Noobdriver

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.

Yeah, I'm assuming personal car imports will be opened up towards the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year. Didn't the CBSL Governor in an interview say that he wants to protect people who have paid exorbitant prices for cars, while at the same time, new cars shouldn't be at a price point where everyone wants a newer model? Also, I noticed you mentioned that Sri Lankan importers mostly get cars from the junk section. Do we as consumers have the ability to determine the quality of the vehicle? Are auction sheets helpful or are they forged?

I guess there will be no personal vehicle imports... yet. xD Just public transport and commercial usage-based vehicles will be allowed for now.

Oh damn, the Corolla Sport only comes in the 1.8L variant now? I really wanted to buy that car.. I guess not now Also as a side note. I have a slightly different opinion to yours. I feel like cars like GP1, Vitz will not take a big hit. Instead, inflated cars like Swift (Almost 9 million) and GP5 (About 8 million) will take decent hits. Also, cars like Axio (10-15 mil), Premio (About 20 mil), Allion (About 18 mil), Vezel (10-15 mil) will take massive hits as the second-hand reconditioned cars will be on par with those prices and so provide less incentive to buy an older car for that price. But I agree, overly inflated Kei Cars such as Wagon R, Spacia and the likes will take a strong beating in terms of pricing as well. At their market price, brand new 1L options would be way more superior than their 660cc engines lol. In the end, the middle class dream of owning a car (Not a decent car, just owning a car) will not be an easy feat despite the imports I guess.

What's everyone's thoughts about the recent announcement of confirmed imports and the different companies releasing pricing on any fairly OK vehicle over 15-20 mil.

No no, I was not referring specifically by brand name. By brand name, I meant to say high value vehicles. I guess you're right, its hard to value based on CIF alone.

I agree man, just frustrated. Also, I meant the "Corolla Sport" hatchback. It's super rare here, only a handful made it here. I believe by WXB you're referring to an Axio, which is a market of its own. On paper, most people are making lots of money, but in reality, owning a car is a far-fetched dream for many. I think everyone deserves to own a car. I myself worked extremely hard to be able to afford a Toyota Vitz, which too had hefty repair bills including an engine overhaul. I might be lucky to be able to afford all this at 24, but man I feel bad for people suffering in rain on motorbikes, etc. The whole reason I had to get a car was to commute back and forth from the office. I don't have the courage to drive a motorbike in the Sri Lankan roads. Finding a tuk is a royal pain, sometimes I stay without a Tuk till 10pm at work. And usually when I wanna goto work, I have to wait till 11am to get one. I got lucky, but most aren't in a place to do so despite having decent earnings.

Not worth it. You'll have to remove the factory seal (to remove the glass layer) and no matter who seals it, in a few months, rain water/water from car wash will seep in and destroy everything in the inside. Just find reconditioned replacements.

I'm not sure where you got the numbers from on the Corolla Sports. I was actively following them and I saw one go for 15 Mil (Black). There was another one sold but I'm not 100% sure of the price and specifics, but not that high. I think our tax system is extremely flawed. They take a certain set of specs to define the tax, which I don't think is reasonable. For example, if you're buying a car on a budget, you only have a few options if you're looking for something around the early 2010s, at the 6 million mar, it's either going to be a junk 660c Kei Car or an old beaten Swift/Vitz (I don't think you can even buy a Stingray for 7 million now, which is hilarious). I guess they should push more towards the more higher end cars (for example easing on Corollas, Camrys) and taxing on higher-end cars like the Audis, BMWs, Range Rovers. Focusing mostly on the CIF value and having progressive slabs of tax based on the CIF value and not just the engine size. That would make a more fairer system (At the moment a 2018 Premio costs way more than a 2018 Audi A3 or a BMW 3 series) and a Honda Vezel and Honda Civic are both touching A3 prices lol. On top of increased import taxes, have a decent amount of annual tax on higher end cars too. That will have a steady flow of revenue for the government at the same time and discourage pricier imports. If the average car is not going to be cheap, we will not see a drop in the number of accidents we see in the roads. Motorcycles, Tuks, Buses - I'm fed up of them at this point. 🥲. If they could afford better vehicles, they wouldn't be driving them, and due to the smaller size of Motorcycles and Tuks, they tried to squeeze in from tight spots and end up damaging your vehicle.

