Who Could Ask for Anything More?

November 26, 2021 6:45 AM

It's So Easy This is a 1987 commercial for the Toyota Tercel.

The subcompact car, slightly smaller than a Corolla, debuted in 1978, and would eventually include versions with 2, 3, 4, and 5 doors, plus the 4-wheel drive station wagon that played a bit part in Breaking Bad. A version was sold in Thailand and Indonesia as late as 2003. The song is an adaptation of Buddy Holly and the Crickets' 'It's So Easy,' memorably covered in the '70s by Linda Rondstadt. The commercial trades on the same '80s nostalgia for the '50s that brought us The Stray Cats and Back to the Future. The tagline, part of a nationwide campaign, is borrowed from George Gershwin.

This very forgettable commercial still occasionally pops into my head.

posted by box (59 comments total)

plus the 4-wheel drive station wagon that played a bit part in Breaking Bad

My parents had one of those when I first got my drivers license, with the optional inclinometer gauge cluster. I remember it as fun to drift around in snow-covered parking lots and you could fit an awful lot of teenagers in there including stuffing people in the far back.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:01 AM on November 26, 2021 [5 favorites]

Toyota have a knack for jingles that stick in your head.
posted by CaseyB at 7:17 AM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

This one in the FPP is like a video version of the secret lovechild of Phil Collins & Miami Vice.
posted by chavenet at 7:21 AM on November 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

So that $5848 price in the ad is $14,238.49 in today's dollars. Toyota doesn't have anything below $20K presently; searching a list of cheap cars show the Chevrolet Spark as the lowest at $15,695. I remember in the '80's how US brands looked down on Japanese brands for chasing that cheap car market share, as though that was somehow below them.
posted by WacoKid at 7:22 AM on November 26, 2021 [14 favorites]

I remember that "TOY-oh-ta" jingle like it was yesterday.

Speaking of cheap foreign car ads, I do believe I heard "the da da da song" on the House of Gucci soundtrack this weekend.
posted by praemunire at 7:26 AM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

So that $5848 price in the ad is $14,238.49 in today's dollars. Toyota doesn't have anything below $20K presently; searching a list of cheap cars show the Chevrolet Spark as the lowest at $15,695.

The amount of additional safety and convenience equipment included in that Spark, though, is a whole lot (and the cheapest Spark is actually under $15k before destination fee).

The Tercel EZ, to make that $5848 price, removed the passenger-side visor to save a buck. Can’t get away with that anymore.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:40 AM on November 26, 2021 [15 favorites]

I remember in the '80's how US brands looked down on Japanese brands for chasing that cheap car market share, as though that was somehow below them.

The US brands did indeed have very cheap cars in the 80's - - they were just expensive.
posted by fairmettle at 7:58 AM on November 26, 2021 [21 favorites]

Why are $2000 electric trucks not invading? Wouldn't a low cost second car/truck be just the handiest and fun vehicle?
posted by sammyo at 8:11 AM on November 26, 2021 [7 favorites]

$5848? Pshaw. You could get an Yugo for just $3,990.
posted by adamg at 8:14 AM on November 26, 2021 [7 favorites]

My parents ended up owning two of those 4-wheel drive station wagon Tercels.

Embarrassingly, that's because I totaled the first one as a 17 year old in it's first few months of existence. It was a great little car—I was a foolish teenager. Fortunately no one else was involved. The fact that they let me drive the replacement is shocking.

On a happier note, some decades later I married the girl I was driving home from visiting when I fell asleep at the wheel.
posted by bcd at 8:17 AM on November 26, 2021 [12 favorites]

This commercial stuck so firmly in my elementary school brain that I still sing the Tercel lyrics when I hear Linda Ronstadt's version. Thanks for this, box
posted by AgentRocket at 8:29 AM on November 26, 2021 [6 favorites]

right about this time my folks had a Chevette.. my friend's folks had a Chevette.. I just assumed that the Chevette hatchback was the cheaper car to own at that time? Now I think on it, my folks would have been driving an earlier model Chevette.
posted by elkevelvet at 8:31 AM on November 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

The Tercel EZ, to make that $5848 price, removed the passenger-side visor to save a buck.

