Advice on Toyota

wrestlemaniac

I'm a young professional, looking for a sportyish car, with a budget around 3,000. I have been looking at the toyota celica VVTI. Im driving around 250kms a week. Has anyone heard good/bad about this model?

Don't have much of a knowledge about cars so any advice would be appreciated.

Leonard Hofstadter

wrestlemaniac wrote: »

I'm a young professional, looking for a sportyish car, with a budget around 3,000. I have been looking at the toyota celica VVTI. Im driving around 250kms a week. Has anyone heard good/bad about this model?

Don't have much of a knowledge about cars so any advice would be appreciated.

The biggest drawback to them is a) trying to find an unmolested one and b) the well known oil burning problem that affects the VVTi engines from that era.

If you can find a clean one that's not burning oil (check the most recent NCT report - if you see the HC emissions getting close to the limit then you know there could be trouble ahead, also when the engine is warmed up, on an appropriate stretch of road, plant the accelerator and look out the rear view mirror to see is there any traces of blue smoke coming from the back of the car), then go for it - they're a reliable old bus once they haven't been abused (too much).

wrestlemaniac

Thanks captainspeed.
I have been looking at a couple of dealer ones on carzone. Would I be able to get any sort of warranty on an '00 model? Also what would insurance be like? Im 25, no claims.

bazz26

wrestlemaniac wrote: »

Thanks captainspeed.
I have been looking at a couple of dealer ones on carzone. Would I be able to get any sort of warranty on an '00 model? Also what would insurance be like? Im 25, no claims.

No dealer will offer much in the way of warranty on a 12/13 year old car as there would be little or no profit in it for them given that things do break or wear out on a car of that age. You will get better value buying privately but have the car inspected first by a mechanic first.

Also nobody here can tell you how much it will cost you to insure it, there are too many variables that are unique to yourself for anyone to know what an insurance company will charge you. You will need to get quotes yourself.

There were two versions of that Celica also, both were 1.8 litre but one had 140bhp and the other was 190bhp and badged VVTi-L. The latter would be the one to go for if you can afford to insure it. Watch out for Jap imports though as some of them have all sorts of strange mods on them and tend to be more expensive to insure. Best thing to do though is register on a Celica owner's forum and get armed with as much information as possible before buying.

David09

A friend had one and sold it shortly after. He found the suspension (standard) too harsh for his liking and the driving position uncomfortable. Although I guess that's just a matter of personal preference.

wrestlemaniac

Thanks for all the replies.

Not sounding overly positive for the celica at the moment, does anyone have suggestions for quality cars with a 3,000 budget?

What about alfa romeo 159?

Mar4ix

toyotas are great cars. oil burning problem long time ago solved. originally, it had problem with oil cooling, older one (pre mid 90's), didnt had oil cooler, which caused oil overheat, and deposits sit on oil rings, which went stuck on cylinder, and caused oil leak into burning chamber, younger ones ... i have '98 avensis with 1.8 petrol engine (non vvti), it has an oil cooler. If there is smoke, it could be valve seals gone, or in worse case (due lack of service) oil rings got stuck.
OP, if you after toyota celica, go to dealers for test drive, and youll have some idea , what those cars feel like.

If you goin for Alfa, suggest do the homework first,... do history check, and professionally checked in garage, alfas are good cars, but if lack of attention or service, it turns for money pit.

Wheres My ForkandKnife

I has an 02 140bhp one.I bought it around 04 and sold it around 06 or 07. In that time it never burned a drop of oil and never missed a beat.I had no problems with it at all.

I found it a comfortable car and could not say anything really bad about it.One thing to note is that it is not really a sports car.It is a toyota with a good looking body,although it's looks are subjective.

It's nippy enough but is also comfortable sitting in rush hour traffic.I only sold it as I was approached by someone looking for one and got a good price for it.It had around 100k miles on it when I sold it.

