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iRage

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Everything posted by iRage

  1. Hi Kali Well....I believe you have gone through the thread on the process of buying a used car. Apart from that the two cars you have mentioned have been discussed quite extensively, so you should read up on those too. Although, please keep in mind that the March and Alto fall in to two different market segments. Apart from that....only you can decide whether you should be buying a used car or not. Having said that; considering your budget your only option is to buy a used car. Also, if this is your first time owning a car, a solid and mechanically simple and not too costly to fix used car would be a good starting point.
  2. Hi Nandos Actually the age limit for car imports is 3 years. Unfortunately you can't import your car to SL...you could try briging it under a carnet permit but in that case you can legally keep the car in SL only for a small period of time. You can try asking for special permission...some people who returned (permenantly) have done that. If you have to pay taxes it will be exorbitant. Your 11 year old car will be taxed as much as a brand new car. To be honest, for the same cost I believe you can buy a decent car in SL.
  3. ...and the new ES will be introduced in Japan around Fall of 2018 Cool
  4. Nope...it was Pakistani toyota group that went around calling it Prius 2019. In 2010ish ? Toyota had an internal competition to design a PHV family sedan. At the time Toyota claimed that the winning design will be the blueprint for a PHV family sedan that will be released in 2015. This was the winning design and it was showcased in 2012. Many people thought that this would be the start of a new line of PHV vehicles...much like, at the time, Prius was the family of Hybrid vehicles. The 2015 family sedan never materialized, although some of the design queues and ideas have gone on to a few of the other models. When the concept was first showcased people beleived that this would be the Prius we currently have. Which also was not the case.
  5. For the Chinese market only 1. A Nissan Leaf based EV Sylphy 2. Corolla PHV
  6. When a Camry gets 'posh'd up you get the Avalon....when that gets posh'd up you get the Lexus ES....(fyi the Japanese market is deprived of the Avalon and the ES...)
  7. So the bottom line is engine de-greaser, or any other "thing" for that matter; is perfectly fine when used sensibly as and when needed as directed by the manufacturer and is applied by anyone who actually knows what they are doing
  8. True a de-greaser is not needed. But I think people mix up a general engine room cleaner with a de-greaser (where the latter is actually quite hard). The issue in some countries/regions is that there is a significant amount of mud build-up (e.g. Hanoi). That is hard to clean with just compressed air and a wipe
  9. See..that was the food for thought. If they truly are giving you the total and transparent coverage they claim they do...why isn't it that they don't cover work done by the ONLY people in the country who the manufacturers themselves have trained to repair the cars ? In fact in Japan the warranty becomes null and void if the work was NOT done by a manufacturer's dealer
  10. Well....most products come in bulk packaging for service stations (large drums, etc...) so that they can put it in to applicator bottles, etc...and use it. So the de-greaser being in a re-fillable bottle is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just that in SL we simply can't trust our service stations. As for the car agent and accreditation you refer to...I am sorry but a service station being accredited by this agent (or even any of the others in SL) mean nothing. There is no proper accreditation mechanism and there are no QA/QC processes in place to make it any much more different than most of the other service stations and garages, there is no proper training or process to do things. Doing this would be expensive and hurt their profits. It is in place to make sure that you as the owner, does not take the car to a maka baas,break it and then go through a warranty claim process with the agent and manufacturer (it is also a matter of capitalizing on an opportunity for expanding). So do not automatically presume that these guys at "accredited"/"affiliated" service stations know what they are doing. The agent you have mentioned is notorious for making claims of thorough inspection and global service centers. As food for thought : If you take your car to the manufacturer's local agent would they still honor the warranty ? After all these are the people who are formally trained by the manufacturers to maintain these cars.
  11. Highly highly highly subjective ! It is physically impossible to manually change gears as fast as most of the new auto transmission systems. Even the CVT has come quite a long way in responsiveness. In Sri Lanka, and quite a few parts of the world, maintaining a manual transmission costs as much as maintaining an automatic transmission...just like maintaining a Japanese car with genuine parts will be as expensive as maintaining a Euro car. Yes..Japanese car manufacturers are going the Automatic route for ALMOST all of their Japanese market models because of demographic changes. The population is getting older....the younger population are not in to cars (hell they go get married to silicone dolls and robots for crying out loud) and for the last decade or so the number of drivers getting licensed for MT vehicles has been rapidly declining. Even the Japanese cars for other markets still offer MT options. Also, it is sad that we are at a point of comparing premium Euro vehicles with Japanese econo boxes. Just because you play 60,000 - 80,000USD for your Premio/Allion/Axio it does not make it a Premium car. Cars like the Atenza, Mark X, Crown, Teana, Fuga are in a different category completely when it comes to how they are put together...so when someone talks about Japanese cars it is unfair we just think about the entry level econo boxes running around in SL. Even if you compare an Axio with a A3 sedan because of the size it still falls under two different market segments. So it is like comparing an Alto 800 with a NBox. Finally...this is starting to sound like a bunch of 10 yr old vegan kids talking about the wonders of Kobe beef vs farm-shed beef from Mexico.
