1981 Toyota Tercel Standard from North America - Comments

Fuel pump leaked.

Valve cover gasket leaked.

Was in an accident and needed a new radiator.

The seats (both front and back) have begun tearing.

Rear brakes needed replacing.

Great, cheap car. I paid $600 for it, to the FIRST owner! (he owned it for twenty years) this included a cover for it, which I seldom use, and a ski rack which I never use.

It has consistently returned 40-45mpg economy.

But is a little slow with only 60hp to move 1900lbs. of car, and can barely keep up with traffic and will be going only 35-40mph by the time it enters the highway from the on ramp, unless I rev the engine fairly hard.

The rear brakes will lock up under hard braking, but you can still maintain control, they are a little weak by today's standards as well - but the car is two decades old after all.

Until I got into an accident, the car was rattle free, after the accident the car is still relatively rattle free! - good solid construction.

Rust is beginning to show up in spots, but nothing bad, overall the paint is still in good shape and not faded at all.

For $600 it was a deal that'd be hard to beat, and with 45mpg economy it's been cheap to run - excepting a few things I had to replace due to the accident and age of the car.

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.

Hello, I was just wanting to say that I have the same car!

I love this car! The windows rock.

Also, I see your problem with the acceleration.

If you kick down to 2 at about 50-60km/h, then go back to drive it will see what you're doing and kick into a higher gear to rev faster.

Also, just wondering if you know anyone that has any spare parts for the 81 Tercel 1.5L coupe?

Thanks so much

redundant_x@hotmail.com