As far as I'm concerned, Toyota is top of the game as far as quality goes. I was looking hard at the Solara but the V6 didn't come with a manual transmission, both of which I wanted. The big four Japanese manufacturers have really established themselves as a result of their quality and American are playing catch up, IMO.
In the '80 American cars just pretty much sucked. In the 90's they seemed to get better but still had some quality issues. I traded my '99 Ranger and it was still running perfect at 115,00 with no trips to Ford. I believe this decade they should be putting out some decent vehicles. I'm sure hoping so since we bought two of 'em. ;)
My son just traded in a 96 Chevy Lumina with 174,000 miles.
He never did anything to the engine or transmission except regular oil and fluid changes. One tune up at 100,000.