I should have added that on the hand I had to change the Toyota's waterpump and timing belt. Also at one time the toyota's sidemirror and corner light were ripped off in town centre and had to replaced. The worst came when the corolla was stolen from a parking lot in town but luckily it was recovered by police after 3 days having been abandoned in some isolated side road in lavington. The thugs had forced open the doorlocks and ignition which I had to replace, also the window electric motor not to mention repainting the bumper since it had a few dents.

For the Nissan it was happy motoring. The only thing I changed was the rear brake light bulb. And it seems the thugs were never interested in the car, or its sidemirrors.

For both cars I had to change the shocks however the nissan's rear shocks were different (oil shocks) and never needed changing.

Looking back, I'd say I spent more money maintaining the corolla due to the said mechanical and crime issues.

And as someone has observed above once you own a corolla, despite it being a good car, you feel like you want to move on and get a different model for a change. Thus my present car isn't a corolla, though its still a toyota.

Looking at the new car prices CRSP list as given by KRA, one notices something interesting. All the following cars are valued at 2.4m: Toyota Corolla, Premio, Allion, Fielder. Also Mitsubishi lancer, VW Golf GTi.

Subaru impreza and Mazda axela are valued at 3m and 3.4m respectively. Sunny/Sylphy at 2m, Golf (not gti) 1.9m, Prombox 1.8m.

So why the huge discrepancy in the used car prices for the above vehicles. The used japanese premio is going for 1.2m, corolla/fielder 900k, lancer 700k, subaru impreza 800k, nissan sylphy 650k, golf 1m, prombox 600k.

@Jaggernaut - The prices on the CRSP list are usually provided by the local dealers of the models. So, if the local dealer quotes a very high showroom price [Toyota Kenya and Subaru Kenya are culprits here], the consumers are screwed.

@ Layman The taxes are as follows:
FOR THE 1800 CC

Current Retail Selling Price 2,327,600
Depreciation 70%
Extra Depreciation 0%
Customs value 321,048
Import Duty 25% 80,262
Excise Value 401,310
Excise Duty 20% 80,262
VAT Value 481,572
VAT 16% 77,052
Total Taxes 237,576
Motor Vehicle Registration 12,000
IDF Fees 7,224
Grand Total 256,799


FOR THE 2000CC

Current Retail Selling Price 2,847,800
Depreciation 70%
Extra Depreciation 0%
Customs value 392,800
Import Duty 25% 98,200
Excise Value 491,000
Excise Duty 20% 98,200
VAT Value 589,200
VAT 16% 94,272
Total Taxes 290,672
Motor Vehicle Registration 12,000
IDF Fees 8,838
Grand Total 311,510


I hope this helps.....

great..