Tell me about: Celica's

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Don
Joined
14 Jun 2004
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Newcastle U/T
Well since passing my test I've wanted a Celica, ended up with a first "sensible" car of a Ford Focus TDCI 1.8, which I absolutely hate.

My mate reckons I should be able to get back what I paid for the car which was around 1.8k, I''d have possibly another 1k on top of that too.

I bought the car around last May/June and have done <4000 miles since then.
That and the increasing costs of fuel Im thinking its a good idea to move away from diesel.

Really looking for things to watch out for, things to check and any other helpfull info. IOnly thing I know so far is theres 2 diff bhp models and then theres the premium pack apparantly I shoudl look out for too.

I know people disagree on cars a lot so if theres anything else you think I may like then please suggest :)

Thanks in advance
 
I have a 140 and love it to pieces but why do you want to move away from diesel and into something that will more than likely cost you more to run?
 
These had my interest a while back. In the right colour and on the right wheels they look stunning. Wrong colour and the bog standard small 5 spokes and they can look a little average.

You are right, there are two power outputs. 140bhp and the 190bhp which uses some kind of variable valve timing and needs to have its neck rung a bit to get the power out of it.

Also not sure on the fuel comment though? Yes diesel is more expensive but you are going to be doing about 10mpg less in the Celica. That said your mileage is more suited to a petrol than a diesel IMO.
 
Aye the way Iw as looking at it is those miniscule miles don't really justify the whole diesel thing, and from what I understand a lot of short journeys may actually be detrimental to the engine?

I'm looking into Celica's as I've always liked them but as I say am willing to look at others :)
 
There's a 140 VVTi Model. VVTi is just some sort of economical thing which used variable valve timing to adjust air and fuel or something like that.

The 190 VVTL-i is more sportier, think of it as the VTEC of Honda. Works similar and is nice.

I was thinking of getting a Celica T-Sport next, but want a Honda Integra Type-R instead.
 
For 3k you can get a very nice 140 Celica VVTI.

Bicepo on here has just got a 1994 Celica GT4 for 2.5K in mint condition, looks amazing and goes aswell!
 
I assume your talking about the 7th gen? (1999-2006 model) its just you don't mention that in the OP and as the 6th gen (1993-1999) was a lot more popular. The 7th are good cars for the money and the import versions with the better trim/toys are nice, I considered one last time I changed cars but the lack of power put me off, for some strange reason Toyota opted not to increase performance when building the 7th gen (Honda did the same with the 5th gen of their Celica rival the Prelude), the is a special JDM limited edition called the TRD Sports M which has 200bhp but it doesn't really compare to the 6th gens ST205 model with 251bhp.

In all id say very nice looking car with nice toys on the import model, however lack of power makes it more of a posers car.
 
I have a 140 and love it to pieces but why do you want to move away from diesel and into something that will more than likely cost you more to run?

:confused::confused::confused:

Perhaps because some people would rather sacrifice some economy and running costs in return for driving something they enjoy rather than a rattly old diesel?
 
In all id say very nice looking car with nice toys on the import model, however lack of power makes it more of a posers car.

I agree with this. The newer version looks nice and is a very good car but does come across as "all show, no go".

The Sports M imports were rapid though. If you can find a blitz supercharged one then we're talking!

EDIT: LINK :D
 

Bit more than my 3k budget, unless of course yer chipping in :p;)

I assume your talking about the 7th gen? (1999-2006 model) its just you don't mention that in the OP and as the 6th gen (1993-1999) was a lot more popular. The 7th are good cars for the money and the import versions with the better trim/toys are nice, I considered one last time I changed cars but the lack of power put me off, for some strange reason Toyota opted not to increase performance when building the 7th gen (Honda did the same with the 5th gen of their Celica rival the Prelude), the is a special JDM limited edition called the TRD Sports M which has 200bhp but it doesn't really compare to the 6th gens ST205 model with 251bhp.

In all id say very nice looking car with nice toys on the import model, however lack of power makes it more of a posers car.

Yeah I prefer them with the front end as in Nath's link, altho a little cheaper would be nice :p
Altho Im guessing the mods would ramp up my insurance lol
 
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Bit more than my 3k budget, unless of course yer chipping in :p;)



Yeah I prefer them with the front end as in Nath's link, altho a little cheaper would be nice :p
Altho Im guessing the mods would ramp up my insurance lol

Hehe, I know just wanted to show you the supercharged one, will be be back with a 3K link in a sec.

Nice on for 3K here, only 56K aswell which aint bad for a 10 year old car.
 
I recently got a 140bhp Celica and i love it. My dad had one a few years back and it never missed a beat and after shopping around, i realised they were in my price range. I managed to pick up a good example with 100k on the clock and full service history for £1900.

Awesome chassis and a really good driving position make for a good B road muncher IMO. Fuel wise, my previous cars have included a Peugeot 306 Rallye and Mk2 Ibiza GTi 16v and the Celica is a hell of a lot better on fuel.
 
If you are indeed looking at the gen7 then ther pre-facelift 140's had issues with the oil consumption which could lead to engine failure. I believe it is similar to the pre-cat failure on the mk3 MR2 but that is something to bare in mind and check for.

The 190 is just can also as econimical as the 140 as long as you don't go in to lift as well so don't let that put you off getting a TSport if one pops up in your price range.
 
For £2.8k, Ithink you may be limited to a 140bhp and maybe prefacelift gen 7 celica, which is not ideal really as that combo had oil drinking issues.
 
Oil consumption issues...

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id...mYtM2NmNi00MWNmLWFhNmYtNDk0YmYyNjBiMDYx&hl=en

In my case the issue surfaced at just 30k, resulting in the need to replace big end bearings. Toyota flat denied there was an oil issue and instead accused me of not checking the oil (had been checked less than 2 weeks prior to issue and was full)

I carried on it got steadily worse until it got to the stage where i could top the oil in warwick, drive ~100miles to reading and the oil was gone. It was especially bad on long trips with the engine getting hot

At around 74k i found the above doc and having an actual toyota doc was getting somewhere with toyota investigating, however i couldnt manage to go 600miles for their oil consumption test without needing to top up and unfortunately wasnt close to a dealer each time, so i had to top up and start their test again because they refused to accept what i was telling them. At 76k the engine gave up

From the original issue at 30k the cat had also been ruined, every so often the CEL light would come on and tell me it wasnt working. Car still passes an MOT so i've not done anythin about it aside from buying a ODB-II adapter so i can check and reset it

I got a replacement engine in november, even though i reported the issue within 7 year replacement period (backed up by the fact id had engine work done) it was outside of that 7y period when the engine finally died so toyota would pay less than 25% of the cost and i was 2k out of pocket

if you can find a pre-facelift that did get an engine replacement then check if it also had the exhaust replaced, otherwise be wary of them. Im keeping mine for now because at 10yrs old its not worth a great deal and i now finally have the oil problem fixed and an engine that should at least beat the milage of the one that suffered the issue i.e. at least 80k worth of life in it

If you avoid getting one with a bad engine and dont mind it not being particularly good on fuel consumption its a great car, handles very well and is a lot of fun to drive and everything else about it has been pretty solid
 
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I don't drive particulary fast and subsequently don't need the lift of the 190 (which cuts in at about 6200rpm and is what I initially went looking for when I decided I wanted one) but I can get ~400 miles from a full 55l tank if that's of any use?
 
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