Well, right now I have a 1988 Toyota Celica that I bought about a
month ago for $400. It's a nice car, pretty quick, good on fuel and
handles well, but I'm finding it's a bit small for me (2 passengers
MAX, 3 in an emergency), plus it's gonna need a lot of work before I
can get it back on the road. Righthand side frame rail needs to be
rebuilt, right side rocker panel almost the whole unit needs to be
repaired, couple large rust holes on the floor and the front
crossmember is severly rotted out. I've been eyeing a 1990 cutlass
Cruiser wagon for a while now. Actually, I was all set to buy this
particular wagon when I found the Celica, and since I thought the
Celica was in better shape than the wagon, I bought it instead. Turns
out I am wrong. The wagon, so far as I know, needs 2 rear shocks, some
exhaust work, perhaps 2 E-brake cables, perhaps a fuel tank and a
windshield. It's not a very pretty car, but I'm not much into looks. I
was looking at it a few weeks ago, and I thought it was actually a
pretty cool car, in a nerdish sort of way. I thought the
'mother-in-law' seat in the cargo area was just the neatest thing. The
wagon has AC, but I don't know if it works, also has cruise which I
assume does work, and one power window won't roll down. It's also got
the full gauge package, and a power reclining seat. When I was last
over looking at it, I fired it up and took it for a short spin around
the block. Suspension seems to be fine, brakes seem good and the pedal
is nice and firm. As for the engine itself, it starts up and runs good
for a minute or so, then the SES light comes on and it runs rough.
Maybe a coolant temp sensor or IAC? I had a 1990 Cutlass Ciera before
I bought the Celica. I only had it for a month before I had to junk
it. The left rear suspension arm pulled away from the body one day
when I hit a pothole. At the time I didn't quite know what happened,
but I knew something was funny because the car felt like it was
twisting to one side. That day, on the way home, I was playing with
the car a bit on the highway, passing people at 90 mph and whatnot.
The Ciera had the 3300 and 4 speed OD tranny, same as the wagon has.
The Ciera had the onboard Driver Information System computer, and I
usually had it set to display fuel economy. When I first got the
Ciera, the O2 sensor was shot, and my average fuel mileage was only
about 20. I replaced the O2, and my fuel mileage instantly jumped to
27.4! This includes highway, city and some inbetween driving. Not too
shabby eh? I really liked the car, but one day while my dad was just
about finished welding that suspension arm, the rear seat caught fire
and destryoed the seat and the headliner, and left a thick black layer
of soot on every surface of the car. The fire also apparently damaged
some wire or something for the fuel pump, because the car wouldn't run
after that. I decided it wasn't worth saving, and I had it hauled
away. Now, when I went and bought the Celica, I had already told the
guy with the wagon that I wanted it and got him to hold it for me, so
I made up some story that the bank with-held my paycheck so I couldn't
buy the wagon, blah blah, then I went and bought that other car. At
the time, the guy only wanted $300 (Canadian) for the wagon. Now I see
he's marked it down to $200 or best offer. I don't get paid again for
another week and a half, but when I do get my money, I think I'll send
my mother over there and get her to offer the guy something like $150
for the car, and if he doesn't want to go that low, just give him the
200. See, I don't think he'd want to sell the car to me after I
screwed him the first time on it. I had some remorse about buying the
Celica and not the wagon, and I felt bad for the guy too, because he
wasn't working and probably needed that money. Well now I think I'll
correct the situation. I'll fix up the Celica, have it safety
inspected, then sell it and use whatever money I get out of it and put
it towards getting the wagon on the road. So how many here have Abody
wagons? What kind of fuel mileage, performance and reliability can I
expect to get?