Celica Forums General Discussion General Just traded my Celica. and here is my new toy

Hey guys. It's been quite a while since I posted. I've been pretty busy. I just traded my Celica. I miss her...but I'm having so much more fun now...especially in twisties.

Can't believe how much better feeling it is to have a RWD Mid-Engine vehicle. The control is like night and day. Full Sportivo kit installed...their sway bars are incredible...

sweet... i have one of those... minus the sportivo kit, and it still handles better than my celi...

congrats on the purchase

being 6'1" I didnt have much fun in the last one I drove. I didnt fit too well. lol Gues i'm just not jdm enough

looks good though

I'm only 5'9...or 5'8 with Birkenstocks on.

I drove the 04 Spyder...and fell in love with it. Aftermarket is not bad either. I've been talking to the guys at spyderchat.com and I'm about to order an HKS Turbo kit for my Spyder.

There are a couple of guys over there who have done 2zz swaps and they say it's unbelievable with a 2zz swap. I'm going with the HKS Turbo kit personally.

Man, I played around with some guys today in my hometown. Some guy in a Cobra, a guy in a new Camaro, and a guy in a Turbo'd RS-X. Anyone want to guess who "owned" who? ME, ME, ME.

I wouldn't even consider doing a straight line run with those guys...atleast not until I'm Turbo'd and tuned.

But, today I was out in a super duper twisty road that twists for about 3 miles. There was no comparison. After the first 2 twists it was quite a long while till I saw any of them again. The RS-X appeared to be setup for 1/4 mile straight runs.

Anyway, I know it's like comparing apples and oranges, which was exactly what I was trying to show the guys inthe Cobra and Camaro. You can't take their big ass V-8's and expect them to overtake my Spyder in a turn...just not gonna happen.

Anyway...enough of my ramblin...I love my new Spyder...

yeah i notice when i drive the spyder that everyone wants to race

they think 138hp is no threat to anyone. they just don't understand how balance the spyder really is...

yeah i test drove one months ago...i almost creamed my pants. with the suspension mods i have now it still doesn't compare to the stock spyder...

i personally dont like the looks but congrats

Man that looks beautiful!!!

Make it look like this and EVERYONE will want to race..

make it look like that and you might get beat up..LOL

Dont like the look of that car at all...
but anyways, congrats

great purchase and congrates. the MRS is a good buy and a very tough opponent on the twisties. i always like to pic my fights with either MRS or Miata's. they are low HP but man can they hold there own on a curvy road.

it's kinda like a 240SX, but it's convertable and has a bigger engine, good buy!

I went up against a new miata on the santa cruz 17 highway with no traffic and that thing was taking the turns really well... I didnt have any strut ties back then so i was skidding a lot .. almost lost control a few times but i kept it going hard and beat him. I was still impressed by that lil miata.

Silver Ice where Ya been man?? Grats on the new ride .

i dont exactly like the look of the mrs but good purchase...have fun!

OMG

I'm in envy

A step in the wrong direction in my opinion. Keep the Celica for you and the MR2 for your wife or girlfriend. The mid engine RWD setup still won't make up for the lack of power. Highly rewarding and pleasurable to drive along twisty roads and for stepping the back end out on really tight corners but in reality you're going to get owned by most cars on the road. 0-100mph its some 4 or 5 seconds slower than the Celica. Its light, but not light enough.

Not a fan of the looks either. I know they do resemble the Boxster from certain angles, but it looks more like a squared off shoe to me. Hope you had the optional hard top Oh...nice color too!

awesome... its beautiful

nice, spyder looks really good

Someone who has never owned a sports car...

... will never understand how a "slower" car can be more fun

Nice, I like the color

Performance wise, the MR2 spyder is in between the Celica GT and GTS. The MR2 Spyder is lighter than the celicas, but has the same engine as the GT. Hence its faster than the GT.

Dude you Sig's freak me out...^^^^^^^^^^

haha lol.. i was thinking the same thing

Lack of power? Guess you just stepped on a few toes here since the MR-S packs the exact same engine as the Celica-GT. Now, subtract several hundred pounds and now I'm between the Celica GT and GTS.

You really should have read my reply about 3 replies down from my post. You'll see I openly admit that my car is not a 1/4 mile car. That's not why I bought it.

