The 1984 Celica GTS we bought new. Driven HARD by my wife and I, then our 2 kids learned to drive on this car, then my son appropriated it for college, then as his daily commuter. It was a perfect car for teens (great handling and brakes, just enough engine to keep up with traffic, birth control front and rear seats
).
The Fujitsu Ten premium stereo was the first thing to go, followed by varied switches. Plastic trim was the worst feature for reliability, then the uphholstery. Rotors tended to warp fairly easily. Otherwise a sturdy car, with COLD AC the entire life of the car without service!
The Toy died of blown head gasket last weekend after reaching 333000 miles. Instrumentation was starting to act up (Temp guage indicated overheating, the Toy techs said to ignore it as it really wasn't overheating, the guage was faulty, and they no longer made a replacement guage: 35 miles later, the engine is toast.
).
Most of the repairs were typical replacables - struts, water pumps, batteries, distributer gear, etc. - basically a slightly tuned pu truck engine. It didn't like to keep exhaust gaskets, but the rest of the running gear lasted the course for us.
Replaced by Suginami's FINE 93 E320, so despite his nostalgia for loss of his first car, my son is a very happy camper!
