First car under 1.2mn budget

[Crashlander]

Guys, I know there is a lot of threads related to this. But uptodate knowledge from an expert would be very much appreciated.

I'm a student trying to buy my first car with my savings and a small loan. My budget is strictly below 1.2 mn.

I'll be driving about 6km a day on weekdays and about 15km in the weekend. I'm looking for an easy to maintain car( dont really have much time to be at a garage for another 2-3 years)

Looks do matter but not a complainer and an auto would be nice but not a must.

Thank u in advance.

[yuran]

Not to discourage you but if you are looking for a car thats under 1.2mn you should consider the fact that you may have to spend some time in the garage. Since you're a student friendly advice would be to look for a car thats under 1.1mn and keep some spare money for repairs.

If you looking for a sedan there are old civcs. Then theres always the alto and maruti if you're looking for a hatch. Which is always easier to maintain.

[matroska]

23 hours ago, Crashlander said:

Guys, I know there is a lot of threads related to this. But uptodate knowledge from an expert would be very much appreciated.

I'm a student trying to buy my first car with my savings and a small loan. My budget is strictly below 1.2 mn.

I'll be driving about 6km a day on weekdays and about 15km in the weekend. I'm looking for an easy to maintain car( dont really have much time to be at a garage for another 2-3 years)

Looks do matter but not a complainer and an auto would be nice but not a must.

Thank u in advance.

Did you check this thread ? Prices have changed a little bit but most of the ideas there hold true. 

Even if you check very carefully you cannot find a 'trouble-free' car for that budget so just make an allowance for that. 

few options off the top of my head : 

1994-96 ish Nissan March K11 2 door with Automatic transmission - bland but ok car. 4 Door is much more expensive.

Proton Wira - 2000~2001 with A/T interiors of these cars deteriorate pretty fast though.

Assorted Starlets : EP82's will be around 1.3~1.4 

Corolla2, March K10, Mazda Familia all fall in your budget but most of them will be manual there will be the odd Auto as well as Auto converts - whether conversions are done properly is the question. 

At this price point you can't quite focus on one model... best thing to do is to join the numerous old car groups on FB and be alert also be ready to travel sometimes good cars come up outside colombo. 

I myself was looking out for a cheap 2nd car to do a mild restoration and to use as a weekend banger - ended up with a 34 YO  Starlet EP71 ...there is some work to do but the damn thing is not a rust bucket, it runs  and has A/C 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by matroska

[Crashlander]

On 10/28/2019 at 6:22 PM, matroska said:

Did you check this thread ? Prices have changed a little bit but most of the ideas there hold true. 

Even if you check very carefully you cannot find a 'trouble-free' car for that budget so just make an allowance for that. 

few options off the top of my head : 

1994-96 ish Nissan March K11 2 door with Automatic transmission - bland but ok car. 4 Door is much more expensive.

Proton Wira - 2000~2001 with A/T interiors of these cars deteriorate pretty fast though.

Assorted Starlets : EP82's will be around 1.3~1.4 

Corolla2, March K10, Mazda Familia all fall in your budget but most of them will be manual there will be the odd Auto as well as Auto converts - whether conversions are done properly is the question. 

At this price point you can't quite focus on one model... best thing to do is to join the numerous old car groups on FB and be alert also be ready to travel sometimes good cars come up outside colombo. 

I myself was looking out for a cheap 2nd car to do a mild restoration and to use as a weekend banger - ended up with a 34 YO  Starlet EP71 ...there is some work to do but the damn thing is not a rust bucket, it runs  and has A/C 

 

 

Wow.... thank u very much. That's really helpful. Imma gonna look for k11s and ep82s. Thanks man

[Crashlander]

On 10/28/2019 at 5:36 PM, yuran said:

Not to discourage you but if you are looking for a car thats under 1.2mn you should consider the fact that you may have to spend some time in the garage. Since you're a student friendly advice would be to look for a car thats under 1.1mn and keep some spare money for repairs.

If you looking for a sedan there are old civcs. Then theres always the alto and maruti if you're looking for a hatch. Which is always easier to maintain.

Altos seem to be bit higher, what's ur take on tata indica 2006-2007ish?