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  1. Here's a write up on my Daily Driver - the new Civic 1 Litre Turbo - I've so far done just a bit over 1500 Km's and since the engine was new didn't really push it to the max and I have not yet been able to do a really long trip or a drive uphill to BUT I will continue to update the blog based on the experiences as well as services etc. For a start I will touch the basics as well as all the cosmetic stuff and then get into the overall driving experience and later on the services etc. There is also a dedicated thread in the forum that is quite informative. But I hope this blog will also prove useful to someone. First of all the basics.... In a nutshell the 2017 Civic is the 10th generation in the line up. The particular model I have, and is getting popular in SL goes under the model code FK6 and has a P10A2 engine which has a measly 988cc but is turbocharged. The car is made in the UK (at Honda's Swindon Plant). I have heard that the agents now bring it down as well. (6.2M for the SR) There are 3 grades for the 1L turbocharged civic. SE, SR and the EX. The SE is the most basic model with the EX being the highest (the Tech pack is a further extension of the EX) There is roughly a 5,000 GBP (~ 1 Mil LKR) price difference between the SE and the EX. The SR on the other hand sits comfortably in the middle - it does not have stuff like adaptive damper system that comes on the EX. The Honda UK website lists down the differences of each grade under a section called 'Build your Honda' or something. If you're interested do have a look. There are 7 colors available and the Rallye Red is the standard . Every other color will cost around 500 GBP more . There is also the "Orange Line Pack" - which is basically an accessory kit that adds a touch of orange into everything - I've seen a few such cars in car sales in SL. Though I initially contemplated Sonic Grey, ended up with a Polished Metal Metallic specimen. With the 2017 Budget a new tax structure was introduced and under the engine capacity based taxation you'd be paying 17.5 m in taxes (1,754,976 LKR to be precise) for a brand new car with reasonable creature comforts and a bunch of bells and whistles which costs something between 4-5 mill based on the grade ( see above ) First Impressions For me the new Civic hatch looks like someone started designing and spent too much time doing a good job with the front and then ran out of time to design the posterior and hastily put an end to it. This explains the rather weird looking behind. The Sedan version I have to admit looks better. There's also waay too much plastic in the rear so much so that it looks like a joint venture between Honda and Arpico. There's a bit of aggressive styling at the front. The car is quite wide and it has a solid ground hugging look to it. As for the supposed vents you see at the front and the back - well those are fake. They're simply pieces of plastic made to look like vents. And yes it does have fog lights. I like the factory fitted black 17" alloys. Note the SE comes with 16" Alloys as opposed to the 17" found in the SR. Being a brand new car it came with a humongous bible-like user manual (thankfully in English) - along with the wheel lock nut as well as the tool kit and the tire repair kit (glue and the inflator which by now we are used to) If any of you intend to buy one from a regular car sale make sure they give you your wheel lock nut.
    21 points
  2. It's been little more than 4 years with my Hiace and it has done around 76,000kms so I thought its time I give you guys an update on it. Let me start the blog with the basics, Mine is a Toyota Hiace KDH206, this variant of Hiace is fitted with a 1KD-FTV turbo engine with an all wheel drive system. The AWD system in the KDH series is pretty much full time, it runs on all four wheels normally and if any of the wheels experience a slippage, the vehicle stops sending power to that specific wheel. There is a noticeable difference between the AWD variant(KDH206) and RWD variant(KDH201). The KDH206 is around 100kg heavier and you could feel that through the steering when you drive one. In addition, the KDH206 feels far more planted at higher speeds and around corners than the RWD variant. However the downside is that the full time AWD system drinks bit more fuel than RWD version. Cost of Maintenance In short the Hiace is not cheap run, I get fuel economy of around 6km/l in kandy and around 9-10km/l outstation, the RWD KDH201 would return around another extra 2km more per litre. Hiace is originally fitted with 