buying a new solara

[mkaladar1]

hi all

i had enough with my old cars.

i now want to get a reliable and less-depreciating car other than a common civic,accord,camry or a corolla. So i set my eyes on the solara.

I am looking at some 97-2000 models. can someone suggest what to look for when buying this car. is it as problem free as the reliable totoya.

also, after some reseach on the internet, i found this.

http://forums.vmag.com/mvsienna1199/messages/204.html
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=416&scid=37
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automoti ... ngine.html

has anyone seen this problem?

thanks
mk

[FLASH]

Good luck finding a 97 or 98. They'd be awfully hard to find considering the Solara's first production year was 1999. As far as the sludge problems, I haven't had any problems and don't recall hearing of any, tho that doesn't mean that there aren't any...

[hari-bhari]

the solara depreciates a lot as well....be prepared for that

[cdssolara]

The sludge problem was a fairly well documented one on many of the Camry/Solara boards. The consensus seemed to be that as long as the owner changed the oil and filter at appropriate intervals, the problem shouldn't occur. I believe that there was a TSB about this. The bottom line is that if you are buying a used Solara, demand to see receipts that prove the vehicle was maintained properly. If the oil and filter were changed every 3-5000 miles, the car should be free of the sludge problem.

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

There was one dude on TN who developed the problem as well...he did maintain it well....but he also rode it harder than usual. Toyota paid for his new internals tho' cus he had receipts.

I think this sludge problem is mostly seen in sienna soccer mom's who never change their oils. But still since its a 1mz thats plagued with this...all 1mz's got that bulletin.