1990 Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo: The Sword of Damocles Looms

From the November 1989 issue of Car and Driver.This is a matter of life and death.Please add to your list of endangered species Toyota’s supremely capable Celica All-Trac Tur­bo, newly styled and technically updated for 1990. It is a quick, 200-hp, full-time-four-wheel-drive liftback coupe, and we think it’s terrific to drive. More about driving this intriguing coupe in a moment. First, you should know why the Celica All-Trac Turbo is on the verge of extinction. Since its introduction in October 1987, Toyota’s potent four-wheel-drive hatchback has sold in numbers roughly equal to those of such rare creatures as $45,000-plus Maseratis and $130,000-and-up Rolls-Royces. The new model shown here is ex­pected to sell only slightly better—sales are pro­jected at less than 1000 in the next thirteen months. In fact, some Toyota executives are wor­ried that the new Celica All-Trac Turbo—a car we can praise for its poise, refinement, and perfor­mance—will die in our marketplace altogether. And it isn’t even on sale yet. Most of the Celica All-Trac Turbo’s problem is its price. Loaded with power amenities, it will likely sell for about $4000 more than a similarly equipped Eagle Talon TSi AWD (although the Ea­gle lacks a driver’s-side air bag, an item that comes standard on the All-Trac). Add anti-lock brakes, a leather interior, and the amazing new Toyota-­Fujitsu “System 10” stereo, and the All-Trac’s sticker will easily rise well above that of Toyota’s own Supra, a luxurious, sophisticated, six-cylinder GT that is expected to start at $23,500 for 1990. It’s not surprising, then, that the Supra has sold 20 times better than the also-pricey ’89-model Celica All-Trac. Nor is it surprising that Chrysler’s Eagle Division, though wary of making sales predictions, conservatively expects to sell more than 5000 Talon TSi AWD models annually. Indeed, in its first two months in the showrooms, about 2000 Eagles were sold. The Celica All-Trac Turbo may be on the endangered-species list, but don’t count it out just yet. “We need the image of the All-Trac Turbo,” says John Koenig, product-planning manager for Toyota in the states. Toyota’s executives like the car and its technological image; they see it as their company’s version of the Porsche 959. And the Celica All-Trac is Toyota’s chosen pup for the World Rally Championship dogfights. So far this year, it has won a pair of European championship rallies. Curiously, U.S. sales of the All-Trac aren’t necessary to qualify it for interna­tional competition—the 5000 cars that must be sold to homologate the All-Trac for world rallying are all on their way to Europe, where a small leniency in emissions rules allow a larger turbocharger. (Mazda’s slick 323GTX followed a simi­lar homologation program, but this year it has gone the way of the dodo. The GTX, also a Group A four-wheel-drive homologation special, sold fewer than 800 per year in the U.S.) In an effort to keep the price down, Toyota considered stripping the All-­Trac Turbo of many of it amenities and hardware goodies. But the company has since decided that All-Trac buyers want sophistication in more than just the car’s driveline, and so the myriad standard niceties remain. As does the high price. Thus the image of sophisticated high tech is the future of all U.S.-bound All-Tracs. Toyota hopes that this image will spill over to the new front-drive Celicas, too. Three new front-drivers are now on sale: the notchback ST, a $12,500 base model powered by a 103-hp 1.6-liter four-cylinder; the GT, available as a notchback or a hatchback, powered by a 130-hp 2.2-liter four and fitted with a slightly firmer suspension and bigger tire than the similar-looking ST; and the GT-S, which shares the GT’s 2.2-liter four but gets a wider, hatchback-only body, a stiffer suspension, and larger tires. Base price for the GT-S: about $16,000. Each new Celica has its own identity and driving characteristics, but by design they are unmistakably akin. More Celica Reviews From the ArchiveThe bulk of the 100,000 Celica buyers expected for 1990 will opt for the ST. Toyota expects a huge portion of ST buyers to be female. Toyota isn’t worried that this Celica may be branded “a girl’s car.” Rather, it welcomes the idea. The company is tailoring the ST for women: “We want to make our entry-level Celica more competitive for all women,” says Bob McCurry, se­nior vice president at Toyota in the U.S.
