How good are Solaras ???

[Mr. Ferguson]

well my question is how long and how much mileage can you put on these babys before they decide it's my time to go and die on you in the middle of the road never to start again? well not really that much but how much mileage can you put on these cars before they give you trouble??

[JoeB]

That's going to be a tough question for anyone to answer. Since Toyota just reintroduced the 2-door coupe version of the Camry in 1999, that figure really hasn't been determined. You could just base it on the engine. The 6 cylinder 1MZ-FE and go on it's reliability in the 4-door Camry. I think it is safe to say that Toyota builds a very reliable product.

However, then you get into cases like mine and others, all of the add-on goodies and hammering it from time-to-time and well you can just imagine it wouldn't be as friendly to the long life of the engine. Check out this thread on mileage http://www.zer0.info/solaraguy/viewtopic.php?t=5007&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 The most I saw in there was 123,000 but sounds like nobody is having problems. -JoeB

[Jackass-Jeff]

The Solara (99-03) is basically a Gen 4 (97-01) Camry with only 2 doors. The Camry, or any Toyota for that matter, is very reliable.

My Uncle's 96 Camry LE V6 has about 210k miles on it now and runs fine. No problems at all!

My friend's 94 Corolla (CE?) has about 298k miles on it and he's had only 1 major problem. The exhaust manifold cracked at about 295k I think.

My neighbor's 88 Camry LE has about 240k miles on it and there are no problems.

My aunt's 00 Accord had about 8k miles on it when it ran into its first problems... the radiator's fan stayed on for hours after turning off the car (6 hours... other Accords turned it off after about an hour, if not less). After it was fixed, it happened again... POS.

My friend's co-worker's brother has a 2001 Tacoma or Tundra... I don't know him, so I don't know which... and he commutes from Los Angeles to Las Vegas 5 times a week. He has over 400,000 miles on it. No problems what-so-ever except that he has to refill the air conditioning chemical (not freon... forgot the name of it... ), but that's understandable since he uses the A/C a lot.

So yea... from experience, I know Toyotas will last forever on the road. 100,000 miles is the mark of when your Toyota finally becomes mature and you can safely run it to at least 150,000 if you have been keeping up with services (oil changes, air filter changes, timing belt, spark plugs, transmission fluid change, coolant change etc)

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

I know friends with 5s motor with close to 300K and their are doing ok! the motor is not like factory smooth...but for 300K miles its GREAT. I think in reality, if your mechanically inclined..then 145-160 is a good marker to keep the car, further than that depends on your own mechanical abilities (DIY jobs).

[HKSV6SLE]

well my old 96 camry had about 120K on it..when i sold it and it never needed more than routine mainteneace..and i got rear ended twice in it...i drove it to hell and back and it was only about 4 years old when i sold it....so if your wondering how toyotas are....a toyota will last forever....that's probably why you always see old hondas and toyotas...but how often do you see old fords..for example..?

[indiglosolara]

From my experience and the past car cars my dad have driving.. most of them have been toyota's, We use to have a 1979 toyota celica which was crashed like 8 yrs back. the car had been running perfectly fine without any major problems. when we said bye bye to it it had little under 400K. My mom had a 1987 toyta VAN. the old big and tall egg looking like vans and we had that thing running past 400K when we sold it back in 1998. For my first car i had a Integra.. didn't last too long since i totaled it at 17K. second car i got was a 1989 toyota celica GTS. When i sold this baby she was at 189K. this was back in 1999. i have had moer cars since that time but none the less.. toyota will last you forever... from what from what i know.. my dad sold the toyota van to one of his co workers and he is still currently driving it with the original motor..i wonder what the mileage on that thing is....

Gotta love them toyotas..

Kenny

[Fletch]

I think 1mz-fe is a real solid engine, if maintained properly, it will last well past 200k. I'm sure mine will not last that long, but there are literally millions of them on the road and that means there are should be a good # of them in junkyards from wrecked cars and what not. Also, my mechanic says he can do chassis overhaul of the engine which includes new rings for around $1500.