Toyota Starlet/Glanza

Toyota Starlet/Glanza

Author
Discussion

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,552 posts

182 months

Tuesday 7th September 2010
quotequote all
Talk to me




I don't know a lot about these cars, but am rather interested in them. They look alot of fun and performance for the money and the cheap insurance and tax is always a plus. Is there anything in particular to look out for? Better engines/spec? Glanza or starlet, what's the difference? Uk or jap cars best?

Any pointers appreciated.

Edited by Yazza54 on Tuesday 7th September 20:05

nottyash

4,670 posts

196 months

Tuesday 7th September 2010
quotequote all
Ive had 2 Glanza Vs. Both black, one with 43k miles the other 60k miles cost me little over £3000 each in 2008 as the exchange rate was good.
They are a 1.3 turbo putting out about 130BHP in standard form, with a Hi Lo boost switch whitch is gimmicky really as you always use it in high.
they have 3 lights on the dash that light up in turn when you boot them and the turbo pressure increases. All 3 should light in every gear.
Being Japanese imports (only) you need to convert to MPH. This is done by either a face that covers the speedo or a mechanical (£35 on ebay/ net)convertor that fits on the speedo line on top of the gearbox.
With the speedo cover you are still limited to 112mph, fine if thats fast enough, however the mechanical convertor actually de limits it to. Both mine had mech convertors and would not boost fully (on the lights) in first and second when this was fitted. I think it helps traction.
Anyway there is a simple pipe loop under the bonnet which allows full boost in all gears, it also means about 150BHP too, and the thing will fly. It does disable the hi lo switch but its worth it.
There are a lot of modified ones. I found my standard one was better as my lowered one lost traction easier with the harder suspension.
Look for accident damage, clutch slip, usual car buying stuff.
They are great fun. Seats offer no support but one of mine had a recaro drivers seat wich was great.
There was a facelift in about 1998, slighly different front,back lights, front bumper and interior.
Avoid the automatics regaurdless of what the sellers tell you. they do not sell and are worth little.
Great fun, and easier to modify.
Glanza means Flyer in Japanese.. apparently
The earlier cars badged GT Turbos have the same engine, just look a bit older but are sought after as easily modified. None were officially imported though.
Info on this site:
http://www.toyotagtturbo.com/

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,552 posts

182 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
quotequote all
Thanks notty, I'd love a glanza facelift. White with white wheels, around 200bhp +


Not that I've thought about it much wink


Thing is they all have quite high mileage, not sure if it's best to buy a tuned one or buy an import and tune it up a bit myself. I just have visions of a lot of the higher powered molested cars being ragged round car parks. But then again the mods they've had will cost money and you're not getting that from most fresh imports. The abundance of illiterate adverts puts me off a bit too :/

nottyash

4,670 posts

196 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
quotequote all
Your right they do attract a few dheads who you would never buy a car from.
Mine were both black, 1 came withgold alloys the other trims!! I bought some new white 16" alloys, put Toyo Proxies on and it looked amazing.
We even had new Glanza stickers made as they get "tired and tatty" Ours were badged Glanza R, so there are 2 in the UK somerwhere, badged R by me LOL We used a red R off a Suzuki motorbike I think, all profesionally done.
I had chance of a white modified one from my importer but was worried about insurance being a problem, so wanted to keep it pretty standard. You can import a modified one yourself if thats what your after.
Both cars with same wheels. Arials were for a sat nav TV thing that was in japanese!



Edited by nottyash on Thursday 9th September 17:25

nottyash

4,670 posts

196 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
quotequote all


I even had a small "R" put on the speedo.

Edited by nottyash on Thursday 9th September 17:36

nottyash

4,670 posts

196 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
quotequote all

scottishninja2

96 posts

172 months

Monday 13th September 2010
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The guy above is speaking utter nonsense.

Looping the boost hose to give full boost in 1st and 2nd will not miraculously give you an additional 20bhp.

Both the GT and Glanza carry the same 4efte engine, however they have different variations of the same turbo. The GT having a CT9a and the Glanza having the CT9b.

Both great little cars, but the handling is very poor on both. A set of coilovers soon sorts this though.

Back in my younger days i had a little GT running 220bhp and it was great little car that still offered 40mpg.

Go for it, but stay away from the advice of idiots.

toyotagtturbo.com will tell you all you need to know.


maffy32

1,013 posts

193 months

Monday 13th September 2010
quotequote all
very good little cars

my mates got a gtt and wen it was running at a bar it gave my skyline a good run

nottyash

4,670 posts

196 months

Monday 13th September 2010
quotequote all
scottishninja2 said:
The guy above is speaking utter nonsense.

Looping the boost hose to give full boost in 1st and 2nd will not miraculously give you an additional 20bhp.

Both the GT and Glanza carry the same 4efte engine, however they have different variations of the same turbo. The GT having a CT9a and the Glanza having the CT9b.

Both great little cars, but the handling is very poor on both. A set of coilovers soon sorts this though.

Back in my younger days i had a little GT running 220bhp and it was great little car that still offered 40mpg.

Go for it, but stay away from the advice of idiots.

toyotagtturbo.com will tell you all you need to know.