Being a former Celica owner, I'm not meaning to irritate anyone here with this next statement, but...FASTCELICA...if you think I can be owned so easily...I'm more than happy to let you own me out on some real nice twisties. I'll strip my Spyder back to bone stock and you still won't touch me.

I'd REALLY hate it for you to run across a Spyder that's running with a 2zz swap out of a Celica GTS. YOU will be the one owned.

I didn't buy the Spyder so I can run up and down on a drag strip. I bought the Spyder for many reasons, a few being, CONVERTIBLE...FUN FUN FUN, RWD, All disc, Mid engine with 49/51 balance. You've obviously never actually drove a real sports car.

I don't mean any of this offensively. But, your reply is obviously wrote without much thought and I suspect not much experience.

By the way...the offers still open to "own" me if you'd like

Optional hardtop?? What planet are you from. There is no such thing. The hardtop for the Spyder is a JDM item, but can be had for about $2300 and LOTS of extra weight.

I like the color too...thanks

Yeah...I'll have to change that sig...my new one will look like...

Heh... SilverIce, well said.

The original idea behind sports cars was not speed. It was to make the car agile and enjoyable to drive. The MR-2 serves those ideals well.

Yep. That was kind of the whole reason I bought it. I was at the dealership having some fluid changed Celica and thought I'd drive an MR-S to pass some time. They threw me the keys and I just went out driving. By the time I got back...I had orgasmed more than a few times.

It's kind of weird. All of a sudden 0-60 and 1/4 mile runs aren't as fun. Getting out on a road with S-curves and 90 degree turns...with my Spyder coasting through them is just what rocks my boat. It's a really intense feeling to push the MR-S really hard and see just how balanced it is and to see just how hard it sticks to the road.

I owned a Turbo'd 88 RX-7 when I was in high school. I had forgot just how great RWD is. I don't know that I can go back to FWD after having my Spyder.

When I get through with the Turbo install...it's gonna be a beast. This sucker is so light. I had considered a 2zz swap. But, I've decided I like the idea of a Turbo'd Spyder better. So, I'll go Turbo and have a bitchin fast little Spyder that can take 90 degree turns at 80mph. What a combo huh?

I looked at one, but I'm 6'3" and like to have a little room.


Sweet car though, it was about a %40 chance to get the mrs and a %60 chance for me to get the celica.

Cheers!

NICE..but i dont really like the color

i still think a 2ZZ is better than Turbo...

but if you like Turbo~ go for it~

In this country you get a free hard top when you order air conditioning. Its a factory option and makes the car look a little less girly.

Also I don't want to get into an arguement but I wouldn't get too confident about your ability to beat a GTS around a track or twisty road. As far as track times go, the MR-S/MR2/Spyder sits roughly between a Peugeot 106 GTi and a Mazda MX-5, being slightly quicker than the latter. The Autodrome Circuit (admitidly the only track I've raced at) is the same track that EVO use to get lap times for all the cars they test. But just as a comparison heres a few figures:

Mini Cooper (bog standard one) 1.34.60
Mazda MX-5 1.32.40
Toyota MR2 1.31.20
Peugeot 106 GTi 1.30.45
Celica T Sport 190 1.29.12

Now this is the sort of area that the MR2 sits in handling wise. Not very impressive is it? The MR2 is light, but not light enough or nimble enough to be pulling out sports car lap times. The Elise for example:

118bhp Rover K series (bottom of the range) 1.25.13
Audi S4 1.24.55
Vauxhall VX220 1.23.55

Hell of a difference isn't it?

I'd happily race you any time (on the track of course)
I know for a fact someone with a lot of experience racing RWD cars would be able to beat me in an MR2, but the way you have built it up into what its not demonstrates your lack of experience of any cars that are remotely sporty.

To push a mid engined RWD car to its limit on the road is much much harder than pushing a FWD car. My last car was RWD (yes I do have experience) and what I have noticed from driving a relatively high powered FWD car is that its a lot more predictable and safe on the limit. Yes, you get torque steer and a lot of understeer particularly in the wet, but its not going to result in snap oversteer and send you backwards into a wall (yes, something that has happened to me) In a car like the MR2 you have to be concentrating 3 times as hard. I don't think it has as much driver aids as the Celica either (trc, abs etc.)

