bazpro

might be swaping my focus diesel for one of these but i have no idea what to look for.
are they reliable? quick?
being looking a tuning options but cant seem to find any websites for them.
always liked the look of them but dont have a clue what there like to drive.

botters

iTrader: (2)

mate has one fairley reliable but not that quick, his is tuned a little runs 1.3 bar of boost and just about kept up with my circa 180-200bhp rs turbo in the straights
capable car in the twistys tho

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

They're good value for money, the one above is either tuned by a monkey or not running right... cause my friends running a boost controller set at 1.15bar but absolutely standard otherwise kept my 167@the wheels RS Turbo honest from 70mph to 6500rpm in 5th gear.

I've had two, one I owned twice, and I've posted in here a few times on them.. but I'll reply when I'm not so pissed and give you some bits to look at and check.


Cheers,
Grant

tabetha

Get ready for a shock, MPG they don't do, seriously thirsty even when running perfect, best bit is handling/grip, as std speed wise not so great.
Look up FENSPORT as they can work some magic, very reliable cars, but can costs shed loads when they do go wrong, with the current price of fuel I'd think twice unless it's a 2nd car ?
tabetha

CraigJ

Good cars. not the fastest but can be made quicker quite easy. Ive had a ST185 and a friend had the ST205. Main thing is to check the suspension. The fig 8's wear and are about Ł100 a side to replace. Join up to the the GT4OC.net

bazpro

what sort of mpg are we talking here? 20 mpg?
it will be used everyday to go to work ect (10 mile)
i planned on getting a cozzy or impreza as ive been saving up but this is basically a straight swap and ive only got 1k in the focus as i got it really cheap off my dad.

Brettski mk2

iTrader: (3)

Ive had 13 gt4s in my time st165, st205s built like tanks,had a 450hp 165,drive shafts,diffs,gearboxs take 550hp+ ok if you don't rust then it to gear!!!but the engines are not the best can't handle the boost,the 205 is ok for 300hp all day but you try for more then you are asking for problems they all "165,185,205" crack the blocks easy and break the pistons round the rings
As said 205 suffer from worn front suspension think its Ł100 per link!!!3 links a side!!Ł600!!!and a clutch change is at unplesant job but there the best car to go for imo
165 185 look for rust1!!
some of mine



450 engine .......2.2bar boost gt30,cp pistons,TTE fueling,tte exhaust,motec ecu cracked block soon after mapping




Pm me if you want a chat

Bloomers

iTrader: (1)

Ace cars, bought a st205 cheap last year with the clutch gone, did it in 9hrs on my own, so not terrible. handle really nice, and enough power to entertain for a while. GREAT fun in the snow

as has been said, superstrut suspension WILL be knackered around 70k miles, so hope its been done. bottom arms are 250 each, 8links are about a ton.
and keep an eye on the charge cooler water. it will put the EML on whenever the level drops a bit

My old one, best Ł650 car ever

tabetha

20MPG ?, judging by the one I drove for a while not a hope in hell, though as it's not fast I tended to rag it a bit more, owner said he saw 16-18 on a run at 55mph steady speed, I know myself I could easily get it under 10mpg, I do admit to having a heavy foot though.
tabetha

Bloomers

iTrader: (1)

20 mpg is possible, my missus used to do that in it. does mean you have to drive really slow, though, which defeats the point of the car, really

Jim Galbally

same engine as the MR2 iirc?

my mr2 was pretty damned nippy, about m3 speed (e36/46) i assume the celica will be a tad slower due to the size/weight/transmission tho.

didnt really like my MR2 tho, just felt "cheap" and things kept breaking!

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

The ST205 that I ran used to get about 22-25mpg average... if you give it stress then mid-late teens is more likely average. I took one of mine on a Knockhill track day and never saw a sub 10mpg average?!

On the whole, they're better than the Imprezas which I've owned and had the same type of use out of.

As has been mentioned, the figure 8's and lower arms will need replaced at some point and they're NOT cheap... 600 note on parts only. The radiators can be a bit dodgy by now, easy way to tell is look at the top of it, the tank should be dark grey and if it's turning brown or is light brown then it's likley to go sooner or later.

Rear diff mount can go, but doesn't cost the earth to change.

They run 1.2bar absolute max on the standard ECU, if it's running more than this without an aftermarket ECU and proof of decent mapping then I'd sack it off because the pistons are quite a weak link and they really are known to crack rings fairly easily if the boost is fucked around with too much.

How does it feel having jumped from the frying pan into the fire??


Cheers,
Grant

gjh

i wouldn't mind one of these one day, I think they're pretty cool looking cars. hve quite a nice exhaust note too.

bazpro

think am going to give it a miss as i know i would end up spending money on it that could go towards another impreza or saph.

tabetha

It would be better with a YB in it!!
I've actually owned a celica, a much older RA28 2.0GT, mach one mustang style one, loved it, but was bloody expensive to run and broke a lot, was on twin 48's and rally cams, did 8600rpm!!
Gearbox was best bit Porsche designed P50 box, wish I had that in the cossie tbh!!
tabetha

RSTsteve

Stock 3sgte are good engines up to 1.15 bar of boost (with supporting mods & boost controller).

Run a welbro 255 pump and aftermarket mappable ecu (Apexi power FC, Link, Motec, AEM) and a decent map you will see 315 hp @ 1.2 bar.

The Ringlands are the weak link of the engine. The blocks crack in a few places.
*between cylinder 2 & 3
*Around the water pump housing

I have rebuilt mine with HKS cams and a GT3076r turbo and when mapped after running in, it should be 440hp at 1.2bar.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I know a lad who had one abd said it drove shit. Crap handling he only had it a few month and sold it on.

Jim Galbally

good fucking point

MR2 was cheaper to fix than the M3, but hard to find places that knew what to do with them engine-wise had a few issues and couldnt find decent places to sort em.

i used to get pretty good fuel consumption from mine on a run off boot! was rubbish when you gave it some welly tho