Good morning! Today we’re keeping it simple, and looking at a couple of nice old runabouts from thirty or so years ago. They’re nothing special, but I found them both charming, and I hope you do too.
Yesterday, I showed you a really nice example of the fundamentally flawed Mazda RX-8, and an opportunity to push the “Easy” button and vote for a somewhat tired Lexus instead. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, with this crowd, that the majority of you chose the hard way. The RX-8 won handily.
I have to agree. That Lexus is a perfectly fine car, I’m sure, but I’m not going to give someone five grand for something like that. Three hundred bucks to rent for the week, sure. But seeing it in my garage every day would be depressing, I think. I’d prefer a second-generation RX-7 to that RX-8, but I wouldn’t say no to it.
Today’s choices are probably not going to seem very inspiring either, but they were both pretty good little economy cars in their day, and they’re a lot more honest-feeling than the few remaining small cars around today. These things aren’t putting on airs; they’re just here to do a job, which is to serve you faithfully, and get you from point A to point B with as little difficulty as possible. They’re the Sam Gamgees of the car world, and we need more of them these days. Let’s take a look.
1988 Toyota Corolla FX – $2,800
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Odometer reading: 197,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
I confess I have been a little hard on the Toyota Corolla in this column in the past. I’ve called them boring, and uninspiring, and I think I even compared them to an Applebee’s restaurant at one point. I’m not going to apologize, but I will admit that they are excellent at what they do. And there is one model of Corolla, available only in the late 1980s, that I have had a bit of a car-crush on all along: the FX hatchback.
And I don’t necessarily mean the “cool” version, the FX-16 GTS, with the twin-cam 4A-GE engine. The standard FX hatchback came with this humble carbureted 4A-C engine, which is only good for seventy-something horsepower, but it’s basically indestructible. For some reason, a whole lot of Corolla FXs ended up with automatic transmissions, including this one. And if I’m reading the gear indicator right, it’s a simple three-speed affair. The seller says it runs and drives great, even though it’s closing in on 200,000 miles, and I’m sure it will take you anywhere you want to go. It’ll just take a while to get there.
It looks good inside, though I get the idea that those seats aren’t original. The rest of the interior doesn’t look blue. But I’d rather have mismatched nice seats than original ripped-up ones. The only other place where this car shows its age inside is on the driver’s side door panel; it’s worn clean through on the top. Somebody spent a lot of miles with the window down and their arm on the windowsill. I’m not surprised; as far as I can tell, it doesn’t have air conditioning.
I don’t know exactly why I’m so drawn to this particular body style of Corolla. It just works, for whatever reason, and I especially like the two-tone versions like this. It looks nice and clean, and in fact the seller says that rust “isn’t a problem.” I assume that means there isn’t any, not that it has rust but they don’t consider it problematic.
1994 Ford Escort LX Wagon – $3,200
Engine/drivetrain: 1.9-liter overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Valparaiso, IN
Odometer reading: 101,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The second generation of the US-model Ford Escort is one of those cars that was so ubiquitous that not many people really had an opinion about it. It just existed, and did its job. Maybe you had one – I did – or knew someone who had one, but if not, it was just sort of an NPC vehicle at the time, part of the scenery. But the thing is, to be that anonymous, something has to be really competent. If it didn’t work well, it would have stood out a lot more.
The Escort was available in four different body styles: two- and four-door hatchbacks, a four-door sedan, and arguably the best one, this four-door wagon. And I say that as someone who chose a four-door hatch. The wagon is just so damn useful, and even better, it’s well-proportioned and good-looking. This one is painted in the same “Electric Smurf” color as my Escort, and I still really like the color. It’s an LX, meaning that it has the basic 1.9 liter Ford CVH instead of the rowdy 1.8 liter Mazda BP engine that the Escort GT had. It’s also an automatic, which is a minor disappointment, but so was mine, and it was fine. This one runs well, and has just had its water pump and timing belt changed, so it’s good to go for a good long while.
All Escorts of this era had motorized seat belts; you just had to put up with them. This looks like one of the “belt and suspenders” cars that also came with a driver’s side airbag. It’s in nice shape inside, with only a few signs of wear. It’s a comfy car, too; I put a lot of miles on mine on road trips and it treated me well.
The wheels and tires are new, and obviously not stock, but I think they suit it well. The wider tires might cut into the Escort’s excellent fuel economy a little bit, but who cares? They look great. It’s an Indiana car, so you’d be wise to check underneath for rust, especially since the seller saw fit to take the photos from somewhere across the street, apparently.
Yes, they both have two-digit horsepower figures and automatic transmissions. No, they’re not going to win any drag races. But what are you in such a hurry for, anyway? Nobody needs to get to 60 MPH in five seconds, or eight, or even ten. Just take your time, enjoy the scenery, leave the rat race to others. Which is the one for you?
(Image credits: sellers)
The wheels make me wonder what other bad ideas were done to the Escort. That combined with the Mazda transmission that is not a pinnacle of durability makes me reluctantly say Corolla.
I can’t get excited about either, but I voted for the Escort because of those wheels.
I miss the days when everybody I knew had custom wheels, subwoofers, and grant steering wheels. Now we all drive minivans.
If the mileage were still good, I’d happily drive the Corolla around town. The Escort is decent, but the wheels make me wonder if it was a teen’s first car and mistreated.
Can’t vote against the FX. My sister’s first car was an FX just like this one and 13-year-old me found it for her when my father was car shopping on a used lot. The FX’s back story is pretty cool and it’s not often you can say that about anything named “Corolla.”
Voted Escort wagon. Cool color and useful. It’s cool that there are still cars this cheap out there even if they’re a little old. Too many used cars are crazy money these days. If either of these had been a stick, it would have my vote but had to go blue wagon.
