Thinking of getting a Celica (mid 90's shape), but know feck all about them.

Anything i should be looking for?

I'm leaning towards the 1.8 st as it has much better mpg than the 2.0, but

is obviously less powerful.

Will be a daily driver so reliability & mpg is important.

 

Thanks in advance...

Mid 1990s - you mean the one after the last pop-up lights version (L-reg onwards)?

 

If so then I'd go for the 2.0gt. Back in 1995 I had a Carina E GT (my first Japanese car), it had the 173bhp engine and running gear from the Celica GT and it was a good car. Fast and reliable - and not too bad on fuel either; I think that was Toyota's first experiment with lean burn engine technology.

 

IIRC the engine gave its best at the top of the rev range, so low down it was a lot mor economical, but with the power there if you needed it. You might find that you'll work the 1.8 harder, which would make its fuel economy suffer more.

 

Richard:donatello:

I had an st202 and loved it, the 1.8 one is gay, it is also gay if you get a auto! Go for a gt and you will never look back, handling is awesome with a few tweaks and it's just a fun perky car

300zx

tbh I would say the ST. Probably biased because of my old one but in the celica club which is massive, the ST's seem to be the most cherished. Make sure you get it chipped because mine on 19" wheels and a full on boot install managed to beat any other souped up 2.0 anyway. You'll find a lot of similarities in the cockpit to driving a 300ZX too. :)

I had a ST202 2.0GT, and it was a decent car. Smooth, Comfortable, relatively quick, handled well, reliable and well built.

 

I wouldn't bother with the 1.8 st. Its a lot slower and less desirable for resale. The 3S-GTE in the GT is 170bhp, compared to the weak 115bhp 7A-FE, plus it a much better all-round engine with more aftermarket support. The GT also came with a better spec and than the ST, including sports suspension, bodystyling, wheels...etc.

 

The Gen6 are so cheap these days your not going to save much in cost to buy, but if mpg really is the strongest priority then thats the only reason to go for the ST. I believe I got low to mid 30's average in the GT, mixed motorway and town.

 

I also had a ST185 GT-Four as my first jap performance car, about 13 years ago, and have very fond memories of it.

Edited January 29, 201214 yr by Yowser

it would have to be the Gt for me. I had one and loved it :)

Ok, I suppose the GT is easier to convert if you get the GTfour bug lol.

 

This was mine..

what the hell are those blobs :lol::lol:

 

Best left with the oem spats and skirts imo.

Had an ST202 3SGE and can honestly say it's one of the most reliable engines I've had. Stood up to endless amounts of abuse as long as you gave her regular servicing, liked it so much I now have an MR2 with the same engine :)

 

Go for the 2 litre, hell of a good engine and many toyotas run that same motor, ie rav 4, corona, caldina etc etc