195/80R15 8ply tyres and they cost around 22-23.5K per tyre from brands like Continental or Pirelli, while Maxxis tyre could be found for around 16k. The Hiace requires 0W-30 oil and a regular service which needs to be carried out every 5000km costs around 10K using Toyota oil, I was using Toyota oil filter as well, but now I have switched to VIC. ATF oil must be changed around every 40k kms, I change air filter and cabin filter every year. It requires super diesel and this is an absolute must, if you regularly pump auto diesel you will pay more in repairs than what you saved by pumping auto diesel. The most likely issues you would get from pumping auto diesel are DPF, which costs around 70-80k to replace and injectors, which would set you back around 500k for all four. So far I had to change only a bush which costed around 50rs, apart from that I have not had any repairs. Performance The Hiace pulls pretty well for a vehicle which weighs 2 tonnes, the 1KD-FTV with a variable nozzle turbo produces 100kw at 3400RPM and 300nm of torque at 1200-3200rpm and it is connected to a 4 speed conventional automatic gearbox. Overtaking other vehicles with Hiace is pretty easy, you just have to put your foot down, the turbo will come to life and you would be gone. It is always on the right gear, there's no unnecessary downshifts or up shifts, the gearing ratios are perfectly synced with the power band of the engine although it is only a 4 speed gearbox in a world of 6 and 7 speed gearboxes. The Hiace properly comes to life on hill climbs with the help of low end power and variable nozzle turbo. Handling is fairly good for a van, it handles better than large SUVs. The KDH series has much less body roll compared to the previous LH series, but it isn't great as handling of a car. I notice the difference in handling when I drive the Hiace after driving our Bluebird which has front and rear independent suspension. Comfort It doesn't handle large potholes and bumps as good as a car, but it does manage to soften small potholes pretty well. The diesel engine noise is evident compared to a hybrid or petrol vehicle but the noise reduces when the vehicle gets to the third gear or at around 70+ km/h speed. The A/C is epic on the Hiace, it is one of the best cooling A/C I have come across, I rarely have to set the A/C temperature below 26 degree Celsius on auto mode and that is without the dual A/C. There is plenty of space inside, 7 or 8 people could travel on long journeys with their legs stretched out and not crammed. The second row seat is the best place to be in, you get the dual A/C right in front of you, it is acoustic sweet spot and minimal sunlight enters the cabin. Practicality It is quite a practical vehicle if you are using it occasionally or for long journeys as it can seat 8 comfortably yet carry plenty of luggage(you could fit around 4-5 large travelling bag placed horizontally), it has got atleast double the amount of luggage space compared to a Noah/Esquire. However it is bit of waste of money if you are using it on daily basis as fuel bills are gone be crazy and parking these are not that easy within city limits. In addition, maneuvering these around narrow roads requires some skills especially roads with tight bends. Second hand value and parts Selling a KDH isn't difficult at all, if you maintain them right there will always be people willing it to buy it from you. There are plenty of body parts available but 1KD engine parts are bit difficult to find and even if you do find, it will be expensive Some used parts prices are: Pair of tail lights: 15k for older design and 30k for new design Pair of headlight: more than 100k without the HID unit Rear door: around 40k Fog lights: around 20k What I have done with my Hiace The Modellista body kit came with the van from Japan itself and I added the Modellista grill later on Original Toyota spoiler which came painted pearl white I tinted the fog lamps yellow with Nightbreaker bulbs in them I have also replaced the rear seats which are rotatable and come with a table as well I have done some electronic mods as well, Installed a transcend DrivePro 200 Carrozzeria tweeters with crossover and JBL component speakers with crossover(thanks to @TheFlyingFox) https://streamable.com/ujkce I was planning on installing FIAMM horns, but the JDM side of my brain took over and I went with Mitsuba Alpha https://streamable.com/nbipn Note: click on the links to access the videos My dad had the body kit removed for a short period of time and during that time I drove it through some muddy terrain. It did well.
