Toyota Celica 1.8

Toyota Celica 1.8 VVTI 140bhp

INTRODUCTION

These new Iphones present a certain danger to ones financial health nowadays due to the fact that the owner has the potential to walk around with a lot more than just a phone in his or her pocket. For example, I have apps such as Ebay, Amazon, Play.com, The Lotto and Just Eat on my Iphone which are all readily available at any time of the day or night wherever I might be. It was one day last year that I sat at home bored and decided to take a look in the “apps store” on my Iphone. Whilst browsing I suddenly stumbled across an app for Autotrader and immediately downloaded it. Three weeks later I had increased my debts by another £4000.00 and was the proud owner of a black Toyota Celica. In the coming weeks I would soon come to find that this was money well spent.

As mentioned above I have had my Toyota Celica for around a year now and I must stress that it is the best car that I have ever owned. It gives me a nice comfortable driving experience and has great performance when it is needed. In my opinion the Toyota Celica looks great and handles very well too. When driven carefully I get relatively good fuel consumption from it so it isn’t always like driving around constantly looking for a petrol station. Particularly important nowadays with our current ridiculous fuel costs.

LOOKS

Ok, so lets start with the looks. This shape Celica is the seventh generation of the Toyota Celica series. It was first released all the way back in 1999, but its futuristic sporty shape keeps it looking modern and up to date. I’m sure that most of us know what the Toyota Celica looks like as they aren’t a rare car at all, but for your benefit I have uploaded plenty pictures of mine so that you can see what I am talking about.
For the Toyota Celica my favourite colour has to be black, so long as it is kept clean. My Celica is black and looks amazing when it has been cleaned well and waxed with a good quality carnauba wax. If neglected though black soon looks dirty and if I am honest its quite a high maintenance colour for any car. I have recently grown quite fond of the silver Toyota Celica’s and I think that silver would be an attractive option when buying one.
If you take a look at my pictures I am sure you will agree that the Celica’s shape is hiding its age somewhat. In the pictures of mine you are actually looking at a nine year old car (02) and don’t forget that this shape was released way back in 1999. A shape that still looks quite current for one developed twelve years ago. Toyota have clearly produced a shape to last with this generation of Celica.

COST

The price of a Toyota Celica varies from place to place but they are generally quite reasonably priced now. I bought my Celica last year for £4500.00. For my money I got a Celica on an 02 plate with 55,000 miles on the clock. It had two previous owners and a full service history (in fact it has actually been over-serviced). The car had no damage and no previous problems. I got a 12 month used car warranty, full service and a new MOT pass certificate plus 6 months road tax. The Celica I bought had a few extras with it as it was bought with the “sport pack” which included things such as a Sony CD player, electric sunroof and rear spoiler etc.
If you shop about I would imagine that you could find a Celica similar to mine with the same miles for around the £4000 mark today (June 2011).

RUNNING COSTS?

Ill start by talking about the major cost of running any car, fuel. The review for this Celica is based on the 1.8 litre engine. Toyota Celica’s have a 55 litre fuel tank and take unleaded petrol. To fill this tank from empty at today’s average petrol price of 136.09 pence per litre would cost just short of £75.00. This sounds quite scary to me if I’m honest! Lets work out how long this would last or how far you should get from a full tank.
55 litres is 12.1 gallons, so if we work on the Toyota Celica’s average fuel economy for combined urban/extra urban driving of 36.7 mpg, a full tank should get you 444.07 miles. For urban driving the fuel economy is 27.4 mpg which should get you 331.54 miles. Finally, the fuel economy for extra urban driving is 45.6 mpg which works out as 551.76 miles from a full tank.
Just for fun lets try something really scary and work out how much you would spend in a year if you drive 11000 miles at 36.7 mpg. Oooofffttt! 11000 miles at 36.7 mpg when the cost of fuel is 136.09 pence per litre is an annual cost of £1854.35.

Try working this out for your own car at http://www.fuel-economy.co.uk/calc.shtml

Another major running cost if you are my age or similar is insurance. The 140bhp Toyota Celica falls into insurance group 13. For me this means an annual premium of £550.00 fully comprehensive, that’s with two years no claims discount and I am 24 years old. I do have an occupation which lowers my insurance premium a lot but for now I find swiftcover the cheapest.

For road tax costs my latest tax disc just reminded me that I paid £200.00 for twelve months tax in march 2011. That stings a bit.

