Saloon/sedan above 1300 cc manufacturered in 2010 or after

[APM]

Hi, need to get a car soon and the budget is less than 5m. Looking for a car that can be used for next 3n half years or so without having to spend in garages often. I seek all your advice as I know very little about cars. Thanks in advance!

[Crosswind]

Ill be very very cautious of a 5-year old car that has done only 5000km. In fact, I would even advise straightaway not to buy that car.

[matroska]

that would translate to less than a 100 km per month 87 to be a little more precise and if you think of 20 days per month it has been driven for 4km per day either of these scenarios are possible

1. The car was left at some place for a long long time

2. The car was used only to drive to the nearby bakery and haul a loaf of bread

3. The Odo's tampered - however odo-tampering buy/sell folk usually would have put in a mileage about 30,000 cos that's a bit realistic.

4. The remote scenario some guy bought a car but chickened-out after driving for the first day in Colombo and now using it to go to  weddings : i know 3 people like that.              

OP go check out the car by all means but just be vary that when something sounds too good to be true it is usually false. 

 

[hrm]

In rare cases it can happen. I was given an Alto K10 from my wife's side that was run only 1000Km for 3 years which I know was genuine as they hardly took it out. Even I didn't used it much and when I was selling it  had less than 6000KM. Sold within 2 hours of posting the add.

Edited June 27, 2018 by hrm

[Crosswind]

This shows the level of understanding you have about cars. The real worry, if a car is left unused, is the fact that rubber parts, such as belts, including the timing belt, gaskets and even tyres etc. can deteriorate. You cant actually find these thru an inspection.

This can only be prevented if the car has actually been used on a fixed schedule (such as every month for 50-100km), but you dont know if the person bought the car, took it to kataragama next day and kept it at home thereafter.

And these cars fetch unusually high prices because there are too many ignorant idiots in this country. So I would simply give that one a miss.

[Hyaenidae]

24 minutes ago, Crosswind said:

1. This shows the level of understanding you have about cars. The real worry, if a car is left unused, is the fact that rubber parts, such as belts, including the timing belt, gaskets and even tyres etc. can deteriorate. You cant actually find these thru an inspection.

2. And these cars fetch unusually high prices because there are too many ignorant idiots in this country.

1

1. AFAIK 1ZR-FE engine has a timing chain, not a belt; and you are correct, I really don't have enough understanding about cars to advise for or against buying a used car without even seeing it, that's why I said OP to "go check it out".

2. And it's not priced for an unusually high price, 4.5mil is very fair for a 141 made in 2013.

[iRage]

2 hours ago, Crosswind said:

This shows the level of understanding you have about cars. The real worry, if a car is left unused, is the fact that rubber parts, such as belts, including the timing belt, gaskets and even tyres etc. can deteriorate. You cant actually find these thru an inspection.

This can only be prevented if the car has actually been used on a fixed schedule (such as every month for 50-100km), but you dont know if the person bought the car, took it to kataragama next day and kept it at home thereafter.

And these cars fetch unusually high prices because there are too many ignorant idiots in this country. So I would simply give that one a miss.

Yes...that is the general belief....

My BZ Touring's YoM is 2000. I bought it in 2014 with 15,000km on it..in the last four years I put an additional 18,000k on it....during the time the only thing that had to be replaced were the shocks last year (because they were "slightly worn out" which made my wheels rub when under heavy load and going over a hump which was a point of "concern" during the shaken inspection) and the distributor oil seal.  ....I have records for my car that show oil changes after 6 months with just 80km added on to the previous oil change. Then a timing belt change at 9000 something km that had been done just because the belt was 10 years old Then a friend of mine bought a year 2000 Corolla GT in 2016 with just 500km on it and over the last 2 years he has put about 5000km on it and no repairs what so ever. Records indicate that the two cars were probably  second/hobby cars used by "enthusiasts".

In Sri Lanka, an ex colleague of mine bought a Lancer EX in 2015...over the last 3 years he has put about 10,000km because soon after he bought it he got a different job which makes him travel oversees a lot. The last time I saw it the car looked like it was just driven out of the showroom and all the rubber parts, and stuff looked nice and fresh and the guy's dad starts the car and rolls it around every other day or so.

So yes....things like rubber parts do wear out....but just because it was "not moving" does not necessarily mean they have been prematurely worn out as well provided the car was actually taken care of.

Now....will an average Sri Lankan car owner go to such extremes as the previous owners of my Corolla wagon and friend's Corolla GT ? Like Crosswinds is trying to say, 97.5% of the time definitely not.... 

If you find such a car...there is no reason for you to run away from it. See if you can work on the price with the understanding that that you will still have to take care of (or replace) some critical things based on the age of the car (i.e. just because a 10 year old car has only 5000km it doesn't mean you don't need to replace the timing belt for another 9 years), albeit yes...a barely used car will be more expensive than the same type of car with 100,000km on it...that is just a general thing no matter where you go in the world because there would be a lot in the barely used car that is less worn out than the car with the higher mileage.

 

[iRage]

Anyway...have you considered something like this ?

1. http://www.autolanka.com/view/kia/cerato/58553.html

This one is slightly on the pricier side but I see there are a few others on AL that are a bit cheaper....

[Hyaenidae]

52 minutes ago, iRage said:

In Sri Lanka, an ex colleague of mine bought a Lancer EX in 2015...over the last 3 years he has put about 10,000km because soon after he bought it he got a different job which makes him travel oversees a lot. The last time I saw it the car looked like it was just driven out of the showroom and all the rubber parts, and stuff looked nice and fresh and the guy's dad starts the car and rolls it around every other day or so.

So yes....things like rubber parts do wear out....but just because it was "not moving" does not necessarily mean they have been prematurely worn out as well provided the car was actually taken care of.