I had a 3-cylinder, 2WD (it did have a 4WD variant) Subaru Justy, original list price $5,616, which removed the passenger-side rear view mirror to keep cost down. I guess the car was small enough that turning your head to see the mirror let you see that whole side of the car anyway. It had a full-sized spare, though, so it had that going for it.
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:33 AM on November 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

My vote for the worstest use of a pop song to sell cars evar
posted by chavenet at 8:48 AM on November 26, 2021 [9 favorites]

@AzraelBrown, Hello fellow one-time Justy person! those little shitboxes were great, I'll never forget getting caught out late in Edmonton one night for an unanticipated first snowstorm of the year and having to get out with the car in idle and kind of push, jump back in, repeat many times, till I made it home. young and (even) stupid(er) back then.
posted by elkevelvet at 8:55 AM on November 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

I had a 3-cylinder, 2WD (it did have a 4WD variant) Subaru Justy, original list price $5,616, which removed the passenger-side rear view mirror to keep cost down

I had never driven a car with a passenger side mirror until I took drivers ed. None of my family’s cars growing up had one. I think they’re a somewhat modern (like, in the last 30 years) addition to bargain-basement cars.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:56 AM on November 26, 2021 [8 favorites]

So that $5848 price in the ad is $14,238.49 in today's dollars. Toyota doesn't have anything below $20K presently

If it were legal to sell a new car in the US without ABS, with no airbags, with no backup camera, with no rollover protection, without stability control, without crossbeams, etc, it would be pretty fuckin' cheap.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:02 AM on November 26, 2021 [9 favorites]

I owned a 1981 Tercel, bought used in 1985, that got demolished in 1987. A car charged through a stop sign, tagged a passing van which veered hard into my car which was parked next to a tree, which then fell down onto my car, totalling it. God really wanted that car in a slag heap.

Historic footnote:

the insurance company gave me $3500 to replace the car. I spent $1500 on a slightly rusty Mazda GLC with a cranky manual choke which nevertheless got me where I was going for another seven years, and the remaining $2000 went to my first PC -- an Amiga 1000. Things were different in those days.
posted by philip-random at 9:35 AM on November 26, 2021 [19 favorites]

I had never driven a car with a passenger side mirror until I took drivers ed. None of my family’s cars growing up had one. I think they’re a somewhat modern (like, in the last 30 years) addition to bargain-basement cars.

I don't think I drove one with two mirrors until I borrowed someone's expensive car in college. At some point having two mirrors became standard, but for a long time that was a luxury add-on.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:55 AM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

So that $5848 price in the ad is $14,238.49 in today's dollars. Toyota doesn't have anything below $20K presently; searching a list of cheap cars show the Chevrolet Spark as the lowest at $15,695.

You won’t find one at a price below $19k. The $15k price is to get price conscious people in the door. No dealer stocks it at that price point.
posted by jmauro at 10:14 AM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

You could get a Yugo

Yugo? Luxury!

Very long-time Edmontonians might remember the car that was parked for years in front of the Lada dealership on 82nd (yes, there was one) with a huge sign on it saying "LADA LEMON".
posted by aramaic at 10:28 AM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is the one that often pops into my head:
Snakes alive! Snakes alive! Only Mazda's got a truck for just $5795!

(I think this must have been a series of ads; I remember it being a red truck and a 'sporty truck' for just $5795)
posted by Flashman at 10:32 AM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

I remember in the '80's how US brands looked down on Japanese brands for chasing that cheap car market share, as though that was somehow below them.

Remember Gung Ho? Americans were terrified of the Japanese. That's why they (pretended to) look down on them.


