1986 tercel wagon 4x4

[TOBY1]

Just wondering if anyone has a thought about the difference between the 5 spd. transmission and the automatic.
I have the chance of getting an automatic with less miles than the 5 spds I am looking at, but not sure if this is the best choice.
Is it alot slower? have less power? Relialibility of automatic? I would appreciate any feed back on this!

[hberdan]

I like the manual trannies myself. They seem more responsive and less sluggish to drive, imho.
That being said, condition is EVERYTHING when it comes to older vehicles, and I'd get one in the best overall condition, especially if there is a huge difference in mileage, regardless of transmission type. If the vehicle overall conditions are about the same, I'd get a manual tranny any day.
(Man oh man, I'd buy both of them if you can do it, as spare parts like trannies are getting hard to find.)

[buffalomesa]

The automatic is slower, and it doesn't have an overdrive gear. If you do much interstate driving the high RPMs can really drive you nuts. Highway mileage can be as much as 10mpg lower than with a standard. However, the Tercel automatics are very good transmissions, and don't suffer from the failures that are common with the standards.

If most of your driving is in town, the automatic is an excellent choice.

[toughtercel]

i have never had a chance to drive an automatic 4WD before ,even i own front drive-SW automatic and yes very good tranny , but RPM at 60 mph is very high , i install SR5 cluster in FWD , driving 70 mph almost 4,000rpm well talking about saving gas not likely , now go back to 4WD automatic which we were talking about , in the past , i was looking for one because my wife doesn't know how to drive manel and few times i found some 4WD auto for sale but they all have broken transmission then i got suspicious but good deal buying the car but didn't buy it , till few year later i have spare motor and 5 spd tranny , so there another adds same thing broken auto tranny and ask that i was planning to swap to 5 spd but the seller said he tried that and can do it , the auto tranny's "SUPPORT MEMBER" are different location to mount to the body than manaul tranny , " darn " many auto 4WD had no rust and low kms too .
so i am no experts on owning the automatic 4WD , is that why can't drive on OFF-ROADING with automatic , it might break easliy than manual or maybe bad driver who sperate bad driving conadtionor or ????