Toyota Celica bought, a tale of many not bought

[garethj]

Fucking hell ?

The MX5 did its engine about a week after it passed the MoT, see the for sale thread elsewhere.  That was on a Sunday afternoon and I needed transport for work so I borrowed Mrs_garethj’s Honda CRV on Monday and booked Tuesday off to go car hunting.

As this car is to be shared between me and our 17 year old son I couldn’t choose anything uncool but 100% practical like a Honda Jazz and even the spaceship Civic was met with a distasteful look.  While I liked the MX5, it was definitely a bit of a squeeze for me at 6’1” and him at 6’3”.  Time to look for a practical, reliable and stylish-ish Toyota Celica coupe.

With a budget of about a grand I thought it would be easy, so with a few cars picked out of AutoTrader, eBay and Facebook we were all set for a father and son roadtrip!

The first one was at a dealership in Uxbridge, home of the English dictionary.  It looked like this

[Tamworthbay]

I looked at these a few years back, nice cars but the ones I looked at were pretty worn inside. They didn’t hide high miles that well. Really liked them but ended up with a Mk1 mx5 instead.

[garethj]

Basically I was juggling mileage, length of MoT and price or so I thought.  What I didn’t bank on was whether or not the car was fucked.

The dealer said it wasn’t on the forecourt but was in storage, he’d be back in 10 minutes with it.

10 minutes passed and the car arrives with a battery jump pack on the passenger seat.  We have a look over it and while it’s ok from the outside, the alloys are utterly fucked and the underneath of the car is filthy - like spent months in a field filthy.  A quick look under the petrol filler flap confirms that it’s apparently been used as an autocross car.  Strange.

The inside is thick with cockpit shine silicone, every surface was gleaming and the tyres had so much back to black on them that it reminded me of the makeup women at C&A.

We took it for a test drive and even though it was up for £1350 the clutch was slipping like crazy.  After 30 seconds I turned around, drove back and said the clutch was slipping to the dealer.  I was expecting “we can fix that in the workshop” or “It’s about £200 to replace sir, we can negotiate the price” but no.  He shrugged his shoulders like expecting a car that worked wasn’t something he could help me with 

[garethj]

Onto the next car which was about 10 miles away, just off the M25.  I phoned up but got no reply, however the Autotrader ad gave his exact location so we pushed on.

This was a dealer and the Autotrader website for the dealer looked very swish; An Audi R8 parked outside a gleaming shop in Knightsbridge, BMW convertibles in Hyde Park and lots of Porsche SUVs for £40k.

The reality was a small block of council flats with a large garden shed, a grubby Celica outside and nobody answering the phone or door.

[garethj]

Another one, up for about £1200 and with about 100,000 on the clock.  None of them had working aircon, most had fucked alloys and this was another with a slipping clutch.

Again it was a shrug of the shoulders from the dealer, I mean who expects to pay north of a grand for a car and then be able to use it?

Another one for sale on the way back home and again it’s an AutoTrader dealer.  The website was swish but nobody answered the phone and the reality once we’d driven there was no dealership at all and no car either.

I mean what the actual fuck?

[DVee8]

I put this in the ebay tat threat yesterday,but it's Newcastle..

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2370814223239815

[garethj]

Let’s dip into the car in more detail while we drive to see another one.

There are two types, 140bhp and 190bhp.  The 140bhp cars before 2003 (facelift) have a tendency to burn oil so I didn’t want one of those.  The easy way to tell is that early ones have the Toyota badge on the air intake, later ones have it above.  Pictures below.

Other than that the options list was leather seats, aircon or climate, a sunroof and a rear spoiler.  I have to say I prefer the look without a spoiler, it’s quite pretty 

[garethj]

The next one was nice, about 90,000 on the clock, 16 inch alloys that weren’t fucked and 60 profile tyres which filled the arches nicely.  It was silver and I think strong colours suit the shape better; black, red and dark blue look nicer than silver but I’m not really in a position to quibble at 5pm after a full day of this shit.

