Good morning! It’s time for another Shitbox Showdown, and today, we’re going back to basics and looking at a couple of cheap clunkers just to get around in. But first, let’s finish up our Route 66 tour and see where you landed on Friday’s cruisers:
Solid win for the funky Dart. A lot of you felt the Jeepster was too slow and too primitive to really be much fun except for in a parade, and I’m inclined to agree. Besides, I’m a sucker for Jet Age styling.
Now, today, we’re getting back to our roots. Cheap economical wheels are still a necessity for a lot of folks, and buying something for whatever cash you can scrape together makes a lot more sense than going to one of those predatory “buy here pay here” places in the hopes of finding something nicer. Unfortunately, $500 shitboxes are $1,500 these days, and halfway decent $1,500 beaters are now $3,000. Still, there are some bargains to be had, if you dig a little. Here are two broadly viable options I found in my neck of the woods, each well under two grand.
1985 Toyota Tercel Wagon – $1,750
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5 liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Gresham, OR
Odometer reading: 277,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep
Toyota’s humble Tercel deserves a more prominent place in automotive history than I think it’s going to get. This little unsung hero of college campuses and city commutes throughout the 1980s and 90s never was cool or glamorous, nor anything even approaching high-performance, but it proved a stalwart companion to millions, and nearly everyone I know who had one remembers it fondly.
[Editor’s Note: I always liked the weird, huge plastic unit for the license plate, lone reverse lamp, and tailgate handle that looks kind of like it might be an in-wall ATM machine. – JT]
This is the second-generation Tercel, which retained the longitudinal engine layout of the first generation. Most were front-wheel-drive, including this one; some wagons were equipped with a part-time four-wheel-drive system using a solid rear axle from the RWD (at the time) Corolla. The 4WD wagons command a premium; in this price range we’re stuck with FWD only.
Unfortunately, this one also has an automatic transmission. I’ve never understood the reasoning behind buying a small car for economy, then equipping it with a gearbox that eats into the fuel economy and sucks up a big chunk of the meager power available (just 63 horsepower in this case). But that mistake was made thirty-eight years ago; there’s no sense crying over it now. The incredibly cool blue plaid seats do make up for it a little bit, though.
The seller doesn’t give us much to go on regarding its mechanical condition, other than that the little 1.5 liter four just had its timing belt replaced. There’s also working air conditioning, though I imagine switching it on only makes matters worse in the acceleration department. No matter; better to arrive late and refreshed than on-time and sweaty.
1995 Buick Skylark – $1,200
Engine/drivetrain: 3.1 liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Beavercreek, OR
Odometer reading: 139,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yes, but needs a little tinkering
General Motors’s N-body is, of course, no stranger to the bottom end of the used car market. Almost since they debuted in 1985, these slightly-bigger-than-compacts seemed destined to be beaters, with their cheap plastic interiors and sturdy simple drivetrains. And for decades, they’ve been a decent choice if you just need something cheap to get around in. The most common variant seen is the Pontiac Grand Am, but it just so happens that at the moment, the cheap $1,200 Grand Am for sale in Portland is in fact a Buick Skylark.
The first generation of N-bodies all looked alike, and were distinguishable only by trim and badges. In the second generation, introduced in 1992, each GM division styled their own sheetmetal, and Buick went for broke. The new Skylark’s pointy nose turned off some traditional buyers (my grandpa, a long-time Skylark owner, was one of them), but I always liked it better than the Olds or Pontiac variants. In four-door guise it looks a little awkward, but the two-door coupes were actually pretty slick.
This Skylark runs and drives fine, but it does need a few little things. The heater core is plugged; it might be able to be flushed out, but it also might need replacement. The driver’s power window needs a new regulator. And one rear wheel is bent, likely a result of a pothole – we have one or two million of them around here.
