[keithert]

Back in 1990 I was newly out of college and looking for my first brand new car. The finalists were a black Jeep Wrangler YJ with 4 cylinder stick and no A/C, a blue Geo Tracker with A/C and a blue fully loaded Camaro RS. The Camaro won that contest and I had no issues with it. It was a fantastic car for me. I always liked Trackers though. In 1997 I toyed with getting a 1994 black Tracker as a winter car and keeping the Camaro. The 94 cost more than I wanted to spend so I got something else. Then in 2003 I saw a yellow 2002 Tracker ZR2 for sale. I got it for a great price. After driving it a month I decided that with a child on the way I needed a more practical car. I got enough of a deal that I didn't take a bath when trading it for a sedan. It was not entirely a bad trade because we still have the sedan and it's been a good car. But I still wanted a Tracker so I started looking for a cheap old one. I found a 1990 with 96,000 miles on it. I was able to trade a 1981 Honda CB900 for it. After having it for 9 months I added a set of mud terrain tires to it and painted it olive drab. A local club had a spot they would go wheeling at about once a month and it did very well there. My son ended up loving it because he could ride in the front and he also liked the flip top sunroof. I would take him wheeling and he was always afraid at first but liked it as the day went on. The 90 ended up spewing it's transmission fluid out one day in 2006. I sold it and went to the darkside and bought a 98 Wrangler. My son didn't like the Wrangler as much since he had to sit in back because of the airbag. I didn't like that it was a stick and got 16 mpg. In a sporty car stick is fun, but in a utility vehicle it's just work in my opinion. The place I went wheeling was closed in 2007 so there is nowhere close to me to go anymore. When gas got to $4 a gallon I sold the Wrangler and bought a bike. I've quietely had my eye out for another Tracker this year. One day this August I was forced to take an alternate route home because of road construction and happened on a Tracker for sale. It was a bright red 1992 4x4 automatic with 144,000 miles and no rust. Exactly the type I was looking for. The price was reasonable at $1500 so I bought it. It seems to run and shift well. It does have some oil leaks I need to track down. It's funny that it seems to have the exact same issues my 90 did. But it looks nicer! I am working on getting some better tires for it.

1990 Tracker before

1990 Tracker after

1992 Tracker

 

[TheZuke!]

Back in the early '90's
I drove an '81 Datsun Diesel 720 (pickup) with 5spd.
It was a very practical vehicle, on long hot summer drives
it would get 40mpg (no A/C, it would be over 100 degrees F
in the cab). It was rusted through on a few panels.

Looking toward my next vehicle, my wish list consisted
of
4 doors, 4wd, 5sp, decent mpg, Japanese reliability,
non-Toyota/Honda pricing, cargo space.

The Amigo, Mitsu Montero, and Sidekick/Tracker was about
all that was available. (I didn't see any reason to spend $2K
more for a Rav4).

The Sidekick was sold locally, and I got a good price through
a fleet buyer. Grandma had recently died, leaving me $1K,
which allowed me to add A/C. (Thanks Grandma!)

I also liked the body style...it reminds me of the Land Rovers
I used to see on the old TV series "Cowboy in Africa".
I really wanted a white one, I intended to have it painted
with Zebra stripes like the Rovers in the TV show. But
the one the fleet buyer got a good price on was burgundy color.
Little did I know that burgundy would become such a popular
color in coming years.
Other Sidekick colors available at the time were, black, white,
Midnight Blue(i.e. black), green (more of a dark green black)
and possibly other colors which were all variations of the black theme.

Tracker on the other hand, had some really cool colors, but they
were only 2door at the time.

 

[Bex]

For years I was sick of the snow plow men burying the cars parked on the side of the street after a snow storm. The car I had before my Tracker was a 1990 Miata, which was great fun, but I had spent all the winters that I owned it shoveling it out. In 1995, the Miata was stolen from in front of my house. I took a bath with the insurance, and did not have a lot of money for a replacement car. I really liked the look of the Trackers and went to the used car places near where I lived to try to get one. At that time the '91's were going for about $6,000-7,000 depending on 2wd, 4wd, convertible, etc. I wanted the 4wd convertible -about $7,000 which was too much for me. Just by chance, one day I happened to pick up a newspaper and looked through the 'autos for sale' and there was a 91 Tracker for $3500. I called the guy and went to look at it. It had been a rollover, and the guy was trying to fix it up, but then his wife made him sell it. So, it had no paint on it, only primer, no front grill, but the racks from a barbecue across the front of the car, and some kind of wooden box that the guy had made to go on the roof for storage. The rear panels on each side had big creases in them. It looked like an urban assault vehicle, but the mechanics were really sound, with only about 40,000 miles on it. I got him down to $3,000, bought the car, and have never looked back. It was the best purchase I ever made....

