2000 Celica Gts .. 5 Speed?

August 14, 2014

Hi, first post here... as I don't yet own a Celica.. but I want to! :)

I'm searching to buy one and I found one locally that meets my criteria, except the dealer claims he put a new GTS engine in the vehicle because the old one blew. He says the GTS engine he put in it only has 1,500 miles on it, essentially being "new." He popped the hood and showed me, but since I know nothing about motors I really didn't know what to look for. The motor didn't look all shiny and new, but it didn't look excessively worn and old either.

Here's where I'm getting hung up at... it's a 5 speed manual transmission. Throughout my research on the 2000 GTS they didn't make any 5 speed manuals.. they only made those for the GT.

Is this guy trying to sell me a GTS with a GT motor in it? Or is it actually possible he did exactly what he claims?

If it really is a GTS motor with a 5 speed transmission, will I see a performance loss since I have no 6th gear?

Even though the deal seems shady to me, the car itself, interior and exterior, is virtually flawless and looks beautiful so I really want to believe the guy. But what I want and what the truth ends up being can be wayyyy off sometimes.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I only have a few days to decide whether I'm going to buy it or not before he takes it to auction.

Thanks!

August 15, 2014

Update..

Okay. So I found out it is totally possible to put a 5 speed transmission into a 2zz GTS engine.. not sure why somebody would want to do that.. but it's possible.

Sadly, while the Celica I found looked great.. it ran like total crap. I test drove it with the intentions of taking it to a mechanic to look at it for an inspection and the car had virtually no power at all. My current four cylinder 2011 Sonata SE (no turbo), is much faster. I remember test driving a 2000 GTS back in the year 2000 and I was really pleased with its performance, but the Celica I test drove today didn't run anything like that.

When I mentioned to the mechanic the name of the dealership I was bringing the car from he told me to save my money on the inspection and to take the car straight back. Heh.

I guess I have to keep searching for the sexy Celica that is to be mine one day......

Edit.. Oh and I had ran across some topics about the 5 speed 2zz engine, some people said they were able to achieve lift using a 5 speed while others said they couldn't. Some claimed a 5 speed turbo would increase performance while others said it would not. I couldn't find a definitive answer on that one.