Some Quick Help, Not-too-car-savvy girl here needs some ideas... Options

[mzztoyota]

Hi everyone I live in the Virgin Islands where even the hills have hills...and I'm selling my '86 Chevy Nova (Corolla in disguise...) and looking for a car for around $4,500. I found an ad in our local paper for a '94 Celica, and I'm going to go look at it tonight or tommorow. It's a GT 5 Speed with a new clutch and pressure plate, and the guys claims it has less than 60,000 miles on it (I'll be shocked if that's true).

I know that a lot of people say that Celicas don't have much power...but I'm not thinking of racing it, I just need to be able to get up steep hills. Is this car built for that kind of driving? Also, buying this car would pretty much empty my spending account for a couple weeks, so I need to be sure that I won't need to be making any mechanic trips any time soon...so what kind of common problems should I be looking for when I go and see this car?

I really appreciate your help guys, and if I buy it, I do plan on saving up and doing some work on it...so hopefully you'll see me around Thanks a lot.

[sinner96ST]

Hi everyone I live in the Virgin Islands where even the hills have hills...and I'm selling my '86 Chevy Nova (Corolla in disguise...) and looking for a car for around $4,500. I found an ad in our local paper for a '94 Celica, and I'm going to go look at it tonight or tommorow. It's a GT 5 Speed with a new clutch and pressure plate, and the guys claims it has less than 60,000 miles on it (I'll be shocked if that's true).

I know that a lot of people say that Celicas don't have much power...but I'm not thinking of racing it, I just need to be able to get up steep hills. Is this car built for that kind of driving? Also, buying this car would pretty much empty my spending account for a couple weeks, so I need to be sure that I won't need to be making any mechanic trips any time soon...so what kind of common problems should I be looking for when I go and see this car?

I really appreciate your help guys, and if I buy it, I do plan on saving up and doing some work on it...so hopefully you'll see me around Thanks a lot.

Get the VIN number and run a Carfax check. A 94 GT with less than 60,000 miles on it should go for a little bit more than $4,500. It shouldn't cost you that much to get a carfax check, if you're lucky you can find a free 'day pass' to run background checks on whatever you wish.

If the car has a salvaged title, or had any water damage, I wouldn't buy it. Also, check to see where the car was owned. If it had been in New Orleans around when Katrina hit, it could have some problems. People sell cars for reeeal cheap that have been flooded in New Orleans, and neglect to tell people about the damage.

Celica's don't really have any serious mechanical issues, if you keep up on the maintenance & oil changes, you'll own the thing forever.

Good luck buying one, and welcome to the boards!

edit: if you're worried about how uncommon the cars are : don't be. The motor found in the GT celica also comes in 91-93 N/A MR-2's, and pretty much all pre 96 camry's. It's a common S series motor, there are billions of them on this planet.

This post has been edited by sinner96ST: Jul 20, 2006 - 1:05 PM