5k: Pooh Brown: 1987 Toyota Tercel Wagon SR5 AWD 5-spd
The 2nd generation S20 Toyota Tercel wasn’t a fast car by any yardstick, but it was one of the only wagons to feature all-wheel-drive and a 6-speed manual transmission. The transmission was really a 5 speed with an additional granny gear for hill climbing, but it did indeed have 6 forward gears when even most sports cars had 4 or 5. Find this 1987 Toyota Tercel Wagon SR5 5-spd for sale in Helena, MT for $3,200 via craigslist.
The Tercel was equipped from the factory with a 1.5 liter inline four that puts out a miserable 63 horsepower. Even with all-wheel-drive and a 5-speed manual the Tercel will barely be able to keep up with a FedUps truck.
Slow speed aside, this could be a great car for a winter beater or a kid’s first car. Gas mileage will be good and the engine should last for another 100k miles with simple maintenance. It’s ugly so your kid will have to let his or her personality do the talking when finding friends in the high school parking lot, and it doesn’t have any Blueteeth, Sat-Nav, or Facebash integration systems to distract Junior from the task at hand.
See a better pooh colored wagon? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
I'm no expert on the marquee, but all of the SR5's of this vintage I've ever seen have "SR5" on the exterior rear door rub strip. SR5 or not, this thing is awesome. Cheap, AWD, manual, wagon. Get rid of the old-man wheel covers, seat covers and bra and you're all set for literally anything nature can throw at you short of deep mud or the Rubicon. I've been further off-road on one of these than I ever dared to go in my 4Runner. Someone please rescue this from (what I presume to be) the rock-salt filled winters of Montana.
Those are aftermarket rubstrips! The 87-88 Tercel Wagons used glue on rubstrips which were prone to falling off.
Actually MT doesn't use salt, and the cars there are exceptionally rust-free. I'd buy a project car from MT (and have) just as soon as I'd buy one from Texas or Arizona.
Needs more red paint and meth.
Yep, it'll say SR5 on the tailgate, I promise. In fact, mine had it on the side moulding – flickr.com/photos/51556967@N00/2842508194 I had an '84 as an interim winter beater when my Volvo 245 took it in the nose back in 2007. This thing won't be fast, but it will run forever. The tinworm had a bigger head start on mine, but I still see it a couple of times a week around town on my way to work.
Not 100% sure, but I do not think that is an original color for that car. Could explain the missing side moulding. A friend had one of these in high school and drove the hell out of it, these things are tanks as long as the tin worm doesn't devour them.
I've seen others in this sh*t brown metallic color, and it appears to be factory as per this link:
toyotareference.com/tercel/1983-1988
No inclinometer ! No deal!
A great example of this car fills a certain niche, in my opinion. Too nice to use here in Nebraska, I would keep it somewhere in the mountains where they don't salt the daylights out of everything.