Hello from Canada

[Solid_Koolaid]

Hi there !

First, I'm french speaking and doing my best in english so please be forgiving

I've owned Toyotas since I've been driving. I've had a '95 Tercel, a '90 Celica (5th gen, 5S-FE engine) and right now I'm driving a '99 Solara SLE V6 (1MZ-FE)

I feel obliged to say the Tercel is an absolute tank, not a single major problem with it and someone killed it by hitting my rear right quarter, bending the axle some 30 degrees, the engine had 224K miles on it and still ran damn strong, ate a quarter of oil every 2-3K (by that time I was changing the oil so I didn't care), it would start without dropping a sweat at -30C without engine block heater, and in the very worst cold-city-traffic-foot-on-the-floor-driving situation I obtained 29mpg. I would buy again anytime, pure tribute to good old Toyota reliability... not to mention I wasn't driving it like a granny

The Solara was quite an upgrade from good old Tercel, great car, but sometimes I miss the simple and strong mechanic of the good old lightweight Terc

No mods whatsoever on the Solara right now, not enough cash to put on it but some day...

As for me, I'm quite an experienced and knowledgeable DIY mechanic, I tend to have great abilities at troubleshooting so you won't often see me start threads I guess.

What to say more ? Dunno...


Hello everyone !

[workerant]

seem like you are staying away from 2007 + vehicles.

[Kiwi-Corolla]

to the forums!

Sounds like you're going to fit in well here. There's plenty to do and lots of great people to meet. I'm sure your experience will come in handy too . Feel free to browse around and make yourself at home

Enjoy!

[Joe_c25]

Go canada go!!! :p

[Solid_Koolaid]

Originally Posted by workerant

seem like you are staying away from 2007 + vehicles.

Well, seems like I'm staying away from 2000+ vehicles actually

Well, not all 2000+, I'd be happy with a 7th gen Celica and I could consider a hatchback Echo... Apart from these, forget it.

I must say I love pre-2000 Toyotas as much as I hate post-2000 ones. Not that they're bad vehicles and I don't buy all the how-practical-now-that-GM-is-owned-by-government Toyota bashing over all the recall etc. But they're just plain bland and boring : mushy feeling all over the cars, be it the pedals, shifter, handling, steering, etc. Predictable looks, in that aspect I feel my brother owns the most boring car the world has ever seen : the 9th generation Corolla (E120, 2003-2008)

Add to this the total annihilation of all "niche" models with some personality to it (Supra, Celica, Solara, MR2, Paseo, ...), the total absence of any flagship and here we are.

But I feel like we may see a glimpse of a comeback. FT86 anyone ? and a slight improvement in looks, even for the Corolla (not that I'm saying it looks great but it couldn't look worse than the previous gen I was mentionning)

Well... once I'm started over Toyotas...


And Go Canada, Go for sure I'd just love to have all the aftermarket stuff as readily available as in the US.

[silver04rollas]

Welcome from Calgary, Alberta

[Solid_Koolaid]

Cheers !