By meathorse on 3rd Nov 2005
meathorse's Ratings| Year Manufactured | 1994 |
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| Length of ownership | Almost 5 years |
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| Doors | Four |
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| Performance | 9/10  |
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| Practicality | 7/10 |
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| Reliability | 10/10 |
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| Value for money | 9/10 |
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| Overall value | 9/10 |
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 meathorse's recommendation |
Good Points
- Great styling/looks
- Semi-Sleeper (Cops don't seem to really consider it a fast car thanks to the four doors!)
- Very quick & fantastic handling.
- Legendary Toyota reliability.
- Four door practicality built into a Celica chassis (with suspension, engine & running gear to match!)
Bad Points
- Shallow boot makes it hard to fit anything of a reasonable size.
- Not 'really' a four door. Next to no leg room in rear, especially with 6-foot monsters in the front seats.
- Can be quite thirsty when driving hard, but so can most cars.
- As everyone else has said, it would have been interesting if they dropped a turbo (3S-GTE) motor in as an option!
General Comments
The Toyota Corona EXIV is an absolutely fantastic car!
Mine is a 1994 TR-G, 5-speed manual featuring a 2L 3S-GE motor and Super-Stut suspension. Almost everything mechanical except the body shell is based on the '94 generation Celica - right down to the 180BHP 2L motor!
Heaps of power (if you really need more than this you don't know how to drive it!), slick quite short gearbox. I love the way it pulls over 4k RPM all the way to 7k red line!
Handles like a dream - just like a Go-Kart, it takes very little input at the wheel to make it turn. Very direct with a bit of torque-steer when accelerating hard. Again, turbo would be interesting, but probably too much for the front wheels.
I brought it at 95,000km and is currently sitting at around 195,000km. For the first 30,000km I drove it quite hard over the local hills every day, meaning the tyres would wear out in around 10,000kms. This also caused some premature wearing in the S-Strut suspension (a couple of components replaced at around 170,000km), and uneven wear in the brake discs.
Apart from this, the only real problems I've had were that a bulb in the rear brake lights blew once, after it was left out in a very heavy rain fall one night, and (thanks to that first 20,000kms) the sunroof has loosened and developed a rattle.
However with regular oil/filter changes and cam belts at 95,000 and 190,000, it's been as reliable as you could want, if you don't count the driver-created problems!
I'm not sure if this is specific to all TR-G's but this sits around 2-inches lower than all other 1994-1998 TR-X's I've parked next to. The local mechanic thinks that the springs etc are all factory standard. The lower stance means that it handles like a Go-Kart, plus makes it look much more aggressive and a lot wider than it actually is (without making it look like a bad rice-racer).
Only two (minor) gripes - firstly the boot. It's quite shallow, which is fine for carrying 2-4 people & gear, however my previous car was a station wagon, and I can only just (with some unique entry/exit angles) squeeze my lawnmower in the boot.
Secondly are the rear doors and leg room. Although this isn't really a gripe. I brought this car on the basis that it is a Celica/Curren with four doors. It would allow me to have a fast sports-ish car and avoid the pitfalls of a two door when carrying passengers.
I knew the leg room would be tight - and it is with my mate in the front seat (6' 4" tall!), however one thing I didn't consider were the rear doors.
Because it is a relatively short chassis built for a two door sports car, the rear doors are a bit smaller then they would be on a proper saloon. They open out quite far, but are quite short - meaning a smaller space in which to squeeze into the back seat. It's still far easier than trying to climb into the back of a two door, but it's almost impossible to fit a box for a 17" CRT monitor into the rear seats. As a comparison, a friend with a Celica can get a 34" CRT TV into his rear seat.
These cars are starting to get on a bit now, although the 1998 models shouldn't be too old yet. Apart from that, highly recommended for someone wanting a practical Celica or the young-ish at heart!
200gt on 27th Mar 2008