I got the instructions for looping the boost hose on that site, and members on there were saying the car will kick out about 150bhp. So thats where I got my info from.
I am only talking about my experience having owned two of them and sharing this with the OP.
If there is any nonsense being spoken its by you stating they average 40MPG with 220BHP. They dont manage that standard. We were getting about 36MPG on both.
I agree about the handling, although a decent set of tyres helps with grip the car rolls too much.
As I said the lowered one we had was too hard and lost grip easily on bumpy roads, but none of mine had a LSD, which was an option in Japan.

Yazza54

Original Poster:

18,552 posts

182 months

Tuesday 14th September 2010
quotequote all
May be a daft question but are they all FF or 4WD? Saw one advertised as 4wd but thought they were ff..

And thanks for the info smile

Edited by Yazza54 on Tuesday 14th September 09:09

Teixe

295 posts

164 months

Tuesday 14th September 2010
quotequote all
The 4WD were not turbo, there are very few of them, if you do find a turbo 4WD it will be a converted one.

T

emicen

8,599 posts

219 months

Tuesday 14th September 2010
quotequote all
One of the few cars I really regret selling:

Tyrone33

6 posts

168 months

Wednesday 15th September 2010
quotequote all
hello mate i have a black glanza v and love it lol


scottishninja2

96 posts

172 months

Friday 17th September 2010
quotequote all
Bogus bhp gains are one thing to lie about,, but mpg??

My fuel set-up wasn't completely standard with a 255lph walbro fuel pump and a set of 330cc mazda 323 GTX injectors.

Regardless of the above, when the car was set-up and mapped on an apexi power fc, it ran very frugal and achieved around 40mpg.

What to i gain from lying about mpg figures i had with a car i owned 5years ago?

Stephen.

emicen

8,599 posts

219 months

Friday 17th September 2010
quotequote all
nottyash said:
scottishninja2 said:
The guy above is speaking utter nonsense.

Looping the boost hose to give full boost in 1st and 2nd will not miraculously give you an additional 20bhp.

Both the GT and Glanza carry the same 4efte engine, however they have different variations of the same turbo. The GT having a CT9a and the Glanza having the CT9b.

Both great little cars, but the handling is very poor on both. A set of coilovers soon sorts this though.

Back in my younger days i had a little GT running 220bhp and it was great little car that still offered 40mpg.

Go for it, but stay away from the advice of idiots.

toyotagtturbo.com will tell you all you need to know.

I got the instructions for looping the boost hose on that site, and members on there were saying the car will kick out about 150bhp. So thats where I got my info from.
I am only talking about my experience having owned two of them and sharing this with the OP.
If there is any nonsense being spoken its by you stating they average 40MPG with 220BHP. They dont manage that standard. We were getting about 36MPG on both.
I agree about the handling, although a decent set of tyres helps with grip the car rolls too much.
As I said the lowered one we had was too hard and lost grip easily on bumpy roads, but none of mine had a LSD, which was an option in Japan.
Depends on use on this one I think.

The 40mpg figure sounds quite like what I'd get out of mine on a run. Even down to TOTB with 4 people in the car and some spirited pulls on the motorway it managed about that.

Normal driving including town work it would get mid 30s.

Mine was running standard fuel and turbo retaining the cat. HKS exhaust, RX7 Turbo2 top mount, HKS 1 bar actuator, Blitz boost controller @ 1.05 bar. Got dyno'd just after I sold it at 175ish.

Ash From Flux

1,138 posts

169 months

Friday 17th September 2010
quotequote all
I had a 94 Starlet GT Turbo and it was a great cheap fun car. Good mpg for a car that does 0-60 7ish seconds. I used to keep it in the low boost most of the time for driving through town or to work then a push of the button for a bit more fun on the open road. Selling it to drive around in my mums berlingo was one of the stupidest things Ive done. I wish i still had it. I will definitely get one again one day as a second car once i have a place with a garage. Get one now.

Pedro33Alejandro

1 posts

159 months

Wednesday 9th February 2011
quotequote all
nottyash said:
Avoid the automatics regaurdless of what the sellers tell you. they do not sell and are worth little.

Info on this site:
http://www.toyotagtturbo.com/
Fella, i recently had a white automatic Glanza with 25k kilometres on the clock. Wots that like 14k miles. Nolies, It was the fastest thing around. Although it was completely stock it beat everything that was not 4wd or turbz (some that were). Mad accelleration. It was in flawless condition. Got it at an absolute bargain at 2k (got sum rims got tints got a full sony system grand more, then 500 on getting it through the MO; fog light, cvjoint, tyres, hb cable were all that was wrong, lets say 3 and a half all inn). Anyway, this little gem cropped up from a local importer and as with all the cars ive had, 'came to me' so 2 speak. At the time was suprised upon replying to the ad 2 find that it was an auto. Reluctantly i pursued the deal. Looking back. If i had access to another, i would take it over the manual. Maybe its not the truest car-driver experience. but compared to the 8k DSG-shifters of today, and the 2 other starlets i encountered on road. 1ts the better choice all-day. Nothing beats the feeling of pure acceleration whilst watching others trying to shift. In the nicest possible way *ofcourse* Ps, for the cheek of it. i rolled around 95% of the time with the PowerB off! Low boost on the motorway, i was gone. (U hear me, U see me, Then u dont.) Earned the nickname: 'see me no more', haha KUSHMAN