Talk to me about Celica convertibles.

[OwenK]

Mrs OwenK is in the market for a new "fun car" after the demise of her MR2 in feb. She loved it and wants a replacement but doesn't want another MR2 as having felt the bite of a midengine car past the limit she wouldn't feel comfortable driving it.

This has led us to thoughts of other cars. She loved the looks of the mr2 and its open top, but has been thinking toward something 2+2 as it would mean she'd get more use out of it, as we have two young boys and I work during the day.


Her first choice was a 300zx, but we tried one last weekend and she was too tall - although legroom seems fine in them, a skiing accident when young means she has to drive with her legs together under the steering wheel to be comfy, something she evidently got away with in the mr2 but was unable to sit properly in the big Z.

Thoughts have turned to Celica convertibles, either the late 90s ones with the four round headlights or the slightly earlier ones with pop ups. Does anyone have any experience with these, or even better own one near us (banbury/daventry) and would be willing to let us have a "trial fitting"?!

[OwenK]

Nobody had one of these?

[gazchap]

OwenK said:

Nobody had one of these?

I've long thought about it. Given how much I love my Celica, having a drop-top version seems like a match made in heaven.

Toyota reliability, and decent build quality before they started cheapening things up a bit.

I've not heard anything bad about them, although I'd imagine the roof on them would be a bit tired by now and could perhaps do with some work - most MX5s I see of similar vintage have pretty tatty roofs, so perhaps its just a quirk of having a convertible.

I can well imagine that "scuttle shake" (or whatever it's called) would be worse than a "modern" convertible, but I'm not basing that on any experience.

[OwenK]

Thanks for that gaz. Do any daytime folk have any experienceof them? Considering how widespread they are in the classifieds I'm surprised there aren't more responses?

[Sinatra21]

I had a earlier gen 5 celica although not a convertable. Although the 3sge engine i s ok in an mr2 it has to be revved hard to make progress in the heavier celica and by todays standards it's quite slow. I would imagine the extra weight of no roof really stunts performance. The later gen6 celicas get another 20odd bhp depending on year but my money would be on an e36 328 drop top. Much nicer engine for wafting down country lanes and a good turn of pace if needed.

[Chris71]

Nothing constructive to add I'm afraid, but I've always thought they were good looking cars. Maybe there's a turbo version a la Celica GT4?