I wanted one of those 4wd Tercels so bad. Now I'm waiting for an electric Jimny.
posted by klanawa at 10:45 AM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

If it were legal to sell a new car in the US without ABS, with no airbags, with no backup camera, with no rollover protection, without stability control, without crossbeams, etc, it would be pretty fuckin' cheap.

And you're overlooking the catalytic conveter(s), which use very expensive rare metals and can cost over a thousand dollars (and upwards) in the aftermarket.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:04 AM on November 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

The $15k price is to get price conscious people in the door. No dealer stocks it at that price point.

About 10 years ago I had a rental Yaris hatchback whose only option was automatic transmission. Manual windows, manual locks, zero frills. It was so barebones I couldn’t believe Enterprise could have even bought it.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:05 AM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Oh god, seconding everyone who is still haunted by this ear worm of an ad.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:45 AM on November 26, 2021 [7 favorites]

Why are $2000 electric trucks not invading? Wouldn't a low cost second car/truck be just the handiest and fun vehicle?

Does it come with a gun rack to fend off all the teslas crowding around the two functional charging stations in my apartment complex?
posted by pwnguin at 12:10 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

About 10 years ago I had a rental Yaris hatchback whose only option was automatic transmission. Manual windows, manual locks, zero frills. It was so barebones I couldn’t believe Enterprise could have even bought it.

If you are willing to order it and wait, you can get a very bare bones car indeed. My dad drives a civic that he ordered in as base a configuration and he could make.
posted by Dr. Twist at 12:13 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

I bought a 1989 2-door Tercel with the optional automatic transmission and AM/FM/Cassette deck. It was my first new car purchase. As I recall it cost me about $7500 at the time. The Tercel had this tiny EL31 engine that was known for valve stem seal failures which, dear reader, was exactly what happened to mine.

Now, many cars later, do I look back on my little Tercel with a wistful fondness? No, not at all.
posted by codex99 at 12:35 PM on November 26, 2021 [5 favorites]

When I moved from Virginia to San Francisco in 1995 I drove my Tercel cross country with everything I owned in the trunk and back seat.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:08 PM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

I had a cousin of this car, the even cheaper Mazda GLC. It was extremely uncool, but I was 17 and by then really, really needed a car, and it was the cheapest one I could find. Learned to drive a stick on it, though, so there's that.
posted by zardoz at 1:13 PM on November 26, 2021

For me it was a 1987 primer- gray Nissan Sentra that my aunt had found abandoned in her hardware store parking lot. This was in the late nineties. She tuned it up and gifted it to me to tool around in high school. My friends called it the Car of Squalor.
posted by q*ben at 1:48 PM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

I see your Nissan Sentra and raise you a Hyundai Pony

I learned manual on the Hyundai Pony. It was the loudest, fartiest little banger I've ever driven (made the Subaru Justy seem like a luxury ride). I'll never forget the clunk sound of the entire exhaust dropping all-in-one as I was leaving work one day.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:16 PM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

If it were legal to sell a new car in the US without ABS, with no airbags, with no backup camera, with no rollover protection, without stability control, without crossbeams, etc, it would be pretty fuckin' cheap.

The nearest current equivalent sold in the US might be the non-street legal side by sides, since those have basically the same non-existant crash protection and emissions controls as cars did in the 1980s, but even the most basic of those aren't a whole lot cheaper than a base model Spark. From google, it looks like there are cars in India and China selling for well under $7k USD, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were better cars than the original Tercel.
posted by Dip Flash at 2:35 PM on November 26, 2021

AMC Pacer VS. Gremlin.
posted by clavdivs at 2:37 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

I had never driven a car with a passenger side mirror until I took drivers ed.
My first car, a 1987 Mercury Tracer, didn't have one although I believe the K-Car I learned to drive on did. That was a weird little car, really a first generation Mazda 323 with a few Ford-spec'd parts. Living in a city with a lot of cyclists, I can't imagine not having a right-hand mirror today.
posted by sfred at 2:44 PM on November 26, 2021