Bottom line I'm not confident in you or your cars ability to beat me

This is really odd that you would say that. I've just finished talking to some MR-S guys that are going to help me with the Turbo setup. We actually decided this morning to ditch the Turbo and do a 2zz swap. I'm going today to find a 2zz.

the celica does NOT handle better than the MR_2. i have driven both...and like i said even with my suspension mods now it doesn't even handle close to a spyder. as for track times...that's an inaccurate way to measure a car's ability to turn due to many variences (such as different drivers). the mr-2 has an averge of .02-.04 more Gs on the ski-pad than the celi.

and yes...the 2zz on an mr-2 is a killer.

congrats on the purchase !

Very nice !

Ok. I can see that this is slowly headed toward a pissing contest.

There are VARIOUS OPINIONS as to the capabilities of the Spyder. Enough said.

I agree with CT in that track times are innacurate measurements, especially when it is ONE set of track times. Furthermore, in the comparison listed, the Celica was running a 2zz. You should put a SPyder in there running a 2zz and then look at the track times.

But, most importantly, I have failed to remember that this is a Celica board and this forum specifically is designed for the discussion of the Celica. I extend an apology to all Celica members for having gotten off track.

I made this post only to say I had traded my Celica for a Spyder, but would like to remain an active member on the forum since I did invest so much money and time into my Celica and had made so many friends here in the process.

I'm now very active at Spyderchat.com and will be spending most of my time there. But, I plan on hanging around here as well like so many other people who ended up trading there Celica's but still remain active members here...to the best of my knowledge.

My MR-S is a completely different car than my Celica. Both serve 2 different purposes and each does it very well. Every car has it's goods and bads. I don't want to fall into a pissing contest over 2 toyota's. There are enough lame ass Honda drivers out there to do that. (not to piss off any honda drivers, as there are some great honda's. Just to many people who want to add a muffler and a roll call and expect there car to be fast).

Ok. I think I've said it all. Thanks to all of you who posted with kind comments on my car. It's made me feel warm and fuzzy.

FASTCELICA, thank you for your opnions. Everyone has their own and that's what makes the world go around.

Ok...have to go drive the Spyder now...and maybe show a few Celica owners out there which car REALLY handles best...

Then, after the 2zz...which one is actually fastest...

Even toyota has said in an interview that the mr2 is the best handling car they have. I believe it was when it first came out this was said.

2ZZ with SF Turbo = ungodly.

OK then, lets all just be friends I didn't mean to imply that the Celica is a better handling car I meant with equal drivers it would beat an MR2 around your average track because of its power advantage. I accept though that maybe if a track was made up of nothing but bends then the MR2 would win.

...and swapping the engine is cheating a little bit. You cant get a 2ZZ MR2 from the factory (heavens know why!!!!). Its like me saying 'no no no, the Celica is faster than an Impreza STi. Because i'm putting a 500bhp Supra TT engine in it on the weekend!'

Anyway, subject over. I genuinely hope you have many miles of happiness with your new car

Cheating?..lol...your 2zz against my 2zz. I'd say there's pretty fair sounding...it's just a little ole' MR-2...right?

Jokes aside...I'm glad that little thing is ended.

I do miss driving my Celica though. I kind of bonded with it over the 2 years I had it. And you know how you come to really trust your car after driving it for so long? Then, when you get a new car you have to learn the trust thing all over again. I'm having to learn that trust thing and it kind of sucks right now.

Hey...on the plus side...I get lots more stares now than I did with the Celica. I think everyone had seen my Celica and they quit looking.

Pulled up beside a new WRX ST-i a little while ago at a stop light...I couldn't help but stare. He rolled his window down and said "cute car." ( I hate the "cute car" thing). Then he said "feel like running to the next light?" I said, "nah, I appreciate it, but I'm not really in the mood to get my ass handed to me today." He said "ah, smart man."

I don't know what the point is in telling you guys that. For a few minutes, it made me wish I had an ST-i. Then, I remembered...I have a convertible...and BIG FUN FACTOR.

The new ST-i's sure as hell are nice looking though. Maybe I can convince my wife to buy an ST-i.

Ya they are.