  12. Depends on the de-greaser. Most reputable and decent degreasers are pretty mild on the rubber and plastics. However, what kind of degreaser are you talking about ? If you are referring to de-greaser that is specific for oil leak removal then you should not put that on the rubber and plastics..those are really really hard. If you are talking about de-greasers that are for engine dress-up and cleaning then those are pretty safe. So it depends on what the service station uses. Some even use some stuff that smells like kerosene oil. Personally I would not take the risk. Instead I would tell the service station to not put anything on the engine; then get a detailer to give it a proper clean once in a while and in between those clean-ups just wipe it down my self.
  13. iRage

    RPM vs speed

    If RPM at 70 is 2000RPM...RPM at 100 should be 2857 Following the same logic when the engine is at idle it should be 0 RPM ???
  14. Welcome to the forum ! For starters you are talking about a car model that is 18 to 23 years old ! After getting used for all these years how good the car is depends on how it was used by its previous owners. With age and use things like the engine and gearbox get worn out which effects things like fuel efficiency. OKay the REVIERE was released around 2000 so its about 18 years old. When the car was new, yes, it was a good car...solidly built with engine and drive train compoents that were solidly built and proven to be really durable in previous Corollas and other Toyota models. The Reviere was a special commenration model so it got a bit of a few extras on top of the standard SE Saloon accessories (mist clearing side mirrors, plated door handles and badges, fake wood panels, etc...)The interior finish of course was a bit of a let down compared to the E100 series Corolla (that Corolla was seriously over engineered because the chief engineer wanted a small segment Lexus LS). Its durability is also its problem. Over the last 18 to 25 years the car would have gone through several owners. Most of these owners buy the car for its "fuel efficiency" and "cheapness" to maintain. As a result a lot of these cars were not properly maintained and yet the cars keep working. So there are a lot of these cars around that are made to look shiny just to sell it off. On top of that they ask for ridiculous prices for a car that is so so old....especially for something like a Reviere because of the plated badges, and door handles, etc... So yes..the E110 Corolla (Reviere or any other grade) was a good car. 25 years later whether the car is good depends on the condition of the car. Buying one of these cars is a tough call because of the prices they go for and the effort involved in finding a good unit.
  15. Welcome to the forum ! Unfortuantely you need to be a little bit more specific than ground clearance and going outstation. Will it be a family car ? a Bachelor car ? Do you prefer sedans, hatchbacks, wagons ? and the list goes on...
  16. Both these cars are flooding the market in SL so most of your concerns are not a concern. Resale demand, well that is a bit hard to say just yet because these cars have just hit the market so there are far more unregistered cars than registered/used ones. At the end of the day if the car is well maintained and one asks for a reasonable and honest price there will be someone always be willing to buy it. There have been a few threads discussing the pros and cons of these models so please search the threads/forum.
  17. All I can say is the same as what Matroska has stated. Modern day cars are reliable but you can't expect 80s/90s kind of over the top reliability and over engineering from any manufacturers these days. Its partly also due to the fact that the way people buy cars and for what has also evolved.... As for parts availability....don't forget people had the same concern when the Wagon Rs started coming in. As the segment gets more affordable there will be more people buying it and thus parts coming in. Even if it doesn't, parts required for general/pre-emptive maintenance and symptomatic issues you can always plan ahead and get it brought down.
  18. The above poll is not really fair....the coolest might not necessarily be the one that people blindly run after and the one that people run after might not necessarily be the nicer car. Apart from the basic stuff tat you have looked in to....I personally find the Honda keis a bit more refine than the Suzukis in terms of materials used and the way the engine and the whole driving experience feels. Somehow the Spacia feels like a toy when you are sitting in it. The dashboard is way too busy like its trying to hard to be tech packed, etc...The NBox on the other hand is easier on the eyes..the seats have a much better feel (especially the rear) What "looks" cooler is a matter of personal preference. The Spacia Custom reminds me of a beaver....the N-One reminds me of a LEGO man...the N Box Custom looks a bit fancier. So..yeah...
  19. If you use the car roughly perhaps you might have hit the bottom and chipped off protective coatings etc and things started to rust off. If the recommended repairs were given to the previous owner howcome it was not there in the records ? Perhaps he hid it ? Again...if that was the case...then you should have gotten it checked out BEFORE the purchase and used that to reason out the price a bit. If you go to ANY agent...the agent has to follow their principal manufacturer's/s' service procedures. These service procedures do not include short cut or alternative methods "external garages" would take to repairing things in order to maintain the manufacturer's quality standards.. For example, in most cars if the stabilizer link bushes or the control arm bush gets worn out...you have to replace the entire unit. However, in SL we punch in the bushes in...and there are OEM bushes we can buy in the market. Also, most of the time the manufacturer's repair procedures would state to look in to other areas that the fault might effect and recommend to inspect and replace...so although you go in for one thing they might end up doing 3 things on your car. Then where service labor is concerned most agents might take a task-time based billing mechanism as opposed to an actual time based billing mechanism. So they might say replacing one shock takes 3 hours and bill you for 3 hours even though the mechanic actually did it in 1.5hrs... So things can get pricey at any agent. To make it worst almost all agents in SL put a premium price on their parts and services (but then the influx of cheap parts and dubious labor we Lankans run behind is also to blame for that).
