1997 Toyota Tercel CE review from North America

Other than scheduled maintenance (timing belt, brakes, oil changes, etc), and damage from accidents, I've had the following replaced:

Horn.

One of the cheap factory speakers started making a vibrating noise (just replaced them with better aftermarket speakers and the radio with an aftermarket CD player)

Passenger Door Handle.

Front Axle.

Motor Mounts.

Repaired an oil leak.

The A/C system has an extremely minor leak and has needed to be recharged with Freon twice since I've owned it.

Now, while I've replaced a few things in the car, most of them have been cosmetic, or things I wasn't even aware of until the mechanic told me that they needed to be fixed. The car has never not started on the first time, even if it's cold or I've left the lights on overnight. It has also never left me stranded (even after I rear-ended an Oldsmobile and did four grand worth of damage to the front of the car, I was able to drive it off the freeway to my mechanic), and none of the problems stuck me as safety related-in fact, the only mechanical problem I ever noticed was that the car vibrated at idle-replacing the motor mounts fixed that.

While the car is not a sports car in the acceleration department, it has adequate power for all situations, and has no problem doing 80, 90, or even 100 MPH for long distances. The car handles very well (as a small car should), has a very small turning circle, and has good brakes.

This is clearly an econobox, as the fit and trim shows this, but it's certainly not uncomfortable (I have plenty of headroom, but have to have the seat all the way back). My car is missing a few features I would like (although they were available as options), namely it only has a 3-Speed Automatic (no overdrive) and no intermittent windshield wipers, but both are minor. Gages are very clear and nicely designed.

My next car will certainly be another Toyota, or maybe a Scion tC (a Toyota brand).