With my ‘70 Mustang convertible sent to greener pastures, I spent the rest of 2001 and spring of 2002 replenishing my bank account and pondering my next move.
I was at a crossroads: While I loved driving my Ford Probe, I also wanted more goodies on my daily driver. I was 35, had a good-paying job, and felt it was time to move up. Manual windows and locks seemed a little passé to me by then.
Frankly, ingress and egress was more challenging than it was six years before. The Probe, with a height of 51.6 inches, was low to begin with. Then, I’d installed lowering springs to boot (blame Sport Compact Car magazine), which probably put it at about 50.5 in. or so. I’d quit smoking in January, 2000 (good thing) but compensated by eating (bad thing) and managed to put on about 50 lbs. So, I decided to “step up” to a more mature vehicle.
Ready, Big Spender?
My car searches have always run the gamut; every option is on the table. But, thanks to Chris, a work friend of mine, the leading contender was an E46 BMW 3-Series. Unbeknownst to me, Chris had traded in his 1999 Civic Si and leased a 2001 330i sedan. And he didn’t mess around: Topaz Blue exterior, dove gray leather interior, Sport Package, Premium Package, Xenon HID headlights, Harman/Kardon premium audio, and most important, a 5-speed manual.
When he arrived to pick me up for lunch, I was floored, just floored. The exterior, interior, fit and finish, attention to detail, all of it. Much like the VW Beetles I remember from childhood, it was a car from another land, different from other cars I’d experienced.
And, the powertrain! The M54 225 hp 3.0L inline-six was just delicious. From its sonorous exhaust note to its seamless power delivery, I was smitten, baby! Smitten! The 5-speed manual transmission was a perfect match, its throws mechanical and deliberate. The steering, hefty and precise. The whole car was like a little jewel to me.
This was going to be a problem, I could already tell. Why?
Because I’m cheap.
And, being a cheapo, I couldn’t reconcile BMW ownership (or “leasership”) against the financial costs. The ones I’d spring for I didn’t want, and vice versa.
Proud Unicorn-mobile Owner
Besides being a cheapo, I’m a complete dork about almost any car offered in rarely-seen manual transmission trim. In my experience, a manual transmission can transform even the most invisible transportation appliance into an entertaining drive. 2002 Chrysler Sebring GTC convertible 5-speed? I wanna try it. 2003 Acura 3.2CL Type-S 6-speed? Hit me up. (Disclaimer: Excludes GM FWD X-cars, Mopar K-cars and K-derivatives, as their respective shift linkages were simply abysmal.)
So, a few months later, I discovered a 2001 Toyota Solara SE V6 on the local Chevy/Toyota dealer’s lot . . . and it was a 5-speed! Ooooh, I was giddy. (God knows why.)
Build Quality Bonkers
Well, I do know why: the Solara had the feel of “peak Toyota.” The doors, with their frameless window glass, opened with a smooth, mechanical “click” and closed with unexpected Teutonic heft. No door glass rattles here.
The interior was largely silent, except for the faint throb of its 200 hp, 3.0L V6 at idle. Instrument panel gauges and overall dashboard layout appeared to be “borrowed” from the contemporary Mercedes-Benz CLK coupe. The JBL audio was powerful and played both cassettes and CDs (wooo, big-time!).
Its charcoal interior, with leather seating surfaces and power driver’s seat, was a comfortable place to reside. Plenty of room for rear passengers and a fold-down seatback to boot. Lots of trunk space. And a power moonroof to let the outside in.
Out on the highway, the Solara impressed with its muscular powertrain and notable refinement. Handling was definitely not its strong suit, and the car overall lacked road feel, but that appeared to be solvable with some items from the Toyota Racing Development, or TRD, catalog.
(At this point, it seems appropriate to note that T-R-D also translates as “turd.” More on that later.)
Making the Move
It was hard to trade in the Probe. As my first new car, its purchase was a reward for returning to, and graduating from, college. My wife and I had many dates, and traveled many places in it when we were “a-courtin’” in ‘97 and ‘98. But, I don’t like being a three-car guy with a two-car garage. So, I traded it on the Solara.
