What a fine lineup of Eugene-mobiles: Jeep Cherokee (XJ), our featured Tercel 4WD wagon, Volvo XC60 and of course the ubiquitous VW Vanagon (T3). Plenty of grist for the CC mill. But it was the Tercel wagon that we’re here to look at closely, as it’s the oldest one and it happens to be for sale.
Here’s your chance to relive the eighties, with all of 62 horsepower, with an automatic to boot. And with that big roof box. you really won’t want to be in a hurry. There was a nationwide 55 mph speed limit back then, and pretty strictly enforced, so you’re going to be forced to relive the eighties in all its glories.
It’s even got a bike rack on the back. Of course it does.
Here’s the ad. Only 131k miles; this must have been owned by a car-hating owner, of which there are quite a few in Eugene. These folks bought cars and drove them only out of necessity, to get to a hiking trail on the weekends or to go cross country skiing. The rest of the time they rode a bike, walked or took a bus. These folks have been doing their part to try to keep the planet from burning up for a long time, so don’t knock them, even if they can be a PIA toddling along in their Prius or old Tercel wagon at 48 mph on the highway.
And the benefit is that their cars hardly age, as they’re invariably well maintained and kept clean.
Just look at this back seat! No children ever vomited on these. Yes, these kind of folks don’t have kids, as there’s too many people on earth already. And look at that leg room! A veritable limousine!
Thanks to the front seat not being pushed very far back, and the seat back in an upright position. That’s another thing about the earnest owners of cars like this: they sat upright, not in the pushed-back-semi-reclining seat position so favored by many youngish men these days; in fact, it’s become an epidemic. And it really crimps rear seat leg room, but who cares? Who sits in the back of cars anymore anyway?
Yes, this has the three-four-speed automatic, which is not a particularly good thing, for more than one obvious reason. That being a perceived reduction in acceleration. Or can one actually perceive acceleration in one of these?
The manual is much preferred, having several more gears as the automatic. Yup, a low-gear transfer case is pretty much out of the question for a FWD to 4WD conversion, so Toyota slipped in an optional sixth gear in the (manual) transmission, a super low 4.71 ratio “stump-puller”. A granny gear, in other words, although owners like this one were not likely to ever use it. But then a torque converter’s effective gear multiplication can cover some of that gap. Up to a point.
One time we were at Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada in our old Peugeot 404 automatic wagon, all loaded up with kids, grandma, and lots of gear and skis and sleds and stuff on the roof rack. The condo we rented was down a wickedly steep little street, and when it came time to leave, all loaded up, it just only barely made it up the hill. Its ZF automatic had a relatively “tight” converter, for efficiency’s sake, and that made itself felt on that hill. I had it floored, but it just barely crept up, right at maximum stall speed. One more passenger and I would have had to ask folks to step out and walk, like the really old, old days. Or maybe try it in reverse.
Yes, driving in the good old low power days could be challenging. And you can relive it it in this Tercel, for a mere $4,000. A mighty cheap time machine.
I’d want to see under those seat covers too. White/tan’s an unusual combination for these, usually Toyota up till then had shipped a blue interior with white but there was no blue interior for the base and Deluxe Tercel (blue cars had gray guts). This one’s a Deluxe, which meant carpeting and a few other touches and was the base trim for wagons (and only one for 5-door hatchbacks), the standard trim was a 3-door hatch only.
I always forget the 4wd/automatic combo existed on these. There looks to be an o/d lockout button on the shift knob so at least these had Toyota’s then-state-of-the-art 4EAT rather than the 3-speed auto 2wd 2-pedal Tercels were saddled with.
It is the four speed. Text amended now.
If the Jeep was for sale, I’d be interested.
Ha, this is almost perfect for my daughter. She has decided she needs an “adventure car” to drive out west and visit her summer camp friends in Vancouver. She has recently sent me online ads for Xterras, old Geo Trackers, and a JDM Mitsubishi Pajero. I’ve reminded her that if you’re seeking adventure you can’t blow all your money on 4WD you don’t need to get down the highway to your destination.
This would be great, it’s 4WD, economical, and it’s already out west. Now about that automatic transmission…
Actually it has the four speed automatic, which helps a fair bit. Shall I make a call for you and check it out? I know she’d love it. 🙂
It figures that one of these would still be in the wild in Eugene, and I’m going to guess that’s not the only one you have encountered recently. Or at least more recently than would be the case in much of the US outside of the upper right and upper left corners.
Being in the upper left, I don’t see nearly as many of these as I used to, but when I lived in the Happy Valley (CT Valley aka the Pioneer Valley aka the Five College area of Massachusetts) in the mid to late 80s, the roads were crawling with them. All could be described as you’ve described the likely owners/lifestyle of this one. By now, most have rusted away, but it’s still not uncommon to find one out there (or in Cambridge or perhaps farther north in VT) still crawling around…usually with more bumper stickers than remaining paint or sheet metal.
