Has anybody had one? Had any issues with it?

I had one a long time ago, with a 5 speed. It was a fun car, got good fuel economy, and was reliable.

I'm going to look at a 2 door 4x4 today. If I buy it, I will put a lift on it and some bigger tires to make it a little more off-road capable.

Something like this looks like a fun project for the garage.

What is up with you and tiny cars? Lol I've always wondered what a Tracker could do in the mud. I've heard that with a lift and tires they'll only do about 65 on the interstate.

Well, here's the deal. We love the Miata, but we can't take it to the cabin for fear of putting a hole in the oil pan on the dirt road. It's just not a dirt road car. So we decided to sell it and buy a Jeep.

Well, once I started shopping for Jeeps, to get a decent one cost like $12,000 plus, and I really don't like putting that much money in what basically would be a toy.

So I started looking for an alternative for off road capable, top down, fun vehicle, and I remember my old Tracker I had. I can get one of them in about the same condition as a similar Jeep, but for less than 1/3rd the money of a Jeep. If this was going to be my daily driver or something for some serious off-roading, or I needed an image boost, I would have gotten a Jeep, but I think a Tracker will do what we want and be fun as hell, and I won't have a bunch of money tied up in it like I would with a Jeep. And if we get tired of it, I can probably sell it on here for someone a cheap hunting vehicle for about what I'll have in it.

Those things are not very powerful. Going with much bigger rubber might require engine mods to gain horses or gear changes in the T case and/or diffs.

I'm probably going to just go with a 2" body lift and slightly bigger tires. We're not going to be rock crawling in the thing Just running around some fire roads and stuff. Starting in 1996 the little engine had right at about 100hp and 100 ft. lbs of torque, but considering the little thing only weighs 3000# it's pretty spunky. My 1995 Tracker had a lot more power than my 1995 Jeep Wrangler with the 2.5. I'll never own another 4 cylinder Jeep.

I had a 91 model that I hunted out of for two years in Tennessee. I took it up fire lanes , through mud holes up to the door handles, and pretty much anywhere I would a 4 wheeler. My ex wife got in a bad accident in Florence when I was in Jackson county hunting and I never got below 85mph headed home. Mine was a 5 speed and had plenty of power. I had a friend with an automatic, same year, that was geared so low it wouldn't do 70mph but it had plenty of power for climbing the hills we hunted. Only issue I had was the ecm went out. Sent it to a guy in Minnesota and he rebuilt it for $80. I like an old 4 Runner better to hunt out of but I doubt I'd put it in some of the spots I put that tracker in.

That's good to know. The one I'm looking at is an auto. I was looking for a 5 speed, but finding a nice Tracker with a 5 speed and 4 wheel drive is like searching for the Holy Grail. I'm not travelling to Arizona or New Jersey to pick up a 5 speed Tracker...

If I don't like this one I'm going to look at today, I'm going to try to be patient and hold out for a 5 speed.

Here's the one I'm going to look at today:

I use to have a samurai and it sucked for hunting. Not even enough room to fart in that thing.

The old straight axle sammies and first gen, straight axle Toyotas are all the rage up here in hillbilly land. Not a lot of room but that's fine , more room means more people and big, big isn't always good . If a feller just has to haul an entourage there's the 4 runner.

Way cheaper than a SXS, warm, dry , tag and title it and can drive it to town . Other that a spot that is narrower, will go better than a SXS with a few a mods.

I'm probably gonna get me a Samurai to blood track out of. I like 'em. Some guys I used to hunt with used them and they're just like an enclosed side by side that you can take down the highway if need be.

I've got a 1989 Suzuki Sidekick which is basically the same thing as a Tracker. Mine is 4x4 and automatic and I love it. Not much in comfort or speed but it does everything I want it to do off-road.

How does the automatic do? I was really wanting a 5 speed, but in reality the auto is going to serve the purpose of a second car better. Irish Jr. can't drive a 5 speed right now, but he's wanting to learn.

The Tracker/Sidekick has more room than the Sammi, plus with the coil springs they ride and handle better.

I believe the back seat in the Tracker is actually bigger than the one in the 2 door Jeep.

Sammi's are cool, but not really that great, in my mind, without some modifications including an engine swap. Plus trying to find one of those in either decent condition is tough.

The Tracker has a lot more power than the Samauri , too.

I really like the automatic transmission off road especially in muddy or hilly conditions. Seems to hold traction better than a manual transmission.

Well... That was a damn bust, but it was nice time spent with my son and a good teaching moment for him.

I showed him how to spot when a car has been repainted, how to spot bondo, then we got up under the car and discovered a rusty hole in the bottom of the floor pan and not that any of that would have been an outright deal breaker, but while I was under there I spotted where there had been sum substantial welding on the body.

All of that added up to some fishyness, and I asked the old man and old lady if the car had even been wrecked? They said that it had a rebuilt title. This was despite the fact that the craigslist add clearly stating that the title was "clean." Well, they seemed like nice folks so I didn't act like an ass, but had I known it had a rebuilt title, I never would have driven up there in the first place.

I had a early 90's model and put 2 transmissions in it. Dude at trans shop said they weren't built for mud.