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First of all apologies for opening a new thread to show my new ride. This might be a regular car for autolankans. But thought of writing on it as it is slightly different from ones you see day-to day. First of all I would like to say that I'm typical car buyer who buy japanese cars though I love to ride a beemer or six cylinder jap car due to financial reasons. My last drive was a toyota vitz (2007) which became a pain due to very low fuel consumption (I drive about 70-90km daily), and vibration issue. It cost significant fraction of my salary for fuel. I was thinking about buying used F10 520D, but I dropped that idea due to the reason that spending 7-8 mil in 8 year old car was useless. Then I started hunting an aqua(2015 or up) mainly due to fuel economy. While on hunting suddenly I noticed this car which was in a sale at Kalutara n had a look. Other thing was I wanted to exchange car with my Vitz. (I couldn't go through that pain of selling a car with lot of time wasting). Finaly they agreed to exchange those two. So here I present my new Toyota Aqua Gs (2015)... This car had been imported by the same car sale in 2017. First owner of the car had been used it carefully. I got service records for the past 2 years as well and clocked at 46000km. Had original tyres on it, but threads were worn out. So I had to change tyres at 1st. Due to the cost factor I went for Chinese set. Will see how it goes.. Car had been modified in Japan by these guys http://www.autoworld-custom.com/. Headlights came with angle eyes and all the other lights had been changed. Side mirror glasses had been changed to ones with light blue tinge and signal LED arrow. Mirrors also have welcome lights. When I bought this right side mirror glass had been shattered due to some reason and I had to replace it with normal aqua glass. Indicator is still visible at dark but not visible with bright sun light. If any of you guys has an idea where to find this glass (right side) please let me know. She came with dual exhausts which are functional with nice beat. I dont have undercarriage photo at the moment. Bonnet is supported by gas struts/hood dampers on both sides This has stock 17 inch alloys with caliper covers in red. Caliper cover letters glow in white in the dark and inner side of all wheels glow in yellow (LED). That's about exterior. How is the interior? A pillars have tweeters and on right side there is RPM meter. Usually tweeters are on the doors in aqua. Steering has been replaced with modified version. Start/stop button covered with a sticker. Pedals had been customized. Seat covers has been applied. this is the gear shifter.. color changed to red when on reverse. This is the reading light on the hood which has something else as well. ? Air purifier? I have no idea. But it has a fan or some thing. Came with a throttle controller which has 3 modes. Eco, normal and sports. Yet to check sports mode... So that's it for now.. will update on new things..

For 4000+ km per month, the battery will be paid off by fuel during 2 years

A guy has 6mn and his car options are small hatchbacks, mini suvs. What times we are living in. ? If I had 6mn I would not go for half/quarter of a car for the sake of being 'Unregistered', 'Peace of Mind'. Just my personal thought that I dont think its right spending anything above 3mn for a small hatchback/Kei. What a waste of money, be it any car its a pile of metal and plastic. So IMO, in very simple sense I would go for more material for the price I pay. Around that range you have many second hand options with more metal and plastic and leather may be e.g. 2014/15 Mazda 3/Axela, CRV 12/13, Kia Sportage 2012/2013, Audi A4 2011/12, If you can stretch the budget just slightly Mazda 6 2014/15. Mitsubishi Asx, prev gen xtrail, Hyundai Santa Fe 2012/13. If you absolutely need a BN one, I would vote for the new 1L Civic / CHR. (Have to spend bit more than 6mn) But its up to you, just my 2 cents.

Sorry but I do think the original seat covers look nicer I was wrong....stock stiffening seems to come in terms of undercarriage welds and braces

The thing on the light is an air purifier.....it is an after market unit that can be purchased at the Toyota dealer or any car parts shop.

The G's version is the old GR Sport version. That thing should have stiffer suspension and more suspension parts like lower and upper strut bars than the standard Aqua of the time, interestingly looking at the photo of your car's engine bay looks like it does not have the upper strut bar...I wonder if the lower ones are there.... The current GR Sport has some additional under carriage braces as well...not sure if the G's came with it as well... I have always said that the Aqua has a very lively frame....it is let down by the soft suspension and numb and delayed steering...most of which get fixed a lot in the GR Sport with the suspension upgrades. So you do have a pretty nice car. Hope you have plenty of fun filled miles with it... ....congrats on your car !

Importers understate the CIF by opening the LC for a lower value and remitting the balance through other unofficial modes. To counter this customs will have their own valuation based on the car model and they will not go by the amount in your LC

Hey, it seems you skipped over the very first sentence on my post where I mentioned "I am an absolute newbie". I wasn't trying to be modest by saying that, I really am a newbie. ☺️ Its nothing wrong about you, its about the crazy taxing and pricing we have here for BN vehicles.

1. Do not believe those importers much, they are like politicians... will tell fairy tales until they get their cut 2. the auction prices have go down slightly 3. They will undervalue the vehicle for the invoice... and the balance send as black money.. so it's only the customs value comes in to play... 4 according to my understanding the luxury tax for C-HR is over 300,000.... but i may be wrong 5. Be careful... there are no long term tax policies for the vehicles in this country

Prius 2009 2nd Gen. No battery issues. Just that the ABS lasts for 100k kms before it fries up

Two of my friends use this model bought from Micro. Can give you the telephone number who was working in a leading car company. Bought one MG from the agents. He has done over 5000 KM. You can Email me to get his number. <[email protected]> Sylvi Wijesinghe.

Well if you use your own permit and import you will get the total advantage of Rs. 3.6 Mn. If you buy a permit say for Rs. 2.2 Mn. you will save Rs. 1.4 Mn. in tax otherwise you would have paid by utilizing someone else permit. If you have a permit better to utilize it to maximize the benefit, if you sell the permit the buyer will get benefit of Rs. 1.4 Mn. In the case of the Raize duty is only Rs. 2.0 Mn. if you use the permit you will forgo Rs. 1.6 Mn. you could have used on a better car for instance on a CHR

I would have chosen the Mazda over the Corolla Sport without a blink if not for the duty structure. Paying nearly over Rs. 2.0 Mn. above the permit where as for the Toyota it was only Rs. 265K saving of nearly Rs. 1.75 Mn. Yes managed to find one in auction in last May, got a good deal as there was restrictions in opening LCs for the permit and the car was below the radar of Sri Lankan buyers at the auction. Mine is blackish blue with TRD body kit and part red leather interior as ample road presence at the moment due to rarity i suppose. Engine is more willing and smoother over the Civic 3 port 1.0L although has less power.

Issue with the permit is you will be the importer and the CIF will be decided by customs based on the market price in Japan. Your LC CIF is more than the valuation it will be based on the LC CIF. Best is to get the customs valuation of the vehicle and compute the tax. As CHR is a common vehicle any clearing agent will be able clarify this. JPY 2.7 Mn. on the CHR will include Tax in Japan, exporter charges etc. which are not taken for customs valuation. They generally go by the based price of the basic car which is also very much cheaper (this was how it was calculated previously, I may be wrong here). Plus you might get depreciation on the age of the vehicle.