Looking for a second car

varotone · June 6, 2023

I'm looking forward to buy a second car. Expectations are

1. Small in size

Smaller the better. I have enough space to park a Suzuki wagon R in addition to my Lancer. Therefore, the car should be similar or smaller than a wagon R.

2. Fun to drive

My expectations are not very high. Nimble steering, responsive throttle and decent power to take me from red light to red light without hogging up the lane would be enough.

3. Cheap to buy and run.

This is the tricky part. I don't have a fixed budget. I'm looking for a fun car. There's nothing fun about loosing my sleep over leasing payments or massive repair bills. I'll have a look at the car, go for a test drive, speculate about the cost of maintenance and decide if the expense is worth the fun.

4. DIY friendly

A good community support with easy to find spares and mechanics who can work on it. One that doesn't need many special tools, no electronic gizmos.

5. Not noisy

I don't want the whole neighborhood to wake up when I bring home my date 😜

5. Has to be petrol, manual gear

6. Bonus points for a convertible, two door coupe.

7. Should not be a mini Cooper

Edit -

Forgot the most important factor. It has to be a vintage/classic car

Edited June 6, 2023 by varotone
Forgot the most important thing

Gummybr · June 6, 2023

On 6/6/2023 at 7:59 AM, varotone said:

I'm looking forward to buy a second car. Expectations are

1. Small in size

Smaller the better. I have enough space to park a Suzuki wagon R in addition to my Lancer. Therefore, the car should be similar or smaller than a wagon R.

2. Fun to drive

My expectations are not very high. Nimble steering, responsive throttle and decent power to take me from red light to red light without hogging up the lane would be enough.

3. Cheap to buy and run.

This is the tricky part. I don't have a fixed budget. I'm looking for a fun car. There's nothing fun about loosing my sleep over leasing payments or massive repair bills. I'll have a look at the car, go for a test drive, speculate about the cost of maintenance and decide if the expense is worth the fun.

4. DIY friendly

A good community support with easy to find spares and mechanics who can work on it. One that doesn't need many special tools, no electronic gizmos.

5. Not noisy

I don't want the whole neighborhood to wake up when I bring home my date 😜

5. Has to be petrol, manual gear

6. Bonus points for a convertible, two door coupe.

7. Should not be a mini Cooper

Edit -

Forgot the most important factor. It has to be a vintage/classic car

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Suzuki Cappuccino / Honda Beet would fit your requirement of size, fun to drive, manual coupe/convertible, not noisy. Not sure about maintenance and parts though

varotone · June 6, 2023

Thanks for your suggestions. I think the cappuccino will tick all the boxes. Engine is shared with wagon R. So engine spares should be freely available. A turbo charged, 5 speed manual, front mid engine with rear wheel drive sounds like an absolute blast to drive. Plus I'll get a choice of tops depending on the weather and mood.

From what I read online, the beat doesn't share the engine with many other Hondas. So I would rank it below the cappuccino.

Any pointers on where to look for a cappuccino up for sale?

iRage · June 7, 2023

On 6/6/2023 at 12:37 PM, varotone said:

Engine is shared with wagon R. So engine spares should be freely available.

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Yes but no....

The Cappuccino came with both the F6A and later K6A in turbo charged form. For starters...you want to get the facelifted/technical-updated variant which came with the K6A engine. More power and torque, light weight and I believe they also went with a timing chain.

Secondly...the FA6 engine that came in the Capp was a DOHC turbo charged variant. It came in other performance kei cars like the Alto Works and Autozam AZ-1. The Wagon R came with a SOHC variant. So if you get one with a FA6 engine, parts from a FA6 powered Wagon R will not necessarily work on it.

Supra_Natural · July 20, 2023

On 6/7/2023 at 12:11 AM, iRage said:

Yes but no....

The Cappuccino came with both the F6A and later K6A in turbo charged form. For starters...you want to get the facelifted/technical-updated variant which came with the K6A engine. More power and torque, light weight and I believe they also went with a timing chain.

