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The owner of the car was a traditional Sri Lankan - cheap, lazy and ignorant. He was kind enough to not empty the fuel tank, so I was able to make my way to a fuel station and top up the car. A few ghosts had to leave the fuel tank as it had not been filled fully since Chandika was president. The next port of call was the service station. Here we emptied the dark tarry engine oil and put in some fresh (hopefully real) Toyota oil. We next replaced the oil, air, and other filters). After that it was off to the garage to do the suspension and brakes. I can't remember exactly what was done (have to look at the paperwork) but all 4 struts, front CV joints and a lot of odds and ends were replaced. The brakes were overhauled and front rotors (is that the correct term?) polished. I forgot to get the wheel bearings replaced so there's a continuous hum. Need to do that. Total, I think it was 150-200k

Last year, I decided to purchase a second vehicle for travelling around Sri Lanka, as well as regular use. I set a modest (by Sri Lankan standards) budget of LKR 3m + 10%++ for restoration. In this price range, I had a choice between Indian and Japanese vehicles I ruled out the Indian ones, because I wasn't satisfied with build quality and comfort in this price range. I could have got an Alto but I don't consider them safe (too small). This left a few Japanese and Korean vehicles. I steered clear of the Korean ones, not for any bad reason, but because I simply don't understand them. I suspect there may have been some excellent vehicles by Hyundai/Kia. Among Japanese vehicles, I steered clear of Mitsubishi as I have seen rust issues with these cars (older ones). One of the most important things for me was the availability of spares and body parts, as well as the simplicity of the vehicle. I shortlisted the following vehicles: - Toyota corolla - AE100/110, Carina, Camry, Corona etc. - Toyota Station Wagon (90s-2000s) mostly the van variants. - Nissan FB14/15 and N16s - Cefiro/Bluebird/etc I decided not to go with a Carina/Corona simply because I couldn't find a good example, also, being rarer cars, I figured out the body parts may not be available (internals are mostly shared so I didn't foresee major issues there). With Nissans, the FB14s I saw were mostly salvage grade, I saw a few decent fb15s but most had absurd prices in the 3.5-4.5m range. I looked at quite a few N16s but they were either wrecked or the owners wanted high prices. To expand on pricing, I preferred to buy a simple corolla Vs one of the more exotic cars, as I believe these are simpler to maintain. I saw a few corolla vans (wagons) but these were in poor condition. The ae100s I saw were in poor condition. I finally found an ae110 and selected it, as I felt it was in reparable condition. I'll provide more updates on the car here soon. I want to sincerely thank a number of people in this community for their mind help and advice. In particular, @iRage and @matroska

Guys, I was able to purchase the car. Unsurprisingly there's a lot of work to do, but that's fine. I've sorted out the suspension issues, I'm now working on engine issues. Need to get a tuneup done and to check all the sensors, etc. it seems some of the pulleys are misaligned and belts are frayed, so I want to sort that out asap Can someone recommend me a good place to do a tuneup and also some of the engine work needed (e110, 5a engine) - I basically need a place with technical knowledge and patience to do a reasonable job. I'll separately post a thread on the learnings and resources so it can help anyone (hopefully) Edit: I also need to check on the gearbox. At the least, a fluid change and service perhaps? It seems it doesn't downshift easily, but this could be a perception on my part (engine performance etc) which may be OK after a tune-up

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.

Oy ! Enough of this &()#*## ! Ko pinthura ? We are very visual creatures. Give us pics or the only way we can cope with all this is convincing ourselves that this car of yours is nothing more than a figment of your imagination

These guys are pros, a car can only play a very short hide and seek with them 😆

My biggest regret in not buying a wagon is this. I would put a sticker in the back that said something florists, tint the rear windows and drive at a somber pace.

I thought I'll talk about what it's like to visit a garage In Sri Lanka. Interestingly, like most experiences here, there's a way things are done. The test drive Where the owner of the garage identifies what problems exist, and how to mask them while maximizing his earnings. Pole position Depending on how screwed you are, you'll be asked to sandwich your car in a corner of a garage. Between the wrecked insurance write-offs usually. If it's a serious issue, you are parked deep inside so you can't escape. Kota uda phase Here, they disable the car. It is symbolic to remove a tire and or a part of the engine. Ostensibly to remove the part to be fixed or find spares, but mostly to prevent the customer from escaping. Spares You'll be given a few unidentified components and asked to go find them. If the owner feels charitable, he will take the spares on his morning drive. The other work phase Here, everyone forgets your car, and works on other things. Your engine remains open. Crows defecate on your cam shaft, thereby ensuring better lubrication. 4:45pm If your vehicle is a day job, at 4:45 PM, the tired staff will suddenly remember it. Grease monkeys will put everything together at warp speed. What's an extra nut between friends? Something old, something new broken When everything is put together, you will discover one extra nut. You know your engine needs that nut. You'll discover what that nut did, 3 months later, on the highway at 7:54PM It is tradition at this late stage to break something. Cynical people say it's so you return to the garage, but it's actually to remind you of how everything is impermanent (and so you can drive home with a broken AC) and remind yourself to feel gratitude.

