Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (Cars, vans, SUVs, Lexus, Scion, and brochures)!

2015 Subaru BRZ


August 28th, 2022:

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

 

1996 Corolla DX


August 28th, 2022:

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

 

1994 Corolla


August 28th, 2022:

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

 

2022 Supra


August 28th, 2022:

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

 

Turns out I had another picture of this one.

 

Lets see it!

 

It's that one!

 

Didn't load before...

 

I saw this near-mint 2003 Lexus RX300 in the Wegman's parking lot on Monday, and I was shocked to see that it had not been inspected in almost seven years! The inspection stickers say 12/16, which means it was last inspected and emissions tested in late 2015!

My guess would be that it is owned by a senior citizen who literally only drives it to the grocery store and back. According to Carfax, it had an odometer reading of almost 200K miles at the time of that last inspection in December 2015. That means it has well over 200K now. Also according to Carfax, it has had two owners, and the second owner bought it used in 2006 with over 87K miles. That means that just over 112K miles were accrued in the first nine and a half years with the second owner, which is about right, and this Lexus would likely have around 150K miles if it didn't have so many put on it the first three years of ownership. By comparison, I put 54K miles on my truck between July 2019 and July 2022...

Another clue that this Lexus has been owned by the same person since 2005-2006, without resorting to Carfax, is the license plate. It is wearing the old "fade" plate issued from 2000 until 2005. It is possible to transfer plates form vehicle to vehicle in PA, so that is probably how this Lexus has a pre-2006 plate.

I have met many people who take excellent care of their vehicles, but simply don't bother to get them inspected, so the owner of this Lexus is probably one of them.


August 29th, 2022:

Warrington, Pennsylvania

 

So it's not a requirement to get your vehicle inspected as emissions tested every year in Pennsylvania?

 

It is, but the person who owns this Lexus is either lazy or doesn't give a shit. Safety inspections are required yearly for all cars and trucks registered in Pennsylvania, except those registered as antiques; I am unsure about motorcycles and scooters.

Emissions testing is required for all gasoline-powered vehicles except heavy-duty trucks and vans, and commercial vehicles. All diesel vehicles are exempt from emissions testing in Pennsylvania, and all vehicles registered as classic vehicles (different than antique) are as well.

I would not shed a tear if Pennsylvania did away with inspections altogether; I take care of my truck, so I see it as a waste of my time and money. I also see it as a conflict of interest, because the people who are tasked with doing the inspections are the very same who profit from fixing vehicles (better known as mechanics). The lowest price I've ever seen for both emissions and safety here in PA is like $39.99, while some places charge close to $100 for both. One veteran mechanic told me that the "discount" places should be avoided because they will go out of their way to find things wrong with your vehicle and not pass it unless you get them fixed; I can agree with that, but this same mechanic said his justification for charging what he did is that he wouldn't go out of his way to find things wrong.

I got my truck inspected at the local Toyota dealer for the longest time, and it cost like $60. My truck has never failed inspection once during the nearly 13 years I've know it. I now have a trusted independent mechanic who charges about $50 to inspect my truck. My truck has "illegally wired" aftermarket foglights that my mechanic installed, so he just puts a safety inspection sticker on it anyway even though he could get in trouble for it.

I'm just going to be brutally honest...

I DON'T REALLY GIVE A FUCK ABOUT WHAT GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS HAVE DEEMED "ILLEGAL" - In this case, it's foglights that can be turned on at the same time as the high-beams, whereas a vehicle with factory foglights it wired so the high-beams automatically turned off when they are turned on - IT IS MY TRUCK, THE TITLE IS IN MY NAME, AND I PAY THE INSURANCE.

I am smart enough to shut off the high-beams when the foglights are on, and vice versa. Don't even get me started on window tint of a certain darkness being illegal because it's a potential danger to law enforcement; I don't really give a shit because I don't carry a gun, and it's my truck.

