Celica Soon to be gone, but not forgotten

[mistamatrix]

Possibly one of the last articles and reviews to be written on the Celica:
http://www.autonet.ca/Spotlight/Test...12/712089.html

There's not much time left to enjoy the Toyota Celica in Canada, as it's leaving the Japanese automaker's lineup after the 2005 model year, but Toyota is making sure that it will be tough for fans to say goodbye to this sharp little performer.

I was able to spend time with the souped-up Celica GT-S Tsunami edition. Besides horsepower being upped from 140 (in the GT and regular GT-S versions) to 180 for the Tsunami, a lot of the special options on the Tsunami are more to make it look ultra-flashy, inside and out.

To be sure, right when I stepped down into the Celica (it's very low to the ground), I fell in love with it. It has a very bare-bones type of interior which reminded me a lot of the Mazda Miata roadster. There aren't a lot of controls bogging you down, and everything is within easy reach of the driver. The CD player (with a removable faceplate) draws you in right away. It's bright blue backlight jumps out immediately.

Everything is also colour coded. The blue Celica I had looked amazing from almost every angle, with the typical Celica curves and sharp lines outside, as well as colour-keyed interior door trim, steering wheel and shifter. I'm still not a huge fan of the bulging headlamps, and the spoiler was more of a hindrance when checking blind spots, because it's easy to mistake it for another car.

As for performance, this is a sporty Toyota vehicle that actually performs admirably unlike, for instance, the Matrix XRS. The car is very light so it's easy to accelerate in any gear. The Tsunami has a six-speed manual transmission with nice, tight throws, though the shifter seemed turned away from the driver, which may make the reach for shorter arms a bit of a problem.

The Celica also had the the tight, sport-tuned suspension, yet there still seemed to be a little bit of Toyota-like softness over bumps. Luckily, this wasn't at the expense of the handling. Feel free to push this car around turns; it will take most any challenge you give it.

Rear passengers have very limited space in back. Headroom and legroom is at a minimum to even the most petite people. Do yourself and rear passengers a favour and drive with two people at most; anyone in the back will just be weighing you down!

It really is a shame that Toyota won't be selling the Celica any longer up in the Great White North, but at least they've given car fans something to cheer about before saying goodbye.

[Tommy]

The loss of the celica really sucks. I liked those cars a lot...its too bad they will be long gone before i have a chance to buy a new car.

RIP Celica

[xpeed]

What ever happened to the Celica Convertible? I even saw the price tag on those on the site.

[Edward_H]

What would be nice, is to have a GT4 (all-trac) come back for the last year. That way we could go out with a bang (have something for use to run with the EVO 8 and STI(s)...)

[jhbhatia]

mesa awaiting tokiyo autoshow to see pic's of 8th gen celica. So what if we're not getting it, doesn't mean the dream will end. The skyline wasn't imported, there were still fans! If they did not, we can hang in there till toyota brings it back someday!

[xpeed]

It probably can come back. Nissan said they're gonna pull the plug on their infamous Skyline GT-R lines after the R34 NuR V-SpecII came off the line. But then Nissan said they're gonna start on it again and import it to the US as well. So, pray that Toyota might do the same.

[WhiteMR291]

You can think of this as a good/bad type of situation. Look at it as there might be a replacement, like the supra. Judging by how good Toyota is doing, i dont see why they wouldnt bring back the supra for at least a couple more years, i know it will be a HUGE hit if done the right way.
-Terry

[Sportivo Concepts]

Originally Posted by WhiteMR291

You can think of this as a good/bad type of situation. Look at it as there might be a replacement, like the supra. Judging by how good Toyota is doing, i dont see why they wouldnt bring back the supra for at least a couple more years, i know it will be a HUGE hit if done the right way.
-Terry

the reason why is the same reason they killed it in the first place as well as the Celica MR and ECHO...... poor sales

[xpeed]

Echos just too damn small for American hefters. Felt like the Beetle had more room than that small econobox.

[rolla-XRS]

Echo poor sales? In the US maybe but everywhere else on earth the Echo does well. And last I checked - the Beatle was twice the price of an Echo.

Celica is damned to hell because of this...poor sales. Something else will replace it someday...

[Sportivo Concepts]

es I meant in the US it has poor sales..... after all all the cars listed has been axed here

[rolla-XRS]

Originally Posted by Sportivo Concepts

es I meant in the US it has poor sales..... after all all the cars listed has been axed here

They axed the Echo in the US? Strange - that would be something I'd hear about - particularly when compacts are making a comeback due to high oil prices.

Now you got me curious...

[boosted gt]

echo is a ugly ugly ugly little car bring back the boxy tercel

[xpeed]

Echo is the tercel........well replacement.

Wow, big jump in 2000 for Celica sells. Of course, it'll go down when you don't change the design of the car for four years.

[rolla-XRS]

It ALWAYS goes down a few years after the launch of a new vehicle. People always want what's new and different. As soon as you're neighbour has one, then it's on to something else.