Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance 00 Celica GT (First Post and some performance questions)

To start this off I have limited knowledge on cars or modifications but I am a fast learner.

I realize I over payed on this Celica but that is besides the point. I am 16 years old and bought this as a first car.

I own an Automatic 2000 Celica GT in which I bought for $5200. I have not changed anything since I bought the car and it still looks just like it did in the pictures.

Pics Here
http://imgur.com/a/iKYt9

Things I have to fix
Driver side door doesn't lock (Most likely actuator problem)
Front left Ball Joint and strut/shock
Back strut/shock sounds like it needs to be fixed

I will order all the parts and fix them at home.
Est cost - $600


Now that I am done with the back story I have a few questions.
I seem to be getting low gas mileage. The stock car gets 27-33
Since the fuel tank is 14.5 gallons and the minimum my car gets is 27 mpg, I should be able to go at least 390 miles? Wrong. My car was at 320 miles and the fuel tank was almost on E. Maybe 20 miles left who knows.

My car is not stock as you can see in the pictures though.
Another question
The car is slow as hell. I was thinking of adding a few upgrades and such to increase performance but I do not want to kill my MPG. What is something I can do to increase performance without killing my fuel economy.

I was thinking about turbo charging the car but from what I have heard that only increases the performance at most 25%.

Yes I understand you have guides on how to increase performance but I am asking the community as a whole because I know I already have some small upgrades.

Thanks for any replies or suggestions.

Post on newcelica.org. This forum is dead.

To answer your questions:

1. 27 mpg is about average during the winter. 33 is about average during the summer. This is what I get. I saw 33mpg on mine for the first time this month. I normally get around 27 during winter.

2. Any bolt-ons you add will not significantly affect your gas mileage. With that said, there's not much you can do to really get a power increase out of a GT, besides the typical I/H/E.

3. A turbo kit can add up to 50% power, but that will definitely hurt gas mileage. Turbo charging will cost upwards of $6k after installation and tuning.

4. If I were you, I'd focus on looks rather than performance. You have a really good base to work off of.