Thinking of one of these. Any owners out there? Build quality and reliability ok?

Any issues on 2nd hand ones? I've checked out www.parkers.co.uk and it seems theres no big issues, but its good to get real feedback!

The new Celica or the old one?

Sorry I should have said. The 1999 onwards one.

Wow. Has it really been five years now? Nope, no help, sorry.

No probs - maybe someone else will have experience.

Although I only had the previous edition Celica, I have driven the newer ones a lot (my friend owns one and I tend to be designated driver a lot).

Build quality seems just fine and like any Toyota, you can expect excellent reliablity, at least that's my opinion -- I'm a big fan of Toyota. Plus I think they look rather neat, and the GTS version isn't bad at all performance wise.

It's made by Toyota so won't go wrong. You will have to deal with Toyota dealers though sadly.

My wife was just thinking of buying a 2002 Celica but she found out the insurance was cheaper if she just bought a brand new Acura RSX. so thats what she did.

You have of course looked at the most vital question


will it take an empeg ?

Should do. It's a double-din IIRC so empeg plus pocket

Of course! First thing I checked

Yes it will fit in the Celica see here

I helped him install the empeg it was very easy since we were replacing a custom head unit he had installed about 2 years ago. I will let him know about this thread so he can post his comments on the car.

I test drove one of these when I was shopping back in 2000 and ended up buying my BMW Z3 instead. My main gripe with the Celica GT-S, at the time, was that the low red-line didn't give you enough room to really make use of the VTEC^H^H^H^HVVTi boost. The boost kicks in at 6000rpm and the redline is 7500rpm. Step on the gas and you're shifting before you've gotten much acceleration and then then you're far outside of the peak powerband.

I haven't looked at the recently refreshed Celicas, but I assume the redline is the same. The main change seems to be a bigger, uglier spoiler. If I had known then what a pain my Z3 would have become and had known that the Subaru WRX was just around the corner, I would have waited and gotten one of those.

I have a 2000 Celica GT-S 6-speed that I bought new.
Before we go any further.. The empeg fits nicely. Heh.
In general, I think this is an excellent car. Good power, very light.. the factory tires (tyres, for you? Heh.) are quite good, but I'm rolling on Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Positions now, and they were a big improvement.
It's true that you have to shift just after the redline if you want to stay on the second cam profile.. but how often do you really need peak acceleration? Myself, I'm not burning it up at the stoplight every day on the way to work. If you are, this may not be the perfect car for you. Still, 0-100kph in 6.7 or so is pretty zippy.
My biggest problem is that like all Toyotas, there are some creaks and rattles. I'm particularly sensitive to this, though.. You may not notice. For reference, I think my mother's Audi A6 has rattles.

If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer them. I've been driving this thing daily for four years now, so I'm pretty familiar with it.