1992 Toyota Tercel DX review from North America

Needed a new water pump around 70K. It leaked coolant for a while and began to overheat (no engine warning light, oddly enough), but there was no head gasket damage.

Since then, I've had the brakes replaced a few times (I'm hard on them) and kept up with regular maintenance.

The car is on its way out now - a piston is broken and it's burning a lot of oil (possibly due to the impact from an accident 6 months ago), but it's still running amazingly well on my daily commutes to work (50 miles round trip) until I find a replacement.

The Tercel makes a terrific first car. It handles well, and it's small enough to make even parallel parking easier for novices. It's also good for heavy-traffic driving, with its ability to squeeze into small spaces.

It's *very* reliable - even when you're less than an ideal owner.

Mine was hit in the rear right side before I owned it, and since I've owned it's been rear-ended (mildly, no damage) and I rear-ended someone. While I think the last accident may have caused some more serious damage than I originally thought, it has held up really well through all my new-driver mishaps.