Our Cars: 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four
2 January 2014: Lesson learned - MoT passed
The Details
| Costs since last report | £200 |
|---|---|
| Tyres | £130x4 |
You know what they say about practicing what one preaches? Well, I really do wish that I was capable of doing the same - because if I did, I might not have got myself into the pit of doom and gloom with my Toyota Celica GT-Four. After buying the car in July for a bargain price and with a short-ish MoT, I'd had some fun in the wild Toyota, but deep down, I was biting my nails about the upcoming test. After all, this is a highly strung, very specialised performance car.
Okay, so I part-bought the car with a family member, so that means any costs will be conveniently halved, but given that the GT-Four has a reputation for consuming money faster than a failing European economy, that gave me little room for comfort. The first major expense came in the shape of a set of Yokohama Advan Neovas, which at £130 per corner, was might have caught the attention, were actually less than I was expecting fitments for the non-standard Speedline 17in alloys on this car.
My experience of Yokohamas go back a long way - back to the early 1990s - when I remember fitting a set of interestingly-treaded track-biased tyres to the Peugeot 405SRI I had at the time. Instantly, lift-off oversteer became a thing of the past, and wet-weather performance was improved significantly. I'm hoping for the same this time around.
With the tyres replaced (after a couple of hairy moments), it was time to put it in for the test and hope for the best. My usual tester, a small garage on my High Street was chosen, simply because of convenience and classic friendliness. He looks after my Integrale, and I thought - incorrectly - that the Celica should hold no fears. When the call came through, pronouncing my car a failure, I wasn't surprised - but I that changed to disappointment, followed by crushing despair, dwhen I saw the length of the fail sheet.
The biggest issues for me were that there was play in the suspension, and the power steering rack was leaking fluid. Both scarily-expensive to fix in my experience. As for the other more niggling issues - they weren't so bad.
The Toyota pays a visit to Lewis Rally Sport for its MoT and a few other bits and pieces...
A quick call to the chap I bought the Celica from (as well as my Integrale), Warner Lewis, soon put my mind at rest. The steering rack was probably down to the cap seal being perished - it's a high-pressure system, and when the cap goes, fluid usually leaks everywhere. As for the suspension play, he just chuckled over the 'phone, and reassured me that they'd tested the car incorrectly. GT-Fours need their geometry checking on the ground, and not in the air like most cars.
A couple of days later I drove it over to the Warner Lewis Rally Sport workshop near Worcester, and left the car with him. Before I left, he mentioned he had a UK-spec registration plate mount - to which I said, 'fit it please'. I've always disliked those square import 'plates, and promised myself to Europeanise my Celica as soon as possible. On top, I requested an oil and filter change, as well as a quick service. With that, I left the car with him, still inwardly fretting about the MoT despite his relaxed promises that it would be sorted. What Warner doesn't know about GT-Fours isn't worth knowing...
True to his word Warner called me a couple of days later, asking me when I wanted to pick up the car. He noted that while it was in his hands, he'd spotted an air leak in one of the turbo breathers, which meant some of the power was being bled-off. He changed the pipe gratis - as well as performed the service and changed the 'plates. My woes were over. All in, that little lot came up to £200, which was very good value indeed.
On the way back from Warner's place, I treated the GT-Four to a tank-full of its favourite tipple, Shell VPower Nitro+, and revelled in the grip, power and poise of this freshly-MoT'd Japanese rally supercar. It's the only fuel I would consider using in a car of this calibre - and to be fair, Toyota recommends the GT-Four is fed on high-octane premium juice. Why doesn't that surprise me?
Now it's time to enjoy...
« Earlier: Tyred and emotional
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