top tip

Euro cars do come with reverse camera, for instance my friend has the Mercedes Benz w212 E300 Bluetec hybrid model which were built for the UK market and imported to sri lanka has one, in fact it has 360° camera. Then I've seen similar feature on the new X5 Not sure whether it is factory fitted though, then again the older S-Class w221 itself had reverse camera and mind you this car started production in 2005. So they do get reverse camera. On my opinion it is a useful feature that car manufacturers should include in a car which is about 10mln. Specially if the rear visibility is low due to small windscreen. But one should not be overly reliant on these tech.

Wait so this means that it doesn't have factory fitted reversing camera. What a shame for paying such an awful lot of money for a basic car. Does the rival 3 series or A4 have that feature. It is a must I must say for a car like the C-class which has got a very small rear windscreen. Also heard that the C 160 has a manual transmission, how about the Engine; is it a down tuned version of the C180 or is it from a A-class?

I own a Toyota Prado TRJ150 2011 And for quite a time now the leather seems to have developed a few cracks as well as it has got a bit dirty As it has got beige leather seats. I have had no experience of doing this sort of a thing before as all the vehicles I have owned before has had fabric seats. Can anyone tell me of a good reputed place to get the job done as I seen some vehicles getting white spots after going through such restoration. Thank you.

I am currently entitled to a vehicle permit of 30000 USD, Now i want to know what are the vehicles i can import/buy from this permit. i am particularly interested on purchasing a European executive car, If i am not possible to do so what are the other vehicles which are possible to be bought as a means of buying and selling. or as a last resort what is the price i can simply sell my permit for?

I saw one on this site advertised in the 3-3.5 mln range. that I should say would be the starting price. but then do think twice about the purchase and there are lots to check for. If it is company maintained then you would have found a gem or else it is a big gamble. On a side note how big is your parking space? Because this car is immensely oversized which even Mercedes engineers agreed to.

There is a saying that "you can never stop mending a Mercedes S class" since we are referring to relatively old merc's here this saying is pretty true here because they come with so many bells and whistles that it is fair enough to say this. First of all these cars were made at a period when Mercedes Benz had it's core values of engineering. And since it was an S class (the flagship model) the car had a lot of features that were well ahead of time.(like ESP,ASR Air suspension). Now this meant that there is a lot of high tech items that could fail when the car gets older, 20 or more years. for eg:- this car is equipped with suction doors. now a failed air compressor for the Central locking system could set back around 150000 LKR. then you have the ABC which is an air suspension system. now this is a common failure among the W220 these days so you could imagine what to expect with W140's air suspension, this to could be wallet busting. Since this is an S-class spares in any form are gonna be expensive, and then comes the biggest topic of them all FUEL ECONOMY, As for my knowledge I think close to 80% or more of W140's in sri lanka are petrol (in fact I have never seen a diesel). Now the model range starts with atleast In-6 and goes all the way up-to V12. automatic is standard across the range. so summing it up this won't make a great fuel economy value. My verdict is I leisurely like the W140, It was one of the last Mercedes cars to be designed by the legendary Bruno Sacco. it has the classic design cues of a proper Mercedes. but then this car is pretty much comparable to an elephant these days because this car like an elephant is very big, striking to look at, and very majestic BUT you wouldn't want to own one. On top of that if you have not owned a Mercedes before and if this is your first time planning to own one. then for the love of good please don't buy this. as you would be better off if you resorted to cars like the W124,W210,W211 E-class models which are more practical for daily use and is the next closest contender to the S-class in the Mercedes line up.

The Allion has an engine which is built keeping only fuel efficiency and reliability in mind. It has got a cvt transmission. Talking about automatic, when has an automatic been fun to drive. The car is front wheel drive. Contributes the steering to be very vague. Will it ever be engaging to drive one of these. People in Sri Lanka think, just because they are paying a premium for it. It makes it a luxury car. When one opens the door of one these and see that projector type scuff illumination. They are attracted to it and they buy it and show off. Very pity car market in Sri Lanka. Paying 7.5 to 8.0 man to owe a boring econo box with some lights on it.

Can anyone suggest me a reputed mechanic for SUVs . toyota prado trj150 specually.

The JDM diesel prado is more expensive than the petrol version. Then the prado LC4, LC5 are about 4-6 million more expensive than a petrol counterpart. The rest of the 150 diesels which are in sri lanka are imported through the agents which comes with the diesel 5L-E engine which on my opinion is gonna be very underpowered for a vehicle of that size. (This engine produces only 94hp). We owe a prado which has got the 2.7l 2TR-FE which produces 163hp which is quite adequate in terms of power and fuel efficiency. And the JDM petrol toyota prado comes packed with bells and whistles rather than the agents imported diesel one. Options such as leather electric seats, 3-way camera, 14 speaker sound system comes with the petrol JDM Prado. So i think because of these reasons that their are more petrol prado's than diesel ones. So basically the JDM Petrol prado is the best buy for the money.

Most of the w126 cars in sri lanka are converted diesel ones so you won't really have a feel of a company assembled merc. What also comes with conversion is vibration since the engine mounts and dampers are different of each type. Unlike the w124 or w123 the w126 has more electronic gadgets. As for my experience of owing a w124 the electronic bits in a merc isn't as realiable as the mechanical bits of the car. Finding spares for a w126 Is gonna be hard since this model is less available in sri lanka. And for cars such as the w124 parts could be swapped with models like w123, w202, w210. But not in the case of the w126. So my best advice for you is to go for a w124, w123, w201 whoch are much common and has better fuel economy and much easier to maintain.