Dealer Called me for VIP Apt. to buy off my 2000 I4 Solara?

[TheTamago]

I'll be going down to the dealer that I bought my Solara from back in Aug of 2000 when I first bought this car with my mom. And I'm pretty much the responsible owner of the Solara even though it has my mom's name on the records. I kept getting this same 888 # on my cell everytime and I finally was able to catch the call at the right time and it turns out that the person that I was talking told me that my dealership is interested into looking at my Solara as it was pretty near mint condition besides the other Solara's they had in their used car lot which had various issues. Even though the car has 1 nasty speeding ticket, a damn keyed scratch on the passanger side, a damn door dent as well from some careless arsehole from one time at the mall without a damn letter saying who done it and minor chipped paint on the front bumper/hood due to rocks and debris here in Phoenix, AZ. I guess I had a good choice to be selected.

I've always gone to the dealer for my checkups. But I haven't a clue what other interest this could be or else some dumb gimmick to just get me to buy a new 2004 vehicle. But the person on the phone told me that I'll be setup personally for a VIP apt with the general sales manager in charge of the dealership. Ain't that a biggie? Although I had a serious talk with my mom, we can't sell off the car and I've done some new mods this yr as I added in the TRD Air filter early this yr and the RSB around Aprilish. Even though its an AUTO, I'm very fond of this car and still paying it off for 1 more yr.

I'll give u the details laters ppl. I'm curious why they're so interested in my baby. I was even saving up for either the tokico/tien(ya the eibach have height issues w/I4's due to front weight difference) to maybe coilovers if i'm serious about keeping this car for longer in life. tacho @ about 46.5K Mi.

[Jackass-Jeff]

It's just a sales scheme. They see that your car is X years old and that if you think you can get good cash for the trade in, you'll get into a new car. Most low end POS dealers do this... they have to invite you in w/ bogus crap *WIN! Just come by and test drive . . . and receive a free gift* Some other dealers, however, don't even have to advertise on TV and make ridiculous sales No names =P

[TheTamago]

Yep sales Scheme. Its a 4cyl engine. I'm not looking for to much performance gains until I get another 6-10yrs out of this car. But I'm a driver on the "mainland" as I'm originally from Hawaii(0-18 of my childhood yrs there Honolulu, HI). Living out here for college and pretty much away from family so I can live on my own without hassles. I'm pretty sure there's a good % of ppl that will keep a car for a long time even under high mileage where as I'm guessing some are "richasses" that can buy a new car every couple of yrs.

The Sales person told me though they've been having customers wanting the old Solara platforms. Ain't that funny??? If they still kept the old concept design. I might have been intrigued to get some dough out for a new car i suppose. But I'm still a newbie at Car Sales crap. Until I make the good living to know what the costs and hidden values are to afford it. I doubt I'll be getting a new car. =)

[Dawgz]

hahah that part where u said customers are lookn for solara's thats soo true, it took me soo many months to find my solara, my v6 with low milage, soo hard to find, some dumb ass dealer that had a 2001 solara v6 wanted 17 K for their car, it had like 68K miles on it and there were scratches in places and the driver tail light had a crack in it...were' lke yea OKAY my ass, so then we kept lookn, found a silver 01 solara at a near by dealer that had 80K miles on it and they wanted like 16k and wouldnt go down...so watever we kept lookn, then last sat i found my car! lol 2000 Black on black v6 SE for a price that i was VERY happy with.. thats my stupid story

[Rudy]

i was so lucky to find my v6 5spd 99 for such a good price after only a efw days of looking

[MalBandito99]

Got my 2001 white/black leather SLE V6 at a used Toyota dealer with 7500 miles at a decent price, 1 year ago now. Yeah....

[copter]

I had a similar call when I owned my Acura. When I went in and realized they were just trying to get me to buy a new(er) car. As luck would have it, it prompted me to buy my Solara just a few weeks later (elsewhere). Never been happier. Good job by my Acura dealer.

[Vi3tT3kNiqz]

i got my 2000 gold sle v6 for 15k with 32k miles on it. mint condition. I feel lucky

[mcgervey]

There's no shortage of low mileage Solara's for sale here. There's a blue 02 SEV6 leather, silver SLEV6 01 leather, red SEi4, and I see a few more on dealer lots on my way to work every day.

