Engine gets too warm after 10 minutes at 70 mph, but cools off after getting off the highway. It almost overheats on 115 degree days. I flushed the coolant and added 70% mix. No change. This is Phoenix in August, but I'll have to have it looked at eventually.
Other than that, it's flawless after 163,000 miles. It looks like it was well maintained and garaged.
This car looks to be an excellent little inexpensive commuter. My son crashed my ECHO, another great car by Toyota, so I didn't feel like spending money right now while my cars are at the mercy of young drivers. I was looking for a older Civic to drive until my son was out of the house.
I ran into this clean little Paseo. They wanted $3,000 at a little car lot. I saw a few Paseos around, and being a Toyota fan, was intrigued by them. I figured that they were gutless, and too small and rare. I just wanted a Civic, plenty of them around, good reliability, good MPG, etc. However, I drove the Paseo and was impressed! I liked it better than the Hondas I drove and I bought it.
After a few thousand miles, I like it more and more! It's pretty fast, it handles really great, and gets 35 MPG!
It's a two seater, the back seats are useless for anyone above 5' tall. It's tough getting in and out of like any sports car you have to almost crawl in and out, but once inside, very comfy during my 60 mile daily commute. It hasn't burned a drop of oil yet, so I'm crossing my fingers that the motor is good, sure feels good.
It drives much like a Celica as far as how it handles, very tight suspension, low to the ground, but not too low, I can take any speed bump out there. Looks like it has newer shocks and struts.
The engine has a very high wind up, it red-lines at 7000 rpm, so you have lots of room to rev in all gears to pass, etc. I'd only buy a 4 banger with a 5 speed manual tranny, automatics are too gutless unless you have at least a V6. I had it up past 90 mph and it's rock solid, this car could go 140 at least. I really like this Paseo!
You're car only has 100 hp (probably measured at the crank so it most likely only has 80 hp at the wheels with 91 ft/lbs of torque at the crank.
Your car won't get much over/near 110.
I dunno, I'll bet ya I could go faster, it's all about gearing, you put the right gearing in any engine and it will go about as fast as you want it to, that is, if you can keep it on the road. Looking at my RPMS and doing the math, it's not brain surgery. Horsepower really doesn't do it, I could go 150 mph with a weed eater engine if I had enough gears. But really unless I want to go to Joe Arpaio's tent city in Phoenix here, I'll probably not ever go that fast. Well, Unless I spend my weekends at some drag strip as ricer boy, but that would mean I don't have a life. If you really want to drive 100+ mph on a regular basis then join a NASCAR team with Billy-bob or live in the Fast and Furious fantasyland. I'll bet if I put a huge spoiler on the back it would increase my HP.
These little cars are really just get around cars if you don't try to race them you will have it for a long time.
I had overheating problems. I'd get on the freeway, then had to get off because it kept overheating, then it'd cool... and on and on and on.. I had to replace the thermostat and fix a blown fuse that was powering the fan. No probs since. You may want to do that.
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