Looking to buy, got questions Options

[Fastbird]

Hey all, new here, looking for some help. I've decided it's time for a new daily driver car, and my fiancee' and I decided on a Gen6 Celica. Reason being, it's nicely designed, sporty, relatively inexpensive, and gets the gas mileage I need. Now......

I've noticed that there is a front and rear fascia change from 1995 to 1996. Were there any other cosmetic exterior changes other than those??

I'm pretty set on the GT liftback model, but then I noticed that the ST model gets MUCH better gas mileage. Are aftermarket parts (like header, exhaust, intake, ect) as readily available for the 7A-FE as they are for the 5S-FE???? I have every intention of putting a full exhaus system and CAI (NO stranger to performance enhancing mods here). I'm not looking to get silly, just a little more grunt that stock and the enhanced gas mileage from a free flowing exhaust always helps.

I keep seeing a lot of 97 ST models listed as "limited edition." Can anyone shed any light on this?

Maintenance isn't a big thing to me. I know it's a Toyota and that it will run forever. I currently have an 89 Celica ST as a daily driver and it's taken almost EVERYTHING I've thrown at it, so I figure a newer one, I can't go wrong.

What has everyone's personal experiences been, and would you prefer a certain year, and why??

Thanks in advance!!

[Fastbird]

Thanks again for the info. I'm going to make it a marked point to look for rust on the one I'm looking at tomorrow. I do hope that it's in good shape because from the pics it looks like a very clean car. I don't really want to spend $7K for one because I"ve got a wedding in 5 months and then will be buying another home shortly after that, but if I have got to then I will. Problem is that finding something really well priced here in the NJ area is next to impossible. That's why I"m driving to VA tomorrow to look at the car.

So rust.........check for rust. Anything else?? Think that's a good deal, $5K for 108K miles?

*Edit* Those of you with GT's, what kind of gas mileage are you seeing?

This post has been edited by Fastbird: Jun 25, 2005 - 7:38 PM