With a 5spd, is be all over the corolla. But the 3spd auto made for buzzy sadness. The blue will do.
Gotta have the wagon. If I were buying it, I might even put fake wood on the sides!
I had to vote Escort because it’s the same color (or very close to it) as the ’91 2-door hatch that I had in the early-to-mid-2010s. Mine had the peasant-spec grey plastic bumpers and 13″ steel wheels though, which I think I actually prefer to the all-one-color configuration of this one.
I actually had an Escort wagon, but it was the shortest ownership experience of any car I’ve had. The genius that sold it to me was either running straight water, or some very wrong mix of coolant, so on a very cold day the weekend after I bought it, the temp gauge suddenly went from full cold to full hot, and it died before my brain did the math of what was going on. I was going to swap the engine from my ’91 into it, but ran into annoying problems trying to disassemble things, and ended up scrapping both of them *and* the other 2-door hatch I had at the time.
I’d still buy another one though maybe, if I hadn’t upgraded from Escort Emporium to Saabaru Fleet.
I’m replying to my own comment because I thought about it more, and while I would still pick the Escort if I had to choose between these two, I wouldn’t actually want to buy it. The reason I liked my ’91 so much is that it was a $500 pile of rust and bondo, so I didn’t have to worry about keeping it nice, or “ruining” it by doing fun things like adding rally lights, stickers, bedliner stripes to hide rust, and angry eyebrows. My current Saabaru is a much better spiritual successor to that car, since it was also very cheap, rusty, and beat up. It’s been subjected to pretty much all the same things; rally lights, questionable repainting, stickers, and levels of hoonish behavior that you wouldn’t want to subject a near-mint 30 year old car too. Heck, they even both needed a janky wiring “fix” to get around a shifter issue that was stopping them from starting. They’re pretty much the same car, and I didn’t even think about it until now.
This was a tough one. Went Toyota because it looks like more fun to drive.
I like them both, but I can’t turn down a blue wagon.
Fuck mouse belts! FX by default.
I like the FX too, but driving that one would just make me sad it wasn’t the FX-16.
We’ll take the Escort long roof in The Good Color.
Smurfy! But not for $3200. Maybe $320.
neither are much of a desire, and either at that price make them a bit pricy for winter beater consideration. though if handed 3K and told to buy one or the other, I would likely end up with the one with Fuel injection and an OD slushbox. half the miles is also something to tout, but let’s be honest 100K in a non Mazda powered Ford is pretty equivalent to a 200K Toyota most days.
Ford Escort for $3200? Hell no, I paid $1000 for my Mercury Tracer wagon with 57k miles and similar condition. Since when an Escort is valued like that? Don’t answer this because it can go the wrong way lol
This was a tough one. I went with the Corolla, but only just barely. I love that generation of Escort, especially the wagon. The color is great. But at 3200, and i need to swap out the wheels? For a 30 year old Escort wagon? Blerg.
I don’t mind tasteful wheel upgrades, but this one doesn’t pass the vibe check, at all. And while that’s theoretically an easy fix, those wheels are throwing red flags. Give me examples of bad judgement, and I start to wonder what else the owner has been up to…
Call me biased but as the son of a master mechanic, a Ford is 100% a no. I might consider it if someone else is paying for the car, maintenance, and parts.
Normally, I’d jump all over a small wagon, but there’s something suspicious about this Escort that I can’t quite put my finger on. Can’t ignore my Spidey sense, so I’m going to Corolla the dice on the FX today.
It’s the wheels. The wheels are screaming “RUN AWAY”.
Yep
As if being a wagon isn’t enough for me to pick the Escort.., those branded mudflaps seal the deal.
Still have fond memories of my 92 Escort Wagon 5 speed that rusted out. It’s amazing how much I could fit in that thing. Reliable as the wagon is long, the only weird thing is it would get stuck in 5th if you coasted to a stop with the clutch in. Thought I’d break the shifter and smoke the clutch trying to get it out but learned to work around it. Yeah the intermittent mouse belts would try to choke me but it was part of the fun.
Paying for an escort is on my bucket list so escort! Wait, that came out wrong… Oh well. Really the wheels and color made the difference for me.
That FX popped up in my scrolling of Marketplace yesterday. I looked it over, but lost interest at the transmission. I voted Escort for more speeds, more doors, more wagon, and more color! Plus, I think it has AC, which is ALWAYS a serious consideration.
My boss had one of those Escort wagons I had to drive occasionally, the thing stalled all the time. Nightmares at traffic lights, gotta be the carbureted Corolla for me.
You took your boss’ escort for a ride on numerous occassions?! Wow man. I would not have admitted that in public but you do you I guess.
He told me to do it! “She’s a little rough, so don’t worry about bagging her hard,” I believe is how the conversation went.
So many things I would love to say in response to this, but I try to keep my comments family friendly, so I will just say that I am glad I put down my coffee before reading this comment or I would have ruined my work monitor.
until one of the bajillion vacuum lines on those end of the era carbs decides to randomly crack, but in a place you are unable to see. and then you get the Toyota stalling all the time
Fewer miles, cheaper and one more speed in the transmission? I can suffer with the mouse belts, so gimme the Escort. It’s more practical, too.
I want the FX. I wouldn’t use either of these cars as a daily because I don’t want to die, so give me the minimalist experience you can’t get with modern cars. Buying a car with no options in 1988 really meant no options. You want power windows? Please, you should just be happy this thing has power steering.
(It wouldn’t surprise me though if someone said the FX did not have power steering)
Heck, this one has two side mirrors… that was the lap of luxury.