When you have explained the fuel tank story, I can imagine the tough conversation you may have faced for haggling the price. 😂 Hope the owner's wife made the final decision price 😄 I remember once we had to wait for the owner's wife to come back from work so she make the final decision she came home and lifted the price by 10K, reminding the owner of the service they had done millions of years ago 😁 Please check the fuel light, it may have blown by the high usage 😉 Good luck with the car, I would say "restoration" If the car could speak, it would say "Thank you for saving me!" Regards, JC

If the oil had not been changed for a long time (was black and thick coming out)....it probably would be prudent to put an engine flush and do another oil change sooner than the 5000km/6month plan. There might be a bit of sludge deposited here and there. Also, it would be a good test to see how the seals are. If there was any sludge blocking any worn out seals they will get unclogged and you will have to replace them (in SL garages discourage you from using flushes because they don't want to replace oil seals...they would much rather have you drive around with a sludgey engine).

Well lucky me, saw your quiz yesterday and just now a Facebook ad appeared as I was wasting time 😛 wait what did I just see? so it’s supposed to be an Avatr 11?

It appears Sri Lanka will go bankrupt again, buying Wagon R's .

Jimny is a wonderful litte car. However, on long distances you do feel the road fatigue. It gets loud and jittery and you feel it. That way a normal kei car (modern ones) are more comfortable. 8mil should be possible for a car that is around the 2-3 year mark since it is a kei car. Needless to say the Jimny Sierra will be significantly more expensive as the engine is a 1.5L. Fun fact...the Jimny Nomad (i.e. 5 door Jimny) was launched in Japan on the 31st of January. Went to look at the thing on the 1st of February. Not a bad car. I was told the order books were closed because there had been 50,000+ orders and delivery time is nearly 2 years. As for the prices in general...they all say X upwards, so the price quoted would be the lowest spec'd price, and for some of them, you really don't want the lowest spec. For 58mil you are probably looking at the 2.7L petrol LC250. That thing is horrendous. Do not buy it. The car is too heavy for the 2.7L petrol engine. The 2.8L diesel is barely sufficient but it is out of breath doing a 110 on the highway. Corolla for 14.5mil you are looking at a gasoline variant, probably a WxB closer to the 2-3 year mark, in which case you want the 3 year old car instead of the 2 year old car (Toyota sales people themselves say that the petrol Corolla was made to be cheaper to attract business clients as part of th eplan to phase out the Axio). Then, on the other hand, the Axio is probably newer than the quoted Corolla, but what sucks is you only get a business model, so it is very spartan. The new Swift...it is a nice car to drive but there have been engine reliability concerns. Mainly to do with the configuration rather than the engine itself. For a same amount of money I would buy the Vezel over the Corolla (especially if the latter is a petrol). Vezel is more refined, feels more roomy and more practical. Not much change in the Raize than what Lankans are used to. Same with the kei cars over there. Same old song, different melody. There really isn't much improvement in terms of ride and handling from the previous models. Yaris...the 1L still sucks. Hybrid or the 1.5L petrols are the decent ones. Much better ride than the Vitz. Interior still feels cheap and lacking in most grades. If you are going for the Hybrid or Petrol you might as well go for the Yaris Cross. Slightly rolly polly ride compared to the hatch but quite nimble. Not much different in terms of practicality over the hatchback but at least you get the added clearence (and hopefully AWD) but mostly the interior feels a bit more refined. If going for a Hybrid Yaris might as well go for an Aqua. Same platform, same power and drive train but a bit more refined packaging (that is how they market it here as well..Yaris for the youthful, Aqua for the more mature). Hilux...what you really want is the 2.8L diesel (same engine as the 150 and 250 Prados). This is not sold in Japan (except for a few grey imports) so it will have to be sourced from Thailand. The 2.8 is much more potent than the 2.4 which also is not too bad. The GR Sport of the JDM Hilux is mostly a dress-up kit. The export (Thai) GR Sport actually has more power, more torque and better suspension tuning (so again...export model is better than the JDM).

Something important you touched on here is your father's age and the difficulty of driving in the night (and any time really) in Colombo. I would focus on comfort and ease of driving. Also is there any way he could hire/try whatever vehicle he wants to buy first, that way he would know if it works for him? I know Sri Lanka has a few places to hire vehicles, though I don't know if they have those vehicles available.