    18 points
  3. Well it's almost an year now so a quick update on what has happened. Ive done 12500 kms at this point and the car has had two oil changes as well as a wheel alignment done by now. By this point the civic is as common as the flu now. Fuel Consumption The most asked question still, and at10,000+ kms we are well past engine break in etc and we can have a fair idea on actual fuel figures. The 12,500 Km mostly consists City driving, a bit of expressway, and the once a month outstation trip. Overall fuel consumption is about 10KMPL. If further elaborated on average City fuel consumption stands around 8 -9 Kmpl. In the suburbs and outstations it will do anywhere between 10-12. Anomalies being about 15 (6L/100Km) on expressways and on smooth sailing road trips like Trinco. The Ground Clearance Issue Honestly, I was worried about this at the start but it doesnt seem to be a big issue. One thing I noticed is that the suspension is much firmer on the Civic hence the lowering of the car even with a load is much less. On one instance I took a slightly elevated railway crossing at a bit of speed (my bad) I thought I may have sightly nicked the Muffler but I really could not see any damage at all and I wasnt sure I heard a slight sound. But as @Magnum (who drives a ground huggin' HiAce) says over time you get used to be aware of your cars height and drive accordingly. The Wide wheels also help on pothole ridden roads as they hardly fall into them...The small unpaved road leading to my house is in a horrible condition (due to a combination of Trucks hauling stuff to the neighbours house under construction+ the never-ending rain ) there are deep nasty ruts that my other ride ( EP71 Starlet) with its tiny wheels fall into but is never a problem for the Civic. Are the gizmos giving trouble? The automatic braking might end up being a life saver but on day to day drives it can be bothersome. The whole thing is over dramatic and the braking is sudden and violent. When a biker suddenly moves in and the auto break kicks in its sudden, violent and introduces the risk of Madushani who was tailgating you in her Honda Dio ramming you from behind. Proximity Sensors are actually helpful specially when parking (the car is wider than your Aqua/Fit etc ) there is though a mild annoyance that has happened to me half a dozen times in an entire year. The front proximity sensor goes bonkers and starts beeping in heavy rain even when theres nothing in front. A forum member suggested that a misaligned License plate could be the culprit - I haven't investigated that yet since I've not seen this behaviour lately. The Rain Sensing Wipers tend to over react sometimes working full speed when theres actually not much rain. All these of course can be manually changed. Automatic Stop Start might not be a good idea for our local traffic and some users complain of the 12V battery prematurely dying. Remember this is no hybrid so the entire stop start cycle is handled by the battery alone ... Also it can be frustrating when your engine stops and you get green in heavy city traffic. I usually turn this off. Adaptive Cruise control and Lane Keep Assist work like a charm. The sensors detect vehicles moving into your lane as well. The motion sensor inside the car will detect movement inside the car when its locked and will start to create a racket - the idea behind this is to prevent locking in a kid or a pet. Almost every Civic user has had the surprise of the alarm going off due to a couple of flies getting trapped in the car. This also can be turned off. Performance I've seen some people assume the car to be slow due to the tiny engine and turbo lag but actually I feel the CVT is the biggest disappointment but in reality I'd settle for the slightly lethargic CVT than getting continuous DCT issues down the line. To have some fun turn Eco Mode off and switch to Sports mode - you can use the paddle shifters but to be honest the paddle shifters are more or less a simulation...CVT and paddle shifters are really not an ideal combo. Another thing I usually do on a cold start is to leave the engine running for a bit (2+ minutes) before actually moving. Do not rev too hard initially. The handling is really nice - the car is made for open roads and long road trips. I drive on E03 regularly and enjoy taking the bends - the car feels really solid and planted. Braking is good. I've seen videos of folk test the cars limits by driving 200+ km/h, braking at high speed etc (mostly on E03) its dangerous and illegal. Mods done Nothing much actually all I've done so far : *Alloygators (19K at the Meguiars place ) * Nano coating (45K ) * Transparent protective film on the Door steps Overall Verdict : A year of trouble free happy motoring. Yes this is no hybrid and requires 95Oct. But thats a small trade off for a rather complete car for a sub 6Mill budget(SR). The car is a bit wide for a hatch (probably in Mazda 6 territory) so you are better off avoiding those mysterious little by-roads google maps suggest. This is no Wagon R .The car will not double up as an SUV so if you regularly travel on some remote jungle path this is not the car for you. If you live in a narrow tuk tuk lane and drive 20Km in heavy traffic you are going to appreciate the legroom and seat position but not getting to enjoy the car that much. The car is at home on the open roads and highways. A slightly wide, attention seeking drama queen thats quite easy to live with.