Not really, you can get the physical cards from RMV Werahera now. I walked in to renew my temporary permit, they stamped it and renewed it and asked me to goto a specific counter. At that counter, I had to sign a request letter and come back in like 3 hours to collect the card. I went back when it was nearing their closing time and the card was ready. Entire process time investment: 45 minutes (excluding commute).

I guess we'll never see the days of buying a decent Toyota Sedan for 5M and newer decent sedans will always go for 12.5M+. That being said, I want the new Corolla Sport, it's such a good leaking beast. That shit will probably cost as much as a house I'm assuming xD. -- My idea of opening up imports would be to allow more budget-friendly cars like the family hatches and sedans falling under $15,000-$20,000 USD and for the love of God make 1.3L cars a little affordable. 1L cars are just undrivable even though I find 1.3L cars super lacking as well. At the same time, have higher-end cars not available at all for imports so that people will hold on to their luxurious cars longer and we only import what he hopefully need. Afterall, a Corolla is a need (I know there's cheaper cars, but come on, a little bit of comfort is all we ask for) and a BMW is want (I really want a BMW.......)

First of all, inspect the car in person and see if it has any obvious issues and if it does, decide if you want to bother dealing with it. Then check service records. They might say that they have service records and they'll hand it to you when you take the car home but do not fall for it. Tell them you won't even consider closing the deal without seeing and inspecting the service records. It is not very hard to throw a piece of paper into a file and keep that file somewhere safe (especially if that could make a vehicle you own more valuable when you re-sell). If the car has been less than 5 years since registration (rare these days), I would expect full-service records. If it is more, then I would expect 5 years of service records. Ask them if you could take pictures of the records or get a photocopy. Also, inspect that the service intervals have been met properly and tally the mileage across intervals and current. The emission records would also be able to help you tally the mileage. But don't fret too much over the mileage, these are very easy to play around. Pay close attention to the repairs done, and see if they've used genuine parts or used Chinese knock-off parts on repairs. If It is not genuine parts, just walk away. They never loved their car and never cared for it. No point wasting time on a car like that, you might have to redo all those exact repairs soon. One quick trick that I kinda realized is the oil viscosity during service intervals. If the car has not been modified (engine/ECU), and if the viscosity suddenly changed from a factory-recommended viscosity to something higher, it might be a clear indication of a potential engine oil burn. Ask them why they changed the oil viscosity and note down their response somewhere. Based on all the groundwork you did above, find a reputable business capable of conducting an inspection. Hand them the service records to go through and identify if any areas need extra attention. Also, tell them about the viscosity change reasoning and ask them to verify if that was true (some cars just burn engine oil while some don't). Hopefully, they'll be able to give you a report of the issues identified. Ask them for an estimate to repair all of those issues (ask for a physical estimate document). Now if it has minor issues (less than 2-3% of the vehicle value, don't fret too much and you should rather be expecting something of that sort when purchasing a second-hand vehicle. So now you know what the condition of the car is, and if there is anything major, decide if you want to even bother with it. If you don't, move to the next car. If not, add up all the major repairs and add a 20% buffer on top and that is your cost to repair the car to optimal condition. Do a final market research on a comparable car and determine whether the car price is fair. Offer the owner his asking price minus the cost of major repairs with the 20% buffer. If they flat-out refuse, just walk away. If they're willing to work with numbers, pull out your repair sheet and negotiate as much as possible. At the end of the negotiation, if their final price adjustment reflects at least 50-65% of the repair cost, then it is time to seal the deal. Ask them for their CR Copy and send it to your bank for initial verification and once you receive their go-ahead, give them an advance (25k-50k usually, don't give more) with the condition of at least a week's worth of time (sometimes the leasing process takes long). Instruct your bank to make the transfer using 1-day service (More expensive but worth it). Once their DO is ready, the seller and you can meet at the bank for the exchange. This is where you can hand in the cash part to the seller as well. Good luck!

GP1 is known to burn engine oil and watch out for the hybrid battery condition.

Forgot to update this, @RusT The water leak was some piece/cover that had come off and, that fixed it. They tried explaining and I couldn't understand honestly. But the issue is 100% sorted now, been over a month. Also, they did a rack-end overhaul to fix the 'tak-tak' sounds. It is much better now, still, the steering mounts need to be replaced, and they suggested deferring it (I don't understand why).

