Is this celica st worth it?, celica st with 198k miles, worth $1500? Options

[Por2geezcelica]

Hey guys, i was wondering if i could get some help on a decision i have to make about buying a celica st. The car is in good condition both interior and exterior, and theres 198,000 miles on the car. I drove it today and the engine and transmission felt nice and smooth, the clutch grabs nice and feels smooth so it seems like it wont need to be changed anytime soon. Its an st so it has the 7afe engine. Hes asking $1500. I was just wondering if you guys think its worth it for the mileage the car has on it? How many miles have you guys put on your st's? I dont wanna buy a car then have it die in 20,000 miles. Let me know if you guys think i should buy it! Thanks.

This post has been edited by Por2geezcelica: Aug 18, 2008 - 2:08 PM

[Batman722]

wassup greenhorn what part of Mass are you from ?

post some pics of the car if you can.
up here rust is a big issue, look under the edges of the doors and each wheel well for problem areas.
STs will run for a long time but do tend to burn oil eventually.
make sure the timing belt/water pump has been changed recently.

welcome to the forum

[Por2geezcelica]

Hey man, im from hudson. I did take a look under all the wheel wells and doors and there were no signs of any rust at all, not even surface rust. The body is in excellent shape. I dont think the timing belt or waterpump has been changed recently. Do you think for the price, its worth it to pick it up with the mileage it has?

[CelicaST_CALI]

my 7a craped out at 290k...and it was a cooling issue,if u keep up on maintaining(oil,coolant,plugs,belts,ect) it will easily give u 250k..

id say go for it 1500 is a great price

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: Aug 17, 2008 - 11:32 PM

[Por2geezcelica]

Thanks man. What type of oil are you guys running in your 7a's? And what coolant and plug are recommended?

[CelicaST_CALI]

eh im running bosch plugs right now and i hate them...im gona go iriudium plugs next,and walmart coolant

[Por2geezcelica]

alright guys, i have to make a decision on this car today, so does anybody else have any input on whether or not i should go for this car with the kind of mileage it has?

[stevest202]

at the end of the day its a toyota if its been serviced regular and looked after milage is not a real issue check service history or take for a drive you will know if its not right

[bufferdan]

If its nice its definitely worth it! Just check the oil about every fill up My 7afe used alot around 190k but still drove very nice.

[Culpable04]

if the body is in as good shape as you say, go for it, the 7afe is a excellent engine when comes to reliability, it does burn oil after a few 100's K miles but as long as you give it the proper maintenance it won't die anytime soon.

[GriffGirl]

My ST has 237,500k on it, original transmission, 100k+ on a replaced 7A engine because the previous owner thought it was a race car and threw a rod in the original engine. He was a total moron punk though - there's even another member on here who test drove my car before I got it who will attest to this.

It's a Toyota - if the car is in good shape and you take care of it, it's WELL worth the asking price. It's worth quite a bit more than that, actually. Go for it, I don't think you'll be sorry.

[DEATH]

Are you budget locked into this buy or are there no lower milage GTs in your area?

[Por2geezcelica]

well ive been looking for a cheap daily driver and i dont want to spend more then 1500. Ive been looking around for camrys accords civic corollas etc. I stumbled upon this celica on the way to the gym last week and he was only asking 1500. I do like the look of the car but never really looked around for celicas because most were way out of my price range. I saw it and thought it was a hell of a deal, but wanted to double check with you guys before i made the purchase.

[DEATH]

Oh yeah for DD that would be perfect. If it's a hatch it can move a surpring amount of stuff too.
Good choice [Much better than the rest IMO]

[Por2geezcelica]

so i was able to talk the guy down to 1300, and im picking it up tomorrow! So now with a new registration ill have to have the car inspected, so that means emissions... any tips or tricks to make sure a car passes an emission test?

[Batman722]

you'll pass no problem at all IMO.
with that many miles I would assume it's a 94 or 95, you're golden.

[Por2geezcelica]

ok so i just picked up the car, and there are some things that need attention. The drivers outside door handle is loose and you cant unlock it from the outside, so ill need to take the door panel off and tighten the handle and fix any of the mechanism if it needs it. Then, the only thing that lights up on the gauge cluster is the tach and the warning lights underneath the tach, the speedo lights and gas and temp gauge dont light up. Is this because of the cluster itself, or do the bulbs need to be changed out? The warning lights to the right dont light up.

[Culpable04]

change the bulbs, if that doesn't fix it you can get a cluster replacement easily here or ebay or a local junkyard.

[Por2geezcelica]

are the gauge clusters for the gt and st the same? Or do i have to find one thats from an st?

Are the bulbs for the warning lights the really small ones 74 sized ones?

This post has been edited by Por2geezcelica: Aug 19, 2008 - 9:41 PM

[CelicaST_CALI]

everything on the interior of the celica is the same on the gt and st models...