We had a look over the car and it seemed good, popped the bonnet and the alarm went off which was a problem as the dealer didn’t have the key to stop it.

More of a problem was when I started the engine it sounded absolutely bollocksed, but at least it saved me from seeing if the clutch was knackered.

Used car dealers?  Are they trying to push estate agents and ambulance chasers to be the most despised professions?

[drewd]

I ran a 2003 140bhp in silver until early this year. The alloys were knackered as they all go porous and the paint on mine was awful but it was otherwise a great daily.

Mine still used a bit of oil, around a litre every 2k miles but it's common for 16v petrols of this era regardless of marque.

Mine had leather and a sunroof and served me for 30k requiring only service items. It was around half your budget so you should be able to get a good tidy example for a grand.

[drewd]

If you're still looking keep an eye out for the 190bhp version. The lift bolts for the VVTLI need replacing but they're a much more reliable engine and don't suffer the oil consumption of the 140s. These Celicas drive well though and are surprisingly practical for a coupe. I managed to move a washing machine and an engine crane with mine.

[garethj]

One more car for sale and this was privately, it had 140,000 on the clock which was higher than most but some had 160+ on them.  Paintwork was described as scruffy but it had been one family owned for years and they were selling because it wasn’t suitable for carrying a baby around.

The short version is that the car seemed as described except for a very noisy heater fan.  The climate didn’t blow cold but the sunroof was nice and so was the leather.  The clutch was good and it was £550.  Sold

[spartacus]

Great writing! It's a shame you had to have so much time wasted to come up with such a good thread. You're definitely right about the colours, that looks good in red, mooar please.

[garethj]

I replaced the noisy heater fan, it took about 20 minutes after removing the glovebox and one from eBay was £25.  I haven’t had the aircon done and I’m not sure if I will yet, I’ll see how it goes when the MoT is up in November.

It’s a nice drive through, steering is good, handling is nice and it’s comfortable to sit in.  Legroom in the back is feeble but probably no worse than a Porsche 924 or Ferrari California, depending on your comparison budget.  The boot is very generous and the seats fold down too.  The 6 speed gearbox is quite sweet and you can trundle along in 6th at 30mph as long as you don’t need to accelerate.

After driving it for a few weeks it does over 450 miles to a tank and 42mpg which is usefully more than the MX5.  Its also one of the few cars where I don’t need to slide my seat back all the way.

As Porsche 924s are now quite pricey and Calibras are quite rare (and a bit older) the Celica could be the Autoshite choice for coupe motoring if you don’t fancy a Peugeot?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

They're good cars.  I'm still looking for a 190 as an engine donor for my MR2 if you hear of any cheap scruffbag. 

My father ran a 6th gen Celica for a few years, then moved onto a 7th gen like yours. Decent motors, but still prone to oil burning even on the facelift. I managed to get Toyota to do the short block on father's car - only just managed to get in before the cut off. Other thing to look out for is the rear sub frame- they look fine one minute, then they're rotten as a pear the next time you look. Like my MR2, they rot from the inside out. Toyota still had new ones in stock for around 300 notes around four years back, but I doubt you'd want to get that involved on a cheap runner. 

[Cavcraft]

Love this whole concept as a thread (showing the fucked ones and stating why you didn't buy them)  and the one you've scored looks very good VFM.

[hairnet]

gareth give all your buying tips to billy he needs them

[barrett]

A brand new car for £550! Maybe I need to expand my horizons away from PSA shit? I've always thought these were good lookers  (I hate red cars though).

Interesting amount of CBA from the dealers considering everyone and their uncle in the motor trade is ready to tell you how tough times are in the current market etc

[garethj]

I know, 2003 was practically the week before last and not the 16 years ago (or 5+ car leases) that everyone else seems to think.  It’s even got satnav built in to the double din radio FFS.

I literally cannot believe how much car you can get for less than the price of my phone handset.

[Jim Bell]

I'm always surprised when people go to dealers for cheap cars and find that the cars are dogshit and the dealers are arsehats. Not because the cars are dogshit or that the dealers are arsehats, but because people still go to dealers for cheap cars and hope for anything else. Thats the automotive equivalent of sado masochism. 

