undecided.steve

I was in the same boat as you are last year, torn between a 2006+ GT/V6 or possibly a 2003/2004 model.

I travel a lot on business and thus I get to rent a lot of different cars.
For me it took one rental of a Mustang vert V6 to become convinced that i wanted a Mustang, of some sort.

The V6 has plenty of power, a decent exhaust tone and with the Pony Package and IUP is quite a nice car, but like the others said every time I saw a GT on the road I wondered if I could be happy with a V6.
I'm a family guy, not into racing at all but I like a fast car.

I could have bought any of these cars, new and not had a problem with it but I ended up getting a 2003 GT centennial model vert with only 16k on it and in perfect condition for $16k or so.
I am VERY happy with my decision because a 2006 GT vert would have cost double that and then some.

So now I have a fast car, a vert and something I can play around with in my mid life crisis.

One other thing you might wish to consider is that the V6 model resale drops like a rock compared to the GTs.

Whatever you do DON'T buy a Solara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!
I have driven several as Hertz specials and they simply are NOT sports cars.
The car is a Camry, a sponge with no personality.
It will probably never break in it's entire life (unlike Ford products), which is about the best I can say about it.

05gtdriver

BTW mistergin, what part of the country do you live in? I realize a front driver like a Solara will be safer in wet to snowy conditions, but speaking of S197 'verts, the GT has LSD and standard traction control with ABS(LSD isn't offered in the V-6 and the traction control/ABS are options).Seems like the GT might be your choice. Isn't Toyota discontinuing the Solara sometime soon? You seem to be concerned with child-seat placement(a very good reason for concern), but your kids aren't going to be the same size in a few years, so then what? SUV time, maybe? Here in SoCal GT 'verts range from 24K to 34K used(depending on mileage and year), most seem to be automatics too. Hope you jump aboard our ship of S197 owners(whether bent-six or GT). Best of luck on your decision.

oldschoolera

You can go to autobytel.com and do a side-by-side comparison of the V8 and V6.