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Greetings Gentlemen, been a while, still at it!

Now you know why cars like the Galant, Box Lancer, Pajero, Delica were used by temples back in the day. Most Ceres/Marinos in SL are 5A-FE and 4A-FE variants. Silver top was the common 4A-GE engine. Then at the early stage of the facelift it came with a Blacktop mated to a 5MT, which lasted for a little less than a year before the Blacktop was put together with a 6MT. So ironically the rarest Ceres/Marino is the one with a 4AGE Blacktop and 5MT. Some worthless trivia: the only E100 to have a 6MT was the Ceres/Marino and the Station Wagon. Sedan, Levin/Trueno all had switched over to the E110 series by the time the 6MT transmission was launched by Toyota.

Update : Wikipedia's Kia page directed me to the Korean Wiki and I know the model now. Exact model is a Kia with a Greek name that Toyota also used for a hardtop sedan in the 1990's running a mazda engine

oooh....triple gem... so that means the car was in a temple. So we're looking for the car that belongs to the chief priest of the Kirulapone temple?

Just so you know...once you upgrade to 1.5L, that doesn't mean you can swap it again and make it a 2.0L (you know...Type Rs and all). It is 500cc above "mul akruthiya" unless you change the fuel type

I don't agree with the last, 🤣 Coffee brown is so in demand now

this is more helpful than all the visual clues combined interesting trivia times I see -if the chinese EV's start flooding the markets. we'll rely more on hints than visual cues since these have high visual similarities.

This is the issue I have. Everyone in China has leaped into the EV market that there really isn't much difference between 10 or 16 in longevity or appearance.

Dang it..when I saw just the doors I was thinking it was an Avatr...but the lights are not it..

Good lord no 😂 I meant the Deepal S05. Deepal is a subsidiary of Changan. Changan entered the local market few years back with their light-duty trucks and mini trucks. Deepal is pronounced differently but the spelling is the same that is used by Sri Lankans called “Deepal” (දීපාල්) So final answer : Deepal S05.

No no men....he meant Deepal....apparently it is not pronounced the way we do (as in Deepal the South Asian masculine name). I don't know about the commercial vehicles but Deepal is a subsidiary of Changan Auto who is a part of Changan Mazda. It so happens that the Mazda 6e is based on the Deepal L07. Other upcoming models include the Mazda CX-6e which is supposed to be based on the S07.

Yes but no. The Lexus ES shares the platform with the Camry; the TNGA GA-K platform. This is also used by cars like the Avalon , Lexus RX, Harrier, RAV4, Alphard, etc... The Crown uses the TNGA GA-L platform which is used by the Lexus LS, Mirai, Lexus RC. The Crown SEDAN still uses the GA-L platform. The Crown Sport, Estate and Crossover on the other hand uses the GA-K platform used in the Camry (interestingly so does the Century SUV but modified and updated to ride like a carpet in the sky).

Ha ha, That mirror is Toyota, so must be the Crown

Couldn't figure out the model, so I have gone to Co Pilot, and these are the questions from him 🤣 If you have any other angles or images of the vehicle? Where the photo was taken (e.g., country or region)? Any known details like the brand, year, or type (SUV, sedan, etc.)?

If I am not mistaken, the majority of the Tercel Wagons came to the Central Bank, and the plate numbers were 14 Sri

So that's the Toyota Tercel 😁 With the provided clues, I have used CoPilot to find the answer, but I have learned something new. Thanks to @iRage for the extra context I have only known the early model Tercel Wagon, and I have a soft spot for them. , Keen to own a one but it's hard to find a good condition car.

