NorthDownsScooby

(NOT the new turbo model !!)

Anyone got one of these 189s or got any opinions on them..? Went out in one the other day - not as powerful as my WRX300 obviously but was still a nice drive.

Rich

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Got a celica 190, so I can comment on the engine and 'box. The novelty of the 190 vlavomowotsit engine wears off after a bit. Great at first, the noise, the surge of power etc. But it is such a narrow powerband and having it to take it right to the limiter to take advantage of it makes it a bit of a pain for daily driving.

Good for blasting down fast island infested dual carriageways, bit of a chore round town. Nauseating at high speed on the motorway (3000rpm@60mph).

Traction issues and torque steer not brilliant. Not helped by having to keep changing gears mid-bend whilst wrestling with the wheel.

Engine doesn't like being laboured either - it dets like crazy if your a bit heavy lifting off the clutch and don't give it enough revs from standstill.

Build quality seems rather suspect when cmpared to our 3 previous Toyotas.

Reverse gear is in the most stupid position - without a lockout (just an annoying bleeper instead).

Potentially it has the ingredients to be a fantastic car. Just it doesn't seem to hit the mark IMO.

Andy M3

I don't have much more to add than that. I was told by one salesman when my mate was looking for a new car, that it is better all round than a Civic type R. It was dissapointing to say the least - and as a result he bought a Fabia vRS ?!?!

Reliable though i recon - what do you think Ali ?

DodgeT

my ex has got one of these, seems ok, nice enough. got an annoying clutch squeak noise though when changing gear if you are revving it anything more than 4k (which is most of the time)

generally though seemed a good car.

Scooby Snacks 23

I borrowed a Corolla t-Sport when they came out (demonstrator for a week) and thought they were awful - lots of body roll and it felt like driving an MPV. My wife had a Celica 190 at the time, and it was miles faster that the Corolla.

That said, they've just released a limited edition supercharged Corolla which looks quite nice.....

FirebirdUK

I had a Celica 190 when they first came out... All I can say is - I wouldn't have another one.

I think the 0-60 book times for the Celica was slightly quicker than the Corolla.

I had nothing but engine trouble with it:

Driving home one day, the engine warning light came on and I noticed a loss of power. Took it to the dealer and they said that the two bolts on the bit in the engine that does the "lifting" had sheared away (apparently it was a design fault on the earlier models). They "fixed" it under warranty.

Another couple of months - the same thing happened. The dealer fixed it again, but when they bought the car out of the compound it was squeaking like a few dozen budgies were under the engine. I asked why it was doing that (as it hadn't done it before0 - they wasn't sure, but they'd need to book the car in so they could investigate further (apparently they'd been taking bits off the demo Celica for mine to see if they could find the defective part(s) on mine)

Driving home, there was just no power in the car at all - the engine lifting wasn't working, it was really sluggish off the mark (with the foot fully down it would take a few seconds for anything to happen when you were trying to drive off) - the wife's diesel Previa was quicker.

When I complained, the manager told me all cars were slow off the mark when they were cold. Funny how it wasn't like it when I first bought the car. Not what you expect from their sports model...

The other annoying thing - even though it was dieing, and I had a brand new Rav 4 on order from them, they wouldn't give me a courtesy car while the Celica had to go back in. I ended up having to threaten them with cancelling the order - they ended up hiring a Corsa for me

strobemonkey

I'm currently driving one of the facelifted Celica T Sports with the same 190 engine. I agree with everything that's been said about the car. Great fun when you want to thrash its nuts off, but the engine is wearing the rest of the time. It's hot hatch quick, mine hits 60 in 6.8 and on the motorway is at least as fast as a standard bugeye WRX from my experience.

Engine problems I have suffered too. I broke down on the motorway one rainy night when the engine packed in minutes after starting to tick. We managed to get it started again to get in onto the tow truck but it sounded like a tractor. It was in the garage for 3 weeks being fixed. The entire bottom end of the engine was replaced. In addition to this I'm on my 3rd gear box and my air conditioning failed.

Unfortunately the revvy nature of the engine means that you'll end up driving at high revs most of the time, which encourages you to drive faster than you should. The police don't like this as I've experienced....often.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I drove a Celica 190 and a Civic Type R....these type of engines make sense on the track.....and I will admit to having a bit of admration for the Vtec engine's hunger to be thrashed and amazing reliability

BUT

In an everyday performance application, they just don't make much sense IMHO.

Ns04

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Interesting, I've held back until now thinking our car was a lemon...

• Our A/c has packed in (compressor seized solid - lack of oil...out of warrantee too )
  
• There is a very 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 undertray off - I've since changed oil grades and type but I'm yet to have a listen).
  
• 2 sets of alloys corroded (1st was replaced under warratee)
  
• Farting noise when pulling away - suspect loose catalyst or leaky olive joint gasket (dealer said they all do that)
  
• The mysterious corrosion of the inner brake disc surfaces on the front, new discs and pads, cleaned guides and slides etc. and it's doing it again (single pot sliding calipers..but its happening on piston side, so it's impossible to be the calipers).
  
• Uncorperative Gearbox - possible baulking problem on 3rd gear and also a possible linkage problem..go from reverse to 1st..get reverse again, try again, still goes into reverse (dealer says they are all like that sir)
  
• Low speed engine knock (detonation), if your abit heavy letting up the clutch without enough revs (possible cause of big end problems??).
  
• Trim rattles galore
  
• The mysterious intermittant dimming of the lights whilst driving at 30ish mph(think it was linked to the cooling fans kicking onto high speed - possibly caused the half dead a/c compressor runnning hot, causing high condenser temperatures), although the CD player skipped at the same time, so possible electrical/charging system fault.
  
• The Alarm with a mind of its own (fixed now...metal objects inthe centre console screw up the sensor...why on earth they use a microwave sensor is beyond me )
  
• Paint is wafer thin, and very soft.
  

It's being traded in for a BMW 325ci or 330ci.

Sad really, this is our 4th Toyota Celica the previous three had zero faults. The only major expense being the usual service and wear and tear items (cambelt, pads, exhaust etc.) The first one was a 1986 Gti is still on the road now, I knew the previous owner and she never had to spend a penny on it either.

Where did Toyota go so wrong?

KiwiGTI

Where were they all built?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

There's a sticker on the top right of the windscreen proudly stating "Made in Japan"

Do you think the accountants got to them in a penny pinching excercise?