I raced one before. The guy I raced had a black 2000 Celica GT manual tranny with all the nice features, but it was totally stock. The only thing I have right now is a catback exhaust. By the way, the GT has a 1.8L engine with 140hp and it has 125 ft/lb of torque. Basically we were close from the beginning (i had a bad launch plus i have a slightly slipping clutch), we were basically neck and neck into 2nd, but as soon as I hit about 5500rpm in 2nd i basically pulled away from him. I didnt win by much (it wasnt a long race) maybe about 1 1/2 car lengths. With my 2.5" piping I was probably even with him in torque, maybe even a bit less, thats why we were probably even in the beginning, but in the end I won pretty easily.

-Celica-
HP: 140 @ 6400rpm
Torque: 125 @ 4200rpm

-Eclipse-
HP: 140 @ 6000rpm
Torque: 130 @ 4800rpm

IMHO, basically we Eclipse owners have a typical advantage. And as HadesOmega said correctly, we do have higher torque (but not much more), and basically the same HP although we hit it at a lower RPM. Plus if you have any mods any eclipse should easily beat a GT, in acceleration and top speed. And the GT-S isnt that much better, it has 180HP, but only 130 ft/lb of torque... same accel but more top end... an eclipse with a few simple mods should be able to at least match a GTS. Theyre nice looking cars, but they dont really have that massive performance that you would expect.

If anyone thinks im wrong, please let me know :)

NeoVB
1997 Eclipse GS