  20. Well in that case.... perhaps what is actually being said is : 1. valve cover gasket and timing belt tensioner o-ring leaking oil : First of the things you need to fix 2. Stabilizer bushes <oh wait....I guess if you squint your eyes really hard that word could be bush> need to be replaced : If that is the case how bad is it ? It is natural for the bush to show wear and tear....typically (in most models) Toyota does not sell just the bush for the stabilizer link, however there are decent OEM bushes that you can buy. 3. Radiator support is damaged with corrosion ? Again....how old is your car ? why did it corrode ? Is it actually corroded or does it just have a rust patch somewhere (in which case you should get it fixed before it corrodes through) ?4. Wiper blades : hope you can find a good pair.
  21. Yes...different tyre types and brands will have varying grip levels depending on things like thread cut and depth, rubber hardness etc....so the system can get confussed
  22. Does it say boot ? I thought it said bent damaged which made me go on to think it said the radiator support was actually damaged damaged and not just corrosion. The other question I have is if TL maintained this car when were these issues brought to the attention of the previous owner ? Especially the gasket and o-ring issue.
  23. Okay..first and foremost....if you had got the car properly inspected then all of the above should have been visible and would have been identified as what needs to be done. So ALWAYS get the car checked by the agents or a third party, especially if you are not mechanically inclined. 1. Valve cover gasket and timing chain tensioner O ring...: You would have seen oil stains around the engine "body" on top...I suppose it is seeping right now with age...you would probably want to get that looked in to before the oil starts leaking quite badly and it becomes a big mess. 2. Radiator support panel : How on earth did it get damaged ? The support panel does not get corroded that easily unless there is a leak in the radiator constantly dripping water on to it and/or the paint is damaged and exposing bare metal to get corroded. 3. Stabilizer link....again..surprised that it is DAMAGED !!! I can understand the rubber bushings wearing out or showing signs of fatigue considering the age of the car...but how on earth did it get damaged ??? Considering 2 and 3 are you sure it has not had any frontal accidents ? 4. Wiper blades need to be replaced...well...that means when it rains the windscreen would not properly get wiped thus driving in the rain would be a bit of an issue in the rain I have to ask....are you sure this car has only 60,000km ? Did you see actual maintenance records from TL? I have seen plenty of cars that have done far more than that and still does not show things like issues with the items 1 and especially 2 and 3. If it actually has done only 60,000km then all I can say is that seems to be a car that has had a very hard life.
  24. 1. No....there is not a single car that is actually "worth" its price in SL because of our import duty structure. At the end of the day only you can figure out whether it is worth the price you are paying based on what you will be using it for and for how long. What the probably resale value in X amount of years cannot be predicted without consulting a fortune teller. It is too dependent on our governments' erratic policies and tax structures. However, no matter what happens at the end of the day a well maintained car can always be sold at a reasonable price. On a side note..there is a certain type of person who pays exorbitant prices for a Corolla 121. Just remember that for every 10 of those people there is atleast 1 normal sensible person out there looking for a car. 2. In Japan the 1KR with idling stop is rated at 24kmpl and the 1KR without idling stop is rated at 21kmpl or something close to that for a JC08 cycle (i.e. 50% usage on highway and 50% in city). In reality it will atleast do 16kmpl and 15ish kmpl in Japan....in SL you are probably looking at a little bit lower. Its really hard to give a specific value in SL because it can change drastically depending on where you live as that effects how much time you will be stuck in traffic. Basically don't buy it expecting to get 24kmpl in city diriving on a daily basis 3. Have you looked in to the new Swift. I believe the 1L turbo charged RSt should fall in to your budget. The 1.3L RS that is a Hybrid seems to be a bit higher than your budget but there seems to be barely used specimens that go closer to your budget. Its a much more exciting car to drive. Buying a used car is not the end of the world. There are well maintained cars if you are willing to be patient enough to find one. Also, just because a car is "unregistered" and/or has "zero mileage" don't presume that it is going to be trouble free. There are plenty of SL car importers who buy cars that are used for just a few months in Japan and sold of as "zero mileage" cars after having their mileages tampered with. There used to be used Mazda 2 sedans for a bit over your budget...no idea if that is possible now. 4. I would not buy one. If I had to buy one I would buy whatever was made after the Safety Sense package was made standard (late 2015 ?) At the end of the day the current Vitz is a 8 year old platform that has been dressed up in every possible way possible. If I must go for a Vitz I would go for a RS (standard or G's edition) and if money was no issue bid for a GRMN Turbo (they will make only 150 of the new one and will cost 4mil yen...the 3 door which they made a few years ago goes for almost the same price).
  25. If you are looking for an actual sedan type vehicle...I suppose the Tiida and the Vios will fall in to the same category.
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