Sky: The rear-drive roadster debuted this year. The high-performance Sky Redline, coming this fall, has a turbocharged, 260-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. A supercharged model is expected to follow in the 2008 model year.

A supercharged model is expected to follow in the 2008 model year.

We like the Saturn Sky on account of its son-of-Corvette styling, similarly slick interior and smooth moves on twisty roads. However, even from the get-go, we had significant misgivings about other aspects of this fetching roadster, and its sister, the curvalicious Pontiac Solstice.

With the new Saturn Sky Red Line, which we just sampled on a recent drive through Santa Barbara’s lovely wine country, Saturn has rectified at least one of our biggest complaints about the standard Sky: lack of power. Indeed, the new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, endowed as it is with a monstrous turbocharger, has 83 more horsepower and 94 lb-ft more torque than the 2.4-liter four-banger in the standard Sky, which does remarkable things for its character: not only is this car a dancer in the turns, but it’s a sprinter in the straights. Saturn claims a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds with a 13.9-second quarter mile at 100 mph. Believable? Sure. Fun? Oh yeah.

Other modifications include a slightly stiffer suspension, a unique front fascia with a different foglight/grille treatment, as well as blackened headlamp surrounds and a rear bumper that has two fat rectangular exhaust tips, a single reverse lamp and a cute little “turbo” badge on its cheek. Inside, the Red Line gets leather wrapping for that still-too-big steering wheel, unique embroidery, metallic sill plates, stainless steel pedal covers and unique gauges with a digital boost gauge in the Driver Information Center.

Complaints include the bucket seats that have as much lumbar support as a salad spoon, as well as the pittance of storage either inside the cabin or inside the clamshell trunk. We hate that there’s no way to flick and toss the top into the trunk as you can with the Mazda MX-5, as the top-stowing process of a long-multi-step manual affair. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

But, as the new Red Line shows us, you sure can have fun with what you've got.

It's a long time since I've been so surprised by a car.

The pre-scripted version of the Opel GT was this: a roadster designed to be a Vauxhall show-car in 2003, repurposed to be a Saturn in America, then exported as an Opel to Europe in 2007.

Has 265bhp turbo engine, is good-looking inside and out, costs little more than an MX-5, is spectacular value. But isn't available in RHD, so won't go on sale here, and will never wear the Vauxhall badge it was drawn for. Boo hoo, we wuz robbed, end of story.

Except no. We wuz not robbed. Britain will rub along very nicely without the Opel GT. It's a car that plucks defeat from the very jaws of victory.

It's not bad to drive, mind. The engine is related to the VXR Astra's but gets high-tech direct injection, kicking it up to 265bhp. That's 0-62mph in 5.7 and a wall of overtaking torque. There's a bit of roughness here and there, but this is a hearty enough powerplant.

The GT grips and grips too, and the steering's OK with reservations. It's an effective muncher of corners, but you never quite get intimate with it.

So it's an easy drive, and a fast cruiser rather than a hectic little tearaway. The ride's comfy, too.

But if it's going to be a cruiser, it ought to be able take baggage and act practical. It fails miserably. The roof is ridiculously noisy when it's up, and is a colossal pain to fold away.

You have to stop the car, empty the boot almost entirely, then wrestle to fold a canvas structure that's as intractable as the Millennium Dome. Then leave your stuff at the roadside.

Have these guys never seen an MX-5? A Mazda's roof folds in five seconds from the driver's seat and doesn't touch the boot.

Badged as the Saturn Sky, this car is selling well in the States. People must be using it as third car. A fun car. But in a European context, it's simply not enough fun to justify the aggro of living with it. Don't replace your VX220.

The Red Line performance model features an Ecotec turbocharged 2.0L engine, GM’s first direct-injection offering in North America . It produces 260 horsepower (194 kW) at 5300 rpm and 260 lb.-ft. of torque (353 Nm) from 2500 to 5250 rpm, making it GM’s highest specific output engine ever at 2.1 horsepower per cubic inch of displacement (130 hp / 97 kW per liter) and the most powerful production engine in the Ecotec family.

Gasoline direct-injection technology helps the Ecotec engine produce more power while maintaining the lower fuel consumption of a small displacement port-injected engine.

With direct injection, fuel is delivered directly to the combustion chamber to create a more complete burn of the air/fuel mixture. Less fuel is required to produce the equivalent horsepower, especially at normal cruising speeds, than a conventional port-injection combustion system.

The Red Line builds on the strong chassis and equipment of the Sky, with additional hardware – such as a performance-tuned suspension – to increase performance.

The Red Line also features several unique interior and exterior differences compared to the Sky roadster, including dual polished aluminum exhaust outlets and 18-inch polished aluminum alloy wheels. The front lower fascia has unique styling elements, including functional brake cooling vents and a larger mesh pattern in the lower grille for improved air flow. The Red Line’s headlamp appearance also is different, with black bezels replacing the Sky’s bright finish.

The interior features a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, metallic sill plates, leather shift knob, stainless steel pedal covers, Red Line-specific gauges and a digital boost gauge included in the Driver Information Center .