Faults:

AC never worked

Tape deck never worked

Radiator sprung a leak at 135000

The trans has been slipping for the last couple thousand miles

The car bottoms out at almost every railroad track even at slow speeds

Barely any rear passenger room

Trunk latch broke at 130000

Horrendous acceleration!! Hence the 3 in performance.

General Comments:

This car was my first, and since my dad was only for getting me a rice burner, it came down to this car or a Corolla. Who wouldn't take this over a Corolla? The handling is very tight and is pretty fun to drive for a kid's car. Indeed a very VERY sharp looking car, and by far my favorite of all the Celica designs.

The car has pretty much always started up when I needed it to. Other than the radiator springing a crack at the top, no unexpected surprises have happened with this car that disabled it. So indeed a dependable car!!

Crappy performance from the 1.6 litre engine got me up to 135 in a couple of minutes :P I consider it unsafe for highway use, because getting up to speed in a small area just cannot be done at least with an auto trans.

The shocks bottom out at almost every railroad track I go over, even when I go slowly over them. But other than that, the handling and feel still amazes me.

Faults:

The engine sometimes knocked.

General Comments:

A very fun and comfortable ride.

Faults:

I had to fix the following when I bought the car:

The trunk hinge was broken and really hard to find a replacement. How on earth does one trunk hinge break?

The power steering pump had a minor leak.

The plastic rear window needed replacing.

General Comments:

This car is amazingly fun to drive. I love the rag-top and the sporty feel of the car. Low to the ground and handles very well for its weight. Good acceleration from the rather small (4 cylinder, 2.2L) engine. And the small engine means gas mileage is good as well- 22-28 mpg!

The stock 6-speaker stereo sounds awesome, but I did add to the system.

The AC works great, which I've heard is a common problem with a Celica this old.

There is no space in the backseat, but I never use it anyway.

Faults:

Replaced front brake pads at 75,000 miles. Replaced rear brake pads at 125,000 miles.

Replaced timing belt at 65,000 and 130,000 miles as directed by Toyota. Rear main seal was repaired at 110,000 miles, been fine since. Head gasket was replaced by dealer at 65,000 miles.

Power Antenna stopped working at 65,000 miles, drivers seat has rip in leather, cup holder doesn't stay stowed under CD player.

General Comments:

This car has been awesome, money well invested for a 'rare' version of the Celica body style. The factory installed 10 speaker stereo with its 10" sub-woofers make for an awesome ride.

The Eagle GT-II tires stick to the road, and after 12 years this car still takes corners like no other.

Faults:

Problems when I bought the car:

Aerial mast broken (£20 or so for a new one, self-fitted in 5 minutes).

Needed new front discs/pads and a battery.

Needed front and rear exhaust sections.

Clifford alarm fitted - but no valet code supplied to me. Cost me £50 to get the dealer to sort it out for me.

Most annoyingly, the outer nearside CV joint broke - yes, broke: the splined end snapped off while I was driving. Which wasn't good. Toyota quoted over £600 for a complete new driveshaft (wouldn't sell me the CV by itself) but I got it from a breaker for around £20.

Since I got these things fixed, the only thing I've had to do was replace a headlamp bulb.

General Comments:

Replaced the radio-cassette and blank with a Toyota double-DIN Cd/R/C, which is bloody good even with the standard 6 speaker setup.

Thrashed the car senseless for 5000 miles around Europe in two weeks last year, with no trouble at all. Had to keep an eye on the oil, though. Since then, oil consumption hasn't been a problem (it uses none).

You can't drive with the window open at all if it's raining, unless you want the contents of the door pocket to get soaked. Water runs off the screen and roof straight into the open window - there's no deflector.

Window rattles if slightly open while on the move.

Seatbelt buckle rattles against plastic door post on bumpy roads.

Exhaust has an annoying and cheap sounding rasp at about 3200rpm - seems to be a standard problem on these cars.

ABS seems very jumpy under hard braking conditions, possibly causing involuntary toileting. Works, though.

Electric windows, sunroof and mirrors are good, and I've had no trouble with the popup lights. The latter take a bit of getting used to as they hove into view above the bonnet, but you can use them to aim at corners.

The front corners of the car are very difficult to judge when squeezing into parking places.

Despite these minor gripes, it's a fantastic, reliable and comfortable car (I'm 6 foot - loads of room) which nips on a bit and looks dead good. Back seats are good and reasonably spacious.

Smooth curves means it's easy to clean and polish, too.

Fuel consumption is pretty much identical to my old Scirocco (i.e. good) apart from when you boot it, at which time you can watch the gas needle drop.