Not fair...that front-end was not common in Asia. The front with the side-mounted parking lamps with the "inverted angle" were mainly USDM variants. This was the manufacturer's first FWD car. One of the very few FWD cars in the world where the engine was mounted longitudinally (yes a FWD car where the engine was mounted like in an RWD car)

Sorry for the late reply, good to see the conversation is going in a steady phase. The Delica P25 is a great Van, looks great and is one of the most capable Van's made for offroad trips (I believe) I have spotted a White P25 Van posted not long ago 53 - xxxx, and I know the history of that Van probably better than the current owner. 😅 The Vans on the Island are old and not many maintained well. Again, this could be the same for any of the old vehicles due to several reasons. I would go with the Liteace or the Townace due to my personal experience with the Delica and the Townace 4WD we had. Up until 1992 - 1993 the Townace and Liteace used to be two different body shapes, which they later shared the same body but with minor cosmetic differences. So you have two different models to choose from, and Townace of that era seems more roomy than the Liteace I don't think you can reach out to the later model with your budget, but you might be lucky. The D21 is a great Ute, I have had a one in the Island, but not a L200 in the island, I have had a couple of L200's here in New Zealand. If you need the reliability, I would go with the Nissan D21, but be mindful that there are a lot of tampered Nissan D21 in the market on the Island, so you need to be very careful. If you are buying any 4WD vehicle, please make sure the 4WD is working or at least the prop shaft and the front diff haven't been removed (This is specially valid for the vans as people on the Island used to think 4WD is unnecessary for Van's) Feel free to DM any car sale posts that you would like to check. Regards, JC

Yes..decide the models you are okay with but don't keep a huge laundry list of models as well. Pick which ever is the best you can find from that list of models. They have somewhat of a more accepted reputation. Yes..they can give you a comprehensive report. I would also take it to a specialist garage or agent after the car checks inspection. See below. Personally, once I am "more" interested in the car after the car checks "thumbs up"; I might take it to the agent for a somewhat technical deep dive as well as to get an idea of how much it would cost to get all the issues found between car checks and the agent. 30-40 year old car. There will be issues. Plus you will have to do some preemptive maintenance no matter what (see the thread on buying a car in SL). Although this estimate would be somewhat exaggerated, it does give you an idea of what the upper limit of the costs could be. Considering the age of the car a follow up inspection/assessment at the agent might not be viable. So you may might be better off taking it to a specialist garage for this. The seller might get tired of going up and down but so far my friends and I have been lucky. Honest sellers will not have anything to hide so they would be open to the inspections (albeit you might have to pay a bit for gas money, etc..). The inspections are an extra cost for you but would be worth it to protect your investment. Yes but no. Some parts would be easy to find as they are parts common to a lot of popular Toyota models that were in production until recently. Some parts, again mostly exterior and interior components, will be hard to find. Yes...I have had a 1st gen RAV4 in East Timor and drove it on the sand quite a lot. To be fair, the CRV did quite well as well but the RAV4 was a bit better. Like Gummybear mentioned, the manual has a center diff lock, but the auto will be fine. Both cars will do well on sand as long as it is not too deep. As for parking in the sand...parking in soft sand is not the ideal for any 4WD (trying to take off can potentially dig the wheels in). So as long as you are sensible about airing down the tires and park in the hardest/least-deep sandy area you will be fine. If you deflate the tires you will have to get yourself a tire inflator as well to pump the air back up when its tie to go home. To be honest i don't see you deflating the tire just to drive down a few meters down the beach. So be mindful about the track you take. I have never had to deflate my tires as I kept away from the loose-sand and kept my momentum. This applies to any 4WD you buy (albeit a proper old-school 4WD will make things easier). When new my 1st gen RAV4 gave about 8-9 kmpl (avg). After many years of use the fuel efficiency will depend on the condition of the car (how much the engine and transmission has worn out, wheel tracking, fuel system cleanliness, etc..) Finding a manual for most of these models is going to be tough. Nothing wrong with a plain old fashioned automatic if that is the best you come up with. There are transmission repair specialists who can sort out these old automatic gearboxes. Also, when looking in to cars like RAV4s and Terios, make sure it is (still) AWD/4WD and the system has not been messed around with. Back in the day a lot of people disconnected the rear wheels from the 4WD system in some misguided attempt to increase fuel efficiency. It does not work that way and all it does is mess up the car.

