Faults:

Upon the purchase of the car:

- Driver's side axle was damaged due to improperly torqued axle nut.

- All shock absorbers were worn due to the poor quality of the brand of shocks. Previous owner had it replaced just a year before the car was sold.

- A small hole on the side of the plastic back window.

- Weatherstripping is showing its age.

- Coolant flush was never done. Surprisingly it had a new water pump and cam belts.

After a few months of ownership:

- Intake hose replaced due to cracks.

- Clutch was worn at 141000 miles.

- Battery replaced due to poor brand choice by the seller. It was an eight month old battery.

General Comments:

This car can surprisingly handle well, although the understeer can be felt when pushed. A set of lighter wheels and sportier tires may be considerable for improving its performance.

The convertible top operates well for its age and comes off fast. This is the first convertible I have driven and it is sensational!

The motor is pretty well-made. The power is decent and very reliable, but it isn't quick by today's standards. Fuel economy is decent, 30 MPG highway. It does have a sporty grunt through the exhaust and it sounds satisfying with every shift. Unfortunately there are no available mods for the 2.2L platform and the only next step to increasing power would be a 3SGTE engine and powertrain swap.

I really dig the body design of this Celica among all the other Celicas. The visor look of the grill, pop up headlights and sleek body really emphasizes the sportiness in this car. The chassis feels tight even though it is a 24 year old car.

There was so much maintenance that had to be done to the car. Recently it feels much more enjoyable to drive with a new clutch, axle and shock absorbers.

Faults:

My car has had nothing wrong with it since day one. All I needed was a clutch, and these aren't too bad to do yourself if you have a heated garage and also a decent amount of time (like a weekend). This was easy.

I've been doing a lot of research on trying to find a turbo for this engine, but it's hard to find one. If anyone knows, let me know, I'm looking to bore the 5sfe out to about a 2.8 if it's safe... still doing the research, then I'd like to get it set up on that turbo and some other additions.

P.s my dad has a 1985 Celica GT-S; this thing's crazy, rear wheel drive, and has 398 thousand miles, and is running strong.

General Comments:

This car is VERY quick. The GT-S has a few more things than the GT, and also a lot more than the 1.8 liter ST (which Yoyota shouldn't have bothered with; however it is a gas saver and reliable).

The GT-S model has a couple more horses than the GT, only like 10-15, nothing huge, and it has the all wheel ABS disk brakes, unlike the GT that only has the front 2 rotors and rear drums, so braking on the GT-S is a lot better... I know because I drive my buddy's GT all the time.

My Celica has a short ram air intake that you can find on ebay; it's just the intake for a Honda Civic 1.6 lt. You need to do a TAD bit of modding, but it works and YOU don't GET A CHECK ENGINE Light, which on the newer GT-S you do if you don't do it correctly.

Anyways, the car's interior is amazing, no rips or anything. I intend to redo it though once I get the engine and body really up to where I want it.

The Celica Alltrac is amazing if you can find one at a reasonable cost (good luck), other wise like I stated before, there is a turbo set up for the 5sfe engines; you need to do a decent amount of work and I still need to find where it is.

One more small thing on the GT-S; THE SPEEDO goes to 150 mph and I've topped out and have on it video racing a Ferrari; he destroyed me, but I topped out at 145, I have a vid on my speedo, I'll get that link up here soon.