In fact, the entire Celica line was de­signed using more input from women than ever before. Designer Makoto Oshima, who penned the original MR2 and the previous Celica, even consulted his wife on the new Celica project. “Most of the design activities are a matter of guessing,” he says, “to try to imagine what women like. Probably my wife is my most important influence.” One example of female input: The cowl and beltline of the new Celica are higher because women tend to sit closer to the steering wheel than men. The visible body panels are said to provide a safer, more secure feeling.Like the last Celica design, the new car’s styling takes some getting used to. This is a round car: the fenders swell smoothly outward, the nose is a long, broad curve, and even the rear window bends into a contoured oval. There isn’t a sharp crease in sight. There’s a reason for the Celica’s ovoid form. Oshima says the curved sheetmetal makes the car stronger than if it were constructed of flat panels. (Consider the strength of Mother Nature’s chicken egg.) This strength also allows thinner, lighter sheetmetal to be used for some of the bodywork. Additionally, Oshima says, the complex curves are a form of copyright: the Celica’s design would be extremely diffi­cult for budding auto industries in Taiwan or Malaysia to copy. Even some bigger, more experienced automakers in South Korea or South America would have trou­ble cribbing from the Celica’s shape. You notice the rigidity of the new plat­form in a chassis that feels secure even on lumpy roads. The suspension on all 1990 Celicas is the same basic setup used on the ’89 All-Trac Turbo: struts with con­trol arms up front and, in the rear, struts, one trailing link, and two lateral links. The rigid structure also helps the steer­ing in the new Celicas remain precise on rough surfaces. The All-Trac Turbo is by far the quick­est Celica of the bunch. As it revs, the 2.0-liter turbo engine emits a sportive, al­most Alfa-like exhaust note. But it doesn’t feel like a 200-hp powerplant­—due, no doubt, to the All-Trac’s porky 3350-pound weight. Turbo lag is virtually nonexistent, but the power seems to come on higher in the rev range than in the strong 2.0-liter turbo of the Eagle Talon/Mitsubishi Eclipse/Plymouth La­ser triplets. Toyota claims that the All-Trac will scoot from 0 to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds, a time we haven’t yet checked ourselves but feel is accurate. Unfortunately, that makes the All-Trac almost a second slow­er to 60 mph than the Eagle Talon TSi AWD—a substantial difference that stems in part from the Celica’s weight disadvantage of roughly 200 pounds and its lack of low-rev torque. (The 2.2-liter naturally aspirated four in the GT and GT-S models was created from last year’s GT-S 2.0-liter engine in an attempt to improve low-rpm torque output.) The All-Trac isn’t the fastest car in its class, but it is one of the most refined. The engine is notable for its silence and smoothness, and the turbo deserves praise for its velvety boost delivery. The fine throttle behavior is due to twin in­take inlets on the turbo, which—along with a higher compression ratio and higher boost—increase power five per­cent over the previous All-Trac’s turbo­charged engine. On the road, the All-Trac tucks into corners with precision, though—like most four-wheel-drive sports cars—it un­dersteers at first. As speed increases, however, the chassis becomes more neu­tral. And once you wind the engine into its lofty power band, the car feels as if it had shed more flab than Richard Simmons. There is a comforting feeling of control in the All-Trac that you won’t find in the two-wheel-drive GT-S. And the flagship Celica also feels less animal­-like than Eagle’s Talon TSi AWD. Per­haps not $4000 less, however. We’re fairly confident that the new front-drive Celicas are good enough to be resounding successes. But we’re wor­ried for the future of the dandy All-Trac Turbo. After all, the competition offers more performance for less money. Still, we’d like to see this sophisticated Toyota keep its place in the wild.SpecificationsSpecifications
1990 Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo
Vehicle Type: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 2+2-passenger, 2-door coupe
PRICE

Base: $22,000
ENGINE
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 122 in3, 1998 cm3
Power: 200 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 200 lb-ft @ 3200 rpm 
TRANSMISSIONS
5-speed manual
DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase: 99.4 in
Length: 174.0 in
Width: 68.7 in
Height: 50.4 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 49/26 ft3
Cargo Volume: 15 ft3
Curb Weight (C/D est): 3350 lb
MANUFACTURER’S PERFORMANCE RATINGS

60 mph: 7.2 sec
Top Speed: 140 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
City/Highway: 19/26 mpg 
Source: caranddriver.com