2001 Toyota Celica Reviews

The car has been very reliable. Since I bought it back in late 2004, I can honestly say up until last year the only thing I've had go wrong with it is a sidelight fusing and a brake light.

I wouldn't rate myself as mechanically minded, so I went to the Toyota dealer to see about getting a new sidelight fitted a few days before my MOT. They wanted to charge something like £8 for the bulb, and then £27 + VAT to fit it! Found out I could get the bulb in Halfords for a few pounds and my mate fitted it in under 2 minutes, so I've learned to be a bit wary of Mr T when it comes to repairs!

Recently though, I have noticed an excessive amount of oil consumption from the engine, apparently this is a problem identified by Toyota in the early run of the 140vvti engine, and can be corrected provided your engine is still under warranty (think it may be 70k miles) whereby a new or reconditioned short engine block is replaced. 140vvti cars around mid 2002 onwards do not suffer from this problem (if you are buying one, look for the facelift model instead to be sure).

Toyota carry out an oil consumption test after 600 miles, then a further 1000 then a third after a further 600 miles.

My last reading was over 1 litre of oil used in 600 miles, the readings have been sent to Toyota UK and I'm awaiting a response.

I've had to replace all the brake discs and pads on the car (Toyota were looking for silly money for doing this), I managed to buy the discs and pads online and get them fitted locally by a mechanic for less than the price of the parts supplied from Toyota. Labour prices at a franchised dealer are very high.

Brake discs can get badly warped also on the standard Toyota discs, you should avoid holding your car on hills with your footbrake, as the heat and friction eventually makes the surface uneven. Toyota often offer to skim the discs, which solves the problem for a while, but they were looking to skim my brakes again at the next service, so I just decided to get new ones myself and have them fitted, they were badly corroded. Corrosion is very bad on the inside of the discs, and you won't be able to see this unless you are under the car or remove the discs yourself.

If you are thinking of buying a pre facelft model, make sure the service book is fully stamped to cover yourself in the event of the oil burning issue - it's well documented online.

I really enjoy using this car, it has bulletproof reliability. I used to have a Fiat Stilo before this, brand new from the dealership, and I had the AA out more times with failing engine and electronics than I care to remember.

I think I've seen the AA guy once in 3 years, once with a flat battery after I left the glove box open over the weekend. I'm almost thinking about cancelling my AA membership, the thing is so reliable!

Car still turns heads and has people pointing at it, which is surprising given its age!

Plenty of room up front, I'm 6'3" and this car just loves long journeys! Fuel consumption is pretty good for a coupe, and offers plenty of boot space, especially when the back seats are folded forward.

I have looked around for a replacement car recently, but given this car's reliability, I'm going to buy a newer model celica. Shame Toyota stopped making this, I look forward to seeing its replacement!

The A/C has broken (the compressor seized) - due to lack of oil in the refrigerant (manufacturing issue when new). The car is out of warranty now - so will cost over £1000 to fix.

There is a very, very slight big end knock (I mean that by you can only hear it if you put your ear right next to the sump with the plastic undertray removed. This is a 27,000 mile car, correctly maintained with recommended lubricants and genuine parts, and is not thrashed. As it is mainly used for daily commuting at rush hour.

2 sets of alloys corroded (1st was replaced under warranty). The current set are corroding like the originals.

Farting (sorry, best word to describe it) noise when pulling away - suspect internally loose catalyst element or leaky olive joint gasket (dealer said they all do that - and is "normal").

Excessive corrosion of the inner brake disc surfaces on the front (although the car is used daily). New discs and pads now fitted and cleaned guides and slides etc. It is now doing it again (this car uses single pot sliding calipers.. but it's happening on piston side, so it's impossible to be the calipers or piston sticking).

Uncooperative gearbox - possible baulking problem on 3rd gear, causing difficulty in engaging gear (gets worse the faster you drive) and also a possible linkage problem. If you go from reverse to 1st, you get reverse again, try again, and it still goes into reverse (dealer says they are all like that and it is "normal", sir).

Gearbox is now making a grating noise in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear on overrun.

Low speed engine knock (detonation), if you're a bit heavy letting up the clutch without enough revs (possible cause of big end problems??). This type of high revving engine does not like being laboured.

Trim rattles galore - the interior quality is nowhere near as solid as older models.

Intermittent dimming of the headlights whilst driving at 30ish mph. The CD player also skips at the same time, so possible electrical/charging system fault.

The alarm had a mind of its own (fixed now) - Sensor is over-sensitive to vibration. Metal objects in the centre console screw up the sensor.

Paint is very thin, and soft, so chips and scratches very easily.

This is our 4th Celica, we have owned Celicas for the past 16 years, all these cars have been impeccably reliable, except this one, which is a very poor car by any standard. This will be our last Celica.

This is a very fast car. But the engine is very peaky and has a narrow power band, which only is available near the redline. It doesn't not have much low RPM power. The "VVTLi" does not kick in until well over 6000rpm. Forcing you to thrash it to get the best performance. Great for fast road driving - but a pain round town and for cruising, as you need to constantly keep changing gear to avoid labouring the engine.

The handling is extremely good, it feels much lighter than the older models, and gives good feedback through the steering. But it does suffer badly with torque steer, and the factory Yokohama tyres are not very good for wet grip or traction. It also can be twitchy under hard braking from high speed.

The gearbox has very short and close ratio gearing. Great for boy racers and suits the engine nicely, although it is easy to drop out of the power band, resulting in "block" changes to get the engine back on the boil. The gearbox is spoilt by being uncooperative and stiff to change gear.

Due to the the low gearing, motorway cruising is noisy, as the engine revs very highly at motorway speeds.

The interior is nicely laid out, but is cheap plastic, and is poorer quality than older models. Rear vinyl seats don't match the front leather seats (petty cost cutting). And the front seats have no memory, so when folded for rear access, they reset to a uncomfortable bolt upright position. It also has a few rattles. Boot as per all Celicas is large, and has the usual restricted height, but is very practical. Although it seems to be slightly smaller than older models.

Dealers were unwilling to help with the multitude of problems with the car, and preferred to fob us off on warranty work.