Sifaan

yeah, even though it is different, it is an "entry" brand for VW, so unless you need the extra 10cm compare to the passat (e.g. for a chauffeured vehicle) a superb would make sense only if it was noticeable cheaper than a similar condition passat. when car hunting I met a Passat fan who was selling his car (it was his 3rd passat or something) and he had already bought a Skoda because he couldn't afford a post-2003 Passat (because of the tax hikes then or sth).

except when 2 or more people drive the car

what i was getting at was that the article said euro pumps are sensitive so the pump fails; jap pumps are not so sensitive and they run long enough to cause problems in the engine as well!

I originally heard the doubling value joke as a Lada Anyway such jokes are common with eastern european brands from communism times; Skoda has been fully owned by VW since 2000 (and they had a stake since the fall of communism) so it's a different story now. @Rattler - see if VVTi can help you get in touch with his friend...

for once, euro owners can be pleased about owning sensitive fuel pumps???

a lot of times first owners for euros are company directors and such like, where they don't care too much about the huge depreciation for the first owner (company just takes it in stride and it's worth for the prestige factor). sucks for the first owner but that's why we have the opportunity to buy so much car (in terms of features and experience) for so little money... spares are not impossible to come by, just that used parts can be tricky (since there are much fewer cars being scrapped); the fact that I get stuff from UK makes it cheaper for me, but it still would not be unbearable if you had to buy locally. e.g. harshan had a 406 (d8), sold it and got a d9... and I think he gets most of his stuff locally. i think the main reasons why people shy away (and therefore cause price to be lower) is 1. afraid of the kmpl god - will vary from car to car, but unlikely to get toyota econobox figures; but hey, if you want to live in a nice house, it will cost more than living in a cheapo house. dressing in good clothes will cost more than shabby ones. 2. afraid of reliability - yes, there are more electronics that can go wrong; yes, sometimes the fuel in sri lanka causes problems; but it's not as if a pug radiator is going to be of poorer standard than a toyota radiator? 3. afraid of spare parts costs/availability - true if you would prefer to use dubious quality aftermarket parts; true if you live away from colombo; true if you would only use the car for a short period (where the cost of using genuine parts can be hard to recover from the buyer); true if you have to rely on taking the sample from shop to shop to find a part rather than calling up and quoting the part number. 4. afraid of finding mechanics - maybe true for some brands, but doesn't appear to be an issue for pug, vw, bmw (from what i've gleaned from other users on forums); can be tricky if you are away from colombo though ultimately depends on what experience you want for your money: if a car is just a means of getting from A to B quickly and cheap, then get a econobox if you appreciate the experience, e.g. if you might go for a ride just for the ride (and not because you need to get somewhere), euro's are hard to beat for value for money. (mind you, there are "high end" jap cars too, but they tend to be priced that way too!)

yikes... can't say I'm surprised he hasn't been able to move it if he's been asking for 1.9 (or more) all this time! probably got it at a firesale price and he's willing to hold on for so long because one day when he sells it he's gonna make a killing!

but if honda cvt is PCM controlled, then this shouldn't have engaged and given tak tak sound at all??

a lot of stuff would be shared with Passat, but some body parts could be hard to find; however, as senok deals with both VW and Skoda, parts @ agent price should be available or importable my experience with Citroen vs. Peugeot is that while many non-body parts are shared, some stuff is different - e.g. the fuel pump for my citroen never came on a pug, even though they had the same engine! the brake discs are the same but the calipers are different (wasn't trying to buy calipers, but the caliper repair kit was also different). in practice hasn't proved to be much of a problem, as I prefer to source stuff from UK anyway (cheaper) so to be really sure you'll have to talk to someone who's owned a superb for a while (and is not trying to sell you his car!) and there was a Superb at a car sale in Etul Kotte (was just driving past and saw it, called to get some details cos a friend is looking for a car) - they were asking 1.9 for single-owner 1.8 manual which seems rather on the high side.

