The engine replacement was due to (as I understand it) a manufacturing
problem with the 5 cyl. engine.  It did not leave me stranded, but
would eventually shorten engine life.  The dealer here did not give me
a terribly hard time changing it for free.

Yes, (some, I know a few people who got sold on Toyota for reliability
and found out it is not always true), a  Toyota _may_ give you more
trouble-free miles in terms of breakdowns, but then you have to drive
all those 100,000 + miles in a coffin-sized tin can, while putting up
with lousy handling.

I've driven a few Tercels, a few SR5s, Corolla, Camry, Supra.
In terms of handling The only two that impressed me were the Camry and
the Supra.  The rest is either truly boring at best, or outright bad.

In short, if you want to get a Toyota that is both reliable and
handles well, you have to pay more than what an EV costs, and you
won't even get 1/4 th the space...

Cetin

 > From: "bill (w.r.) crick" <crick@bnr.ca>
 > To: vanagon@lenti
 > Subject: Good News Story? 
 > Message-ID:  <"22367 Thu Feb 29 15:11:47 1996"@bnr.ca> 
 > 
 > This is good news? New engine at 18K!! Never stranded in 38K! JEEZ!
 > The only time my Tercel failed  was a 5 minute intermittant 
 > problem that occurred at just beyond 100K miles and I was really miffed
 > that the  piece of S**t failed so early in its life! Had it needed a tow, 
 > I would have been really mad! The 'ignitor' in
 > the ignition was replaced, and the problem never re-occurred
 > This is the only part other than brakes, exhaust that has been replaced.
 > Of course at 110,000 miles, its just getting broken in.
 > You guys seem to have a bent view of RELIABLE?