A Toyota called Ed?

On the way to work the other day I drove past a very ratty rusty  looking Toyota I’d never seen before – on the back garnish/scuff plate/whatever the bit between the rear lights is called proudly displayed ‘ED’ in factory lettering.

A Toyota Ed? What the hell was I looking at here?

 

It turns out the letters stand for ‘Exciting’ and ‘Dressy’ and the Toyota ED I was pondering about is better known as the Toyota Carina ED.
(Mind you with the chipped paint and plenty of rust on this ratty thing I think both terms of ‘exciting’ and ‘dressy’ went well and truly out of the window a long time ago…)

In a nutshell, it’s a 4 door Celica with a little more luxury for those hard to please hairdressers. And the ED I was looking at was one of the third gens with the four wheel drive (borrowed from the Celica GT) that had obviously driven through a lot of water in it’s time.

SO WHAT DO PEOPLE LIKE ABOUT THEM?

Reading some reviews online:

-It’s a Toyota which means most of the time it’s reliable and there’s parts available for it

-Some say fast unless it’s an auto and then they say slow. Very slow.

-Most of the stuff that breaks is the usual stuff that breaks with old age (ie Power Steering)

-If you squint at it, it looks like a Soarer

SO WHAT DON’T PEOPLE LIKE ABOUT THEM?

-The Auto version

-Occasionally economy is not great.

-People like me would probably point at at it and ask ‘So what is it exactly?’

HOW MUCH TO BUY ONE?

I googled ‘Toyota ED for sale in Australia’ and got shunted to a page that sold Celeicas. So either they’re telling me to buy a Celeica (nah I’m good thanks) or there’s no one selling one.

At a guess, probably not much but hey, I’m happy to be corrected here.

DRIVE AN ED YOURSELF? (OR DID?)

Let us know what you think of it – love it, hate it, bit meh? Tell us your thoughts in a comment below 🙂