Toyota Solara

silversolara

have fun with your new car. how was the Avalon holding up when U traded it in, if i may ask?

steve05401

hi-- thanks.

re: the '95 Avalon (which i bought used with 71000 miles in 1/02)was still in really good shape when i traded it in. other than basic maintenance items, i didn't have to do a thing.... (wish i'd just held on to it, i guess, although it WAS getting on in age....)

i hope to be happy with the Solara for at least 3 or 4 years, and able to fight the urge to get a new car!

pbc

If you're only looking for summer tires, I would look elsewhere than the Proxes. It's designed for all-season. I'm sure a good set of summer tires that handle in the rain would out perform any set of all-season's.

If I remember I'll post after I've done some winter driving re:handling in the snow. I found the MXV4's were pretty good (until the end of last winter when they were at the 75k mark).

Go to canadiandriver.com, there's a forum there were you can ask the people from tiretrends.com what tire they'd recommend for what application. Of course, I would guess it's biased to the tires they likely get the most commission out of.

One would think Toyota would've at least checked the balancing of the tires or the tires themselves, but alas, they didn't.

It's such a joy to not have to constantly keep the steering wheel turned slightly to the left. I guess I just got used to doing it after a while.

PBC

rbleland

..on the CanadianDriver site is very good. I am an active poster on that site and I have followed the TireTrends topics since they started. I do not detect a bias in the postings of the main poster for TireTrends (Bob). He will say he doesn't know much about tire "x" if he doesn't know or doesn't sell them. I am told the prices are very good at TireTrends and they ship Canada-wide. If you are in ON, you pay shipping but no PST so it's about a wash.

cooldad24

I have mine for more than a month and a half and so far not a glitch. No pulling, no rough gear shifting, no rocking seat and no rattling noise. The mileage is a bit low than I expected but is improving.

jschamberger

what are you getting for mileage?

I had a 3 1/2 hour drive yesterday and average 32 mpg at 74 mph.

My city mpg isn't too impressive... but it's ALOT of stop and go so I don't expect too much.

As far as the pulling is concerned... I'm just going to have to find another dealer. I've taken mine in twice and they won't do anything for it. I even brought in the new alignment spec's that a dealership in Cali is using to fix the cars and mine still won't do anything. They say without an official TSB they won't do anything as long as the alignment shows up true.

The service manager even took me out in the car an tried to tell me that it's not that bad. It started counting and got to 6 seconds before we crossed over into the other lane (at about 70 mph)... the only problem was that he was holding the steering wheel for the first 3 seconds.

Hopefully a dealership in DC will help me out...

cooldad24

I got aqbout 18-19 MPG mostly in the city. Very limited highway. First tank, I got only 16 MPG and was not happy about it since I didn't dirve it very hard and break gently. Maybe my wife show off the car's big power engine when she drive which I am not sure.

My co-worker had the pulling problem when he got his 99 Odyssey. He checked the alignment, tire balance and steering alignment all found in spec. Even the technician in the dealership agree that was some pulling. Before they disassemble the wheel/steering for the fix, they swapped the front tires left to right and right to left, the problem gone. Nobody can explane why except assuming the tire tred design require certain order to eliminate the pulling. I later change my tires to Michilin Symmetric for better tracking and life. My co-worker followed and never has the same problem since. Maybe you can ask the dealership to try if they didn't. Maybe that will cure the problem. (cross your fingers!)

webguyster

The pulling occurs because the car is built out of spec. It cannot be repaired economically, without adjusting the alignment OUT of alignment, thus causing premature wear on your tires. My car is 3 degrees out of spec. Try as many dealers as you want, but they will all be band aide fixes. The cause is bent parts or bad steering rack, and/or bad strut towers and bearings. Depending on where you go for alignment, there are different versions of the specs for alignment, most use the old specs that show your car is okay.

