I want a Tercel 4WD

[retro4wd]

I've been looking for about a month now for an sr5 tercel 4wd. I've been checking on ebay, craigslist and on here, I cannot find one that is reasonably close. I'm kind of shifting towards a 4wd civic instead as they seem a bit more common.

Is the tercel better than the civic?

Anywhere else I should be searching?

[ARCHINSTL]

Where are you located? Have you found the "Complete Cars" subforum of the "Parts - New and Used" forum here?
Many of us report CL and eBay finds there.
Tom M.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list!

I owned one of the same early 4wd civic wagons ('83-87), and I have owned 5 Tercel4wd. I like the Tercel better. The civics has a much better, more powerful engine, and it handles better too, likely there are more performance parts for the honda engine available too. ON the down side I have found parts for the civil are much more expensive and harder to find (the parts unique to the 4wd), the civic also carries much less cargo than the Tercel4wd, the Honda is much more difficult to work on, access to everything is a PIA (because of the transverse engine installation), and the Honda emission control and carb are much more complicated. The Tercel has a bigger following and I think is far more common, has better ground clearance, and MUCH better seats. This last issue is not insignificant if you drive a lot, as good a car as honda makes, the seats on all the early ones are back breakers. You but goes numb, and you spine aches if in it more an about 45 min.

The later fuel injected civic wagon 4wd ('88-92) is not a bad vehicle at all, it is a bit more roomy and has the more powerful EFI engine. But these are less common and everyone I looked at was very costly, $2000 and up, even for high milage beaters. I have never paid more than $200 for any of my Tercel4wds (all were fixers), but you can buy good runing daily drivers Tercel4wd for well under $2000.

I want a small and economical 4wd car, and none of the newer stuff is economical and I can not afford it anyway. I have considered fixing up the Honda 4wd Civic, and Toyota All-trac or the Tercel. I stayed with the TErcel, I like it best, easy to work on, lots of good mods to do cheap, and it is a different looking funky kind of old car (not true with the others)

Be patient and keep searching Craig's list, and all the nearby craig's list too. If might even be worth traveling to a nearby state to get a good one.

Where are located?

Good luck in your search.

[ARCHINSTL]

IF you are still interested in the Civic Wagon, after Petros' expose (and my answer to your email), check this out - it's a link to the site of a devotee of the car: http://www.nobodysuspectsthewagon.com/ Menu is at the left of the page - it's pretty interesting, if limited in prose. He is spelling-challenged, though...
Honestly, though - the Tercel is much simpler to work on, as Petros emphasizes (apart from his other caveats). And parts - so much of our cars were used by the sedans that just a lot more transferable stuff is out there.
Tom M.

[retro4wd]

More than likely i'll hold out for the tercel, unless I come across a cheap 4wd civic. I definitely prefer the tercel though, it looks rugged, retro interior and I love the atm machine on the tailgate.

The main purpose of the vehicle is a bug out vehicle/daily driver. So it must be relatively easy to work on and parts availability is important.

I'll take a look at that civic link. Thanks.

[4wdchico]

Welcome! The Tercels & Corollas of the mid '80s and the A series engines that power them are, for the most part, so bone simple, logical & reliable that working on them is pretty easy.

Driver/bug out vehicle? You know you will end up with one of both: a beater daily driver and a sweet running bug out car laden & ready with gear. Get two cars with as many swapable parts as possible. From an earlier post of yours: "non sunroof, manual, sr5" , I prefer that configuration also, in the '85 & up cars because of superior lower gearing and more low end grunt from the later engine tuning making them much better in mountain driving.

[retro4wd]

Thanks man. I know where 2 are reasonably close for $800 bucks one runs but will not go in reverse and the other one is a total loss tercel.

How much would I have to pay for labor and parts to have the transmission rebuilt?

[4wdchico]

The trans might not be gone. The shifter mechanism might be messed up and can be accessed by removing the center console.

See this link for a good shifter write up: http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... f=7&t=4200

Still too much money, much better deals show up with some regularity. Download Craigspal and search all the Craigslists as far out as you specify, up to nationwide. Link: http://craigspal.com/Download-CraigsPal.

I have arranged the purchase of five vehicles, for myself and others, over the internet & then gone and picked them up. I live in Norcal and have gone north of Seattle and south to Fresno to pick up cars & trucks. All were good deals.

Rebuilding a tranny would cost around $2000 or more. There is one bearing in the tranny that is not made anymore. There are still tranny master rebuild kits available to tranny shops that include that bearing. I bought one of those master kits with syncro rings for just under $600 a while back. Looking for the right deal on a '85 & up tranny to rebuild with the kit. My tranny is fine with about 155k miles on it, just want to rebuild a trans and install it with a new clutch and keep my current 6 speed trans as a known good spare.