Help Me On My First Buy

[Thanushka]

Yes Ford Festiva is nice looking hatch back. It will suit to your budjet as well. I saw one in Auto Lanka clasified.

How about availability of spare parts and the fuel consumption?

[SpEeD FrEak]

Change YOUR attitude man. Why bother with the effort of looking for a good example of a Honda? Most have been used hard and or modified in some way. You need to get real lucky to find one thats been gently used. Because all of you guys who want one want it for the "performance" and that doesn't mean driving gently to work and back.

Hondas are Fun to drive bro.even if they are stock they provide the Maximum driving pleasure.Not like the Lancers,sunnys and corollas

[kalana]

what about the grand civic?

i think its a good car..

[SpEeD FrEak]

what about the grand civic?

i think its a good car..

yup.Its Not too big or too small so its quite easy to drive and also handling is alright.

[terrabytetango]

Grand Civic has one very unbecoming factor though, it's got a lower ground clearance than most regular cars. A relation of mine had one of the original 15 sri GLs (looks like a base model from the outside, but has power everything inside), and it was the only car which scraped the threshold of the front gate to our maha gedara. Other than that it's very good indeed, I believe there was even a dual carb version (35X or 35M?).

[ravisam]

.dat mst be what this Guy is thinking.what about Honda,BMW,Mercedes,Jag,Skoda,Suzuki etc......Rnt they good??

Our topic generator is not that rich enough to maintain the brands you have specified. Since he is going to buy his first car with 6.5 lakh we should advice him to get a maintainable car at reasonable cost. You all tell about all the vehicle brands in the world. I know non available parts can be air freighted and imagine the cost and also I agree that most of the vehicles are good. The question is the maintainability at reasonable cost. If you buy a popular vehicle you can even go to used parts dealer and find the part or even modify and use near version's parts.

Here is a good storey;

One of my bosses had a Mazda Tribute and its Alternator was gone. No used ones are available even the agents did not. He rewind it but not worked. Finally he got it imported from singapore withing around 10 days, due to some customs problem it took another 20 days. The vehicle was in guarage for 1 month. The cost was more than 100k. But if the same thing happened to a Toyota Prado within few hours it was back to normal and the cost will definitely less than 20k.

[virensti]

Hondas are Fun to drive bro.even if they are stock they provide the Maximum driving pleasure.Not like the Lancers,sunnys and corollas

and what makes you think Lancers, sunny's and Corolla's are not fun to drive? A corolla standard 1.5 is quicker than a non v-tech civic manual mr speed freak! not to mention more economical. lol Honda's are good cars, but my god the way sri lankan's talk about them! They think they got the best cars in SL.!! Honda's are highly over-rated. And cars which are a class lower like the Vios,Vitz can give you way more fun(and the vios can probably beat a v-tech civic if not at least keep up with it. will let your'll know about that in abit) andd Not all Honda's are that economical because they're slightly heavier cars.

you dont have to have a "Honda" to have "fun" with it. Whether normal daily driving,cruising or even flat out thrashing. Sunny's Lancers are good cars, its just that they lack a little bit of reliability. (i'm not saying they aren't reliable. Its just that our spare parts, 2nd hand market etc etc nods its head more in the direction of Toyota's Nissan's Honda's. (Yes I put Honda behind Nissan cause Honda's are really expensive) So too are their spares.

ON topic,

Mate this might seem a bit of a silly idea, but how bout a Mini? I'm serious, for your price range, you can buy one, do it up nicely, with AC n all, and it'll be ultra economical. :D

Edited September 17, 2009 by virensti

[Bugatti]

Our topic generator is not that rich enough to maintain the brands you have specified. Since he is going to buy his first car with 6.5 lakh we should advice him to get a maintainable car at reasonable cost. You all tell about all the vehicle brands in the world. I know non available parts can be air freighted and imagine the cost and also I agree that most of the vehicles are good. The question is the maintainability at reasonable cost. If you buy a popular vehicle you can even go to used parts dealer and find the part or even modify and use near version's parts.

