1992 Toyota Celica GT-S from North America - Comments

Worn struts.

Oil leak.

Coolant leak.

This car is so slow!

The 5SFE is pathetic!

0-60 in 9 seconds flat! Quarter mile in 18.5 seconds! Yeah!!

Very loud engine at highway speeds.

Faulty AC.

No aftermarket parts.

Frog eyes!

If you guys want real performance, stay away from this car. The GT-S weights in at 2900+ lbs and has 130hp. This equates to abysmal performance. How can you even call it "sporty"? It may look nice, but thats where it ends.

I have a test for all of you who have this car. In 3rd gear,any RPM, stomp on the gas. What happens? Nothing!

On the plus side, the hatchback has tons of room in the back.

Anyways, this is my second car. I "upgraded" from an automatic 1990 V6 Camry DX and have to say that the Celica was a bad choice. The 5th generation Celica is slower than Hondas with 1.8L motors. Slowest car out there. Period.

Another thing...the maroon color is the nastiest color available. I don't care what anyone says, it's the nastiest purple out there. That color has been discontinued for a reason. It's horrendous.

This is just a warning to all of you who think this car is badass. It's not. There's no aftermarket support because this car is so unpopular. It's slow. You can't mod the 5SFE because it was built for sippin' gas. It won't "turn heads" and people won't talk to you about it. Have you ever seen a 5th gen celica (non alltrac) featured in a car magazine? Never.

Ugly car, unpopular, slow, ugly, get something else.

Bye and good luck!

Agree with you that the Celica is painfully slow. Even with the 5 speed. The 5S FE 2.2 engine thrashes noisily & there's no point revving past 5000 rpm. But it will propel the car to 120+ mph. Fast enough.

I agree with you, it is slow as hell, but there are alot of performance upgrades you can do. I put a full stage 3 turbo kit on my 1992 GT-S also I have oversized high compression pistons and a longer stroke for that extra torque my car now dyno'ed in at 413 Hp at 437 Ft/lbs of torque I also added a Inavder 2 bodykit and Painted it Royal Sapphire Pearl (1998 Supra Color) and it only cost me around 10 thousand to do all this and I've won 6 car shows around my city and everybody complements and talks about my car so don't tell me that this car is a peice because 7 of that 10 thousand went into the bodykit and paint job and it did not take a lot to make it fast and you mentioned losing races to a honda? well when my car was stock I had no problem beasting a 1993 Prelude and also a 2001 Civic so I think your problem is you don't no how to shift. bbut yes it is slow, but not as slow as you put it out to be!

I have a 92 celica GT-S and its fine I have a sho gun body kit and painted it deep red with gold mica. Stock I can beat almost all civics and I have found tons of parts. you just need to know hwere to look.

I totally agree with you man. Like I had a Mazda MX3 precidia that had less horse, less torque, and it was 1.8 v6, but it was way much faster than the 92 Toyota Celica GTS I have now!!!Plus with my Mazda I could easily pull 450-500 km with a 50L tank city, where as with my TOYota, I can't even pull 400, and it's fully tuned up on a 140000 km engine. It is just a pooooor performance man.

Plus my with mazda you could get on the highway, do 140km/h and don't hear nothing, so smooth, with this it's like driving a tractor.

OHH and why did I get rid of my MAZDA?? Cus I am the stupiest person on the plannet, and it had close to 400km.

There is not one thing about the Toyota Celica that atracts me other than the mirrors!!! LOL.

For the guy who put a stage 3 turbo you're a good example of what can be done to these cars good job where did you get a stage 3 at?email me elvislazolaca@yahoo.com, for the dude who's up set with his car for the loud noise engine and its slow and has problems here and there, guys lets not forget how much you paid for the car you get what you pay for, and the other one is you got s**T end of the stick and got ripped off, but that doesn't mean all the cars are in the same shape as yours. you!!!NEVER KNOW!!! how they treated the car way far down before you owned it don't for get that some people are extremely careless and don't give a damn about the car and us it until the car lose its performance, and you get back what you put in period...

Anyone know if its possible to swap out the 5SFE for a either a 1MZ-FE or a 3VZ-FE V6 from the Camry/Avalon?

The 5sfe was not built to be an asphalt eater, it was designed for reliability, fuel economy, and some degree of quickness. Yes the car is heavy, but the engine does more than its share of the work while still propelling the car rather quickly. I have owned a 93 automatic and now a 92 manual and I have to say that both cars were quick for their class.

For those who wanted speed out of the car, they bought the Gt-Four or the All-Trac with the 3SGTE engine. Simple as that. Otherwise, the car was meant to be fun, while economical and practical.

PS: For all you guys who wasted money on upgrading the 5SFE, you could have saved A LOT of money and time by just dropping a 3SGTE into the car for a couple of G.

Well there are tons of after market parts and yes the 5sfe is terrible the 3sgte and 3sge beams are a sinch to put into it do the research these engines have the potential to keep up with nearly anything on the road if modded correctly has been shown to smoke look at mr2 turbo mods up to 500hp? out of that tiny little things its amazing.

The celica GTS at the time was a good car when comparing to others of its time. But the GTS was not the best of the celicas, if you want a the best you got for the all-trac/GT-Four. As for mods and swaps, the 3S-GTE in a GTS shell will eat almost any other compact sports out today. 3S-GTE swap will put a GTS in the mid 14 in the quarter mile with no mods.

I'm a CNC Lathe Operator at Xceldyne Technologies. I make many different Valve train components for the racing industry, many of them go straight to Nascar. I have gathered that top quality materials, lighter in weight, for the heads, make a big difference.

I am the proud owner of a 1992 Celica. I have added: titanium valves, titanium retainer locks, Beryllium Copper exhaust valve seats and valve guides, titanium spring seats and spring retainers, Aluminum cam and crank gears. These are all polished with no scratches to reduce carbon buildup. They will take the heat, and they are machined @ a + or -.0005 tolerance to insure nothing breaks or comes loose at top RPM's. I've had the block bored .040 and the head shaved ported and polished. New cams were installed, high output coil, hotter plugs, it runs low 8's at the track. It has more items, but I guess you get my point. It runs low 8's at the track. I want more speed.

I need some feed back on the aerodynamics of the car and places where I can get body kits and the necessary items to keep this turbo-ed procession car on the ground. I'm also looking for suspension tips also. Any feed back would be helpful. I'm also wondering if there's a 5th gen club for the Celica's?

My '90 will be 19 next year & my plan was to eventually upgrade to something else. But now I realize I shouldn't get rid of it. Replace it yes, but not get rid of. I agree w/all the above comments. From certain angles I like the look of the Celica. Other angles not so much. But it is a Toyota & has its place in the pecking order. Being a convertible helps too.

The Celica GTS was slow because of its added weight, due to all the extra crap they had (power windows, sunroof, etc). If you want a speedy Celica, get a 90 GT coupe. Stock it weighs around 2700 compared to 2900 of the GTS model. Gut the interior and you can make it even lighter. OR you can get the base model ST and just swap the motor. The Celica wasn't built for top end speed, but is definitely quick off the line. Plus the Celica is more of a rally car anyways. The GT4 won the 93 WRC. Respect the turns. Respect the Celica. Toyota over Honda any day of the week.