Celica GT-Four

[vega]

My mate is after buying a Celica GT-Four ST185 (J-Reg)

Has anyone here had any experience with these?

I will be going to look at a few with him, but trying to get an idea of the most common faults they may have, and any general problem areas.

From the resources I have found so far about this car, he's gonna have a hard time modifying it etc.

Cheers :)

[luke 200]

My mate had one, All I rememer is that the Aircon goes on them and its costly to get it replaced...

Thats if he's worried about aircon??

[Simon]

My bro in law drove a well modded one and then drove mine and he's got a benchmark speed test (on a private road ;) ) and mine in standard form was just as quick. :D

Thats all i know about them sorry

[Mark]

I was going to get one before i got the S14. Alot of them are imports and are still restricted to 115mph ish. on the good side tho they dont have road salt in Japan so they dont rust as much :D. Thats about all i know :(

[tmmollah]

I was gonna buy one of these, but I got the 200 instead. I thought they would be faster than the 200 as they have 220BHP standared (jap spec) because they run higher boost than the brittish ones. They got 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering. They have the same engine that was in my MR2 turbo and should be able to get a lot of power out of it. Air filter, exhaust and boost up should see it to about 260BHP. Then again the bottom end of my MR2 went, which was annoying as I thought they could take a thrashing and has cost me £1250 for a replacement engine.
I'm selling my MR2 if your mates interested.

Tonnie

[A8 YOB]

Have a look at:
http://www.gt4oc.co.uk and
http://www.gtfour.com for advice on buying.

It may be worth giving fensport (http://www.fensport.co.uk) a call, they have excellent knowledge they may be willing to share with a potential owner.

Potential problems include the intercooler pump on the Carlos Sainz model occasionally gives a fault code- no big problem; easy fixed, heater matrix's on jap imports seem to be a weak spot, 2nd + 3rd gear syncros, head gasket probs due to too much boost, diff cushion on rear axle and the usual stuff related to a 10yr old car. The 4x4 system is very strong and a good 3SGTE should do well over 100k with no nightmares.

Choose wisely, there are some ****ters out there.

[Mark]

Originally posted by tmmollah
They got 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering.

Tonnie

Fraid not, Just 4WD. The GTR had 4WS but thats just a 2.0 NA.

[Lewis]

Also did a "back to back" with my standard S13. The Celica felt heavy and sluggish compared to the 200 even though it was along a very twisty, rough country lane ( within the speed limit of course :rolleyes: )

My mate who had it said that he'd not had too much go wrong with it in about 60K though the HVAC can be a real pain as it's prone to go wrong and costs a fortune to fix.