The Sebring's stiff spring/soft shock combination serves up a compliant ride with moderate dive and minimal fade under emergency braking. Traversing heavily rutted roads wasn't a problem in the Chrysler, where the suspension easily smoothed out every surface irregularity. The Toyota bounces and jiggles from one rut to the next; however, when the road surface is smooth, the Solara offers an acceptably comfy ride.
In the twisties,the Solara's suspension capability runs out quickly, with a great deal of understeer showing during hard-cornering maneuvers. It's too easy to make the front tires rub against the inner wheelhouse in decreasing-radius turns. It exhibits a good deal of dive and squat when accelerating or during emergency braking exercises. The Solara continually bottoms out when crossing shallow dips in the road. Like the Sebring, the Solara's steering feels vague with too little feedback available through the wheel. With its slow steering rack, turn-in isn't as precise as we'd like, but predictable nonetheless. Granted, these are cruisers, not racers, but overall, the Solara's suspension tuning is just too soft.
Powering the all-new Sebring is a 2.7L DOHC V-6 that delivers 200 hp and 193 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels. We like the precise four-speed automatic with AutoStick controls. Shifted manually, the tranny upshifts smoothly and precisely, and downshifts crisply on command.
In the brake department, the Limited incorporates what Chrysler calls "ABS Plus" software into its four-wheel disc-braking system, which senses braking in turns and controls the vehicle's yaw rate. Emergency stops from 60 mph were linear with moderate ABS pulse, grinding the Sebring to a halt in 127 ft.
Powered by a 3.0L/200-hp DOHC V-6, the Solara is silky smooth at idle with good off-line torque, but power softens in the midrange. Mated to an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission, the Solara shifts smoothly and positively until you push the accelerator to the floor, where we found the transmission to be slow to kick down to a lower gear, often free-spooling for an instant before slamming into gear. However, having driven numerous Camrys, we're confident in saying this condition is specific only to this particular car, and not to the entire breed.
Four-wheel ABS-assisted disc brakes are standard issue on the Sebring we tested and provide powerful, linear stops. Mash the pedal from 60 mph and the Solara stops in 123 ft-4 ft shorter than the Sebring-with moderate pedal pulse and the usual ABS noises.
Inside, the Solara interior treats occupants to nicely trimmed front bucket seats that offer good lumbar and thigh support, although lateral support is lacking during cornering exercises. Optional dual side airbags are neatly tucked into the outboard sides of the seats. The dash and door areas are accented with fake walnut-looking trim-which should have been carried out to the center stack area, instead of the cheapish black plastic used there.
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