delcbr

iam thinking back to the likes of mr2 turbo, celica turbo, supra,starlet turbo, went to my local dealership was quite dissapointed really expected to find something mental!!! suppose question could be why dont they build turbod cars anymore?

Tobisausage

Because they don't make the company money.

scoobberdoo

Totally agree, especially when they're participating in F1! But, if you also look at some WRC teams such as Citreon, they don't seem to want to benefit by producing road going versions either!! WHY? You ask!

Tobisausage

Because they dont make the company any money.

The market for 'fast' toyotas is tiny compared to the 'family car' toyota market. As a company what do you want to do, make money or lose money.

Shark Man

What we need is homolgation: FORCE the manfacturers to make road-going version in order to race their cars in competition.

Toyota seem more focused on figures and green cars at the moment. Lovely. Just what the motoring enthusiast want

The last Celica was a nail in terms of build quality (penny pinching noted everywhere you look).

This ignorance to customer demand reminds me, I'm due for a visit to my local Jaguar dealers to order a top of the range XK......and not quibble on price or extras.....then once I see pound signs in the salesmen's eyes, I drop the bombshell by demanding a fully manual gearbox, no flappy paddle, and no auto, otherwise I'll walk and buy a Beamer

scoobberdoo

I do kinda see where your coming from but there must be some merit in having ***** out performance variants based on their motorsport versions.

The spin off "cred" to normal models was a pretty much proved formula I would have thought. I see more turbo scoobies on the road than the normal ones for example (thanks to their rallying successes I presume?), same for Evo's (how many other Mitsubishi cars of a similar size do you see on the road?) Why participate in motorsport at all then?

I wouldn't think there would be huge costs in making such cars as you can still rob the parts bin for quite a lot, no? Just IMHO of course

jimbrit

When did you ever go to your local Toyota dealer and get a Starlet Turbo or MR2 Turbo?

Tobisausage

They participate in motorsport as that is their method of showcasing their technological expertise. This all costs money though (which comes from old people buying corolla's) and so for a company like toyota it would be financial suicide to sudenly funnel large amounts of money into a very small part of their market. Subaru is guilty of being driven by money and places in the market, they changed their line up because of the US and look at the new impreza, its a hatchback!

Shark Man

Odd, as Americans usually hate hatchbacks (thus why they get a saloon version).

Interesting, from its intial carnation the Impreza's styling was always based on styling of the current Corolla of that time (with exception of the Jap's-eye facelift).

Tobisausage

as in they are guilty of money and markets, the demand to supply the US with saloons, and the demand of everyone wanting hatchbacks. Not the US wanted hatchbacks.

Shark Man

oooh, touchy

Tobisausage

projectsubaru

Heard of a new supra coming out?

Tobisausage

Yeah until it gets binned like the new NSX did as it was not financially viable.

Shark Man

I keep reading of romours, but its been a long time comming. Its been over 5 years since the last one was taken out of production.

JTaylor

You're kidding, right? I've got an 04 T-Sport to run around in at the moment and it's superb. I'm hitting 9k rpm half the time and there isn't a rattle or squeak to be heard. Nothing ever breaks. Ever.

What are you basing your opinion on?

Shark Man

Ownership of 4 celicas one of each generation..the last generation just wasn't built as well.

It's not fallen apart (well, not literally), but its a tin can in comparison.

Headlamps started randomly dimming yet?

JTaylor

Well, yes, they have actually.

krisclarkuk

iTrader: (1)

The T-Sport celica is pretty nippy, and if you know who to speak to nicely you can get an official TTE Turbo kit fitted to your roadster. I was lucky enough to drive one of the TTE turbo prototypes which they kindly brought over from germany for a few of us to try... nice car with a fair amount of power... and no, it wasnt me who melted the ECU in it... honest

The main stream of cars from toyota though are pretty family/city type cars which is a shame... but fingers crossed for the new celica/supra replacement being a bit mental!

subaruturbo_18

i heard the last celica GT4 wasnt as fast as other cars with similar spec? is this true?

Andy T

What is this ?

Going to look at a 2004 04 Corolla T-Sport. Anybody know any faults with these ?

ATM housemate building a V6 conversion for MR2, should be quick enough.

Shark Man

Headlamp dimming is caused by a voltage regulation issue. the problem is the engine ECU that controls the alternator, other symtom is the radio breifly stops working. Its a £600 fix. Some Corolla T-sports are also affected.

