Looking to buy a car around 7mil - Euro vs Jap Which one should I buy?

omr · August 18, 2023

Hi there, I need some help buying a car since my knowledge on cars and the different variants are very limited. specially given the absurd vehicle market right now in Sri Lanka I am not sure what to buy. I need a vehicle that I doesn't require me spending a lot of time in a garage and be able to sell it back without making a big loss if I have to.

My budget is 7 Million, I can manage a couple of hundred thousand more. I am currently looking at the Suzuki Swift RS Turbo, some advised me not to get the hybrid version as it doesn't have good resale value and I too think since the cars a easily above 50,000 mileage I don't want to spend more to buy a new battery in the near future.

There are some European cars that's in the same budget range, one is Audi A1 but I didn't consider that because of the tight space at the back. And there was a BMW 116i E87 with 60k mileage and an Audi A6 with 158k mileage. About buying an European car is it really that expensive to maintain? I mean as I gather service wise you only have to do every 10k km while Japanese cars you need to do every 5k km so its pretty much the same on the maintenance. Repair wise I am not really sure as I have never owned one previously. So is it worth getting an Audi / BMW with over 100,000 mileage? will those vehicle have lot of issues?

Otherwise, what are my options on Japanese cars? I am not very fond of the way the Fit and the Vitz look. Vitz is honestly very plasticky inside too. I like the vehicle to look little strong and have a nice interior too. Which is why I am considering Europeans cars but worried because of what people say about high maintenance. Normally how much will it cost to maintain an Europeon car I have mentioned above?

sorry if the post is too long, I would really appreciate your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

fiat fan · August 18, 2023

Nowhere did I read about you buying a euro for it’s driving/safety/design/class or anything related.

Please stick to a jap. Euro ownership is not for budget minded people,specially in Lanka.

kush · August 22, 2023

On 8/19/2023 at 3:43 AM, fiat fan said:

Nowhere did I read about you buying a euro for it’s driving/safety/design/class or anything related.

Please stick to a jap. Euro ownership is not for budget minded people,specially in Lanka.

Agreed 100%

By the way Swift RS Turbo is a good option. Descent performance, economy and handling with Jap reliability and ease of maintenance.

I would rate it above the Vitz that would be the other option

Interior is very plasticy (so it is Vitz) if you don't mind that sort of things.

matroska · August 22, 2023

On 8/18/2023 at 8:15 PM, omr said:

Otherwise, what are my options on Japanese cars? I am not very fond of the way the Fit and the Vitz look. Vitz is honestly very plasticky inside too. I like the vehicle to look little strong and have a nice interior too. Which is why I am considering Europeans cars but worried because of what people say about high maintenance. Normally how much will it cost to maintain an Europeon car I have mentioned above?

Someone once said when in doubt go for Jap. What I always felt is when you're ready for a Euro you just know it. Vitz is a very basic car - recommend the Swit : most commonly available is the 1.0 Turbo - much nicer car than the Vitz.

iRage · August 23, 2023

I totally skipped this thread as I thought it was another repeat of one of many other I want to buy a Vitz or threads.

As the others have said....if you are budget minded and want a cost efficient A to B type of vehicle go for the Fit, Swift or Vitz. Like someone mentioned the Swift RS is a pretty good deal. Don't listen to all this "market naha" statements of all the Toms, Dicks and Harrys. This is just all based on utter BS spawned by the brokers and the "My Premio is the god's gift to the automotive world" type of people. If they are to be believed the only car that has any "market" is any POS with a Toyota badge on it.

The whole Japanese cars need a 6 month oil change/service is a misunderstanding. The interval is dependent on the type of oil used. Mineral oils have a use life of about 5000km (under normal use) which is about a 5-6 month period. Synthetics roughly double (or a bit less than that). Your average budget/econo-box Toyota, Honda, etc...come with mineral or semi-synthetic oil from the factory. Depending on the stock oil being used and recommended some Japanese cars will have a service tag that says change every 5000km/6months or every 10,000km/12months. European cars on the other hand because of emissions requirements, etc....came with synthetic oil well before the Japanese manufacturers figured out how they can write synthetic in Katakana (i.e. one of the Japanese alphabets...especially used to write foreign words in Japanese). Thus they came with a sticker that said 10,000km.

My 24 year old Corolla, 3 year old Yaris and 6 month old Corolla (all cars in Japan) are all on synthetic oil with a 1 year service cycle. However, as a dealer courtesy, they call in my car for an inspection every 6 months which I can take or not take. So no...just because it is a Japanese car do not automatically think it MUST have a 5000km/6month service cycle. If you use synthetic oil and still told that you need to do a 5000km/6month change cycle, then that person is ripping you off (unless you use your car under what a manufacturer would classify as severe/extreme use).

Anyway..but the Swift (1st choice) then the Vitz (the 1L variant is an absolute dog and most of them are low-end budget grades...the Jewela looks a bit more shiny but still 1L engine makes it a budget bucket...the RS or G/GR Sport variants if you can find one would be the most interesting one to drive, even more than the Swift). If you do get about to liking the looks of a Fit, the Fit would be the best all-rounder.