Toyota Tercels - the true underdog! Had one?

[addyguy]

I know we have threads all the time about people experinces/memories of certian cars...but here's another.

Toyota Tercels - owned one, or had experience with one?

They were a bit of an 'odd-duck' car from the start - In 1980, Toyota had the Starlet, a rear-drive hatchback that looked the exact same as the Tercel, and had the same engine. But, they brought out the more modern, front-drive Tercel, and the Starlet disapeared soon after that.

In the mid-1980's they made a great 4 wheel-drive wagon version of this car that was miles apart from the plain-jane hatchback Tercels - much bigger, with a selectable 4WD transmission. My dad and I really, really liked those little Tercel wagons.

They were always underpowered, but man, you couldn't stop them! They just kept going and going. At higher milege, the engine did burn oil from worn rings, but they never really quit. Folks always 'go on' about Corolla's or Camry's and how great and reliable they are, but all years of the Tercel were tough little buggers - crude maybe, but tough.

Our last family vehicle was a 1989 Tercel HB. White, with absolutley NO options - 4-speed/radio delete even! It survived going a full day of driving with no oil after a dealer oil change went wrong, and it was wrecked years later. When I worked at Walmart, our manager had a 1998 Tercel that he was trying to kill - he ran it until the oil light wen on all the time, and it never quit.

Had a Tercel? Know someone that did? Which body style did you like - the boxy HB's of the 1980's, or the rounded sedans of the 1990's? Up here, you hardly see any of them anymore - rust got most of them years ago.

 

[brianl703]

I don't see any of them down here either. I don't think rust has anything to do with it, we don't (usually) get much snow here.

I do know someone who had one and used it for delivering pizzas. I don't think he had it very long..it was one in a long list of cars he went through.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I see them quite often around here, even in the rust belt. They usually don't look too good, but they just keep going apparently. Another similar one I still see from time to time is the Paseo.

 

[addyguy]

In making my post, I forgot about the Paseo!

I always thought that car should have had more power...to make it a true 'sporty' version of the Tercel.

 

[Spazdog]

We had the AWD mid-80's high roof wagon for a "shop-car" at my old job.

It would go anywhere and it would carry anything. Don't try to tell it it "didn't have a real low range transfer case so it can't go off road..." It did not care. I took it to Texas Motor Speedway one year when we had a lot of rain and it just plowed itself slowly through the mud with it's pitiful little A/S tires. Real SUVs were getting stuck and this silly little wagon chugs on through.

I normally felt nothing for the other shop vehicles. We had a 2.5 S10 and a 2.5 Comanche that were thoroughly abused but I actually got a little angry when someone picked up a wrecking yard engine in "my" shop wagon and leaked various fluids on the floor and tore "my" headliner.

I averaged over 30 mpg all the time. That was a great little wagon.

 

[Spyder7]

They hold up well to the harsh maritime climate here. Many pre-2000 cars on the market are Tercels, and they are well priced. Next Spring the Tercel is already on my short list of 1k or less project cars for the winter. The list will expand once I've spent enough time compiling a list of what often turns up in my tight price window, and then be winnowed down from there after I research the models and years to prune the lemons and high risk/high maintenance offerings. I doubt the Tercel will be cut.

-Spyder

 

[Mokanic]

They were great little cars until they came out with the variable-venturi carb to meet US emssions in 1988-1990. Things went really bad then. Awful drivability, carbon issues,and really unhappy owners when the had to pay $700 for a new carb. Once EFI was put on them in 1991 all the problems vanished. The only issue then was Toyota's rediculous 7500mi.OCI which caused many of the cars oil control rings to gunk up and use oil. Customers who stuck to the 3-5K intervals ran them forever. Early Tercels(early 80s-1987) were just bullet-proof. No real issues with them at all unless you lived in the rust-belt.

 

[expat]

Lots of the AWD Wagons here, one for sale right now had painted in camo with full welded roof rack.
Never had one myself, but they were apparently great in the snow, able to cope when heavier 4WD's would bog down.
A true classless all purpose vehicle

 

[panthermike]

Had an '88 Hatchback Tercel. Was a really good car. Got 35-40mpg with the carbed motor.

Watch out when a semi passes by you though, car rocked a bit

 

[M1Accord]

AWD Corolla wagon is the shzt. Of course, people who have them won't let them go. They last and last and last and the awd is perfect for light snow under 8 inches. Some people give them 2-4 inches lift and learn to drive slower when they have to change out the shock/strut. The AWD system isn't as tough as the Subaru or Volvo and it doesn't have to be for light condition but the engine and transmission are way more durable and reliable and at an excellent mid 30s mpg.

