GTP Cool Wall - Toyota Celica GTS ZZT231

  • Thread starter Tornado
  • 54 comments
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Toyota Celica GTS

  • Total voters
    90
  • Poll closed .
Tornado

Tornado

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** 1999-2006 Toyota Celica GTS suggested by jacoja09 **
2000celicagtspasfront1f.jpg


Specs:
Engines - 1796cc DOHC 16-valve I4
Layout - FF
Transmission - 4-speed automatic / 6-speed manual
Power - 180 bhp @ 7600 rpm
Torque - 133 lb-ft @ 6800 rpm
Curb weight - 2500 lb
Zero to 60 mph - 6.6 sec
Standing 1/4-mile - 15.2 sec @ 93.0 MPH
Price - $22,335
​
 
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Cool. This was the absolute peak of old Toyota, just before everything went off the deep end. Engineered to an insane degree, with no expense spared in the interest of weight savings, much like the MR-S. A thorough reversal of the Celica name, which had been allowed to stagnate and decay into essentially a synonym with "Camry Coupe." All that effort sadly went to waste, though, as Toyota never paid much attention to the car after a year or so; finally putting a bullet in it by bringing out the cheaper, crappier Scion tC when the Celica was still going relatively strong. It can be said that the entire market died out while the Celica was on the market, but Toyota's lazy efforts to keep the car relevant as the times changed didn't do the car any favors.
 
Too fiddly and looks too aftermarket like. Never liked all that bodykit and spoiler look. Great car to drive, looks like a donkey's rear end.

Uncool.
 
It's a sportscar... a distinctive looking one... good performance, 100 bhp per liter...

Doesn't really tickle my fancy, though... but I do turn to look when I see one. Mere "cool".

Would have slighted it for helping to kill off the sports coupe market during its time by being so much more competent at being an everyday car than other sports coupes... but it's not the Celica's fault the competition was so crappy.
 
Never cared much for this Celica. As others have said, the body styling is a bit much. Whats the point of paddle shifters that change gears like a regular automatic? I'd choose a different car in this same class over it. I can't give it more than cool, but it's not Seriously Uncool, just Uncool.
 
I was always a fan of the GT-4 Celicas and their rally success, by the time this Celica was made rally was all about the Corolla (which I wasn't a fan of) and this Celica has no serious bite the GT-4's did. While it isn't a bad car, I still see it as:

Uncool.
 
JCE
Too fiddly and looks too aftermarket like. Never liked all that bodykit and spoiler look. Great car to drive, looks like a donkey's rear end.

Uncool.
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Bones Brigade
Uncool. I like the looks of it, but, it's far too flashy and...youthful...in a bad way.
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LSX
Never cared much for this Celica. As others have said, the body styling is a bit much.
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Keep in mind that the normal car looked like this:



I just used the picture in the OP because that was the first one on Wikipedia.

In fact... *Edits OP*
 
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niky
It's a sportscar... a distinctive looking one... good performance, 100 bhp per liter...

Doesn't really tickle my fancy, though... but I do turn to look when I see one. Mere "cool".
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This. It has that funky look (read: spaceship - yes, even the bog stock 1.6 without the extra trim bits) that makes you turn your head when one drives past you. Plus it's not "all show no go", it's a genuine sports car.

Not sub zero (it's a Toyota), but certainly very cool... because I'd totally own one. My Cool Wall rule of thumb is if I'd buy one, it's at the very least cool.
 
Cool. I like the ZZT231, I think it doesn't look too bad and they don't drive too bad either. What I'm not really a fan of is the fact that it kind of threw the ST185 and ST205's rally success out the window, but it's still pretty cool.
 
Seeing as how they fixed many of the issues with my ST204 with the early versions of this car, I totally dig it. The look was right for the end of the decade, the performance was bang-on in GT form, but it was the GT-S that really took the cake. Honestly, its the last "good" Toyota that they produced. Between it and the MR-S biting the dust, "good" Toyota was no more.

Thing is, would I upgrade from my Celica to this one? Its a tough question, and to be honest, I don't have a solid answer.
 
uncool.

I never really liked this car that much when it came out. And it doesn't help that ricers are getting their hands on them now...

Whenever I think of it I think of some mid 2000s arcade racing game that was more about nitrous, huge turbos, body kits, paint and mile drag races than actual racing.
 
Driven by girls, and no car people respect them. Uncool.

If I rolled up on a group of people all the girls would go "Aw, look at that cute car", and all the guys would go "Yeah, and look at that 🤬 driving it", and then they would all laugh and I would feel ashamed. Prove me wrong.
 
Found it very hard to decide between cool and uncool with this one, it's so border line. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but then very little particularly good about it either. I'm sure as a vehicle, especially a Toyota built one, it's reliable and dependable and the performance figures suggest it can hold its own in it's class. It just doesn't get the pulses going at all and therefore just edges into uncool.
 
Uncool simply because every douche in town drives one or wants one. I was never a fan of its wedge shape, and the engine lacks any real get up and go. If I was ever going to go for a car like this I would buy an Integra Type R, which is what Toyota was aiming at with this model, but missed the mark.
 