[Editor’s Note: I always thought the front end looks like a bird face. I like it. – JT]
But for twelve hundred bucks, in this day and age, it runs and you can drive it home. You’re not likely to find anything better for cheaper. A weekend or two, a trip to the junkyard, and you could whip this thing into shape easily.
Obviously, neither one of these is anybody’s dream car. But then again, if you just gotta get to work, and you can’t (or don’t want to) make a bunch of payments, something like one of these might just be the answer. Which one of these looks like a better deal?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
How does that pointy bumper survive a low speed impact? Anyone who has parallel- parked one want to enlighten me?
I don’t thing their buyers were driving them anywhere near a place with parallel parking.
I have to think this design somehow got by NHTSA who a few years later was like “um, so we’ve been getting reports of weird pedestrian injuries of a bird of prey like nature so we thought we’d take a look and…”
The Skylark has enough HP to get out of its own way. Also the pictures of the interior don’t evoke nasty smells in my imagination. (Although the Tercel pictures in the ad don’t look as bad as that passenger door view.)
Not so much horsepower, though certainly a lot more than the Toyota. It’s the torque that makes the difference, especially in a long-stroke V6 like the 3.1.
Big Tercel 4wd Wagon fan and owner here (and those seats are from the SR5 4wd wagon and actually really comfy). The 2wd autos go okayish as the car is so light but I know from the forums are penalty box at any speed doing about 3200rpm at 60 mph. But they can be damn reliable and roomy inside
Also I’m not sure about what a buick is coming from Australia. But seems like its been well looked after.
I’d pick the Buick just for novelty.
BEAK
Definitely the Tercel. I can fix anything on that little car with a pair of pliers and a pocket knife. I’ve had one before. Can’t go wrong.
Buick all day for this guy! That red is too much on that body design though. I don’t know, it’s just hard to equate bright, hot, fun fiesta-like colors with 90s Buick. A dark blue or green would be choice instead.
Once you see the ATM on the rear hatch of the Toyota, you can’t un-see it!
Another great one today, thanks Mark!
Both would be good candidates to bring to Radwood or similar shows, the Tercel would get more attention especially for the Breaking Bad factor even though Jesse’s was a 4WD. The Buick would merely be “when’s the last time you saw one of those why did it even survive” (surely an elderly person’s car as others noted). I’m surprising myself going for the Buick and going by the score so far I think a lot of people are surprising themselves too.
I can appreciate that they tried to go different but I’ve always thought that Skylark was a homely car inside and out, both pre- or post-facelift. I think the years where they didn’t have any front badging such as this one were a major factor, an odd sort of anonymity. But it’s clean, looks well-maintained, and cheaper. Even if the Tercel were a manual, I think I’d still lean Buick here.
Toyotas have a reputation for running forever, but is the Tercel really worth paying nearly a 50% premium over the Buick that’s 10 years newer with half the mileage?
I don’t know the answer to that question. I just came here to say that whenever I read “Buick Skylark” I hear it in the voice (and accent) of Marisa Tomei’s character in My Cousin Vinny, and that made me smile on this Monday morning.
I had an 87 Tercel4wd…. i miss that car every single day. In North Dakota, this car was a lifesaver. -30 degrees? Fired right up. Blizzard with piles of snow, blasted right through it. Fill the back with hunting equipment and a giant black labrador retriever? No problem for the tercel.
The only problem was the auto transmission after 394,000 miles. I lost reverse and had to strategically park in walmart parking lots…
I have a soft spot for the Tercel, but had to vote Buick. My oldest son drove a 1990 green manual Tercel coupe, fondly nicknamed “The Turtle” from high school all the way through grad school. When he finally got rid of it, it had more than 300K miles and was still running decently, but since he and his wife had their first child, he realized he couldn’t put their baby in such an unsafe car.
The Buick, although it has a nose that’s a caricature of the 2nd gen Skylark, still looks OK to me and the V6 is a decent engine. I’d definitely prefer the increased safety and performance over the Tercel. Replace the heater core and wheel, ignore the window regulator and you’ve got a decent, running car for well under $2 grand.
