iRage

No..Turn Assist reduces the vehicle's turning radius. It does it by pulsating the brakes of rear wheel of the direction you are turning. The locking creates drag/anchor on that wheel creating a pivot point. You would think it is not that much of a big deal but it is amazing how a reduction in even a few centimeters helps. Yes...Aussies and the Africans (especially the South Africans) are the markets that utilize the full capabilities of the LC. The Middle Easterners come close but considering they only have desert terrain it sort of uses only part of the vehicle's capabilties. This is why I think when it comes to off-roading kits the Aussies and South Africans do a much better job than anyone else.

Hope the car gives you many miles of smiles You should start a thread about your car with pictures. We love seeing pictures of cars no matter what it is and hearing about the owner's life with the car <despite what many think..car enthusiasm is as much about the people as it is about the car). Sounds like you got a clean E140 considering the owner knew what was going on... Being a 2008 is it an export model built in Japan or was it after the time production was shifted to Thailand ?

Okay...so...the viscosity of the oil and the frequency of change would depend more on the condition of the car and your usage and the conditions the car is being used in. Although you don't rack up (and the car hasn't racked up) that many miles it still constitutes as "harsh" use according to the manufacturer's guidelines. It is because the car is mostly left parked and most of the rides can potentially be short rides (which doesn't give much time for the engine to bring the oil up to optimal operating temperature). Now..here is the subjective part and if you talk to 10 different people you will get 20 different opinions. Viscosity: What is the condition of your engine ? Do you have a loss in compression, engine running rough ? These factors will influence one to go to a higher or lower viscosity. If 10W30 seem to be okay for the car this far,I would say keep using it. See how the car acts with it and later decide if you want to change the viscosity. Mineral vs Synthetic: Remember...a good mineral oil is better than a cheap off branded synthetic oil. So keeping that in mind and you do get the usual reputed synthetics.. Synthetic oils tend to hold its composition better than mineral oils. For example, a synthetic oil might hold its composition far better than a mineral oil when driving long distances in high-heat environments, thus absorbing engine heat and lubricating better (for longer) than a mineral oil would. Similarly a synthetic oil would be better at tolerating rapidly changing operating conditions as well (like weather). Considering you won't be using the car that much, and the car will possibly be driven short distances, I would say you should consider synthetic (or very least a semi-synthetic) oil. If you leave the car parked for a long period of time it would far resilient to breaking down and even in short runs a synthetic oil would be able to absorb heat and lubricate far better and lower op-temps than a mineral oil (usually). Can a mineral oil do (the latter) the same ? Well, yes, the high-grade ones are as expensive as synthetic oils. As for not breaking down easily...well...I would say the synthetics still have an edge here (making a mineral oil have the same property is pretty much making a synthetic oil). You don't get such high-grade oils in the market anymore as they once used to because you might as well go buy a synthetic. So....perhaps 10W30 Synthetic would be the way to go if you are open to extending your service cycle. I wouldn't necessarily recommend 12 months but at least look at something in between. I think the near 12-month synthetic vs. near 6-month mineral choice may be dictated by cost as well (?). There is nothing wrong with a good mineral oil and regular oil changes (just that the synthetic may offer a slight benefit as mentioned above). I don't know how eco conscious you are but you may even take in to account the impact of frequent oil disposals as well.

Been looking at going with TEIN coilovers for the Corolla wagon back in Japan. Blitz and Cusco did not have directly adaptable options while TEIN did (well for the AE111 Levin/Trueno which works for the sedan and wagons). I drove a test car (a new Corolla Touring) and the different between the stock and TEINs were like night and day. The dampening rate adjustments were a lot more granular than some of the other coilovers I have experienced and the change feels very linear. In most (budget friendly) coilovers I feel the dampening rate change is a bit too drastic. Sadly TEINs are quite expensive now....all 4 were quoted as 247,000yen with some discounts it came to about 204,000yen. Blitz was 215,000yen without any discounts. Even in SL those who have gone with TEIN options (even used ones) have loved it. WHILE GECKO and GAB people seem to be OKAY with it (for the price paid). My take is that the latter two gets the job done but TEIN does it better. I feel TEINs might be the better option for everyday street use for reasons I stated before; so you would be able to get a setup that offers a good level of comfort and better handling. But then, these might be quite expensive.