New tires, $700.00 worth bought me 6,000 of straight driving, but the 1st rotation has the uneven worn tirres on the front now, or vice versa! Thus pull. The most avid Solara fans in these threads don't even drive Solaras, rather sell them, or they have a family member or significant other that does. Beware of bad advice here!

theflow

jschamberger: i read your response in the price and experience discussion. guess i should come back here, otherwise, it'll be off topic there. hope you have fun with your car.

did anyone try out the sequential shift (whatever they call it) yet? i tried it once when i was going up a real steep hill. my car only has 5xx miles and don't know if i should use it before the 1000 miles break in period.

matthewh

For sequential shift, you must take it easy until you know how to handle it. It could rev up you engine too high if you don't shift properly. I would wait until at least 1000 miles before I would play around with it. In the mean time, you could try it to get use to it but be gentle with it and watch the rpm. For going up hill, just shift between 4th and 5th gear, it does not hurt a bit. Have fun.

theflow

I was starting to climb up a hill and used the 1st gear. The rpm remained at 3000 and i didn't shift because when it's time to shift, i hit a stop sign and need to rev over again. but i didn't use it for too long. only about 3 minutes because i already arrived at the destination. hope there's no damage done.

cooldad24

Unless you really to rev the engine for instant power need by quicker down shifting, Auto mode will more than you need. Of cause, if you like to raw by yourself, why not go for a real manual one. I found it is hard to drive smoothly in the manual mode at the lower 2 gears since there is no clutch to fine tune it. Just my 2 cents.

jerrys6

The transmision won`t shift to a lower gear if your going too fast. You get a audible warning. (beep beep). I use mine mostly for gearing down when in the mountains. It pretty well knows when to upshift when accelerating.

theflow

Now I'm kinda confused. The sequential shift is 5-speed. Is the automatic transmission for the V6 also 5-speed or just 4-speed?

matthewh

The V6 comes with a 5-sp AT tranmission that can be shifted manually (also called sequential). The 4-cylinder only comes with a regular 4-sp AT without manual shift feature.

theflow

thanks matthewh.

webguyster

Where did this come from!!!!

theflow

I want to know if there are any aftermarket parts that allows me to change the passenger window to 1-touch up and down?

I thought the MR2 sequential shift is different because it doesn't have a D??

silversolara

for anybody who has been lurking and is put off by the negative posts:

J.D. Power and Associates Award - 2000 IQS Awardee - Best Premium Midsize Car: TOYOTA CAMRY SOLARA SE/SLE
This award is based on the results of the Initial Quality Study, which is based on feedback collected from new vehicle owners regarding problems experienced within the first 90 days of ownership.

This was on CarFax.com. Granted, it's a number of years later, but my 2000 SE V-6 still runs like champ.

rbleland

Our '99 SLE has never missed a beat and we bought it out of the lease recently and will be keeping it. I think most people who review this site regularily are smart enough to realize that one problem Solara/one problem owner doesn't flavor the entire barrel. It's only a car; it is designed and manufactured by man; bound to the odd one that's a dud. Overall, an excellant machine (and I've had over 50 vehicles since age 16).

ezshift5

..and after 48k trouble free miles, the choice has been revalidated in spades. Fuel efficiency with the manual/two overdrives is great. Would you believe beating EPA Highway rating by over nine MPG? Oil/filter + a car wash for under 24 bucks AT THE DEALER. I had a Supra for over 10 years; perhaps the Solara will emulate this....ez

theflow

Finally passed the 1000 miles break in period. Used the sequential shift. It sure does need some time to get used to it. And it sure doesn't shift like a manual. I used it to pull away from a previous model Solara at the stop light, and I guess that will also be the last time I use it. It just doesn't feel like driving a stickshift My next car hopefully will be a stickshift again.

Another thing I noticed is that there might be something wrong with the air control system. Seems like the car won't remember the previous settings. A lot of times when I start the car, all the settings are different. This evening, when I was driving, I have the re-circulate in the off mode (sucking air from outside). I then opened the sunroof, the next thing I noticed is the re-circulate is in the on mode. That sure does kinda pissed me off. Anyone else experienced this same problem?

couper

I have a 2001 Solara SLE and have had 0 problems with it over the last three years. I'm pretty picky about things and really can't find much to complain about. One thing to note is I always change the oil at 3000 miles and for the heck of it I had it analyzed this last time. Analysis came back saying all was perfect, and if I'm interpreting the TBN correctly I could safely go 6000 miles without a change. Interesting how this is 1500 miles less than what Toyota says you can do. Lesson here is change at 3000 or so miles, don't go the 7500, their engines are somehow tough on the oil.
As far as the climate control system goes, it is "smarter" than us owners, and chooses fresh or recirculate based on some magic formula I've yet to figure out. This really does not bother me, if it picks the mode I don't want, I just hit the button to change it.

theflow

If you haven't figured it out, then how can you know it's some "magic formulas" and not computer glitches. The salesman told you that? But since it doesn't bother you, please don't bother figuring it out.