Parts wise, generally Toyota parts should be plenty, but having owned a gen1 RAV4 I can say it's not that easy to find parts. As long as the car is properly maintained you won't have big issues to worry about. They will be ok on the beach as they are light weight. Make sure not to throttle hard then you won't get bogged down. Also air down a bit for better traction on sand. Auto to manual is dependent on the user. The RAV4 gen 1 manual you could lock the diffs to have 4wd. Where as on the auto there is no switch as such. Fuel consumption wise there won't be a massive difference. But for sure make sure the condition is good specially with the automatic gearboxes

Send me the link for the Delica. forget English number plate arguments. Thats for dumb people. Specially since you are not a local,aint nobody gonna care. Keep an open mind, if you see something decent in the budget then go for it. Actually SL is the cheapest place to own a Delica. In the west it's much higher. Even Japan is running dry thanks to being imported there.

3M rubbing compound = Yes...available in the market. Perhaps even something like B-cut or whatever they call it in SL will work (and it is a a lot more softer) Elbow grease = considering this is the strength of your arm and the effort you put in to it, it will be available in SL as long as you are in SL Not in SL so I am not sure who is best...but look for places like KleenPark, MagCity, etc...(no idea how their work is). If you know a good paint/body repair guy he too will be able to do it. Where are you ?

Thanks @Hyaenidae "3M rubbing compound (39044) and elbow grease" : Are these available in SL market?

WD40 won't do anything. Like @Hyaenidae mentioned, you need to give it a proper polish (body and window). If you are not into (or don't have experience with) home/diy car detailing, you might want to give it to a professional. If you do not know what you are doing, you might make it worse by scratching off too much paint or scratching the windows.

This will mainly be applicable for body parts and will be common for almost all old cars. I would lean more towards whichever car is the most honest and is in the best shape for its age. The 4WD variants will. They have old-school 4WD systems that were common to proper off-roaders (on a smaller scale). Where reliability is concerned, it won't be any different than any of the other cars. It totally and solely depends on how well the car has been looked after in its past. The only thing that changes is you have a larger pool of cars to select from. The other advantage is that for vehicles like Hiluxes there are plenty of aftermarket parts (mechanical and exterior/interior). No but feel free to DM the links directly over (to me atleast..I am sure the other's wouldn't mind as well). Montero iOs are actually somewhat rare. Most are Pajero iOs imported from Japan which have the GDI engine. Back in the day these GDI engines gave issues due to the poor fuel quality in SL. Since the local mechanics back then had no idea about the technology they completely messed up these engines. Thus, you want to find a Montero iO, the export model of the Pajero iO which came with a non GDI engine. Again...trouble-free/reliability will depend on the car's history. Body parts will be harder to come by than a Vitara/Escudo. Sadly quite hard in Sri Lanka. Get the car is best possible shape. Then be prepared to do some preemptive maintenance before you start using it on a daily basis. If you pick a car in good shape and fix all the niggles and attend to the pre-emptive maintenance requirements at start the car will give you plenty of decent motoring. It is one of those Sri Lankan things that make no sense what-so-ever. Sri Lankans have some falls myths that they like to live by with the hope of trying to increase value of the car and show-off the car to be newer than what it is. So yes... English-numbered cars are more expensive just because they (were imported in to the country later..or registered later and) have English numbers For the kind of cars you are looking at you are going will find the same model with both non-English and English plates. I would say forget about all the Sri Lankan myths/beliefs and just go with the best car you can get for your money. Nope...these are society's myths and beliefs...like some numbers are lucky..some numbers being unlucky...etc...

Hey welcome to the forums. Hope you find the information you are looking for and we will be able to help you find the correct vehicle for you. On the registration numbers Sri Lanka used letters from the alphabet in the early days and moved to letters from the word Ceylon and then in the 1950s it was changed to numbers and shri which ultimately became -. In 2000/2001 the system changed to have numbers starting from GA for all types of vehicles and it was short lived as then it was decided that cars should have one series, buses another, bikes another and so on and so forth. So in 2004/2005 cars got numbers starting from KA, buses from NA, motorbike from TA etc and when they ran out at KZ-9999 ABA replaced the car numbers. The whole English number vehicles attract a better market is a local market thing. If a vehicle has three English letters they think it will have better market as they are newer. Do your due studying in what you want and then purchase. I would have said to look at the Freelander the first gen but they are laden with issues but would have been the ideal partner for you. Not in the country right now and I have honestly not been paying attention to the market these last few months so I am not sure of the market right now.

