The Toyota Celica was a big seller in the sporty coupe market for many years but slowly fell out of fashion and quietly slipped from the new-car market in early 2006.
It’s still popular on the used-car scene, especially since the release of new-generation, affordable roadsters the Toyota 86 and its near-identical twin, the Subaru BRZ.
1991 TOYOTA CELICA GT-FOUR
What to look for
If buying a used Celica:
- Check for rust in the lower edges of the doors and the hatch/bootlid, under mudguards, in the door sills, on the floor of the boot and around the fuel filler cover.
- Check that the engine starts promptly, idles smoothly, accelerates without hesitation and doesn’t smoke from the exhaust tailpipe when worked hard.
- If the gear-change in a manual car is sloppy or too tight there could be problems. Do fast downchanges from third to second and feel for baulking and listen for crunching.
- Automatics that are slow to go into drive or reverse from neutral or park may be worn out.
- Make sure the brakes operate without too much effort and pull the car up cleanly without one wheel locking before the others.
- Feel for a car that wanders to one side during your test drive. It may have been incorrectly repaired after a crash or it could have front-wheel alignment problems.
By Ewan Kennedy