 

[deeznutts77]

i live in ny and the salt here is bad for cars, as you all know, so i get winter cars so my good ones dont rot out. my 1st was a 92 5spd 4 door 300$, wrecked that and got a 96 5spd 4 door 400$, needed a door which i had from my 92 and an alt. still drivin it. now i got another 96 but auto 2 door 200$, the guy thought he over heated it and warped the head, nope just blew the heater core. so got timing belt, water pump and new core and puttin it together now. just dont want to do the core its a pain in the a$$. the 92 had 75k, the 95 4door had 70k and the 2 door has 170k but was towed by an rv. LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!!!!!

 

[Tracker Tommy]

I'm some what of an odd case, Though out my driving life i've always had two cars, they have varied, I have always driven Caddies or Lincolns or some form of V-8 that is gas suking, at one point I had a 90' caddy Deville & an 88' Mustang, I had Lincoln LSC & the 88' Jeep Wrangler.

About 10 years ago I wrecked the Mustang & had blown the tranny on the 90' Deville & decided to Lease a pre-owned Oldsmobile Aurora, which was fine for awhile, than the motor blew, I mean it just stoped running. I'm good to my cars to I don't beat on em' at all, regular maintence Blah Blah Blah. In any event I only had one car, I needed a car in a hurry, it wound up taking nearly 6 months to replace the motor on the Auora between the Warrenty not covering & the insurance falling short it became quite a game of back & forth with everyone.

In the mean time I bought an 89' Subaru Staion wagan, which was loaded & had 4 wheel drive, it turned out to be a bad winter that year & the 4wd became usefull, & the gas siping 4 cyl was nice too. I wound up geting the Auora back & had all sorts of issues with it after the motor was replaced, my lease was nearly up & after the car left me stranded on the Garden State Parkway I decided I couldn't wait any longer to buy a new car, & the Subaru while it was a great 2nd car wasn't good enought o be a 1st car, I ate the last 4 months of the lease & left Amercian cars behind, I least a 2001.5 VW passat GLX 6cyl 5spd, loaded. Great car.

Fast forward a couple of years the Subaru was rotting out I lost the brakes, the fuel lines were leaking, My Fiance at the time & I were living together, she made me get rid of it, but it was cool cause I leased her a new Jeep Liberty. So I was ok with it, I had my 4wd utlity Automobile.

So As I mentioned I was engaged, Fast fwd about 8 months, When my VW lease was up I decided to save money by buying a used car, I had just started a business, bought a house & was saving to get married. I did not need another car payment. I bought another Caddy, which was a Deville Concours, a model I always wanted.

Well The Fiance & I broke up she moved out & I had one car, gas Prices were CRAZY & I had been talking about buying a tracker for like 10 yeaes, despite all my friends busting my balls about likingt Barbies car. I wanted 4 things, a mall SUV, A convertiable, 4WD, & it had to get great gas mileage, & I did not want another Wrangler.

So I drove by my Tracker while on my way to friends house. It was in really nice shape, The guy who had it was a back yard Mechanic, he had a garage with a couple of old cars & a race car & a couple of old Broncos, this was his daily driver.

He did so much work on it, Timing belt, water pump, ecm Vavle cover gaskets, new clutch when I bought it for $1000 I had to have it. So I bought it & I love it.

However I never replaced the rear shocks, rear springs or fixed the A/C clutch, 3 things I promised myself I would do. Maybe someday I will get around to it.

Anyway that's my Story. Oh, I got rid of the Caddy 6 months ago & bought another Passat, great car! VW's 4ever!

 

[ajstarr2288]

well i started out with a 98 plymouth neon. thatcar was great until it caught fire. so i then bought a buick regal and drove that around for a while. then one of my friends got a tracker and i went wheelin with him. right then i new i wanted a tracker. so time went on, i bought a saab 900 se, had that for 2 weeks and the motor blew. so i bought a jeep cherokee xj and rolled that. then finally i was looking though my uncles car dealership and found a 96 tracker 5 speed. that same day i bought it for $400 and its been the best offroad rig ive had,

 

[shackwrrr]

My dog frequently runs to the neigbors and one day while I was retriving him I saw a sidekick just sitting there. Well Since I never saw it move I asked if he wanted to get rid of it. He told me that it was his wifes and he would ask. Well I never heard anything back. My mom was talking to his wife and asked if I still wanted it and said that she would just give it to me but her husband told her to get something for it so she sold it to me for 20 bucks.

