Civics are good on gas, and the engines and all can be upgraded. Like the things you see on the Fast and Furious. Maybe not with all nitrous, but you get the idea. You can soup it up.

As for Celica, an old buddy of mine, he had a GF who had a red one, and that car could move man. It was really fast, but not very spacious. It had a really low roof, and if you're as tall as me (6'4), I had to bend my neck sideways to sit in the back seat. I found it very cramped, but very fast.

Not to mention you said it has 170k on there already. I would avoid that one my friend.

I'd go with the Civic. The insurance is probably cheap, it's cheaper to maintain, good on gas, and you can do as much upgrading to the car as you want as there are many of body kits out there for them.