Hello all, I am new to these forums and am on a crash course. I have the opportunity to buy a pretty tight 96 with 103,000 miles on it. The only thing not stock is an aftermarket air intake, which I understand hurts miles per gallon so that would be the first thing I take off?
Is there anything in particular I should be looking at on this model while checking it over? I am new to Toyotas but excited to buy one. I've heard gas mileage is really good and they are fun to drive. It is the 2200 motor. Thank you in advance!

Check for grinding when downshifting into third and second, it's common for third gear to develop synchronizer issues. Second can develop issues as well, but it's not as often. The rest is typical used car things to look out for.

Fuel economy with the GT is ok, but nothing spectacular.

This post has been edited by Box: Aug 12, 2014 - 7:24 PM

What type of mpg? I read a lot of reviews. I do 70% highway, so I was hoping for 28 to 30??

29 was its original highway mileage rating, 22 was its original city mileage rating. You should get into the mid-upper 20's if you keep your foot out of it.

These cars are known for rust along the bottoms of the doors and on the fenders behind the rear wheels. Be sure to check both places. Lately it seems as though they've hit the right age for the distributors to be a common issue, as well as rusting steel brake lines and fuel filler necks. My brake lines rusted out with only very minimal rust on the body so I had no idea I had any issues underneath the car, so it's well worth getting the car on a lift and checking. Otherwise, Box touched on the common 3rd gear syncro issue, and I was able to get 32 highway mpg out of mine before I swapped.

Rust....??? Oh yeah, I always forget that's an issue in other places. If you want better mpg you can throw in the 5th gear from a Camry.

if you shift at 2200 and don't go much over 60mph you can get up to 33mpg, 25mpg avgerage if you speed.
Just ask them if they've done anything to the motor; timing belt, water pump, head gasket, clutch ect.
you're supposed to do the timing belt every 60k miles, and you should do the water pump and pulleys while your're at it.

also check to see the radiator, is it full, is it nice and clean looking or oily. and the overflow bottle that attaches to the radiator cap has an overflow hole at the top of it look to see if the battery and surrounding area there has signs of antifreeze, like crusty yellow-green build up as if it were spitting coolant out all the time.
take a look at the oil on the dipstick as well, is it nice and clean like they change it all the time?

Timing is every 100K on these cars for normal use, 60K is for severe use. The motors are non-interference though so you can run them until the belt pops and then just slap another one on.

Oh yeah, the radiator is something else to look at. They tend to turn faded brown and crack over time.

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ya but if it's been owned by a kid with posters of Vin Diesel on his wall, then consider it "severe use".

What're you doing in their room?

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Discounts??