Suggest A Car With Following

[Amila G]

Hi Guys,

Really need your help to find a car for a friend. The issue is below criteria.

He travels 100km a day, to colombo and return from where he lives. 70 km out of that will be on roads without much of a traffic and 30km in colombo city traffic. Problem is he needs to do the complete trip in around 600/= for fuel. So that'll be around Rs 6 per 1 km.

Therefore; if the car can run on normal diesel it should do 19 km/l

For super diesel 23km/l

For 90 petrol 25km/l

For 95 petrol 28km/l

** Note the above are combined cycle

Apart from that here are the other criteria :

Price - less than 2.4 mil

Re sale - should be able to re sell around the buying price in about 1 1/2 years

Origin - Anywhere except china and India

Maintenance - Comparable to a Jap one, but a bit higher is fine

Durability/Reliability - Should be able to withstand bad roads on a regular basis without breaking down every now and then (toyota like durability is enough)

AC/PS and YOM after 93 ish...

Other creature comforts and abs+air bags => nice to have but not mandatory

I'm scratching my head and the only thing that I could find was a diesel starlet but does only 16km/l. A diesel polo / golf would be fine but too expensive (diesel punto ?).

So if you guys can give any suggestion, it s really appreciated. Note that max budget is 2.4mil.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Amila G

[nexus]

the only cars i can think of are come closer to require fuel mileage and following budget are.......

daihatsu charade diesel

vw golf diesel

suzuki alto(jap)

[Schiffer]

diesel it should do 19 km/l

For super diesel 23km/l

For 90 petrol 25km/l

For 95 petrol 28km/l

yeah, your friends gonna have to take a bus. or have to earn more or take a lease and buy a Toyota Aqua (coz im sure with heavy trafic and all the priass wouldnt do constant 25-28kmpl) or... wait for another 10-20 years and buy a used aqua..

or maybe a Golf Cart.. no wait.. it still doesnt have AC, but he'll be able to fit one under his budget.. and some doors...

or his last option is this

@nexus - i dont this the Daihatsu will give that much fuel effecient mate, its nearly 2 decades old now and the golf diesel is out of his budget and the alto will average 15-18 so

this guys friend.. i dont think there is actually a car that will fit all his criteria since he wants japanese or better build quality and wanna rule out indian and korean

[The Don]

Amila G, I don't anything other than a Hybrid can even claim figures anything close to what you are looking for particularly because very few newer diesels have made it to the country. I think the petrol Jaxx/ Honda City was rumoured to give 20+ figures under certain circumstances but probably not in a combined cycle.

And to get a Hybrid you'll need to stretch to about 3.5 million for a Prius and then accept the standard risks that come with being an early adopter of a new technology.

I hate to say it but if you really want all of that maybe within his budget he might have to do with a motor cycle or a three wheeler, and I am not trying to insult him, just pointing out the reality.

[hatharasinghe]

sure he should go ind or china indian TATA nano or at least small car or hybrid then it cost so very difficult to fulfill all requirments.

[Crosswind]

There's a diesel Punto (JR-series) in classifieds. That's the only car that I can think of, that will come even close to your main criteria. In fact, it may meet all your criteria except for the doubtful resale value.

Not sure about the 19 km/l part but that could come close. Multijet engines are quite efficient.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Crosswind

[Amila G]

hmm... i was hoping something like a punto diesel will come close to the asked fuel economy...

Anyway I'll ask him to stretch the budget or find a work place closer to home...

[MasterDon]

hmm... i was hoping something like a punto diesel will come close to the asked fuel economy...

Anyway I'll ask him to stretch the budget or find a work place closer to home...

Why stretch the budget? 2.4mil is still a lot of money,enough to buy a great car if you're willing to sacrifice the absurd fuel consumption requirements...even if you buy a Prius It'll take years to justify the money saved on fuel compared to the higher initial cost.

[Amila G]

Why stretch the budget? 2.4mil is still a lot of money,enough to buy a great car if you're willing to sacrifice the absurd fuel consumption requirements...even if you buy a Prius It'll take years to justify the money saved on fuel compared to the higher initial cost.

Yup you are correct. May be he need to relax the fuel economy requirement.

What really happened was, he had a townace CR27 that did like 12kmpl and cost him around 650/= a day. But with the diesel price increase it now costs like 900/= a day to run. So he was thinking of selling the van getting a car that'd put him to the earlier fuel cost....

But it s not a possibility it seems...

[Crosswind]

Just out of curiosity, where is he travelling from?

[Amila G]

Just out of curiosity, where is he travelling from?

From Ingiriya (abt 14km from horana) to colombo

[Crosswind]

if he's working in a fixed schedule, he can also consider carpooling with somebody. there are plenty of ppl coming from ingiriya to work in colombo. or he can take public transport too...