Here is a good storey;

One of my bosses had a Mazda Tribute and its Alternator was gone. No used ones are available even the agents did not. He rewind it but not worked. Finally he got it imported from singapore withing around 10 days, due to some customs problem it took another 20 days. The vehicle was in guarage for 1 month. The cost was more than 100k. But if the same thing happened to a Toyota Prado within few hours it was back to normal and the cost will definitely less than 20k.

You chose the most rare Mazda for the comparison...? we are talking about the common cars here..! I have a Nissan, and i can write a book about it, the agents and the availability of spares. So let's not go there.

Simply compare the standard sedans of the common makes. features, YOM Vs Price.

[Pericles]

Hondas are Fun to drive bro.even if they are stock they provide the Maximum driving pleasure.Not like the Lancers,sunnys and corollas

If you wanna think bog stock Hondas are fun to drive, then your welcome to your opinion. But do avoid totally ridiculous statements like "Maximum driving pleasure". There is a BIG difference between "fun" and "Maximum". If bog stock Hondas provide the maximum experience, then they wouldn't have even bothered with a Type R line. And no one would modify it coz its already maxed out.

Besides, your just proving my point. You would buy a Honda to have fun. Thought process of ppl buying Hondas. After 15 years of fun loving drivers, what do you think happens to the car? Think it might be a little more stressed than a Lancer, Sunny or Corolla of the same age?

[Elvis_Pil]

A corolla standard 1.5 is quicker than a non v-tech civic manual mr speed freak! not to mention more economical.

Thats very generalist statement. Wonder what basis you came up with that? I dont agree with you. Are you comparing different generation cars?

I've had experience in both cars...

Edited September 18, 2009 by Elvis_Pil

[MkX]

Change YOUR attitude man. Why bother with the effort of looking for a good example of a Honda? Most have been used hard and or modified in some way. You need to get real lucky to find one thats been gently used. Because all of you guys who want one want it for the "performance" and that doesn't mean driving gently to work and back.

He can find well maitained Grand Civic easily.

Last 5,6 months I came across so many non-modified Hondas (EK3) when i was looking to buy one. if you put little bit of effort searching out for one you get plenty of them. But of cause if we look at AL adds most of Hondas (EK3, EG8) are with mods. Simple reason people who do mods to their cars definitly know abt AL website.

[SpEeD FrEak]

and what makes you think Lancers, sunny's and Corolla's are not fun to drive? A corolla standard 1.5 is quicker than a non v-tech civic manual mr speed freak! not to mention more economical. lol Honda's are good cars, but my god the way sri lankan's talk about them! They think they got the best cars in SL.!! Honda's are highly over-rated. And cars which are a class lower like the Vios,Vitz can give you way more fun(and the vios can probably beat a v-tech civic if not at least keep up with it. will let your'll know about that in abit) andd Not all Honda's are that economical because they're slightly heavier cars.

you dont have to have a "Honda" to have "fun" with it. Whether normal daily driving,cruising or even flat out thrashing. Sunny's Lancers are good cars, its just that they lack a little bit of reliability. (i'm not saying they aren't reliable. Its just that our spare parts, 2nd hand market etc etc nods its head more in the direction of Toyota's Nissan's Honda's. (Yes I put Honda behind Nissan cause Honda's are really expensive) So too are their spares.

ON topic,

Mate this might seem a bit of a silly idea, but how bout a Mini? I'm serious, for your price range, you can buy one, do it up nicely, with AC n all, and it'll be ultra economical. :D

kk bro.Dnt want to argue with you.Mini would be a good Idea.But if he doesnt care about the Number and space it would be a good option.

[Bugatti]

Thats very generalist statement. Wonder what basis you came up with that? I dont agree with you. Are you comparing different generation cars?

I've had experience in both cars...

Yeah.. I too think this is as over statement. A fair comparison would be a 110 Vs EXI or 121 Vs VTI, and the results.... well, I think I already know..

[Ripper]

seriously guys! being brand who*es is pretty lame. especially in this day and age, with so much access to information, "fan boyism" should've been long extinct....

[virensti]

Thats very generalist statement. Wonder what basis you came up with that? I dont agree with you. Are you comparing different generation cars?

