Advice on first car

lahiru egodawatta · November 8, 2021

Hi,

Sorry about starting a new thread for this even though my budget is the same as the previous OPs post. I have a daughter coming in a few weeks and I'm looking to buy a car of my own that's reliable and safe.

My budget is about 2.5mil and so far I'm really liking the following vehicles

kia carens, Nissan leaf, cefiro.

I read a review about the kia carens on AL but its dated 2011, is it a bad choice in 2021?

Any advice or any other suggestions are welcome.

lahiru egodawatta · January 18, 2022

Guys sorry about the constant questions. I found two s130 crowns. Both duplicate books, both auto, both converted to diesel, one 2L engine updated in the book, the other has a 5L engine in the book but a 2L-TE engine in the car. Are conversions troublesome? I test drove the 2L-TE crown, was pretty good, but it didn't downshift no matter how hard I floored it. I didn't test drive the other one but the owner said the gearbox has an issue where you have to start off in 2 and the switch to D. With the price of these cars I have about 400k of cash left over if I purchase them. That gives me some confidence that I'll be able to fix any minor drive train issues.

But yeah I'm thinking of definitely going on soem vehicle before the end of this month. If not a car there's a jimny my wife doesn't approve of.

lahiru egodawatta · January 18, 2022

On 1/12/2022 at 12:33 PM, matroska said:

This is an unfortunate situation right now - due to the current crisis people are simply holding on to their vehicles. Because for most there is no chance of upgrading. The only cars people get rid of are mostly really horrible cars that have been changing hands for a while. You will though find minters being sold due to migration etc. But mostly regular/day-to-day cars nowadays simply keep changing hands among buyyas (buy and sell folks) and the odd classic gets exchanged among enthusiasts. Not the best time to be buying a new car.

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Yeah, I've seen ads go offline and come back up the next day in a different location with a different owner who's had it for '6 months' since he bought it yesterday.

On 1/12/2022 at 12:11 PM, iRage said:

sadly yes...early Korean cars had bad plastics so you will rarely find an old one without any cracks and still with its original dashboard. But then again not all Japanese cars had perfect plasics either.

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So far the Japanese vehicles I looked at were in somewhat better condition. I found a pristine elantra here in kandy, but sadly the owner decided to up the price after I decided to buy it.

Edit: Whats a "molli" engine?

Edited January 18, 2022 by lahiru egodawatta

iRage · January 18, 2022

On 1/18/2022 at 4:01 PM, lahiru egodawatta said:

Whats a "molli" engine?

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Toyota 2C diesel engine

matroska · January 19, 2022

On 1/18/2022 at 3:50 PM, lahiru egodawatta said:

I found two s130 crowns. Both duplicate books, both auto, both converted to diesel, one 2L engine updated in the book, the other has a 5L engine in the book but a 2L-TE engine in the car. Are conversions troublesome? I test drove the 2L-TE crown

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If you're looking for a long-term car the duplicate book should not be a big issue (resale is not a huge concern for you in that case) - as long as it's with the registered owner. I would avoid a duplicate book car with open papers. Resale is generally low so you can bargain a bit. The old L series diesel engines have stood the tests of time - conversions if properly done are not troublesome. The only worry would be the potential gear-box issues : fixing an old auto box can have its fair share of headaches. I believe you're looking at cars in the range of 2M? try to beat it down to around 1.8 then you have a certain buffer to sort out issues.

Edited January 19, 2022 by matroska

lahiru egodawatta · January 19, 2022

On 1/19/2022 at 11:18 AM, matroska said:

If you're looking for a long-term car the duplicate book should not be a big issue (resale is not a huge concern for you in that case) - as long as it's with the registered owner. I would avoid a duplicate book car with open papers. Resale is generally low so you can bargain a bit. The old L series diesel engines have stood the tests of time - conversions if properly done are not troublesome. The only worry would be the potential gear-box issues : fixing an old auto box can have its fair share of headaches. I believe you're looking at cars in the range of 2M? try to beat it down to around 1.8 then you have a certain buffer to sort out issues.

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Seller called me up first thing in the morning and offered it for 18 provided I advance and confirm immediately. But i haven't seen this car in person so I had to refuse. But I'll check it out this weekend along with a c34 laurel with a RB20 😍.

Supra_Natural · February 24, 2022

Hi @lahiru egodawatta, any progress on your search? Did you pick something up?

lahiru egodawatta · February 24, 2022

On 2/24/2022 at 8:40 AM, Supra_Natural said:

Hi @lahiru egodawatta, any progress on your search? Did you pick something up?

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Hi, after going through maaany cars I bought a volvo s40. Bought about a week ago, currently at Swedish trading for some minor repairs. Compared to the other vehicles I checked, it was in much better condition, relatively newer and ofcourse probably the safest option. There's a good community setup here (in SL, still not easy in kandy) and they've been pretty helpful so far.