I couldn't find anything in the manual that refer to some "magic formulas" for the air control system. Maybe I missed it cuz it's boring materials to read. If anyone finds it, please tell me what section it's under.

theflow

04 Solara owners please verify this for me. I just went to Toyota's website and saw some pictures of the Solara's interior. On the 5th picture from the left, it shows the Power Moonroof. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the sun block is extendable. The one in my car is not extendable. Can someone please tell me whether the sun block they have is extendable or not? Thanks.

2k1trd

Are you saying that your interior sunroof cover doesn't open?...it should just slide back into the roof.

cooldad24

I never notice this issue, I will try on mine. The Air control should remember the last setting in Salara but not 100% sure. I always left it on the auto mode except adjust the air volumn. I will check on the re-circulatation mode next time.

theflow

2k1trd: I was referring to the sun block visor thing for both the driver and passenger. Not the one for the moonroof. I saw the sun block visor in the pic seems to be able to extend to a longer length, while mine is just one length. But sorry for the confusion.

cooldad24: Not only the re-circulation, the modes, like front, ground, front/ground, and ground/defrost, are not the same at all. I usually have the air set to re-cir off and front. Most of the time when I start the car, the re-cir is ON and the mode can be anything, either front, ground, front/ground, or ground/defrost. Please check yours and let me know. Thanks.

BTW, I was "sandwiched" between 2 cars on the freeway this morning. Glad it's not my car.

ral2167

yes the sun visor is extendable-- comes in handy when you have it rotated 90 degrees when the sun's to the left of you as you drive...

if your sun visor isn't extendable, i think something's goofy-- make sure you're looking at it correctly.

theflow

I'm sure mine is not extendable. But by looking at the 5th solara interior picture in Toyota's website, it seems to me that it's extendable. Also, if you use the Interior 360 Degree view, you can clearly see that there's a plastic thing at the end of the sunblock visor, which i assume is able to extend out. But mine doesn't have that. I don't know if it's only available in certain model or not.

2k1trd

Well for those of you who havn't figured it out yet,the new 3.3 is drive by wire (no throttle cable)and i have been doing some experimenting with it and i'm pretty much not impressed with the performance.You can actually hold it reving in second (using sport shift)and then punch it and it doesn't respond right away!...i'll take the old throttle cable that responds to your commands instantly over this new ecu controlled throttle any day!...

94supra

Many of the vendors seem to be intentionally programming in a substantial amount of electronic dampening for their electronic throttles. At their choice, they could set these systems up for truly instant response, but they seem to be favoring conservative settings to minimize stress on the drivetrain, maximize fuel economy and improve pollution control. Whether we like it or not, all cars will probably incorporate this feature in the very near future. The higher performance cars may provide multiple settings for their throttle response or override the damper if you completely floor the accelerator. I wish they had provided this capability for the Solara.

steve05401

... had an "ECT" button that, when pressed, would change the shift points of the transmission to allow for more athletic driving.
pretty cool.

my "new" '99 Solara SLE doesn't, but the transmission itself is the newer ECT-i, which i guess means "intelligence"? i guess that means it "learns" my preferred style?

joey_b

Now that I've decided on an 04 SLE V6 Solara, the search is on. I just had my local dealer run a locate (Chicago Region) for an SLE V6 in Oceanus Pearl with Ivory interior and no spoiler. I must not be with the times. Apparently every SLE V6 Solara in the region in Oceanus blue has a spoiler and gray interior.

He did mention I could request a change to a vehicle on allocation to their dealership, before it is built, removing the spoiler and changing the interior color. He also said this was faster than placing a standard order.

Has anyone out there revised a pre-production vehicle before it hit the dealership? This sounds like a plan, but I've never heard of this before.

Joey B

2k1trd

Yeah i had the chance to drive a M3 and it had a sport mode button that changed the throttle opening ratio and man did it make a difference!

cooldad24

I couldn't find any V6 SLE without the spoiler when I got mine so it seems it came with every V6 SLE trim.

The review of 2004 Solara is available in Edmunds.

