1999 Toyota Celica SX / GTS review from Australia and New Zealand

Very minor things.

Keys needed to be re-coded at the Toyota dealer.

3rd gear makes a churning noise when I stop accelerating however I'm not sure if this is common because when I test driven other Celica's they did the same.

Drivers seat is fraying on left side.

Factory CD player skips even on new CD's, I will need to buy a new one.

Doors will slam shut if they are open on the slightest incline due to their weight and length.

Heres my summary of this awesome vehicle!

The good:

- Very reliable.

- Looks very sporty.

- Interior looks awesome, seats could almost be classed as bucket seats and the air conditioning vents and console looks like it was taken out of something much more expensive.

- Very good engine. 140kw out of a 1.8 litre engine (made by Yamaha, its also in Lotus Elises :P) just rips you back in the seat after around 6000- 8000rpm, I would estimate it does 100ks in 7-8 seconds and it just keeps going! (But I still wish they made a GT4!)

- Typically gets 580-650ks of round town and highway

driving off around 50 litres.

- Gearbox is pretty precise... (can also be a bad thing)

- Stock speakers have lots of bass (i won't need to get new ones they are so good)

- Is pretty low but not so low that you need to slow down at speed humps. Has good handling but be warned, if you push it too hard its back will loose traction first and you will go sideways!

- Services are pretty well priced at the Toyota dealer, costs about $350AUD each service.

- Sounds awesome, youd think it has a bigger engine for the sound it makes.

OK now the bad:

- Doors are ridiculously long... Toyota really should have put scissor doors on this thing, I bang into everything with this thing in the car parks.

- Lack torque, you will need to rev this baby to get up hills.

- Back wheel arch is really high and looks kind of strange, buying some wheels will fix this though.

- Spoiler obstructs a lot of your rear view. Just use the side mirrors and you will be right.

- It's a front wheel drive so getting traction can be a serious problem in the rain so take it easy!

- Gearbox is kind of tricky, if you're not fully concentrating you can easily put it in 3rd instead of first when taking off or drop it down 1-2 gears too many.

- in the back seat any one that's more than 5ft tall will hit their head on the glass panel on the back (i guess its only really meant for 2 people anyway though)

- Not much sound proofing, noise can be annoying.

- Seats kill your back a bit after a few hours of driving but just driving around town is fine.

All in all this car is awesome. I only paid $14000 AUD for it and people think its worth much more! You can drive it hard and it won't even use much fuel! Pity this car did not really take off and become more popular...