6G Celicas Forums

Well I've thought about it for a long time and I'm just going to keep my Celi. I just love it too much to get rid of it. I'm going to use the money that I would have used to get a new car to upgrade it. I'm going to upgrade brakes suspension, and make a nice GT-4 clone.

I like the Celica too, but I also know for what I'd dump into it I could just buy a better car anyway. Again different strokes for different folks. Nothing wrong with either way of going about it. If I had ludicrous amounts of money to throw away I'd build a Celica for the ****s and giggles, but since I don't I won't.

> What are some thing I can do to keep my interest in my Celica?

keep away from ^^^

Meh, you just don't like that I speak with truth and reason. Hmm, dump money into an ECONOMY car or go out and buy a real PERFORMANCE car. Oh dear the choices to be made.

^^^ not lying here

I had a talk with my friends last night about this.
Since this was my first car, I have more of an emotional connection to it. (as do they with their 240's which are their first cars)
I started modding it from when I got it, and I dont think I could ever mod a car to the point I have modded the celi, I feel like im getting too old to go for all this car crap (I just want it to run haha). I believe I wont ever again have a car this heavily modded, this took 8 years to get where it is.

best advice yet.


but glad the op is keeping it. if you don't have money just do small mods and save up for bigger mods later on.

Could always do what I'm doing. Move to Afghanistan for nine months, order an ass load of parts while you here, and just wait tell your told to come home. I'm sure by that time you can't wait to get back working on her

If that's what you like than by all means do it. It's your money, your life, and your car. I thought about doing a 1MZ-FE swap with mine, but by the time you figure in parts for the swap and the original cost of the car you could just buy a car that's faster stock. Not to mention if you ever went to sell the modded car you'd never see that money again. I personally don't see the point in doing such myself, I still think it's cool though. All the 3S-GTE, BEAMS, and 1MZ-FE cars are awesome along with the work you put into them. I still think you're crazy for spending that kind of money though. It's any car though, so don't take it personal. Like people who swap V6 F-bodies and Mustangs, why not just sell yours and get a V8 car? So, it's hardly just me targeting the Celica. I like the Celica, I still feel it's the best of the small Japanese cars in regards to handling and build quality. If you think I'm bad here, just hear me talk about the Honda crowd...

Sometimes I think you are the only one that understands your logic. No offense of course, we are all entitled to our delusions.

I guess that is true. With the amount of cash I'm about to put into it, I could have something faster,more practical, low miles,etc. There's just something about the Celica that makes me want to stay with it. It's the same with my Porsche 914. It's slow as hell, has rubbish build quality, but I love it because it just feels special and unique. Eventually I will get into something else but for now I want to stay with it.

built not bought, that's all it is.

For the money I've spent, I feel I've invested well with my money.

The last new vehicle purchase in my household was a 7 year loan, for 17k. Was not a performance car, was a Toyota Yaris.

I have not invested 17k into my Celica, and I never will. Max will be 10k. So when I'm done the swap, and all the exterior bits I should be around 8-9k. This is excluding some maintenance because every vehicle has it. I've spent 7k less, have a low mileage drive train, all new suspension, basically a completely refreshed vehicle that is faster, powerful, more fun, and what I like. Still cheaper in my opinion to build it up yourself, if you aren't going for a crazy track vehicle.

Saving and learning at the same time, hard to beat that. Specially with newer vehicles being a bit more complicated nowadays to ....tinker with.

Oh and I don't change my car to get a return profit. If I put something on it, only I like, I do not expect it to create value, even though I paid with earned income. Value is in the eye of the purchaser.

This post has been edited by rave2n: Mar 13, 2013 - 1:51 PM

My logic makes perfect sense, 1994 even said so. Spend 5k on a modded Celica, or spend 5k on a stock Trans Am or 300ZX that'll still kick its ass? New cars are always a bad buy, let someone else lose their ass on it. My thing is you should start with a fast car and make it faster, not start with a slow car and then try to make it fast. More power to you if you want to take the difficult path. Built vs bought, does it really even matter? What kills me is when these "BUILT NOT BOUGHT" people had all their work done by a shop. Yeah, way to go BUILD that car... I personally know people that've spent well over 20k just in parts on their import or euro cars only for a stock LS1 Corvette to kick its ass. Where's the logic in spending 20k on that car only to get murdered by a car that costs 15k in stock trim?

This post has been edited by Box: Mar 13, 2013 - 2:54 PM

Lol I see built not bought everywhere, but all I see is body kits and rice tacked on . Should say "Riced not Diced" as I don't see a single thing built at all.

Technically only a couple people on here have built their cars such as Czwalga, Jmeyer, Pipes, etc

People like me, Neon, etc who start out stock standard and have our cars built in shops to our own specifications there is nothing wrong with that, that is how we get cars that we want because the flipside is having your project turnout like Needles.

That's fine and there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't have "BUILT NOT BOUGHT" decals on it.

This post has been edited by Box: Mar 13, 2013 - 5:12 PM

This.

As for Mr. Box's gripes, I can understand, and that's the reason I'd rather put my money into something that gives a guaranteed daily return, beneficial at all speeds - handling optimization.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Mar 13, 2013 - 7:06 PM

Yeah, new cars are just pure evil. OBDI and before thank you very much. I've on and off thought about swapping, but then there's all the other work that goes with it aside from the drivetrain. Would have to upgrade the brakes, especially the rear drums. Then that means bigger rims and tires. It goes on and on. Where as I can buy a car that was meant to go fast from the factory, have OEM reliability, and be content with minor modifications like exhaust. I'm not the only one, and there's nothing wrong with building a car either. It just isn't financially and logically viable for me. Also it's not like I'm holding a gun to anyone's head and forcing them to sell their cars instead of building them, just trying to get them to consider things from all angles. I've been there and done that with the whole project car thing once too many times, and after three times I finally learned my lesson. Don't want others to make the same mistakes I did.

let's see, 500-600hp Celica that still gets 15-20mpg or more....or a V8 with 500-600 and getting 10ish mpg? I think I'll go with the Celica lol

That statement is so flawed. A LS1 Camaro/Firebird, GTO, or Corvette gets better mpg than a WRX Impreza of the same year. Or any other turbo 4 or 6 cylinder for that matter. Real good examples are the 300ZX, 3000GT, RX7, and Supra. They get way worse than a V8. Don't believe me just look it for yourself on the government fuel economy site or Edmund's.

PLUS, the new C7 Corvette will get well over 30 on the highway. V8's getting bad mpg are a thing of the past, and it has been for some time now.

Not to mention, that 600hp V8 is a hell of a lot more reliable than a 600hp I4. Also torque steer from being FWD, so on and so forth. Oh and lag...etc...

This post has been edited by Box: Mar 13, 2013 - 9:09 PM