dragon queen Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Hi all am thinking of selling my celica and buying a gt4 but not really sure can any of you give me the pro's and cons of having one of these animals and what is insurance like ? thanks dragonqueen oh and what sort of price range would mine be worth ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Baker Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 i don't own one but this might help a bit http://www.celica-club.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/36259-gt4-running-costs/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggy Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 As long as you can afford the upkeep then get one...I wouldn't personaly want one as the running costs scare me.unless your lucky and get a well sorted one..which are rare..(and expensive) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTsillycar Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 from what i heard, fuel costs are pretty much the same. The off putter of 4 ownership is what if it goes wrong Superstut upto £1000 Turbo keep £500 on standby Head another £500 on standby Rear diff, clutch gearbox, it all starts to get a little scary! Don't get me wrong, i'd love to own one as they are monsters! But with an appitite for eating your bank balance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insanity-74 Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Depends on your yearly mileage / daily commute distance if you use it as your only car. If you buy one with the super strut already done then you dont need to worry about it for a good while yet. Turbos are OK, dont go very often but getting your own reconditioned will set you back a few hundred quid, Rear diffs only tend to go when you start drag racing or launching the car alot, gearbox..... if it needs replacing then you can pick up a good second hand one for about £300. But non of the above mentioned is any worse than any other car...in fact my Skoda Fabia Diesel has cost me more to replace parts than the Faff, the turbo went and it cost me nearly £1000 to get replaced....I can only imagine the turbo I could have purchased for the Faff for that amount. Buy a good one and dont start tinkering and they arnt too bad, its when you start moding when things get expensive. Buy a cheap knackered one then chances are you'll be spending ££££ to put it right. Mine cost me £80 to fill it up the other day so fuel is the biggest expense by far, the average GT4 (ST205) will do from 240 - 320 miles to a tank full, some get more, some less so you should be able to calculate your fuel costs. Insurance like every car depends on your age, location and no claims. personally I dont think its too bad but then again it only costs my £450 a year so cant complain too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppaboost Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 from what i heard, fuel costs are pretty much the same. The off putter of 4 ownership is what if it goes wrong Superstut upto £1000 Turbo keep £500 on standby Head another £500 on standby Rear diff, clutch gearbox, it all starts to get a little scary! Don't get me wrong, i'd love to own one as they are monsters! But with an appitite for eating your bank balance! Whats with all the scare mongering?! I've owned my st205 for nearly 10yrs and it has never broken down, any niggles its had have been when something hasn't fbeen done quite right. Superstrut is only that expensive if your replacing all 6 arms at once, which i've never known anyone have to do. 2nd hand turbo's can be had for £200 readily enough. Never known a head or rear diff to go on a 205 either. Insurance isn't too bad if you shop around, get a few quotes now to check them. Find somebody who has one and have a go in it, you will want one afterwards though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorjack Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 165, 185 or 205? As said, fuel these days is the biggest cost Mine is very much a second car now, I wouldn't want to use it every day due to cost and wear/tear. But it has done 180k+ and still goes well. Insurance is relatively good compared to similar cars, I pay £290 but its a UK model. I'd be interested in where to get a turbo for £200 though, I think mine is on the way out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnyboy1976 Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 As said biggest cost is fuel really. Diff mounts can go but not a diff unless you drive like a complete twat. Heads dont go on 205's unless its got other issues that have caused it to go. Generally very very reliable unless you buy a bag of shite. BUT and its a big but these were £30K cars in 94 and just because they fall into the affordable to buy category you have to correctly maintain and service them with good quality products. Lets not kid ourselves they are old cars now and other things will start to deteriorate as time goes by but thats like any other car. Buy a good un and it will give plenty of miles of happy motoring - but if you cant afford a good un you deff cant afford a bad un Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briano Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I would say look for an unmodified one and get a few insurance quotes, from what i have seen the fuel economy is not much worse than a GT I dont like turbo's.........well my wallet doesn't otherwise i would have a GT4 tomorrow, dont get me wrong i have considered it and nearly bought a few GT4's but i just drive my car again and fall in love with the n/a scream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnyboy1976 Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 This is a very good example http://pistonheads.com/sales/3753055.