1993 Toyota Celica GTi 16V review from UK and Ireland

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.

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.