Crosswind

1. What's a commercial dual purpose van? its got to be a dual purpose vehicle (PX-XXXX series registration) or a light truck (LX-XXXX series) or a minibus (NX-XXXX series registration). 2. This post CAN EASILY go in to the thread of tax increase, which is currently active. Does it need a new thread?

Hi Guys, I've been contemplating a while to fix seat covers to the Focus. Mainly to protect the leather, which might cost a fortune to restore. Now the problem is the car has side-impact airbags on the seats and I would rather have torn seats than getting myself ripped apart, in case of an accident, by obstructing the airbags. Is there any place in Sri Lanka that manufactures airbag-safe seat covers (the type that gets ripped at the seams to allow the airbag to expand)? There are readymade airbag-safe seat covers in eBay UK, which don't cost too much, but getting them down to Sri Lanka is a hassle. Thanks in advance

Never used a Vios. But generally you will need about 4 litres of oil for a normal ATF change. If you wish to flush the system, u will need about 10-12 litres. Toyota will always recommend Toyota Oil. Mobil is pretty good imho. Perhaps a Vios owner will see this and give a better response.

May be what he meant was Horsepower will increase by 10 horses!

I'm pretty sure OP knows the mechanical side of cars very well, so he wouldn't worry too much about mechanics in remote areas.

Has the bugger fitted vvti to a non-vvt engine?

oh yes there's a big justification. It's called the "Hey look! I'm driving a JEEP" factor

This basically reduces the risk factor on the buyer and seller. It may also reduce or diminish the profit margins of permit brokers (whos business model was based on mastering the loop holes of the system). Although the government cannot force the transfer to be compulsory, they can always force the insurance companies to not insure permit vehicles for anyone other than the permit holder. This may add a risk on the buyer and may force a few buyers to legally transfer the vehicle

Here's another left field choice. Few weeks back, I saw a Nissan Stagea and a Volvo V70 advertised on our favourite weekend newspaper. Now if you don't mind driving a car that looks like a hearse, those things can fit in all your exhibition equipment and a few dead bodies too.

You are forgetting one point here. Permits are given for govt servants to set off their low salaries and benefits (at least in theory). If the transfers are allowed for free, they will officially become a commodity, which is traded in the open market (right now they are traded on the black market). Now this could give rise to a few fundamental rights cases because it will be open discrimination against the general public who pay full tax. But if the transfer incurs a tax, then this problem wouldn't arise.

May I also suggest a Proton Impian/Waja Comes way below 2.2 (around 1.8 or so for a 2007 or later model) Very comfortable for long rides and I once managed to fit a fairly large computer table inside the boot of it. that should give u an indication of boot space

It was the replacement of a bearing in the compressor, which was quoted 12500 by that guy. Got it done elsewhere for 3800 (if I remember correctly) with gas and all. This was a few years ago. You are a regular customer so probably he wouldn't try to bloat the problem and overcharge you. People who don't know that they got overcharged, wouldn't complain would they?

This information is straight out of the treasury website: "Importation of a "Gocart", which can be used for travelling by only one person and classified under racing cars have been separately identified creating a separate HS code 8703.21.62. Importations of Gocarts are exempted only from Excise (Special Provisions) Duty and it is liable for payment of 55% of CIF value as other taxes. Objective of this tax concession is to improve the Sports Economy and Tourism activities and thereby to increase country's income. Importation of racing cars (Except Gocarts) is liable for payment of 200% to 350% of CIF value as taxes (including Excise (Special Provisions)Duty)depending on the cylinder capacity of the imported racing car." http://www.treasury.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=415:importation-of-racing-cars-except-gocarts-not-exempted-from-excise-special-provisions-duty&catid=1:latestnews Basically, this confirms that the the reduction of excise tax is for go-carts and a special HS-Code has been created for them. However, single seaters can also be classified as go-carts.

Is he the guy who has a garage in Morgan Road? I approached him once for a small A/C repair work because I was in the vicinity. To put it simply, he's a crook.

There's a guy named Aruna who has a garage close to Koswatta junction (on a by-road named Gehan Road). Another guy named Lalith ( I think) has his garage in pelawatta (named French Lion Motors), close to buddhadasa stadium. I have no personal experience on both of them but I am aware that they specialize in Pugs. Perhaps if you search (search by Aruna or French Lion Motors), you might find a lot of feedback about them.

No. couldn't be bothered watching the video, especially after reading that nonsensical report. The bottom line is it seems car salesmen are trying to jack up the prices of 1000CC+ cars also.

Bullsh*t. This is not a report about the budget speech or about a government circular, but a report about what "Mahinda Sarathchandra the chairman of the Vehicle Importers’ Association" said. In one sentence he says "The Excise Duty on all vehicles had gone up by between Rs.200,000 and Rs.500,000" but the rest of the report talks about cars less than 1000CC, vans and trucks. There's no mention about cars more than 1000CC. Reading between the lines, what I can see is that the car salesmen are just trying to say that taxes for <1000CC cars have increased so we will also increase the price of >1000CC cars!

What a lovely car it *was*, before he tried out his 'modification skills' on it.

Perhaps a ex-diplomatic or an armed forces/customs auctioned car. SOME ex-diplomatic/armed forces vehicles were given G-series plates during 2001 or so, because some random bloke in RMV had a brainwave.

What's your source of this info? a car sale guy?

Is there any major disadvantage in durex condoms? They don't seem to be as popular as preethy ... oh well... that's because the average person on the road is a toyota-driving preethy user... That doesn't mean preethy is superior is it?... same story with Mazdas. (PS. I don't want to talk about a second hand market for condoms )

"Racing cars" are a very loose term. Can mean anything from modified Marutis for Formula1s. The budget speech on this topic was heavily misinterpreted (either mistakenly or purposely). As I understand, the tax concessions are for specialized vehicles used for racing purposes (the word 'car' was not used). This includes go-carts too. But the concession wouldn't be there for street-legal vehicles.

When someone is buying a car, every friend becomes an overnight car expert and try to 'help' and 'advice'. It's always best to ignore these 'advices'. Otherwise you will eventually end up buying a Toyota Corolla Most of the spares are locally available. There may be one or two bits that need to be imported. Again Toyota Corollas and Sunnys will probably be the only cars which you can find every little thing locally. The gearbox issue is a known issue, so I'm sure at least one of the Peugeot experts stock the repair kit. By 'mechanic', if you mean one of those 'friends' you were talking about, then don't bother. Don't bother taking the neighborhood mechanic too. If you can get someone who exclusively handles peugeots, that will be a good person to show the car to. There are only 3 or 4 people in Sri Lanka though.

Peri, can't we simply ban him and his IP or something? Posting crap can be tolerated but everytime he starts a post, its aimed at subtle guerilla marketing (aka "study/analysis").

or maybe the guy is trying to flog off a car today!