Conventional wisdom, when someone asks “What kind of car should I get?”, is to answer with one brand name: Toyota. If you just need reliable transportation, you can’t go far wrong with any product from the Japanese giant. But with that reputation comes high residual values that can make secondhand Toyotas very expensive compared to other cars. Is the extra price worth it? That’s today’s question.
Yesterday, we looked at a couple of sporty cars that were originally marketed as economy cars. I expected the Honda CRX to win, despite its modifications, but to my surprise, the grubby but stock Pontiac Fiero beat it. Quite a few of you said that if the CRX had been stock, it would have won handily. That’s probably true – but it also would cost more than four grand, possibly a lot more.
I’ve always liked the Fiero, and I’m happy to throw my support behind it. I like CRXs too, but I dislike hacking up nice cars for no good reason. I’d rather have a bone-stock CRX HF with 300,000 miles on it than this monstrosity. The Fiero isn’t the right spec, but it isn’t entirely the wrong one either. It would do.
The Spanish priest and philosopher Baltasar Gracián once wrote: “Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.” In other words, it’s generally a better deal to overpay for something that you know will be good than to take a chance on something of lesser quality for cheaper. Had there been cars in the 17th century, I’m betting old Baltasar would have been a Toyota man. Toyota’s reputation for building reliable and durable cars has made used examples a pricey proposition in many cases. You can still luck out and find one for cheap, but you have to be patient, and you have to accept the fact that the first digit in the odometer is going to be a two or higher.
Either that, or it’s going to be something painfully dull and not very well equipped, like the car I’m about to show you. As a counterpoint to it, I’ve found a car for less than half its price, that feels like a whole lot “more car.” But it’s not a Toyota. Is the lesser-but-nicer car worth the considerably higher price? That will be up to you.
1990 Toyota Tercel – $3,200
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: San Jose, CA
Odometer reading: 100,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Quick! What’s the least exciting car ever built? The car that even stodgy old Consumer Reports called “dull?” Yep, that’s right – the Toyota Tercel. Through five generations, this diminutive car racked up bazillions of miles, with its little four-banger struggling to accelerate it and its skinny tires wailing in protest at even the slightest hint of spirited driving. This third-generation Tercel has had two owners and has racked up just over 100,000 miles.
This generation of Tercel has a transversely-mounted 1.5-liter four making 78 horsepower. It drives the front wheels through a three-speed automatic transmission. Bored yet? It runs and drives well, and it just passed a smog test.
One thing I have found over the years doing this job is that sellers are not always correct – or honest. The seller of this car claims it has never been smoked in, but look at the driver’s seat: that’s a cigarette burn if I ever saw one. What else are they leaving out? It doesn’t look bad inside, though. Hopefully it smells all right.
The outside looks good, with just a few dings and scrapes here and there. It’s rust-free, too. This car might not be very exciting, but there’s no reason its paint job can’t be. Imagine this car with Martini livery. Or Alitalia. Or any number of other white-based race liveries. Is it ridiculous to do that to a Tercel? Yep. Is that a reason not to do it? Hell no.
1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE – $1,450
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Tukwila, WA
Odometer reading: 169,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
It seems like everyone has a story about an N-body Pontiac Grand Am. They were so ubiquitous on American roads for so many years that nearly everyone has crossed paths with one at some point. I once changed the starter in one on a bitterly cold day in Wisconsin, and just a few weeks ago, I ragged one around a rallycross course. They’re starting to get rare, but they will never be valuable. I would imagine that the very last Grand Am ever offered for sale won’t cost more than two thousand bucks.
The Grand Am came with a few engines over the years; this one has a 2.4-liter twin-cam four-cylinder based on the old Quad 4. It drives the front wheels through a four-speed automatic. Both the engine and transmission are generally pretty reliable, in that never-say-die GM way. This one runs and drives very well, according to the seller.
You can tell the trim level of a turn-of-the-century Pontiac by counting the buttons in the interior. This is a pretty basic model; there are no buttons on the steering wheel. It does have power windows and locks, but those might have been standard by this point. It’s in good condition, and the seller says the air conditioning works fine, which is a nice bonus for a car in this price range.
It’s not the most attractive car on the road, but there is some comfort in the familiarity of it. I sometimes wonder if these came from the factory with the plastic cladding all scuffed up. Luckily, since this is a Pacific Northwest car, the cladding is unlikely to be hiding any rust, unlike midwestern examples.
Toyota reliability is no joke, but that doesn’t mean other cars won’t do just fine as well. And in this case, the other car comes with some niceties like power windows, air conditioning, and an overdrive gear, and for less than half the price. The Grand Am probably won’t be as rock-solid reliable as the Tercel, nor is it likely to last as long, but for the price, are you willing to gamble? Or are you more inclined to pay extra for a sure thing?
I have some high school Tercel memories and they aren’t making want an even older version. Pontiac all the way, and that goes double for such a good price.
Looks like Pontiac will win two days in a row!
I had an ’84 Tercel 4×4 Wagon and it probably run for another decade and taken most of it just to get up to 60. And that was with a stick!
