it still owns quite a bit of its class of cars as it is now....the 2ZZ-GE is a very well designed engine....i just wish it wasnt so expensive to build-up....

 

A stock tC manual gets around 15.7 in the quarter mile.

According to Car and Driver, it goes 0-60 in 7.4 seconds (only .1 of a second slower than a 30k+ IS 300).

The tC that gets that is less than 17k before taxes and tags.

Performance-wise... I'd say the Celica and tC are pretty even. The tC will fair much better in gears 1-3, but the Celica will catch up from 4th on, and in a full mile, would probably pull ahead. 0-60, the tC wins. Quarter mile? Pretty even. Full mile? Celica would win.

Handling? Stock, the Celica is better. You can dump another 1k into the tC and bring it up to a whopping 18k and it would be close to the Celica.

Braking? They are pretty even. The Celica would probably break slightly better due to the tC's weight.

Gas mileage? The Celica would win easily. This is where the true value of this car shines. It isn't nearly as quick off the line, but it's a nice comprimise considering th emoney you'll save on gas compared to the tC. The Celica performs very well when you consider the economy.

Safety? I'd say the tC is the much safer car stock. Driver/passenger airbags. Driver knee airbag. 4 wheel ABS. Relatively cheap option for side curtain airbags. Re-inforced steel beams in sides and roof (thus, the extra weight)

Looks? The tC, in my opinion. It looks alot less ricey. Looks alot more European Sport-inspired. And besides, 90 percent of the people in Celicas are chicks.

Just my .02 cents.... er, 100 dollars.

*EDIT*
Oh yeah... and cost. The tC wins by a mile.

 

I use to have a 2000 celica GT-S and I do miss the lift dearly. But I am glad to trade it in for the tC. I must have been one of the lucky celica owners because the celica was in the shop for numerous problems ranging from a new transmission to a new engine and the sad part is I never raced the car and babied it. The celica is nice but I also don't miss the regular maintenance of changing out the lift bolts that could possibly break at times.

 

Hey Tonester thanks for all the great info :D . My brother has driven both the auto and stick shift tC's and he said there isent a great difference between the two, so im kinda leaning toward the auto only because of drivening in traffic with a manual kinda blows. Have you driven both and what do you think?

 

Sup everyone, I bought my celica 6spd gts in 2000, i started the celica.net website and blah blah.. I'm getting ready to trade my celica for a TC. TC as fast as a 6spd GTS? Nope. I've driven the 5spd TC and my celica will definately pull it. My best time in the celica is a 14.3 @98mph with unbolted muffler and intake. Cold weather as well. Now that i've said that, i must immediately say that the TC has WAAAY more potential to be fast, 2.4 liter, and without the headaches of trying to turbo or supercharge a high compression motor. As you can tell, there still aren't barely any parts to make celica's fast. Granted there are some fast ones, but there is basically no real performance market other than styling and intakes/exhausts. I love the celica, and it's handling, but i've had it for almost 5 years now, and the TC is going to be a refreshing change. Just my 2 cents.

 

I've driven both. I commute in DC every day, bro. And yes, it is pretty much stop and go traffic... but I still went with the manual. You shift the first 3 gears pretty quick, but gears 3 and 4 are very forgiving.... so there is lots of room to play. I only use 5th on the highway. It isn't bad at all. Besides, it is just soooo much fun with the manual in this car. I'm telling you, if you get the auto, you'll wish you had gotten the stick after about 2 weeks with the auto

*EDIT*
I forgot to mention... there IS a difference in the Auto and Manual. Usually, an auto tranny in the same engine will yield worse gas mileage than a manual version of that same engine. However, with the tC, this is reversed. There is a reason for that. The manual is tweaked to give more "umph" in the lower gears than the auto version. It's quicker off the line.

 

I've had both
6 speed GTS
5 speed TC

Both are great cars in different ways. The previous posts have covered just about everything about the cars and their strengths and weaknesses, but it all comes down to the point that you get what you pay for.

 

 

It's a miracle!