As they have become more affordable there are plenty around with modifications/body kits.Personally I would avoid these but again these are dependent on individual taste.They are cheap to service and economical(around mid thirties mpg from what I can remember).

To the op, drive one and see if you like it.When you find a clean one have it inspected as they are getting on in years now.If you're happy go for it and don't form an opinion based solely on views, mine included, on an anonymous internet forum.

Tea 1000

Wheres My ForkandKnife wrote: »

I has an 02 140bhp one.I bought it around 04 and sold it around 06 or 07. In that time it never burned a drop of oil and never missed a beat.I had no problems with it at all.

I found it a comfortable car and could not say anything really bad about it.One thing to note is that it is not really a sports car.It is a toyota with a good looking body,although it's looks are subjective.

It's got a very good chassis. Which makes it more sporty than many other coupe's in the bracket it's in.

DUB142

I'd go for a Tsport corolla if I were you 190bhp and 6 speed gearbox so nice for the long trips! handy enough to insure too around 500 with aviva. You'd get a nice 2004 one for around €4500.

Frankie Lee

They are a very reliable car, with low servicing costs and are decent enough on petrol. The oil burning can be a problem all right but it seems any time a vvti engine is mentioned on here oil burning is brought up even though the majority of them don't burn much.

maidhc

I have an 02 one since Jan. Bought with 74,000 miles and now on 81,000. It has averaged 36.04mpg since that time, with the highest full tank average being 39.65mpg.It hasn't burned any oil, and is incredibly easy to work on.

Insurance was about the same as for a 1.8 Focus, and compared to my previous common rail diesel it is back from about 500miles to reserve on a 55L tank to 400miles to reserve.

Only things I have had to do since is give it a service, replace a dash bulb and put a new battery in the key.

It has a good service history, and no details of any failures since bought bar corroded alloys.

It is a wonderful little car to drive to be honest.

CJhaughey

Frankie Lee wrote: »

They are a very reliable car, with low servicing costs and are decent enough on petrol. The oil burning can be a problem all right but it seems any time a vvti engine is mentioned on here oil burning is brought up even though the majority of them don't burn much.

^^Very True, the VVti oil burning issue was largely sorted by Toyota under warranty. We have a 00 Corolla 1.4VVti and it never burnt oil and still doesn't with 117k on it.
I remember seeing a big pile of blocks behind a Toyota dealer and asking them what they were from, they told me they were warranty replacements for the VVti's that burnt oil.
They could do the short block replacement in a 1/2 day at that point.

Leonard Hofstadter

CJhaughey wrote: »

^^Very True, the VVti oil burning issue was largely sorted by Toyota under warranty. We have a 00 Corolla 1.4VVti and it never burnt oil and still doesn't with 117k on it.
I remember seeing a big pile of blocks behind a Toyota dealer and asking them what they were from, they told me they were warranty replacements for the VVti's that burnt oil.
They could do the short block replacement in a 1/2 day at that point.

I have to say, fair play to Toyota for fixing the problem free gratis for anyone who had the problem within a sufficient amount of time.

Contrast that to the likes of BMW and VAG whose approach is deny that a known fault exists but still change the parts after a certain production date, and only compensate customers who shout loud enough, and even then you'll still have to hand over plenty of money to get the problem sorted:rolleyes:!

CJhaughey

captainspeed wrote: »

I have to say, fair play to Toyota for fixing the problem free gratis for anyone who had the problem within a sufficient amount of time.

Contrast that to the likes of BMW and VAG whose approach is deny that a known fault exists but still change the parts after a certain production date, and only compensate customers who shout loud enough, and even then you'll still have to hand over plenty of money to get the problem sorted:rolleyes:!

Toyota are not without fault, but in my experience they tend to look after their faults a lot better, I had a recall for a 9 year old Landcruiser halfshaft back in 05 or so.

Then look at that with the treatment of the VAG 2.0 litre diesels and the oil pump hex drive which is a known fault that results in catastrophic engine damage.....