I’ve fallen for plaid and I can’t get up.
I had an ’85 Tercel SR5 with the six speed and 4WD and it is the vehicle I most regret selling.
I think everybody is missing something here.
The Tercel is a 1980’s emission regulated CARBURETED engine. The snarl of vacuum hoses under the air filter gave me the willies.
It is not often I don’t pick the Toyota, but it isn’t the car I’d pick here. N bodies are cockroaches, too – but with electronic fuel injection in this case.
Fuck messing with carburetors in the cold and all the problems that come with those mysterious venturi operated boxes. I do not care for the merits of a mechanical fuel delivery system and how they’re ‘actually pretty easy to work on.’ Electronic fuel injection was adopted across the board for a good reason, and I don’t want a lesson in why while I’m trying to get to work.
I’ve had a few carbureted cars from the late 70’s, and with a little forethought, most of those hoses can be removed and/or plugged, thus turning the engine into a 60’s version. I grew up in a DIY household, and was taking carburetors apart before I could drive.
See above. I want the fuel delivery system that doesn’t have any requirements or needs to be as good as something else already available.
Yup. A 1982 Volvo 245 was my only car for years, and while it was fun, the “classic car as a daily” experience grates on you.
‘Runs forever’ means something very different than ‘runs every time.’ I actually never had any problems with the SU carb- it had a manual choke, and always started even in -30°. No issues with vapour lock, and my Canadian model was free of vacuum smog equipment. Very different than this Toyota.
But oh man, did that Volvo chew through distributor caps and rotors…. I had to stockpile the ‘good ones’, which turned out to be Beru brand, not Bosch, or whatever came in the blue Volvo box. Regardless of attempts at water proofing/repellents, I often had to pop the cap off and dry it out after a heavy rain.
These are the sort of inexpensive, but constant issues you have to deal with when you drive a 40 year old car. Not the kind of thing someone who needs cheap transport wants to be dealing with.
More stories, please!
The problem with that Tercel is that, while the Tercel is cool, a Tercel with an automatic is going to be about as fast as continental drift.
While the worst driving experience I’ve ever had was in an N-body – a Grand Am where the windows wouldn’t stay up (in winter) and the lights suddenly cut out while driving home at night – the Skylark is weird, interesting and capable of being happily driven on modern roads.
If the tercel had the 5 speed, I’d go with it. Not the 3 slush. I still have flashbacks to the one time I drove a hatchback to the dealership from auction in high school (fun summer job). Getting to 60 mph took approximately 3 lifetimes and the tortured scream of the engine trying to maintain it was the worst. Maybe, maybe as a city only car. Anyway, the skylark could probably at least handle highway commutes.
I’m in general a fan of General Motors, and in particular a fan of Buick. But not that Buick. The styling on these was a huge miss. One of these was my driver’s ed car, and I hated driving that miserable squirrely little shitbox. I much preferred when I got assigned the other driver’s ed car, an ’87 Caprice wagon with about 45 degrees of free play in the steering. I felt much more comfortable driving that tank, than that shitty little ugly ass Skylark.
I’ll suffer with the automatic Tercel. At least I can enjoy the majesty of plaid seats.
My uncle had a 2-door Skylark in white when I was a kid. Whenever I see a Skylark I immediately get a faint whiff of Marlboro reds.
It’s a bonkers looking car (that pointy front bumper is goofy as hell) and if I’m shopping for a beater, might as well get weird with it. Normally I’d be all over the Tercel, but the Skylark is a better choice here. If it were a 4WD Tercel, it’d be no contest.
One of the ugliest front ends ever on that Buick, then call attention to it by painting it red? Nope. Also, it rides and drives like a car twice its size. No thanks.
Give me the practical, and likely reliable Toyota, plus a weekend with a Bissell Spotclean Pro and an ozone machine.
