My Experience

I test-drove a Toyota Celica GT-S 6-speed at a local dealership. My test drive lasted about forty-five minutes and covered city streets, freeways, and winding secondary roads.


Performance

The Celica's 1.8-liter, 180hp inline-four was what I considered to be the car's weakest point. This engine delivers good performance numbers on paper (with 0-60 times around 7 seconds flat in most magazines), but on my test drive, it didn't feel as fast as the figures suggested.

This was due to the engine's extraordinarily peaky power delivery. When the Celica's engine was in the low-to-mid rpm spread that comprises most daily driving, its acceleration felt little different than an everyday Corolla's. The Celica responded readily enough to throttle inputs, and it never felt weak, but acceleration was never anything but adequate at normal engine speeds. But then, when traffic thinned out and I got a chance to push the engine harder, I found that the Celica's engine finally snaps to life at 6000rpms. I'm not talking about a gradual rush of thrust. It seriously felt like someone flipped on a lightswitch under the hood, causing the Celica to surge forward abruptly as the engine changed cams. While this effect was dramatic for its "on-off" quality, it wasn't accompanied by a thrilling sensation of speed. The Celica simply never pushed me back in the seat, even at the high end of the tachometer.

I should mention that your own satisfaction with the Celica's peaky, all-or-nothing power delivery is something of a matter of taste. I personally prefer torquier engines (like the 3.0-liter V6 in the Mitsubishi Eclipse GT) that accelerate with a forceful shove all through the midrange.

But what isn't likely to be a matter of taste is the noise and vibration from under the Celica's hood. Although the Celica's engine is fairly quiet at low revs, it emits an insipid "putt-putt" in gentle driving, and is constantly feeding vibrations into the cabin. At higher rpms, the sound turns to a frenzied cry that is very exciting, but also very loud. So while the Celica certainly turns in impressive numbers on paper, the engine is less impressive in practice.


Transmission/Clutch

The Celica's transmission and clutch were also a bit below my expectations. I had read plenty about the Celica's crisp shift action in car magazines, so you can imagine my surprise when I found the shifter to be stiff and a bit uncooperative in action. The lever felt sticky when I slotted it from gear to gear, and its gates weren't very well-defined. The gears are very close together, and the lever doesn't slide intuitively from one gear to the next, so it's easy to get fifth when you want third, or second when you want fourth. Charging up freeway on-ramps resulted in a fair bit of embarrassing gear-hunting, from which my ego still hasn't fully recovered.

Further frustration came from the Celica's clutch. While the pedal was well-weighted and had a pleasantly short throw, I found it somewhat difficult to coordinate smooth shifts. I generally prefer less-forgiving, quick-biting clutches, but the Celica's felt abrupt even to me. This, combined with the engine's tendency to drop revs very quickly, resulted in several jerky gearchanges over the course of my test drive.


Steering/Handling

Here's where the good news starts. The Celica GT-S that I test drove was hands-down the best-handling front-wheel-drive car I've ever driven--and easily in the top ten best-handling cars I've ever driven, period.

The Celica's suspension felt very firm but supple, allowing instant response in turns, with no perceptible body roll in moderate driving. The steering was also top-notch--firm, quick, direct, and very precise. On curvy roads, I just fed in what felt like an appropriate steering angle, and left it there. It was that natural and intuitive to control, and it almost never required corrections mid-corner. Being a major stickler for steering feel, I was thrilled with the Celica's kart-like, communicative helm--especially considering that the car's front wheels are doing the double burden of steering and propelling the car.

The chassis was equally impressive, with a balanced attitude and far more grip than I had expected from the feeble-looking 205-width tires. When I threw the car into hard corners, it turned in eagerly and carved through with a surprisingly neutral feel--understeer was nigh-impossible to induce without really trying (cranking the wheel hard while stomping on the gas pedal would do the trick, but still didn't elicit much). Pressed hard on a winding road, the Celica felt sharp, nimble, and safe.

The Celica's manners were even impeccable on the freeway, where the steering locked on to dead-ahead and refused to be distracted. From around-town driving to freeway cruising to back-road antics, the Celica's handling never ceased to delight me.


Ride

The Celica's ride was also mostly good news, aside from the noise issues mentioned earlier. While the firm suspension gave the ride motions a no-nonsense stiffness, ride quality was surprisingly compliant given the car's handling prowess. The ride felt busy, with some stiff rocking and pitching on bumpy roads, but the car's body structure felt very tight, and I never found the bumpiness the least bit objectionable--in fact, I quite liked the Celica's clear communication of what was going on with the pavement beneath. I'll admit I'm heavily biased towards firm ride quality, so it's worth mentioning that the Celica's ride is considerably stiffer than you'll find in most sedans. Sport-minded drivers won't be bothered by it, but people who are mostly interested in a daily commuter with a dash of style might be better served by the soft-riding Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Now, back to those noise issues. I've already mentioned the Celica's loud and vibratory engine note, but what I haven't mentioned is the healthy dose of road noise. The tires roar somewhat loudly over the road, and the body seems to resonate with different pavement textures. Something about the Celica feels tinny and insubstantial, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It might be the resonance of the hollow-feeling body, or the audible tinkling of pebbles against the car's underside. But whatever it is, it gives the car a vague feeling of cheapness on the road.


