Best Sedan Car To Buy Below 12.5 Lakhs

shalika7 · July 30, 2015

Hi all,

I did research & searched all the threads on auto Lanka relating to this. But I find out that my requirements are different from others though the budget is same. Following are the details of the car I need. Please suggest me a good one as i'm a totally beginner. Thank you very much for your support guys. I really appreciate.

1. Budget is below 12.5 lakhs max.

2. Should be a salon body

3. Manual or auto

4. Manufacture year should be after or on 1998.

5. Considering about the fuel economy & maintenance cost also.

If you guys suggest me a japan car it would be better. If not anything is ok with above cafeterias. Really really appreciate your support and for your valuable time.

(Don't blame me that I didn't go through the other threads. I posted this because I needed a customized suggestions.Please)

Edited July 30, 2015 by shalika7

Schiffer · July 30, 2015

The only good car i can think of within your budget, saloon body, and above 1998 AND japanese is a Suzuki Baleno/Cultus

Simplelife · July 30, 2015

1996-97 Ford Laser / Mazda Familia would be another option.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Simplelife

Schiffer · July 30, 2015

if you are willing to go for a 97 even a Presea will be in your budget

PreseaLover · July 31, 2015

On 7/30/2015 at 12:29 PM, Schiffer said:
if you are willing to go for a 97 even a Presea will be in your budget

But most of the presea's are now going for a higher price... Gotta check the condition too because sometimes if the price is lower the condition is pretty low too.... Saying this coz before buying mine I checked around 20 presea's which were in bad condition and found that the good condition one's are high in price.....I would say go for a 98 or above because it comes with crystal lights etc. and are refina, but some refina's came in 1997 too but then again the budget factor comes in to play........ And yes as a Presea owner I would recommend a presea and fits the OP's requirement... some 96's and 97's can be negotiated for a 12.50....

PreseaLover · July 31, 2015

On 7/30/2015 at 11:44 AM, Schiffer said:
The only good car i can think of within your budget, saloon body, and above 1998 AND japanese is a Suzuki Baleno/Cultus

Don't go for a cultus.... one of my friends own that and is not a good buy... He met with an accident recently and is unable to find spare parts too now...

Schiffer · July 31, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 2:46 AM, PreseaLover said:
But most of the presea's are now going for a higher price... Gotta check the condition too because sometimes if the price is lower the condition is pretty low too.... Saying this coz before buying mine I checked around 20 presea's which were in bad condition and found that the good condition one's are high in price.....I would say go for a 98 or above because it comes with crystal lights etc. and are refina, but some refina's came in 1997 too but then again the budget factor comes in to play........ And yes as a Presea owner I would recommend a presea and fits the OP's requirement... some 96's and 97's can be negotiated for a 12.50....

actually no, lately the presea prices have gone down a bit. ive came across 2 really good 97 and a 96 presea for under 12.5M both were 301 - well looked after ones.

On 7/31/2015 at 2:47 AM, PreseaLover said:
Don't go for a cultus.... one of my friends own that and is not a good buy... He met with an accident recently and is unable to find spare parts too now...

Ive used my friends baleno for a long time and didnt have any hard time finding spares for it. as long as you dont crash it that is.

PreseaLover · July 31, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 4:32 AM, Schiffer said:

actually no, lately the presea prices have gone down a bit. ive came across 2 really good 97 and a 96 presea for under 12.5M both were 301 - well looked after ones.

Ive used my friends baleno for a long time and didnt have any hard time finding spares for it. as long as you dont crash it that is.

ah since 97 one's didn't come with crystals and not english numbers shape eke can get around that price... recently i saw in that other car selling site that 99 and 2000 models go for over 14/50 and someone are over 16 too.... *faints*...

my friend crashed it's front and now he is unable to find the headlights of it, been like 3 months now.... you know any place to buy the headlights for the cultus?

Schiffer · July 31, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 4:39 AM, PreseaLover said:
ah since 97 one's didn't come with crystals and not english numbers shape eke can get around that price... recently i saw in that other car selling site that 99 and 2000 models go for over 14/50 and someone are over 16 too.... *faints*...
my friend crashed it's front and now he is unable to find the headlights of it, been like 3 months now.... you know any place to buy the headlights for the cultus?

first try A*W, The best person to help out is our AL member Gummybr who has one

Devinda_Z · July 31, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 5:48 AM, Schiffer said:

first try A*W, The best person to help out is our AL member Gummybr who has one

Not sure if A*W will be able to help as they weren't the agents back when the older Suzuki's were imported - it was Browns or the precursor to Frontier SML, Motor Marvells, which did if I recall correctly

Schiffer · July 31, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 9:56 AM, Devinda_Z said:
Not sure if A*W will be able to help as they weren't the agents back when the older Suzuki's were imported - it was Browns or the precursor to Frontier SML, Motor Marvells, which did if I recall correctly

my friend manage to get some spares from A*W for his baleno (not body parts). its worth giving a shot though, since this car was assembled in india as well they "Might" be able to help

rija · July 31, 2015

If you are willing to lower your year I may suggest Toyota AE100 or EE101. Fuel consumption is really reasonable, Can be repaired easily at any garage and spare parts are readily available.

