Corolla AE110
It is my humble belief that Japanese automakers may have perfected their craft in the late 90s. None more so than Toyota themselves. I have always been a fan of Toyota and my family owned many (though I didn't personally), so when I was looking at cars I paid particular attention to this corolla (I believe it's the 8th generation JDM corolla?)
I saw a few sprinter equivalents, I liked them as they included an RPM meter.
Along the way, I chances upon and e110 which was (in my opinion) in passable condition.
When I say passable, I mean the vehicle could be restored, Vs most other cars which I would consider in salvage/write-off status.
In my nontechnical assessment, I graded the car as follows
- body - passable/repairable. No major signs of visible rust or structural damage.
- engine - average condition for age but serviceable -i felt a tuneup plus replacing belts, electricals etc could do.
-suspension - unsurprisingly, 30 years on Sri Lankan roads meant replace everything.
-interior - passable, cleanable.
- transmission - functional.
The next step was to take it to an inspection company. There are two, so I tossed a coin. I had my heart set on the simian variety but I landed on the other.
The inspection was very interesting. I expected a 5 minute check, but they really took their time, which I appreciated. At Rs7,500 I considered this good value.
The inspection confirmed my assessment. For me, the biggest relief was that the chassis appeared to be reasonable, with no major accidents (usual fender benders etc) - I consider chassis issues to be mostly unfixable.
Suspension, as I suspected, was gone, so they advised replacing the basics - struts and bits, which seemed reasonable.
Engine and transmission, they did a test drive and agreed with me that it was Ok, could do with a service. An understatement, as suspect the current owner hasn't serviced it in 50k km
The owner has the vehicle under "open papers" registered in the previous owners name. I told them that if they transfer it to their name, I can buy it. The owner was able to do this, so I went ahead and purchased the car.
Edited by Nate
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