94supra

Unfortunately, somebody has apparently decided that we will all want a spoiler and they seem to have made it a forced option. I really prefer the look of this car without the spoiler and it certainly doesn’t add anything to the functionality. For all practical purposed they have just raised the MSRP by $200.00 with this high gross margin/low value added accessory.

I have looked at the inventory coming to southeastern dealers through the end of the year and every silver SLE (what I was looking for) has the spoiler. Originally, I thought it just might have been for our region of the country, but it looks like you have the same problem. I would be interested to hear how things workout if you decide to go with the method of re-optioning a dealer allocated vehicle.

lumbar

Edmunds has a newer feature when you check "options" for a car--some of the so-called options also are labelled with a "T" for "typically equipped," which I guess amounts to "you won't get the car without this even though they call it an option." Interestingly, the spoiler isn't labelled this way on the SLE.

I don't like it either, but I can almost see making it de facto mandatory on the Sport. If somebody wants it, they can buy that model or order it as a legitimate option on an SLE. Personally, I'd pay -them- to leave it off.

94supra

Like Steve indicated, even several of the earlier Toyota models included various types of mode selections designed to provide a bit more driver input into the electronic control systems. Unfortunately, the more recent trend seems favor systems that will "learn" our behavior and modify themselves accordingly.

This approach doesn't really seem to be driven by a desire to enable more driver control. Current systems don't easily adapt to different drivers sharing the same vehicle or when a driver may need to drive very differently from their "normal" profile. I think it is more driven by the longer term direction of the industry to appliance oriented vehicles that will have less and less direct driver input and almost no emphasis on traditional performance motoring criteria. Enjoy the current horsepower war while it continues, because the future looks more like a Prius.

rbleland

Don't know about the '04 Solara SLEs but every '99 to '03 SLE I've ever seen has the spoiler. Our '99 does. No big deal, I think all Canadian SLEs have it.

russklass

Our dealer changed an allocation order to the "Absolutely Red" color for us, and it did indeed arrive very quickly.
As for the spoiler, we didn't order it, but it was on the car. It is very unobtrusive, as spoilers go, and adds a bit of visual interest to the trunk.
We also found a Canadian company that makes an exact color-matched bodyside molding to protect the very vulnerable flanks of our SLE. Check it out at www.trim-gard.com

Kirstie_H

Full Test: 2004 Toyota Camry Solara SLE
Read it here!

kirstie_h
Roving Host & Future Vehicles Host

dvivino

Anyone have ideas about where to put change? In most of my other cars, there was a coin cup somewhere, like on the lower dash by my left knee for example. A little "drawer" pulls out to hold change. I haven't found such a place in the 04 Solara.

theflow

I mentioned that in the Solara vs Accord Coupe thread. There's no coin box in the Solara. It's something that Toyota should include for the price range of the car. For me, I just bought a small paper clip holder and put it inside the storage in the center console.

ral2167

no coin box is an improvement over the coin box in the previous generation solara-- that thing was a disaster....

honda accord has a real nice coinbox-- at least the the previous generation has... not sure about current model...

ezshift5

from the .75l Crown Royal, plunk in your coins and toss it anywhere. Should roll around too much.

webguyster

My engine fell from the car ont the highway! I have 50,000 miles. Is this Toyota quality??????? 2-3 weeks??????

dvivino

ezshift said: "from the .75l Crown Royal, plunk in your coins and toss it anywhere. Should roll around too much."

Ha Ha - I like that! In fact, I am using one of those right now in the house. I'll take your advice and use one for the car too!

silversolara

i guess this means WebG won't post anymore to this forum?
  
don't tell me, he was on his way to his upscale gym when several disguised Toyota salespeople in various different Toyota products cut him off and he was forced to catch the fly ball that should have been caught by Moises Alou...

sorry, Chicken Little, just don't believe ya...

61K miles with nary a complaint about my 2000 SE V-6...

rbleland

"Certain" year 2000 Solaras seem to be having an escalating series of problems; the problem just increases in size/frequency over time in the mind(?) of the poster. I'm sure glad I didn't buy that particular 2000 vehicle as I would have to devote my remaining life to posting increasingly negative comments about my car (but I wouldn't get rid of it because then I would nothing to do!!). Life goes on and our '99 SLE just keeps humming along, a great car!!