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[Vinz]

Dear All,

I am planning to buy a second hand car (automatic), and the budget is around 30 Lks. Five vehicles are in my mind (3 from Toyota and 2 from Honda).

TOYOTA -  Yaris 2008, Corolla 121, Allion 240 (1500CC)

HONDA - ES8 (2004/5 Face-lift), GE6 (Fit-non hybrid)

Please suggest me the best vehicle looking about the (1) Fuel Consumption (daily running around 45kms in traffic), (2) Maintenance Cost, (3) Spare parts Availability, (4) Resale Value.

Expecting your kind support by adding genuine comments. Thank you.

 

[iRage]

Welcome to the forum Vinz...

The biggest issue you are going to have with all of those vehicles is finding a good car (i.e. car that is honest and un-tampered with and gone through dubious owners). Especially the Toyotas. All of the above cars have been discussed many times on the forum so I will not talk about the cars themselves. Please do a search.

Generally speaking, all the cars on your list should not have any issues in terms of resale (perhaps a little less for the Yaris because of the whole Japan model newei mentality). 

Maintenance cost wise...it is highly subjective...it all depends on the condition of the car (e.g the 121 has a good reputation for being mechanically rugged...however if the previous owners have not maintained it properly, then it is going to have many visits to garages compared to even some of the notoriously poor quality brands).

Spare parts availability wise, obviously the Toyota parts are going to be more accessible. Especially because the market is flooded with low grade third party parts. Part cost wise...if you use good, original parts..then the cost is going ot be equally high for both brands.

[Devinda_Z]

@Vinzbased on the 4 criteria you mentioned, definitely stick to the Toyota's

See if you can find one with full maintenance history from Toyota ( not just the services but the repairs as well!)

[Pericles]

On 5/15/2020 at 9:17 AM, iRage said:

Spare parts availability wise, obviously the Toyota parts are going to be more accessible. Especially because the market is flooded with low grade third party parts. Part cost wise...if you use good, original parts..then the cost is going ot be equally high for both brands.

Isn't this the problem tho? Due to the flood of low grade parts, and fudged maintenance due to the hardy reputation, it's all the harder to actually find a good car?

[iRage]

18 minutes ago, Pericles said:

Isn't this the problem tho? Due to the flood of low grade parts, and fudged maintenance due to the hardy reputation, it's all the harder to actually find a good car?

Yupp...sadly it is  

But try telling that to the typical econobox owner..they will eat your head out.

[Devinda_Z]

On 5/19/2020 at 11:35 AM, Pericles said:

Isn't this the problem tho? Due to the flood of low grade parts, and fudged maintenance due to the hardy reputation, it's all the harder to actually find a good car?

@Pericles don't forget that scam the cheapskates pull where they take the cars to the agent just for the service once every other interval or so - just to be able to show some records from Toyota or whoever but get their "maka bass" to handle any actual repairs!

[Supra_Natural]

On 5/22/2020 at 11:28 AM, Devinda_Z said:

@Pericles don't forget that scam the cheapskates pull where they take the cars to the agent just for the service once every other interval or so - just to be able to show some records from Toyota or whoever but get their "maka bass" to handle any actual repairs!

Based on what I've heard, even TL themselves are no longer quite as good as they used to be. Mostly because the people actually turning wrenches are usually just there to get their 2/3 years of experience on the CV and then jump abroad. 

[matroska]

On 5/15/2020 at 9:01 AM, Vinz said:

Dear All,

I am planning to buy a second hand car (automatic), and the budget is around 30 Lks. Five vehicles are in my mind (3 from Toyota and 2 from Honda).

TOYOTA -  Yaris 2008, Corolla 121, Allion 240 (1500CC)

HONDA - ES8 (2004/5 Face-lift), GE6 (Fit-non hybrid)

Please suggest me the best vehicle looking about the (1) Fuel Consumption (daily running around 45kms in traffic), (2) Maintenance Cost, (3) Spare parts Availability, (4) Resale Value.

Expecting your kind support by adding genuine comments. Thank you.

 

I'd avoid the 121 like the plague - simply because it has to be one of the most abused, traded, cheaply maintained cars in Sri Lanka along with it's predecessor the 110. The average 121 probably has changed hands more than the average 1000 rs note. If I had to pick one of the Toyotas you mentioned I'd probably stick with the Yaris, from my experience there are a higher percentage of unabused Yarii (yarises) out there compared to 121s or 240's - there are many brought for permits which enjoyed a considerably fair amount of TLC from their first owners. 

If you want a fun practical hatch (sadly  your Uncle next door will not approve) you could consider the GE6 - as the others above mentioned maintenance cost will not be drastic if you use genuine parts. 

I've done a fair bit of used car hunting for me, friends and relatives and my personal experience is that it's really really difficult to find a clean, honest mainstream car - specially Toyota in SL . I've usually stuck with the left-field choices (read NON_TOYOTA -other than the EP71 in my avatar) and they've never actually disappointed