Dude ! Oh dear....DUDE ! Why ? That Prado was the last proper Prado that had a balance of the 70 series ruggedness and 100 series comfort...a nice balance between analog and digital. The 120 was too wagonish and soft. The 150 carried the wagon-ness but towards the end went a bit back to its roots with gruntier engien choices but still was too digital. The new one is a big fat pig. So..yeah..sad to see her go. I don't necessarily think the used car prices are going to tank that much...especially for the larger vehicles. There are people quoting 77 (petrol...stay away) to 88 (diesel...manageable but a bit gutless on the top end) mil for a new Prado 250 (and again this is supposed to be the landed cost of the car...,nothing about the importers' margins). Compared to that, even a 10-year-old Prado for around 60% - 70% of that price seems reasonable and more affordable. Those who claimed a new Alto would be around 4 to 5 mil are now quoting 5 to 6 mil. So...I suppose flaring up season has ended and now its the actual roasting period. Despite the hoopla I don't think people will be able to afford bringing down as many cars as our people believe. But then our people are known to make really poor financial decisions. I think this is the ONLY good reasoning. ALL other reasons spell nothing but doom to the automotive landscape of SL. So let's pray that this guy had a very determined LC loving wife.

The surprise is my father was asking an insane price so no one going to commit to buying, and the guys even counter offered 500k more on top of his insane price so he couldn't change his work. This is the 1st time this has happened to us and we have never heard it before. So there could only be a few reasons, - Our LC Prado should be the best of the best - No way, it was 26 year old girl but in very decent condition. - The price hike going to be so bad, and the used car market going to be upside down - It sounds like that's not the case. - The wife going to divorce if the guy does not come home with a Prado, so the guy was so desperate to buy a one 🤣 - Possible.

Your best way forward would be to call the import control/customs department and get information directly from them. Despite everything they are actually quite good at providing info. Things are so fluid right now no one other than the source themselves will be able to give you any reliable information.

Oh my lord! Posted only a few hours and you guys uncovered it 😂 It is SAAB 900 Turbo

Wise words but money does play a part...so think about how much money you can afford to spend as well. You don't want to end up starving yourself for the sake of fixing a car. At the end of the day it is just a car and your health and family are more important. But yes...it is better to do it properly even at a slightly higher cost. If not in the long run you end up spending more. Glad to help. You should come back and keep us updated. There are oldies here who would like to see and help a decent new restoration.

From my very limited knowledge about European cars, they're very expensive in terms of repairs and spare parts. If 17 million is not a significant amount for you, go for it, but if it is all you have, I would advice against it unless you have a very high income. A friend of mine had a minor accident and it costed him half a million to replace the front grill, etc.

Oh, I wish I could shell out that much. I might just bet on a 2017 Swift tanking a little and see if that would work out. If not, I'll probably keep my current car. I'm just a 24 year old who got lucky to be able to afford his first car at 23.

Happy to be of help, all the best with restoration.

Just to be clear...we are not asking to see you ! We want to see the car

I am not exactly sure what they did. I think they drained the fluid and took the bottom (sump?) off as well as something else. The fluid was dark, felt great to replace it with fresh fluid.

Thank you JC. Yes, restoration is the word - my heart goes out for the car if that makes sense. Such a fine vehicle and so sad to see it abused. I'm slowly working on it.

We could have had similar options if only there were decent cars to trade in, and still our guys would tamper the mileage in hope for a better trade in price 😁

But what is their profit margin (or commission)? Working backwards from the stated price, the car price ends up being the average auction price + plus miscellaneous other charges. Now for someone based in Japan you will make a bit out from these miscellaneous charges but definitely not enough for both the Japan based exporter and local importer. Why will I not be surprised if these guys after some time would say they need to raise the prices because of high operational costs in SL? Also I have seen some posts from these guys showing what the increased price from the previous ones could be due to the "taxes" and "restrictions". At the day I don't think anyone can say what the prices are until the first batch of cars come along followed on by the first few direct imports. The agents should seriously consider getting down certified used cars from their Japanese/Thai counter-parts (FYI...sometimes the cheapest cars are newly traded-in cars that you find at dealers which either will go to the used car section or get sent out to auction). Seriously...when it comes to cars our masses either become stupid or become the most devious and vile humans on the planet.

Hi. Just point out your requirements and budget. Otherwise no one can advice on any car.

