trinity

Thank you @iRage for the clarification. I get what you mean regarding the older and newer Toyota cars. Where did the Japs go wrong actually is beyond me. They used to build great vehicles with lot of character, now that has long gone. Coming back to the topic, I’ll surely post photos and keep you all updated regarding my experience with the car. Im eager like a kid who’s waiting for a delivery of PS5 bought from US. Hopefully this one will be enjoyable similar to the CS and the EX.

The car has rugged fabric seats as you mentioned and three spoke steering is also there. I think the original cassette player is also included. It does not have an RPM meter though. Rear viper and defogger is available. Will check the car ID plate when I see the car next time. The chassis number starts with EE 103.

It has the GL sticker pasted on the rear door. What are the distinguishable differences between the GL and DX variants? How to identify this from the chassis number. This car has fabric seats and does not have power windows. Drove it once in a night, pulls like a train. I’ve already confirmed to my friend that I will be buying the car. So, he needs to find a new car for him and I need to sort out the financials. In about couple of months, I’ll be able to get it. The car is ideal for my purpose. With that in, I can let my Lancer take a breather from running small errands. That car needs some pampering atm.

Holy shit @iRage! Machang, that’s some fantastic set of information. Just as similar to a response from chat GPT. Thank you so much for taking time to write all those valuable details about the car. I need to change the title to the topic as I’ve made an error while mentioning the model, it should be corrected as EE103. The one with the EFI 1.5L engine and the auto box. I want to buy it for my wife. Yeh I know, an odd choice of a car. My daughter started to going to ‘play groups’ since recently. Currently the mode of travel is the tuk. I need this to change as quickly as possible, since it’s not a safe mode to take a kid up and down the Galle road. My requirement is sort of a bigger car, thus better safety than of an alto for the price range of what an Alto goes in the market these days. It needed to be an auto so wifey can get used to it easily (she first needs to get the license though). Yup, lot of boxes to tick before making this a reality. After careful consideration I decided that this would be the car to go for. The other options were, Carina GT, Honda EK or ES, Nissan N16 and Lancer CS. All are above the budget. Luckily a good friend has a fantastic specimen manufactured in 2000 and registered in 2004. He has maintained it to the T. He is willing to part with it only if I’m buying the car. He doesn’t want to give it to anyone else. So before jumping in, I needed to understand about the car a bit so that I know what I’m getting myself on to. let’s keep the thread active. I would love to hear about the car more. Especially about the places I could buy parts when required and about diagnosing issues before they turn in to big ass headaches. I’ll keep the thread updated on the progress of acquiring the car. It might take couple of months as there are some prerequisites that needs to be completed before I get hold of it (hopefully).

Hi Guys, Posting here after eons, hope everyone is keeping fine. Need to know your opinion on buying a Corolla EE 103 (Elephant Back) these days as a second car. I've heard lot of good about the car, but basically clueless about the model. Much appreciated if you could shed some light on areas such as Inherent Issues, most reliable model out of the rage of models, availability of parts, areas to pay attention to before buying a one etc, Thanks in advance for your support. Cheers!

I love that Red bro. For me this car looks stunning in that color. But what you say is true, it’s very common. Blue and the gun metal colors are uncommon and suits the car well too.

ha ha ha … I would’ve had Mitsubishi manufactured good cars like they used to. Unfortunately there’s no other sedan option after the Lancer EX which I could upgrade to. I was contemplating between the outlander and Mazda 6 for a while and I knew what excited me was the 6. Whichever car I drive, Mitsubishi will hold a special place in my heart always ❤️.

Congratulations on your purchase. She is stunning!! Read through the entire thread and I was thrilled to see that you chose the Mazda. I was also planning to upgrade to a 6 after my Lancer EX, but I had to put that on hold due to the inflated prices and the country situation. Suggest you create a new thread dedicated to the car and use it to share your journey with the car if time permits. Cheers!!

Happy new year @MADZ, wishing all fellow Auto Lankans a blessed year ahead! Cheers!

Completely agreed on this. That never look never get old. Glad to see your Lancer as well. This used to be THE car at one point in SL history of cars. Still holds a good demand I think.

Look who came to see me today! After almost 4 years since we departed I met my ever loving CS today. It was a moment with mixed feelings. I was happy to see her but at the same time was sad to see the state she was in. Nevertheless she will forever hold that special place in my heart until the day my eyes are shut for good. Miss you old buddy!

That explains it. Go for a genuine belt. Mine had been replaced at 94,000 and it still holding up good (No noises at all) at 190,000.

Highly unlikely.

Damn this look.. never get enough of it!!!! Thanks for sharing the updates. The price you've mentioned about the radiator? Is that for a brand new one or a recon one? Nevertheless, that's a crazy amount for a radiator. Any particular reason as to why you insisted not to remove the bumper? Guess you replaced the existing side marker lights with blacked out ones. Hope they light up sufficiently. They look nice on the car. Not a fan of those carbon wraps on the mirror covers and the steering wrap job machang. With regard to the replacing of spark plugs, usually they were supposed to be changed in 100k intervals. Surprised that the originals have been used for that much of time. Do you feel a considerable change in performance and FE after the change or is it on the same level? Mine had been changed back in 2018 at the mileage of 94k. Now the car is at 188k. So I was instructed to get the plugs changed during my next tuneup. Looks like partsouq route is bit expensive than buying them locally. I still could not share the repairs done to the car during the past year or so. There weren't many but some of the repairs were repetition of the earlier ones. Lets see if I could find time during the weekend to put an update.

To OP, dont trust the guys at UM Hydepark as they are not that professional. For example, during my previous oil change, they gave me an inspection sheet noting that there aren't any faults with the car. However, I knew the car had leaking brake cylinders and a busted CV joint which made a significant amount of noise when turned. If you want correct professional opinion, take the car to the Orugodawatte service centre. There are good people working there. With regard to the fuel consumption, mine is a 2011 1.5L with a CY2A engine which does an average of 10kmpl in city traffic (sometimes goes down to 8 in heavy traffic) and around 14-15 in outstations depending on how you drive. I usually drive at 70-80 when possible out side of the city areas. Car gives a good economy between 70 to 120 as per my experience. I think the noise you are referring is the timing chain noise maybe, the engine tone of the Lancer EX is somewhat unusual when compared with other sedans in the same category. You could say its a hybrid of a car engine and an SUV engine tone. And it has the most noisiest cooling fans ever put in a car!