matroska

To add more clues I'll mention this - This particular vehicle is in the photos following the assassination of a public figure.

with pleasure and no it's not European - the specimen is question is a slightly battered version from a photo that was taken 30+ years ago.

A good friend of mine in the automobile industry (worked for several dealerships) left in 2022. He misses home badly but did mention that there was very limited opportunity specially in the industry locally. Clearly it's just survival mode if you stay in LK. Every industry is affected - we talk about the opportunities in tech but government uni's are struggling with lecturers migrating -in fact one of the leading government universities have scrapped a masters program due to the lack of lecturers to deliver it ) so it is indeed bleak. Having said that there are other factors such as family/parents to consider. Specially for folk who are either only children or all the siblings have already left. See what two misplaced vowels can do ?

at 1.5 You could move into an AT170 from your previous list (a diesel for sure) andddddd The Trad Sunny from your original two cars. 1.5 should fetch you a fairly OK Trad Sunny. (and needless to say a rather good Lancer Box) Also 1.5 M is a ripe budget for numerous Jap diesel Sedans from the 90's . But tread carefully old diesels are a bit of a lottery. So I wouldn't suggest a diesel for a first car or for someone on a tight budget. 1.5 Should fetch you a slightly hard working Sunny SB13(Doctor Sunny-Diesel), Corolla CE90, Camry/Vista CV30 or a Bluebird SU13 The catch is people bought these when diesel was half the price of petrol and were used mostly as commercial vehicles (hauling stuff I kid you not - Specially these bigger sedans with the larger boot space was a cheap reliable option for someone in Chilaw to haul coconuts) so these have been treated like someone treats a piaggio diesel tuk tuk . But I have limited experience with diesels of this era maybe @iRage can add more info on them. I'm not going to confuse you further by adding Mazda's to the mix (but yes I dare say BG series Mazda's are in your budget of 1.5) It's always better to target something in the higher end of a lower price band than go for a bottom of the barrel specimen of a higher price band. (for instance a Trad Sunny for 1.3 M would be probably a better condition than an AT170 corona for 1.3M) Are you sure 406's are available for that price? I'd be a bit cautious about 406's below 2Mill - chances are those are hacked and/or having something like a Nissan GA15 engine powering them. BTW there was a 306 doing the rounds on FB for 1.6M - it seemed to be good.

Well - unless you're a buy-and-sell fellow and someone who actually wants to use the car you won't see a car as an investment specially cars in this budget range. as for the other cars you have mentioned HB11 - is a bit of a bland/joyless choice. But it's a bit of a safe bet. It's a very common car - Front wheel drive, carbureted, the later models would have power steering (I don't think the 1982/83 models do) The 1.3L B11 is more common but if you're going for one suggest the 1.5 L HB11. You're looking at the higher end of the spectrum at this budget since B11's are relatively cheap (compared to other cars) isuzu Gemini - Almost exclusively Turbo-diesel. What I have heard is that these cars a a blast to drive. The engines are relatively trouble free despite the age but body parts are extremely rare which would contribute to the lower market price. A garage owner I know has one: the car runs like a charm but body parts etc are extremely difficult to source. For instance he is missing door handles on the rear doors on an otherwise perfect-looking car. AT170 : Corona's and Carina's - these are slightly expensive and probably 1.2 will not get you a good specimen. These come with either the 5A carb or the 5A EFI engine. Again reasonable comfortable slightly larger cars. Out of the 3 you mentioned - you will probably not get a good AT170 for your budget. Gemini's are a bit of a risk. The 'safer' bet is the HB11 - from current prices I'd say you can get a reasonably good HB11 for around 1M which leaves you about 200K to sort out any issues. What exactly is your requirement? Are you looking for a daily or a weekend driver?

As irage mentioned - it's a valid concern with cars of this age. Due to negligence and various reasons cooling sytems can be in bad shape. And on many instances (not always - there are many Trad sunnies lancers that are daily drivers) cars of these vintage are not always daily runners - many of them are weekend runners and grocery getters used in parallel with another vehicle that does the longer trips and heavy traffic/city office runs. So how the cooling works on long 2-3 hour drives are actually untested. A good idea would be to monitor the heating once you buy and if there are issue sort them out.

Here's the next one. I will release clues periodically.

Ok no one seems to be answering. The answer is Renault Laguna. There is the Laguna Seca speedway (Laguna = Lake in spanish) as Gummybr mentioned. @Duan27 - can you confirm if this is correct?

