iRage

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).

Crown it is Over to you ! My son checked out the entire range (earlier we jsut saw one variant at a time and now they had all 4)...spent a good 2 hours or so there. At the end his verdict was that the sedan was the only actual Crown. The Sports, Crossback and Estate were just Toyotas. I do agree with him. The sedan is the only one that is actually Crownishly special (something which the last generation lost...). All the other variants...you take off the badges or even blindfold someone it will be mistaken for and will not be any more different than a Harrier or a Camry (just like the previous gen. The last gen Crown handled quite well..very european like but it was just bleh...sort of like a glorified Camry).

Might be a good time to start collecting some automatic transmissions for these manual car models for export to SL. Let's be honest...our guys might just start converting these manuals, hoping to sell it at a premium. After all, we are a country who now describes the age of the car by "seatbelt year".

Àsking for a friend huh ? Thought it would be easy as only a very few cars on the planet that has that exact grill shape... As you climb the career ladder, this is the car you would want to get once you reach upper/senior management. Started off as a sedan...then became a range...then became a sedan...and has become a range again.

I don't know... I was helping a friend look for a E100-E120 Corolla over the last four months. 99% of them were dressed-up, fake badged piles of junk. This is a very sad situation. So there no longer are any decent reasonably priced vehicle options in SL. You either pay a premium or drive around in a bucket of putty.

I don't think any of them have hit any shore yet....have they actually started selling them ? Here is an easy one

Yes..sea side air is going to eventually rust out the car no matter what. Even the smallest of scratches on the paint will eventually turn into rust (surface rust at first and then actual full- out corrosion) All you can do is do things that will slow down the process: Wash down the car every time after a beach run and every time in between. and I mean WASH it extensively. Invest in a pressure washer or something and wash the undercarriage, body, in between door sills, etc... There are various undercarriage coatings you can get done. If you are really crazy you can get the body fully prep'd by touching up any paint chips/scratches and even get the inner frame prepped and coated as well (this requires all the body panels being taken off and every little sign of paint damage, etc..fixed, touched up and coated with anti-corrosive. You will have to glass coat it or regularly wax it. Try to get a water-proof car cover as well, this will reduce the moist salty air build up. Preventing the car from rusting is going to be a hard job. All you can do is prolong the inevitable. Considering all this, maybe the simplicity of the Gypsy or the ratty-ness of the Patrol might be a good thing (although the latter will need some work to get it all nice and tidy - or not)

Probably the security system light. It lights up to show that the security system has been engaged. Usually it stops blinking or blinks at greater time intervals after sometime (depending on the model)

Is this one of those new Slate trucks ?

If you walk around Delkanda I am sure you could find an inflator that comes with these new spare-tireless cars. They are made of hard plastics intended to be kept in the car. If you want to spend a bit more, there are ones with flash and warning lights as well (for night use). As for the jumper cables...yes and no. No, if you constantly park the car out in the hot sun, where the car can get really hot (under direct sunlight, the car can reach a lot higher temperature than the ambient temperature). E.g. drive to work and park it on the street or open parking lot all day. Yes..if you do the above in reverse....park the car in shaded, cold spots for most part of the day (obviously apart from the drive time). It depends on how hot your car gets....so how hot does your car get ? Even if it doesn't get too hot I would still get a shieled pouch. But like @Hyaenidae mentioned...jumper cables should not be left out in extreme heat. The shielding rubber/material can start to get weak and create metal exposed parts which are dangerous (as they can cause a short). May I make a different suggestion? Instead of keeping jumper cables in the car (which you can of course), why not buy a battery charger and do some routine maintenance on your battery regularly (decent chargers have charge and maintenance modes)? That way, your battery is not going to drain out on you (or the risk is lowered), and you can get more life out of your battery, too. I have no idea how much these things are in SL. I use a NOCO Genius 10 in Japan, and it has been amazing. I have to leave my cars parked for about 2 months, and the battery pretty much dies off or becomes too weak for cranking (especially during winter), and the NOCO charger has done a good job in reconditioning it as well as charging it up. Another option is solid-state battery boosters. But again, can't be kept under extreme heat.

No idea...but yes...most were fleet vehicles for the government which also included some estates.

