B2Spirit

I switched from Toyo to kinforest. (That's all i could find in the size i was looking for) With our crappy roads, i doubt the whether the brand makes much of a difference. You need a damn hard tire above all else with all these construction around just to make sure they don't get damaged. However the Kinforest is markedly noisier than Toyo's based on my experience.

Where did you get the Veuro's from ?

Yeap. When i was in one of the shipping yards in Colombo last year I saw someone who has brought an entire bike including chassis in dismantled state trying to get it cleared. Customs refused to clear it saying they can't as the chassis is also there. They said they can clear other components after paying the duty but not the chassis.

Official Status Update from McLaren Honda. http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/further-update-regarding-fernando-alonso/

As far as the hybrid vehicle is concerned, when in pure engine mode power is also diverted to charging the battery right ? So in that scenario the actual power available to drive the wheels is even lower than the pure gasoline vehicle ?

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Supra_Natural" data-cid="271990" data-time="1423825473"><p> <br /> You my friend, have absolutely no idea what you are on about.</p></blockquote> Lol. Mazda 3, Accord n Camry in one group. Toyota n Honda might file a law suit ?

What is the actual tax rate for <1000CC cars ? Any idea what would be the rough tax value for Vitz (KSP130) ?

Unfortunately this is something that will never happen in Sri Lanka. We are a country who likes to impose indirect taxes on everybody whereas enforcing and streamlining income tax system is the way other countries do business. Govt just loves to blame importing cars for foreign currency losses, BOP crisis's and everything under the sun that is wrong with this economy. And they use it to score points/ earn easy revenue by raising/reducing taxes on vehicle imports arbitrarily. To worsen the matters, complicated outdated tax structure based on engine capacity and fuel type helps to bring expensive cars at a less tax % than the common cars. To put it in context it's like a income tax structure where a limited set of people earning 1 million is paying 25% tax while an average earner earning 1/3rd of that pays 40%

Decision making at its worst and lobbying at its finest

Noble idea. But not enforceable i guess. In a free market, govt can't go and tell companies at what price to sell their products right ? it's up to the buyers at the end of the day to decide whether they are gonna buy at that price or not

These guys seems to be really dense. If the vehicle is not shipped yet there is a possibility that it can be cancelled right ? I thought that was the whole point of 28th feb deadline. To give a concession to buyers who were caught with their pants down (i mean vehicle in transit and no way to cancel) while making sure misuse is minimal and opportunistic fellows are excluded. And these guys say they are professionals. Even 8 pass ppl knows tht in SL to keep away from importing cars when there is a budget in the horizon. Everybody knew there was a budget the moment govt change happened around 9-10 jan. Anybody who placed an order after tht day knows well enough the vehicle is not going to reach SL before budget. So they were either dumb/ignorant or trying to get an undue advantage. Both are unforgivable.

maybe they could not put an arbitrary cut off date prior to 29th Jan for LCs. So the clearance by 28th might be their way of enforcing a reasonable LC date. After all most who opened LCs in the last week before the budget would have stopped shipments or put them on hold, So they will not get a chance to clear by 28th. Everybody prior to that would have had minimum chance to cancel the buy and on the other hand they would have enough time to get the vehicle in to Sri Lanka (5 weeks)

Looks like this is the final result ( according to that LC opened before 29..... FB page ) Here are the conditions in circular 1) LC should have opened under personal name on or before 29th of January 2015. 2) If anybody ordered the vehicle through an agent he should have a some official document to prove the payment (ex: Bank slip etc).Again LC should have opened on or before 29th January. 3) We should give a bank guarantee to the name of SL customs for the additional TAX amount (Defined as difference between old and new tax systems).We have to register the vehicle at RMV within 2 weeks and bank guarantee will release within 3 days 4) Vehicle is NOT transferable for FOUR years. 5) Engine Capacity should be less than 2500cc 6) We need to clear the vehicle before 28th February.Tax exemption will applicable until 28th ONLY. I must admit that the process is pretty well thought out and it's been made as fool proof as possibly it can be it seems.

Nope the JDM Camry doesn't have rain sensing wipers. Bit odd as the export models have it and normally JDMs have either all or more features than export models. Maybe it's more to do with Safety Regulations (E.g. Export Camry comes with Headlight washers while the JDM doesn't. Both has the identical headlight unit) Looks like it's using an optical sensor. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/wiper4.htm

Think so. Can live without those as they don't work in SL anyway. What i don't understand is what does the windshield has to do with bluetooth and speakers. And there are 2 kind of glasses LAM & EHL. LAM i guess is for Laminated. But no clue what is meant by EHL.

After searching found the windscreen spec. it says as follows Model : AVV50 Part Number : 56101-33953 Spec: * EHL, T = 4.56, green, cold weather model & Audio-AVN 6 speaker BL · tETOOTH (Original Text : *EHL,T=4.56,グリーン,寒冷地仕様&オーディオ)-AVN 6スピーカ BL・tETOOTH What is meant by "-AVN 6 speaker BL · tETOOTH" ? Could this be referring to some kind of antennas on it ?

Nothing I guess. They paid a 10% tax or something when the transfer was made right ? I believe they are no different from a non-permit car after that 1st transfer is made. Correct me if am wrong.

Looks like they are tightening the screws on all vehicle related loopholes. BTW do you have a official source for this ?

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Wasa" data-cid="271679" data-time="1423480662"><p> <br /> Please advice anybody who knows....</p></blockquote> Isn't there some kind of official meeting between importers and Ravi k scheduled for tomorrow the 11th? So most probably nothing will come out before that. And i heard that there is a dispute on the valuation method to be used between customs and ravi k. Haven't heard anything about that either.

Yes i also the saw the exit and entrance ramps being constructed at the low level road interchange. And the athurugiriya interchange is also going well. Don't know how is the state on the rest of that phase 2. Phase 2 was suppose to open somewhere in Jan 2015 i think. (That timelines seems to be no longer available in RDA site anyway) Looks like it's going to be way off that target. Hopefully they will open it up to at least Low level interchange once it is completed, so that Kaduwela junction can be bypassed.

My car tires seems to be suffering from an unusual inner tread wear problem. http://tinypic.com/r/wl4wg5/8 http://tinypic.com/r/5cjfw1/8 This is visible on 3 of the tires. (Both right tires show this problem and one of the lefts) They have been run for about 28,000km. I have done the rotations every 5000 and alignment every 10,000 while doing the service @ the agent. Reports did not show any anomalies. I brought the car used from Japan when ODO was 9,400km. The car is running 19inch wheels (stock is 17) and is lowered by 20mm. (These modifications (Modellista) have been done at the point of ordering by the Japanese owner, so i would guess Toyota would have done any of the adjustments required at that point) What could be the problem ?

Talked to most places including above mentioned, but the response was negative. Do you know how the taxes work for tires, So i can get an idea how much it will be ? Heard the tax goes something like either by weight or by price whichever is higher.