After a sporty a car around £2k... what not to get? What to get :D

A moment of geekness...

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all hell brakes loose over 6500rpm & even in 3rd
So after all that you managed to luck out and buy something decent. Sounds as amazing as my random trip to the auctioneers where I somehow ended up attempting to bid against myself and bought a car that broke down on the auction floor.
Turned out it was flawless FSH straight from the main dealer, hence the staff were trying to put me off it. The only decent purchase on a nice car Ive ever made pretty much and very lucky
 
So after all that you managed to luck out and buy something decent. Sounds as amazing as my random trip to the auctioneers where I somehow ended up attempting to bid against myself and bought a car that broke down on the auction floor.
Turned out it was flawless FSH straight from the main dealer, hence the staff were trying to put me off it. The only decent purchase on a nice car Ive ever made pretty much and very lucky

Yeah I think luck deffo plays a part with a s/h car.
I even know a mechanic who bought an evo & didnt notice a piston slap, so you can guess what happened when he turned up the boost :eek:
 
Well ive now been driving the celica for a couple of weeks now & heres what I think so far:

Compared to my previous V reg Mondeo which is now being turned into a toaster the celica is noticeably rougher to drive, ie. clunky gear change, louder with more road noise etc.
I know that being an older sporty car then these things are probably normal.

I'm finding it much harder to drive than the larger mondeo as im still struggling with the gear changes, like shifting down from 6th to 3rd & very often put it into reverse instead of 1st. I think this must be me, having to get used to it with being so different than anything ive ever driven before... A calibra I had years ago was much easier drive, although that was more of a squashed cavalier than a sports car. I've driven all sorts of 'new' vans from a vito to a 7.5t cargo & the celica is the hardest with regards to working the transmission.
I read somewhere you should not put it into 1st gear whilst moving & to this end im struggling with it in slow moving traffic as there are still a few minor vibrations when engaging the clutch. The garage that fitted the clutch said it was ok & probably because the engine mountings were a bit soft but not torn.

At how many rpm is it best to change gear while the engine is warming up & for economy? After warming up I feel ok pushing it up to 8200rpm on the rare occasion. A friend who came for a ride with me said I was driving it wrong by shifting up at typically 3000rpm.
I've noticed a bit of a flat spot in the power band between eg 2000-4000rpm in the higher gears.

Suspension is a little soft when driven spiritedly round twisty B roads, although nice & nimble/assertive at slower speeds.

Better mpg than the mondeo's 23mpg as getting 26mpg from the same journey of short daily 7mile of town/carriageway. Ive only used super unleaded so far & getting similar miles as the mondeo £ for £ lol. I think this is good.

All in all im starting to like the celica after the initial hassle I had at first.
I'ts certainly a pretty car & the colour makes it stand out, better than the previous rusty green mondeo :)
 
The clutch / box doesn't sound right - all my toyotas have had a decent if slightly notchy gearchange, none of them crunched or were difficult to get into gear and that's 3 different mr2's. Engine mounts could have a bit of an impact but if they're worn enough to affect your gearchange you'll have vibration through the stick and be able to push the engine around by hand

You can go into first whilst moving, but at anything faster than a crawl you shouldn't really have to.

I can't think of many occasions where I ever shift from 6th to 3rd why aren't you using the gears available to slow down well ahead? You'll get used to where each gear is in time, 3rd tends to be dead easy as you're just letting the stick centre then push straight up...
 
Nothing sounds surprising tbh:

Took me a while to get used to the 1st and reverse gear. Almost reversed into someone at the lights once when I meant to go forwards; and it was uphill.

Gear changes can be notchy indeed and going from anything into 1st is an issue unless you are going extremely slow.

COmpared to my brother's Mondeo 2009 TX, the Celica is bloody loud inside and stiff, but it goes round corners so much better and feels safer when doing so. Definitely more fun and prefer it that way.

I'm doing 95% motorway miles these days and fuel log records an average of 36mpg, which is pretty good actually (book says 41mpg I think). I've just gotten used to cruising sedately at 65/70mph these days and leave my fun to twisty B roads.
 
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Thanks.
The shift does not crunch or difficult to get into a gear. I drove more aggressive going into work this morning & it never vibrated, maybe it's not as tolerant when riding the clutch as a mondeo.
 
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