You are better off buying a 1.5L car instead of the 1L and swapping it. A good conversion is going to cost you, plus you have to deal with the legal stuff. So whatever the price differential is for a 1L you are going to end up spending as much or even more than the cost of a 1.5L. If I am not mistaken there are a lot of Yaris (imported via agent) that are 1.5L. The problem with a 121/141 is finding a good one. Most have been hacked and then touched up and made to shine for a quick sale. The fact that these cars are robust is its own downfall (i.e. risk to the buyer). Why a Toyota though ? You will have better chances finding a decent Lancer or Axela or something. Yes...your neighbor's uncle's husband's colleague's husband and your friends circle will say you are being id10tic buying a non Toyota and you will hear all the "market naha" stories. Not really the case... 1. You will be buying it at a reasonable price compared to Toyotas which are all hyper/artificially inflated. 2. The whole Toyotas increase value is a myth. The only time that happens for any car would be under circumstances like an import ban or drastic changes in taxes. Actual owners don't get to sell their cars at hyper-inflated prices. It is mostly the brokers playing games. So as the owner you won't be losing more money by not buying a Toyota. 3. When trying to resell it cars like Lancers and Axelas attract a certain type of buyers who are different than the typical market value searching cheapo maintenance craving bargain hunters. You take care of the car and ask for a reasonable price it will get sold (sometimes, if not most, faster than your typical Toyota models - because there are so many Toyotas out there and most are junk anyway that no one wants to buy them)

Actually the one in the picture is the first gen L10. It was offered in 2 and 4 door sedan and 3 door hatchback variants. The wagon was introduced in the second generation (L20). The export model was called the Tercel wagon and the JDM variant was badged as Sprinter Carib. In SL we got both the Tercel wagon and Sprinter Carib

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)

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.

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 ?

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.

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.

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...

Welcome to the forum... For your budget you are going to be limited to vehicles that are 25+ years old. I am sure you are quite aware by now that cars in Sri Lanka are mostly rubbish. A car is only as reliable as how well its last owner and subsequently owners before that took care of the car. So, finding a car that has the potential to give you reliable transportation is going to be tough. For all the cars on your list, mechanical parts will be accessible, as all these cars are very basic "analog" cars with nothing fancy. What is going to be the issue are body parts (i.e. lights, glasses/windows, etc...). Trooper and Patrol: These are proper off-roaders so they will get you right up to the water line if need be. However, these two cars were popular for body swaps. Some were done legally, most were not. So you would need to be very careful about buying one of these. Considering these are 40-year-old cars, the diesel engines would have had several overhauls or even a complete replacement or two. Old diesel engines can be a bit harder to maintain than a petrol engine of the same vintage. Again, it all depends on prior maintenance. There probably won't be any way to check how well this work was done, so you need to be prepared to fix the engine. There are really good Patrols around (owned/used by enthusiasts), and in the past those have traded hands for significantly more than 4 mil. Gypsy: Very utilitarian. It is very simple to run and own. Consumables (brake pads, etc..) are known to wear out quite easily. Escudo/Vitara : Probably the most balanced vehicle on your list. Has a proper old-school 4WD system rather than the real-time/on-demand or full--time AWD systems its competitors had. You might want to look into - 1st generation RAV4s - Montero iOs (i.e. the non GDI Pajero iO) - 1st gen Daihatsu Terios (and sister models Toyota Cami and Perodua K something) - (if you are lucky enough to find one) a 4WD Delica StarWagon or something like a 4WD Toyota TownAce/LiteAce Are you sure a Jimny will not work? Plenty of parts from the manufacturer, oem suppliers and specialist shops. Yes, space is tight, but can a lockable roof shell/canopy or something of the sort solve that problem?

Sadly seems to be the case and the best path for an individual import seems to be through an importer who does consignment/order based imports. The harassment seems to be the same for companies. Apparently the "association" makes life hard for newcomers. I have no idea about the validity...this is what I have heard from car guys I know who have started their own car imports. I believe that is the point. He wants to have garage plates to transfer the cars he imports (post-import and pre-sale) and then have the buyer of his import use the garage plate (if needed) until the registration is sorted.

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

aka...y

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

Lexus LBX it is ! Over to you... Interesting....in Japan the highest spec mechanically equivalent Yaris Cross is about 3.6mil drive away price. The LBX I checked out was 4.5mil yen drive away and after discounts and stuff came down to 4.2mil. Does it ride and handle better ? Marginally. Does the interior feel nicer (that the highest spec YG)? Yes..I would say much more plush. For a 700,000yen premium I suppose some would find it okay for the added refinement and somewhat exclusivity (there are tons of Yaris Crosses and Corolla Crosses in Japan. Like crazy). What I don't get is the purpose of all these crossovers for every segment of the market, but that isn't the question here....