Cars Under 4mil LKR : Vios, Honda City, Swift Beetle or Viva Elite, Alto

[aashik068]

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum.i am looking to buy a used car below 4 million...this is my first car...my requirements are

Fuel efficient
Automatic
Easy maintenance 
Easy availability of good spare parts

Shld i  go for the ones with YOM 2002 /2003 with good features like vios,honda city, swift Beetle or the recent ones like viva elite or alto which i can get recent models for the price i am looking..

Edited November 6, 2023 by iRage

[aashik068]

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum.i am looking to buy a used car below 4 million...this is my first car...my requirements are

Fuel efficient
Automatic
Easy maintenance 
Easy availability of good spare parts

Shld i  go for the ones with YOM 2002 /2003 with good features like vios,honda city, swift Beetle or the recent ones like viva elite or alto which i can get recent models for the price i am looking..

[iRage]

Welcome to the forum...

For starters...out of your list the Alto is the most basic entry level car. Easy to run, cheap to fix (especially the Indian one). But you get no creature comforts and minimal safety features (unless you are lucky to find a new Japanese market Alto).

The Vios (not Belta?), Honda City and Swift Beetle are decent A to B cars. Depending on the spec the safety features on these models can be very lacking (especially an Indian spec Swift Beetle). How reliable and easy to run will depend on how well the car has been taken care of until this point.

These models were built for developing markets as an entry level sedan/hatch so the refinement of the equivalent Japanese market models (e.g. Toyota Vios vs. Toyota Belta, Honda City vs Honda Fit Aria). So things like the seat upholstery material...sound deadening, etc...will be lacking in the export models compared to the Japanese ones (the Vios and City were built in Thailand, and some models years of the Japanese market models were also built there).

Spare parts for these cars are available (under normal market conditions and parts imports are unrestricted) as these cars use engines and other components used in other models by the manufacturer. Or in some cases there are so many of them around there are a lot of parts available. Things like body panels obviously will get harder to find the older the car becomes (less used cars for parts removal, etc..).

Again....there is no guarantee that a newer car (Viva or Alto) will be better in terms of reliability than a 2002/2003 car. It all depends on the car you are looking at and its ownership/maintenance history. My advice is go look at all these models...see which appeals you. Shorten the list down to 2 or 3 models and when the best condition model comes up...buy it. 

Don't spend all your money on the car. Save some for repairs you must and will have to do once you buy the car. You can spend all 4mil on the car if you ahve other savings you can use to attend to these repairs.

Get the car professionally inspected. By that..I mean if you are interested in a car and willing to buy it...take it to the agents or a place like Car Checks and get it inspected (not taking your neighborhood baas to look at the car kick the tires and tap the body work...).

Personally...from your list...I think the Viva Elite is the one that stands out. Fun to drive...used to have decent support...pretty decent tech behind it. If you can get a Fit Aria that would be the more "nicer" car.

[matroska]

19 hours ago, aashik068 said:

Fuel efficient
Automatic
Easy maintenance 
Easy availability of good spare parts

Shld i  go for the ones with YOM 2002 /2003 with good features like vios,honda city, swift Beetle or the recent ones like viva elite or alto which i can get recent models for the price i am looking..

As irage had mentioned the Honda City and Vios were not quite 'feature-rich' to beign with -city and vios were the emerging market variants to complement the Civics and Corollas. Vios in the local context is popular since it's a rather durable car that keeps running and running and due to this popularity most of these were routinely hacked. Even as late as 2015 when I was car hunting the majority of Vios I came across were in a really sorry state. They were very poorly maintained. But of course there can be exceptions. An uncle of mine has been using a 2004 Vios since 2007 and that thing is taken care of like a baby.  

Swift beetle is quite a decent car (the Japanese version since anyway you're looking at an Auto) - the only thing is do not expect it to be supremely fuel efficient just because it's a hatch. 

Generally, I'd say you're safer with a Viva Elite (now of course there could be a messed up Viva Elite that will be an absolute lemon and at the same time there are manual elite's converted to Auto locally -again if done right not a big deal but depends on how the conversion was done. ) It's a small nippy car with decent support and parts availability. Easy to maintain as well. If you want something a bit more refined than the Viva Elite go for the Suzuki Swift (Beetle)   I'd stay away from the Vios unless there is a pristine car. 

