Buy a car for long term uses

shahan · September 21, 2024

Hi everyone,

I would like to have some suggestions from the experts like @iRage and others!!

I am willing to buy a car not as my fist one and going to use for the next 5 years so considering the car price hicks I dnt wanna struck into the high price vechile trap due to I can't afford to have any huge lose when I upgrade to other vechile in the future so please advise me and I have following cars in my mind. My budget is 5M max.

Note - Monthly I do drive 2500Kms on an average

AE100 / CE110 / SUZUKI SWIFT BEETLE / VIVA ELITE / CARINA TI OR SI

I really love Elite but the price is higher.

Maintainance, fuel, comfortable and affordable parts availability are considered.

Please help me to find a perfect match 🙏

shahan · September 22, 2024

Hi everyone,

I would like to have some suggestions from the experts like @iRage and others!!

I am willing to buy a car not as my first one and going to use for the next 5 years so considering the car price hicks I dnt wanna struck into the high price vechile trap due to I can't afford to have any huge lose when I upgrade to other vechile in the future so please advise me and I have following cars in my mind.

My budget is 5M max.

Note - Monthly I do drive 2500Kms on an average

AE110 / CE110 / SUZUKI SWIFT BEETLE / VIVA ELITE / CARINA TI OR SI / REXTON / PAJERO MK1 Or any other suggestions?

I really love Elite but the price seems higher. If it is worth I am OK with it 🙂

Maintainance, fuel, comfortable and affordable parts availability are considered.

Please help me to find a perfect match 🙏

Edited September 22, 2024 by shahan

iRage · September 22, 2024

I don't think you will be able to avoid price hikes and gauging for some time. There is too much instability in policies and the immediate direction of the country with the change of leadership. Imports may still open up as already planned, but it is highly unlikely they will be unrestricted imports irrespective of who takes over office.

So..the bottom line is that none of the cars are worth what you are paying for.

Out of your list, E100/E110 Corolla/Sprinter would be the most untrustworthy vehicles you can buy. 99% of them are absolute heaps of garbage with fake badges and cheap cosmetic fixes.

The Swift is a decent car but make sure you get a Japanese variant or a high-spec Indian variant if you must. Most of the Indian variants have a very low safety rating due to the lack of safety equipment. So get one with those. If you are a petrol head then I would say go for a Sport But those are hard to come buy (sinc eyou did mention resale value, the Sport variant is a enthusiast favorite so there are people who will buy it at a reasonable price even though these things sell well above the price of a normal Swift).

The Elite....actually a pretty decent choice if you can find a clean one, which is easier to do than finding a clean Corolla. You say it is more pricier, but pricier than what other cars? It is all relative. If you are going to be doing long distances this won;t be the most comfortable car.

Carina is the nicest car on the list, but you will need to be patient to find a decent specimen. Because of the "larger" engine capacity, it was driven alone by many of the pump-and-run crowd (who went for the Corollas).

All of these cars are quite old so how reliable they are (which would reflect how much you would have to end up spending on repairs or how long of its life it will have to spend in garages) depends on past maintenance. So get the car professionally inspected and go for the car in the best possible shape with the most comprehensible service history.

As for parts accessibility, the Toyotas will be the easiest in terms of finding parts at many different price points ( cheap and counterfeit Chinese parts to midrange Indonesian/Taiwanese/Chinese parts to pricey genuine, OEM parts). But the others are not too far odd either.

Any particular reason you are not in to Lancer CSs and Axelas ?