JFLanka · July 31, 2015

is there a specific reason you are looking for a car made on or after 1998..??
for that budget i don't think you can get a good jap car made after 2000.. so that leaves you only cars between 1998 and 2000 which gives you very few choices.
But if you are ok with a car between 1995 and 2000 i can list you following choices:

Toyota Tercel
Toyota Soluna
Toyota Corolla AE100

Honda City
Honda Civic EG8
Nissan Sunny FB14
Nissan Pulser
Nissan Bluebird

Mitsubishi Lancer CK1 / CK2
Mazda 323/Famila
Suzuki Baleno
Suzuki Cultus

And there are Korean models like Hyundai Accent, Elantra and Kia Rio.. But i think its better to stick to a Japanese vehicle since you claim to be a beginner to cars..
Cars i have listed here have different fuel economy figures and maintenance costs associated with them.. Those are the car models you should look in to.. I might have missed a few models though..
My opinion is., no one other than you can select the best car for you.. its gonna be your car so you have a responsibility to put some effort to find the car suited for you.. now that you have a list of cars., you can search those models and read their reviews., may be go to a seller and have a test drive.. so at the end of the day you can make a better decision..

Gummybr · July 31, 2015

On the Baleno, tell your friend to check auto mirai in delkanda they had the full front part. Also try gti auto in kalubowila, you should be able to get down parts. Btw i sold mine a year back with spare head and tail lamps.

PreseaLover · August 1, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 5:49 PM, Gummybr said:
On the Baleno, tell your friend to check auto mirai in delkanda they had the full front part. Also try gti auto in kalubowila, you should be able to get down parts. Btw i sold mine a year back with spare head and tail lamps.

Thanks machan, I"ll tell him....

GayanR · August 1, 2015

Honda Civic EG8,mazda bhalp

Edited August 1, 2015 by GayanR

shalika7 · August 3, 2015

Thank You very much guys. Really helped me. When searching Mitsubishi CK1/2 came to my interest. Can anyone tell me about 2000 models fuel economy. Roughly for auto/manual ? Also about the maintenance cost of mistsubishi veicles.

rajia · October 8, 2015

On 7/31/2015 at 2:21 PM, JFLanka said:
is there a specific reason you are looking for a car made on or after 1998..??
for that budget i don't think you can get a good jap car made after 2000.. so that leaves you only cars between 1998 and 2000 which gives you very few choices.

But if you are ok with a car between 1995 and 2000 i can list you following choices:

Toyota Tercel

Toyota Soluna

Toyota Corolla AE100

Honda City

Honda Civic EG8

Nissan Sunny FB14

Nissan Pulser

Nissan Bluebird

Mitsubishi Lancer CK1 / CK2

Mazda 323/Famila

Suzuki Baleno

Suzuki Cultus

And there are Korean models like Hyundai Accent, Elantra and Kia Rio.. But i think its better to stick to a Japanese vehicle since you claim to be a beginner to cars..

Cars i have listed here have different fuel economy figures and maintenance costs associated with them.. Those are the car models you should look in to.. I might have missed a few models though..

My opinion is., no one other than you can select the best car for you.. its gonna be your car so you have a responsibility to put some effort to find the car suited for you.. now that you have a list of cars., you can search those models and read their reviews., may be go to a seller and have a test drive.. so at the end of the day you can make a better decision..

Posting for the first time after registering. =) Well I`am also looking to get my first car with almost same budget and req.as Shalika. JF I wish to go for a Elantra or Kia Rio (Korean stuff !, I`am aware that it has low 2nd hand market ), Why do you say that beginners has to stick to Japnease cars ? Any exact reason ? Will a 1995 Toyota(used/recond) more reliable than a Kia/Hyundai(Used not reconditions) made in 2000-2001 ?

Edited October 8, 2015 by rajia

wolseley · October 9, 2015

I think the idea of recommending a Japanese Car for a beginner is

1.Common Japanese cars (like corolla , sunny etc.) are here in thousands

2.Therefore spares are freely available everywhere new and used

3.Mechanics here are well accustomed to Japanese cars so maintenance is easy

4.They are very reliable machines so a beginner can have relatively trouble free ride while learning about automobiles.

