The new Solara offers almost everything that has made Camry America's best-selling car for two consecutive years, including smooth, quiet performance, appliance-style function and a reputation for stone reliability. Unlike the Camry, the Solara features two-door swoopy coupe styling and a sportier edge. Toyota builds Solara with something that's hard to find in a mid-priced coupe: an optional manual transmission available with the optional V6 engine.

The Solara is new for the 1999 model year, at least by appearances. Underneath its exterior sheetmetal rest the basic mechanical underpinnings of a Camry, with some tweaking here and there. In an era when the coupe seems to be a vanishing breed, will Solara appeal to enough buyers? Toyota thinks so.