 

[tusong200]

I've always been a MPG nut. First thing I want to know about a car is what it gets for fuel mileage. My first new car purchase (after owning a string of Rambler Americans and VW bugs) was a 76 Honda Civic station wagon, 33 mpg. Since then I've always owned Hondas or VW diesels.

On the other hand I've also always had 4x4 vehicles. Always Jeep Pickups. 3 years ago I sold my 1978 Jeep J10 (after 24 years) and for the first time in my driving life didn't have 4x4.

Last winter there were 3 consecutive weeks with blizzards on Tues. nites here in S. Wisconsin. Tuesdays nites I have to play a music job in a suburb of Chicago 75 miles away. White knuckles all the way down and back, not getting home til 3 or 4 AM. Major hassle. I also had to make a delivery to Michigan during a raging blizzard. For that trip I smartly decided to rent a 4x4.

So, decided that I had to get another 4x4 before this coming winter. But I couldn't stomach the thought of gas-guzzling Jeeps. Researched and found that Sammies got great MPGs and true 4x4. Only problem was finding a good one for a reasonable price. Very high demand and inflated prices. Realized that Kickers were a much better deal (and better vehicle IMHO). Found a crumpled kicker, 'The Creature' (The Ugliest Sidekick), 6 miles away, paid $350, never looked back. Great little vehicle.

 

[relicduke]

Very simple,We live pretty far from anything,we have winter,our roads are not on the top of the list for the plows}or anything else}so we need 4x and since I can't work,and can't feed my favorite critter{sb chevie}the Tracker is at least distantly related{two of mine even have little bow ties}.
Proved good in snow,with good tires,but are a bit light and get high centered,.

 

[Ole-Boy]

I've always been a Toyota guy. Although my first vehicle was a 78 mustang 2dr 4cyl. Second was a Nissan Supra GT and a 68 chev truck. Next was a 86 Toyota 2wd truck. Had that till 93. Then I bought a new 93 Toyota cab-n-half 4x4. In 94 we got the wife a Chev Z71 cab-n-half 4x4. I sold my 93 Toyota @383,000 miles. The body was in great condition. In early 2004 I bought a Black Toyota Quad-Cab 4x4, 3.4 V6, leather, all options, had the spray-in bedliner done, nerf bars, Leer Canopy. Toyota is damn proud of what they are. But, I don't complain. In the long run, they're worth every dime.

My Sidekick. Well, I was looking for a vehicle for my son. I preferred a 2wd Toyota. But, now days all the kids chop them up and lower them. Yep, they look good. But I wouldn't touch one that was modified with a ten foot pole. Stock or nothing.

That's when I stumbled on my Sidekick. At first I wasn't even interested. The looks of it did nothing for me. But, I decided to go look at it. When I got there, it was spotless inside and out. 93,000 miles on the clock. I could eat off the engine. The running gear and underside didn't show signs of scrapes or any rust anywhere. The interior was just as nice. No torn seats. No cracked dash or anything broken. Had new tires, JVC stereo, everything worked as it should, and he even had all the service records. The top was a bit worn. But that was the least of my concerns.

That's when I took it for a test drive. A quick scoot down the highway. Then back in town. I put it through all the paces of everyday use. I drove back to the sellers house and said "I'll take it" I gave him $2,600.00 cash.

My intentions was to buy it for my son as a first vehicle. I since put on nice wheels with 60 series tires, and got a factory top from a guy in Canada. I also did a new timing belt, idler pulley, cam & crankshaft seals, valve cover & spark-plug seals, and a new clutch kit. As of right now, I'm keeping it for myself till I find a nice Sidekick/Tracker 2dr 4x4 for myself.

Oh, my Q-cab Toyota? Yeah, I still got her. She resides in one of my garage bays out of mother natures harm...lol.

 

[keithert]

Lets hear more stories!

 

[tusong200]

Very simple,We live pretty far from anything,we have winter,our roads..................Proved good in snow,with good tires,but are a bit light and get high centered,.

Nice bike!!!