PreseaLover · October 9, 2015

On 10/9/2015 at 4:09 AM, wolseley said:
I think the idea of recommending a Japanese Car for a beginner is
1.Common Japanese cars (like corolla , sunny etc.) are here in thousands

2.Therefore spares are freely available everywhere new and used

3.Mechanics here are well accustomed to Japanese cars so maintenance is easy

4.They are very reliable machines so a beginner can have relatively trouble free ride while learning about automobiles.

In the contrary, for some jap cars even though they have common engines body parts and some engine parts can be very costly and hard to find...

Recently i just wanted to replace the rear door beading of my presea and the only place where they have beadings were in A*W... and they quoted me 45k for one small rear door beading... i gave up the idea and going along with my old beadings... I was looking for a right crystal tail light everywhere in wijerama and none of them had it...

on engine parts, when i bought the car the mechanic said it will be good if i replace the cross bar vibration mount it will be good as it is a bit old now, and it was no where to be found, therefore even though it has the same engine as the fb14, parts are sometimes very hard to find and can be costly on body parts..

wolseley · October 9, 2015

@ Presea

I don't think that Preseas are abundant like Sunnys here.

That's why some pats are hard to be found.

BTW original beadings / weatherstrips are always costly.

PreseaLover · October 9, 2015

On 10/9/2015 at 8:33 AM, wolseley said:
@ Presea
I don't think that Preseas are abundant like Sunnys here.

That's why some pats are hard to be found.

BTW original beadings / weatherstrips are always costly.

yeah that's true... even the small bonnet emblem is 4000 bucks....

JFLanka · October 9, 2015

On 10/8/2015 at 3:39 PM, rajia said:
Posting for the first time after registering. =) Well I`am also looking to get my first car with almost same budget and req.as Shalika. JF I wish to go for a Elantra or Kia Rio (Korean stuff !, I`am aware that it has low 2nd hand market ), Why do you say that beginners has to stick to Japnease cars ? Any exact reason ? Will a 1995 Toyota(used/recond) more reliable than a Kia/Hyundai(Used not reconditions) made in 2000-2001 ?

On 10/9/2015 at 4:09 AM, wolseley said:
I think the idea of recommending a Japanese Car for a beginner is
1.Common Japanese cars (like corolla , sunny etc.) are here in thousands

2.Therefore spares are freely available everywhere new and used

3.Mechanics here are well accustomed to Japanese cars so maintenance is easy

4.They are very reliable machines so a beginner can have relatively trouble free ride while learning about automobiles.

Hi rajila, welcome to the forum!

wolseley is spot on about that fact. But mind you even a jap vehicle can give heaps of trouble if not maintained properly. So make sure u inspect the vehicle thoroughly before buying. This thread might help you: http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/3430-how-to-buy-a-used-car-in-sri-lanka/

Old Korean cars have a bad reputation for reliability. (Whereas new models (e.g. after 2010) are fairly reliable.) So Yes a Toyota made in 1995 is way more reliable than a Kia/Hyundai made in 2000. Most Korean cars from that era are really showing their age now whereas most japs can still give koreans a run for their money.

Good luck with finding a car!

rajia · October 11, 2015

Thank you so much JF & wolseley for the valuable information for newbies like us =).

So i will try to get hold of a toyota one. Something like corolla AE 110 or a Soluna and update you guys too. JF Is this also a good one as a Toyota ? "Dx Wagon" ? seems to be bit lower in price compared to some 110`s and soluna`s i came across in car portals n paper with english numbers as well ?

Edited October 11, 2015 by rajia

JFLanka · October 12, 2015

Yes rajila Corolla Dx Wagon is a good car. I do not know much about the car other than to say it is a good reliable car.
Search in the forum and you will find discussions about this car.
Here are some links:
http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15109-toyota-wagons/

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/14900-toyota-corolla-l-touring/

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/13337-toyota-corolla-wagon-ee104/

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/17132-best-car-for-13m-14m/

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15880-best-sedan-car-for-13-lks/

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/16103-finally-got-money-now-what-starlet-kelisa-110-any-other-im-confused/

Some threads are old, so some price figures may be not valid now.

tuner88 · October 14, 2015

saw some adds on some sites, actually some prices were ridiculous , and saw some have removed old adds and republished them again, but it will fade away within couple of weeks, i'm assuming it's a bubble effect.

as stated above ae100, elephant back wagon are some of the good choices you can focus on, good luck machan , let us know.