SRV2LOW4ME
Uncool simply because every douche in town drives one or wants one. I was never a fan of its wedge shape, and the engine lacks any real get up and go. If I was ever going to go for a car like this I would buy an Integra Type R, which is what Toyota was aiming at with this model, but missed the mark.
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A car even FURTHER ingrained into Ricer culture? the ITR is the definition of a car ricers want. The only car more often used by Ricers is the Civic...only because it's more common. In fact, they use regular Integras and make them look like Type-Rs. I don't see a lot of GT-S badges floating around out there...

I actually give it "cool." 'twas a car extremely focused upon handling, had a hard-revving, twin-cam 1.8 which is now used (in modified form) in the Lotus Elise and Exige, and period reviews loved it...I really don't see where it "missed the Mark" as far as the ITR, a car which, by the end of this vehicle's production run, had been out of production six years, and was several years older by the time it left.

Unless you're talking about the DC5, which wasn't allowed in the US, and is a far newer car in the first place, with a physically larger-displacement engine. and Ricers turn their RSXs into clones of that one without the engine and suspension mods, too.

Considering that it shared a lot with the Corolla of the day, this Celica is really kind of the Trueno/Levin of it's era, kind of a continuation of the AE111 series, rather than the heavily Camry-based Celicas of earlier.

For that matter, I'm finding that there's an ocean divide at this point...Those who got the GT-FOUR don't like it, while those that didn't either do or think it's a ricer car.
 
Keef
Prove me wrong.
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Drive one through Europe :P

I've always thought this car in red looks sexy as hell. They also look better in real than in the images, it always seems it's sitting very high on its rims in internet images while this car is actually very low once you encounter one. Also, it's a very rare car over here, and the last genuine sportscar made by Toyota. For me, it's a sub-zero.
 
Jim Prower
A car even FURTHER ingrained into Ricer culture? the ITR is the definition of a car ricers want. The only car more often used by Ricers is the Civic...only because it's more common. In fact, they use regular Integras and make them look like Type-Rs.
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I think that was his point ;) thats the only car of that group he would like.

Anyway, I always liked the look of this car and its quite decent performance and pretty good value for money.

I disagree with those who cling to the same designs constantly, I like many of Toyota's old line-up because they varied in style so much, its quite refreshing and the new Supra, MR2, Celica or whatever actually looked "new". I loved the 90's Celica GT-Four styling but that didn't stop me liking this look too.
At the same time, I do agree there is something to be said for keeping design cues but overall I think most of the time its just a needless design restriction. Especially for a manufacturer like Toyota who have little in the way of traditions when it comes to their designs (at least, not in the same sense as the Jaguar grills or whatever).

So, anyway, I rate it as a cool car. It looked great and ticked all the boxes. I don't see many undesirables driving them either and I think its moderately respected by the general public. Its not F40 sub zero stuff but its definitely a cool car. I'd actually say this is the definition of an "ordinary" (if I can say that referring to cool :lol:) cool car.
 
Keef
Driven by girls, and no car people respect them. Uncool.

If I rolled up on a group of people all the girls would go "Aw, look at that cute car", and all the guys would go "Yeah, and look at that 🤬 driving it", and then they would all laugh and I would feel ashamed. Prove me wrong.
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With all due respect, every time you make comments like that it makes me think that you must know some right a-holes. Perhaps the Celica's image is different in the UK (I haven't seen very many riced ones at all... if any) but I certainly can't see how it has a bad image. And the gender split seems to be pretty even over here. People in the States seem to regard anything with less than a two litre engine as a girls car.

Anyway, I'm a car person, and I respect them. Lightweight, great looking coupe, very good chassis. Cool.
 
Philly
Whenever I think of it I think of some mid 2000s arcade racing game that was more about nitrous, huge turbos, body kits, paint and mile drag races than actual racing.
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Precisely my view on the car. Uncool.
 
Uncool. It's as much a Celica as the new Impreza is a "true" Impreza, good performance and all round a good car for sure but the old touch just isn't there anymore.
 
Greycap
Uncool. It's as much a Celica as the new Impreza is a "true" Impreza, good performance and all round a good car for sure but the old touch just isn't there anymore.
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I agree with this. It may well be a very good car (and I'd love to own one) but it's rather soulless.
 
homeforsummer
People in the States seem to regard anything with less than a two litre engine as a girls car.
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Well, it's more complicated than that. The Evolution has a 2.0 liter motor and nobody here would call it a girl's car.

American car enthusiasts tend to place a lot of emphasis on power (way too much emphasis, really), which is why any sporting car with only modest outputs get the "girl car" rep. In that regard, Keef is correct in his observations. Here, Celicas fall into the same 'girl car' category as the V6 Mustang. Underpowered and therefore unmanly. I have to admit that my own casual, unscientific observations would lead me to conclude Celicas are overwhelming driven by women over here as well.

It may not deserve the reputation that it has, but that is the reputation nonetheless. The Boxster and even the Cayman to a certain extent gets tarred with the same brush.


M
 

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