With a New Celica on the Way, We Look Back at Seven Generations of Toyota’s Affordable Coupe

In the fall of last year, Yuki Nakajima, executive vice president of Toyota, confirmed the rumors: It was time for the decades-buried argument to begin again. That argument is, of course, whether you pronounce the name of one of Toyota’s most beloved nameplates Sell-EE-ka or SELL-i-ka. Hot on the heels of the reborn Supra and the return of the Land Cruiser, the Celica’s coming back.

Although details are cloudy, there’s every reason to start getting pretty excited about the future possibilities for the return of a small Toyota coupe. Launched earlier this year at the Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota showed off a new 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine that is a cousin to the mighty three-pot in the GR Corolla. Honda may be bringing back its Prelude with hybrid power, but there are some pretty big hints that a top-dog Celica might have a bit of Toyota turbo rally-car heritage baked in.

But before we start salivating on a car that is at least a couple years away from coalescing out of the ether, here’s a look back at what the Celica name has meant over time. Every generation has blended a bit of style with typical Toyota everyday practicality. There are some hero cars to note for sure, but perhaps the best thing about a Celica is that even the ordinary ones were a bit special.

First Generation (1970–77)

If the Datsun 510 was the “poor man’s BMW,” then the first-generation Celica was a Mustang on a budget. The recipe was essentially the same as Ford’s idea, putting a 2+2 coupe body over a platform shared with a compact sedan, although in this case V-8 power was replaced by a series of relatively thrifty four-cylinder engines. You could call it a Yonaguni car—Japan’s native breed of pony.

Speaking of 510s, which got fairly expensive more than a decade ago, the first-generation Celica is by comparison something of an overlooked Japanese classic. Obviously Datsun had the likes of BRE to burnish its motorsport heritage, but the Celica has also long been a racing competitor. The rear-wheel-drive bones of the first-generation car were quite good, with independent suspension and disc brakes up front and a multi-link rear layout that wasn’t quite fully independent but a decent compromise.

As for engines, the Japanese market got the best of them, notably the 1.6-liter 2T-G, which had double overhead cams and a Yamaha-designed head. Not quite a baby 2000GT, but pretty zippy for an economical coupe. Early U.S. cars got first a 1.9L single-overhead-cam four and later a 2.0L engine, both of which didn’t quite make 100 hp. The later 2.2L 20R engine offered 95 hp but a little more torque, and emissions controls in California further choked this down by five horsepower or so.

The symbol on these Celicas is a celestial dragon boat, and some of the figures produced in period testing skew more boat than dragon. Zero to 60 mph took well over 10 seconds, and the skidpad saw those skinny tires throwing in the towel early. But that’s factory spec, and Japanese cars in the 1970s received just as much modification as they did in the 2000s. Celicas were cheap and plentiful used, and by stiffening up the suspension, fitting stickier rubber, and uncorking the four-cylinder somewhat, the cars could be just as much fun to drive as they looked.

Sold as either a liftback or a coupe, this generation of Celica remains an interesting and great looking little car. You’ll likely see more 240Zs at your local car meet, but these little Japanese pony cars were once very popular, and they established the recipe for the nameplate.

Second Generation (1977–81)

If you visited Toyota’s old museum in Torrance, California, you’d see plenty of interesting Celicas, the mighty IMSA GTO among them (more on that in a bit). Less special at first glance was a typically burnt-butterscotch-colored coupe that seemed to be largely stock, apart from a racing number stenciled on the door and a driver’s name painted on the front fender. Hang on, does that say Dan Gurney?

Not only was the second-generation Celica designed in California, at Toyota’s Calty studio, but the car was also a mainstay of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Still offered as both coupe and liftback, the Celica didn’t get more than 100 hp out of its 2.2L or 2.4L four-cylinder engines, but it had to be tough as it faced some of the most demanding crucibles of motorsport that exist: celebrity racing.

Starting in the mid 1970s, as a support event for the Long Beach race, Toyota put the likes of Bill Shatner and Dick Smothers behind the wheel of a Celica and let them go bang fenders around the street circuit. The late Gene Hackman was one noted competitor, and he’d go on to race Celicas in a more professional setting, running one at the 1983 24 Hours of Daytona with Dan Gurney’s All American Racers.

Third Generation (1981–85)

Both the second and third-generation Celicas tend to fall in the uncanny gap between collectible classic and just an old car, and few of them have been loved enough to make it out of the trenches. This is a bit of a shame, as the Celica GT-S introduced in 1982 is a seriously cool machine—not quite a Supra in terms of power but with less weight in the nose for better handling.

Running 225-series tires all around on fat 14-inch alloys in flared fenders, this was the last hurrah for the rear-wheel-drive Celica platform. The 2.4L engine was basically a truck motor, but with a curb weight nearly 400 pounds lighter than that of the Supra, the Celica was both frugal and nimble. If only the most feisty of the Japanese home-market engines had been available on this side of the Pacific …

That motor was the 1.8L twin-spark, turbocharged four-cylinder coded 3T-GTE. Built as a homologation special for competition in the World Rally Championship, it made 180 hp in road-going trim and as much as 380 hp when tuned for racing. The WRC car was very successful in rallying, particularly in African events where the ability to soak up abuse was of particular importance. Celicas won the Safari Rally and the Rally Côte d’Ivoire six times between 1983 and 1986.

