6G Celicas Forums

My buddy wants to get rid of his camero cuz it gets him in trouble and he also can't take his kid around in it and he's wanting to trade straight up. Camero has a rebuilt engine, basically dropped a LS1 engine in it, with a 2006 corvette tranny, shift kit, speed chip, exhaust, t-tops, leater, great condition, practically new tires, only like 40000 on the engine.

My celi has 136000 miles, I've put a header on, custom exhaust, short shifter, CAI, but it has a pretty bad oil leak that I'm trying to figure out and get fixed, going to get 2 new tires put on, interior is pretty good, only torn leather on drivers side should area everything else is great on it.

anyway what would you do?
B.

id trade. if it were me.

Have you driven it yet? You're gonna love the power of an LS1 but my god the handling is so horrible. Sounds to me like you'd be the one getting the better end of that deal and this is coming from a die hard Celica lover.

if you have a second car go for it, if you don't, think about gas prices, what would one spend daily driving a LS1.

DEATH Posted Today, 04:20 PM
Have you driven it yet? You're gonna love the power of an LS1 but my god the handling is so horrible. Sounds to me like you'd be the one getting the better end of that deal and this is coming from a die hard Celica lover.

Yes I have driven it and yes I DID fall in love!!! having a camero has always been the car I've wanted just never had the chance, I love my celi tho..

Culpable04 Posted Today, 04:20 PM
if you have a second car go for it, if you don't, think about gas prices, what would one spend daily driving a LS1.

surprisingly the car gets decent gas mileage!

Well then that's all that really matters - I'm a firm believer that everyone should own the car that suits them best.

Do it.....if you baby it, it will give you very decent gas mileage especially the auto....

the celi is nice, but you can always get another later and fix it up

my friend has a Z28 LS1 and OMG IT IS FREAKING FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
only thing is handling sucks balls .....
but then again id trade my celica for a camaro instantly

I would.

Trade, Love, Drift

In that order.

Trade. But some things I'd question first: WHAT transmission is in it? A 2006 Corvette 4L80E will not just drop in place of the 4L60E that came in the Camaro. Speed chip?? Not so much, there's no chip in that car, it uses a reflashable memcal via the ALDL. Things to check for on the car are going to be T-Top leaks, listen for ANY strange noises coming from the rear end (the factory 7.5" 10 bolt rear end is VERY weak and prone to carnage), see if it's burning any oil, some LS1's had this problem. Check the transmission mount, it's a break prone piece too.

But, even with some issues, that's a hell of a straight up trade. THat LS1 will knock down 30 MPG on the highway if you can stay out of it too. Just remember to run premium.



Not as horrible as you might think. Those things are good for .87 from the factory. Some very minor suspension mods will put them over 1.0 in a heartbeat.

You have a very clean looking celica. I personally would not
trade if I were you. I have driven some older cameros quite a bit,
and test drove a couple newer ones. The thing I hate most is the
visability, the rear pillers and roof line have always been in the way
for me. I am kind of a die hard celica fan though.

Don't the Japanese LOVE American Muscle cars? I dunno, I thought I heard that somewhere. I am getting crazy ideas here.

I've driven a '99 Ls1 Camaro pretty regularly for quite a while there and I can tell you won't out handle either my Mom's [Soon to be my brother's] '99 Mustang or my buddies '06 LS2 GTO. I understand where your coming from cause you come from Camaro's and Corvette background but I've always driven Celicas [Including the older RWD ones] so going from one to the other is a pretty noticable difference.
It's not really difference of oppinion but more from perspective.

Well guys I appreciate all the responses, my buddy and I are going to trade tho if everything works out in the next couple days, I'm getting new tires on it and hopefully get this oil leak diagnosed.. and I have a general idea of where its at anyway.

To answer a few questions, no the tops don't leak, car doesn't rattle a bit, bought it from a customz shop and they took great care of it as has my friend, and the engine is in pristene condition. I'm sure it won't handle the same as my celica but I expect that, this car has a ton more HP and rear wheel drive and I won't mind it one bit. I'll be honest I'm very sad to let my celica go, I have learned SO much about cars in general just from this site and my car, I've done almost all the work on my car and I've had a blast doing it. This is MY first car, all the others I had had were hand me downs and the celica was my first actual car so I think that makes it even harder.

You guys and girls on this sight have been hella tight! I've appreciated everything you have done for me and what not. I don't see how I can stop frequenting this site, I do it like 10 times a day!

I beg to differ about the Camaro being outhandled by the GTO. The Mustang is probably a close match, but the GTO is entirely too sluggish and heavy to come near outhandling the Camaro/Firebird. I have spent a LOT of wheel time behind my friends 05 GTO and there's no way it would out twisty an F-Body, stock for stock.

I think the biggest difference you're feeling going from the Celica to the F-Body/whatever is the weight factor. A fully loaded F-Body can be pretty portly at about 3600lbs, but most come in around 3400-3500ish. That's a SOLID 700-800 lbs heavier than my swapped 99 GT that's loaded up with leather and such. The heavier the car, the worse it's going to feel even though it may actually be handling better. Trust me when I say that, because our Celica feels like it handles better than my Vette even thought I know for a fact it's NOT the case. What I'm feeling is the quick reaction and nimble-ness of the lighter car.

That could very well be true - my buddy always buys his fully loaded so I'm sure they are the top end of your range. Mostly they just feel like they have ALOT of body roll but as we said - probably just a perception caused by the weight difference or something [Seems more like the length but w/e].
His GTO tho is the '06 model and there were quite a few differences between it and the '05 besides the much better LS2 [I really dig that motor ] - perhaps suspension was upgraded too?
X2 on the stock Celica not being able to out handle a decent Corvette - another buddy of mine drives that race version from a few years back [1 body style ago I think - I can't tell the difference hardly ] in SCCA events and that thing handles with the best of them: Porches, MR2's, Miata's etc.
Not argueing with you as you surely have much more experience with F-body's than I do - just discussing my feel for it. Thanks for the discussion.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Aug 28, 2008 - 12:00 PM

No problem at all with the discussion. To continue, there's actually ZERO mechanical differences in the 05 to 06 GTO. Only cosmetic. You're thinking of the 04 inagural GTO year and the 05-06 models where the LS2 upgrade happened. Really no suspension differences major enough to cause improved handling between the 04 and 05/06 model years.

I'll offer up this tidbit: I've taken a 45* turn at a speed in an F-Body that I didn't know an F-Body could handle, and KNOW a celica wouldn't hold. I was at a forward deployed location and in a chase car for a U-2 landing. We took a 45* turn from a high speed taxiway on to an active runway tucking in behind a U-2 at about 135-140 MPH. I was holding on for dear live and the pilot in the drivers seat was just chugging right along. I verified afterwards that this was a 100% STOCK suspension 99 Z28.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing the handling of a Celica at ALL in this thread. I love the way they feel so nimble and can handle so well with some mods. I'm just trying to defend my beloved F-Body a little bit because it's got a bad rap as a poor handling car when in actuality it's quite a performer in stock trim given it's size and weight.

Well put my friend.


This post has been edited by DEATH: Aug 28, 2008 - 10:19 PM