Kappa: 2007 Saturn Sky Red Line Turbo
GM’s Kappa platform was launched in 2006 with the Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky followed a year later. Unfortunately the 2008 recession/carpocalpyse killed the Skystice before it was more than a few years old….but in those few years GM managed to sell 100,124 examples (34,400 Sky, 65,724 Solstic) and they make great used drivers today. Find this 2007 Saturn Sky Red Line here on eBay
offered for $11,995 buy-it-now located in Chatsworth, CA.
If you are going to get a US market Kappa car, I prefer the Sky because it doesn’t have the nasty Pontiac Nostrgrill up front, but the Skys are harder to find, particularly in the hopped up Redline trim. The Redline was the Sky equivalent to the Solstice GXP — both shipped standard with turbocharged engines, sporty suspension and limited slip out back.
The LNF 2.0 liter EcoTec inline-4 is a direction injection, turbocharged and inter-cooled gem of a little engine and even though the stock 260 horsepower tune is a bit conservative, a dealer or aftermarket chip tune will give you a solid 300 horsepower and 300 ft-lbs of torque. Zero to sixty mph in sub 5 seconds will keep you happy and most modern competition (Miata, MR2, BRZ/FRS, Z3/Z4) will get a great view of those classic taillights.
On the inside you might recognize some items from other GM product…the Kappa platform used a mixed breed of components from the GM
parts room –Rear axle and diff from the Sigma-based Cadillac CTS;
Steering wheel is from the Delta-based Pontiac G5, Passenger-side
airbag, steering column, and door handles from the Cobalt; backup lights
are from the GMC Envoy; HVAC parts are from the Hummer; 2.4 L Ecotec
engine was shared with the Saturn Ion, Pontiac G6, Chevrolet Cobalt,
Pontiac G5, and Chevrolet HHR; The 5-speed manual gearbox was also used
on Hummer H3, GMC Canyon, and Chevrolet Colorado.
See another low mile daily driver for cheap? tips@dailyturismo.com
For a red convertible, this is hard to beat. Fast, mpg, parts, and appreciation make it a no brainier.
The LNF is a beee-YU-tiful engine, it's everything previous US-market GM fours were not. Smooth, great sounds, pulls nicely to redline, plenty of grunt everywhere in the rev band.
I'm not so fond of the Solstice/Sky as a car, it's roomier than a Miata but too close to a C5 in size, a little cheap inside. If it floats your boat…
We will, at some point in the near future, do a series of writeups here about our buddy's Caterham Super7 with LNF Skystice engine. Should be a real hoot when it's finished.
If I was looking for one of these, this might just be the one. Two for sale on Hemmings, both lower miles but more 20K and 18.5K for the other. This one is listed for 15K on his website…
aaamotorcars.com/inventory/1
I like it a lot….
The Sky Redline is probably the most enticing GM products of the last 20 years or so. It scores a great deal of credit for being one of the 90% +/- finished cars ever built. It is a bitsa, but one engagingly rescued by a stonking engine and nice design. In this case 85% complete is ok.
I like the Sky frontend but prefer the pontiac tailend was looking for one a few years back future collectible. ?….. Older Miata seems cheap to this.