2009 Saturn SKY User Reviews

Pros

Decent handling, nice short-throw stickshifter, decent aesthetics

Cons

Soft brakes, soft clutch, mediocre audio system

So after reading some great reviews on here, I decided to go to the local Saturn dealer to test drive the Sky Red Line. I wanted to drive it because my friend, who currently drives an '03 Civic EX (stickshift), test drove the automatic Sky and she is thinking of buying it (she wants the stickshift in Red Line trim). The one I drove was Evening Blue with 18" chrome alloy wheels, and Good Year Eagle F1 GS-2 (W) tires and it had manual transmission. I would never opt for the automatic transmission on a roadster.

Let me start by saying that I currently drive a 2008 Audi TT 3.2 so I had to try really hard not to compare the Sky to my car. It would not be fair since they are in a different category and price range.

Aesthetically, I would have to say that on the outside, this is the best looking reasonably priced American roadster (maybe because its design is largely based on Opel's GT). It's much nicer that its sister, the Pontiac Solstice which has too many curves, in my opinion.

The inside did not impress me very much. I don't care about trunk space or cup holders on a Roadster but the dashboard is cheap looking, in the GM tradition. The short-throw stick is nice and very functional; the sound system is very average and the window and mirror controls need to be slightly re-positioned. The turn signal lever and wiper lever also should be repositioned slightly higher and to the rear.

Acceleration was decent and cornering is quite good. The body feels stiff enough, making the car fairly responsive. I did not like the brakes at all. They are very light and it made me feel unsafe when trying to postpone braking until the last reasonable moment.

I also thought the clutch was a bit too light, for a roadster (my TT has the same problem).

Overall, I’d say it’s a decent effort by GM to tap into this market, once again relying on the styling of its European division, since the company cannot design an aesthetically pleasing car in the U.S. market. With a sticker price of $32,000, I’d pay $6-7k extra for a BMW Z4 2.0i.