Secondly...the FA6 engine that came in the Capp was a DOHC turbo charged variant. It came in other performance kei cars like the Alto Works and Autozam AZ-1. The Wagon R came with a SOHC variant. So if you get one with a FA6 engine, parts from a FA6 powered Wagon R will not necessarily work on it.

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The only Capo that's for sale in SL at the moment has the older motor. And it seems to have led a hard life too. Other points are spot on.

varotone · July 20, 2023

Can you please dm me the link to the advertisement? TIA

Supra_Natural · July 26, 2023

On 7/20/2023 at 5:25 PM, varotone said:

Can you please dm me the link to the advertisement? TIA

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Sorry mate, can't seem to find it. Keep an eye on FB, it pops up every so often.

kush · July 27, 2023

Why don't you buy a Wagon R.

I have one and it is pretty fast from light to light in Colombo. Because of the size it could keep up with the took tooks

Handling is not too bad as you do not have enough power to get in to trouble and you can drive at the limit at decent speeds. In way of a 2CV body roll and under steer can be controlled if you carefully managed the speeds and the throttle.

Once in a while you get this other car guys in so called super Axios, Lancers, Mazdas who get embarrassed and wants to race with you when you over take them. especially when my wife is in the driving seat.

Sometimes I beat the s**t out of the poor thing in so called sports mode which allows you to rev up to 7K (if you can bear the engine drawl)

After all it is not the number in inches that matter it is what you do to make the best out of what you got.

fiat fan · July 27, 2023

On 7/27/2023 at 12:25 AM, kush said:

Why don't you buy a Wagon R.

I have one and it is pretty fast from light to light in Colombo. Because of the size it could keep up with the took tooks

Handling is not too bad as you do not have enough power to get in to trouble and you can drive at the limit at decent speeds. In way of a 2CV body roll and under steer can be controlled if you carefully managed the speeds and the throttle.

Once in a while you get this other car guys in so called super Axios, Lancers, Mazdas who get embarrassed and wants to race with you when you over take them. especially when my wife is in the driving seat.

Sometimes I beat the s**t out of the poor thing in so called sports mode which allows you to rev up to 7K (if you can bear the engine drawl)

After all it is not the number in inches that matter it is what you do to make the best out of what you got.

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Were the other drivers asleep? Pretty ok off the line maybe, but aint no way a lancer lost to a wagon r.

iRage · July 27, 2023

On 7/27/2023 at 4:42 AM, fiat fan said:

Were the other drivers asleep? Pretty ok off the line maybe, but aint no way a lancer lost to a wagon r.

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True....kei cars are an absolute pain in the ***. They zip off traffic lights or even going up hills at the base. and get in front. Then they choke once they reach about 60 or 70. Some are brave enough to rev the thing to death and barely make it to about 100

fiat fan · August 18, 2023

On 7/27/2023 at 6:53 AM, iRage said:

True....kei cars are an absolute pain in the ***. They zip off traffic lights or even going up hills at the base. and get in front. Then they choke once they reach about 60 or 70. Some are brave enough to rev the thing to death and barely make it to about 100

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Wagon kiyanne agamak bro. Thada thada bro

varotone · August 19, 2023

On 8/18/2023 at 10:17 PM, fiat fan said:

Wagon kiyanne agamak bro. Thada thada bro

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The exact reason why I won't buy a wagon R. Kindda sad they named a kei a wagon

iRage · August 19, 2023

On 8/19/2023 at 3:31 AM, varotone said:

Kindda sad they named a kei a wagon

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Actually, we (Lankans) are the ones who have a distorted idea as to what a wagon is. Sri Lankans believe that a wagon is the any KE72/Elephant back like car. In fact a wagon is a one-box or two-box body style configures for passenger transport. So it has nothing to do with size. a Van is a one or two box body style configured for goods transport. So anything from a Hiace, Corolla, Alto, Starlet can be a van or wagon (although for a wagon for a car like Starlet, Alto we consider them hatchbacks).