Fourth Generation (1985–89)

By the mid-1980s, the writing was on the wall for affordable rear-wheel-drive cars, and the Celica moved to a front-wheel-drive platform. The good news was that this time, U.S. buyers wouldn’t be saddled with the rev-unhappy four-cylinder engines that didn’t really live up to the potential of the chassis.

Instead, the Celica GT-S got a 2.0L four that hit 135 hp at 6800 rpm, with a five-speed manual gearbox (or optional four-speed automatic) and scrappy handling. Especially in liftback form, this coupe blended a practical layout with some fun-to-drive characteristics, and it was a great all-rounder.

Even better was the arrival in 1988 of the Celica All-Trac Turbo. Now North America had its chance at WRC-style all-wheel-drive grip and 190 hp worth of turbocharged punch, over a decade before the Subaru WRX would arrive. The first 77 of these were actually sold in 1987 as IMSA GTO specials, celebrating Toyota’s win that year. The race cars, of which three were made, were really only Celicas in name only, tube-frame racers with Celica-look bodywork, a monstrous 600 hp, a lean 2100-pound curb weight. Dan Gurney was at the heart of things again, as the IMSA Celica beat out the Porsches and Fords.

Fifth Generation (1989–93)

A more rounded style greeted Celica enthusiasts for the fifth generation of cars. On the plus side, power was up across the range, and the All-Trac was still in showrooms, now with 200 hp. Unfortunately, this was also the last generation that would see a turbocharged all-wheel-drive Celica sold in North America.

However, while the All-Trac grabs the headlines as the most expensive and most powerful Celica sold in the U.S. at the time, there were still plenty of other interesting trim levels in the range. The GT-S still offered nippy handling with decent fuel consumption and solid reliability from a torquey 2.2L four-cylinder, and the convertible models provided accessible fun.

Sixth Generation (1993–99)

When it launched in the mid-1990s, the popular arcade game Sega Rally only served to underscore just how good the Celicas were—those that America wasn’t getting, anyhow. While Japan still got the GT-Four (the slightly more potent cousin to the All-Trac) even in limited-edition homologation specials, North American Celicas featured either Camry or Corolla power.

Given that the GT-Four of this generation is now more than 25 years old, it’s the JDM imports that are of primary interest here to the enthusiast or collector. A late-model GT-Four has an air of Supra about it, with a big curved wing to go with the vented hood and quad headlights. Output with the last of these was up to 251 hp, with improved suspension and braking, and even more aluminum used in construction to save weight.

Like other Japanese cars of the late bubble economy, the Celica GT-Four was by now a technologically complex, expensive car. For a niche market offering, they were pretty exciting, but the nameplate needed a reset. It got it.

Seventh Generation (1999–2006)

No turbos. No all-wheel drive. Only two models for simplicity’s sake, both of them with less weight. Only the liftback body style offered. The seventh-generation Celica was pared back, but it was great.

We’ll get to the GT-S in a moment, but the standard GT was a really solid offering from Toyota. Its 1.8L engine made a perfectly healthy 140 hp to haul around the car’s 2500 pounds, and the chassis was a handler. It was also surprisingly practical with the liftback and 50/50 folding rear seats.

The GT-S upped the ante with a Yamaha-designed head for its 1.8L engine, now good for 180 hp at 7800 rpm. Paired with a six-speed manual, the GT-S is a screamer, almost like Toyota built a Honda product. You needed to keep the engine on the boil, so it wasn’t the fastest thing in a straight line, but as a driver’s car it won over plenty of fans. Reportedly, F1, Indycar, and NASCAR racer Juan Pablo Montoya liked the prepped GT-S he drove in the celebrity races at Long Beach so much, he had a street Celica GT-S built to the same specification.

Sadly, though, Celica sales tapered off sharply toward the end of its run. Sales in 2004 saw a more than 80% drop versus 2000, and things weren’t helped by Toyota programming in lower rev limiters in the 2002 and 2005 models. Though they were not exaclty direct competitors, the Nissan 240SX and Honda Prelude were also gone from the market, and Toyota called time on the Celica. Today, this generation of Celica is a solid choice as a first car for a young driver, particularly the GT.

Honorable Mention: Scion tC (2004–10; 2011–16)

Speaking of cars that appeal to the young driver, the Scion tC coupe that debuted just as the Celica was winding down is a solid, if not particularly sporty choice. With a 161-hp 2.4L engine shared with the Camry and 2900 pounds to fling around, it wasn’t all that quick. However, if you consider halo vehicles like the WRC homologation specials to be exceptions to the Celica recipe, then the tC does pick up where its Toyota ancestor left off. There were two generations of coupe, and both had a surprising amount of flexibility for cargo, with that large liftback.

It was also relatively cheap, with an adjusted-for-inflation price that lines up with the current base model Civic sedan. Like the original Celica of the 1970s, outright performance wasn’t the point—just a little more personality than you might otherwise expect, with entry model pricing.

The reborn Celica might have more in common with the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation cars. Inexpensive cars have long been a shrinking market, and Toyota may wish to cater to buyers who are currently choosing the GR Corolla. The current Corolla hatchback that is the basis for the GR is now seven years old, so if a Celica emerged in the next couple of years, it could pick up the Gazoo Racing mantle.

If you’re a Toyota fan, it’ll be nice to have a reborn Celica around. And while we’re waiting for that, check out some of the nameplate’s past hits. There are some overlooked gems here, worthy of a little love, no matter how you pronounce Celica.