2006 Pontiac Solstice

This is it. The first car you can use to measure Bob Lutz's success or failure as GM's Car Guy Number One. He tried at Chrysler and Ford, and even though he began ripping the cheesy cladding off the sides of Grand Prixes and Bonnevilles from the moment he arrived at the General, there was precious little in Pontiac's past or current portfolio to indicate it could build a believable Miata-fighter, let alone an affordable BMW Z3/Z4 or Honda S2000. But it has. If the Solstice is a halo car that represents the new Pontiac, GM's excitement division still has a pulse.

Forget you ever heard of the Pontiac Fiero. Forget that, 22 years ago, when British and Italian roadsters were being reduced to oil puddles in our automotive Zeitgeist, Pontiac introduced a mid-engine, four-cylinder plastic-bodied hardtop aimed at the sports-commuter subsegment. The Fiero was a fun, practical daily driver with good fuel mileage. But enthusiasts with foreign-car sensibilities were drawn to Honda's CRX, even though its front engine drove the front wheels, and the Fiero gave way to, well, nothing. You might migrate to a Firebird Trans Am, if you were willing to share your automotive tastes with mullet-wearing Burt Reynolds fans.

Park the Solstice next to an early-1990s Miata, and it looks like a Big Healey next to a Bugeye Sprite. Drive it blindfolded, and you won't mistake it for anything but American. Eyes open behind the wheel, you might take it for a Z3; it's that long hood and the feeling you're sitting low in the back. The feeling sharpens on mountain roads. Its suspension--control arms with anti-roll bars, front and rear--is on the supple side of the sports-car scale, with long suspension travel apparent when rising over bumps and small hills. Its mud-and-snow tires are grippy and handling is neutral. You'll find no hint of impending oversteer on sharp turns, and you can't steer with the throttle at reasonable speeds unless the pavement is wet. You'll miss hanging the tail out if you like the Miata or S2000, but that doesn't make the Solstice slower or less fun--just different.

The Solstice is a legit sports car just because it fits like a glove and melds with you to become one on a mountain road, despite the nearly 350 pounds it has on the new Mazda MX-5. It hunkers down into quick third-gear turns, and its tail feels like it's biting down on the back tires, the rear suspension compressing a bit. Pontiac says the Solstice will beat its competition with a maximum lateral g count of better than 0.90. Steering is light, quick, communicative, and fully up to the best moves the stiff chassis has to offer.