It wasn't spectacularly fast, I have to say. Other than that it was very nice. The boot is impressively huge, the rear seats are 'good enough' as long as you don't want to fit four big blokes in your car at once (not much headroom in the back, is the main problem), and the front is nicely laid out. The trim was a bit plasticy in the one I had, but I suspect they had the cheapest interior in it being a hire car - I think they usually have leather seats rather than vinyl, and hopefully not a gearstick with a plastic top that keeps falling off it :)
It was very nice to drive other than being a front wheel drive car, which I believe the Celica is too? I do find them a bit annoying when pulling out of corners, or taking roundabouts with a bit of enthusiasm. Other than that it performed tolerably well (bear in mind I'm coming at this from the viewpoint of being used to the RX7 these days, so I realise my standards are set a bit high). It steered very nicely indeed - light but extremely positive feeling - and it handled being thrown into roundabouts at a fair pace with no noticeable problems (other than the understeer, which might just be me being used to RWD and therefore driving it wrong).
It looked really nice, which is always a bonus - definitely good styling as standard. They do seem to be getting a bit common now, which is a minor point against them for 'coolness', but it's probably because they're good value for money. Apparently they have a full transferrable five year warranty on them from new, which must be reassuring.
As far as racing one against the Celica goes... what model is your Celica, how powerful is it? The Coupe 2.0 SE makes about 140bhp, and the 2.7 V6 gets up to about 165bhp. I suspect that's about the same range as Celicas, maybe a bit less even? I'm not sure how they compare in weight.
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Date: 2006-12-29 11:27 pm (UTC)It was very nice to drive other than being a front wheel drive car, which I believe the Celica is too? I do find them a bit annoying when pulling out of corners, or taking roundabouts with a bit of enthusiasm. Other than that it performed tolerably well (bear in mind I'm coming at this from the viewpoint of being used to the RX7 these days, so I realise my standards are set a bit high). It steered very nicely indeed - light but extremely positive feeling - and it handled being thrown into roundabouts at a fair pace with no noticeable problems (other than the understeer, which might just be me being used to RWD and therefore driving it wrong).
It looked really nice, which is always a bonus - definitely good styling as standard. They do seem to be getting a bit common now, which is a minor point against them for 'coolness', but it's probably because they're good value for money. Apparently they have a full transferrable five year warranty on them from new, which must be reassuring.
As far as racing one against the Celica goes... what model is your Celica, how powerful is it? The Coupe 2.0 SE makes about 140bhp, and the 2.7 V6 gets up to about 165bhp. I suspect that's about the same range as Celicas, maybe a bit less even? I'm not sure how they compare in weight.