Fun, simple little car. Can be reliable and cheap to run if previous owners have taken care of it (proper regular servicing and maintenance work diligently taken care of) and you continue to take care of it. Quite the opposite to an Accord CF.

Well your friends do have a point. This and cars like the Camry are heavy cars and do drink more fuel than your Vitz. At the end of the day...if this is the car you want and this is the car that will make you take 2nd, 3rd or 4th glances every time you park it and walk away from it...then buy it. It is your money, your car, you are the one who has to live with it day in and day out. You will figure out how to maintain it and run it. When you reach a point you cannot do so..just sell it off. Better to have loved and lost than not loved at all. The nice thing about a car like the CF is that they are most likely considerably cheaper than your Civic and Corolla and Sunny because not many people want them. So you get a lot of car for the money (any extra money you save from buying an overpriced Corolla or Premio can be saved for the maintence work). True..finding parts, especially body parts, may not be as straightforward as finding parts for a Premio, but where there is a will, there is a way. Some of us on the forum have had cars that were 1 of less than a handful on the island and still managed to maintain it. You just need to be proactive about it...not reactive.

Appearance: It is completely based on personal taste. So only you can answer that. Maintenance and Performance : You are looking at 25 to 30 year old vehicles. How they perform and the maintenance (thus reliability) required will be dependent on the condition of the vehicle (engine/transmission wear and tear, fuel system, etc...). Which is faster....again... confusing question. At this moment in time it depends on the condition in time. If we go back in time...then it would depend on what you meant by CK. Are you looking at a 1.3L CK1 or a 1.5L CK2? or a myriad of export variant CKs bought in by the agent. Now if you are looking at a non-VTEC EK3 with the standard 105ish HP and 134ish Nm of torque against a 1.5L CK2 with 110HP(ish) and about 138Nm of torque, then on paper the Lancer would seem quicker...but considering the gearing and how the Honda put the power down the EK3 was a bit quicker off the mark (still there were times a bog standard Lancer did beat out an average EK3). A VTEC EK3 would put out about 125-130ish HP and about 140Nm of torque so it is not a fair comparison. Yes...the VTEC equipped EK3s did come with a manual transmission. If I am not mistaken the only other option was a CVT (Honda MultiMatic or whatever it is called). Other options...I suppose it depends on what you want which I assume is an engaging drive. Remember...one thing any true car enthusiast would say is an engaging drive does not necessarily mean quick or fast. Quite rare options would be AE111 GT sedans and Sunny or Pulsar VZR. Finding these, though rare, won't be that difficult than finding a EK3 or Lancer CK that is in good shape and has not been riced up. Carina GTs are another option. A lot more widely available than a Corolla GT or Sunny VZR. Mazda Familia Interplay variants or a Familia Sports Wagon RS are nice to drive too. If you are willing to go up in segment then obviously you also have the Galant (which might actually be cheaper than the CK) or even the Bluebird (personally I find the Galant a nicer drive but the Bluebird a more refined cabin) The bottom line is finding sporty variants of these sedans is going to be a bit of a hard task, especially one that is unmolested and in good shape. If you want an average sedan that is nice to drive...then I would hesitantly say it is the CK (1300cc variants of these types of cars are not very good especially in this day and age). FInding a good one...sadly hard...thanks to the Fast and Furious fan boys.

Land Cruiser 200 it is ! So either @Gummybr or @matroska can take the floor. The feature I was referring to was the Turn Assist feature. Back in the day (way back in 2013ish) the LC200 was one of the first to offer it as standard (Japanese manufacturers did not). Manufacturers like Ford offered it on their full-sized trucks in the US but it was an option. The fleets I was referring to was the UN In some duty stations they have fleets comprised of the MK1, MK2 and MK3....drivers often shift between the vehicles and find it annoying as it messes up their muscle memory when reaching out for the functions. The SL govt does have fleets too I suppose but I doubt any one who uses them actually uses these functions.