But take a good look at that Punto I mentioned. It might just work out for u. As a former Punto owner (Grande Punto), I was extremely happy with its fuel economy.

[Amila G]

if he's working in a fixed schedule, he can also consider carpooling with somebody. there are plenty of ppl coming from ingiriya to work in colombo. or he can take public transport too...

But take a good look at that Punto I mentioned. It might just work out for u. As a former Punto owner (Grande Punto), I was extremely happy with its fuel economy.

Thanks will check the punto. No he doesn't work on a fixed schedule and using the bus is an utter waste of time... like 3 more hrs a day than using a car...

[terrabytetango]

Your friend needs to wait at least 10 more years for his wishes to come true. In the mean time, get him to look at Corona/Carina CT211s (they have the 3C-TE engine).

[Amila G]

Your friend needs to wait at least 10 more years for his wishes to come true. In the mean time, get him to look at Corona/Carina CT211s (they have the 3C-TE engine).

I thought they were worse on fuel than CE110 corollas, are they not ?

[nexus]

Your friend needs to wait at least 10 more years for his wishes to come true. In the mean time, get him to look at Corona/Carina CT211s (they have the 3C-TE engine).

i don't think it's possible to find a carina CT211 with 3C-TE(new shell) for less than 2.4 mil. afaik there are only few of these cars are in here most of the carina diesel are with 2C-T(old shell) any ways some time ago i was in hunt for one too. i have found only one car for sale with 3C-TE and that time owner ask 3.5 mill for it. i said if i spend 3.5mill for a diesel car i buy a bmw e46 diesel for that price.

Edited February 23, 2012 by nexus

[NadriquE]

if he can wait 6 months http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/27646 this is his best choice

[Chamitha6]

19km/l is a big task in colombo traffic.it ia better you travel 70k by car & park it in a public park & pick a bus to travel nest 30km.

[Gyiman]

Or get a Moped

[Watchman]

Machang, your friend needs to look at the best option WITHIN his budget; not come up with a criteria and look for the cheapest thing that will suit it. Not just in cars but in anything, often the cheapest isnt the best.

Anyway if your friend is doesnt mind not being pampered in aircon and doesnt mind getting a bit of breeze in his face he can get a 2 wheeler... it'll give him the fuel figures he wants. But then again it wont make Mr. Silva next door green with envy...

Edit: since he has the budget, he can spend abt 300k on a GOOD motorcycle for the office commute and get a car for abt 2.0mil with lesser fuel figures (but suits all other criteria) for rainy days or days he needs to take more people/goods. His combined fuel bill will certainly fit the numbers you want

Edited February 24, 2012 by Watchman

[Amila G]

Machang, your friend needs to look at the best option WITHIN his budget; not come up with a criteria and look for the cheapest thing that will suit it. Not just in cars but in anything, often the cheapest isnt the best.

Anyway if your friend is doesnt mind not being pampered in aircon and doesnt mind getting a bit of breeze in his face he can get a 2 wheeler... it'll give him the fuel figures he wants. But then again it wont make Mr. Silva next door green with envy...

Edit: since he has the budget, he can spend abt 300k on a GOOD motorcycle for the office commute and get a car for abt 2.0mil with lesser fuel figures (but suits all other criteria) for rainy days or days he needs to take more people/goods. His combined fuel bill will certainly fit the numbers you want

see you've got a point there... he was a good motor cyclist but now he's got a back condition that prevents him from riding a bike

Anyway I also couldn't think of a car to fit that criteria... so thought of asking you guys hoping some euro super mini would do that as used euros are lot cheaper here...

[Kavvz]

Machang, your friend needs to look at the best option WITHIN his budget; not come up with a criteria and look for the cheapest thing that will suit it. Not just in cars but in anything, often the cheapest isnt the best.

Anyway if your friend is doesnt mind not being pampered in aircon and doesnt mind getting a bit of breeze in his face he can get a 2 wheeler... it'll give him the fuel figures he wants. But then again it wont make Mr. Silva next door green with envy...

Edit: since he has the budget, he can spend abt 300k on a GOOD motorcycle for the office commute and get a car for abt 2.0mil with lesser fuel figures (but suits all other criteria) for rainy days or days he needs to take more people/goods. His combined fuel bill will certainly fit the numbers you want

see you've got a point there... he was a good motor cyclist but now he's got a back condition that prevents him from riding a bike

I was thinking a motorbike would be a decent solution as well. Too bad he can't pull it off. Well what about settling for the best possible solution instead of the perfect solution as in: Get as close to the previous commuting cost as possible?

The solution then is pretty simple as it would be a matter of selling the van and buying the most fuel efficient diesel car amongst the ones the other members have pointed out.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Kavvz