I am having the budget around $2000, and I am thinking between Toyota Tercel and Toyota Paseo. I am wondering which one is a better choice?
They are equal. At this price there is no significant difference. Buy the best one you can find.
To me these seem more like $1,000 cars than $2,000 cars.
Before you spend your money, find and listen to the song “$1000 Car” by The Bottle Rockets.
The Paseo is built on the same platform, so most of the differences between the two are related to the sportier styling of the Paseo.
So: which one do you think looks better?
I think paseo is more fun, but is it more trouble to get part?
If you want body parts, Tercel may be the better choice. If you crash either one of them it won’t be worth fixing anyway. If you don’t need a headlight assembly there is no difference.
Good song.
Here you go.
Is it too expensive?
1996 Toyota Paseo $2200
1996 Toyota Paseo for sale Black ,well maintained ,2 door, Automatic,cruise control, Moon Rroof, Sproiler, mag wheels, New radial tires, New Battery, No A/C ,4 cylinder 1.6 lt engine, Air care not an issue . Great on gas, and inexpensive to maintain, tank files up for aprox. $35 and runer 490 Km aprox.,excellent commuter car . 199 k mostly highway mileage , selling because upgraded to new vehicle.Rides very smooth no major mechanical problems VIN# JT2CC53H5T0010068.
I would not pay that much for a 14 year old Paseo.
Yeah you can get a '96 4Runner for that price 
Especially with the somewhat high miles for such a small engine.
Consumer Reports has a list of used car best bets under $4000:
I think you could get a lower mileage vehicle from the 1996 vintage. It’s worth looking around a bit. I also recommend using AutoTrader or cars.com in addition to Craigslist where you listing came from. As AT also contains newspaper classified, the clientele is a little more mature than CL and your odds of finding a well taken care of with low miles may be higher.
`
OK. It’s 199,000 km then. That is “only” 130K miles. It’s on the upper end of what I think may be acceptable. If I was in the market for a $2000 car I would not zero in on a specific model like the Paseo or Tercel but look what is offered near me with low miles and a documented maintenance history. I have bought many cars in the $500 to $2000 price range, and if you keep an open mind and look for low miles, documented maintenance and a long-term previous owner (preferably a mature person) you can find a few good deals. Ideally you would find something under 120,000 km (rare) but I would not go higher than 150,000 - especially if it’s a small car with a small engine.
When I do a Craigslist search for a car like that I often enter $2500 or $3000 as the maximum price (there is always negotiation room) and then - just for fun - search for keywords such as “mother”, “father”, “grandma”, “records”, “maintenance”, “family”, etc. I looked in the Vancouver Craigslist and the keyword "maintained"with a $3000 budget turned up a few interesting results (albeit with high miles, but nobody said that you’ll find something right away). There also seems to be a 2001 Saturn SL1 with ow miles for under $2K.
As I said: More important than the make and model is the previous owner and the documented maintenance.
All of the above is my personal opinion and experience. I am sure if other people disagree they will voice their dissent
Thank
Let us know how it turns out.