A lot of people don't seem to realise that even though the LT thresholds were increased, the increase on the other taxes does not make it cheaper. Seriously. Aren't we teaching basic arithmetic at schools anymore? Also..thr whole definition of the Year of Manufacture is quite confusing. All this time what was taken into account was the Year of First registration. That is what all the documents state. Finding the actual year of manufacture (and the month) is quite hard and does not really make sense when you consider how manufacturers stock vehicles based on production volume, allocation, etc... Then with the definition of Year of Manufacture and the resolution when the Year of Manufacture is not attainable you pretty much end up with a year less than what the limit is. So for used cars it ends up being 2 years, used vans 3 years, etc... Even if the vehicle is brand new the agent will have to make sure that the vehicle is fresh off the production line and not from ex-stock (which may not work properly considering how allocation might work). Opening up imports has never been about giving people vehicles. That was just the facade to garner votes. Isn't it funny that all the 101 million car importers claiming ridiculously low prices have simply disappeared? Anyway...cars are an unattainable commodity in Sri Lanka. These prices are not going to come down for a generation at least unless you simply make people lose money and collapse the financing system.

So a big update... Last December, I completed the first 5,000 km run without an oil change as recommended (After oil changes at 1,000 km and 2,500 km intervals) on 5w30 Toyota Oil (SN). On the 1,000 km and 2,500 km runs, there was no oil burn. However, on the 5,000 km run the oil level had dropped by about a third between the minimum and maximum points on the dip stick. Hybrid Hub adviced me to change from 5w30 to 10w30. Running it now, almost 3,000 km done! @iRage If you were in my shoes and noticed oil burn exactly 8,500km after an overhaul with 5w30, would you be concerned? I'm going to run out of the overhaul warranty in like 3 months, so I'm pushing the car to run 5,000 km ASAP to evaluate.

OK it surely is the age of Chinese EV invasion in Ceylon..let’s look at something that should intrigue you better. hope I’m not revealing too much.

Yes an ATF swap would also be prudent. Exchangers work well in pushing out the fluid but not necessarily heavy residue and sludge. So you will have to use some kind of substance to break down the residue.

Would a full ATF flush with an exchanger machine be a good idea? Dropping the pan wouldn't drain all the old fluid right? Then again if the car has a transmission filter it'd be a good idea to drop the pan, clean the magnets and replace the filter but in that case the fluid change wouldn't be as complete as if it's done with an exchanger hmm.

Now, out of the blues, all these importers with plenty of stocks of normal cars suddenly have plenty of stocks of pickup trucks for immediate import I don't even know what is going on...does the latest gazette only open up goods transport and mass public transport vehicles ?

This is very true. Few years back I managed to source an EP71 in a very remote farm. Inspected the car with the owner - his asking price was also low even considering the car needed a paint job- and yet I offered him a lower amount to which the guy agreed. Dude went inside the house to fetch some papers, and returned saying ' Denne na mahattaya, gedara kattiya kamathi na wahane denawata' I wanted to respond 'ehenam #$@$@$ da @$@$@ Ad ekak damme' but I had already wasted enough time so I headed back.

Probably should be okay. I just don't know what they put out of the factory (99.9% certain it is what is in the book). Since the car's service manual reflects the Japanese regulated service cycle it says 3 years from new and then replace every other shaken inspection (which gives it a 4 year life span).

Okay I won't.... I am not saying it is in SL...see...not a word I wouldn't worry about it at all in Japan. Just drop it off at the dealership and they call me back when it is ready. Geez...that is pricey just for coolant.

Grab some Toyota coolant from Toy#ta L#nka or Mitsubishi coolant from Unit#d Mot#rs

Guys, just a heads up, seeing a Facebook page called RMD Trading making rounds on FB claiming that they import and their cars are already reserved. I checked in Makola and they don't seem to have an office even. Looks very shady.

Mitsubishi Delica D5

Correct . Hyundai i45/Sonata

TATA 1510 LATEC body

So, it has been a while- no ones picked up the clue. Borgward Isabella is the answer. this image is from the Facebook post about the planned project - do not have an idea what happened eventually.

Howdy folks

Not even that i have seen few advertisements in FB market place with below market prices. However when inquired i get the feeling that they are not genuine sales. I believe there is a racket to bring the current market prices down by a certain segment. In a country where majority do not pay or underpay their taxes there is no way the government can afford to reduce taxes on spending. This is the only way we can recover taxes. Only victims in this process is very few people who actually pay taxes majority being middle class salaried who end up paying taxes up to 36% on their salary and when they save that get taxed too. If ever there is to be justice they should not allow anyone to bring down a vehicle who has not paid their taxes for the last five years. Better still may be imposed a license system based on taxes paid.

Bl**dy h*** ! DON"T ! Get it off your mind ! Just don't !!

Was bored and did this again. Before and after adding my touches to the old Samurai! Wherever you are my old friend here's to you!