1981 Toyota Tercel 3 Door 3-A from North America
Summary:
Good performance for the price
Faults:
The seats have worn through in places.
All front bearings have been replaced.
Carb has been rebuilt.
Rear shocks and mounts have been replaced.
Timing belt was replaced.
Now starting to rust on the rear wheel wells.
Back hatch glass needed to be replaced.
Struts for the back hatch glass replaced.
General Comments:
For a $200 beater, It still starts every morning, and I now rarely have any problems since replacing all the old parts.
The engine still has over 170 compression when cold, and 195 compression when hot.
Steering isn't bad, but it could use thicker sway bars, or thicker springs.
I keep finding that a lot of people are surprised that my car is a 3-A engine with a automatic transmission. It came from the factory that way and everybody I see says that the factory only made around 600 of these cars.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 5th May, 2004
6th Nov 2003, 18:47
Well the little Toyota is at 173,000 miles now, and still doing as good as ever. However, it's become really hard to start in freezing weather (but all carbureted engines seem to be this way) and the brake warning light on the dash glows dimly, I've had it in the shop to see if there was a problem with the brakes, and nothing turned up - so I'm still wondering why it's glowing, maybe it's an electrical problem.