Saturn

a.) What is the expected life span of a clutch in Sri Lanka, according to your experience ??? I can't say how long a clutch should last in Sri Lanka, because it depends entirely on the driver(s) of said vehicle (however our lack of roads and constant crawling traffic does have an exceptionally bad effect on the clutch). In my experience I'm guessing around 100k or so - however, a good driver should be able to easily make it last much longer. Whether you choose to replace the clutch plate depends on its state of wear and your personal preference - many people here are OK driving with worn clutch plates. Clutch plate life depends on the driver: many drivers I've seen here like to drive with the clutch partially engaged - never releasing it fully - I'm not sure if this is general stupidity or a lack of understanding of how the system works, but this behavior helps kill the clutch plate much faster. b.) How do you know if a clutch is about to become history ? I'm not an automotive expert but I would suggest you look out for two signs: 1. The clutch is 'late' to engage. I.e. vehicle only starts moving as you almost fully release the pedal (this can also be caused by incorrect clutch cable/pedal adjustment). 2. Clutch slips when climbing inclines (by this stage the clutch is pretty much gone ) - by slips I mean the engine may rev up without the vehicle moving forward correspondingly, even though the clutch is fully engaged. 3. Sometimes, a worn clutch plate may be indicated by sudden acceleration not resulting in vehicle motion - i.e. when you blip the gas a bit, the vehicle does not speed up, even though RPM speeds up. - when the clutch plate looses it's last bits of traction, the results are pretty spectacular, as the engine races, and sometimes you see smoke as the plate dies I'm sure there are other ways to notice impending clutch failure, hopefully experts can add to this. c.) What tips should one follow to get the maximum life out of a clutch? 1. Fully release the clutch after engaging a gear ( try not to drive with clutch partially pressed). 2. Drive on correct gear for situation (so you don't need to partially press clutch). 3. Don't use clutch to rapidly slow down vehicle - i.e. dont downshift too drastically as when you engage the clutch there would be a small amount of wear. Aside from the clutch, this is bad for the engine. 4. Release the clutch at right point when slowing down car with brakes - i.e. if you are on 4th gear for example dont bring the engine to a halt with the brakes (unless emergency), instead release clutch when vehicle has sufficiently slowed down. 5. Don't clutch-balance - there are a few rare cases where you need to clutch balance for a second or so, like on a hill before merging into traffic, but 90% of the time it's best to just engage the handbrake + neutral (plus more safer) - of course you have to have a working handbrake... 6. Press and release clutch pedal smoothly (not too fast or slow). Most of these points are common sense. The best I'd say is to understand how the system works and take that into consideration during use.

325 km/h fast showcar sprints to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds No Golf has ever been more powerful, or wider, or faster. The GTI W12-650 gives the appearance of having come directly from the racetrack. A Golf that could be the pace car for the 24 hour race at Le Mans. Its name is its mission: W12 cylinders, 650 bhp (477 kW at 6,000 rpm). A showcar, no more, no less. At the same time it demonstrates the enormous potential that such a car can offer. Since 1982, the Golf GTI’s greatest fans have been celebrating it every year at the Wörthersee in the Austrian state of Kärnten. Thousands come for this event. For this occasion, Volkswagen has put a Golf on wheels that is like no other: The GTI W12-650 showcar. This sports car is a tribute to car fans that have made the GTI a legend. It is a concept that was designed just for them. 3.7 seconds, 325 km/h, 750 Nm Its 6.0-litre bi-turbo engine is longitudinally mounted directly behind the driver and front passenger. This transforms the GTI into a classic mid-engine sports car. A six-speed automatic transmission hammers the maximum torque of 750 Nm (at 4,500 rpm) to the rear axle. It catapults the GTI to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds. The bi-turbo propels drivers who keep their foot to the gas pedal well beyond the 300 km/h barrier. The speedometer needle does not pause until it reaches 325 km/h. The Golf GTI W12-650 outpaces nearly all other cars of this world. http://www.vwasia.com/publish/vwasia/new_z...50_showcar.html

Fuzzo I'd suggest you go for a proper car: i mean anything with a 1.5 liter engine upwards, and manual transmission. The toyota's you mentioned are mostly small size/auto cars - while they may be efficient there isn't much fun in driving them IMO Can you tell me the rough specs of the Honda City? (I have no idea on the domestic version available here). Funny, 2.5mn these days can barely get an unreg car.., just a short while ago it was considered serious money... how times change

Here's a larger image. Sorry to hear about this and hope you can recover the vehicle

460,000?! The new system uses injectors and is designed specifically for EFI vehicles.. - I don't think it should affect second hand value..

Any vehicle you get make sure the papers are clear and vehicle is in owners name, all payments done, etc, and that it can be transfered to your name immediately. You have to be very careful about this!! Tell me when you and dad are next going car hunting and I will join you :) I would suggest you buy the Silumina on Saturday, and you can get a head start and see what's available (before Sunday). Be careful of Car sales. I've seen some bad stuff. I remember one car I saw where the sale owner had forgot to replace the sticker of the engine after he re-clocked the mileage.. very funny: car mileage said 80,000kms, engine timing sticker said belt replaced at 175,000 kms! (of course we know most cars at sales are clocked but what was funny is the seller actually being caught red handed so to say) Another case I remember was a car with an engine blown so badly it burnt all its engine oil in the test drive itself. I told the sale guy to please stop and put some oil before the engine seizes, guy didn't care... I couldnt believe theyd attempt to sell something like that to unsuspecting buyers.. Vehicle was producing so much white smoke everyone was sneezing - owner said not a problem at all, and this was a very reputed sale in Kohuwela along Sunethradevi road (which I will not name!!) Before you buy a vehicle, PLEASE get it inspected by a garage/expert. After all you are talking millions so you gotta make sure the car you buy is a good one!!