I struggled to move on, as the Probe languished on Hoselton’s used car lot. As the price dropped, part of me wanted to buy it back.
I held firm, and eventually, the Probe disappeared from the Saturday newspaper car ads and the used car lot.
The more I drove the Solara, the more I learned. For example, I learned that if I:
- Accelerated too aggressively while turning, the inside unloaded front tire would fry itself to a husk unless I got out of the gas.
- Was unsure whether I really had the hang of the Solara’s gearbox and clutch, I should have continued to test drive the car until I was sure I had the hang of the Solara’s gearbox and clutch.
- Hit the crown of a cross road (such as at an intersection) at too high of a speed, the Camry-based suspension quickly cried “Uncle!” as it fully compressed, then fully rebounded. As the road at the other side of the intersection quickly pitched downhill, all those unsettled ride motions made me feel as if inertia would bounce us both down the hill, cartwheeling end over end in a stylish, two-door fireball.
- Bought a car with excellent build quality and a ton of refinement but absolutely no “feel” at all (it had graduated from “lacking feel” to “no feel” by this point), that “feel” was pretty important to me.
The Beginning of The End (Again)
It started with the shifter and clutch (again). I had trouble getting that last 15% of the hang of driving the Solara smoothly. Coming from the Probe, with its high-quality linkage and near-telepathic clutch, the Solara’s action was clunky and artificially notchy, like “shifting” a wooden spoon in a jar of pretzels.
Could TRD save the day with its shifter? I doubted it, just as I doubted the TRD suspension kit and 17-in. wheels resolving the handling deficiencies. So, TRD, to me, became “turd” as in, “I hope those TRD parts fix my turd Solara.”
Having just experienced, in the Mustang, a related experiment that delivered little in terms of improvement, I was not anxious to repeat that adventure on the Solara.
The Clincher
My father and I went out for lunch one day in the Solara. I may have been grousing about my dissatisfaction with the car; it’s too long ago to recall. But, I do recall my father telling that, while he thought the Solara was nice, he thought it seemed a car more suited to someone his age than a younger guy.
Oh, no! The cardinal sin of younger guy car purchases: I bought an old man’s car!
Honestly, I never saw it as an “old guy’s car.” The exterior was sleek and, to my eye, attractive. Tasteful, even. Not baroque or overwrought. TRD updates added a veneer of youthful appeal but didn’t give the exterior a supreme makeover; it worked with what was already there.
So, I skipped the whole TRD treatment and just toughed it out for almost a year, gradually losing interest in driving it at all. Other than going to and from work, I rode with my wife in her snappy, fun-to-drive, 2000 Accord EX 5-speed coupe, which was an excellent car; less substantial-feeling but much more athletic than the Solara.
Calling It Quits
By the time June 2003 rolled around, we’d sold our townhouse (located on a hill) and moved to a ranch house situated on a hill that, ironically, faced our townhouse. We could see our old place from our new one.
Figuratively, I could also see my Solara days were coming to an end. I’d spotted my next car. As a June baby, I wanted to splurge a little for my birthday that year. And though I didn’t know it then, I was about to make, without a doubt, my best car purchase decision ever. Tune in next time.
Related CC Reading
Classic CARmentary: 1999 Toyota Solara SE V6 (by Adam Dixon)
At least you managed to avoid a BMW, A Camry 2 door might not be sporty but they are well made and BMWs handle best in brochures, if you want great handling FWD you’ll need to emigrate.
This series just keeps getting better. You have explained my Honda >Toyota bias better than I ever have. At least until recent years, every Honda I ever drove offered something intangibly rewarding, while every Toyota I ever drove felt like a better 1980’s Chevy Celebrity. And it is indeed a terrible feeling to transition out of a car that fills you with happiness each time you drive it into one that requires the virtue of toleration. The change from Purple Passion to Leasing Beige probably didn’t help.
As for the Solara itself, I guess I never really got it about those. It tried to be youthful and good looking but never quite got there.