ALso...suzuki is not the only one to put Wagon in a kei car name....you get Honda N WGN (WGN - Wagon)

varotone · August 19, 2023

On 8/19/2023 at 4:10 AM, iRage said:

In fact a wagon is a one-box or two-box body style configures for passenger transport.

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I never knew that! I associate the "wagon" with the likes of Morris Minor Traveler and Ford Country squire

kush · August 22, 2023

On 7/27/2023 at 6:53 AM, iRage said:

True....kei cars are an absolute pain in the ***. They zip off traffic lights or even going up hills at the base. and get in front. Then they choke once they reach about 60 or 70. Some are brave enough to rev the thing to death and barely make it to about 100

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This is the whole idea. When you are in Rome you have to be a Roman.

Driving my Macan as a daily driver to work was rather painful affair due bumper to bumper traffic and the stress of having look out for the tuk-tuks and the occasional Mazda / Lancer guy who wants to do fast and the furious (no offense intended for the Lancer, I was one on the first to get one of the EX's down in 2007 and had a wonderful 3 years)

Wagon R will keep up with the traffic up to around 50kmph which is more than enough to keep up with the city traffic and due to the size you can manure darn thing around people who hog the road not knowing which lane to keep on to. It can use the lane in parallel with motor cycles which a large car will not be able to do. It is at home with the tuk-tuks at busy city traffic.

And parking, size, the turning circle and the ease of getting out of either side of the vehicle. I can't even recollect the number of times I had to park and walk due to not having a large enough parking slot.

Believe me it is the faster in traffic and I have kept up with much faster machines with 3-5 times the power.

Wagon R or any Kei car should be used for the purpose it was designed which is not the case in SL.

Agree it is a pain to drive in the highway, for what ever reason if i get in to it I keep it around 80kmph at the curb side led let the faster traffic overtake me. It will do 100-120 kmph but at that speed if you will not have control over the vehicle.

It accommodates my three kids with their school and sports gear. They are allowed to eat/ drink change believe me which is a requirement when you huddle them from class to class or practices. Once the seats are folded it can accommodate large appliances, small furniture (Wagon part)

It is all about the intended purpose and how it fits you life.

When it came to a decision which car to keep my wife choose the Wagon R over Kia Picanto. Picnato was much fun but the Wagon R was the more practical sensible option.

It has given me 5 years of reliable service and sadly I have no alternate to replace. So most likely it will stay with us until the imports open up.

matroska · August 22, 2023

On 8/18/2023 at 10:17 PM, fiat fan said:

Wagon kiyanne agamak bro.

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In WagonR community lingo it's 'Wagiya'...

'wagiya ftt mcn litar ekt 32k krwn mcn iy mm benz ekkt ariya mcn hiwy ekeh.....bnz ek nwttl tbbe mcn hby 😪'

On 8/22/2023 at 3:14 AM, kush said:

Agree it is a pain to drive in the highway,

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Recently took a taxi and used the Outer Circular - the taxi was a wagon R and for the entirety of the journey on the expressway the poor thing was revving like crazy to maintain speed ... the way they have to be revved I guess the engines on the 2014/15 imports must be on their last legs by now

On 8/22/2023 at 3:14 AM, kush said:

It accommodates my three kids with their school and sports gear. They are allowed to eat/ drink change believe me which is a requirement when you huddle them from class to class or practices. Once the seats are folded it can accommodate large appliances, small furniture (Wagon part)

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Things get crazier in the Spacia (weird car yes), a cousin had one and while the ride just felt 'weird' there was tons of space inside the car despite it being small and easy to park almost anywhere. Being someone living in suburban sri lanka with tiny roads, cramped parking spaces etc I totally understand the allure kei's hold for Sri Lankans.

On 8/19/2023 at 4:10 AM, iRage said:

have a distorted idea as to what a wagon is.

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I guess the first mass-scale introduction sri lankans had to the estate/station wagon body type was the Lancer and Corolla vans (wagons) in the 80's . Also sri Lankans have this negative perception towards the body type - associating them with hearses.