The largest problem my car had was the corrosion the fuel tank suffered from. The dealer replaced this for me at 108,000 miles free of charge, I had bought the car eight thousand miles before that.
The seat seam on the drivers side is starting to peel off, nothing major and hard to notice.
The engine burns a good amount of oil
due to how fast I drive the little 1.5 liter, I have found it seems the car will run forever as long as I keep the oil level up to its capacity.
The car does not like to go into reverse all of the time, most likely due to clutch wear from the previous owner.
The winshield washer pump has been out of opperation ever since I purchased the vehicle.
If I could describe this car as an item I would probably say a rock. It seems to be unbreakable, the little engine runs at 85 miles per hour for about 2 and a half hours straight on the New York state thruway, and I burn only about 5 gallons of fuel. As well I have hit a very high curb, (swerving from an on coming car driven by a drunk driver) at a speed fast enough to break the tie rod, bend the rim, un allign the front end, blow out the strut and deflate the tire. Come to find out after I drove the car on to the road not one thing was wrong with it.
This can go down a very snowy road as well as my fathers subaru forester, with four snow tires, (which are very inexpensive for this car), it handles unbeleivably in the snow. I love this car and if Toyota still made The tercel model I would absolutely buy a new one, the car gives the driver a feel of security and control of the vehicle. I have already gotten my moneys worth, for a 1993 subcompact I paid $1900, I was a bit skeptical about the price, but now I understand why.
Handles great and has a little bit of pep, much faster than my 86 ranger, that's for sure.
Great gas mileage and only an 11.9 gallon fuel tank, easy on the wallet!
I deliver pizza and the car stays running for 12 hours straight, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights each. Never shows any signs of fading.
The car gets beaten pretty good, full exceleration, fast stops, curbs, huge bumps, and it still treats me good, all I have to do is wash it to make it happy.
The paint coat is outstanding and only rust underneath the body of the car and it has been through 11 central New York winters.
Truly a great car!
I have a 93 as well, plus I've owned five other Tercels; three 4wheel drive wagons, and two coupes of later vintage. I do all my own mechanical work, so I'm pretty familiar with them. On one of the wagons a gas leak developed, but it turned out to be the lines in and out of the tank. I am surprised at your oil consumption. Check the PCV valve. If that is clogged or otherwise not working any car will become an oil hog.
I also own a 93 Tercel. Car was good to me till I got in an accident, but even then I bought a junker 91 for 300 and fixed it back up. However. it has never been the same since... Mine use to burn a lot of oil as well until I replaced the valve seals. Took me less than a day to do the job... And now it still burns a bit, but a lot less than it used to. A good indicator that its the valve seals is if you get smoke when you start the car. After its been running its hard to see any smoke... That tells you its the valve seals...
I am the original writer of the review... I have a new car, 2000 kia spectra, hate it, got it cheap and miss the tercel. I dumped the tercel at about 250,000 still ran great, but needed a clutch and rack and pinion for powersteering, all tires were shot so I figured I would get $300 for it from a fellow needing parts. Man do I wish I had kept it, what a great car! oh yea don't buy a kia if you have ever owned a honda or toyota... you will be heavily disapointed!
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