Buying a Tercel?

[tacosandsauce]

I'm a taco owner, and as much as I love my truck(05) the mpg of it leaves something to be desired. I've been looking for a tercel for my school/work commute and unfortunately a couple of good looking prospects have been sold before I get to them. So anyways I have a few questions and would like some opinions. This car was just listed tonite http://www.craigslist.org/sby/car/150434516.html . It looks clean from the pictures but of course the mechanical soundness of the car has nothing to do with it's appearance. So my questions are 1. Does this seem like a fair price with the "brand new engine"? I know I'll have to probe the engine issue a bit.and 2. What kind of mpg should I expect with this configuration? 30 or closer to 40? I know the epa estimates say one thing but what are the real life numbers?3.Anyhting else I should watch out for or need to know IYO? I know I'll probably get flamed with a do a search remark but I got like 3 more hours of homework I got to do tonite and then get up at 6:00 a.m. so any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Tercel GTS]

Yeah, take it for a drive, get on a long sweeping right turn and give it hell! At the end of the turn pay attention to the passenger mirror to see if it smokes. If it does the valve seals are leaking.

[tacosandsauce]

Are you *&^king serious or just intoxicated I don't think the owner would appreciate me rallying his car like that but if I go on a solo test drive what he doesn't know won't hurt him right But seriously is the gas mileage low 30's or high 30's for these cars or what?I go to sleep now.

[idavid76]

I also bought my 95' Tercel 2-door DX 5MT about a year ago because my MPG on my truck was killing me. I have a 2004 Nissan Frontier lifted, locked with 32" ATs, needless to say I get about 15-16 MPG tops. So I bought my Tercel to commute back and forth to work (75 miles a day +/-). I paid $2900 for mine but with the original engine with 115K, that little car is awesome when it comes to MPG, I constantly get 36-37MPGs. The lowest I've seen it go was 34MPGs and the highest was 41MPGs. I love it when I see all these idiots with 30K hybrids getting a little tad more MPGs than my little 3K turtle (green Tercel). I have never owned nor do I expect or desire to own a Toyota, but these guys here are cool and full of info, and the Tercel has not needed anything to keep it running. I did do some stuff to it when I first bought it like, KYB shocks, Goldline lowering springs, 15" AR Coil rims, Kumho Ecsta tires, Front and rear brakes, and a major service with the timing belt. I only did it because I chose to do it, not because it really needed it. The only thing that I will need to do is probably replace the rear main seal because I am starting to notice nickel sized oil stains when it sits over the weekend and I have narrowed it down to that. I will do the clutch then as well just because I am in there already and maybe the oil pan gasket as well.

[Tercel GTS]

I've gotten 41mpg on the highway without the a/c running, 36 with, and around 34 city with a 5 speed manual. Oh yeah, I was dead serious about the drive. You're interested in handing over your hard earned cash right?

[tacosandsauce]

Thanks for the replies.