Designed by the three-year-old General Motors Performance Division, the 2006 Pontiac Solstice’s unique styling harkens to heritage with a traditional wide stance and sporty proportions. The Solstice measures 71.3 inches in width and 95.1 inches in wheelbase inside an overall length of 157.2 inches (Miata stretches 157.3 inches over a 91.7-inch wheel span and 67.7-inch width). With an attractive and bulging front end that looks like J Lo’s back end, the Solstice's most conspicuous styling cue is the signature double-trapezoidal grille mounted low enough in the front bumper to double as a lower air intake.

Bumpers must be imagined, however, as both ends are so smooth they hide these energy-absorbing regions. Pontiac designers mounted the headlights flush inside the round front fenders, while integrating the taillights high in the rear clip at trunk level. Both sets of lenses extend into the horizontal planes created by the hood and trunk. In carving the Pontiac Solstice, designers crafted the massive front-hinged hood to include the top third of the fenders that house the headlamps. Even parts of the wheel wells rise when the hood is opened. Other design elements include curved door contours, front fender-mounted gills, amber turn signals integrated into the leading edges of the front wheel wells, chrome door handles, and supercar-inspired bulges along the trunk lid that correspond to the shape of the seat headrests.

Solstice's small, but business-like, interior appears uncluttered and driver-oriented, as the center stack plastic merges with the instrument cluster casing. Two large gauges – a speedometer and tachometer – are set deep in round housings and communicate important information via red lettering and white backgrounds. The fuel gauge takes the same style, but reading it is like looking down a gun barrel and requires effort, to say the least.

Circles and curves dominate the dash as the air vents, climate and audio controls, shifter boot, and steering wheel airbag contours are all round. Headroom and legroom are calibrated at 38.5 and 42.7 inches, respectively, whereas the MX-5 Miata offers 37.4 inches of head clearance and 43.1 inches for legs. Storage space in this American roadster is a diminutive 3.8 cubic feet. Mazda edges past the Pontiac with 5.3 cubic feet.

Capping off the 2006 Pontiac Solstice is a slightly rounded, acoustically padded soft top. By using an interior toggle, or depressing the key-fob trunk icon, the front portion of the rear decklid pops up to make way for stowage of the top. To drop the top, manually unlock the latches, and with manual guidance the top cantilevers and folds into a small storage area.