I've had experience in both cars...

not really mate. The 03 corolla 1.5 vvt vs the 04 civic 1.5 exi (please note I said NON v-tech) I've seen the corolla race a civic off the lights and the corolla was about a car length in front. and also, I say this cause the corolla is 1080 kg's and the civic is 1150 kg's. so power to weight is also in favour of the corolla.

so even if the civic guy I saw had a poor start, I maintain the corolla can beat the civic on power and speed.

[virensti]

kk bro.Dnt want to argue with you.Mini would be a good Idea.But if he doesnt care about the Number and space it would be a good option.

lol I'm sorry mate. Didn't wanna anger anyone for anything. I just thought we're all allowed to express our own ideas/sentiments and opinions. (no matter how stupid/smart/brilliant/dumb they might be) so cheers mate.

and yeah thats why I said it "might" be a silly idea.

[SpEeD FrEak]

lol I'm sorry mate. Didn't wanna anger anyone for anything. I just thought we're all allowed to express our own ideas/sentiments and opinions. (no matter how stupid/smart/brilliant/dumb they might be) so cheers mate.

and yeah thats why I said it "might" be a silly idea.

I dont c it as a Silly Idea bro.....

Cheers dude

[MkX]

not really mate. The 03 corolla 1.5 vvt vs the 04 civic 1.5 exi (please note I said NON v-tech) I've seen the corolla race a civic off the lights and the corolla was about a car length in front. and also, I say this cause the corolla is 1080 kg's and the civic is 1150 kg's. so power to weight is also in favour of the corolla.

so even if the civic guy I saw had a poor start, I maintain the corolla can beat the civic on power and speed.

1.5 VVT .. is also some what variable valve timing system isn't it? So EXI will not be able to compete with it..

[terrabytetango]

The VVTi systems in those cars are tuned for economy rather than power.

[virensti]

1.5 VVT .. is also some what variable valve timing system isn't it? So EXI will not be able to compete with it..

yes, but in comparison, since the 2002 corolla's all of them have come with vvt, where as even the 2005 civic came with the exi or v-tec. Only the new look civic(2006 onwards) is only v-tech (i think ) but dont write off those exi's mate. they're pretty quick cars.

The VVTi systems in those cars are tuned for economy rather than power.

hmmm arguable perhaps? cause maybe its just that due to lightness that toyota vvt engines are more economical? its not really a matter of tuning per say. the ECU gives the vvt unit little blips every 100th of a second or so during the engine cycles. same with v-tec. vvt and v-tec at the end of the day, keep the intake valves open slightly longer at high rpm to get more air/fuel in for bigger combustion..

Edited September 18, 2009 by virensti

[terrabytetango]

I'm only familiar with Toyota's VVTi because of our 121, and if you read up about it on the net, the system does much more than what you described. I doubt the other variable valve systems on economy cars are much more different in principle than Toyota's is.

[virensti]

I'm only familiar with Toyota's VVTi because of our 121, and if you read up about it on the net, the system does much more than what you described. I doubt the other variable valve systems on economy cars are much more different in principle than Toyota's is.

yeah I too am very familier with vvt on toyota's cause we have a vios, and i've taken the vvt unit outta the cam shaft itself. and yeah i know it does more, as i said its constantly varying the timing of the intake cam. and you cant exactly call them economy cars. they're just cars which have a kinda techonology to assist with economy and performance. lotsa cars have vvt now. its quite an old system. (I've seen it on a 1995 benz engine). The new Sunny's have vvt-i. as does the new terios/rush. and they follow the basic principal. but whoa! talk about OT! sorry guys and Admin. I'll zip it now.

[VPJ]

not really mate. The 03 corolla 1.5 vvt vs the 04 civic 1.5 exi (please note I said NON v-tech) I've seen the corolla race a civic off the lights and the corolla was about a car length in front. and also, I say this cause the corolla is 1080 kg's and the civic is 1150 kg's. so power to weight is also in favour of the corolla.

so even if the civic guy I saw had a poor start, I maintain the corolla can beat the civic on power and speed.

correction- ek3 is only 1080kgs.

[Container]

correction- ek3 is only 1080kgs.

are u sure about that???

[VPJ]

are u sure about that???

ya...my Vi is 1080.