I was at KFC ordering some take out for me and my girl, when i met up with a friend in line. He was with another friend of his and we started talking about cars. My buddy's friend asked me if that was my celica in the parking lot and complimented me on it . He then said that he has an STI that he is trying to sell and i told him that although its a powerful car and its an AWD, i'm not too keen on the looks of it. He then asked me if i like GT4's. I restrained myself from replying to him with an old school "duh!" and i said "hell yeah!". One good thing about this country is that it allows Japanese imports and there are alot of auto dealers that sell imported Japanese cars. Although i've been to alot of the dealers, it just so turns out that one of these dealers has a 96 white GT4! The guy said that it was in good condition and that i should check it out before its gone. He vaguely remembers that it was selling for about $12K.

My question is, when i go take a look at it this week, (besides wondering if that is a good price), what do i look out for besides the usual buying-a-used-car check? Turbo? Superstrut suspension? I want to make sure that if i'm going to pay that amount, that its not going to breakdown later and cost me that much more to repair. I want to be able to keep me ST202 also. Appreciate any tips. Thanks.

This post has been edited by Slick: May 19, 2007 - 7:26 PM

Off the top of my head....

The Superstrut suspension you mentioned, if there is any kind of knocking coming from any corner, it's likely to be the fig 8's as they're called. They need replacing at about 60,000 miles, pretty expensive job about GBP £ 800 IIRC.

Also the usual turbo checks, no smoke on boost etc,

Also the radiators don't last that long, if it's gone brown it will need replacing soon.

Also check that the clutch is ok, cause it's very expensive to replace.

I'm sure others will be along to help more soon....

photos ftw

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Thanks! This is good info because getting replacement parts, besides their purchasing prices, I still have to worry about the shipping costs!

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I'm working on it! I'll try to get them tomorrow during lunch. I only have an hour for lunch and the dealer is on the other side of town, but i'll ask my boss for some extra time.

update?

pics please!

Sorry for the delay, guys. i finally made my way to the airport. I was in the area on my way to a meeting when i almost passed it by. And there she was, as soon as you walk onto the lot. Beautiful!











The interior looks great. The only problems that i could see were on the roof where it looked like someone got on top of the car and danced a jig. Also the front left fender where it meets the front bumper. It looks like it may have had some body work because the fender and the left side of the hood don't line up evenly. To my disgrace, I didn't get a chance to test drive it, but i was kind of discouraged when i heard the asking price. $12K! And its a '96 with 115,000 km. Is it worth pursuing? Not sure. I wouldn't want to have to get rid of my car.

and no abs

Looks like its in pretty decent shape, and from my perspective 12k isnt a huge price to pay for the car... but it might be a bit high since you are overseas... i like the white rims too, they go well with the car... but u gotta keep your celica too if u get this!

Is GT-Four rare in Africa?

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Up until about a 2 years ago a Celica was rare! This is the first GT4 that i've seen or heard about at least here in Mozambique. I don't know about the other African countries (members in South Africa and Swaziland?).

id say go back and drive it, and if it drives good... jump on it
your not gonna get another opportunity like this!

Slick, I've been spending a lot of time with a whole lot of importers here in Swaziland, and i've been beging for a GT4 for years... Nothing!! If you can afford it, grab it !!
As for the question, is GT4 rare in Africa? This is the first 6G i've seen and i've worked for one of the importers. 5g is pretty common, in fact, i can get one in really good nick for E 28000 ($ 3932 at todays exchange rate). slick, if you want more info on the 5g, mail me...

btw, just bought a Mitsubishi RVR Hyper Sports Gear, lancer evo III motor, otherwise i would've joined the line for the GT4...

I say... IT'S BEAUTIFUL

you don't know how much back and forth i'm going through (especially with my girlfriend!) about this car! I'm checking into repair costs for the roof of the car, but the 12K is still alot!