Finally, I would love to meet the pour soul who came up with “Toyota Racing Division” which shortens to TRD. I work with a guy who drives a Toyota pickup with the great big TRD label on its flanks. I have never been able to read those letters without mentally inserting that unfortunate “U”.
Seen the occasional A added to a TRD sticker.
Interesting .
-Nate
My reading is that your Solara experience was one where you wound up with a perfectly good Camry…only you didn’t actually want a Camry and thought you had purchased something else. Or maybe that’s just my perspective since I’ve never understood why Toyota created these things other than to sell Camrys (as if that were some sort of challenge) to a few more folks who needed a slightly sportier-styled Camry.
Mind you, I admire the Camry. I know quite a few folks who truly appreciate them as big(ish) solid rock-dependable sedans and who have gotten decades of service out of them. I guess I count myself as one of those folks in that I’m now on my 2nd Camry-based Highlander. The hybrid versions of these (mine) rack up huge miles and aside from some simple quirks are incredibly dependable. I’ve never tried aggressively accelerating while turning or leaping the hump in the center of an intersection, but I’d assume the results would be dismal.
Also, as a life-long daily driver of manual transmission cars, I love a stick. But the thought of one on something like the Solara-Camry is oddly incongruous. Good on you though for finding one!
You know, Jeff, I recognized the Solara’s shortcomings and strengths during the test drive. From what I’d read about the TRD components for the Solara, particularly the suspension, they brought a much-needed level of control. I took a chance and bought the Solara with the idea that I’d fix any shortcomings with a stroll through the T(u)RD catalog.
Initially, I was quite impressed with the build quality. From that perspective, the Solara seemed like it had “potential” as an upscale fun car with judicious replacement of selected components.
But, the longer I had the car, and more frustrating I found the manual transmission, the less interested I was in fiddling with the car. I lost confidence that the car would sufficiently improve with modifications, and I wasn’t going to throw money at it to find out. After that, “it was dead to me,” lol.
My wife said tonight that if she still had her Geo Prism when I had the Solara, she would have taken the Solara from me. But, she had her Accord Coupe by then. When I offered her the Solara at that time, she (wisely) said “no way.”
“I’ve never understood why Toyota created these things”
Coupes were still a thing and this distinguished itself from the Camry by looking and feeling more expensive inside and out. In V6 form it felt expensive enough to directly compete with the first gen Acura CL–which was a similarly-upgraded Honda Accord coupe. Essentially the same play as the Solara but with a premium badge. The Solara was a tangibly different experience than the Accord coupe, which to me felt rougher and cheaper. That handling came with compromises.
What I don’t understand is the 2nd gen Solara. They turned a well-proportioned coupe into a swollen distorted road whale and ensured there wouldn’t be a 3rd generation.
At least you didn’t buy the convertible. The Solara convertible was peak empty-nester, recent divorcee’s car. I have a theory that divorced women of a certain age (let’s say past 45) look at themselves and decide “Hmm, I can either hire a personal trainer or buy a convertible,” and since no one likes working out and everyone likes a new car, they spring for the convertible. BMWs and Audis are the convertible of choice for this demographic, but the Solara was the cheaper, more sensible alternative.
The last Solara convertible caught my eye because of its unique style. But yeah, once you opened the door it was definitely a “ladies who lunch” mobile. Nothing sporty at all.
Agreed.
I work with a “Lady” that had a Solara Convertible. She wasn’t divorced, but definitely Mid-Life crisis-ing. Not sure if it’s important to the story, but she also.. “was fond of the Ladies” (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
So, yea, when I see a Solara, that’s who I think about.
Solara, the car for the older ‘Lady about town’, who likes other ladies.
Reviews also indicated that Toyota mailed it in on overseeing the convertible conversion (for the first gen), resulting in a noodly-feeling structure with pronounced cowl shake. Not very Toyota-like.
