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I love Tercel's more than anyone should really love one car. Being a college student, reliability is the most important thing to me. I've had the car for about 60k miles now, and nothing has been too difficult to replace. The toughest thing I've had to change was valve stem seals, which really wasn't too bad. Most of the common maintenance things are easily accessible, which is great for someone without a garage to work in. Hell, I just dropped the transmission on my girlfriend's Tercel, and it's parked on the side of the road. I've had the wheel bearings crap out on me twice, but once you change them out once, it's not tough at all. My Tercel has been my 'learning' car, and it's been great - learned how to drive a stick, how to change wheel bearings, learned about major engine components, learned what does what in the engine bay, and, learned how to eco-drive.
A '90 liftback would be sweet, but you have to find out if it's carbureted or fuel injected. If it's carbureted, I wouldn't really bother, because it'll be annoying to deal with, MPG-wise. If it's FI'd, then you'll probably have to do some maintenance, but it's not too bad. Timing belt, valve stem seals, and misc. gaskets should be enough. I'd take a good look at it though, and make sure it's not too rusted out, since it's about 20 years old now. Wheel well rust is pretty common, but if there's a lot on the underside, and on brake lines, fuel lines, and the gas tank, it might not be worth it.
I'm not sure what the CD of a '90 Liftback is, but a '91-94 is .36, and a '95+ is .32. The '90 is a totally different body style, so it's hard to tell. I just bought my girlfriend's '93 for $450, and it just needed a brake line and rear brakes to get to working condition. You should be able to get any Tercel for less than a grand, unless it's been extensively modified.
Also, if you can find a Toyota Paseo, it's essentially a sportier Tercel, and should be more aerodynamic, and, I think, a better baseline to work with.
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