Sad News.....

About 3 weeks ago, we traded my 2000 Celica GT in on a new Subaru Outback (very nice car... I just drove to Orlando and back in it and it was awesome).  I am now driving our 2006 Subaru Forester, which is a really nice car too (LL Bean edition, leather, etc.).  I miss my Celica though...

I bought my Celica new in July of 2000 and put 99.9% of the 103,000 miles on it.  I loved that car, but it didn't make sense to keep a 13 year old sports car.  It still had the original clutch, brake rotors, suspension bits, and it never had a major issue.  That said, it was getting close to needed a new clutch, rotors, and struts (which I would have opted for new springs and ARB's as well)...  Not to mention it was starting to suffer from a common issue with early versions of the 1ZZ engine.  The first 2 years of the CelicaGT/MR-S (both used the 1ZZ engine - The GTS used the 2ZZ engine), there was an issue with the CAT where it would break up and fail.  Mine did, and they found that later, if not fixed right away, it tended to cause permanent damage to the engine (smoke in the exhaust under hard acceleration).  That damage worsened over time even after the CAT was replaced...  I had planned on fixing it up and turning it into an autocrosser, but with the internal damage, there was no way that was going to happen.

Anyhoo...  I miss zipping around in my little Celica...  13 years is a long time to have a car (think about it...  I bought it just before my 28th b-day...  I'm 41 now)...  I know every rattle, flinch, tell, tendency, knock, and sputter of that car...  I didn't have to think when I drove it.  It was a part of me...  

Lou's 2000 Toyota Celica GT (July 2000 - September 2013)

It must be sad to have to get rid of that, but at least you got a lot of miles and a lot of fun out of it.