 

[riley]

My 89 Tracker was bought to flat tow behind our RV for a family trip. At the time the Tracker was one of the few vehicles suited for towing. As our family grew up the tracker was put in the barn and only used for the occasional fishing/camping trip. When I retired my daughter adopted our car and moved off to school the tracker came out of storage. I had forgotten how much fun these little beasts were to drive it soon became our daily driver. It needs new upolstery from being a rodent motel and power steering would be nice but she suits me....

 

[CodyJ]

Christmas time on Craigslist... looking for a hard-top for my 93'. I seen this posting for $650 with a hard-top, but the tracker in the picture was white and I was curious why anyone would sell a hard-top and either switch to a soft-top of like I thought... send it to the junkyard! To make a long story short, I called him ASAP near christmas week and told him that I was out of town visiting family, but ASAP in the morning I would have my dad come over and pucrhase the top; I asked him why on earth he would be selling the top and asked if the car was for sale too or if he would consider it. He said that $850 takes it all. I said that my dad would be over first thing in the morning with cash and since then thats how I got the hard-top/white one.

The blue one was something of my family. I was looking for a tough 4x4, and my dad had mentioned that the "thing" that I seen and moved one day was a tracker and was 4x4 with a 5-speed. I did lots of research and looked on youtube/google images and decided for the price it was right with the KBB and a little under. I went to look at it and then went back with a trailer and towed it back. The truck that towed it was an 01' Chevy Silverado with the 4.8L... I sold the POS soon after I got the tracker running. Couldn't even fill up my tank for $20 and was way passed the point. I barley had 110k on the Chevy and it had piston slap and lots of other Vortec related issues. I now have still a strong compression on the trackers and I feel that if they do let me down its my own fault for not doing Preventive Maintenance, and that if I had to I could push them off the road safetly at all times if I was ever stuck on train tracks with someone else in the car.

Anyone reading this and wanting to buy one, they are a great car that won't eat your lunch but be sure to take care of it and don't ever let it go to the junkyard. They are crushing cars now due to the Cash for Clunkers and half of the CFC engines are NOT ruined properly... its a joke. They ruin the POS over-mileaged cars but the ones with under 100k like we pulled the upper/lower intakes for a 5.0 was flawless but the sticker was on it. I bet a little keroscene ran in the motor would fix it.

 

[Mongo]

I was commuting 50 miles each way in the mid-90s, so the half ton Chevy pickup I had wasn't going to cut it in the MPG department. I found a '91 red 2wd convertible for about $3500. It had 48,000 miles on it. I put 100,000 more on it in the next 4 years. In that time, I changed the brakes, the tires, battery, and O2 sensor. That's it. Oh, and averaged 32 MPG.

I got a job locally, and decided I wanted something a little bigger that I could haul stuff in the bed, so I traded it in for a Nissan Frontier in 2001. They only gave me $800 on the trade in. I should have kept it, as it still ran great and looked new. But live and learn.

Jump ahead to last year, and winter is coming. The Civic is a great car, but not great in snow. So I went looking around for a 4wd Tracker, and found one for $1400 in decent shape.

Just got done putting the engine back in after a clutch job, gasket set, pumps, etc. Looked at the pistons, valves and cam, and they are still in great shape with 250,000 miles on them. Threw a Calmini stainless header and cone filter on it, and it runs better than ever.

These are the other cars I've owned (in order):

1973 Chevy Vega
1967 Chevy Nova
1968 Chevy Camaro
1969 Ford Mustang
1973 Pontiac LeMans
1979 Ford Mustang
1991 Pontiac Sunbird
1979 Chevy pickup
1996 Olds Cutlass Supreme
1993 Pontiac Sunbird Convertible
2001 Nissan Frontier
2003 Honda Civic
2005 Nissan Xterra

The Trackers have been the most reliable I've had.

 

[Bex]

Although I already posted on this, here is a little added story about my first week with the Tracker. I had a 1990 Mazda Miata before the Tracker, and lived on the outskirts of NYC. When it snowed, the sanitation guys would come around with the plow, and snow everyone in with huge mounds of snow. With the Miata, it would take hours to shovel out (always late for work in snow), as you needed really clear access to get out without sliding around. The first week I had the Tracker, we had a bad snowstorm, so as usual I went out with my shovel, and joined all my neighbors shoveling out their cars. The snow was a mound about 3-1/2 feet high, all the way down the road, and it was still snowing. After a couple of shovels, I said 'ef' this, this is ridiculous, this is 4wd, let's see what she can do. (I never had 4WD before, and really only bought the Tracker cause I liked the look). As I said in my earlier post, the car looked REALLY ratty. Anyway, I dug around on the driver's side with my hand, just enough to lock the hub, locked the other side, threw the shovel in the back (had to get in from passenger side as snow was midway up the door on the driver's side), put it into 4wd, and watched my amazed neighbor's faces (as well as my own), as the Tracker climbed up over all that snow with no problem. It was way cool.