I think the N cars were pretty decent. Pontiac’s version doesn’t have my favorite styling, but it’s staid enough that it’s not objectionable. Not at this price.
It’s actually kind of tempting to keep it in California for the increasingly frequent trips down there from Seattle to visit my increasingly demented mother. I could just leave it at the family farm and fly down to Sac Metro and cab it to there. The 1500+ mile round trip over the Siskiyous is getting tiresome when the weather is good and sometimes impossible during snow season.
This is the difference. A Tercel 4×4 Wagon is the business. I’d happily pay $3k for that, shoot, I could even see paying $6k if it’s in decent shape. But this austerity measure on wheels, just no.
N bodies are better than folks give them credit for. Strip out the seats and give it a good shampoo and that Poncho will be good for awhile, esp at that price point. The twin cam fixed most of the quad 4’s woes (maybe not the NVH).
Went against my typical deep Japanese core and voted for the cheaper Pontiac. Both of these would be fine budget racers (Lemons) and in that case I’d go the the cheaper example, with the reputation for running forever, even if that running is poor.
I’d gut it of everything not related to motivation, add a cage, a racing seat, fire suppression, and a fat stack of wheels and tires, then find five strangers to go racing with. None of my friends are interested in these follies.
I know a fabricator/drifter; maybe he’ll do the cage for free in exchange for seat time?
It’ll probably lasty a few seasons at least, right? Oh; I’ll need lots of brake pads/rotors.
I drove a Tercel for work for a while and I hated it. The 3 speed auto sounded like a box of gravel that converted engine power into propulsion…eventually. This has a 4 speed, which may be less bad.
I’d take the Grand Am. It would be less miserable to drive, and half the price.
The article indicates the Tercel has a 3-speed slushbox.
That Grand Am is so stripped down it’s just an Am.
I’ll take the Grand Am. My mom had a 97 (GT with the 3.1L, baller) and it was a decent car. I have no experience with that engine so maybe it’s a lemon. The GT was reliable enough for the era, rode and handled OK for what it was. Plus, I’m a Pontiac homer, anyway.
The Grand Am is so cheap that if it lasts even a year you will have easily gotten your money’s worth out of it. I would expect it to last a few years between the current condition and the sturdy and simple mechanicals. Having airbags is also a nice perk in cheap beater.
It almost certainly has ABS too, as I think it was standard across the GM line at this time. So it’s safer even before crashing. I doubt the Tercel can brake worth a damn.
That Tercel has a lot of potential as a project car, and I think that’s probably the direction here. Swap in a hotter twin cam engine from a newer corolla and it’ll be a go kart.
As it stands…ehhh….For a DD, that Pontiac should last a good while longer with some maintenance. Not flashy, fun, or particularly great, but it also has 4 doors and a larger trunk which scores a lot of practicality points. More modern safety tech is also welcome. It’s also half the price, so it gets my nudge.
I’m guessing that Grand Am is a much nicer ride, especially on the highway. If it had the V6 I’d say no as I hate working on them.
Yeah, that Tercel will probably last forever but would be like getting a life sentence. It reminds me a lot of my Mom’s poverty spec 91 Corolla.
Tercel all the way. I don’t get the hate, I have a 95 Tercel that I use for Rallycross and it’s an absolute blast to hoon around. Mine is a bit better than this one though. It’s a generation newer, so around 90 HP with the 5EFE engine, and it’s that’s enough power to have fun with how light the car is. Mine is a base model, so 4 speed manual which which is obviously better than the auto, and also has AC. Which is funny, who went for the base Tercel but optioned AC? I paid $1900 for mine a few years ago with 135k miles and some pretty gross, rotted out seats that I replaced, but no rust.
Anyway, Tercels are awesome, I’d still pick this one even with it being a worse version than the one I have. They’re easy to work on and if you really want to have a sleeper you can turbo these engines, or swap in a factory turbo’d engine like a 5EFTE pretty easily.
The car with air conditioning with the lowest price wins.
I don’t know if the Toyota Tax is worth it, but the Plastic Pontiac Plague sure isn’t.
PPP is good descriptor, I usually call it Fisher Price Design, and hence I voted Toyota today.
Body by Fisher Price? (That one’s for the old GM-heads.)
I remember the Body by Fisher badges on my parents’ 85 Olds.
No bad choice today, but I’ll chose the Pontiac for the 3rd day in the road. These cars were pretty damn durable mechanically, and owning one would definitely be a nostalgic experience for me. These used to be EVERYWHERE, but now they’re all gone in the rust belt.
SBSD is a good reminder of what the automotive landscape can be like without road salt destroying everything immediately. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Grand Am, and cars like that Tercel flat-out do not exist up here.
When I went to San Diego for my cousin’s wedding I was stunned by how many cars that have long since dissolved away on Michigan roads were still around and looking good. I saw several 1st gen Mazda3s going strong after 20+ years of daily driving while my 1st gen had rust holes at 9 years old.
My experience with Toyotas has not supported the legendary quality they are so often attributed. I’ll save the money and take the Pontiac.