Toyota Repair: Acceletation on 94 Tercel, charge reply, compression gauge

Question
Currently I drive a '94 1.5 cyl 4-speed (I believe) Tercel DX Sedan. The car has roughly 117k miles on it. It performs adequately while driving in the city. However there are times where I need to take it on the highway and it really lacks in acceleration. I was wondering if there is anyway to improve the acceleration on the car whether it be a cheap fix or major part replacement?

Answer
A loss of power can be caused by a number of things from a simple engine misfire to a restricted exhaust system or loss of engine compression. These engines are known for some mechanical issues so before dumping any parts or money into it I would highly recommend having the engine conpression tested first, you can also do this yourself if so inclined by renting a compression gauge from a local autoparts store. You reply to this post and let me know the results and I may have some suggestions for you. Also if the check engine light happens to be on you should get the diagnostic codes, most autoparts stores like autozone can help you do that usually at no charge. Reply here with any information that you can get.