Digestible Collectible: 2000 Toyota Celica GTS
For our readers under the age of 25, let me tell you a bedtime story. There once was a time when Toyota sold sports cars.
Seriously. The company now best known for beige once offered a fleet of interesting, sporty, high-performance cars. The Celica, Supra, Celica Supra, rear-drive Corollas, FX16 GTS, and MR2 all came from your friendly Toyota dealer. Nowadays, if you want a little pizazz with your “Famous Toyota Reliabilty,” you must wander to the dank corner of the showroom labeled Scion.
Jack, however, might argue that point.
I wonder if, rather than demoting the impressive-but-slow-selling FR-S to the lifestyle brand, Toyota could have revived a nameplate that had some actual credibility beyond drift fanatics. The Celica sold well for a couple decades and was a rear-drive coupe at the beginning, so the name wouldn’t be completely out of left field.
Today, I look at the final generation of Celica, this of the GTS variety. With around 190 horsepower out of a high-revving, small-displacement four, the GTS is — to me at least — an affordable alternative to the legendary Acura Integra Type-R. It’ll never bring the same kind of money good ‘Tegs do, but there are relatively plenty to go around. This one, for $5,800, looks like an absolute bargain. It’s not perfect, but with a detail it could get close.
I’ve heard about some issues with the 2ZZ-GE engine when used on track, but since the engine been used in Lotuses (Loti?) for fifteen years, I’m sure the aftermarket has picked up the slack. If I had the spare garage space — and spare cash, naturally — I’d seriously consider picking this beauty up.
Some enthusiasts say they were born with gasoline in their veins. Chris Tonn, on the other hand, had rust flakes in his eyes nearly since birth. Living in salty Ohio and being hopelessly addicted to vintage British and Japanese steel will do that to you. His work has appeared in eBay Motors, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars, Reader's Digest, AutoGuide, Family Handyman, and Jalopnik. He is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association, and he's currently looking for the safety glasses he just set down somewhere.
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It is amazing that I almost never see these on the road anymore. It seemed like they used to be everywhere when they came out. And it's not that old of a model. I'm a fan of Toyota, but I thought these things just seemed really chintzy. I remember a friend got a brand new one right when it came out, it just felt like it had an interior from a car priced more like a Dodge Neon. I liked the previous generations of Celicas, but something about these just always seemed off.
Didn't pull up the inflation adjuster, but for what a supra turbo cost I'm certain you can find a very sporty Toyota with the big L on it across town. Just a guess, but based on memory and a thumb rule the turbo awd monster should land between the IS F sport and a brutish RC.
SCION TC stands for Scion Toyota Celica! Just like Acura RL means "Replace Legend".
I have the identical car. Rarely ever drive it but the sound it makes at higher revs is like a banshee shriek. Very cool