Now....will an average Sri Lankan car owner go to such extremes as the previous owners of my Corolla wagon and friend's Corolla GT ? Like Crosswinds is trying to say, 97.5% of the time definitely not.... 

 

4

Last 2 maintenance records of my Lancer...

6 months, 1358 kms

[iRage]

7 hours ago, Hyaenidae said:

Last 2 maintenance records of my Lancer...

6 months, 1358 kms

One of the points that Crosswind was trying to make and was missed was that there is no way of knowing whether the 200 something km you put per month was done in a single trip or over a period of time. the latter ensures that even if the car was not used it was still made to run ensuring that all the rubbers,plastics, etc...get lubricated and heated and cooled down as intended. 

What I tried to put across and failed miserably was that as long as the car was "run" and maintained accordingly (e.g. not doing something stupid like not change oil for 2 ears because the mileage was just 5000km), a low mileage car like that can actually be a hidden gem.

[Hyaenidae]

17 minutes ago, iRage said:

One of the points that Crosswind was trying to make and was missed was that there is no way of knowing whether the 200 something km you put per month was done in a single trip or over a period of time. the latter ensures that even if the car was not used it was still made to run ensuring that all the rubbers,plastics, etc...get lubricated and heated and cooled down as intended. 

What I tried to put across and failed miserably was that as long as the car was "run" and maintained accordingly (e.g. not doing something stupid like not change oil for 2 ears because the mileage was just 5000km), a low mileage car like that can actually be a hidden gem.

1

That's what I was saying too - there are such hidden gems and this could be one - so OP should go take a look

Edited June 28, 2018 by Hyaenidae

[iRage]

4 minutes ago, Hyaenidae said:

That's what I was saying too - there are such hidden gems and this could be one - so OP should go take a look

Yes....no reason to run away...but the guy needs to realise that there still will be things that he needs to an might have to fix. That just because it has slow mileage he shouldn't necessarily and blindly hand over an exorbitant amount. I think even in SL a reasonable and truly car loving guy would price it reasonably but 90% of the time I am sure these guys are the "type" who will price it really high just because the mileage is low and it looks shiny

[Hyaenidae]

1 minute ago, iRage said:

Yes....no reason to run away...but the guy needs to realise that there still will be things that he needs to an might have to fix. That just because it has slow mileage he shouldn't necessarily and blindly hand over an exorbitant amount. I think even in SL a reasonable and truly car loving guy would price it reasonably but 90% of the time I am sure these guys are the "type" who will price it really high just because the mileage is low and it looks shiny

It's priced for 4.5mil and says "negotiable". I think that price is quite fair for that car

[matroska]

Here's a believable car  8 years 90,000 KM 

http://www.autolanka.com/view/toyota/corolla/58531.html

 

[Crosswind]

3 hours ago, Hyaenidae said:

That's what I was saying too - there are such hidden gems and this could be one - so OP should go take a look

 

3 hours ago, iRage said:

Yes....no reason to run away...but the guy needs to realise that there still will be things that he needs to an might have to fix. That just because it has slow mileage he shouldn't necessarily and blindly hand over an exorbitant amount. I think even in SL a reasonable and truly car loving guy would price it reasonably but 90% of the time I am sure these guys are the "type" who will price it really high just because the mileage is low and it looks shiny

The whole point i am trying to make is, there are things that you can identify through an inspection and there are things that you can't. There's no way to find out whether rubber (or other parts such as gaskets) is deteriorated due to lack of use. Even the agent won't be able to tell this with an inspection.

The only way you will know whether its a hidden gem or a hidden piece of fool's gold is AFTER buying the car. The question is whether you want to take this risk, knowing that you don't actually get a significant benefit from a car with a low odometer reading anyway, unless its kept as a museum piece.

[iRage]

5 minutes ago, Crosswind said:

 

The whole point i am trying to make is, there are things that you can identify through an inspection and there are things that you can't. There's no way to find out whether rubber (or other parts such as gaskets) is deteriorated due to lack of use. Even the agent won't be able to tell this with an inspection.

The only way you will know whether its a hidden gem or a hidden piece of fool's gold is AFTER buying the car. The question is whether you want to take this risk, knowing that you don't actually get a significant benefit from a car with a low odometer reading anyway, unless its kept as a museum piece.

True, but there are benefits you actually do get comparatively.  The whole aspect what you say seems to surround the fact that low mileage cars would be excessively costlier than the "used" car. and the pure and simple fact that we cannot trust our Lankans (being too heap with cars). As long as it is only slightly more expensive (which is the case in almost all countries)...then I believe the risk can actually be justifiable as you are paying a premium for the components that still are near new as opposed to the ones that are not.

Yes..things do wear out if not used..but it is not that doom and gloom drastic....heck when we had the RAV4 in Japan, it was parked outside over all seasons and sometimes go on for 6-7 months without moving an inch (only started up every now and then by a friend)...and 10 years down the road including 5 years of usage in SL, the car is still in better shape than most RAV4s in SL that have gone though the usual use.

I suppose in that case I am extremely lucky because my almost 14 year old car with 15,000km didn't turn out to be fools gold  for not having being "USED".

[Hyaenidae]

Go get this if it's still available...

<REMOVED by admin>

Okay, okay, there is a Corolla 141 2013 priced for 4.5mil on that popular classifieds site which the name translates to "quick". The advert says it has done only 5,279 kms. Go check it out.

Search term: Toyota Corolla 141 2013

Edited June 27, 2018 by Hyaenidae
Providing links to third party classifieds sites is not allowed on AutoLanka forums.

[Hyaenidae]

Oh come on, checking that car out can't hurt. Who knows, maybe he has service records to prove that the car has been serviced every 6 months