Just getting in under the wire

[HarryAdventurer]

I was able to buy, and will take possession of on Monday, June 11, 2007, the very last hardtop Solara my dealer had. (They kept it in the showroom.) All that any dealer now has will most likely be convertibles. Sad to see the end of another era. I missed out on getting a Celica. I had previously bought one on 1986 but time and money concerns wouldn't let me buy another.

They offered me $200 for my 1998 Ford Escort ZX2. It only has 166K on it. I'll keep it until the end of the year and then sell.

According to the Fed's new 2008 fuel mileage comparison guide, using 2008's calculations, my Solara will get 2 mpg better than my Escort.

Considering the 4 cylinder engine in the Solara is larger than the Escort's and the Escort has a manual transmission, I find that impressive.

Cheers

[MCOjerry]

Congrats on your purchase.

I was at my dealer for service today, and they had at least 10 coupes and only one convertible. I saw the Blue Streak in person, and don't like it

Where are you located?

[SolaraBlue]

welcome aboard. youll love your solara.

[HarryAdventurer]

I am in Mercer County, Central New Jersey.

I found it interesting to learn they don't sell Solara's with manual transmissions in NJ. In Pennsylvania they are only available on 4 cylinder models above the SE. (That puts their ads in error as you cannot therefore buy a car for $19 grand and change, but rather around $21,000.)

[MCOjerry]

I am in Mercer County, Central New Jersey.

I found it interesting to learn they don't sell Solara's with manual transmissions in NJ. In Pennsylvania they are only available on 4 cylinder models above the SE. (That puts their ads in error as you cannot therefore buy a car for $19 grand and change, but rather around $21,000.)

Huh? The model above SE is the SLE, and it only comes in V6, which is only made in auto.

The 4cyl is the engine that comes with a manual.

I suppose most dealers pull in the autos because they think the target demographic for the car won't want a manual.

Almost every coupe I saw on the lot today was between $18K and $19K. There were a couple over that and into the $20K range, I suppose that was probably an SLE. The one convertible was $31K.

[Astro]

Welcome

Post some pics...

[Akfahad]

welcome....glad you joined the club

[PXLpainter]

Welcome! Enjoy the ride!

[HarryAdventurer]

Took delivery on Monday. On Tuesday I discovered the floor mats were missing. They will order them for me. At $199 for a carpet in the trunk and four small squares, it comes to nearly $100 per square yard.

On Wednesday I discovered that I cannot change the automatic door locking system following the procedure described in the manual. The doors unlock every time I shift into park. If you turn the ignition key to "ON", shift into "Park" and hold down the door unlock button on the armrest for 5 seconds, that feature should deactivate.

Any ideas?

Went to the Toyota website. When you go to the "build your Toyota" section, fewer selections are available.

[crispone]

W-E-L-C-O-M-E ! ! !


wE LiKe OuR sOlArAs HeRe ! ! !



-crisp

[kwyse]

Welcome!!

Lets see some pics.

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Welcome to SolaraGuy!

To answer your question: My 99 Solara doesn't do that, but I drove an 06 rental Corolla which had the same feature that was starting to drive me insane.

If the procedure is any similar to the Solaras, it has 4 phases where there's 1 "off" and 3 "on" options that de/activate differently (e.g. when put into 'park', when key is moved to ACC, etc.), and each mode is determined by the dome light. Therefore, you'd have to count the amount of blinks it makes, then repeat the whole procedure until it's in the correct mode.

[Down2TheC]

No blinks for the Gen2. Give it a couple more attempts while reading out loud. I'm sure it'll happen. Nice part is, you'll never have to do it again unless you replace that ECU.

If it doesn't work, have your dealer do it for you while you pick up your mats.

[NVDIS1]

Welcome to the family

[Jon11582]

I am in Mercer County, Central New Jersey.

I found it interesting to learn they don't sell Solara's with manual transmissions in NJ. In Pennsylvania they are only available on 4 cylinder models above the SE. (That puts their ads in error as you cannot therefore buy a car for $19 grand and change, but rather around $21,000.)

Huh? The model above SE is the SLE, and it only comes in V6, which is only made in auto.

The 4cyl is the engine that comes with a manual.

I suppose most dealers pull in the autos because they think the target demographic for the car won't want a manual.

Almost every coupe I saw on the lot today was between $18K and $19K. There were a couple over that and into the $20K range, I suppose that was probably an SLE. The one convertible was $31K.

A little late to the party, but Gen2 has three trims - SE, Sport, and SLE. All have the Inline 4 base, and the manual is available on the SE and Sport, (SLE is auto only, but available with an I4 Auto). Your right about the manual availability though - only a very small percentage of Solaras were ever made with manuals due to the target demographic. It was around 10% of Gen 1s, probably even less for Gen 2.