The second is Honda CRX HF. The CRX HF is fun to drive, looks and feels sporty, and gets close to 60 mpg. Of course, people who have them hold on to them and the ones available now are mostly modded by kids who can't appreciate real automotive value. So basically, you can't get a 60 mpg sport car anymore.

 

[babyjay8495]

I currently have a 94 tercel wtih 140000 and still going good. I have had it for about 7-8 years and get great mileage. I did have to put new rings in it lsat year, but was a pretty easy job. Biggest problems on the 3EE motors is the valve stem seals get hard and leak some oil down in the cyclinders causing a little bit of smoke on start up, again not a bad fix.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Our last one was sold so long ago I don't remember the year!

I think it was an 88, but regardless it had almost 400k and was sold in one day!

An unbelievably tough little car. A tad boring, too.

 

[Pesca]

My wife had a leased Tercel when I met her (it should be a 2002-2003 sedan, gold!!).

From her saying, it was plain scaring driving it in winter, as soon as it was a little bit windy. She never went above 90 kph on the highway (yes, that is 55 mph and pushing) because of that.

Loaded with people and luggage, it was safer.
It was light, so it was economical. Economical on fuel, on the lease (she couldn't offer anything else), on insurance, on maintenance, on anything.

It would not have been that scary on highway, we would have buy another one (or an yaris sedan) as a second car. Even our second car needs some time to time to go on the highway.

 

[Ursae_Majoris]

Still see them up here. Great little cars, I always wanted one.

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

I had a 1994 Tercel green DX! Tough little bugger!

 

[nthach]

I was talking to a bus driver who had a Tercel on the ride home last night, he had a Tercel and he said it's one of the most indestructible cars he had. Too bad the Echo and Yaris don't match up to the old Tercels.

 

[rationull]

My first car was a 1988 Tercel EZ (no radio, 4 speed stick). It basically did short trips its whole life. Slow as molasses, carbon buildup caused dieseling while shutting down. I rear ended someone at one point (very low speed) but after a little bit of creative bending it was back in business.

Lightweight and fun to drive. In retrospect, I loved that car.

Donated it to goodwill and replaced it with a 1983 Datsun 280zx. Saw it around town a few times and then, randomly, saw it by the side of the highway on the way out of town. Recognized it b/c the hood was a different color from the body. Don't know what became of it, but I had always assumed maybe the timing belt went or something.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: nthach
I was talking to a bus driver who had a Tercel on the ride home last night, he had a Tercel and he said it's one of the most indestructible cars he had. Too bad the Echo and Yaris don't match up to the old Tercels.


+1.

-Spyder

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: nthach
... Too bad the Echo and Yaris don't match up to the old Tercels.


Therein lies the problem with the Tercel.

Everybody that would ever buy a Tercel eventually bought one. Then the Tercels they bought wouldn't die so Toyota lost all those customers.

 

[onebigunion]

My first new car was a 1984 Tercel base 3 door. Can't remember how much it cost - I think it was around 5k. 4 speed manual, 145SR13 tires. Vinyl seats, no carpeting, no passenger side outside mirror. No A/C - I lived in St. Louis at the time, incredibly. I was really proud of the car - until it got stuck in a hail storm sitting on I-70 for an hour with golf to baseball sized stones pounding it about 2 months after I bought it.

The highly rated body shop just made a disaster of it. Overspray everywhere, terrible prep work. It ended up sitting there for over three months and was completely re-painted at least 3 times. Finally I just gave up and accepted it back even though it looked like [censored].

A couple years later, the clear coat started coming off in sheets and it looked awful. but it was bullet-proof, all 62 horsepower of it. I could put down the back seat and easily fit two full sized mountain bikes in there and close the hatch (no wheels removed). All thhese years later, and the much acclaimed "magic seats" Honda Fit struggles to do that, if it can at all.

The driving position was very comfortable, plenty of leg-room for the driver, much more than most any new car today.

It had its downsides too. A valve adjustment every 15k miles - and that cost about 80 bucks I believe - a lot back then. It was loud, crude and far from a smooth drivetrain. I learnd to drive clutch on it from the day I bought it - that might have had a lot to do with it.

After 10 years, it met its death when a full-sized Dodge pick up ran a stop sign and I T-boned him at about 30 mph. That was the end of the car - miraculously I didn't get hurt other than the seat belt implant on my chest.

By then the vinyl seats were ripped very badly, it had a lot of rust and all of the clear coat was gone, so of course it was worth next to nothing. But it would have run a long time yet and the utility was fantastic. Still one of my all-time favorite cars, maybe because it was my first.

My 1992 two door Tercel sedan equivalent wasn't nearly as good a car.