possible new car- thoughts?

so, one of my old school mates brothers is selling his car, for only $850
they say its pretty good, I'm looking into it, but i then need insurance etc, but I'll figure that out
anyway, it's a 1988 Toyota Celica, one car I've wanted for a while
anyway here are the pics:





needs a bit of a clean inside, and engine clean which I'll happily do, but I'm going to take it for a test drive soon, hopefully, and hopefully will like it. has 239'000 km or so, but its a first car, so i don't really care
really want it
so what's your thoughts?

Not bad for $800. Check for rust!!

You might want to give it the go-over around the suspension and handbrake and whatnot. Is it the 4WD or FWD?

um FWD i believe
oh and a manual
and yea, i'll be giving it a go over, so rust, brakes, lights, etc
has new suspension put in a few months ago, because old one was dangerous, so i'll give that a double over
but gotta talk to mum n dad about splitting it as an early 18th Birthday present (say 450-500) and i pay the rest
but then there's insurance as well...
and fuel

If its your first car I would go with something newer and more reliable, I mean I was hoping to get a Porsche 944 as my first car, instead I got a Vauxhall Corsa although it was a limited edition model stright out the factory

mum n dad wouldn't want to get me or me buy a 'new' car though
i'll crash it and it'll cost too much, so they say, and they tend to be 2500 plus
which i can't afford...
unfortunately,
if we had enough, i'd get mum a Toyota 86 ( ) and i'd get her '99 echo, but unfortunately, we can't

I'm the only one in my group of mates who doesn't have a car but ironically, I'm the only one who can afford the insurance for one. Basically, don't get it for the sake of it. Only get it of you know you can afford to run it. I know too many people who have got mummy to pay for their car only for it to sit in their driver for a year.

First car was a 1.4l 1994 Renault Clio, great car, electrics had a habit of switching off if I talked about a new car, MoT failure

1.1l 98 Rover 200, again nice car, breezed its Mot, hit a deer wrote it off

1.6l 99 Peugeot 206, previously the best car I'd ever driven on the road, electrical failure

I now have a 1.1l 52 plate Fiat Seicento Sporting! It's an absolute hoot to drive, 50+ MPG wherever I go and despite four points on my licence insurance is only £390 for the year (I'm 23). Never had a car bought for me, used the sale of my 250 Superkart to buy and insure my first car and done it myself since