timing belt - probably yes (not just because of km, but also cos it's probably ~10 years on the original belt); of course you may be lucky and manage without any problems - i've seen in UK forums where the cost of the t-belt change is almost as much as the car is worth (high labour cost, low resale value), so they don't change it and use for as long as possible - if the belt snaps, they scrap the car for parts. headlight - dunno what agent charges, but check with few other places like ideal motors and see there's loads available new on ebay UK for <100 pounds and stuff even in 50-100 pound range; so you really shouldn't be forking out 80k for a headlight!

that's not normal; climate control will turn the compressor on off as needed, but not so rapidly. so you should get it checked out.

one day transfer is not possible; friend recently bought a car with duplicate book on lease (islamic finance to be precise); but they charged extra 15k because it was duplicate, and also reduced the amount they were willing to lend by 50k (from 875k to 825k)

if you like, I can share how much various parts cost for my citroen (prices will be similar or cheaper for 307), some were sourced locally and some hand carried from UK (if cheaper there or not available locally). as for labor costs, as with most brands, agents are expensive (and in this case, reputed for bad service) and outside specialists are cheaper. you can then try to see how much those parts will cost for whatever jap car you could go for instead. you should of course only compare original or quality aftermarket products - if you would use parts of dubious quality and origin on a pug you'll be asking for trouble. of course, where a used part would suffice, i've so far been able to source used from UK (AC compressor, bonnet struts, door locks and handles, rear view mirror, etc.) so you may want to factor prices of new parts unless you also have this luxury. I don't think anything wears out faster in a 307 than in a jap car (except for things known as problems in the model; and aesthetics like roof liners), but of course with all the gizmos there are more things that can go wrong - e.g. my selfdimming mirror's fluid leaked out and I had to replace it, wouldn't have happened with a regular mirror!

post #129 on page 7 had a smart idea

food for thought indeed probably going to take up more space than I could afford though

no idea what this should cost, but if you were "taken care of" by the kakka's as opposed to going direct to the shop, then certainly you were ripped off.

some time back I was trying to find this info for a friend but couldn't figure it out, but seems there are now some docs here. basically two scenarios; 1. if you have sent money to Sri Lanka more than 2x CIF, you can send your existing vehicle (have to own it for a year if car < 5 years; or 3 years if car 5-10 years old). (Foreign Exchange Earned Abroad Scheme) 2. if you haven't sent that much money, you can still send a car, and then it doesn't matter if you have owned it before. (Gift Scheme) there is a license fee which is different (but not much) between the 2 schemes; there are conditions on the vehicle (right hand drive, etc.) on both, but the gift scheme has additional restriction on engine cc. the docs in the link say to contact Customs to find out the applicable duties; but anyway apart from whatever concessionary duties this may offer, there's also the benefit that you can get a vehicle upto 10 years old. BTW this is a import, not a temporary thing like what EAP was saying.

previous discussion (problems to look out for) on 307 here. re. part availability, has been discussed quite a bit in the context of 406, e.g. here. and if you buy the car, this will be helpful. certainly not a problem to find parts/mechanics if you're close to Colombo; also new part prices are not that bad compared to genuine parts for jap cars, but you will find it much harder to source used parts/body parts unless you can get them from UK. don't know about market price, fuel consumption or performance...

did you try googling for asnu lanka? they even have their own web page!

a radiator core would certainly be a mess; I was thinking of the grille in front yeah, that would probably be the Plan B. btw do you just have coals at the bottom and a grill across the top; or did you do something to reduce the distance between coals and grill?

do you have some lying around? don't care about the manufacturer as long as it can be used for my purpose!

I've been flirting with the idea of building a small BBQ unit and was wondering if it could be done with junk auto parts e.g. could an oil sump hold the coals? could a manifold be used to distribute air from a small fan on to the coals)? a radiator grille to place food on? any ideas on what parts to use, where to get them from (ideal would be non-usable parts being sold for scrap, but not rusted), etc? BTW don't care about fuel consumption or resale value

so... what happened in court?

that is the safety feature, cos you can move from D to N without it, but to continue from N to R it has to be pressed - so then you can't accidentally push too hard and move into R. Of course if you are pressing the button all the time then it doesn't help as a safety feature.

you mean, other times that vehicles catch fire there they let you know ?