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon queen Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 This is a very good example http://pistonheads.c...les/3753055.htm it is nice so is 4000 a good price ? Whats with all the scare mongering?! I've owned my st205 for nearly 10yrs and it has never broken down, any niggles its had have been when something hasn't fbeen done quite right. Superstrut is only that expensive if your replacing all 6 arms at once, which i've never known anyone have to do. 2nd hand turbo's can be had for £200 readily enough. Never known a head or rear diff to go on a 205 either. Insurance isn't too bad if you shop around, get a few quotes now to check them. Find somebody who has one and have a go in it, you will want one afterwards though dont know anybody close enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdy Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 As other GT4 owners have said, buy the best you can. No point in finding one for £2000 and then having to spend a shed load of money on it to try and make it into a nice one. This will not work and it will end in tears. And again as others have said they only really start getting expensive to maintain when you start modding them or faffing around with them. Maintenance no more expensive than other high performance, 4 wheel drive, turbocharged cars and as johnyboy said, they were over £30000 new back in 1994. If it's going to be a keeper then like us you will throw money at it to make it the best you can, and remember, only ever throw money at a car you are going to keep. Do your homework, do not fall into the trap of buying one and then not being able to afford to maintain it, which then leads to you selling it for a pittance. Personally, I have not enjoyed any car more than my GT4 and being in the motor trade for many years I get to use some quality cars. In fact I used to have GT4's brand new as my company car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnyboy1976 Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 For £4K your buying a very good car in most cases - i know this car and its a gem However some cars are way overpriced and they ask sily money for cars worth far far less. Ideally you want someone who knows the cars to take a look with you to lessen the risk of buying a dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppaboost Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 it is nice so is 4000 a good price ? dont know anybody close enough Come to the Bubble Inn meet this weekend in Derby and I or somebody else will take you out in one, i've also got another ST205 for sale thats only 10mins from the Bubble meet if you wanted to have a look at it. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon queen Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 thanks paul i think i might be able to come what times the meet ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.drum Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 This is a very good example http://pistonheads.c...les/3753055.htm Very tempting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzzzythedog Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Superstut upto £1000 ,,,,,, every 80 thou so get already sorted , its easy enough plus when things to wear out you may just replace say a crush tube and not have to touch it for another couple of yrs Turbo keep £500 on standby ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, goes at approx 160 ,,,,,, or if the cars not been looked after sooner ( oil changes ) or abused ( modified then thrashed ) Head another £500 on standby ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, head gasket at around the 160-200 thousand , cant really concider it a fault Rear diff, clutch gearbox, it all starts to get a little scary! ,,,,,,,,, the diff mount can go ,,,sometime ,,,,,,,,,, the clutch at around 60-80 so no different from a normal car unless some dipshit has been lauching under boost at which point it may not last the day , same as any normal car also ,,,,,,,, gearbox well most cars suffer sooner or later as would any celica made ( 3rd`s crap ) now they really dont like fuel , the ability to go slow just isnt going to happen as boost is fun , figure 20 mpg with the odd 30 until you once again realise its fun so back to 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digitalghost Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I've had two 205's and I like 'em! I paid £2800 for the one I have now which has a few little niggles, but then I bought it knowing that. I'm lucky in that I have another car I can use when it goes into the garage or when I refuse to fund Shell any more! lol I was looking at cars around the country before I got the one I have now, which were mainly around the £4k mark. One was on GT4OC and was a mint standard one, the other was a heavily modded one on Pistonheads. I chose mine cos a) it was local and had a good service history and was basically standard meaning I could make it what I wanted. If you can afford one and afford to run it, great. If not, leave it 'til you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppaboost Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 thanks paul i think i might be able to come what times the meet ? From about 1230 onwards this sunday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jez.w Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 (edited) If it is a gt4 running standardish boost and not been thrashed it should be fine engine-wise, GT4's are very reliable. Turbos last a long time, mine did 150K on original turbo. No problems at all with my gearbox, on 170K+ now. Still on my original diff mount. Clutch is expensive and they dont seem to last as long as an average car, looking through my previous owners service history (with different owners) the clutch only seems to last 50K and cost £600 ish a time. Suspension is expensive to fix on the 205, but you dont have to do the whole thing at once. Once the clutch and suspension is done on a higher mileage car, they are no more than any other old turbo sports car to maintain wear-and-tear wise. Service parts are reasonable from TCB. Biggest cost is the fuel by far, i used my CS as the daily driver for a year or so when i first got it, but just couldnt justify the fuel cost. So i kept it as a second car. My gen 6GT did 35mpg average, my GT4 only managed low 20mpg to and from work in traffic, so almost half the mpg. I dont know how people can say the MPG in a GT4 is about the same as a GT, as that is not what i experienced?? I would say allow £1000 a year average for replacing bits and servicing + fuel at 25MPG overall average. Cheers Edited April 11, 2012 by jez.w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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