Tercel 4WD vs Civic 4WD :: A side view comparison.

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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Tercel 4WD vs Civic 4WD :: A side view comparison.

Post by Petros »

the problem with those magazine reviews is there are comparing new car to new car. it tells you nothing about what the car will be like 20 years and 200k miles later.

I have seen silly reviews of things like "high beam switch difficult to locate", or "cup holder in wrong location". And they rated one car better because it came with "deluxe floor mats". Completely irrelevant once you drive the car every day (apparently they did not bother to read the owner's manual for such information).

comparing acceleration times and braking distance has some relevance, but again, often they are splitting hairs. The things that matter AFTER you have owned the car is how far will it take you without costly and unplanned repairs. I have seen them even rate a car or SUV highly because of all the "nice" BS crap that comes with the car, and than rate the predicted reliability as "new model, no data, but similar vehicles from this manufacturer indicate below average reliability". this should completely disqualify it from ANY consideration; no matter how nice your floor mats are, if you are stuck becasue the diff bundled itself up after only 3 years, you will hate the car and wish you never bought it. Considering that "average" reliability is crap, even that is not worth owning at all!
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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lannvouivre
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Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:18 pm
My tercel:: 2006 Pontiac Vibe
Location: Odessa, TX

Re: Tercel 4WD vs Civic 4WD :: A side view comparison.

Post by lannvouivre »

A lot of people buy a new car every year or two, or only lease them. I don't really get it, but it seems surprisingly common for upper-middle class.
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Tercel 4WD vs Civic 4WD :: A side view comparison.

Post by Petros »

the average car owner keeps the car for 6-7 years, thought this has crept up recently to a bit longer. Consider that is AVERAGE, so the number of people that get a new car every year or two is actually very small. clearly many keep their cars longer than ten years.

a typical lease is now 5 or even 6 years, so I would expect people would keep them until pay off, unless they are totaled or their needs change (new children, marriage, new job requires lots of travel, etc.)
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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bryanthompson
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Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:38 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD SR5 Wagon : "The Brochure Car"
Location: West Hollywood, CA
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Re: Tercel 4WD vs Civic 4WD :: A side view comparison.

Post by bryanthompson »

The Professor wrote:I'll have to find the scan, but I have at least two magazine articles comparing 80's 4WD econoboxes, it was a REALLY interesting read as I recall.
I would love to read those.
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