Photo: Autotrader
You can regularly find amusing listings on Craiglist, but Autotrader is another source of humor if you search well. The biggest offender we could find at the time of writing is this Saturn Sky sports car, plastered with Ferrari badging and featuring a price tag of $34,900 while showing 32,000 miles on the odometer.
“Wait, are you serious? $34,900 is Mercedes-Benz GLA money!” Searching for a similar model on Kelley Blue Book, the fair market range for this type of vehicle is $9,048 to $11,513. The clowning doesn’t end here, though...
Looking through the ad, the seller says that we’re dealing with a “one-of-a-kind customized car” and “a Ferrari prototype.” A bit suspicious when you think about it, but still, who wouldn’t be fooled by shiny exhaust tips glued to the front fenders, four on each side of the vehicle? It must be a Ferrari, right?
Silver racing stripes, Prancing Logo patches on the headrests, yellow piping on the seats, and the Ferrari logo on the steering wheel also bring the point home. The problem is, opening the hood reveals a plastic engine cover that reads EcoTec, SIDI, and turbo.
The funny thing about the 2.0-liter engine in the Saturn Sky is that Lotus - once the arch-rival of Ferrari on the track - did much of the development work in the United Kingdom for General Motors. The Gen III is available in a few variants, including the LTG in the Camaro and LSY in the Cadillac XT4.
Turning our attention back to the car, the Sky is nothing more than a sibling to the Pontiac Solstice, and over in Europe, these bad boys were marketed as the Opel GT. Vauxhall didn’t get a successor to the Lotus Elise-based VX220 because the Wilmington plant in Delaware didn’t have the means to produce right-hand-drive vehicles. Alas, the Australian market didn’t get it either.
So what makes the Red Line different from the bog-standard model? The Sky in this specification features a limited-slip diff, sports suspension, and a few aesthetic garnishes such as stainless-steel pedals and dual exhausts. The Red Line used to retail at $29,795 when it was new, and the LNF engine used to develop 260 horsepower or 290 horsepower with the upgraded turbo.
Looking through the ad, the seller says that we’re dealing with a “one-of-a-kind customized car” and “a Ferrari prototype.” A bit suspicious when you think about it, but still, who wouldn’t be fooled by shiny exhaust tips glued to the front fenders, four on each side of the vehicle? It must be a Ferrari, right?
Silver racing stripes, Prancing Logo patches on the headrests, yellow piping on the seats, and the Ferrari logo on the steering wheel also bring the point home. The problem is, opening the hood reveals a plastic engine cover that reads EcoTec, SIDI, and turbo.
The funny thing about the 2.0-liter engine in the Saturn Sky is that Lotus - once the arch-rival of Ferrari on the track - did much of the development work in the United Kingdom for General Motors. The Gen III is available in a few variants, including the LTG in the Camaro and LSY in the Cadillac XT4.
Turning our attention back to the car, the Sky is nothing more than a sibling to the Pontiac Solstice, and over in Europe, these bad boys were marketed as the Opel GT. Vauxhall didn’t get a successor to the Lotus Elise-based VX220 because the Wilmington plant in Delaware didn’t have the means to produce right-hand-drive vehicles. Alas, the Australian market didn’t get it either.
So what makes the Red Line different from the bog-standard model? The Sky in this specification features a limited-slip diff, sports suspension, and a few aesthetic garnishes such as stainless-steel pedals and dual exhausts. The Red Line used to retail at $29,795 when it was new, and the LNF engine used to develop 260 horsepower or 290 horsepower with the upgraded turbo.
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