But yeah, I more or less agree with safety inspections in PA because they keep shitboxes off the road. What I have a problem is nitpicky shit like "illegally wired foglights". Emissions testing has outlived its usefulness and is little more than a way to separate PA motorists from their hard-earned money. One obnoxious aspect of annual inspections is that you have to show proof of insurance in order to get your vehicle inspected. PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) does routine checks to make sure that your vehicle is insured. I know people who have gotten their registration suspended because they let their insurance lapse and the government looked it up in the system. In one case a friend of mine switched insurance companies on his 2011 Chevy Silverado a few years ago, and due to a screwup in the computer system, it came up as him not having insurance. PennDOT suspended his registration without him even knowing it, and he only found out when a cop ran his license plate and pulled him over. The cop let him drive the truck home since it was in fact insured but confiscated his plate. He had to go through a bunch of unnecessary bullshit to get his registration reinstated, when it was PennDOT's fault.

Proof of insurance is not required to get any kind of maintenance or repair done to a vehicle by a mechanic, so as far as I'm concerned, this is just an Orwellian way for Pennsylvania to make sure you know they're always watching.

 

2006 Scion XB


August 30th, 2022:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

2001 Lexus RX300


August 30th, 2022:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

2005 Scion TC


August 30th, 2022:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

1997 Lexus ES300


August 30th, 2022:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

So how does the owner of that Lexus get away with not having an inspection since 2015? Just hope no cop notices the sticker?

 

Yeah, pretty much. Enforcement of expired inspection stickers has been pretty lax since COVID started...

 

Same car!


September 3rd, 2022:

Boyertown, Pennsylvania

 

2003 Avalon XLS


September 3rd, 2022:

Boyertown, Pennsylvania

 

2010 Scion XB


September 3rd, 2022:

Boyertown, Pennsylvania

 

2002 Lexus IS300 SportCross; I saw these often enough over a decade ago when they were fairly new, but this is my first time seeing one since I started "stalking" vehicles to post pictures on TW and the related forums. As such, I was really excited when I saw it! The owner bought it in Florida for like $1,500 and drove it up to Pennsylvania. The car has about 200K miles!


September 3rd, 2022:

Boyertown, Pennsylvania

 

2006 Highlander Hybrid Limited


September 4th, 2022:

Bristol, Pennsylvania

 

This is another vehicle image on the Happy Color app; I thought it looked like a Toyota Coaster minibus, so I simply Googled "Shark Bus". It turns out that there is in fact a 2005 Toyota Coaster "Shark Bus" in New Zealand!

 

As July 2020, it was for sale...

https://thedailyjaws.com/news/kelly-tarltons-shark-bus-for-sale

 

Apparently it sold for $31,500 after a lot of aggressive bidding...

 

It now legal to bring a 1997 or older Coaster into the United States under the 25-year loophole; I have NEVER seen one in the USA, and I am unaware of any in Canada. The reason for this is because while they are relatively cheap to buy and likely no harder to get into the country than a Delica or HiAce, but lots of money doesn't always mean lots of garage space, and most people don't have the ability to keep a vehicle that's big as a typical class A motorhome on their property. The majority of Coasters seem to be used as public transport for big cities in Asia and Europe, and as transport for recreational facilities in those areas of the world. The last time I checked the Hertz website, it was possible to rent a Coaster with a manual transmission in Australia for private use. However, both the automatic and manual models required commercial license, so not just anybody could actually rent one.

In the US, once a retired school bus under 26,000 pounds has been repurposed as a motorhome, work truck, or other private vehicle, a CDL is not required to drive it. I'm pretty sure that a Coaster is well under 26,000 pounds and does not have air brakes, so it's probably possible to drive one in America with a regular Class C license.

The pictures below were all taken from Wikipedia...

 

These are 1st Generation Coasters from the 1970s...

 

The one in first, higher resolution picture is LHD and would be a prime candidate for a motorhome conversion!

 

This is a 2nd Generation 1980s model; 1st Generation models produced prior to February 1972 had a 4-speed manual transmission, with newer models getting a 5-speed. Both the 4-speed and 5-speed variants were column-shifted!

I can't find any info to corroborate this, but I would think that an automatic transmission was an option by the 1980s...

 

This is also a 1980s B30 model...