Oh yes! One of my friends had a situation where his Tercel had the habit of switching it's light on in the middle of the night

well the usual. Corrosion - floor boards, rocker panels, pillars, under the wheel well in the boot. Also something common in this era of cars - and probably a bit more prevalent in Toyota's like KE74s, EP71's is stuff getting lodged inside the fender panels and eventually corroding. Do a test drive observe steering wheel behaviour, shift and see if all gears get engaged properly. oil leaks, better if you can take a trusty mechanic with you before purchase would be good. Anyway if you're buying a 80's car you need to be on good terms with a trusty mechanic who has done his carburetor homework. Note that cosmetic parts like light lenses, interior bits like AC vents etc are difficult to find now for the AE81. So try to go for something that is as complete as possible.

slightly more localized clue for the models name

I think the car guys who were bringing down recon Rushes propagated that the Rush was the 'superior' version of the terios - to which the agent countered (on their website no less) that the Terios was actually better yeah I know it was co-developed but disclaimers/fine-print/technicalities aside it's more or less two apples from the same tree- but probably the Rush goes for half a million more in Sri Lanka due to the Toyota badge -same for all situations where Toyo's and Dai's are involved

Is in fact a Daihatsu Terios. If i remember correctly the Daihtasu Agents back in the day on their website had a write up explaining why the Terios was better than the Rush

I wouldn't say they are worse. But consider this. Toyota's are overpriced in Sri Lanka. If you look at the prices : the same price of a Honda Civic FD4 or an Axela which are around 13-15 years old will only fetch you an Allion that is 20 years old and Yaris/Belta which is a class below the Civic/Axela/Lancer. (Yaris/Belta are budget sedans and if you properly inspect one from each model you'll realize that the Civics/Axela/Lancers are much more refined, have more features and generally a better grade of car than the Yaris/Belta)- with the Axio lineup Toyota created a sub-line-up of the Corolla for Japanese domestic market ( @iRage will have more info on that) so if you do a test drive and spend time with each of these cars you'll figure out that the Toyota's in the same budget, while decent cars are a notch below when it comes to overall refinement. While acknowledging fuel consumption is important in these times do not base a purchase purely based on it - this will leave you disappointed. Your friends at work, your cousins and your uncles will probably tell you that the Allions, Yariss and Axios give magical fuel economy but in reality it differs based on usage, condition of the car, the state of the engine etc.. For instance the Yaris comes with old school auto gearbox as opposed to the CVT on belta- the fuel economy is really not that good. Due to the sentiment of fuel economy and reliability Toyota's tend to be seen as investments hence changing hands frequently- meaning that these cars are usually not really cared for, dressed up and sold. If you do get a good honest Allion by all means go for it but honest Allions/Premios/corollas are like unicorns. Of course None of these cars will give you the fuel economy of your Suzuki Stingray. RE the insight which is a hybrid - if you're ok with hybrids check out the Civic FD3, : A much nicer and more complete car than the insight - and yes it's a hybrid. Left field suggestion : If you can live with the looks Get a 2008/2009 Nissan Tiida for around 4.5 Million max (if you bargain you can get for well below that) invest the remaining 2M in a Fixed Deposit. Even if you get 10% interest rate you'll still get 200,000 in interest per annum - which calcualates to 16,000-17,000 per month that you can use on fuel. (Suggest to redo these numbers - i'm giving these off the top of my head and it's been a long day so my numbers could be wrong)

There would have been not more than a handful of actual GT's and I've only seen a couple and they were also swaps (1800 engine swapped on the regular Lancer 1400)Out of curiosity i called the seller on this 'GT' turns out it is not a mechanical swap. the engine is a regular 1400 Lancer engine and he has only swapped doors with upholstery, seats and consoles from a GT Parts car. So basically it's just regular dressed up Lancer Box , so I'd say the price he is asking is too high. But of course it was posted in the Facebook Lancer groups so you might see it there. Tin body = metal and not putty/cataloy/filler. This is usually just b.s.

Hi The AE81 is a good alternative to the above. They are not as common as the Lancers or Sunnies but prices are comparatively reasonable so you actually have some buffer to sort out any issues. Finding body parts are going to be slightly troublesome. The AE81 comes with a 1.5L 3A engine, the AE80 with a 1.3 2A. The EE80 - comes with a 1.3 L 2E engine - which is a solid choice given that the 2E is a fairly good engine commonly used in many later versions such as corolla wagons (EE96), Starlets etc.

