I need the strength of ten men to close the door

[Ikhandi]

This is an exciting time for me because I will be negoitiating on a 04 solar sle tommorow(tired of my 94 Celica) Hoping to get the dealer to give it to me for under the invoice. Anyway that is another story. I test drove the car last week even though I have been eyeing it since last August. The test drive went well. The interior is sharp. Loved the leather and heated seats. The only dissapointment I had was that the doors on that car are huge and wide. Not to mention very heavy. A little chick like me is surely in for trouble. I am interested in hearing what you guys experience day to day with parking. I can just see it now. My doors will be full of dings and I will be too pissed.

- It's interesting to note that they are a lot of guys who own solaras. I always thought they were girly cars!

[Mole]

haha...

hmm the 04 has a frameless window right?

try rolling the window down an inch or two. it makes the door close 10 times easier.

[slingshot]

Unlike what some reviews say, I have no problem parking in tight spaces. Mostly though I park far from other cars if I can. The long door has three stay positions while opening it. So you can open it a little and let go and it will stay. You can open it more and it will stay too. My doors close will very little effort so I don't know why yours would be hard to close.

If you don't want door dings, park where there are no other cars and just walk farther to go anywhere. That seems to have worked well with me so far (no door dings yet).

We had a thread here a while ago about if Solaras were girly cars. I certainly don't think they are. Being single, a two door coupe is perfect for me.

[Jon11582]

I got a 2000, but I think the car and door sizes are about the same. The old Solara owners have had issues wit door dings, and I know I have. At places, like where I work, theres lots of parking to go around, and Ive seen the solaras and other non-compact 2dr coupes there park on the line and hog two spaces just to prevent people from parking next to them and them dinging the other doors or vica versa. Its really annoying when they take up two good spaces up close, but when they do it further back in the lot, no ones got a problem with it

At places, where theres no much parking to go around, all the spaces are compact and cops will ticket you for anything, like at my college, I do have some trouble getting in and out of my car at times. I have a few dings on my door, but nothing too serious (Car's 4 years old...it should have some wrinkles )

Best advice I can give is dont let that fact hold you back from getting the car. Youll soon get the feel for how much strength you need to close the door.

Also, always be careful when opening your door when your parked next to someone else. and try whenever possible to park next to a 4 door sedan on your passenger side so they dont smack thier door into your car.

Solaras are for all people, girl, guys, young, and old. Its Sporty and mature at the same time. I wish there were more younger owners sometimes, but I respect all Solara owner's choice of car.

[Shoe]

In a case like this I like to have a few of these in my car for those folks thath like to park close and possibly leave dings dents scratches or other fun things ON MY CAR !!!




shoe

[Weedo]

In a case like this I like to have a few of these in my car for those folks thath like to park close and possibly leave dings dents scratches or other fun things ON MY CAR !!!




shoe

I love it!!!!!!!