How satisfied/dissatisfied are you?

[fotodad]

Okay, 2004 owners, many of us have had our 2004 Solaras for a fair amount of time, certainly enough time to judge the level of satisfaction we feel for our Solaras. Cast a vote for which option best describes your feelings about your generation II, 2004 Toyota Solara.

I've got to say, I give my Solara, even with the drifting left issue, an 'A', maybe an 'A-'.

This car has in so many ways exceeded my expectations.

[Shoe]

Im leaning to a B plus here im happy with this car I wouldnt say my expectations have been exceeded id say they have been met with pleasant surprises however id like to add that the more i drive this thing the more im liking it. As well I have a 12 hour drive comming up Jan 1 from Toronto to the eastern most parts of quebec wich should provide lots of cold, snow and other fun things - ive done the drive in the accord coup and the acura tl im looking forward to putting the solara up to the distance test.

Shoe

Owned since late sept

millage in kilometers 11 000 km

done 1 oil change

no major problems to report

[got sport]

A+...This car is a steal because of the kind of car you get for the price: horsepower, luxury, and styling.

[Buckeyegirl]

I give it a grade B. Overall I'm happy now that I got the left drift problem fixed, now all I have to get fixed is the dash rattle. I think it might be coming from the defroster duct, I can wiggle it back & forth. At first I thought it might be coming from the bubble sensor for the auto headlights but not sure. It's coming from the driver's side of dash, worse when it gets colder. The car is very quiet on the inside and it's hard to tell if the engine is running sometimes. I have to look at the tach to be sure so I don't wreck the starter & flywheel.

[tiredolddog]

I got the left drift problem fixed

How did they fix it? Alignment or tires? Just wondering.

[Buckeyegirl]

I got the left drift problem fixed

How did they fix it? Alignment or tires? Just wondering.

The paperwork from the dealer lists the following:
Vehicle pulls left, camber out.
Perform alignment and add camber bolt positive 1 degree.
1- Bolt w/washer base P/N 90105-17001
1- Nut flange P/N 90178-17001


Go with the parts listed above and it should cure the problem, it did for me.
I told my dealer not to rotate the tires. This is a band-aid fix to try and cure the drift. A lot of dealers are trying this first insted of doing it right. My car only has 1,300K miles on it and I wasn't about to let them tell me it was radial pull. I personally can't see where changing the struts has anything to do with the alignment.

[SportGuy]

This car has exceeded my expectations in many ways. It has a smooth, quiet and luxurious ride with plenty of power. It is a beautiful car and a pleasure to drive. And to think you can buy this car for the same as a Pontiac Grand Am....there is not even a comparison to the value. I have experienced the left pull problem and am waiting for the TSB to come out. Also a slight rattle in cold weather in the rear deck area. Other than that...a wonderful car!!!

[slingshot]

There has to be a lot more than 17 people reading this forum who own 04 Solaras! So please answer this poll and others you see.

[fotodad]

There has to be a lot more than 17 people reading this forum who own 04 Solaras! So please answer this poll and others you see.

Good point! How hard can it be to click an option? Come on 04 owners, tell us what you think about your 04!

[jmack]

I am at a C+ or so. I am very bothered by the pull to the left, the intermittant tranny slip and gas mileage that hovers around 17 mpg for combined city highway. The fake wood in the dash also bothers me. Still mad about the $775 quote for xm radio. (Will probably get aftermarket and have installed similar to fotodad's) That said, the car is one of the most comfortable I have ever driven, has plenty of power, is not common on the road and rides nicely. The pull and tranny would be less aggravating if the dealer did not pretend they didn't exist and also pretend that they never heard of the problem before. I also called toyota to ask for the regional service manager and was told they could not give me that info and to ask the dealer. If the pull and trans are fixed, I would rate a B+ to A. Til then, not so high.

[slingshot]

17mpg combined city/highway? That's bizarre. I get 18 when going 100% stop and go city, about 22 with mostly city and a little highway and high twenties to low thirties 100% highway. You should definitely be getting low twenties at least combined city/highway. Do you accelerate strongly all the time and hardly ever coast? That might be the explanation.

[jmack]

I thought when I first got the car that maybe I was leadfooting it and that was the reason for the poor mileage. But being really careful about accelerating has not changed the figures by more than a mile or 2. And the 17 mpg is combined mileage. I do a fair amount of highway driving interspersed with city driving for my commute. I do have a pretty good pull to the left that the dealer is ignoring. I wonder if the car has to overcome that and if that is the reason for the bad mileage. Engine seems to run great.

[angelo]

I thought when I first got the car that maybe I was leadfooting it and that was the reason for the poor mileage. But being really careful about accelerating has not changed the figures by more than a mile or 2. And the 17 mpg is combined mileage. I do a fair amount of highway driving interspersed with city driving for my commute. I do have a pretty good pull to the left that the dealer is ignoring. I wonder if the car has to overcome that and if that is the reason for the bad mileage. Engine seems to run great.

what grade guel are you using? I noticed that I get much better mileage with premium...

[slingshot]

I haven't seen better fuel economy with premium. On a long distance trip (250 miles each way) I actually got better fuel economy with regular unleaded (32mpg). I drove a little more light-footed though on that leg so can't do an exact comparison (the premium leg was 28mpg). But that shows that both fuels are pretty close in gas mileage. Everything I've heard about gasoline says the same.

To get those high numbers on the highway, I kept at 70 as constant as I could (sometimes used cruise control), accelerated slowly up hills, and coasted down hills.

[slingshot]

I thought when I first got the car that maybe I was leadfooting it and that was the reason for the poor mileage. But being really careful about accelerating has not changed the figures by more than a mile or 2. And the 17 mpg is combined mileage. I do a fair amount of highway driving interspersed with city driving for my commute. I do have a pretty good pull to the left that the dealer is ignoring. I wonder if the car has to overcome that and if that is the reason for the bad mileage. Engine seems to run great.

Set the center leftmost display to Instantaneous MPG and watch closely as you drive. Look how it changes on slow vs fast acceleration, when doing constant speed highway, and when coasting. Doing constant 65 MPH on highway should show 27+ mpg. Does it show your engine is operating normally? Zero out the AVG MPG display by holding in the Display button on the wheel. Then do some highway and see what the average comes out to be. You haven't said if you were using this display or going by computing manually. I've found the display to be close to what I could compute myself.