Minneapolis Street Sighting: Toyota Paseo

Toyota had a lot going for it in the early 1990s; nice-looking (if not plainly styled) cars and trucks, no cluttery design cues that didn't fit, and.. they made sporty-ish cars. With the Celica and MR2 being mostly known, and the Paseo being quite an underdog--or a pretender if you will, I would say it was the equivalent of today's Scion tC. Despite Toyota's claim (and Scion's for that matter) that the car was a proper sports coupe, it wasn't.

 Equipped with a 1.5L four cylinder churning out a hundred stamping horses, the two-door Toyota was far from fast. Based on the Tercel, the Paseo was more of a sporty-looking car for people who didn't have Celica  (or Supra) money (hey, that resembles the Scion tC being based on the Corolla--for people who can't have an FR-S).   Exterior styling was decent; it wasn't amazingly good-looking, but it wasn't ugly either. Again, this also applies to the Scion tC. Inside, the appointments were a little bit better than bare, and there was no way to change that--unless you went to JC Whitney and ordered "chrome-look" vents and switch-panels).

Paseos here fall into two distinct categories--the sort-of-preserved, meaning no body damage, but a wee bit of rust and other minor blemishes, and totally riced out beaters that belong at U-Pull-R-Parts; this example is a good representation of the former. While it does look "nice" from across the street, it is obvious there is wear and tear.

Aside from the minor rust (and to be honest, what 20 year old Minnesota doesn't have any), the bodywork seems to be in great shape--especially for a vehicle that is viewed as an economy car rather than a potential collector's item. All the trim is present, and even the spoiler hasn't broken yet. The only issues I have with this example are the piss-poor fading on the hubcaps--and really, that's about it.

I've did "one-shot-wonders" of Paseos in the past, but they're getting thin out here. I wonder if I should start shooting more and more decent examples. I had fun shooting this one, even if I was a bit perturbed by the college students questioning what I was doing.