 

[Beach Toy]

Why I got my Tracker

Went to the Outer Banks this past April, what an awesome place! Can't drive our Class B through the sand to the beach,(no dear, I will not try it) and after huffing it a 1/2 mile just to GET to the beach, decided I would have get a 4WD. (Jealous of the other people tooling by in their 4WD while I'm sweating buckets). Had seen the "Big Boys", as we call the Class A's towing Trackers, had a friend who had one a few years back, so decided to get one. After reading up on all the bad stuff on the forum, went and found my '95 Tracker, manual hubs, AC, with automatic, as the BOSS can't drive a stick (unless you love to replace clutches and rebuild trannys). 64K, third owner, (second only had it a few months and didn't like it) and light enough to flat tow behind the Roadtrek, my Tracker is a gem! Therefore the name "Beach Toy", because that is what she is! (AND it also snows in Ohio, can't wait to try her here in the winter, too!

 

[hialtitude]

How I ended up with a tracker.

I was looking for a vehicle that was good on fuel mileage, but I wanted a 4WD so I could go 4-wheeling where the Dodge diesel couldn't or wouldn't fit. I was aware of the dependability reputation of the Tracker. I found mine on Craigs list for $600.00. The previous owner had electrical problems and he completely disassembled the dash looking for the problem. I towed it home and in two weekends located 1 short in the main harness, 2 shorts in the engine harness, and the elusive bad ground behind the left tail light! Big tires from craigs list and a 3 inch lift kit and a rear locker from zukworld. Its been tremendous amount of fun and economical commuting and 4 wheeling! I'm going to build a set of rock sliders now that I ruined the rocker panels! Some custom bumpers also. Oh yea, I'm going to buy my brother one of these and fix it up for him so we can both go 4 wheeling without spending too much. It's amazing how many other 4 wheelers will watch how well this little vehicle will climb, especially with the rear diff locked!

 

[Mike O'Toole]

Well, I found my tracker sitting in a run down little used car dealership not far from where I live. I wasn't really needing a vehicle but I like to look. Well hee was this little red 2wd 5 speed manual buried behind a bunch of other cars. It was covered in leaves and dirt. The old white vinyl top was totally worn out and had holes in it. I asked how much for it and they said $1500. they had swapped out the motor and put a new clutch it then it sat for 3 years. They said nobody wanted a stick. They dropped a new battery in it and it fired right up. I bought it and took it home. Put a new top on it from JC whitney and a little body repair on the rockers. The thing runs great. It's a lot of fun jamming thru the gears on it. Just wish it had a few more horses. Also very noisy out on the freeway with the windows up and the top closed. Oh well, it sure is fun in the summer with the top off.

 

[savwafare10]

why I have a tracker

I have a mental list of cars I would like to own and wound up with a tracker. I grew up as a huge mopar fan. I loved the CJ5, witch lands me in the AMC cars. AMX javelin some day. Anyway after a few jeeps from a 70 CJ5 buick v6 odd fire with overdrive, to 60 willy wagon same drivetrain except even fire. Then landed the 74 CJ5 with 304. @ the fly wheel was around 600hp. Running an ol can/am style smallblock with more horse than a short wheel base can handle. With the old jeep stuff gettin' price-e, I started looking into imports. Not liking the 96 Jeep grand cherokee, the new American stuff just turned me off. I have always like the sammies and found one that was not abused. An 88 with the 2 piece hard top. I fell in love. After learning the in's and out's it was easyer to switch over to the kick\tracker. Not afraid of fuel injection and ecm's I found mine. $375 is what I paid and drove it home. Alittle tatered on the passenger side, it runs ok and after the new clutch, she just keeps on tickin. With gas not getting any cheaper it fits me just fine. 30mi of dirt and rock road between my house and town or 50mi of pavment. the tracker gets used alot. I still like the ride of the ol mini van and the kids fit in that fine, but there nothing like trackin' down the ol dirt road headin' to town. Or out fishin' or huntin'. If I could only have kept them all.....My wife and I are looking for a 4dr auto 4wd that needs a good home.