Sajith83

220 on E01 is pretty excessive.. not to mention stupid to attempt on a public road. It's sad to see the guy who replied saying 'hey it's ok to kill yourself' being flamed or ridiculed for his English or for stating what he felt. Sadder to see statements of defence for the guy who went at 220 when in this very thread there are so many vids posted by members about unforeseen accidents due to speeding. Ah but what to do I know, this is just my 5th post...

Hi everyone and a very happy new year to all of you! I'm somewhat just an observer on these forums and this thread has been one of my favs, Only expressway in the country and it's fun to read what people post about their experiences on it! So 31st went to Galle and back and here's my experience of it: In short, it's fantastic! I drive a Swift and got on the highway at 9am and kept a steady 100 all the way through. Occasionally u find the needle going to 120-130 and u gotta correct urself though. Cameras at every intersection and patrol cars every so often with their residents chewing their beatle. No accidents and only one breakdown did we see there and back, and a couple of instances where roadworks wr going on, but service vehicles clearly marking which lane to get into etc. Signboarding is unmistakable and clear, I dunno what paint/sticker they use but it's like a light turning on when ur heads hit them. Road ettiquette was extremely good and you feel safe overtaking and getting back into lanes. One or 2 vans which might have been doing 60kmph while another Vios was straddling both lanes causing the one and only downshift to 4th the entire trip. Coming back there was a private Leyland (189 route number, but obviously on a trip) doing about 90, and that was a bit scary overtaking him at 100 cos u really feel the narrow overtaking lane width cos the bus pretty much fills the entire lane... so bit scary to think of buses on E01, and even scarier to think of having to overtake container trucks. Only one incident of being overtaken at 100 by a convoy of 3 land crusiers, a KS no. Benz and an Allion which might easily have been doing well over 160kmph. One idiot in a Kenari who I passed started to keep up with me and wasn't keeping enough of a gap behind me was pretty disconcerting, and no matter if I sped up to increase the gap the fool kept closing in... moron wasn't overtaking either for at least 5km until I think he got it and pulled past me and went. Road kill noticed just 2 dead dogs (pretty gruesome) and passed one meandering Thalagoya and 2 other brave doggies who wr oncoming down the shoulder. The scenery is simply breathtaking... it truly is stunning during the day with changing landscapes, not the same terrain throughout. Coming back at about 6pm getting onto the expressway was beautiful too, with the sunset giving a superb backglow to the treelines. All in all very very happy with the road, and proud to be Sri Lankan! only downside I see and that maybe just me cos this was my first experience driving on a road like this - the drive is not relaxing... you can't relax, I guess cos of the speed u really have to keep ur senses on edge, but I suppose you can always drive around 60-80 then. Looking through the posts and all the safety tips, might I add to check your wiperblades, cos visibility can be pretty badly impaired if you get the slightest streaking on the windshield. Hope everyone had a rocking 31st and best wishes for 2012!

Yep... got my rear wiper and antenna neatly screwed off my swift while parked on Vajira Road... wish spikes would shoot out the car or something... but then... sigh... $$$

Yeah I recommend changing to 15"... I have a Swift 1.3xg chipped 'sports' which came with beautiful 17" and 215/40s... had the tyres and rims for an year and I travel on not-so-great condition roads... Never changed cos the look was great... chance had it that a rainy day and a hidden ditch did in one of my tyres to no-repair split stage... for one, replacing them cost 25k a piece and availability in SL was slim... so I bit the bullet and opted for 'ok' looking 15" alloys. It don't look as flash, but the comfort now is something I wouldn't trade again Good choice on the true sport. Enjoy!

Go for a Swift Sport... around 3.5-4mn... u'll get a consumption of around 9-10kmpl if I'm not mistaken