the topshot, I fix
The font for the price is funky too, if we’re picking nits.
Edit: huh, it isn’t as standardized as I thought. Mark usually does his pretty simply – small red text with no border.
David’s was larger text with a white glowy border
Pete’s was similar to David’s earlier this week, but now it is italicized too.
Yeah, I didn’t have the unflattened PSD so I had to kludge that monstrosity together for quick turnaround’s sake
I’ve been using the same template file for four and a half years now. It’s a GIMP .XCF file that I made from Jason’s original PSD, and it takes me about a minute to populate it, change the prices, and export.
This is why they should just use Papyrus for all the titles
Too late, for a few seconds I went like ok finally, I’ll have an MR2. Shame! Shame!! Shame!!!
Well damn! There goes my demand for a “both” option!
And stop picking cars in Texas. I’m in Austin and these two are tempting. However, I’m still putting my daughter through college, so it’s not quite time yet…
Having sat in both, the only one I could coexist with is the Solstice; that generation of MR2 is absolutely tiny inside.
Both are pretty equal to me. The Pontiac has lower mileage, but Toyotas run forever.
The performance should be about the same.
I voted for the MR2, simply because it’s mid-engined.
I’m picking the MR2. It has the same transmission as my xB, so if I break it (again) I’ll have a spare on hand!
My GF was gifted a Saturn Sky Red Line from her mom, it still has only 15k miles on it and looks new. She asked me to drive it on my Rt 555 Triple Nickle road rally this year and even with the auto I had fun.
I’ve always been an MR2 fan but have to say the 3rd gen does nothing for me.
So it comes to Pontiac vs Toyota, and Toyota will always win.
I got stuck behind a Slowstice on 555 and decided those things just are not for me. Then I got to dive one with an LS swap, I would 1,000% have one with an LS.
I voted MR2, but agree this generation is odd.
I like the idea of the Toyota, but that hood, the engine photo, and the upside down steering wheel make me think it hasn’t been cared for as well as I’d like. Pontiac for me, thanks.
You know steering wheels go roundy round, right? ;^)
Sure, but I generally assume that people photographing the interiors of cars for sale don’t do so with the wheels cranked to one side. Could be wrong here, since the person didn’t seem to care too much about the photos.
My first thought on seeing that photo is that the steering wheel is so perfectly upside down that someone removed it and installed it upside down as a matter of preference for some reason. Which makes me wonder what other strange things they changed.
By your logic — and I’m not saying it isn’t sound — the MR2’s driver’s side door may be open permanently. But focus on the positive! “Drive good”
You can see that the steering wheel is in the same position in the front shot. Is that how far the wheels should turn with the steering wheel at 180? Legitimate question, I’ve never driven an MR2.
I mean, sure, if you want to take my logic beyond what is reasonable, they may have left that door open because it won’t latch. I’m just saying that the filthy engine, the unlatched or warped hood, and the upside down steering wheel don’t don’t give me the warm and fuzzies about the car.
I’m also relying entirely upon what you decided to post here, because I don’t want to log into Facebook to go look. Perhaps other photos or something else in the description would make me feel better or worse about it, but the vibe is definitely off as it stands.
The exterior shots do show the wheels turned slightly to the right. It looks about right for a half-turn of the steering wheel to me, but it bugs me too that they can’t even be bothered to straighten the wheel for photos. It looks better, and you might get some idea of the condition of the front suspension if the wheels are straight but the steering wheel isn’t.
But I totally agree; something feels off with Mister Two. Kappa for me.
Tough call. Do I go with newer, lower miles, and cheaper but scruffier, or older, more expensive, Toyota reliability but absolute PITA to work on?
I love those Kappas, so I voted Solstice. But I don’t really see a wrong answer here.
I do not often choose GM over a Toyota but I suspect the Toyota was not as cared for as much as the Pontiac. I would go with the Pontiac and drive it gooder.
Same exact thought process. That MR2 is definitely owned by someone who thinks maintenance is a legal term related to property law.
Look closely at the Solstice. The front and rear bumper skins look like they came off a different car. Maybe that’s just how the paint looks on metal vs on plastic, but those reds don’t match at all.
I think it’s just a trick of the light, along with the clear coat failing. Interior lighting is particularly bad for things like that.
Yeah, I think it’s the paint on metal vs plastic with the clear coat gone. The video shows it pretty well.
So what’s with the title images that show them as listed for $1750 and $2500, and the prices in the article that both start with a 6 ?
Pete is donating $4k to help get you in a cool ride. Act now!
Numbers still don’t match, but I’ll have both then, please.
The font is wrong too. It is italicized or something, but it doesn’t look like how the other SBS headers look.
I’m blaming it on everyone being tired from the Galpin show. Not a big deal, but I was confused by it too.
Yeah but I didn’t go to the Galpin Car Show
Shh… Mark is on vacay and everyone else is tired. You’re all playing musical chairs with who does what. At least that’s what I was telling myself.
is ad revenue down so much that they need to add a markup?
Maybe it’s like those buy-here-pay-here scam listings that have *price listed is the down payment at the bottom of the text?