Car Spotlight-Toyota Paseo (1991-1997)

1991-1994 Toyota Paseo

Lately, it seems that Toyota hasn't been really good at "appealing" to the youth-oriented market.  Yes, there's Scion with their edgy xB box-mobile and tC and FR-S sports coupes (along with some forgettable cars like the xA, xD, and iQ).  But even then, it seems that whenever I see any of those cars on the road, it's always and older person driving them, most likely so they can prove to their alienated children that they can still be "hip"

(sorry, had to get that rant off my shoulder, not a fan of Scion...)

But anyway, let's go back in time to the early 1990s, when Toyota had a sports car for every demographic.

• Celica-which was popular with single women that wanted to be edgy, but didn't want anything  too intimidating. 
• MR-2-a mid-engined car for all the track enthusiasts that are bent on modifying them to beat out Mazda Miata's at the next track meet.
• Supra-yank yank...yank it away!

A Toyota Tercel, which the Paseo is
derived from.

The fourth and final sporty Toyota is the topic of todays post.  The Paseo was well....uhh.....yeah.  For a while, it was hard for me to justify the reason for the Paseo's existence.  So what is the Paseo you say?  Well, its basically a Toyota Tercel (which is more or less the Echo/Yaris of the 1990s) with a sports-like shell on top of it.  The interior, dashboard, engine, and transmission choices were identical to the Tercel.

So what was the point of the Paseo?  Well, the Paseo was Toyota's bottom-feeder of sports cars.  It was for people who wanted a sport car but couldn't afford something fast, so they bought this.  It was also a car that parent's bought their spoiled daughter for their sweet 16th birthday (On a more serious note, people who wanted good milage with sporty looks also bought a Paseo).   Despite having a considerably narrow target market, the Paseo did live up to it's Toyota heritage by being very dependable and was very simple to own and maintain.

1996-1997 Paseo convertible
photo credit-edmunds.com

After being on the market for four years, the Paseo underwent an update in 1995 to concede with it's Tercel sibling's major redesign.  The Paseo looked more modern and up to date than it's predecessor.  Toyota even went the extra mile and added a Paseo Convertible in 1996.  Right when things were looking up for the Paseo, Toyota removed the Paseo and Tercel from the market in 1997 so Toyota would make way for it's odd-looking Echo compact (and no, there was no Paseo version of that).

Personally I knew of one person who had a Paseo, and it was a neighbor of mine who always pronounced it "Pa-say-YO,"  adding extra emphasis to the last two letters.  There was also a co-worker of mine who previously owned several Paseo's.  He was the kind of guy that moved often and told me that he would always get a Paseo whenever he moved.

Link to an old car review show hosted by a guy with a thick Australian accent reviewing the Paseo
Link to a Paseo commercial from 1994.  Trust me, how could you NOT want to buy this car after reading this!