6th Gen Celica Ownership

[clouddz]

Hi,

I’m looking for my 2nd car and as I want a car with some character and reliability I have the 6th Generation Celica on my list. I would appreciate any advice on ownership costs of this car.

I have looked around and seen that the 2.0 ones are more common in the market than the 1.8? Is there an issue with imported Celica's? or are most of the early models UK supplied ones? I'll be looking in the lower end of the market around £2k so I expect it would have pretty high miles although I am worried that the clutches and suspension are reported as expensive jobs. Could you please give me an idea on the price that these repairs cost you?

The price of the clutch kit seems quite reasonable, so is a clutch change a gearbox out job? to account for a high labour charge?

Also I've read that the suspension fails at 60-70K and that it costs £1K per side to replace? What exactly is it that costs that much? and aren't there aftermarket suppliers like Blueprint who could supply the parts at a discount?

Are there any other reliability issues with the Celica 6th Gen?

As I'm not that mechanically minded would you recommend that I got an AA or RAC vehicle check to avoid buying a celica that would need these costly jobs done?

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers :)

[JohnnyC]

I have looked around and seen that the 2.0 ones are more common in the market than the 1.8?

I have a 1994 brochure, and there's no mention of the 1.8 ST, so I'd guess that it wasn't introduced until later (after 1996 probably).

Also I've read that the suspension fails at 60-70K and that it costs £1K per side to replace? What exactly is it that costs that much? and aren't there aftermarket suppliers like Blueprint who could supply the parts at a discount?

Ignore that, the expensive super strut suspension is only found on the GT-4 (ST205, 4 wheel drive, turbo charged 3S-GTE engine).

Are there any other reliability issues with the Celica 6th Gen?

Not that I'm aware of, the 3S-GE engine is quite bullet proof apparently as long as it's been serviced regular.

[sid-uk]

my gt has super strut, 94 import, at least it says super strut on my rear screen

[sotal]

yeah some imports have the super strut.

As said suspension costs aren't too much on the rest of the range!

1.8's are very popular due to their cheaper insurance/better MPG so they tend to sell very easily and you don't see as many about. You also tend to find that an 1.8ST will be more expensive than a 2.0GT (daft as it seems)

If you want the cheapest possible car to buy - then it would probably be an import 2.0 GT - this will have slightly higher running costs though - insurance may be higher due to the fact it is an import, fuel will be more expensive as they require OPtimax/Super Unleaded and a suitable Octane booster should be used as well.

The cheapest model to run would be the 1.8ST UK model - It would have the cheapest Insurance and would give the best MPG and uses standard 95RON petrol.

You haven't mentioned if you are after power and what type if you are. The most powerful is obviously the GT4, (japan GT4 should be a bit quicker than the UK version) Next would be the Japanese GT, then finally the UK GT/ST come out pretty close. The ST has torque all the way through the rev range, wheras the GT lacks torque until the top end of the rev range. If the GT is driven hard and kept near the redline then it will outperform the ST, but on bends etc you need the low down torque as you keep changing gear and the ST would have an edge on the GT.

I've owned my UK ST for about a year, and all it's cost me is Fuel at around 40MPG, insurance at £600 and an MOT at £35 - oh and I had the front discs skimmed and new brake pads (can't remember how much though! - £60ish I think)