Lift bolts on VVTLi mechanism, they wear prematurely and shear off, simple but labour intensive fix, but an annoyance. Later cars had bolts with a improved design, but some have post MY02 cars where they have still broken, so it seems that its still an issue.

Gearbox, gerenal shift quality issues, baulking, and noted some failures. Grating noise on overrun on 1st 2nd and 3rd common.

Brakes; compound issue on front pads/disks. resulting in disks rusting up on inner sufaces thus eating brake pads for breakfast (so on next service, you get a "new disk required, sir" from the mechanic). generally result in degraded braking performance and poor pedal feel. Advise to use non-Toyota disk and pads.

Wheels: Poor/wafer thin top coat laquer, thus start corroding in a matter of months. People have had up to 3 or 4 complete wheel sets replaced on warrantee because of this. Worse on older cars (the 5 spoke rims are the worst). Whilst talking about wheels, should you ever trip over a celica still wearing the OE Yokohama A680 tyres, bin them, they are awful in the wet.

OE alarm; It's a retrofit system. A poor one at best (The Scorpion retrofit systems fitted as an extra on the older shapes were far better). Biggest issue is false alarms caused by the mircowave sensor located in the centre console underneath the window switches. It is adjustable, but objects placed in the cup holders can still cause false alarms (especially loose change).

Catalyst failures have been noted, noted by a rattle/metallic vibration which initially sounds like a loose heatsheild.







Thats the mechanical issues. In a more detailed and indepth reply to the previous post, the following part of this post is giving some reasons as to why the older shape Celicas were better cars, its not that there is anything wrong, but at the same time its a step backwards from the older models:

Now to address the petty cost cutting:

Front leather seat: Rear vinyl - that doesn't even match in colour!

Driver's Seat memory: Older Celicas had a driver's seat that retained its postion memory after it was folded for rear acess. This model now resets in a bolt upright position; like the passenger side. Simple annoyance.

Headlining; what material is that?; seems like its the same material as the interior lining from a 1980's passenger jet. Older generations had a much more plush lining, not that it matters much, but it just looks nicer.

Also older versions had a proper sunroof that slid into the roof cavity; not one that slides over the top (called a "moon roof" by the Japs ...again, they are a retro-fit, fitted after the car was built). Consequentally, headlining and A-pillar trim issues loose/rattles maybe caused by this. Obviously if the car wasn't specced with a sunroof, its not a problem (just as well considering how much it costs as an extra when new).

Dashboard material; hmmm, <scratches finger nails on it> Jury's out on that.

Storage bin above the radio: nasty, although it doesn't break, it feels like it would quite easily. Something I'd expect in a Aygo or a Starlet, not a Celica.

Reverse gear interlock: Why is it so hard to fit one of these like any other car with 6 gears? What Toyota employee thought it would be better to have a irritating, annoying, distracting bleeper that constantly bleeps at you when your trying to perform a tricky manouver. To the uninitated, one may mistake it for reversing sensors....<beep><beep><beep><BANG!>

Bumpers, particularly rear. Older cars had a proper inner girder protecting the chassis, and minimising damage. I recall inadvertantly reversing into a bollard in a MY91 at 5mph+ and it didn't even scuff or crack the paint! Try the same in a modern one and the only thing that protects the car from damage is a polystyrene lining and nothing much else. Of course we have insurance for such matters, but in such a rear-accident event, I'd rather the car just have bumper repair work over having it written off or stuck in the body shop for weeks on end whilst the boot floor gets straigtened out.


Obviously one can put up with all that, but after knowing what the older generations are like (stretching back to 1986 for us), it is a let down on what was a very solid quality icon.

I'm not going to go into the drivability issues, with referece to ride quality, stability or the stupidly narrow powerband as its so well documented. Why the Corolla got the supercharger and not the UK Celica just doesn't make sense to me.

Brendan Hughes

But apart from that they're great, yes?

JTaylor

LMAO @ Shark Man, I now consider my car to be a right sh!tter!

RAJ27

Toyota Auris | First Drives | Car Reviews | Auto Express

Says it all really. Load of crap and still costs nearly 19k!!!

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Moon roof is an American term lol.

RUDDY

did the caldina not too long ago! just jap only though although there are 1 or 2 about over here!
TOYOTA CALDINA - Japanese Used Car Review

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Is this why Subaru are supposed to be building the next Celica.... ? ? ?

dnc

Class mate

Gotta have a good sense of humour in this madhouse
dnc

BOB.T

I doubt it, Toyota are feckin loaded, if anyone could afford it, it would be them!