'95 Celica Extremely Sluggish Options

[dgmcauliffe]

Good day everyone.

I recently parked my 1995 Celica GT as I was in the market for something different. After buying my new car (1998 M3), I went to move the Celica into a new parking space and quickly realized that something was wrong. The car felt like it had no life in it and wouldn't move until aboutnthree thousand rpms.

A quick background: I've had the Celica for about three or four years now, and aside from a few starter issues there were never any major problems. About a year and some change ago, one of the internal wires in my distributor burnt out, leaving me immobile at a fairly busy four-way stop. I went ahead and purchased and installed a new distributor. I also went ahead and purchased new spark plugs and wires. The car ran, but it idled rough. A friend of mine and I adjusted the distributor timing until the rough idle went away, but the car never quite ran as smooth.

Anyway, about a week ago I went to move the Celica and it didn't budge until it reached about 3000 revs. I thought maybe the quick response of the Bimmer had spoiled me, but after several attempts at moving the Celica, I realized that there was something really wrong. The car used to have great response, but now it only moves at higher rpms and even then it feels extremely sluggish. I was wondering if anyone has any clue as to what the issue might be or where I might begin to look. I'm not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to cars (though I have learned a lot and am surrounded by car people who have helped me), as the Celica was my first car and the first car I've ever really worked on. It's also a five speed, so I imagine my early days of learning to drive manual were rough on the clutch. I also live on a hill and my preferred method of preventing roll back was feathering the gas and clutch in first gear (I have since employed the parking break method). I was guessing the issue was something transmission and/or clutch related, but I'm uncertain. Thank you in advance for any advice.