I had a friend in high school who drove a late 80s or early early 90s Tercel which I guess would have been well over ten years old or so by the time she got it. All I remember about it was that it didn't have power steering and she got these huge biceps trying to parallel park it on the busy streets close to school. Basically every time I rode with her eventually she'd have to crank down her window and shout "I'm sorry, this car doesn't have power steering" as someone honked at her.
posted by potrzebie at 2:46 PM on November 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

I owned a 1981 Tercel. In 1986. It was rusted out almost completely -- in only 5 years, with that old un-galvanized metal which meant Boston could kill a car that fast -- but it never ever quit on me. Bare bones manual. Like a Flintstones car, including being able to put your feet through the floor pan. Got it for free so I wasn't complaining.
posted by spitbull at 2:48 PM on November 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

All I remember about it was that it didn't have power steering and she got these huge biceps trying to parallel park it on the busy streets close to school

Yeah, I had a '76 Celica that had no power steering and a clutch so successfully parking on a hill was a serious accomplishment.
posted by octothorpe at 3:20 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you are willing to order it and wait, you can get a very bare bones car indeed. My dad drives a civic that he ordered in as base a configuration and he could make.

I’m this market the dealer won’t even take the order. It’s not worth their time and you’ll be waiting a year or two before that car is delivered. Once the supply isn’t so tight maybe.
posted by jmauro at 3:37 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

My folks had an '86 Tercel wagon as a second car. The thing that sticks with me the most is how much the plastic license plate frame/hatch release insert on the rear hatch resembled either a door mounted water/ice dispenser on fridge or a part of an ATM. On receiving a gift accessory leather steering wheel wrap kit for it, my dad remarked "I feel like Sterling Moss now ...at the wheel of an oxcart!"
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:15 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

My base trim 93 Civic hatchback was bumped a hair over 10k because a passenger side mirror was a fucking option..
posted by brachiopod at 4:49 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

“ I see your Nissan Sentra and raise you a Hyundai Pony”

I’ll see that Pony and raise you one
posted by cybrcamper at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

And then there’s the Geo Metro…

And Ford Festiva -
posted by cybrcamper at 5:06 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Speaking of bizarre jingle choices, someone correct me, but I believe it was Honda who used Godstar by Psychic TV in a spot. You know, the song about Brian Jones featuring Pope John Paul. It was during the height of their Charles Manson phase. Good times. The line “are you free, are you really free” is just *chefs kiss*.
posted by misterpatrick at 5:09 PM on November 26, 2021

If we’re talking catchy 80’s car commercials, I must insist we all watch this stone cold classic filmed in a cocaine factory.
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:30 PM on November 26, 2021 [7 favorites]

Very long-time Edmontonians might remember the car that was parked for years in front of the Lada dealership on 82nd (yes, there was one) with a huge sign on it saying "LADA LEMON".

Dude, I lived variously in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and BC, and I remember that car. (Passed by it on my way to The Funky Pickle, RIP.)
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:31 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

his stone cold classic filmed in a cocaine factory

...and it's a Duster commercial.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:36 PM on November 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

This is the one that often pops into my head:
Snakes alive! Snakes alive! Only Mazda's got a truck for just $5795!

The first time I saw this commercial, the jingle was "Saints alive!" A week later it was replaced with the exact same ad but it said "Sakes alive!" Some whiny little dweebs must have thought it was blasphemous. Mazda should have just gone all the way for Snakes.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 6:46 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Hot dang I’m glad I’m not the only person with brain cells occupied by this stupid ad.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:58 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Subaru Justy 4wd syncro drivetrain was made in a micro (camper!) van body for Japan/SE Asia and even EU markets. Zero crash safety and rather narrow, but surprisingly capable with good tires. I hate light truck expansion and shitty road design for why I'll never be allowed to buy an electric one.
posted by anthill at 7:19 PM on November 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Tercel was the econobox that defined “econobox.” It ran, it drove, and got good gas mileage. That also described the Mazda GLC, the Ford Escort, Aspire (it aspired to be a real car) and Festiva, and the early Nissan Sentra (I’m avoiding the Chevette because those things were absolute rolling disasters.) Those cars were perfectly suited for point a to point b, but there are few people that associate those cars with fond memories.

