buying new Solara - any suggestions are appreciated

[solaranovice]

I decided to purchase a base model SE Sport Solara last week (I sure wish factory leather seats were available). I haven't taken delivery yet, so any comments or suggestions would be great. I've enjoyed reading existing postings this morning. It looks like one area of concern I'll need to address before actually buying the car is to test for a left-leaning tendency on the highway. I'm also interested in the tire options that have been discussed. I'm not looking for a high performance sports car - a big reason I decided to purchase the SE Sport is because I'm not excited about the wood trim in the SLE - so considering all-season tires might be a possibility.

If my username doesn't appear (looks like Guest identifies new users) I have registered as "solaranovice". I look forward to any help!

[slingshot]

My dealer was ready to put leather seats in an SE Sport if I desired for an extra $1600 but they aren't heated. I ended up getting an SLE instead. So if you really desire leather, it can be done for an SE Sport.

[solaranovice]

Thanks for the reply. I had a similar offer, but the seats were going to be outiftted by another company. I'm worried about the look and quality. On the other hand, I was assured the seats could be added at any time, if the available cloth seats aren't acceptable.

Have you had any issues with your car fading to the left or disappointment with the standard tires? My main tire concern is noise.

[slingshot]

The standard OEM tires seem fine to me so far. I've been unable to make them squeal when turning on local roads at higher speeds than normal and road noise seems fine. I've yet to drive in snow to test them further though. I haven't put them through tough tests in wet weather either.

As far as left drifting, I get some on the highway in left and middle lanes but can stop it simply by holding the wheel and sometimes just angling it a degree or two to the right. On local roads I don't notice left drift. So basically, just holding the wheel eliminates most drift and letting go of wheel shows significant drift only in left highway lanes. I'd say that's not too bad at all.

[fotodad]

I decided to purchase a base model SE Sport Solara last week (I sure wish factory leather seats were available). I haven't taken delivery yet, so any comments or suggestions would be great. I've enjoyed reading existing postings this morning. It looks like one area of concern I'll need to address before actually buying the car is to test for a left-leaning tendency on the highway. I'm also interested in the tire options that have been discussed. I'm not looking for a high performance sports car - a big reason I decided to purchase the SE Sport is because I'm not excited about the wood trim in the SLE - so considering all-season tires might be a possibility.

You must really dislike the wood trim in the SLE to want cloth seats and the SE Sport trim instead. If the added cost isn't a concern, get the SLE! You'll get the nice heated leather seats and you can always take out the wood trim and put something after-market in its place. Regarding tire changes, I wish I had done what some other owners have described in other posts. Decide on what tire you want to replace the factory tires with and have them work those tires into the deal. That way you won't take as big a hit on the factory tires as I did when I sold them privately. I would be concerned about the pull left. In fact, I'd tell the dealer you are familiar with this problem and will not take delivery until you have test driven the vehicle to make sure it doesn't drift.

Good luck. Hope to see you as a regular member soon!

[solararookie]

Thank you for your advice. You're right - I'm not at all attracted to the wood trim in the SLE. I'm certain it works for lots of buyers, just not me. The graphite finish in the SE Sport is more to my liking. I guess I'm also intrigued by the heavy duty Sport package - I've never owned a sports car (three Avalons before this purchase) and, even though the Solara is not a true sports car, this might be as close as I get. The money is not the primary factor in this decision - I just want to buy something I can be happy with immediately. I will act on your suggestion and not take delivery until the left leaning issue has been dealt with. Finally, the tires will also require some attention. It looks like you switched to a set of Michelins. Have you been happy with the change?

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[fotodad]

It looks like you switched to a set of Michelins. Have you been happy with the change?

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Bob,

Yes, I switched to a set of Michelin Pilot A/S. I've only put a few hundred miles on them, mostly in fair weather. Once I drive them in more rain and snow, I'll happily post a review thread. Shouldn't be too much longer. I live in Wisconsin and snow is just around the corner, unfortunatley!

[Shoe]

1 thing i found kind of interesting is taht you said you wanted leather seats but didnt go for the sle cause of the wood trim.

Then you said you looked into leather seats to replace the cloth seats

Just a thought why didnt you look into replacing the wood with the graphite on an SLE rather than the cloth seating to the leather seats? on an SE sport?

just curious

Shoe

[Shoe]

1 thing i found kind of interesting is taht you said you wanted leather seats but didnt go for the sle cause of the wood trim.

Then you said you looked into leather seats to replace the cloth seats

Just a thought why didnt you look into replacing the wood with the graphite on an SLE rather than the cloth seating to the leather seats? on an SE sport?

just curious

Shoe

[Hammerli]

If you go with the SE, be careful with tires. The Michelin's that fit on Fotodad's SLE will not fit on an SE Sport, I tried. If you go with the SE Sport, you'll have to stick with stock size (virtually no tires offered in that size), or go to a 225/50/17, which is 26.1 OD vs. 26.3 OD stock (225/55/17 = 27.1 OD). The stock tires are horrible. In the dry the sidewalls flex immensely, causing an odd transition on turn-in. The car will push much worse than it needs to as well based on the limited traction. They also hydroplane in the wet, and the understeer is far greater in the wet, to the point of being uncomfortably bad. I pulled them before it snowed, but check out Tire Rack's reviews for the EL42, they are the third tire from the bottom in their category, and snow traction is in the red; meaning basically non-existent. Since I was at Tire Rack when they mounted the 225/55 Pilot Sport A/S that rubbed, I had to go with something they had in stock, so I put on Blizzak WS-50's for the winter, and I'll likely run 225/50 Pilot Sport A/S come spring on some IS300 take-off rims.

I did not like the perforated leather, and am very happy with the cloth and dark trim vs. fake wood.

[solararookie]

Thanks to all for your helpful comments. My new Sport SE should arrive today. I had a talk during a visit to the dealer yesterday regarding the Turanza tire situation. We checked the tires on two Sport SEs on the lot, both cars had Toyo Proxes tires, not the Bridgestones. The dealer promised my car would also - he'll change them out if he needs to. I'll also test drive the car because of the left pull steering issue.

Thanks again for your assistance! I look forward to checking back with this website to learn from everyone, and share my experiences, in the future.

[Guest]

MAN you ppl have such nice dealers

in canada, our SLE doens't come with a I4, so only v6, and when i talk to the sales guy i was trying to make sure, so i asked him does SLE comes with I4, he doens't even know what i was talkign about, he even have to go on toyota.ca to find out ......