SamG

Don't agree with this Xtreme Auto. Kelisa is realy good little car. I was after a one last year. Well maintained auto ones get sold pretty fast. The best you can do for 1.5 mil is probably a 2003 Kelisa manual one. One other option you have is Mazda Demio DW3W (1998-2002). Average on fuel(can expect 8-9 in city, 13-14 outstation with my way of driving. You will be able to do better if you drive like a hybrid driver ). But it's a bullet proof car with lot of space and decent driving dynamics. Price of an auto one is around 1.6mil-1.7mil. This is what I bought instead of a Kelisa.

Reviving an old thread. One of my very good friends is seeking my help in finding a good Civic FD (non-hybrid). This thread was the best help. Now it's confirmed that my friend is settling for an FD1. With very little number of samples available to look, what I'm not sure is what's the reasonable price I need to offer for a well looked after car. Can our fellow Honda community help me with this?

According to my knowledge Axela Hybrid comes only with what they call "Continuously Variable Electronic Transmission" which I believe the normal CVT boxes we know.

'sajcolombo', you became a overnight super star in the forum Jokes apart, I too vote for Kelisa 2005-2007. I was looking for a Kelisa 2007 Auto recently. As Kavvz mentioned it's cheap and easy to maintain. It's better built compared to its Indian counterpart. That's why I considered it. Biggest challenge would be to a find a well maintained sample. Most of these cars are very poorly maintained. Therefore, follow the advices given by fellow forum members. Biggest let down of the car is that it vibrates a lot. But it's a fun car to drive. In my case, I considered face-lifted Mazda Demio DW3W (2001-2002) too. It's within the same budget. But bit older, bit expensive to maintain compared to Kelisa. On the flip side, it's bigger, comparatively comfortable and has more bells and whistles. Since I stumbled upon a very good sample, I settled for the Mazda. That's a very good car if you like to consider.

Wait a little. Save about 200k more. Then you are eyeing at a 2004 Demio DY3W. That's what I would do if I were you.

Seriously, very strange thing to receive from a CS3 owner. At least parts should be genuine.

Oh, too bad I missed that detail I too think that even the 3-door model goes as DE because entire 3rd generation is categorized as DE.

It's a DE5FS The sports version with 1.5 engine. (alloys says it all)

Good job mate! I initially thought Davy has posted this Very nicely done...

I actually don't know if they were grey importers or not. I didn't go into the details since I was not in a position to afford one. . But as Davy very correctly pointed out, I and his father own JDM cars and they do all kind of repairs with those. And I did see an Axela once when I went their for the service. So, OP will have his best shot with C0l0nial I guess.

I second what Davy mentioned. Highly recommend to contact C0l0nial. About 4-5 months ago, they gave me a walk through of the Mazda 3 they have and told me that they can bring down an Axela Hybrid if I want. So, I strongly believe that they undertake all repairs of the Axela.

Congrats Shalika !!! Good choice and I'm sure you will love it.

This seems to be a common issue. I still have this issue with my car. I went to C0lonial M0tors complaining about this one. They replaced the brake cylinder. Problem was solved only for couple of months and it returned soon after. Our fellow member fookie got the same issue, and he went on to replace both break cylinder and the booster. He still has the issue. Since this happens very rarely, we just live with it. I found this post in one of the forums which is exactly the same issue. Seems like no one knows how to permanently fix it. http://www.mazda3forums.com/62-suspension-brakes/657609-soft-brake-pedal-after-hard-stop-through-pothole.html

Dear Crosswind, Your reply surprised me a bit. I have a great respect to the opinions made at this forum. That's the very reason I drive a Demio instead of a Vitz at the moment. If you remember, I dropped the idea of buying an E46 because you and The Don helped me out with that. First of all, I'm not a guru of any of the car things. I made my suggestion purely based on a mistake I have done. Let me explain. My first car was a Toyota Corolla AE100 1992. I got the maximum possible loan from the bank to purchase it and hardly had any money with me after I bought it. I kept the car with me for 2.5 years and made it a much more desirable car from its messed up condition. It was my first car (the first car the whole family owned). So I did everything I could without thinking much. The end result was, Rs. 200,000/= on the credit card, zero savings and missed responsibilities to the family (I'm from a below average family). I sold the AE100 and settled to a brand new Maruti 800 because I believed it to give me a decent fuel economy and less trouble for the next few years. That decision actually paid off and got me out of the financially broken state. I know there's no one else but me to be blamed for this. But this is what happens when we have a desire for a car. My previous comment is partly based on this experience. Now, how Fiat Punto related to this. I enjoy driving. Therefore, I like fun to drive cars. I previously considered an E46 because I always wanted to own a euro and I stumbled upon what I thought was a good car. But it didn't work out well. The next option I considered was Grande Punto thanks to this thread. I did a bit of Googling as well. That's what made me comment to this thread. There's no doubt that you guys are experts in euros (or any car thing I would say). You guys know the tricks and tips to reduce the maintenance cost while taking a good care of the car and have contacts to do so. But it's not the same for an average guy. My comment is partly because of this.

Yes machan, I own a Mazda Demio DE3FS 2007 for about 1.5 years.

None.

First of all, the money spent on a car won't be an investment (SL is a strange country though ). For the highlighted reason, I advise you to go for a simple newer car. It's not impossible to own a Punto as your first car. But without money to properly maintain it, you won't be able to enjoy such a nice car.

Sorry guys, I seems to have lost the contacts. Couldn't find it on the phone and I'm away from home at the moment. I'll see if I can find it at home. This is the exact location of the shop (sorry, can't remember the name of the shop either ). It's a small shop run by 2 guys. Google Map Location: www.google.lk/maps/place/6%C2%B051'48.2%22N+79%C2%B053'59.2%22E/@6.8633793,79.8992378,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

Hi sandakag, Retracting of my Demio's driver side mirror stopped working about a year ago. I just visited 2-3 shops at Delkanda stretch and found the part. One of the shops offered me following options. 1. Whole mirror unit - Rs. 25,000/= 2. Replace the whole machine inside the mirror with a genuine used machine (taken from a frame broken side mirror unit) - Rs. 12,000/= I went ahead with the 2nd option. It's been working fine since then. I'm sure you can beat this price if you try a bit harder by visiting few more shops in Delkanda and Panchi. I can give you the contact number of the shop from which I got it fixed.

Since you drive so little, a hybrid is not the best of the choices. How about a slightly used Hyundai Elantra or Kia Cerato? Those are good cars and should fit into your budget. You should able to find even a 2010/2011 Mazda Axela if it is not too old for you.

Have you tried Google Translate? Those translations are not perfect. But it gives you an idea about the content.

Congratulations Davy !!! It's a one beautiful car you have... We have spoken about this about 2 months ago and you are already owning one. Really happy for you machan...!!!

I too can second about "GT Radial Champiro" being a really noisy tyre. It becomes unbearable when tyres wear out. Since you told that the noise is coming from the rear and you have GTs on the rear, I'm quite sure that rear tyres are the culprit.

One other option you have is to buy a 2010/2011 Viva Elite manual one.

Fuel economy and tips to improve it on a Cefiro is extensively discussed in the threads shared by matroska. That's the level best you can do I guess. No one can do a magic to make Cefiro to deliver the fuel figures of a small hatch. If you are going to be this concerned about the fuel figures of a car, you won't have time to enjoy the pleasure of driving it. You have only 2 options: 1. Accept the realistic fuel figures of Cefiro and go for it 2. Forget about the Cefiro and look for another car I once seriously considered a Cefiro. But had to drop the idea due to parking space issue at office. It's a car which has serious value for money.