If you are shopping for a sporty hatchback, then your first and foremost choice must be the masterpiece, Toyota Celica. This car offers you a great driving experience with excellent body styling from outside. The engine is nice and enthusiastic which takes you to the sky right after the spark. Toyota Celica is a compact hatchback with a lots of bells and whistles. If you don’t believe, at least, read this out and then the decision will be yours.
The Toyota Celica was a sports car made by world famous company, Toyota from 1970-2006. The name Celica was ultimately derived from the Latin word “Coelica” meaning “heavenly”. Throughout its life span, the Toyota Celica was powered by four cylinder engines.
The Toyota Celica came up in seven different generations including First generation (A20, A30; 1970-1977), Second generation (A40, A50; 1977–1981), Third generation (A60; 1981–1985), Fourth generation (T160; 1985–1989), Fifth generation (T180; 1989–1993), Sixth generation (T200; 1993–1999) and finally the Seventh generation (T230; 1999–2006). We are going to have a look at the seventh generation Toyota Celica in this article. So, here we go!
The Celica is about as ancient and familiar a name as there is in the automotive world. It’s been around for many years. The latest version, redesigned in 2000, is the seventh upgrade since its inception back in 1971.Through all those versions, the Celica has always been one main thing: a small, nicely made, compact, sporty car that, in a pinch, can easily hold four people. I guess the older we become, the more we would stress the word “small.”
With more and more vehicles adopting a tall profile, you really observe now when you get into a car that sits you quite close to the ground. Folding yourself into the Celica is really not on your chiropractor’s “recommended” list. The car is fast and nimble, almost touchy. The accelerator pedal on the GT-S (the sportiest Celica model) is highly sensitive, making the car dart and jump. The amalgamation of an overpowered engine and a six-speed manual (non-automatic) gearbox makes it hard to accelerate smoothly, mainly at low speeds.
This is the sort of thing you might get used to, but it’s also the kind of thing that would disturb passengers a lot more than drivers, and you might find friends refusing to ride along with you before long.
The GT-S came along with a six-speed manual gearbox which motivates the driver to keep the engine revs high. That’s perfect if you feel like playing Speed Racer, but it can become tiresome if you’re just going to the dry cleaners. A decent four-speed automatic is obtainable, and it possibly does a lot to smooth out the effect of the accelerator pedal.
Otherwise, the Celica is exciting to drive. The shifter and the clutch both work ideally, and the car sticks to the pavement and handles very well, if very firmly.
The GT-S has one very significant drawback, however: too much engine for too little car. The GT-S truly comes with a strong four-cylinder, 1.8-liter, 180-horsepower engine, and, along with a weight of only 2,500 pounds, it exceeds test takers proposed 0.06 horsepower-to-weight limit by an impressive 20 percent. It’s actually difficult to drive this car responsibly, in test takers humble opinion. It makes you drive like a maniac. For that typical reason, and the others stated above, they recommend the more reasonable GT model. The Celica GT appears along with a 140-horsepower engine, which should be more than enough to power this lightweight car.
When, at massive risk to our inseams, we first lowered our own selves into the bucket seats, we took a rapid dislike reaction to the GT-S. It felt as though you were sitting in a hole–not a great feeling unless you’re a mole or a woodchuck. Luckily we located a little crank by which you can comfortably raise and lower the seat cushion. After that find, our perspective updated markedly. The driving position is surely acceptable, but you pay for the racy styling of this car by sitting close to the ground and looking up at the world.
The Celica may appear small on the outside, but once you’re behind the wheel you notice that it’s really, really small on the inside. There’s more than enough room up front for two people who actually like each other, while the two seats in rear are fine for, a pet ferret and two days’ worth of dirty laundry–or any adult whose pleasure and well-being are of no significance to you.
The Celica is a smart hatchback, which does add to its utility. The back seats can be folded, providing it about as much trunk space as an Oldsmobile Intrigue sedan. The GT-S appears with four-wheel disc brakes, fog lights, cruise control, power door locks and windows, a rear wiper, and an AM-FM stereo that plays cassettes and CDs. In terms of safety, antilock brakes and side-impact air bags are optional.
Test takers complained about the layout of the speedometer. The Celica’s GT-S has a speedometer that goes straight up to 160 miles per hour. But the speed markings take up only about three-quarters of the dial. Test takers will let the Sultan of Slow take it from here: “So along with zero miles per hour at the exact six o’clock position, and 160 mph at three o’clock, you’ve surpassed the speed limit when the needle is almost one-third of the way around the dial. Almighty forbid you should be driving past a school and attempting to figure out if you’re over the 35 mph speed limit. You’d require a magnifying glass!”
This one flaw is really a shame–because everything else inside the car is just so good. The dials are clear and simple to read, and the precise controls for the heater and radio are simple and easy-to-operate dials. Test takers did find that the dashboard vents were a little bit tricky to get used to, but even they got the hang of them eventually.
One strange feature of the active GT-S? It warns you when you’ve shifted into reverse along with a beep, beep, beep that’s just like the big trucks, only inside of the car. This is no doubt a thoughtful touch, providing that first gear is right next to reverse on the shifter. After all, you’d certainly have a lot of explaining to do if you accidentally launched yourself into that state police cruiser just behind you when the light turned green.
Among the competitors of Toyota Celica there are Honda Integra, Nissan 240SX/200SX/180SX, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Acura RSX, Ford Probe, Hyundai Coupe, Mazda MX-6, Opel Calibra and other compact sport cars. Producing of Celica lasted till 2006, and then it was terminated. Since 2012 Toyota started producing Toyota GT 86/Scion FR-S as the new compact coupe.
The overall height of GT (VVT-i) and GTS (VVTL-i) is same i.e. 51.4 inches and the width is also same i.e. 68.3 inches with overall same length of 170.5 inches. The wheelbase is 102.4 inches. Both offers front wheel drive with the seating capacity of four adults. Overall, the Toyota Celica looks a great car from outside.
The gorgeous Celica has that loud, “Hey! Look at me!” styling undoubtedly planned for the young boys and girls who will make up most of the clientele. Though the graceful two-door-coupe segment of the market is always driven by fashion, so what do you expect? This is really a car of the Pokémon era.
If you’re shopping for a sporty hatchback, you should also examine the Ford Focus ZX3 (taller, frugal, good handling); the Volkswagen Golf (sporty, ideal German engineering, practical); the new Beetle (thrill, safe, unique); the Acura Integra (Japanese reliability, sportier than a Civic); and the Mercury Cougar (quite similar to the Celica).
But, as test takers said above, if you’re looking at this type of car, styling and fashion will possibly determine what you get as much as anything. So do only what you desire. What do we care? Actually, one notable benefit of the Celica over these other cars (along with the exception of the Acura) is the reliability of Toyota and resale value. If you’re going to purchase a car that may appear silly to you a few years from now, at least you’ll be receiving one that doesn’t break down. So, what is your opinion now about the classic Toyota Celica?
