Walks the middle lines, but those are the best.

Well, being 17 and coming to own a Solara was definitely an unexpected maneuver in my driving career. It's my first car, and I know, you're all sitting there thinking, "Eugh. Dumb rich kids." and yeah, I know, it's terrible. But I'll have you know all the cars I was looking at for 9 months were subcompact cars [I personally hate having to deal with most sedans and coupes longer than 180" or weighing more than 2850 pounds] with MSRPs under $18,000... So basically, coming on the Solara was my dad's fault.

My friend was over one day and we were cutting together a home video on my computer when my mom came home and walked upstairs and told me, "Your dad bought you a car." I was alternately shocked, happy, and angry. To begin with, HEY, I got my very first car. That made me happy. On the flipside, my dad had done it again - he had gone off and made assumptions and gotten something that I didn't ask for; that I, in fact, had never even seen before.

My mom told me that my dad had gotten me a Toyota, something starting with an 'S' syllable, and I immediately sprung upon the possibility of having the Celica I have always dreamed of [but never really brought up, due to its price tag], but that was soon smooshed as I pulled up Toyota's website and stared at the goliath on my monitor. Staring at the specs, I groaned, and even 7 months later, every time I get in this giant heap of car and start it, I think, "Gee, thanks a lot, dad." Now don't get me wrong - I'm very glad that my dad got me a car and it really is a great car, but it's -not my kind of car-. I'm 5'6" tall and 145 lbs, with an extremely short attention span and extremely fast reaction time. While the Solara has very impressive steering for a medium-sized coupe, you really get to know quite honestly how heavy it is when taking turns at speeds above 25mph [which, I know, you're not supposed to do... Shh! I'm a teenager! ;P]. However, under normal driving conditions [with a normal driver], the car practically floats through turns. Despite its length and width, it cuts an excellent turn radius. Acceleration-wise, it leaves something to be desired in the heart of an Asian high school student like myself, but the 3.0L 1MZ-FE 6-cylinder engine my Solara is equipped with [identical to that of the 2002 Camry] is definitely more than sufficient for cruising around the city, making heads turn.

With respect to the interior, my first thoughts as I sat down in the seat for the very first time were, "Wait a minute, this looks EXACTLY like my mom's Lexus!" And it's true - the layout is almost exactly the same, even the distances I have to reach to adjust the climate control or change tracks on the CD player are almost exactly the same. The distinction I place between the ES300 and the Solara is the roughness of their 'edges' - the Solara stakes its claim as a quick, sporty vehicle whereas the ES300 is more of a luxury cruiser. While the Solara is very dashing, visually, with swooping cuts and a high, rounded rear end that you can spot in any parking lot, the only way I can -really- describe it is that it's a LOT OF CAR. I'm 5 feet and somewhere in between and the only thing I carry is my schoolbag [which I put in my trunk]. The rear seats will fit my friend Randall [who's 6'4" and 200-some pounds] perfectly comfortably, and the power adjustable driver's seat is excellent. The manual-adjust passenger seat, however, isn't so good and the typical 'narrow path of the Coupe' into the backseat becomes further aggravating when considering the dimensions of the car.

In the aspects of driving, acceleration and handling between the Solara and Lexus ES300 are basically on par, although the ES300's engine accelerates with no shift delay from 0-60. Flooring the pedal of the Solara is a game of luck - you either 'hit' the accelerator just right, causing your RPMs to max out, or you don't, and you have the honor of watching your opponent zoom by you as you attempt to trudge your way to 2nd gear. The weighty acceleration is in part due to the Solara's 3,300 pound curb weight, but I find this to be an indispensable asset at high speeds and in dangerous driving conditions. The Solara is simply unshakeable, whether I'm zooming down a country backroad at 135mph or making donuts in my school's parking lot - it's solid as a rock. Were I to try such maneuvers in our '89 Mazda Miata, well... Let's say I'd end up between the road and a hard place.

Although this review was written from the perspective of a maniac teenager, I'm hoping it'll at least help you gain some insight into the looks and general features of the Solara. Though I'm not 100% happy with it, being as it's the complete antithesis of my driving style, I'm finding more and more that it's an incredibly dependable car that I can probably count on to take me at least through college. That is, unless I move out to the coast, then it's MR2 all the way! :)