Toyota Tercels - the true underdog! Had one?

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: 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.


You should have kept that for bragging right and as a punishment for your kid(s) or grandkid(s) when they misbehave, they have to be either driven in it or drive it to school.

 

[Scienceman]

We see them quite often here in the south.

 

[Sedin26]

A friend had an 87 Tercel Hatchback in the mid-90's when he got his license. We drove that thing hard - did pretty much everything possible to wreck it but it just wouldn't die - an absolute tank. They finally got rid of it a few years back on a trade-in but it's still going strong, as I've seen it around town a few times.


I bought a '93 Tercel cheap 4 years ago - it had been severely abused so I got it with the idea of doing an engine rebuild. I did so (cheap parts, easy to obtain anywhere) and it has been rock solid ever since. At about 300,000km and I plan to make it to 500,000km before i retire it.



In my area, I see tons of the 4wd tercels - rust isn't a big problem here. Most of them just keep going and going. It's very common to see them for sale on Craigslist at 500,000km still running well.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: 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.


I've heard about this 'carbon build-up' issue with the 1987-1989 carb'd Tercels, but we never saw that problem on our 1989, and it was definetly carb'd.

Ours was also a 4-speed, and I now attribute the lack of carboning to the fact that it revved very hard at hwy speeds, so the chance for build-up was little.

We drove ours on the hwy a fair bit, and I remember clearly just how hard that little car revved at 65-70mph. It didn't have a tach, but it HAD to be doing close to 4k rpm., it just screamed. I'm assuming this kept the engine pretty well cleaned-out!

 

[dnastrau]

Between my wife and I we had three back in our college years; two '81s and an '82. They were extremely reliable and efficient but underpowered. The '82 was a notchback with a 5 speed. That gave the car decent cruising ability on the highway. One of our '81s had the 4 speed. It ran great but was noisy on the highway. It was also so stripped down that it had rubber mats instead of carpet and no armrests! You closed the door with a rubber handle in place of the armrest - talk about cheap!

The worst of the three was the '81 Deluxe 2 door hatchback. It had the three speed automatic and factory A/C. Acceleration was dangerously slow and it revved even higher than the 4 speed '81 did on the highway. It sounded like the engine would come apart over 65 MPH.

Other than the automatic I always enjoyed driving them even though they were underpowered. My biggest concern driving them was getting hit by something larger. I always remember closing the doors and hearing a tinny "clink" instead of a solid "clunk". This made me question how safe they were due to the lightweight construction. In '92 I bought an '85 Jetta and it felt like a Rolls compared to the Tercel - but it was never as trouble free.

 

[grampi]

I had a '93 Tercel. Loved everything about the car except it had a terrible problem with the windows fogging. If there was any humidity at all I had to drive the car around with full defrosters on to keep the windows clear. I never could figure out why it had such a problem with that.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: addyguy

I've heard about this 'carbon build-up' issue with the 1987-1989 carb'd Tercels, but we never saw that problem on our 1989, and it was definetly carb'd.

Ours was also a 4-speed, and I now attribute the lack of carboning to the fact that it revved very hard at hwy speeds, so the chance for build-up was little.

We drove ours on the hwy a fair bit, and I remember clearly just how hard that little car revved at 65-70mph. It didn't have a tach, but it HAD to be doing close to 4k rpm., it just screamed. I'm assuming this kept the engine pretty well cleaned-out!


Mine got a lot of short trips mainly, when I owned it and for its whole life before that. It had the 3E engine. My understanding is both of those factors probably led to the carbon buildup problem.

I found the gear ratios at some point and printed out a chart so I'd know what the engine speed was at any given road speed. I'll have to see if I can find the ratios, but I might not have them anymore.

 

[rationull]

Got it! Not in a convenient format to post right now but according to my chart, 4th gear cruising was as follows:

2500 RPM - 54 mph
3000 RPM - 65 mph
3500 RPM - 75 mph


IIRC redline was only 5800 RPM or so.

 

[Diesel_Clatter]

We have had two.

