Had our Toyota Camry Solara 2000 for 10 years now, and the cracks are beginning to show in the quality. This year alone we've replaced the radiator and windshield, the later was because a rock hit it on MI's rubbish roads. Yearly repair bill is usually north of a grand, which is pretty much what its worth the car's now.
The brakes are becoming a real problem, each time I notice brake fade, and I'm very light in breaking, pretty much roll up to the lights. Under harder breaking the rotors shudder and cause a bit of wheel shim, no this is not the ABS clicking as this model doesn't have it. Under harder stops the car requires a lot of skill to come to a tidy stop, thankfully it doesn't pull to one side or another under breaking, it probably needs rotor work and new pads, but they've only had 20k on so looking for cheap solutions... I've heard pulsing the breaks might help wear down the rough spots on the rotor?
I really think this our last Toyota. I've had Fords and Saabs in the past and they haven't had nearly the number of problems this Toyota has. Just keeping it ticking over until we get a new car in the summer. Went to try the new Toyotas out at two dealers and their customer service is very bad, they won't let you test drive on your own, and they want waivers -no other dealer, Volvo, Ford, Honda, Subaru need this and they've been great at the old customer is king philosophy, coffee, talk through the car's features, make the buyer comfortable etc, this seems to have passed by Toyota, too confident in their product's "reputation".
On service issues, Toyota are just as bad such as putting conventional 3k oil in when synthetic 5k was paid for, and asking $900 for a new radiator when a local indie garage charged $300 all in. Talking oil, the 2.2 5SFE engine in the Solara is also a burner, usually I have to top it up a quart every 1-2k, the power steering has also needed a lot of attention, with a new pump, and with the gears jerking on shifts, it probably doesn't have long to go. Sorry for the rant but after working on the thing for so long - I'm at my wits end.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Had our Toyota Camry Solara 2000 for 10 years now, and the cracks are beginning to show in the quality. This year alone we've replaced the radiator and windshield, the later was because a rock hit it on MI's rubbish roads. Yearly repair bill is usually north of a grand, which is pretty much what its worth the car's now.
The brakes are becoming a real problem, each time I notice brake fade, and I'm very light in breaking, pretty much roll up to the lights. Under harder breaking the rotors shudder and cause a bit of wheel shim, no this is not the ABS clicking as this model doesn't have it. Under harder stops the car requires a lot of skill to come to a tidy stop, thankfully it doesn't pull to one side or another under breaking, it probably needs rotor work and new pads, but they've only had 20k on so looking for cheap solutions... I've heard pulsing the breaks might help wear down the rough spots on the rotor?
I really think this our last Toyota. I've had Fords and Saabs in the past and they haven't had nearly the number of problems this Toyota has. Just keeping it ticking over until we get a new car in the summer. Went to try the new Toyotas out at two dealers and their customer service is very bad, they won't let you test drive on your own, and they want waivers -no other dealer, Volvo, Ford, Honda, Subaru need this and they've been great at the old customer is king philosophy, coffee, talk through the car's features, make the buyer comfortable etc, this seems to have passed by Toyota, too confident in their product's "reputation".
On service issues, Toyota are just as bad such as putting conventional 3k oil in when synthetic 5k was paid for, and asking $900 for a new radiator when a local indie garage charged $300 all in. Talking oil, the 2.2 5SFE engine in the Solara is also a burner, usually I have to top it up a quart every 1-2k, the power steering has also needed a lot of attention, with a new pump, and with the gears jerking on shifts, it probably doesn't have long to go. Sorry for the rant but after working on the thing for so long - I'm at my wits end.
- K K., Clarklake, MI, US