Interior

I liked the Celica's interior, which struck an appealing balance between sport and usability. The cabin offered lots of room for front-seat occupants, with comfortable and supportive form-fitting buckets. Its controls were laid out logically, where they were easy to find without taking my eyes off the road. Visibility was excellent, with a low cowl that afforded an expansive view forward.

But in addition to these practical concerns, the Celica's interior set a sporty and exciting mood. The driving position was low-slung and laid-back, which set a race-car mood that's lacking in some other sports coupes. The dashboard and console also looked racy, with flowing, swoopy contours and a deeply-recessed gauge pod that looked like something out of the aviation world. The gauges were highly legible and scripted with bold red and greenish-yellow markings, like the dials in a Ferrari 360.

Although there were some cheap, hard plastics scattered around the interior, there were also enough rich-feeling surfaces that the materials didn't feel cheap as a whole. Sporty touches helped keep your mind off materials quality, anyway--the thick, three-spoke steering wheel, silver console trim, and drilled-metal pedals were especially appealing. The Celica's cabin wasn't quite as high-quality as I expected from a Toyota, and it's not the best in the sports-coupe league (that honor belongs to the more-mature Acura RSX), but it's still a pleasant and exciting place to spend time.


Practicality

The Celica can't really be called a practical car with a straight face, but it has enough space to be plenty usable as a daily driver. The front seats have plenty of room and provided good, firm support on my test drive. The rear seat was small and cramped, and I certainly wouldn't recommend trying to fit two full-size adults back there for any length of time, but it wasn't any worse than I expected from a compact sports coupe.

The Celica's trunk had more than enough room to haul the daily groceries home, but it wasn't particularly roomy. It seemed appreciably smaller than the cargo hold of the Mitsubishi Eclipse (another reason why that car makes a better daily commuter), and the flatter shape of its hatchback meant I wouldn't have been able to fit really bulky loads inside. Thankfully, there's a standard split folding rear seat to expand the load space, but taking advantage of this feature precludes the use of the rear seats.


Reliability

The Celica, as with most Toyotas, has an excellent reliability record. It has has been rated Better Than Average by Consumer Reports, which is a good indicator of a relatively trouble-free experience.


Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed driving the Celica, and I was especially thrilled with its sharp, nimble handling, but I don't think its a car for everyone. Most mid-priced, front-wheel-drive sports coupes do the double duty of attracting driving enthusiasts as well as more casual commuters looking for stylish daily transportation, and so most of the cars in this segment offer a good balance between sporty reflexes and user-friendly driveability.

The Celica, however, is different. This a more uncompromising sports coupe, and one which demands effort and patience to fully extract its potential on a winding road--specifically, in operating that peaky engine, notchy shifter and abrupt clutch. Its razor-sharp steering and agile handling should appeal to enthusiasts and commuters alike, but casual drivers might be turned off by the stiff ride. And while part of the Celica's nimble feel must be due to its light curb weight (a scant 2580 lbs), it feels to me like some of that usual Toyota quality was sacrificed to shave pounds.

I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but something about the Celica felt tinny, hollow, and insubstantial next to other sports coupes like the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Acura RSX. The sheetmetal felt thinner, the paint looked orange-peely, and road noise was pronounced, giving it a less-robust feel from the driver's seat. This was all in keeping with its uncompromisingly sporty mission, but is it going too far? After all, when it comes down to it, the Celica isn't all that fast a car, even in GT-S form--for not much more money, you could get into a much-quicker Subaru Impreza WRX or a Mazda RX-8. As much as I loved the Celica's chassis, I felt that the car was a bit too minimalist and perhaps trying to be a little too "hardcore" for its modest accelerative capabilities and mild-mannered front-wheel-drive layout.

If I were in the market for a sports coupe, I'd be far more attracted to something with a better balance of speed, torque, handling, and refinement--like maybe an Acura RSX? This certainly isn't to suggest that the Celica is a bad value--for sport-minded enthusiasts who are either die-hard front-wheel-drive fans, or value sharp handling and little else, the Celica GT-S could be just the ticket. Its spotless reliability record doesn't hurt, either. Just keep in mind that there are other cars which offer equal or better engine performance, and also feel more well-rounded and refined, for not much more money.




Feel free to check out my reviews of some of the Celica's competitors:
Honda Accord EX Coupe
Honda Civic Si
Hyundai Tiburon GT V6
Mini Cooper S
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart
Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
Scion tC
Subaru Impreza WRX
Volkswagen GTI 1.8T


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 22,055