Buying A Celica Fo R5k

[sevone]

First, I'd like to apoligise for my lack of knowledge here

I'm looking to buy a Celica, either the 2002 model or 98 model BUT I have a limited budget of 5k. I've come here becaus eI figured that you guys being celica owners would be the people nost int he know.

Am I going to be able to get a decent celica for for this money or should I just take my money and flush it down the toilet?

most of the ones I've seen are 98 1.8s with about 60/80k miles ont eh clock for around 4k - is buying one of these on a budget going to cost me in repairs/ keeping the thing running. I understand it's hard to say as it's really down to the state of car I find but as a general rule

Would you buy a celica with a 5k budget and additionally what model woudl you go for ?

again excuse my ignorance

[fazzer]

hi mate

i have a 2001 celica 140bhp for sale,in blue pm me if you are interested

[Bos]

First, I'd like to apoligise for my lack of knowledge here

I'm looking to buy a Celica, either the 2002 model or 98 model BUT I have a limited budget of 5k. I've come here becaus eI figured that you guys being celica owners would be the people nost int he know.

Am I going to be able to get a decent celica for for this money or should I just take my money and flush it down the toilet?

most of the ones I've seen are 98 1.8s with about 60/80k miles ont eh clock for around 4k - is buying one of these on a budget going to cost me in repairs/ keeping the thing running. I understand it's hard to say as it's really down to the state of car I find but as a general rule

Would you buy a celica with a 5k budget and additionally what model woudl you go for ?

again excuse my ignorance

Yes and no !!!

You can buy a good Celica, but if you do be aware that the earlier 7 series ( post 99' ) did have some oil usage problems. ( check other posts here on this site ) :o

They would burn oil at more than 1 litre / 1000 miles, but Toyota did replace some of them with new short end engines. If you got one of these you should be OK !!

As far as the rest of the mechanics and body work go they are as good as any other vehicle.

[DefiantFrog]

£4k for a Gen 6 1.8 SR / ST is rediculous!! You can pick up GT4's for that kind of money!

You'll find some pretty good 2.0 GT's around the £2.5k to 3K mark. I wouldn't want to spend more than £2k on a Gen6 1.8. The Gen6 seems to be a pretty solid car. You'll run in to problems because of the age, maybe a few rusty bits, and a few rubbery bits that need replacing every now and again, but the engine is solid as a rule, so I wouldn't worry too much about major expenses coming from it. The GT4 Fig8 suspension setup can be costly to replace (apparently) and needs to be done every 60k miles or so (maybe? unsure...), but if you're after an ST or a GT, then you don't have that problem.

And you'll probably find a high milage Gen 7 for £5k in reasonable nick, but as pointed out, watch out for the oil usage thing - make sure its less than 7 years old, and has a full Toyota service history to take advantage of Toyota's extended 7 year warrenty for that issue, should it occur. Other than that, the G7 is also ok. Boot struts fail over time, the stock alloys can be rubbish, and there's a common problem of the pre and post CAT sensors going around 70k miles, but other than that, its not too bad at all!

Have a look for private sales on Piston Heads, Celica Club, and Autotrader, and I'm sure you'll find a good car with a well documented history for the amount of money you want to spend. And if you go for a Gen6, you'll have some play money afterwards as well!

Oh, and if you want to flush your money down the toilet, give it to me - i'll flush it down mine... ;)