Nearly Forgotten Runabouts: 1982 Toyota Tercel vs 1995 Geo Prizm

Welcome back to another Shitbox Showdown! Today we’ve got a couple of economy-minded cars you probably haven’t thought about in a while. And the good news is, they’re not half bad deals for once! Both of them run, neither one of them is rusty, and the prices are more or less reasonable. I guess I’m just feeling magnanimous.

Yesterday’s choices weren’t half bad either, I thought, but you didn’t have much to say about them one way or the other. I expected the Valiant to tug at some more heartstrings – who doesn’t love a big chrome Hurst shifter? But in the end, the Thunderbird took an easy win.

As for me, I’m not sure which way I would go on that choice. I do love a good personal luxury coupe. but a Thunderbird would not be my first choice. I’d be looking for a Chrysler Cordoba, I think, if I wanted a car like that. Or a G-body Pontiac Grand Prix, though they’re getting really hard to find. So I think, between these two, I’d take the Valiant, but it’s a close call. If it were a two-door hardtop or a Duster, it would be a lot more clear-cut choice, of course.

Anyway, what do you say to a couple of old stickshift Toyotas? One of them says “Corolla” on the back but really isn’t one, and the other one actually is a Corolla but doesn’t even say “Toyota” on it. But what’s in a name? That which we call a shitbox, by any other name, would be as sweet of a deal. Or something like that. Here they are.

1982 Toyota Corolla Tercel – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1,5 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Salem, OR

Odometer reading: 181,000 miles

Runs/drives? Yep!

In the late 1970s, Toyota had already made a name for itself in the US as a maker of reliable, efficient little cars, largely on the success of the popular Corolla model. Maybe that’s why this car, Toyota’s first front-wheel-drive car, bore the name “Corolla Tercel” for the first couple of years, even though it had nothing in common with the rear-wheel-drive Corolla line. Toyota also briefly sold the Starlet here, an even smaller rear-wheel-drive hatchback that looked a lot like the Tercel; I guess it wanted to make its model lineup as confusing as possible.

The first couple generations of Tercel had a bizarre drivetrain layout, which Jason has discussed before. It has a longitudinally-mounted engine, unusual but not unheard-of for a front-driver. But the engine sits atop the differential and final drive, rather than in front of it, with the gearbox slung out behind both. Toyota apparently figured out early on that this setup would make a 4WD version easy, but this generation was never so equipped. You’ll also notice that the drivetrain is slightly to the left of the car’s centerline. No, the engine’s not canted-over like an Audi or a Saab – the whole thing is actually off-center.

However weird it may be, it worked great, and the Tercel became at least as well-known for reliability and durability as the Corolla. They’re a rare sight these days, owing to Toyota’s near-complete lack of rust prevention in the late 1970s and early ’80s, but this one seems to have survived the decades in fine form. There’s no sign of rust that I can see, and the seller says everything works just fine. It could use new tires, it sounds like, on those sharp-looking gold wheels, but apart from that it’s ready to rock.

You probably wouldn’t want to drive this car every day – sixty horsepower and a near-complete lack of creature comforts would get tiresome quickly – but unlike a lot of classics, you could, if you wanted to.

1995 Geo Prizm LSi – $2,200

Engine/drivetrain: 1.8 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Hillsboro, OR

Odometer reading: 194,000 miles

Runs/drives? Indeed!

A decade or so later, in California, New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated was cranking out Toyota Corollas for the US market, only they didn’t call them Corollas. Okay, they weren’t quite Corollas; they were actually based on a Corolla variant called the Sprinter, but they weren’t called that either. They were Prizms, sold through Chevrolet’s short-lived Geo brand.

This is a second-generation Prizm, based on the seventh-generation Sprinter. It’s the fancy LSi model, powered by Toyota’s 7A-FE four-cylinder engine, driving the front wheels through a five-speed manual. I used to own a Corolla of this generation with the same powertrain; it’s as sturdy as they come, but it won’t exactly raise your pulse rate. The seller says it runs just fine, and that the engine was “serviced” in March. That could mean anything, but hopefully it includes the timing belt and water pump, due every 60,000 miles on these, if I recall.

As an LSi model, it also includes such niceties as a sunroof, power windows and locks, and – surprisingly for a Geo – leather seats. The photos show a popped seam on the driver’s side, but otherwise it looks pretty good for a twenty-eight-year-old car with nearly two hundred thousand miles.

This car would, obviously, make a brilliant daily driver, assuming you want something with a stick, and if not, why are you reading this site? Yeah, it’s a little dull, but at least it’s not the zero-options penalty box that my Corolla was. It’s funny; I used to love plain-Jane base models, now this is about the bare minimum of stuff I’m willing to tolerate on a daily driver.

I’m not sure there’s a bad choice here, which is unusual, I know. They’re not performance cars, but performance isn’t everything, and a well-built car just feels good to drive. Either one could be daily driven, and frankly, either one could be tidied up a bit and shown off at Cars & Coffee. I mean, when was the last time you saw a nice Geo Prizm or first-gen Tercel? All you have to do is choose.

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)