 

1 hour ago, iRage said:

The Vios (not Belta?), Honda City and Swift Beetle are decent A to B cars. Depending on the spec the safety features on these models can be very lacking (especially an Indian spec Swift Beetle).

I think his budget aligns with the NCP42 Vios and not the next gen SCP90 series. WRT to the swift I think by opting for Auto OP has eliminated the Indian spec swift since it only came in Manual form AFAIK. 

[iRage]

3 hours ago, matroska said:

think his budget aligns with the NCP42 Vios and not the next gen SCP90 series.

I was sort of hoping he could consider the Belta by increasing the budget a bit...

3 hours ago, matroska said:

opting for Auto

Totally missed he wanted an auto

[matroska]

On 11/6/2023 at 12:20 PM, iRage said:

I was sort of hoping he could consider the Belta by increasing the budget a bit...

Yeah the Belta would actually be a decent choice but they are quite expensive - being JDM it's a bit more refined than the similar Yaris /Vios.  The ride is a comfier, comes with CVT and as a result  is apparently better on fuel as well. The agent imported yaris on the other hand is a bit more rugged and as per users quite thirsty for a basic 1.3 L car. 

[mihawk]

I own a japan Swift beetle manufactured in 2009. Recently went with a friend to look at a 2011 Viva Elite, and something I noticed was, even though Viva was the newer car, the deterioration of plastics, paint, etc was so much more apparent compared to a Swift. It's not because the owner had abused it (50k original milage used as wife's car) Even though everyone says Japanese stuff is better, it was interesting to see this in a real world comparison.

But still Viva Elite was a fun car, smaller than the swift, fuel efficient, and as most people mention reliable and cheaper to maintain.

I can give more details on the swift since I own it. It is more comfortable (obviously not as good as a sedan on longer drives for the passengers, but driving position is comfortable enough). Interior feels a little more modern/decent compared to Viva. Way less fuel efficient (lucky to have 9kmpl in city, around 12-15kmpl long distance and highways). Agent service cost 29k this month (can go cheaper if you do it from a normal place). For the 3 years I owned, I did not have any issues, except I replaced the steering rack as instructed at a service. I have felt it has more power/oomph compared to other common cars I have driven(vitz, axio and the like)

PS: Also swift turning radius sucks, sometimes I look like a fool in the middle of the road trying to do a U turn 😭

Edited November 15, 2023 by mihawk

[iRage]

10 hours ago, mihawk said:

Recently went with a friend to look at a 2011 Viva Elite, and something I noticed was, even though Viva was the newer car, the deterioration of plastics, paint, etc was so much more apparent compared to a Swift

Well..there is some logic to it. Depending on the market segment the car is manufactured to the materials used differ. An entry level car (or even an entry level trim/grade level of a particular model) will have different upholstery material, more surfaces with hard plastics, less sound deadening, etc...Depending on the type of car the amount of material used will also differ because of weight requirements, budget brackets, etc... Different materials age and wear out in different ways. For example a textured hard plastic surface will easy get scratched and will look like a couple of tigers made babies in there, whilst a soft texture soft plastic surface will show scratches a little bit less.
Also, a manufacturer is not going to put a heavy dashboard (thick materials, etc..) in a little car with a 660cc engine and 65hp. So it is natural that a car like a Swift will have a better feeling (and even durable) interior than a Viva Elite or a Daihatsu Mira. Similarly, the interior of something like a RAV4, Vitara is built to a higher level of robustness to with stand more "abuse" than a Swift would. Same goes for mechanical components as well.

 

10 hours ago, mihawk said:

I have felt it has more power/oomph compared to other common cars I have driven(vitz, axio and the like)

Makes sense...99% of the Vitzes in SL are 1L econo boxes with an engine that is as energized as a dead dog. The Axio....it is not necessarily that its considerably down on power with a 1.5L Hybrid power train, it is how the car is setup. You won't feel heavy acceleration and the torque distribution is made to favor soft eco friendly driving.