If the cost of overhauling the valves and injectors plus whatever else needs doing exceeds 500 Euro I’ll start saving for a new (to me) car.
I WANT i.e. don’t need a 1.6-1.8l couple that will take 4 adults, firm seats, better acceleration than my 406 (ok, that’s almost a given), nice looks and low price. y2k vintage or thereabouts. £1500-2000 max.
Integra is lovely but not within my budget, so it leaves me with a Celica. Or possibly a Civic 1.5?
What should I buy? What’s reliable and will take a split bike? The size will make a difference, Celicas seem just right.
Something along those lines?

Personally celica is a nicer car than a civic any day of the week, but theyre also not that cheap to repair IF they go wrong. Celica will take a split bike easily – I’ve transported 2 in mine fairly regularly (model earlier than that one, but more or less identical bootspace). Be wary with that version, if you get the one with “super-strut technology” you want to be sure the banana arms/fig 8s have been replaced recently as they only last ~70K miles and they are about the same value as your overhauled injectors etc!

Merc CLK 230 or 320.

They’re common here and I can get parts from Poland (cousin in the car-spares trade). A few mechanics as good mates and they’re local (I’ll be having an office above one of them’s garage).
I like Civics but they seem cheap compare to Celicas. Not inexpensive, lower end if you please. And the Toyota’s reliability is a bit good AFAIK.

Loddik, £2k absolute max. And I’m not retired yet despite driving a Pug estate.

I have a 2003 celica and have used it for mtb weekends (2 blokes + bikes + kit). Its quite a long car so you only have to take the front wheels off with the rear seats down. But it’s party peice has been to fit a (medium) bike in the boot with the rear seats inplace and parcel shelf in. You need to take the wheels off and release the bars from the stem. This is super useful – I toured scotland for a week with the bike safely out of sight!

If its a toyota for bikes, i’ve had a large enduro and large yeti kokopelli in the boot of an Avensis hatchback with the rear seats up and parcel shelf in place. Horribly ugly car which is slow and has dull handling though. Seats were firm but always gave me a sore back.

My mate’s got one of those, a Celica, same colour as the one in the pic. It’s pretty low in the back to the point of feeling quite claustrophobic, so I’d be wary of carrying rear seat passengers for long distances. His has been very reliable though and fine for two people plus kit.

As a Corrado VR6 owner I’d suggest one of those, but they’re quirky and expensive to fix when they do go wrong, so don’t even think about it 😉

mate of mine has a Celica (newer model than the linked one above)
great cars, bags of fun and reliable – only money he’s spent is due to damage he’s done from hooning a bit too much, and putting the required decent rubber on them, you need to rag them to get the best out of them.
fairly easily fit two bikes in the back – it is a 2+2 though, not a four seater.
they sit quite low, so if you’re a bit of a giffer, you might have trouble getting out 😉

I’m the tallest at The Hairychested Towers and reach the heights of 5’7″ barefooted, my daughter is only 4y.o. and the only other people would very occasionally be my folks who are some 5-7″ shorter than me. They had ample space in a Matiz FGS.
Corrado – the new one please!

Corrado – the new one please!

Ha! There is only one Corrado, the new thing is a Scirroco – ‘rado pedant mode and all. The new Scirroco looks better in the flesh than in pics, but it’s all a bit generic. Looks a but like a freakin’ Astra, which can’t be a good thing 😉

I had a generation 6 Celica (1994-1999) and it was the best most reliable car i’ve owned. Had nearly 150,000 miles on it by the end and despite a regularly thrashing it never ever went wrong. Toyota dealer had a pretty good offer for older cars, so even a dealer cambelt change was only 150 quid. I could get a full bike in (just) without taking any wheels off, and as above, get one in the boot out of view with a bit of jiggling. Depreciation was low, insurance pretty cheap, mileage about 35-40 if driven carefully. Biggest problem was the alarm broke once and i took it out and sent it back to Scorpion who reconditioned it for 35 quid.

Theres a lot of imports and modified ones though, takes a while to find a good unmodified UK one with toyota service history.

Only one negative review on carsurvey (very rare!)
http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/toyota/celica/1994/

Sorry for that, I sort of knew but didn’t check.