Out here though, rust has killed most Toyotas of that vintage. I expect that this has certainly been true in most of the rest of the country; not that the Tercel AWDs were all that popular elsewhere.
I’m going to guess that’s not the only one you have encountered recently.
I could take you on a tour of at least half a dozen I know of. They were once the official car of Eugene, and I posted them numerous times over the years here. I post one at least every other year. And I don’t expect that to stop any time soon.
I had a red one that was a stick. Fun to drive in its own way, and truly unkillable. Rust- free, too, which was rare here in the midwest. I sold it in the early days of eBay, and someone took a train here and drove it back several states away. This was back when I actually got rid of spare vehicles LOL
A friend of mine in Good Ol’ Boy, Virginia had one of these with the manual transmission, circa late 1990s. Owing to its gas mileage, she’d often be drafted to drive us over the mountains to whatever was the plan. Conversation would be drowned by an endless wheezing buzz the whole way up the Blue Ridge as we struggled to maintain 50 mph. It sounded (and looked) like the Nintendo version of a car. And surely the least fun video game ever.
This is a neat time capsule indeed .
Sadly no one is going to want it thee days .
It’d make a good college car for a youngster in snow country .
I grew up in the snow and didn’t mind plodding along in our 1952 ex Army M38A1 Jeep or the 1962 K10 short bed pickup with 250CID i6, they never wound up tits up in the ditch at least .
-Nate
No worries. It’ll sell quickly. Vintage Japanese cars are red hot these days. I’m seeing more and more in the hands of young enthusiast owners.
My mother had one of these, with the AWD and the automatic. She loved it as we lived in “Lake-Effect” snow country on the southern shore of Lake Erie. She was an RN and positively, absolutely had to get there…. and that little Toyota always did. Unfortunately the Pennsylvania Department of Rust got to it and when she moved to Virginia in its later years, well, they weren’t going to let anything THAT deteriorated drive on their highways.
They towed it out of the inspection station to the Knackers, and she cried.
That’s downright reasonable given their now-classic status and remarkable condition!
Also, I might be wrong but this looks to have a 4 speed auto? The shifter is one of the chunky ones with the Overdrive button on it. My first car was a ‘91 Corolla All-Trac (this car’s successor) and also had the 4 speed auto despite being a completely bare-bones car otherwise.
Quite right; it is the four speed. Text amended.
If I wasn’t on the other side of the country(Charleston SC) I would definitely look at buying this car. I’ve always liked these.
The back of these look like an ATM
Nice Tercel, I wish Toyota made something similar today. I wouldn’t buy this one however because $4k is a bit much for such an old car. I can spend a little more and get a much newer, though not as cool Corolla.
I imagine parts availability would be a problem. Common mechanical parts like tires, filters, plugs are probably available, but 4WD Tercel Wagon specific parts, like trim pieces for example, would likely be near impossible to find.
In a car that old I would be concerned about the condition of the various engine and transmission gaskets. The rubber parts like bushings are likely dry rotted as well.
The RAV4 with AWD comes close as today’s equivalent.
I’d just like to point out that some of us don’t have kids and don’t drive much because we’re environmentalists; we don’t have kids and don’t drive much because we’re lazy.
Same effect! Who cares about the motivation?
Fair enough. 🙂
A friend had an SR5 version of this handed down by his mom in about 1986, and he was definitely able to get it moving with the five speed and even the granny gear on occasion. Then again I was zipping around in a 1979 68hp Honda Accord semi-automatic so maybe it was even slower than I realize;-)
Nice find, haven’t seen one of these in quite a few years.
My dad owned one of these when I was a kid, it was a manual and the worst car I’ve ever been in. It was rusty, rode horribly, it had no power, and had tons of issues. The things I remember going wrong with it was the clutch going out, the headlights going dim, and it had a nasty habit of stalling while driving. Granted, it did have over 300k miles but I still couldn’t stand sitting in it, it had some of the most uncomfortable seats I’d ever sat it. It was a cheap car and it showed, after a while he finally sold it and bought a 2006 Subaru Outback. I can’t remember what year his tercel was, but I think it was an 84 or 85. That was the car that made me stay clear from small underpowered cars my whole life lol.
I have the 83 SR5 With super low 6th gear. Awesome car I love it still runs and drives has some rust but I’m working on that.
I LOVE it, I just bought a sweet 1982 Tercel in Tampa, 5-speed manual, so fun to drive, a head-turner for sure, my thumbs and face are sore every spin I take from returning so many thumbs-up and smiles, everyone asks how much I want for it…no way, she’s way too fun!
I think I remember Jesse Pinkman had one of these after he lost his Monte Carlo…?
Is this for sale? I got $2900
My first car was a 1984 front-wheeled drive Tercel wagon. The same color. I loved this car and I want another one. Is this available?
This is my 84. It has some rust but she’s a runner (200+). Installed the Webber carb and it took me four attempts before passing and then some jackass at the emissions test decided it was his day to shine and failed me on the visual…Hopefully he was promoted or something.