My daily driver has recently become a 2000 Solara gifted to me about four years ago with only 79K by my mother-in-law when she decided on her own to stop driving completely. It has replaced my 1989 MR-2, which suffered sudden and complete transmission failure at 240K. I’ve been a small car fan since forever, and this is the biggest and heaviest vehicle I’ve ever owned. It’s also the smoothest, strongest and quietest. I must be starting to show my age (59), because I have really settled into its safe and inviting embrace. The automatic transmission does its job perfectly, and the handling is … meh.
The only Toyotas I’ve owned were a Prius and a Prius C for my wife. I also had a ’89 MR2: it was fun to drive and roomy enuff, but the IP shape always reminded me of a Elkhart, IN RV pattern maker with a dull meat cleaver as the shaping tool! The very few other Toyotas I’ve test driven left me saying…MEH. Not what I want to $pend my money on with that “reaction”. OTOH I’ve had a few Hondas that I really did NOT care for after a while.
Overall tho, I’ve been mostly very satisfied with the Honda 4 wheelers I’ve owned, both visually and dynamically. My current (last?, #69) car is a 2021 Honda Accord 2L Touring. Given it is simply a “family sedan” its performance and handling are excellent. The Accord easily destroys my ’88 Camaro IROC-Z, 350 for performance, and its handling for a FWD platform is very good! Barring any $oooopri$es, this Accord should be my last car given how satisfied I am with the total package. Perhaps 20 years ago I would have wanted more, but even then I managed to pass on a lightly used BMW M3 whose original owner I knew! DFO
Your dad was right. And these cars are not really suited to a manual unless it really does have suspension upgrades. They are meant for wafting along, which is ideal for their typical buyer.
Was the wife’s Accord a 4 or V6?
I guess I saw it as a more appealing mid-size coupe (like the once common G-body GM RWD coupes); the other options on offer were no better. We already had the wife’s excellent 2000 Accord coupe (and I did not want matching cars); the fugly FWD Monte Carlo (oof!) or a stale MN-12 Thunderbird weren’t appealing to me.
A 2001-2005 Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Sebring coupe (extended wheelbase version of the Eclipse’s ST-22 platform that offered both the 3.0L Mitsubishi V6 and a 5-sped) looked good on paper but didn’t seem to bring the goods in real-life. Coupes were on the way out even then, which explains why, other than the Accord, why the pickins were slim.
The wife’s car was a 2000 Accord EX 2.3L coupe w/5-speed. While I am always looking for “the most motor” we had to settle on the four cylinder to get the 5-speed, as the V6 was automatic-only for that gen. I always thought that was a shame; the Accord’s 3.0L V6 likes to rev and is ultra-smooth — it would have made a fetching combo in that gen’s body. The 3.2L/six speed in the Acura CL Type-S was close, but the CL’s exterior was no match for the Accord’s IMO.
Maybe I don’t get around much but the only Solara owner I knew worked on storage adapter development and was 20 years younger than I (and that was 20+ years ago). Don’t know if his was a 4 or 6 or even if it was automatic or not. I got a look at it when I got invited to a lunch after their product shipped (I’d helped them out a fair amount working in a related department).
I’ve never owned a Toyota nor Honda, the closest I came was in ’86 when an Accord Hatchback lost out to an ’86 GTi. I had a Scirocco at the time so you might fairly think I was biased, but I really wanted fuel injection, but that year it was only offered in the LXi (top of the line then) which also came bundled with power windows and locks (which I didn’t want). Part of my problem is that I hold onto cars a long time, so lots of cars I’m interested in come up for sale at a time other than when I’m looking to buy them. For some reason we tend to be a Nissan family (and those all prior to 2000)….I had a Datsun 710, and my 2 youngest sisters had qty-4 200 or 240 SX’s between them…all coupes, no hatchbacks. Middle sister still has a ’97 she bought new…it was down for 6 months though trying to locate panes of window glass that smashed by vandals…hard almost 30 years after she bought it and not a common model even when it sold new)
As far as selling an old man a young man’s car, well, as an old man I find myself wishing I could buy what I thought of as a young man as boring old cars like my Father bought…you know, the type that are easy to get into and out of and are great for long road trips….feel kind of cheated that they don’t make them anymore (one of my problems is that I have a contrary streak…if something is hard to get, for some irrational reason I like it more) and that’s part of reason for my old age desire for family cars which I wouldn’t have looked twice at 40 years ago. But I also see the practicality in them as frailties creep up. My Dad had an ’06 Impala which would qualify, and it had one of the last bench seats they sold (they also came with bucket but his was the bench). It came in handy after he got to be wheelchair bound, and we needed to use it to take him to doctor appointments. We’d have him sit on a long towel with a transfer board going between the wheelchair and the passenger seat, and could pull him into the car from the other end of the towel…in most of today’s cars with bucket seats they also have a console (moved the column mounted auto trans shift to the console in most) that would have gotten in the way pulling the towel.
