Selling a 1986 SR5 Wagon: seeking advice

[T Thatcher]

I am the owner of a 1986 SR5 4wd wagon in Portland, Oregon. 92,600 original miles. Exterior and interior are in very good shape. No rips or tears; car still shines two tone gray. Car lightly used, obviously. I have maintained the car well--brakes, catalytic converter, timing belt, etc. but it has some problems: rear wiper stopped working a couple of months ago; two of the four heater fan settings don't work; the engine runs exceedingly well, but it seems to use some oil (but I can't see blue smoke); it needs new front axle boots and I am told that when I do that I should replace the axles. The axles make no bad noises, but I know that work costs several hundred dollars. So.... what is this car worth? I am a novice, but I am not rich and would like to get a fair return. I am told some cars like this in my area are priced between $3 and $4K, but none is currently on the market. A dealer showed up at my house and offered me $1500, so I assume the car is worth more than that. I love the car, but my wife wants air bags. Suggestions? Thanks for any advice.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list.

Best advice it to keep the car! if you want more safety put in full 4 point seat belt harness, far safer than air bags. Having an explosive device in your face is not my idea of enhancing safety, many have been killed or injured by improper airbag deployment and the industry is hiding it. The guy with the airbag patent lobbied congress for 17 years, made big campaign contributions, etc. until they passed the law that required us to buy airbags from the one inventor. It is very rare you hear of race car drivers getting killed in high speed crashes despite daily crashes in motor sports, not one was using airbags. Airbags are way oversold as a safety device, and the manual even says you must wear your seat belt because the airbag is only a "supplemental restraint system" and not a substitute for seat belts.

If you are determined to sell your car, fix the few items (if you do them yourself with our help it will cost you less than $200), and put the car on ebay. One recently sold on ebay for over $10,000 (it had 37k miles), but for such low miles that would be your best price. All the prices on used Tercels just went way up after that, if you going to sell it do it now before the prices slowly drope back down to the typical range of about $2500 for a clean one, and under $1000 for a fixer.

Good luck

[westernflyer]

Don't sell it! I doubt you'd find a safer vehicle. Airbags are deadly and fail more often than they work. The folks on here will help you keep your wagon alive and healthy if you so desire.

[PrescottAZ]

keep it
Cant find a cheaper cost of ownership with more versatility.

[splatterdog]

Sounds like you are well past the first date, so keep it!

[Petros]

just read that Ford is recalling 1.2 million trucks because a faulty airbag is causing "unexpected deployment" injuring the driver. We will never have this problem with our Tercel4wd. I would NEVER sell a car just to get a newer model with airbags.

Along side the news story is a banner advertisement for an attorney that specializes in airbag injuries. Imagine that, these things are so safe they there is an whole sub industry attorneys that specialize in airbag injuries.

Story here: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... JFD8O0.htm

[dlb]

that's too funny--my hatred for post-1993 vehicles is sitting smugly right now.

[splatterdog]

Since we are already sidetracked- It must have been a really slow day at this "shop".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRPvaKbl1lo

[dlb]

OMG, my dad sent me that a while ago and i meant to post it here. so stupid, so dangerous. and yet...still so funny.

[Petros]

That is not really off topic, he said he wants advice because his wife wants airbags. The advice is to keep the car and forget the airbags, and those are reasons NOT to have airbags. Those videos not funny at all, but very scary: can you imagine one of those going off in your face as a way to enhance safety? No thanks.

They are another fraud forced on us by the federal government by someone wanting to get rich.