Grades of EP71 Starlet?

[Boseth Minidu]

Guys I wanted to know what are the grades of the Starlet EP71? How do you differ them from each other and how to know which what’s the country of origin of it?

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Boseth Minidu

[matroska]

There's Si/SE/XL/Dx and the 2 door delivery van model. 

Si is the top grade and theoretically there should be one called Ri. (which is anyway 2 door) 

I have not seen many top grade models in Sri Lanka - the Si or Si Limited. The seats are better and have a 'cooler looking' fabric on the seats. The tachometer is there in the meter cluster. 

SE also has the Tachometer and the top grades originally had a red line on the side molding strips. The Si and SE also have a shelf on the front doors. 

The tachometer disappears on the XL models the seats are different in the sense the headrest is not separate.  There's also the XL-Lisse version that has a different more ornate seats and door upholstery. 

The DX and lower grades should ideally have fender mounted rearview mirrors - but nowadays fender mounted mirrors are very very rarely seen. 

The van is always 2 door - and the biggest identifier is the rear seat back rest is one single unit. The other grades have the rear seat separately and can be folded forwards individually. 

Of course nowadays this is different as most cars have been chopped and changed so you can't really find the original grade of a car. For instance mine is a XL but has the SE molding strips. 

for 80's onwards cars toyodiy can give you more details once you enter the vin. 

 

 

 

[iRage]

Depends on whether it is a Zenki or a Kouki (facelift or prefacelift).

Basically you got

GT : 3door,

Si Limited : 3 door

Si : 3 door / 5 door

Ri : 3 door

SE : 5 door

XL Lisse : 3 door / 5 door

XL : 3 door / 5 door

DX : 3 door / 5 door <technically from here onwards they were classified as vans in Japan so they can be registered as business vehicles>

DX-A : 3 door/5 door

STD : 3 door.

CD-L/CD/CS : 3 door

The above are the grades that came for the Zenki (pre-facelift). It is in rough ranking. Things like Si, Ri are either highest or second highest depending on the configuration of the car. The DX was the lowest non-commercial grade offered (but most of these grades are bought by businesses or young first time car buyers on a budget). The DX-A and STD were official really really cheap business models. The CD-L/CS/CS were the van variants. The main difference between the grades were things like flooring type and body cladding in the rear cargo area. They called the business line up the SUPER BUSINESS VEHICLE

The Lisse was an add on to the XL trim level specifically for women...so the seat adjustment, lower width of the seat, etc...are slightly different.

The Kouki added the following grades:

Turbo-S : 3 door/5door

Si Canvas Top : 3 door

Lisse was badged as both XL Lisse and just Lisse (XL Lisse was a bit higher than the standard Lisse)

Then below XL

SOLEIL - L : 3 door/5 door

SOLEIL Canvas top : 3 door

SOLEIL : 3 door / 5 door

DX-A and STD were removed from the line up making DX the lowest grade. However the DX could be configured to be more spartan thus making it a DX-A or a STD. CD-L was taken off the lineup.

SOleil was actually added a little bit before the Kouki was introduced. So you do find a few zenki (prefacelift) Soleils here and there.

The export model (yes we had a few back in the day when SL was actually able to buy a decent range of vehicles at a decent price from the agent) was available in both 1L and 1.3L form and was available as 

XL, XLi and GL and at one point we also got a DX. It mostly depended on which market model the agent was getting as stock.

As Matroska mentioned...its hard to figure out which is which now...30 years on almost all the cars have been mixed and matched just to keep them on the road.

 

 

[Boseth Minidu]

Thanks for the info @matroska and @iRage !  

Edited April 10, 2023 by Boseth Minidu