Indrajeedez

Simple answer....Given the chance, I would gladly sell the axio i'm currently using and buy the terios back!!!!

@CrosswindHe is a genuine owner...can vouch for that!!!!

lol I got 18 going down...and coming up...to and from colombo to kandy that is. Same car!!!! Interesting....I gotta learn to free wheel the damn thing. Will make the drive a bit more interesting than what it is now I guess. Weren't you bloody bored to death men? Not to forget the plight of the others on that damn road.

Looks great....congrats.....

I did not categorically state that to say they deserve the permit or any other thing. By medical professionals i did not mean the Doctors anyway. I just meant the nurses and the associated staff who does not get due recognition most of the time. It was just a statement and nothing more than that. As for the second statement, there might be differing opinions on that. With underdeveloped markets, there might be viable options which are not being actually looked at. Anyway we rarely take capital markets seriously in this strange country. As for staying alive, you seem to take a very functional perspective on it. Good in a way. But yeah what we are talking about here is just mere rhetorical discourse within a rather messed up system which will amount to nothing. In reality, there will be preferential treatment everywhere. It is wrong-so change-how-ideological revolution-period. Maybe someday, a certain amount of non elitist civil society activism might spring up from the margins...hopefully that is.

The problem is we end up complaining but nobody rarely takes any proactive action against it. I'm not sure about doctors. Some are dedicated as you said. But yeah the other medical professional actually keep the wards going and the people alive. They do a tremendous amount of work. I don't think that can even be measured in monetary terms.

@iRage Irage, this is why I exactly stated that this particular scheme should be scrapped and be taken out. There is no sense in doling out permits which leads to a loss of revenue anyway. All the government employees did not strike asking for the permit. Only a selected few working in one of the professions you mentioned in one of the your posts as deserving ones did that. Did the teachers, or Uni academics go on strike requesting permits? No. Even within that particular group there were people who did not get the permit and sell it out of principle because they could not afford to import a car. Secondly, some of these people crosswind stated (the telecome workers for example) belong to so called manpower companies. Blame the economic ethos of this particular country for that. For all it matters, the issue of permits are duly tied upto all what you said as a whole different discussion. It is just another face of that because owning a car is a part of glamour consumerism in Sri Lanka and then utility. I agree with both you and crosswind in principle about the crazy permit scheme. The only point of departure is when you both said "the least productive segment" and that is not exactly true.

Free will or not, the system has to go and somebody has to work the system. My main concern here is not about the permit. I'm less bothered about it and as i clearly said, I also do not agree with the so called permit scheme and in a way it is good if the provision is revoked. About private sector people not stooping so low, that is a broad generalization. What exactly do you mean by stooping so low? Then do you for a min think all the government employees in Sri Lanka have seriously large take home salaries? Some professions do not have OT or any of those so called assorted increments. For example take a look at the education sector. What the hell do they get? Almost nothing and even if they get nothing that is supposed to be one of the bulwarks in this state. A lot of people believe that those in the teaching profession rarely does hard work. There are working hours yes. But then to take a class on the next day, one ends up preparing for another long time beyond those working hours. Anyway reverse logic, all those people whom you mentioned also have maybe chosen the profession like many others due to a hell lot of reasons. The damn word choose isint value neutral. You are sometime made to choose something depending on a certain other factors. What makes one go for the garment sector or be a so called "software engineer" ? True, preferential treatment should not be given. That is absolutely wrong. Each profession has its value and each should be regarded equally. , But the neo-liberal project does not allow such realities to function as a lot of people expect them to function. Not in this state anyway. About permits, yeah no need. Who the hell needs vehicles anyway in these irritating traffic conditions. But give permits to buy bullock carts, people will still get them in Sri Lanka. Blame the so called ethics, morals and values you just dissed which plays a part in all this. One part of the problem is that along with consumerism. The so called "alto family mentality". There is only one way which can eventually reduce this and well rest assured the government will not invest on it.

Two issues 1. Government Service 2. The Permit Yes, I agree that government servants should not be doled out permits be it doctors and MP's or whoever. But not all in the government service have seriously large take home salaries consisting of OT and what not. There is a segment who gets those but then not all. Even among them there are people who does a decent job minus swindling public funds. Like doctors, many of the public servants still work in dire working conditions. Laws, regulations, funding, working conditions and training, among others are not great. They won't be great as well in the near future. That is more of a serious structural systemic error. Add caste barriers, class and personal dogmatisms into this. Viola....it is is akin to paradise.

Look mate, don't over generalize things. Deserving a permit or not is a different issue. To be honest for an average government, servant as War_emp said it is of no real use unless it is "sold" which is ofcourse wrong. There is no way one can justify that, but it all revels down to individual ethics, something which has become alien in Sri Lanka. Anyway it is hard to be politically correct and answer this question.

Sometimes, there are people who work in the government sector simply because they have a special bonding with the space they work in. I guess it is a bit unfair to generalize and say so.

@Zinger It was a 2007 Manual. The road was pretty bad at that time. It was just after the rains. I don't think it will be that easy even now for a terios.

Terios is no good when it comes to serious off roading. I took it to Meemure once and it managed to go most of the way. But then it was no good when I took it to Weviyathalawa (Did most of the journey but could not go up to the transmission tower) and Devils Staircase. It is pretty decent on regular roads. Not extremely comfortable and has a bit of body roll when going around corners at speed. Cause of its fulltime 4wd system it does feel a bit grippy and gives you that added sense of security when its raining or driving through a bit of mud. If your planning on doing serious off roading forget the terios. Unless modified, it is not possible.

@OP:- Used a terios 2007 for almost 10 years and ran it for 138000kms without much trouble. To be honest it didn't give any serious trouble. The Ac compressor failed over time and that was an easy fix. So did the cooler fan motor and we had to replace the clutch and the pressure plate twice over that period. (Mine was a manual). It does around 6-9 on short runs and will do around 12 max when you travel for long distances. There is nothing much in terms of creature comforts other than the bare necessities. It does come with a small Multi Information Display but other than that there is nothing much. Can't do serious off roading (unless modified a bit I guess) and its reasonably comfortable. Nothing great but it is ok. Don't expect the comfort of a car. The full time 4wd is useful here in SL and the vehicle is quite grippy but there is body roll around corners. I kind of still love it over the one im using now because of its ground clearance and space. Leg room is good at the back and you can split fold the seats so can carry a decent amount of luggage. Even without folding the rear seats there is a decent amount of boot space. Yup easy to maintain. No serious niggles. Will get you from a to b in relative comfort.