HANDLING

This is an area of the review which I am reasonably well experienced enough to comment on. Driving cars fast is all part and parcel of my job and I have been doing this for four and a half years now. Driving quickly and well in excess of the speed limits is something I do daily at work (legally) and during this time I have driven a number of different vehicles with different qualities in handling. Being trained to drive fast safely including skid-car training has helped give me a good understanding of car handling too.
The seventh generation Toyota Celica is now only available in front-wheel drive. The drive is comfortable and very pleasant when driven carefully and with consideration. It has the right amount of power when it is needed for overtaking and feels like driving a low seated saloon car. If you put your foot down you can bring the car to life. When driven hard the handling is exceptional but you will need to keep the revs high in order to keep the car lively. Between 4000 and 7000 rpm the car sounds great. On country roads this car tackles corners enthusiastically and goes around them as if attached to railroad tracks. There is very little lean in this car as its suspension is a bit harder than an ordinary car and it is lower to the ground making its centre of gravity closer to the road. I really like this quality when on winding country roads as they can be navigated quickly and comfortably in a nice stable car which always feels flat to the ground.
As I said earlier this car is front wheel drive so the usual type of skid you would expect if over pushed will be a front wheel skid (or under steer). When navigating tight corners or round-a-bouts on wet roads it is fairly easy to induce a minor front wheel skid or under steer if you are driving too quickly. This of course is not desirable but only happens if the car is driven dangerously or overly hard in the wet. I have found this car to be very safe and more than stable when driven properly, I am merely trying to explain that the car has enough power to cause this to happen with a careless foot. On dry country roads I have found my Celica to have excellent road holding.
The steering is nicely responsive in the Toyota Celica and the stability is excellent. You can expect a comfortable drive in a Celica and not too much of this comfort is lost when we get onto those quiet country roads and increase the speed a little bit. Compared to the handling of other cars which I have driven hard at work I consider the handling of the Toyota Celica to be excellent.

PERFORMANCE

The acceleration of the Toyota Celica from standing feels a bit tepid and that’s because it is. 0 - 62 miles per hour takes the Celica 8.7 seconds which is fairly slow for a coupe. The Variable Valve Timing Intelligent (VVT-i) engine must be revved hard to get the most from its performance. The Celica does have enough power to provide fun and does so when driven in the upper third of its rev range. When driven in this manner you can feel the car pulling hard out of corners and during overtaking.
The Toyota Celica has a maximum speed of 127.31 miles per hour (205 kilometres per hour). It has a six speed gearbox and in my opinion the gear changes are smooth.
All in all it manages to deliver a decent driving experience with plenty of power in reserve for fun when you need it.

PRACTICALITY

The boot space is a fairly large size for a coupe (see photo) and this is helped due to the fact that this car has a hatchback rather than a small boot lid. I have had fifteen bags of food shopping in the boot on one occasion. On top of this the rear seats fold down for extra room and a more practical choice when buying a coupe. I have also transported a coffee table in my Celica with the rear seats folded down. The inside offers as many cup holders as seats and a couple of extra little storage compartments. The glove box isn’t anything special in terms of size but there is an extra storage box above the radio which has a door and I use this to keep my phone and wallet out of view. There is another storage box at the rear of the centre console for a few extra small items you might want to hide from view.

COMFORT

The two rear seats are seriously restricted to accommodating either children or really small adults. Legroom is minimal and the long sloping rear windscreen decreases the headroom the further back it gets and it's not so easy to access. The front seats are very comfortable and full leather is standard.
Behind the wheel I find a sporty environment with a leather seat in a low-slung position. I find that I get plenty of support from the drivers seat and the height can be adjusted. The controls are really well placed around a nice leather grip steering wheel. The view in the interior mirror is good and there is only a minor obstruction from the spoiler.
On the motorway some of the road noise does permeate through into the inside of the car and driving like this is not particularly quiet.
Getting in and out of the car is only a little harder than a normal car as it is a bit lower to the ground. I find that I lean in as far as I can then just drop to the seat when getting in. Getting out needs just a little more effort than usual but you soon get used to it.

SAFETY

The Toyota Celica has four SRS airbags. One in the steering wheel, one in front of the front passenger and one in each of the front seats which explode forwards to separate the driver/passenger from the door windows. The Celica also benefits from an anti lock braking system.
All Celica’s have remote central locking, fitted alarm systems and an immobiliser. I have noticed that whilst washing my car it automatically locks itself after a few minutes but I am not sure if this is standard.
Toyota didn’t put the Celica through any EuroNCAP crash tests, so it has no rating.

SUMMARY

The Toyota Celica is a fantastic car and I would not hesitate to recommend it to friends. It is one of the more practical coupe cars and is fun to drive. Please view my photographs which I have submitted to supplement this review.

I hope that this review has been helpful, thank you for reading and if you have any further questions please message me.

Martin.