Going to look at a 2000 Solara V6 convertible tomorrow for my daughter. Its going to be her first car. Her and the wife can share the Rover and the Solara. Anything typical of these cars I should know, or are these just bulletproof boring Toyota Camry. Tried like crazy to talk the wife into letting me buy the kid a Jag XK8 I found for the same money as the Solara, but the wife wasn't having any of that.
Bulletproof Camry, sans roof, so it'll have all the structural integrity of melting Jello. I did consider them when I was 'vert shopping, they offer a lot for the money. I just didn't want to go THAT boring.
I bought a V6 solara coupe for $200 to use as a rallycross car and it was extremely reliable. Sure the struts are blown now, but it took the abuse much better than I ever expected. As I gutted the interior I was also impressed with the mechanical layout/design, easy to service. My other experiences with Toyotas (Corolla, Tercel) were similar, rock solid if a bit boring.
I bought an 03 coupe in June for my cousin to have as his first car. It has 250k and he pretty much has done nothing but drive it. Popped a brake line but that's to be expected for a northern vehicle. It's very comfortable to drive. Back and forth from Cleveland to toledo and Columbus regularly. It's boring camry reliable
Do the timing belt and then enjoy not worrying about it.
You should absolutely listen to your wife, particularly when car shopping.
This may be the first time I have ever differed to her on car buying. She drives whatever I go buy for her, and trust me, I've put her in some questionable cars. She had a daily Saab Sonett, an MGB, a TVR Tasmin, and was subjected to using a Corrado G60 when she had two car seats for the kids. Yea, that didn't last long. I'm the car guy, so I get to make those decisions. After all, I am the one who has to maintain the thing. Her reason for not wanting the Jag was not based in anything related to reliability concerns. It was more that she was concerned our daughter would be driving a Jag convertible to school and what kind of message that would send. The wife gets little digs from her coworkers all the time about being rich because she drives a Range Rover. Never mind the fact it cost me $1000 and was just about all I could afford at the time.
My only concern is the lack of crash protection in any convertible. My wife has a Solara convertible. It's louder than a coupe and a bit flexy, but it has been as reliable as a rock. The rear defroster has never worked. The SRS light just stating coming on intermittently, but that may be for a 10 year check. The high beams just went out working and appear to be a dealer only item at $60 each. Pretty much just gas, tires, oil and 2 batteries.
I just bought an '02 Toyota Avalon (the slightly larger Camry) and it has been the best Buick LeSabre I have ever had. The Solara will be viewed by all commoners (non-car people) as the right choice and a sensible buy. Vanilla is a very safe bet. But, unlike just plain vanilla, this one has a cherry on top in the form of a convertible top so it is then "cool" also. So, unlike the Jag or Range Rover purchase, you will never have to "justify" this purchase to anyone.
If you want the true plain vanilla, it seems that Avalons run a little cheaper than Camrys in my local used car market. The coupe version of the Solara is also a great choice for your HS kid and can be found quite cheaper than Camry's. It seems that used 2 dr cars are hard to unload since anyone with small kids or car seats immediately shuns the idea of a 2 door.
Daughter is now the proud owner of a red with a newly installed tan canvas top, tan leather,V6 SLE convertible. It has a couple of parking lot dings, and a couple of small swirly scratches, but otherwise is about as perfect as one could expect from a 17 year old car. Daughter likes the fact that its the same model year as her. I pointed out that it was probably made in 99 for the model year 2000, and she quickly pointed out that so was she. Originally owned by an old lady, then sold to an old man. So far its been a garaged summer only car and has averaged less than 7K miles a year. I drove it around and put it thru its paces. No drama, very boring, comfy, surprisingly quick, brakes were not so great. Lets see how long it takes a 17 year old girl to destroy this thing. It came with the nicest car cover I have ever seen. That thing is going to look great on one of my TR8s.
tr8todd said:I pointed out that it was probably made in 99 for the model year 2000, and she quickly pointed out that so was she.
Smart kid! Hope it works out well for you.
I just bought an '02 Toyota Avalon (the slightly larger Camry) and it has been the best Buick LeSabre I have ever had.
Exactly my sentiments about Avalons. They are underappreciated!
In reply to tr8todd :
Nice! It should serve her well.
Check the struts and make sure they're up to par. One thing I have noticed from coaching at Street Survival schools is that a Camry V6 engine can get a tired Camry suspension in trouble pretty quickly.
The Avalon and the Camry take the same struts. I needed rear struts. I took a chance and ordered these off Amazon. $99 got me two fully loaded rear struts. Thats $50 apiece! The fronts are the same price. Not sure how I could go wrong since they are 2-3 times cheaper than "the big names". Worst case, they only last half as long as the big names and that is still a win to me.
$18 for sway bar links too ($9 each). All prices were No tax and no shipping!
tr8todd said:brakes were not so great.
I find that odd because the brakes on my wife's Solara are the best I've ever driven except on my daughter's former Edge Sport.
Brakes felt like brakes that hadn't been used in a while. Like there was rust on the rotors thats now glazing the pads. Rear need to be changed anyway, so I'll do new pads and rotors in the back and at least do new pads in the front. Wife registered it today. I'll order up some brake tonight from Rock Auto and check all the fluids over the weekend. Looks like its only been driven 19,000 miles over the last 10 summers, according to the title we got with the car.
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