RE: New Toyota Celica to be hybrid
Discussion
Gazboy said:
My money is on a 5.0 V10 Lexus btw.
It's fashionable but requires a big engine bay. And now F1 are back using V8's, all bets are off.
I'd still go for big N/A engine and NSX/911 price-level. Hopefully front-engine rear-drive, but if it's a Lexus it WON'T be a drivers car in the way the Supra is...more a competitor for the 6-series, SL and new XK (the old one I always felt was a 911-baiter).
cdp said:
stuff about his MR2 and his Dads Jag
sounds like you had an absolute lemon, and your dad an anti-lemon. unless of course you were using the MR2 for rallycross?
heard a funny story a few days back from a guy who's owned and raced a few MR2's (n/a not turbos though, both mk1 and mk2's). anyway, the first time he raced one of them he wasn't intending to, but he'd driven it to the race meeting when his racecar blew its engine. so he and his other driver decided hey, we've paid the fee, we might as well race the MR2 instead. the sole race preparation it had was an oil change before the race. but they finished 2nd in class and 9th or so overall in a 3 hour enduro, then did 3 sprint races in the afternoon, before he drove it the 2 hours home again afterwards. never skipped a beat. Now That is Toyota reliability for you.
ps theres also plenty of taxi drivers that get over a million km out of their 2.8 diesel hiace vans before they need a rebuild.
Gazboy said:
Sounds like a lemon to me.
My car is ten years old and runs over a bar of boost. No fuss, no worries, no issues (other than the ones I cause). Lots of fuel though.
Supra did two vmax's and about 9 hours of driving on both days, no issues and didn't use any oil either. Original battery drained a few weeks ago.
I had a Toyota, in a short period it demanded:
Front brakes, discs, pads, capliers - 3 or 4 sets (lost count at 400 per time). Design?
Alternator X 2. Both cracked around the casing and split in half, again 400 each. Design?
Gearlinkage. Twice. At £400 per time
Both Front shock absorbers. Twice.
Steering rack rebuilt (£1200)
Clutch. 3 times.
Both rear wheel bearings. Twice.
Engine siezed.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Usually the rocker cover gasket weeps oil and it falls onto the alternator, gets in but can't get out. The RCG costs £7 iirc.
Must admit the clutches and brakes were over a longer period (5 years). The first one was fitted when I bought the car at 27K then the other two at about 30K per time, which other people I know have confirmed this to be about normal. (My Rover 820 did 130K on the original clutch but that's Rover quality) The other bits were over about 2 years.
Thing is I do know other people who have had similar problems; at work everybody made Toyota jokes. The spoiler was commonly referred to as a "handle".
The brakes were caused by the front capillers siezing - it destroys the destroys the disc and pad. Then you need to do both sides at once. Latter cars were better.
Apparently the engines failed due to cooling problems. It's _VERY_ common on Rev1 cars.
The oil would cause the alternator to burn out - but not to crack around the case and split in half - which happened on both of mine meaning I had to have new rather than exchange. The ventilation slots broke one by one.
I've driven other cars much harder than the MR2 without problems. My brother's Elise was so much better, until he race tuned it that is.
GravelBen said:
stuff about his MR2 and his Dads Jag
sounds like you had an absolute lemon, and your dad an anti-lemon. unless of course you were using the MR2 for rallycross?
heard a funny story a few days back from a guy who's owned and raced a few MR2's (n/a not turbos though, both mk1 and mk2's). anyway, the first time he raced one of them he wasn't intending to, but he'd driven it to the race meeting when his racecar blew its engine. so he and his other driver decided hey, we've paid the fee, we might as well race the MR2 instead. the sole race preparation it had was an oil change before the race. but they finished 2nd in class and 9th or so overall in a 3 hour enduro, then did 3 sprint races in the afternoon, before he drove it the 2 hours home again afterwards. never skipped a beat. Now That is Toyota reliability for you.
ps theres also plenty of taxi drivers that get over a million km out of their 2.8 diesel hiace vans before they need a rebuild.
Silly question but which club allowed your mate to "race" without the following items?
MSA approved roll cage.
Externally mounted engine isolator switch.
Full FIA approved racing harness.
FIA approved racing seat
Oil catch tank
None of these items (apart from the seat maybe) can be fitted just before the race. The scrutineers wouldn't allow it in. They've pulled me over a tail lamp in broad daylight before now.
Just so I know which club/cowboy outfit to keep away from....
Out of all the cars I've owned the MR2 was easily my favourite. Apart from the bills it was perfect. I would buy one tomorrow if only I thought I could trust it.
I still haven't found a proper replacement. I doubt I will for less than 30K.
The clutches lasted years but the other bits failed in well under two years. Sunk about £4K per year in that time. I've never done a dump clutch start in my life! I've just replaced the front pads and discs on my Vectra at 75,000 miles (61K with me) as the indicator light was on - the pads still had plenty left. The Vauxhall has been used for towing my seven and even been on track a couple of times. So I'm not lead footed.
