At $3,900, Does This 2000 Toyota Celica GT-S Make a Good Point?
Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Celica GT-S represents the last generation of the long-running model, and has made some long runs itself. Let’s see if any of you are willing to go along with its price.
When you start thinking about exclusive sports cars, as one is wont to do, it’s likely that Porsche’s 911 will find its way onto that mental list of cars desired. It’s all the more remarkable then that the 911 isn’t really all that exclusive, considering that over the decades of its existence more than 1,000,000 have been built. The 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo we looked at yesterday, hence, is one in a million. It has been converted to RUF RTurbo specs and now carries modest miles with a $55,000 price tag. That wasn’t excessively exclusive for many of you since the Porsche earned a 51 percent Nice Price win at that asking.
Now, if you want to drive something really exclusive across today’s crossover-crazy landscape, then this 2000 Toyota Celica GT-S might prove an interesting and personal statement of automotive individuality. Let’s check it out.
Toyota almost gave up on the whole small sporty coupe market in 2006 when it discontinued the Celica. It’s hard to blame the company as sales had been declining over the early aughts. The current GR86 coupe proves the company isn’t done playing in this sandbox, but does beg the question as to why it wasn’t branded as a Celica.
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There’s a kitsch factor to these older coupes, and this one, being a five-speed manual, is particularly kitschy and unique. Notably, this silver GTS coupe also has an eye-watering 246,000 miles under its belt, although that distance doesn’t really show those in the pictures.
What you do see is some typical wear and tear. There is a small ding in the passenger-side door and what looks to be a lengthy scratch in the clear coat on the fender behind that. On the plus side, the factory five-spoke alloys look to be un-marred and the car comes with a moonroof and an extraordinarily big wing on the back. This last generation of Celica was one of the most aggressively styled of the series, and that look has held up well over the years. The design allows for a big glass area for decent visibility and the car features hatchback practicality.
In the cabin, there are leather seating surfaces and an aftermarket shift knob. The upholstery looks to be in very decent shape and the seat pad on the driver’s side seems to be more for added support rather than to mask rips and tears. An aftermarket head unit sits in the dash and the car is new enough to have both front and seat-side airbags.
In GT-S guise such as this, the Celica carries Toyota’s rev-happy 2ZZ-GE DOHC four under the pointy hood. With its VVTL-i variable valve timing intake, the 1.8-liter four can muster a strong 180 horsepower at a heady 7,800 rpm. At just a little over 2,650 pounds, there’s not all that much weight to shove around either.
According to the ad, the “Engine is good” and the “Transmission is good.” The seller says the “Clutch was machine refaced” which we can take to mean that it was done as part of a more comprehensive clutch replacement. I mean, why would you go to the trouble of resurfacing the flywheel and not replace the clutch? The title is clean and the car passed its California-required smog test.
Now that we’ve given it a once-over, let’s talk about this Celica’s $3,900 asking price. That will buy you any number of older vehicles, even a few coupes. The question though, is who would consider a car like the Celica in today’s market? Is being the object of disinterest actually an attribute that makes it of interest? If so, what do you think this car should go for? Is that $3,900 asking a decent price for a GT-S in this shape? Or, for that much is there just no point in considering this pointy car?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Don R. for the hookup!
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