Is your bent rim causing air loss? If not, then just a bent rim is unlikely to cause errors in your AWD system (unless the damage is significant..see below) If you banged your wheel and caused some damage, then the telemetry of the wheel,the suspension, and the axles might be off. This might cause the AWD system to act weird.

Since we took a drastic turn...here you go... What many will not realize is that fully decked out this vehicle can have a ridiculous amount of buttons. What is really freaky is that the number of buttons literally grew during its decade and a half of existence. What is quite frustrating about it was that they changed the location of certain key features every time they did the update (people who drove multiple variants of the car..say in a fleet...found this rather frustrating). In case you haven't figured out what the vehicle is yet...the clue is in one of the buttons. This feature was not offered by other Japanese manufacturers. At the time it was first introduced (one of the first to introduce it) this was a big deal as only a few other manufacturers offered it and NOT as a standard feature (this was standard on this vehicle). Just look at the change around the shifter bezel...

True....but at this rate its hard to imagine any agent wanting to keep display cars at their showrooms. Other than the Chinese brands of course..

Hope this was done after hours, behind closed curtains. People seeing it might have thought the car is broken even before it left the showroom Please ! leave that accolade for Lada Sadly we will not see these things again in showrooms for a very very very long time.

Ah yes...the Citrus-y lemony car that has a strong desire to help humanity I think the dashboard-center-mounted power window switches are a dead give-away...

Just for curiosity....is the AC tuned on ? Does the idle stop-start work if your AC is off ? Also, what does your engine sound/feel like ? Does it idle at a high RPM ? Does it feel sluggish ?

I was there today (Sunday)....yes...kids asked me if it was a Chinese Car Convention. Then wifey asked if Japanese cars were banned. It was a bitter day realising that the cars that can be even remotely considered to be good were the Mahindras, the few Hyundais and the couple of classic Mercs. Yes...the country needs a complete revamp of the tax structure. But at the heart of it is not the tax structure. It is the wealth of our masses. Sri Lankans simply do not have the financial means to buy a decent car...period. Even if it was zero tax...how many Lankans can afford to buy a 3 year old or less Corolla without sacrificing a large part of their income ? Most of us do not have and residual/excess/disposable funds/savings to put into an average car. Anything you do with taxes is simply going to be a band-aid solution.

Here is the issue...the 3 year limit was imposed because these very same groups started bringing in junk. Countries from Kenya to Tanzania all the way to SL had this issue and SL was the first to enact this as an anti-dumping policy. You would think that with a 5 or even 7-year age limit, they would bring the actual high auction-grade cars as is. But no. They brought in the cheap junk. On the plus side these cars were just mechanically junk and not welded up death traps. Extending the age restriction would bring benefits you have stated if and only if we have strict import and registration inspections. Which we don't and have not been able to establish for 4 decades. I strongly believe that these guys are pushing for older cars just so that they can keep a higher margin for themselves. They are not going to buy the 1.6mil Allion/Premio. They are going to buy the 700k ones from the damage/parts car corner and sell it for the same price as the 1.6mil. <Sorry...after being here I have lost all respect for Sri Lankan car exporters>. True....forex leaving the country will be less as the exporters pay peanuts for these cars...but they are not saying anything about the masses paying actual lower purchase prices. All the manufacturers have Used Car dealerships. Also..hate to break it to you but you don't get that many 5- to 7-year-old Premios and Allions anymore in Japan, and the numbers are dwindling by the month. Almost all of them are gone/going to countries in Africa, Bangaladesh, etc.. Right now there are 37 Premios for sale in the whole of Japan within this age range. Also, it is about 1.6mil on average at auction (there are a few hundred newer vehicles..mostly rentals or fleet cars, it seems, and those are a bit more expensive). In contrast, a 3-5-year-old Corolla sedan 1.8 Hybrid or a slightly newer 1.2L petrol WxB and the 1.2L hatchback are the same price. So, you really are not saving that much money by going for an older Premio/Allion in good condition. You might as well buy the newer Corolla. There are models where the price between a 3-5 year old car is quite high compared to a 7 year old car...those are either large cars like the RAV4 (attracting higher import taxes) or cars like Vitzes. So we are looking again at the usual cars we have...Vitzes, Axios, etc... Which is exactly what I believe these guys are targeting anyway (you can literally buy a 7-year-old Vitz/Aqua for about 300,000 yen). Now..considering that it was these same guys who bought these cars during the early days of the ban and jacked up the prices...do you really think they are going to drastically reduce the prices (also....they are probably out of stock of used cars as well)? On the plus side, you do still get the Axio and Fielder used or brand new. Toyota has been trying to kill the model, but it keeps on selling like crazy both domestically (because that is the only remaining narrow-body sedan/wagon) and for export (the waiting list for a brand new Axio/Fielder is 6 to 8 months). The bitter truth that is hard to swallow is that cars like the Civic and Corolla have moved on and are no longer the reasonably priced entry-level cars they used to be. The segment is now taken over by cars like the Yaris,Fit, etc...