The garage was pretty good, I found the faults before they did so I know they didn't make it up. I saw the first alternator when it came out the car and the second happened over a period of time - the belt was correctly tensioned too.
Each revision of MR2 got better than the last. Fensport (not the people who looked after my car) reckoned Rev1 cars had cooling issues. I've not heard of any problem with turbo engines and Toyota uprated the brakes pretty early on. Brakes on Rev1 cars with 14" wheels were simply inadequate for anything other than motorway or town driving.
Most of the Toyota jokes were pretty lame. Our works was at the top of a hill, so on seeing my car parked there I had comments like "how'd that get there?". Others like a sports car drives past - "Was that a Toyota?" to which another would reply "Nah, it's moving". I think it came from them seeing the group of us (3) who owned MR2s discussing the best places to get replacement engines. We all needed them.
I still haven't found a proper replacement. I doubt I will for less than 30K.
The clutches lasted years but the other bits failed in well under two years. Sunk about £4K per year in that time. I've never done a dump clutch start in my life! I've just replaced the front pads and discs on my Vectra at 75,000 miles (61K with me) as the indicator light was on - the pads still had plenty left. The Vauxhall has been used for towing my seven and even been on track a couple of times. So I'm not lead footed.
The garage was pretty good, I found the faults before they did so I know they didn't make it up. I saw the first alternator when it came out the car and the second happened over a period of time - the belt was correctly tensioned too.
Each revision of MR2 got better than the last. Fensport (not the people who looked after my car) reckoned Rev1 cars had cooling issues. I've not heard of any problem with turbo engines and Toyota uprated the brakes pretty early on. Brakes on Rev1 cars with 14" wheels were simply inadequate for anything other than motorway or town driving.
Most of the Toyota jokes were pretty lame. Our works was at the top of a hill, so on seeing my car parked there I had comments like "how'd that get there?". Others like a sports car drives past - "Was that a Toyota?" to which another would reply "Nah, it's moving". I think it came from them seeing the group of us (3) who owned MR2s discussing the best places to get replacement engines. We all needed them.
Gazboy said:
Crikey- it's a shame an absolute lemon has put you off an otherwise great car. I think MR2T's are the absolute dogs bollox incase you hadn't noticed!
As I said, it's one of my all time favourites. Fast, fun, comfortable (how many sports cars will still feel good at 400 miles in a day?), easy on fuel, durable (the body and interior still looked new), great noise and good looking. Literally an unbeatable combination - especially as a T-BAR.
One of my friends has a Turbo that's done a lot of track work and it's been fine (I think he has rebuilt the engine - but for more power) but I thought he was the exception. It's just I couldn't bring myself to buy another.
I hope yours continues it's excellent service.
Carl
stumartin said:
Well the Celica was fairly dull anyway, so this can't be any worse...
This from a man whose car history is made up almost entirely of Fords?
I think the Celica looks great, much better than the new MR2. They should have made the new '2 bolder. I would buy one (the base 1.8) but for obvious reasons. But the only person I know who owns (bought new) one needed the ecu replaced (twice), brakes and alloys(premature corrosion). All under warranty so at least he didn't have to pay for them......
Innotech said:
Hondas good at this sort of thing. Small, sporty cars with delightful little engines. Toyota just doesnt get it. They likely wont this time either. Hey Toyota, I heard another 100,000 people want one of your soulless camries. Better ramp up production.
Hmmm.. so Toyota doesn't 'get it'. Strange, seeing as they could buy Honda lock stock and barrel without even noticing a dent in their bank balance.
Did you know, that they have enough cash reserves to buy Ford and GM outright - with change.
So no, they obviously don't have a clue how to make/sell cars....
stig said:
Hondas good at this sort of thing. Small, sporty cars with delightful little engines. Toyota just doesnt get it. They likely wont this time either. Hey Toyota, I heard another 100,000 people want one of your soulless camries. Better ramp up production.
Hmmm.. so Toyota doesn't 'get it'. Strange, seeing as they could buy Honda lock stock and barrel without even noticing a dent in their bank balance.
Did you know, that they have enough cash reserves to buy Ford and GM outright - with change.
So no, they obviously don't have a clue how to make/sell cars....
Buying GM and Ford would completely kill them off too (healthcare). Leaving us with just VW, PSA and Hyundai. Not a good scenario......
Gazboy said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I think I read in EVO that Toyota could buy GM lock stock and barrel- now I assume LSB includes debts and finance agreements, pensions- the lot. Awaits to be corrected.
I haven't read the article but it probably means number of shares multiplied by their price. GM's debt though healthcare commitments is pretty much open ended. A lot of US production has moved to Canada due to decent state healthcare.
If ever there was an arguement for the NHS that has to be a good one.
Gassing Station | Japanese Chat | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff