What To Bare In Mind?

[rich.saunders]

I'm looking at my first Toyota Celica hopefully today, never owned one before so don't know what to look out for.. It's a 2002 Celica 1.8 190bhp T Sport. It's done 160,000 miles. What should I look at? I've seen a few people mention lift?

[JoeyJoe]

I bought one last November. 2000 model 190bhp which is what you're looking at. This model is solid, the later models can have problems. I bought mine at 150k miles, feel like at least another 100k miles left on it or more.

Check the basic things with any car. Rust under the arches, steering wheel shake, oil level / colour, check the coolant level. The rad went on mine around 155k miles. £40 fix if you can fix it your self (not too difficult to do).

Test drive it for sure. Make sure you let it warm up first, seller should have no problem with you / them running it to 6,500 RPM to get to lift. You will feel it. If the lift doesn't work, the most common issue is with the lift bolts, but they aren't pricey if you do the work.

The 2ZZ engine is bomb proof. no problems with mine, I have the full history too and there has never been an issue.

Edit: Forgot to mention, You can now to a full MOT check on any car. https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-status

Make sure you check it.