1992 Toyota Corona ST190 in Cyprus :)

[Qsecofr]

I was in Cyprus recently (an RHD country).

I saw zero JDM except this one interesting exception.

Pre-facelift Toyota Corona ST190 with 4S-FE engine.

I think this one is 1992.

If I recall correctly, this was one of the first "round" Toyotas (this model introduced in 1992) when everything or nearly everything else in the lineup was still quite boxy.

Also known in Europe as Carina E at that time, this model was originally represented by Japanese-built vehicles, but then the production was moved to the UK and that was the end of it.

Reliability dropped, many minor things were breaking all the time, and what was considered a premium, elegant mid-size turned into a piece of crap.

In Europe, 1996 cars (made in UK) were selling for less than 1993 cars (made in Japan) in early 2000s, as buyers were aware of multiple problems with electronics and such.

But here it is, a Japanese JDM Corona ST190 (not Carina E) in Cyprus, in 2014!

[jdmvip]

Cool so this is probably one of the only JDMs there. Does it mean they're not allowed or hard/costly to import there? Did you do cruise/tour of the whole area or just Cyprus?

[Qsecofr]

I would think that it is just not customary there (which was a surprise, I expected to see a considerable number of JDM cars).

I did not check the laws, but I'd think it should be more or less the same there as in the UK, and in UK it's not a big issue.

I should note that this picture was taken on the Turkish side of Cyprus, but as car registrations are unified in the south and the north, I don't know how to tell if this is a "Greek" or "Turkish" car.

This car is still used on daily basis as I've seen it move around the parking lot while I was there.

I was mostly just in Cyprus during this trip.