But once you got out of the bottom-line market cars like those, man, Japanese cars in the 80s were FUN. It was the heyday of the Celica, the 280z and 300z, the Honda CRX, etc. None of these cars were exactly terribly fast, but they were a lot of fun to drive, easy to own, and most of them would just run and run and run. They weren’t afraid to put more features in the cars than the American carmakers. You could get a lot more car for your dollar from the Japanese carmakers. I still wouldn’t mind picking up a Celica with a 20R and a stick if I found one cheap. (I had an 83 GT with an EFI 22R and a five speed. I drove that thing all over Arizona for four years. Oh man I loved that car.) Now if I had a chance to pick up a Tercel dirt cheap? Nah, I’m good.
posted by azpenguin at 7:53 PM on November 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

My family had a 1987 red Tercel from some time in the '90s until around 2003 or 4, when they sold it - still functioning! - to a pizza delivery guy for something like $500.

We loved that absurd little car. My mother named it Nelly. You could fit SO MUCH in it.... More children than anyone would allow today. Two English Mastiffs. Food for a week in the mountains for our extended family. I will never buy anything but a hatchback.

Getting up the mountain was another challenge - as one friend put it, "it had all the torque of a cordless screwdriver." It once broke down, and we pushed it home with the other car (itself a tiny Honda hatchback). It was so small that my sister's friends played a joke on her by picking it up and moving it to a different parking spot in the high school lot.
posted by sepviva at 7:58 PM on November 26, 2021 [6 favorites]

this commercial is interesting because it came from the '80s craze for '50s nostalgia, which can still be seen today if you go into junk shops or on Etsy and see the proliferation of diner- and Coca-Cola-themed crap that was churned out as instant memorabilia
posted by Countess Elena at 8:32 PM on November 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

I had a (79? 80?)Toyota Starlet, just bigger than a phone booth, got fantastic mpg. It's the only new car I ever had and an idiot family member totaled it. Current Prius gets better mileage, acts as a teeny camper, but I did like that Starlet. I'm with sepviva, hatchbacks are the best.
posted by theora55 at 9:34 PM on November 26, 2021

I drove a Tercel for a time. It was.....resilient, I will cede that.
posted by thelonius at 7:39 AM on November 27, 2021

There's a guy in my NYC neighborhood who has a 1984 Ford Escort, which he street parks in Greenwich Village, no shit. It's in absolutely pristine condition, not a scratch or a dent anywhere, clearcoat intact and black paint shiny, interior mint. I've never seen him wash it or work on it but it's been parked around the neighborhood for 13 years or so at least, since I have lived there anyway.

I haven't seen another running Escort in at least 20 years.
posted by spitbull at 10:31 AM on November 27, 2021

Ah, the joys of the First Car. Mine was a used Suzuki Forsa, which was allegedly used by a car rental service in Hawaii before somehow making its way to CA. It only had three cylinders (which resulted in it vibrating in certain situations, such as driving up hills), and was light enough that it wouldn't trigger stoplights. The highlight was when I driving on the freeway one evening and the hood suddenly opened up on me!! Fortunately I was able to pull over to the side of the road without hitting anything. (Apparently the aforementioned vibrations caused some of the screws or whatever held down the hood to come out). When I later called Suzuki's US office about some issues (or it might have been to ask about finding parts for it), they hadn't even heard of said model (apparently not that many of them made it into the US).

It served its purpose at the time, but I miss the Ramonesmania license plate holder (which I forgot to take off the car when I sold it) far more than the car itself. (I still get a little nervous driving up steep hills thanks to said vehicle...)
posted by gtrwolf at 11:22 AM on November 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

The first car I bought was a rockin' Subaru XT.
posted by bendy at 4:24 AM on November 28, 2021 [1 favorite]