When I was dating my wife she was driving a Honda Civic. She assumed her dad was changing the oil. Dad assumed she was changing the oil. Strangly, when her brother borrowed the car one day, the camshaft snapped.

Anyway, her next vehicle was a 92 Tercel DX with manual transmission that I helped her buy (and ultimately pay for). She drove that a few years and then we sold it to my sister and bought a Stratus since she was thinking family=four door. My sister was unable to cope with the manual transmission and ended up selling the car.

My brother also had a 93 Tercel base model, 4 spd, that he drove for years. I bought it off of him for $200 about three years ago and drove it for a few months while I tried to sell my ION. I figured it was a transitional car. I ended up selling it for $950 in a brief period of insanity and frequently wish I had kept it. The selling price was no deal as I had put $1000 plus of parts into the car while fixing it up.

I really liked the way the tercel transmissions felt and shifted. My ION took a long time to adjust to and then I drove the Tercel for a while. When I went back to the ION I hated the way it shifted all over again.

I also thought the Tercels were fun to drive.

 

[PF52]

We extensively tested a Tercel back in 1983; the choice was between it and the Civic. We eventually settled on the Civic because although it cost more, it seemed a LOT better quality. Both were bare-bones no-options cars but the difference was there.

 

[dnastrau]

Originally Posted By: grampi
I had a '93 Tercel. Loved everything about the car except it had a terrible problem with the windows fogging. If there was any humidity at all I had to drive the car around with full defrosters on to keep the windows clear. I never could figure out why it had such a problem with that.


In some cars that I have had (especially without A/C), the interior would get steamed up if I didn't have the dash control on "fresh" instead of "recirc" when running the vent or heater on humid days. Sometimes on rainy days I will see cars on the road where their windows are all fogged up and I'll bet that they have their control set to "recirc."

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

I still see some Tercels down here...The paint is mostly gone from the jungle blazing sun but they seem to be running Ok...I don't see any on the highway anymore just the surface streets.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I had an 89 Turcel with a trunk, ordered new in black metallic. That cars was great. I had a 1980 hatchback manual in white too.

 

[XS650]

A friend had a Tercel he said it was a tough car because it grew up tough from being whooped with an ugly stick all the way down the assembly line.

He put over 200k commute miles on his with nothing but his abbreviated form of scheduled maintenance.

 

[Tempest]

I had one in high school, with a manual trans. Good reliable car with near zero power. It got me a lot of places until some jerk rear ended it and the insurance company totaled it.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: dnastrau
Originally Posted By: grampi
I had a '93 Tercel. Loved everything about the car except it had a terrible problem with the windows fogging. If there was any humidity at all I had to drive the car around with full defrosters on to keep the windows clear. I never could figure out why it had such a problem with that.


In some cars that I have had (especially without A/C), the interior would get steamed up if I didn't have the dash control on "fresh" instead of "recirc" when running the vent or heater on humid days. Sometimes on rainy days I will see cars on the road where their windows are all fogged up and I'll bet that they have their control set to "recirc."


My Tercel didn't have AC, but also I don't think it had a fresh air/recirc selector either. This car was a base model, and I guess back then, base model meant VERY basic. This car didn't have anything it didn't absolutely have to have.

 

[Scienceman]

Probally why they lasted so long.....

 

[Dave Hess]

I still see a few Tercels down here but we don't get any snow or have salt on our roads.

 

[Smokescreen]

I had a 1980 Tercel for 3-4 years, I was the 4th or 5th owner at least. The odo never worked for me or the owner before me and she had it for 5 years before selling it to me for $500. She drove it everyday to work and all around town and every other weekend 300Km+ each way. It never burnt any oil, it still looked golden at the 5km mark on the dipstick. I changed the water pump, and then the heater core died on it, so I sold it for $400. Before selling it, I was cleaning it out and I found some 9year+ old oil change records that showed 387,000+ kms in the glove box. I figure it had well over 600,000kms on it. Tough car. Always started, ran well, tough engine, got pretty good mpgs too. It was 95% influential in me getting the Corolla, which is turning out to be a great car as well.

 

[expat]

I think this was one of the vehicles from the 'Golden Age' of Toyota.