The truck I meant -anyways I think the answer is the Kia Ceres. Which If Im not mistaken runs Mazda engine like Kias of that era The Toyota Ceres of course would have had the 4AGE - most in SL run on the 5A.

Its a 4'11 carbon board :). I also carry some surfboards with me, if the waves are better for surfing. I want to build a rack on the inside so I dont have to keep the boards on the top of car, since I feel its safer when I switch boards. I really like how the p25 looks personally, would the p25 have a similar reliabilty or a would be a good option as the liceace/townace? If not, between the lightace/town ace, what would I be opting more for ? I found a really nice looking nissan d21 for 3.5 m, a few for 1.5 m. I dont understand how the price difference can vary so much though. For all the vehicles. Its kind of hard to navigate at this point 😛 I saw a few l200's as well. Any preference between the nissan or mitsubishi? My primary objective is a trouble free vehicle that I dont have to restore or do much work on. considering this, amongst these options, what would be your number 1 pick ?

off topic but could not help notice: the nomenclature strongly suggested you live down under. Just noticed your location mentioned under your avatar. Do the Kiwi's also use the word UTE?

WD40 won't "cut it", you need a professional cut and polish or you can use some 3M rubbing compound (39044) and elbow grease.

*Peaking* Did someone say Star Wagon? They are excellent vans,but the ones you buy for 4 mil often need more work. A mint example goes for around 6. If you can find one for 3-3.5 and spend a mil on a mild restore-mostly mechanical, because lankan van drivers are cheap bastards. That is the best option. Capabilities are often matched with the big boy suvs. YouTube for videos of overlanding. Or get a non GDI Montero io. Very capable. Patrols/Pajero and the likes are still very capable provided you either restore one or buy a restored example. Both options cost more than 4 mil. Or you could get a double cab for cheap and restore around 4 mil (careful you might overspend) Read my thread on the Delica if you like to know more.

Three gems men ! Three ! The three makes a huge difference. I am sad to hear that you relate mini cars strictly with hotwheels. You really should go out and explore the town a bit more

Dude...it is a wagon. Why on earth would a hatchback want to race a wagon. That is like a young dude challenging a pregnant lady with a 3-year-old hanging off of her arm to a 100m race (before finding out the lady can run).

Did the civic hear you say this? That the Premio and Allion has better driving pleasure than it? If so your Civic is probably venting out it's anger on you I think Misnad's Civic is a bit of an exception after it heard him say the Allion/Premio has better driving pleasure than it - "hell hath no fury..." and all that. Eesh... just run the Civic Like a regular jap car. Don't wanna jynx it -but mine's only been acting up in the A/C department.

In Japan it is doing okay. No significant issues apart from a few service campaigns and minor recalls. Although it was popular at launch sales have been dipping since the launch of the Corolla Cross and upscaling of the Yaris Cross (mostly thanks to Toyota marketing). In SL....I think we are still yet to see how it will do. Right now, the ony reason it is popular is its 1.5L engine (thus lower import duties) thus greater value for money compared to its competitors.

I know a guy in Rathnapura that has 3 Alfa Romeo cars. Even he spends less money and more sleep than you guys! But for me the reliability winner is my 37YO Delica. They dont make them like they used to! Hows the new Vezi? Very popular locally.

I used to regularly advocate for the same ... lancers and axelas were some of the cars I used to recommend all the time. A couple of observations that I've made of late regarding the above has made me think twice on this. Due to (3) the honest Lancer/Axela buyers do not sell their cars and potential buyers having realized the overpriced nature of Toyotas have started looking into these options. As a result (1) is no longer valid. There are very few good Lancers/ Axelas for sale and they go for eye-watering prices. In fact if you tried a bit hard you could find a decent Toyota for much cheaper nowadays. (2) is correct - there are a LOT of Toyota's for sale now and due to this competition prices have gone down somewhat and sellers are likely to accept offers well below the listed price.

Mazda engine on that??? I had one of them with 4AGE Silvertop when I was a Student here.