Actually he was on the forum a while back with a nom de plume. You could recognise him because he always said nice things about Toyota PS: On behalf of everyone here, WELCOME TO AUTOLANKA!! Nice to see you here! (Small world eh!?) What sort of budget are you hoping to buy for? Is there any specific reason why you want Nissan? what features do you want in the car? what areas are you concentrating on (power efficiency, etc?) Dude if you are getting rid of the Galant please advertise it on Autolanka. I chatted with your dad about this and told him I'd take some pics and list it here.. never got a chance to.. A lot of car enthusiasts visit this site and you would definitely be able to sell your car here. You just need a few digital photos, and just click on the sell your car and fill the forms. You can pay them by credit card or bank deposit (HSBC I think) or even directly pay Autolanka as they have an office in Colombo.

Your friend hasn't emailed me in a while. Ask him how things are down under.. I tend to agree with our mutual friend on Nissans but my excuse is they are not worth the $$ needed. why not go for a sprinter after all?

http://www.kanabona.com/www/?q=anarkali_washed_my_car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1w1p1raBrc

Heh. cops once stopped me for stopping at a red light Asked me why I stopped, I pointed out the light... Apparantly they wanted me to barrel thru it when it was orange -> red so they could give me a ticket or something Anyway they looked at my licence, thought a bit, and gave it back. (Apparantly their charge sheet doesnt have an option for someone who stops at a red light) (Note: cop wasn't waving people thru.. what to do... Back on topic: Cops are useful in heavy traffic - sometimes they improve the situation. Of course most motorists don't like them as they can't do the more obvious illegal antics when they are around.. but for the average law abiding motorist (ya, all 3 of em) cops at traffic lights are somewhat useful. Of course there are many situations where they just make things slow

If you have carb, check plugs, do tune up.. if efi check the sensors, etc.. Aside from those.. probably the biggest thing you can do is change the way you drive... : drive more conservatively, avoid extreme acceleration, jackrabbit starts etc..

caveat emptor

Just curious: what would cause someone to switch from a BMW road rocket to an.. um.. Ssanyong?

Honda Insight is capable of 100mpg depending on driving... see 'hypermiling' on google.. also prius may be capable if its modified to phev

Right you are It supposedly was in the guinness book of records for achieving 100mpg of course this may have been downhill with engine off just kidding still its an efficient car capable of 60mpg HWY or so realistically

Here are some clues: - think OLDER.. also DIESEL

OK: here's an easy one: which vehicle (available in Sri Lanka) was believed to be capable of 100mpg?

Guys... why do you want to waste money on something like this? Do you really truly believe it will work? If so I shouldn't stand in your way .... if you want to save fuel: first, make sure everything is working OK (sensors, engine, plugs, etc etc) get your car tuned up by a professional if necessary (Zakie for example) and also you can consider switching to a better air filter (K&N).. also a better engine oil (mobil?) Most of all: DRIVE GENTLY... 99% of the people here drive like bus drivers, so it's not surprising when people complain of low fuel efficiency.

Strange... can you remove the battery and check it's voltage? If it's correctly showing 3V+ then it could be some issue with the motherboard? You should be able to find a used replacement motherboard for around 3k - 4k or so..

can you tell me the specific models of those three laptops, specs (what you know), links (to the specific laptop on manufacturer web site if known), and prices and I'll try to research on them.. Celeron/celeron-m is fine for normal use. You don't need a core2duo unless you need to run games/high end software... Can you also tell me what task(s) you want to use the laptop, as well as what's important for you (speed, price, graphics, efficiency, etc.,)

Celeron processors are an excellent (cost effective) alternative for general use: I.e. if you want to use your PC for just surfing the web, some wordprocessing and an occational DVD, then a celeron would be more than enough for you. On the other hand if you need to run complex processor heavy software and/or games (and push your PC to the limit) you probably would want the non celeron processor (and maybe a better graphics card). Most office PC's/laptops sold here would be perfectly fine with celeron processors, but people buy the more expensive versions just to feel they are getting something better. Think of a Celeron as a standard Civic vs the Civic SI. Note: Celerons differ depending on the architecture - so a celeron M is different from a celeron based on P2, P3 or P4 architectures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron Back to your question: the Celeron M is probably a good buy. However, as shown here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron#Mobil...n_and_Celeron_M In my original post I said the celeron M is based on Pentium M. Turns out that there are Celeron M's based on many different architectures: e.g. Tualatin (P3?), Northwood (p4), Banias ("Pentium M aka "Centrino"), as well as core solo/duo. So before you buy it's best to figure out exactly what Celeron M your PC has - it should probably be in the specs.

Thing is when you piss off a cop (though you had every right to here) and they can do nothing against you, the remember to take it out on the next guy they catch

I agree. Subaru sounds pretty good... Also I'd consider a Toyota/Honda for economy/daily driving. Tho getting a car like a Subaru here feels a bit sad as one can't safely go fast on our crappy roads. Seems a shame to have a speedometer upto 200mph or more when we can barely do 30 - 40 mph here what with cops and potholes. The biggest thing I miss living here is roads.. actual roads you can drive on which aren't full of idiots.

WELL... in my case I've always wanted to switch to a Toyota.. but my dad got himself a toyota truck now.. So... only way I can outdo him is to get a Lexus So.. for my next car.. lexus it is. Unfortunately they don't usually come with manual transmission though