This is the correct answer! Please take your turn 🙂

Well prices are a bit inflated now but decent choices in your budget. Toyota's in this budget range are overpriced. 1. Honda Civic FD Series (2007 onwards) 2. Mazda 3/Axela - BL Series (2008+) 3. Well below your budget - Mitsubishi Lancer CS3/CS2 (2010ish)

First off if this is your budget - you're likely looking at the lower end of the spectrum as far as Trad Sunny is concerned. Good condition Trad's are a bit above that range. But when it comes to Lancer you can buy a relatively good specimen for the budget. If you're looking for a more of a fun-to-drive car i'd say the Lancer, but the Trad will be a bit more grown up, more comfy and the more refined car overall. But a lot needs depends on how each car has been maintained. Both these cars are 35 (Trad) or 40 (Lancer) years old - so corrosion will be a huge concern. Pay very good attention to corrosion. Then interiors. Interiors are tough to sort out. Pay attention to steering in the Lancer- rack related issues are a bit common. I suggest you keep around 200,000 of your budget to sort out any issues. This could be simple things like worn out break pads etc, or a carb that's messed up, or a faulty transmission that can get messy. These cars were relatively bullet proof in their heyday - but now require a lot of TLC and close monitoring.

that rear light was too obvious wasn't it ? yes indeed it reminds you of a man who came down from the hills to avenge for something with the answer dangling on a string maybe we wait for someone else to take it?

Have a go at this then

Kind of high. Last december there was a mint condition Lancer for 1 Mill in Ratnapura doing the rounds in the groups - but then prices went up. There's another restored Lancer box model, fitted with doors and internals from a GT(mind you Lancer 17X series GT's hardly ever got here) asking 1.6 M. Those of course do not move. If someone is in a hurry they will sell for a reasonable price. So don't be afraid to bargain. You should not excessively worry about something like mileage on a car twice as old as you ... 99% of the time if you buy a Lancer Box model the mileage on that is' gonna be wrong. So ignore the mileage, get the car properly checked if you're going for something like that. a bit OT @iRage : I do vaguely remember as a kid of adults having the sentiment 1.3 was the perfect engine capacity this was in the 90's. But what I noticed was that with the Trad Sunny B12 - the majority of the cars are HB12's - was it again the availability of higher trims that made them go for the bigger engine variant?

Yup which is why I said I think the brand new imports were EE90's : 1.3 carb engines. (heck even the tercels as far back as 1998 that were imported brand new had 2E's) I've seen more EFI AE91's than Carb AE91's locally - yes as you mentioned the car launched with the 5A-F (the toyota jp brochure mentions the 5A-F not the FE) The same applies for the Carina/Corona AT170 series, older models come with the 5A-F carb, while majority available locally have the 5A-FE.

Exactly this is why i suggested the Starlet - and yes an e80 corolla/sprinter has the same kind of feel to it. OP's RWD obsession aside, I'd still always recommend the AE91, given it's EFI and relatively modern so it's easier to live with. Prices of all these took a nose dive last year but with the leasing rates going down many are buying cars and generally prices have risen. However the demand is there for Newer cars, ideally hatches with auto gearboxes - the vitzes, peroduas, suzukis, Honda Fits ... You might see AE91's listed for 1.8M but they are just hovering there for months. Someone I know sold his AE91 which was in really good condition for 1.35M after advertising it for 1.55 - IF OP is persistent enough he can get a decent car for his price. Anyways OP will need to have some buffer for repairs - they will come for sure. IF budget constraint is there - a left field suggestion might be a diesel since they're a lot cheaper - ideally something with a 2C engine. But of course they come with their separate set of problems.

well no at least from the same continent. So since it's been over a day I'll post the answer The answer to Gummybr's quiz is the Rover Metro There is one for sale on a local car-selling website (vehicle shed). Listed as a Rover Metro. Looks legit apart from the Skoda Logo on the rear door. However when you run the number in the DMT app turns out is is registered as a 1987 Skoda 130L. My guess is that the Rover's actual CR is being used to run a dodgy mini somewhere so somebody probably decided to use a rusted up Skoda book for the Rover and stuck a skoda logo in the back just to make it look legit.