Would You Go $4,500 For This 1998 Toyota Celica GT Stick-Shift Convertible?
I'm really interested in your opinion on today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Celica. This dealer offered drop top seems pretty compelling, and yet has been on the market for weeks. Is it its price, or maybe something else? Let's find out!
This past Friday, the Michael Fassbender-led film, The Snowman opened to critical pans here in America. Not only did the reviewers find the crime drama wanting, so did its director, Swedish film maker Tomas Alfredson. He used his opportunities to promote the film to instead apologize about what utter shite it turned out to be.
No such apology was necessary for the Swede we featured on Friday. That 1999 Volvo C70 coupe offered both a rare five-speed stick and a $2,950 price. The latter engendered a good bit of praise, and a fantastic 82 percent Nice Price win. Maybe Fassbender should be as prudent in his film choices as we are in our choice of cars.
Today's 1998 Toyota Celica GT is a type of car I don't usually like to foist on you all. It's not that there's anything particularly egregious about the car—which we'll get to in a moment—but rather about the way in which it is being proffered for sale.
This old but bold Celica is being marketed by a small used car dealer and that dealer has taken the tack of posting its ad multiple times on the same Craigslist. On the one page of the Treasure Coast Craigslist there are six identical ads promoting the car.
Now, you might typically attribute that promulgation to enthusiasm or perhaps a sticky enter key on the seller's keyboard, but for me it screams trying too hard. Still, here we are.
There's yet another issue with this Celica; one that seems a little less obvious. That is, why has it not sold? The ad has been up on Craigslist for more than 15 days. All six of them!
You would think that a dealer would have pretty accurate pricing acumen, or at least would start dropping the price after five or six days of inactivinty. Hell, even the most lackadaisical fisherman knows to move his hook when he's not getting any bites. This one's just been sitting there, six times over.
There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the car itself. It's described in the ad(s) as being in "Extremely Nice Condition" and shows as such in the photos. The Renaissance Red paint still seems to hold its shine, while the bug-eyed headlamps appreciably show no indication of clouding.
Five spoke factory alloys also hold up their end of the bargain and are wrapped in new Nittos to boot. The top is intact but does show some wear. The "Hofmeister Kink" in the side glass when it's erect however, is a nice unremembered detail here.
The interior is likewise perfectly serviceable. There is some fraying evident on the driver's seat outside bolster, and the floor mat on that side is now holier than thou, bit over all there's no deal killer here.
There's only 150,000 miles on the clock and the seller claims that the car drives "like new." Driving it like new is a 2.2-litre DOHC 16V four, which it seems was used in damn-near every car Toyota built back then. The 5S-FE was rated for 135 horsepower at the factory, and here it's paired up with a five-speed stick for all your fun in the sun shifting activities. The seller says that there are "No leaks, No warning lights, No problems at all" and that the car is ready to "just gas and go."
Adding to the plus column for this Celica is a clean title and a completely uneventful Carfax report. Supposedly the car's entire life's worth of maintenance records and receipts come along with it if desired.
It seems however that no one desires this Celica GT at its $4,500 price, and it's now time for you all to weigh in on just why that might be.
What's your take on this dealer-offered Celica and that $4,500 price? Does that seem like a decent enough price that the seller shouldn't even need six ads? Or, do they need to drop that price before they'll be able to drop the hammer on the sale?
You decide!
Treasure Coast, FL Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.