Glad you came up with a diamond in the end though man. It does look very saucey. 

[dome]

These are good cars but they're starting to fail MOTs on corrosion so check for that. Which is handy if you're buying one to convert an MR2...

[garethj]

10 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

I'm always surprised when people go to dealers for cheap cars and find that the cars are dogshit and the dealers are arsehats. Not because the cars are dogshit or that the dealers are arsehats, but because people still go to dealers for cheap cars and hope for anything else. Thats the automotive equivalent of sado masochism. 

Glad you came up with a diamond in the end though man. It does look very saucey. 

It definitely wasn’t that I wanted to go to a dealer, once you’ve taken off their understandable profit the £1000 car is really a £600 car.

I went to dealers because with a search on eBay, Facebook and AutoTrader it was dealers that held about 80% of the available cars at this price.  The question really is what on earth dealers are doing trying to sell absolute dogs.

[loserone]

Presumably all of their stock are also dogs, and it's the expensive appealing sprots coopay in the corner for a failed upsell which makes the car the punter is looking at more appealing and appear sensible.

[Squirrel2]

Great thread. May I wade in to say that Mrs Squirrel has recently bought this 1.8l Celica privately for £850. It’s currently on SORN sitting on the drive whilst she runs her AldiA3 into the ground.

 

We have been warned about rust and oil consumption. Cosmetically it’s not bad apart from some lacquer peel on its flanks.

 

Squirrel2 

[stuboy]

ur right silver very non descript

[Tamworthbay]

12 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

I'm always surprised when people go to dealers for cheap cars and find that the cars are dogshit and the dealers are arsehats. Not because the cars are dogshit or that the dealers are arsehats, but because people still go to dealers for cheap cars and hope for anything else. Thats the automotive equivalent of sado masochism. 

Glad you came up with a diamond in the end though man. It does look very saucey. 

If you are ever passing Jim I will show you the ‘delights’ on offer at one of our local budget sellers. I am sure it must be a front for the Tamworth Mafia or something as I can’t believe any of the cars ever sells.

[Marm Toastsmith]

12 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

I'm always surprised when people go to dealers for cheap cars and find that the cars are dogshit and the dealers are arsehats. Not because the cars are dogshit or that the dealers are arsehats, but because people still go to dealers for cheap cars and hope for anything else. Thats the automotive equivalent of sado masochism. 

Glad you came up with a diamond in the end though man. It does look very saucey. 

Yep. I completely ignore dealer ads when browsing for cars.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Love these celicas btw... 

did they do an auto? Keep looking for them for mrs marm but if they exist then they seem scarce...

[Jim Bell]

18 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

If you are ever passing Jim I will show you the ‘delights’ on offer at one of our local budget sellers. I am sure it must be a front for the Tamworth Mafia or something as I can’t believe any of the cars ever sells.

Yeah. When I lived it Cullercoats there was a low value dealer just round the corner. Nothing ever sold but stock would 'rotate'. A transporter would take a load of cars away and then would bring them back three months later. Prices never ever dropped. 

The pitch burnt down in the middle of the night in the end and now it's a block of flats. If it wasn't a front for SOMETHING the owner must have been the least competent businessman in recorded history. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the thread drift. Those motors do look great. I wonder if they did a T Sport. 

[chodweaver]

Presumably all of their stock are also dogs, and it's the expensive appealing sprots coopay in the corner for a failed upsell which makes the car the punter is looking at more appealing and appear sensible.

I find the idea that such (reverse?) psychology has been employed, ever, by a car dealer, to be more than a little disturbing...

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[garethj]

There were a few small things to fix that I knew about when I got the car.  The noisy heater fan was most obvious but was a simple job to replace.  Next is to sort out the bangin’ choons.

I’d hoped to do a simple input to the back of the existing stereo so I could connect Bluetooth in.  I did this on the family Honda CR-V because the radio had an input for a 6 disc changer.  This car has a navigation input so I pulled the centre console out and had a look.