Toyota Celica GT-S (2001)

The Celica is about as old and familiar a name as there is in the automotive world. It's been around for years. The current version, redesigned in 2000, is the seventh update since its inception back in 1971. Through all those editions, the Celica has always been one thing: a small, nicely made, sporty car that, in a pinch, can hold four people. I guess the older we get, the more we would emphasize the word "small."

With more and more cars adopting a tall profile, you really notice now when you get into a car that sits you close to the ground. Folding yourself into the Celica is not on your chiropractor's "recommended" list. The car is quick and nimble, almost touchy. The accelerator pedal on the GT-S (the sportiest Celica model) is extremely sensitive, making the car dart and jump. The combination of an overpowered engine and a six-speed manual transmission makes it difficult to accelerate smoothly, especially at low speeds. This is the kind of thing you might get used to, but it's also the kind of thing that would bother passengers a lot more than drivers, and you might find friends refusing to ride with you before long.

The GT-S we drove has a cars.com target price of $21,507. It came with a six-speed manual transmission which encourages the driver to keep the engine revs high. That's fine if you feel like playing Speed Racer, but it can get tiresome if you're just going to the dry cleaners. A four-speed automatic is available, and it probably does a lot to smooth out the effect of the accelerator pedal.

Otherwise, the Celica is enjoyable to drive. The shifter and the clutch both work nicely, and the car sticks to the pavement and handles well, if very firmly.

The GT-S has one very serious drawback, however: too much engine for too little car. The GT-S comes with a four-cylinder, 1.8-liter, 180-horsepower engine, and, with a weight of only 2,500 pounds, it exceeds our proposed 0.06 horsepower-to-weight limit by a good 20 percent. It's difficult to drive this car responsibly, in our humble opinion. It makes you drive like a maniac. For that reason, and the others stated above, we recommend the more reasonable GT model. The Celica GT comes with a 140-horsepower engine, which should be more than enough to power this lightweight car.

When, at great risk to our inseams, we first lowered ourselves into the bucket seats, we took an immediate dislike to the GT-S. It felt as though you were sitting in a hole--not a good feeling unless you're a mole or a woodchuck. Fortunately we discovered a little crank by which you can raise and lower the seat cushion. After that find, our perspective improved markedly. The driving position is certainly acceptable, but you pay for the racy styling of the car by sitting close to the ground and looking up at the world.

The Celica may look small on the outside, but once you're behind the wheel you realize that it's really, really small on the inside. There's enough room up front for two people who like each other, while the two seats in back are fine for, say, a pet ferret and two days' worth of dirty laundry--or any adult whose comfort and well being are of no importance to you. In fact, Zuzu, the beloved dog of our Producer, Dougie Berman, chose to sit on the front edge of the seat cushion. Seated normally, even a dog would not have enough headroom in the back.

The Celica is a hatchback, which does add to its utility. The rear seats can be folded, giving it about as much trunk space as an Oldsmobile Intrigue sedan.

The GT-S comes with four-wheel disc brakes, cruise control, power door locks and windows, fog lights, a rear wiper, and an AM-FM stereo that plays cassettes and CDs. Antilock brakes and side-impact air bags are optional.

Visibility is pretty good. Unlike most cars with high deck lids, the Celica, with a lot of side glass and a large rear window, makes it reasonably easy to see out the back.

Tommy complained about the layout of the speedometer. The GT-S has a speedometer that goes up to 160 miles per hour (that, in itself, generated some frothing at the mouth from Tommy). But the speed markings take up only three-quarters of the dial. I'll let the Sultan of Slow take it from here: "So with zero miles per hour at the six o'clock position, and 160 mph at three o'clock, you've exceeded the speed limit when the needle is about one-third of the way around the dial. God forbid you should be driving past a school and trying to figure out if you're over the 35 mph speed limit. You'd need a magnifying glass!"

The Celica has that loud, "Hey! Look at me!" styling undoubtedly intended for the young boys and girls who will make up most of the clientele. But the two-door-coupe segment of the market is always driven by fashion, so what do you expect? This is a car of the Pokemon era.

If you're shopping for a sporty hatchback, you should also consider the Ford Focus ZX3 (taller, cheaper, good handling); the Volkswagen Golf (sporty, German engineering, practical); the new Beetle (fun, safe, different); the Acura Integra (Japanese reliability, sportier than a Civic); and the Mercury Cougar (most similar to the Celica). But, as we said above, if you're looking at this type of car, styling and fashion will probably determine what you get as much as anything. So do whatever you want. What do we care? Actually, one notable advantage of the Celica over these other cars (with the exception of the Acura) is Toyota reliability and resale value. If you're going to buy a car that may look silly to you a few years from now, at least you'll be getting one that doesn't break down.

Toyota's advertising the GT-S as the "Bullet Train," which is too bad, in our humble opinion. Why appeal to the baser instincts of testosterone-poisoned males, when you've got a sports car that's otherwise pretty damn good? Unless you're hell-bent on breaking every land speed record known to man, we'd say to opt for the base Celica GT. It's got 40 fewer horsepower and it's $4,500 cheaper--and that's before you begin to add up the speeding tickets and bail-bondsman fees you'd be racking up in the GT-S.

View cars.com model report on this vehicle.