I went with the Buick this time. The problem with the Tercel is the used car yellow key tag. Get the just buy it from a dealer and found a huge problem? Are they a dealer trying to flip it? Just something seems off.
All I know is that if you show me any vehicle where a window or two is unnecessarily larger than every other piece of glass (such as the 2nd generation Ramcharger, the 90’s Tahoe, that Tercel wagon, etc), it’s an automatic downvote and an individual whose grossed out.
No matter how someone explains it to me, it ruins the looks of every vehicle its styled into.
I have some experience with both of these; the Skylark as a rental for a couple of weeks back in the day, and with the Tercel Wagon via my mom, a School Nurse. She had a blue one in 4WD- as a nurse she felt like she absolutely, positively had to get there and the Tercel always did. It didn’t last that long though. When the car was a couple/three years old, we moved from PA to VA. The VA inspection guys has never seen that kind of rust and they immediately condemned the car. My mom cried when they towed it away to go to the scrap yard.
The Skylark? In the 14 days I drove it, it struck me as the most embarrassing piece of slapped together from the cheapest available materials sold piece of shit to ever be pawned off on Buick customers in the history of the brand.
But those are just, like, my opinions, man…
Anyone who chooses the Skylark over the Tercel needs their head examined.
Almost triple the power, a decade newer, and much better looking all for less money? And we are the ones who need our heads examined?
I’d rather arrive at my destination than only make it part way there, faster.
I would not put very much trust in a 38 year old car with 277,000 miles on it no matter the reputation of its maker.
Maybe, but I don’t think 10 years difference would amount to much either. I’ve had some experience with friends with cars with that platform and if you caught the intake manifold gaskets in time, the 3.1 was okay. But then you have to contend everything built around it as well.
I don’t want to have to mess with a 38 year old carburetor that has 43 vacuum hoses plugged in to it that’s being fussy on a cold winter morning when I’m trying to get to work.
Yeah, maybe it’s not that bad, but I’ll take fuel injected cockroach any day over a carb.
Hard disagree, early 80s to mid 90s is an absolute chasm in car technology.
We went from death trap cars with carburetors to:
Modern cars are even multiple leagues safer and more performant, but other than hybrids, SatNav/infotainment, and active cruise control/collision avoidance, most of the technology found on current ICE cars debuted in the 90s.
I dunno, I picked the Tercel too, but these both suck.
I mean, you’re not wrong. It’s more a question of which is less worse.
Eh. I’m a Toyota fan, but I voted for the Skylark. That Tercel is tired. With 277k miles, I guarantee it burns a fair bit of oil and some unknown number of parts are near end-of-life. The Skylark looks like it has been babied. Sure it has a few problems, but they are problems I could fix with very minimal cost.
I’d park the Tercel and last week’s Aztek in my driveway and my neighbors would be certain I’m running a meth lab in my basement. Not saying they already do.
Only on TV tho
The heater core makes me nervous on the Skylark, on some cars that can be a miserable job to replace. But, I’ll take it over the Tercel. Those old Toyotas run forever but 277k miles is getting a little too close to “forever” than I’d be comfortable with. Especially because this one looks beat up and filthy, and that Buick looks like a typical “grandma drove it to church” car. And it’s red, my favorite car color.
I don’t even see or think about Tercels much any more, but my friend’s dad has one that he bought new in 1990 and it’s still his daily driver.
The fact that it’s a 90s GM product in red, with no fading or clearcoat failure, and that the dash is still shiny and uncracked, tells you everything about the sort of person who owned this – clearly a garage kept grandma’s car for most of its life
I like the funk factor of the Skylark (with a laundry list of issues that nearly screams Gossin car, just add something bigger to knock another $600 off the price), but in fact the best of these cars was the Oldsmobile Achieva. Especially the coupe, which could be had with a manual unlike IIRC the Skylark.
Funny, I just voted for the Buick.
“Gossin Car” has a nice ring to it – cheers Jack!