Ioniq6 it is ! There is a gun metal car travelling around Union Place since a few days ago. Over to you.

Actually, I am for this. The whole 0 mileage gold badge imports are ridiculous. If the market actually wants JDM models then there are mechanisms for the agent to bring them down. Can't see why the agent can't offer franchises to 3rd parties later on as well. Even if we do allow complete independents then it has to be for proper registered dealers. Same goes with parts. In every other country I have been to the sole importer of genuine parts is the actual agent. Local resellers simply order the parts from the agent. This helps the agent keep the parts down too because now they actually have enough volume. So that leaves only 3rd party parts that come in outside of the dealer network and presumably that comes through a local appointed formal distributor (i.e. someone who has an agency ship). Isn't it time that the country stops getting held hostage by and ultimately run by all these various groups? 600 car importers? The bitter truth is most of them may have to close down or change their focus. The number of cars the government would allow to be imported may not be sufficient to be spread across 600 importers. They can't sell a dozen or two cars and sell it with a REASONABLE profit margin and still make it worth their while. So they are just going gorge up the price anyway....

Pretty easy....one of those cars that look better in person than in pictures..

Actually there are 2 known of. This one (diesel) and a black one with a gasoline 3.4L V6. They are both pre-facelifts. Sadly, this was the model that killed the model's existence in Japan and almost all other markets it was available in, except the US and the Middle East. After detaching from its truck-based roots with the previous gen, it was a cheaper, lighter variant of the mid-sized SUV it shared the platform and components with. With this generation, it was as expensive as (at times even more) its platform-sharing SUV sibling. So, people opted for that instead.

It's always a pleasure to help. Sorry to hear about the whole situation but at the end of it all you both walked away with what matters the most...true friendship.

Wasn't this the Frankenstein can that was powered by a Mitsubishi engine, had the front end of a Corolla Altis (E120 series) and the rear of a Fit Aria/City ? Used to make fun of it by saying it is called F3 because it is the Frankensteined creation using 3 different cars

Same model but different generation that caught fire isn't it ? Also..do you have a side hustle setting questions for local quiz shows or something ?

In a country like Japan establishing a network is easier said than done. It is a HUGE investment. Property prices alone are staggering unless it is LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere (in which case you can buy an entire huge mountain for like 20,000USD...not kidding here !). So unless there is a huge investment, it ain't happening, and without knowing what the market would be like, no one seems to want to invest. Most of our garages are literally shacks with grease monkeys who learned the trade through trial and error. Properly trained technicians with equipped garages cost money, which translates to higher rates. Most Sri Lankans would not be willing to spend high rates, especially when there is a monkey with a wrench and a sweet smile stating he can solve the world's automotive problems for half the price. So....does one first build up the market and then establish the support network (like with Hybrids) and let the unwitting early adopters absorb the risk or does one take the risk and invest in the support network first and then hope for the best? Then, with EVs, there is the added complication of charging infrastructure, which we simply don't have. True...we have many marketing their charging systems, but still, it simply has not taken traction. Let's not even talk about the upkeep of this infrastructure which can be a hit or miss.

When you look at what the Jaguar Marketing Director has been saying and see his ideologies you understand how and why Jaguar got led down this path. Yes...they are taking a different path...one can only hope that the demographic they are trying to appeal to are actually car buyers. One can only hope that they actually did some old-school market research before they started marketing their newfound ideology.