If you are spending that much, just get a car on lease, at least you'll build equity. Also, you can only rent a shitbox at that price sadly, lol.

My friend bought a 2015 Xtrail for 10M about 2 months ago. But he has also spent nearly 2M on repairs on restoring the car mechanically due to multiple neglected issues from the previous owner, which my friend used to his advantage by negotiating the price down by 2.5Mn (the car was listed for 12.5Mn).

Hi, thank you for this. I have not done any windscreen-related repairs except for a polish. Either way, I dropped the car in today for a few things: Update - 24/June/2024. Dropped the car in to check the water leak (they too suspect an AC line block). There is also a very loud noise audible when going through a rough damaged road as previously mentioned and the technicians believe it might be a steering rack issue and not the shock mount but they're going to investigate this.

Update time! Hit the 1,000 km mark on Friday, 21st of June, 2024 since the overhaul. I took my car for service yesterday, 22nd June 2024 and they did the following: Engine oil change - Toyota 5w30 Oil filter change There was an issue with the front brake pistons, so they cleaned them up and changed the brake oil (since cleaning the brake piston drains the old brake oil). I informed Hybrid Hub about the "shock mounts" requiring to be replaced as suggested by Hybrid Hub during the vehicle check-up after the overhaul. I confirmed this from a trusted wheel alignment center employee before I dropped the car in for service. Hybrid Hub suggested that this repair doesn't need to be done and I could do this repair at the next service (after 2,500 km). However, the moment I took it down to the road, there was a series of explosive "tak-tak" sounds every time I went through not very smooth roads as explained by the wheel alignment guy, who told me that the shock mounts were completely gone and needed immediate attention. I still drove to the wheel alignment place and asked him to re-check and see if what they were telling was the truth and he re-checked (they raised the car) and re-confirmed that this needs immediate attention or could result in camber damage. I will drop the car again tomorrow (Monday, 24th June) at Hybrid Hub to get them to sort this for once. Another problem I have is that when I'm driving during rain, there is a water leak or something near my accelerator/brake pedal that leaks a couple of drops of water. Curious to know what the problem is as I've told Hybrid Hub multiple times to check this issue and report back.

All good, thanks for the advice.

That must be expensive to do, eh?

Awesome, any recommended silencer joints in Colombo? Also, by SS you mean Stainless Steel, right?

I have a Toyota Vitz with a 1.5" Exhaust pipe (default) and I want to fit a new cool-looking exhaust tip on the boring pipe, but I can't find any that is less than 2". Any suggestions on how to get this to work? p.s. purely aesthetic, not trying to increase the sound or anything.

I am not sure what's better, but around '09, it was hard for us to find a decent-condition '04 Toyota Vios. All of them were extremely beat up over a very short period (Only 5 years..). Make sure you get the car checked by a reputed company before purchase or you'll end up spending a million rupees on repairs like me.

Thanks for the valuable advice @tiv @iRage. @tiv If my engine can run without issues for 100,000 kilometers, more than enough for me. I don't go out much, I would at most drive 10,000 km a year and a significant chunk of it would be road trips/traveling during breaks. I only drive about 300-500 km a month for my actual chores since work is not that far from my house and I work from home and go to the office twice a week (hybrid). I don't mind another overhaul after a decade, lmao. I plan to keep the car for as long as possible (at least 5 years) and never want to sell it if I upgrade the car in the future and be able to keep my current as well (first car love). I've driven roughly 200 kilometers now and went to Bentota last night. Here is how I went, please correct me if I'm doing something that could be improved or wrong: Gently touch the throttle and bring it up to 50 km/h, maintain for 2-3 minutes. Release the throttle entirely till it brakes automatically to about 30 km/h (a good 15 seconds). Slowly throttle back up to 50 km/h and maintain for 2-3 minutes. Release the throttle entirely till it brakes automatically to about 30 km/h Slightly throttle a little more to 50 km/h and repeat. Also, when there were signal lights ahead, I just left the throttle to let it come to a stop on its own and brake towards the end. Also, I was surprised to see that over the 200 km, I drove yesterday, my fuel economy was 22 kmpl for the trip, I've never seen this number before. The most I have ever gotten was 15 kmpl on the highway at 80-90 kmph

Check Delkanda, they should have it.