Guess I have too much of a practicality streak to prefer fashion to function so I wouldn’t think to buy a younger man’s car to try to feel young….no more that I’d buy a truck or SUV to feel tough (sorry for throwing stereotypes around). I think a vehicle should suit your purposes (which vary between people so there should be a variety of vehicles offered). I feel more like cattle than a buyer when I have a hard time buying a hatchback when manufacturers are trying to tell me “wouldn’t you prefer a crossover or SUV?” because that’s what they have to sell. Kind of like the slogan for one of the local tire dealerships here, “If it’s in stock, we have it” rubs me the wrong way. People’s needs change with time, shouldn’t you get something that suits your age? (Guess I could buy a new GTi now, I had one in my 20’s but would feel odd having one in my 60’s….besides sharp handling and stiff ride have gone out of my vocabulary since then. Maybe I should find a young Jetta buyer who wants all the GTi specific stuff and trade those parts out, so’s I can end up with the pedestrian Golf think I want?
Whoops, guess I showed my hand. Since I can’t buy a new stodgy large sedan like from the 80’s, my next choice would be a hatchback but even those are getting hard to find (I’ve been driving manual transmission hatchback VW’s since 1981 so I guess I’m more than a little set in my ways….even before I got to the age I’m at now.
Yeah, the Solara was an odd one. I’d read in magazines it was a 2 door Camry, but my thoughts went no further than that. Seeing them in person, a woman I worked with bought one new and loved it, just made me yawn. It was my wife who had to tell me it was a “sporty” car. To me it was just another 2 door sedan. The one Toyota I’ve owned, a ’75 Celica, bought used with 75K on it, handled absolutely terrible. It had good power and ran well in an era when few did, but it was not a drivers car Others I’ve driven, mostly Pricus’ or Corollas were all pretty forgettable. So I would expect a 2 door Camry to be the same, a boring sedan, albeit with just 2 doors. Not a sports car, not a sports coupe, not a sports sedan like most BMWs are regardless of the number of doors, just a plain vanilla 2 door sedan.
Which apparently it was.
Anecdotally the only Solara owner I knew was older than me and we’re about the same age. In 2001 our driveway was green Fords, a Ranger pickup and an Escort but I spent a lot of commuting time on my BMW motorcycle. A BMW Airhead is about the cheapest way to enjoy something with a roundel.
I did briefly consider looking for a Solara convertible last year, but my wife felt it was too big
Had some experience with these back when they were new. Back when there was a real difference in the way Accords and Camries drove. The Solara with the automatic was an exceptionally refined near-lux coupe with decent handling (though I’m not surprised a Probe owner was underwhelmed). The Accord was sharper but louder and less refined, particularly the harsh shifting automatic, and the interior quality didn’t reach the Solara’s in my eye.
The Toyota 3.0 V6 was a gem, the equal of the Honda’s, but you’re right about the manual gearbox. Not a Toyota strong suit. The automatic was good though, and wouldn’t disintegrate under the V6’s power the way the Honda’s did. So 2.3 + 5spd is probably the best character match for the Accord. Two very different driving experiences at that point.
This is the exact spec Solara you want:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-toyota-solara-2/
V6, automatic, cloth seats (no cracking!), 1990s metallic green. Look at the quality of that interior. It’s beautiful. It vies with the same-year 3.0V6 Acura CL for my favorite late-90s peak Japanese car.