So if anyone's near WV, let me know and I'll tell you where to go. Remarkable how this is supposed to be such a poor state yet everyone's driving the latest cars everywhere. Of course I don't live in the poor areas.

I'm from Pittsburgh, and see a few for sale every time I'm home too.

Cheers,

RJ

[TheTamago]

Well it probably varies on the % of interest in our cars in every state. =) But almost certain models @ any car mft will have those special type cars with limited production as where they know the majority of the % income is with their known/common name brand line. Toyota for their Camry 4door/Corolla lines. Honda for their Accord/Civics. Mitsubishi for their Galants?. Nissan for their Altimas. Pretty much the 4door sedan is where the % is at for just "CARS" not "TRUCKS"

Our solaras were in limited production as with certain package deals and options so pretty much, we're a more specialized bunch of coup sized type sedan cars with some performance potential despite our weight class and size.

Just my Hypothesis.

[mcgervey]

How limited are we talking? When there's 50,000 or 75K of something sold a year, I don't consider that limited, but some people do.

I'm also a landcruiser person... Especially the FJ60's. In my research of those vehicles I believe I recall seeing that there were only 50 or 60K FJ60-62 wagons sold in the US over the entire period of years they were sold here, from 1982 to 1989 I believe. That's pretty limited in my book.

Anyone know the numbers on Solaras?

Just curious.

RJM

[soniasolara]

I'm slowly coming back to post on Solaraguy.com...

Anyhow, now that I'm in Pittsburgh, I did a search for the city, and came across this thread.

And as for how many Solaras are produced per year, it's about 40,000-50,000 at last count, but maybe more. Again, I've been away a while, so if I'm wrong, someone correct me!

Check out the Toyota pages on manufacturing:
http://www.toyota.com/about/operations/ ... /tmmk.html
http://www.toyota.com/about/operations/ ... /tmmc.html

The Canada site used to have production from 1999 onward, but it's been a while so it's been deleted from the table. With the Gen2 Solara, they're produced at TMMK in Kentucky.

And yup, mcgervey, there sure are a lot of Solaras here, at least in the Oakland section.

[adam2562]

some dealerships do this an will put you in a brand new car... it might not be a scam

[mcgervey]

Yes, I was up this weekend in the Burgh to see my new nephew, and I noticed quite a few driving around.

So yeah, they're limited compared to the production of Camry's, no doubt. But the Camry is consistently one of the top selling cars in America. So that's not a good yardstick.

I have a hard time thinking of a car that 40K to 50K a year are sold in the states as limited production. But it's all in the marketing. They say what they want to say, and use whatever numbers they can come up with to back it up. As a former trained biologist having been trained in statistics and biometrics, you can pretty much make statistics say whatever you want them to say. But a wider picture (or sample/study group usually reveals more than the person citing the statistics wants you to know.

They make the V6 engines and transmissions down here in WV now too, for about 10 years now, over on the Ohio river in Buffalo, WV.

WV loves Toyota. Since they put a plant here, Toyota sales have gone through the roof. Truck sales were always high in WV (not a shocker, given the hills and hillbillies throughout the state:) but everything else sells well here now too. The Toyota dealer I bought my 01 from is the largest dealer in the state in total units (used and new, they have Nissan too though in those numbers, and Lexus, and I think GMC trucks).

I used to be a salesman years ago in the late 80s at Penn Auto Toyota and they did well in the northern part of the state. Drove a 87 MR2 and an 88 4Runner SR5 turbo back in those days. Got to take my boss' Supra turbo home sometimes too, when we had been out and he drank too much. Those cars were hot new, and I put it through it's paces.

I bought a maroon 30K mile 85 Supra MKII trade in when I left working there in 88 for a then super bargain $9,000 due to working there. 9 grand for an 85 Supra with low miles in 88 was an incredible price. I was in heaven. Sold the car 2 years later for close to what I paid for it, with 65K on it. I think I sold it for $8K.

Have always been a toyota person, always will be. They've served me well. Toyotas and Volvos. I swear by them.