    15 points
  4. As wonderful the previous true-life story is…on the 31st of May I applied online for contract negotiations, roughly about 1 month prior to close of applications; and finally signed a contract on the 3rd of July for a GR Yaris RZ High Performance 1st Edition. Delivery day was estimated to be towards the end of March, 2021. It was going to be a grueling 8.5 month wait. I will spare you the general specs of the car as it has been posted all over the internet. However, one thing needs to be made clear...many peope (especialy in export markets..specifically Europe), have gotten the idea that the GR Yaris is a limited edition car with just 25,000 units produced. Not the case at all. Toyota has always claimed that they need to make ATLEAST 25,000 units for WRC homologation rules. The 25,000 is not a cieling limit. So Toyota would make as many as they can and makes sense for them to do so. Now..back on to the specs....The 1st Edition was offered in two trim levels. RZ and RZ High Performance. The RZ is similar to the base variant you get in other markets. Howeverm the Japanese market High Performance has a slightly different spec sheet compared to equivalent grades in export markets (Circuit Pack in Europe and Rallye in Australasia). The High Performance comes with the Torsen LSD, large brakes and stiffer suspension which also comes in the CP and Rallye variants in other markets, but it also comes with a water sprayer for the Inter-Cooler, plus the 8 speaker premium stereo setup with Active Sound Control. The RZ comes with softer suspension, minus the LSD and the premium stereo and has different seats. In other markets other markets if you want the mechanical goodies you need to order the Circuit Pack (no mechanical upgrade package was offered for the RZ) and if you want the stereo and things like seat warmers you need to go for the Comfort Pack (offered for the RZ) but you cannot order both packs. Being the First Edition, the car was offered with a slighlt different set of option selections and finishes than the RZ High Performance you can go out there and buy right now. The most significant of which is the FINISH of the carbon fiber roof. The roof was offered in either a marble finish or in the traditional weave finish. The latter being a wrap and the former being the natural finish of the carbon fiber panel (manufactured by Mitsubishi). The marble finish looked very dull and resembled a mossy black stone with white on it rather than black marble. So I opted out of the 200,000yen marble finish feature. Also for the first edition, the black trim and the 18” BBS forged (18x8J +45) wheels were in matte black (only for the RZ High Performance). The RZ high Performance 1st edition was offered with what is called the Premium Sport Seat with Emotional Package (there was some weird name for this which I cannot remember). However, this is now being offered at a premium for regular High Performance orders as well. With the feature, all the stitching in the interior is red and the perforated holes on the suede of the faux-leather + suede seats has a red effect to it. Right now the only true differing factor between the 1st Editionand the standard edition is Morizo-san’s signature. My specific car was ordered in Emotional Red with the Emotional Sport seat. Other options included visors and carpets. That was it....pretty bare-bone at the time of ordering. I got a test drive 4 months after ordering my car…at which point I decided to add Toyota Safety Sense which is an option on the GR Yaris. The car’s standard safety features include TRC/VSC, ABS and 8 airbags. Two factors changed my mind about not having TSS. First was the fact that I could not see anything out the back and with no reverse camera or sensors; parking in a narrow garage would have been an issue. With the new Toyota DisplayAudio system fixing an after market reverse camera is an absolute pain and Toyota did not offer a reverse cam only option for the Japanese market. Secondly, it has a lot of oomph, and if my wife was to drive it, I felt driver aides would be a good idea. Toyota Safety Sense adds, a reverse camera along with the usual sensors for preemptive braking, accidental acceleration mitigation, rear cross traffic alert, etc.. plus a heads up display. The test drive was a RZ High Performance variant, but not a 1st edition. As you can see the trim is all shiny. The wait went on... First came a key tag… Then came a VR kit for a special event for 1st edition customers on the official launch date for the car, 16th of September. At its official launch, Toyota released two additional grades for the GR Yaris for the Japanese market. RC, a stripped down RZ High performance, with smaller brakes and wheels and minus the intercooler sprayer. Instead of the standard Torsen LSD, it was offered with a mechanical LSD which was more suited for gravel and tarmac racing. The idea of the RC grade was to offer a high performace, low cost version for tose who wish to race the car and customize it at their own will. The second new grade was the RS, locally teased as Really Slow. It had the GR Yaris body with smaller brakes, wheels, softr suspension and the 1.5L NA engine out of the standard Yaris mated to a sport tuned CVT. This was obviously the cheapest GR Yaris starting at just 2.4mil yen. Apparently it is also the least sold grade for the GR Yaris. At thi point it is interesting to note that the RZ 1st Editions along with the RCs and RSs were being delivered around the first week of October along with a very few RZ High Perf. 1st Editions. The latter apparently takes a lot longer to make so delivery of the high spec versions was quite long. The additional grades, especially the RS seemed to be a desperate attempt to make it to the 25,000 minimum production requirement (which was now not needed) as well as to spread out the production cost of the GR Yaris by transferring it across on to a cheaper, mass market variant (Toyota has hinted that they are hardly making any money on the car and that it was done just to meet race participation rules). Then came a special mini car model of the GR Yaris made specially for those who pre-ordered the 1st Edition... Its an amazing casting and the details are extremely good. Then in late November, we received a call from our dealer stating that the car will arrive at the dealership on the 18th of December. Nearly 4 months ahead of schedule !!! Apparently order volumes were not as overwhelming as Toyota had originally aniticipated. Thus delivery dates had moved up quite substantially. As I write this, there are shortages in some markets in Europe and Australia but that mainly seems to stem out of sales quotas that each of these countries had negotiated for. 18th of December came about...coincidentally, the Corolla had some maintenance work scheduled for the 19th so was able to see the car at the dealer...and there she was...tucked away in a corner at the dealership. That is a wide..wide...grill. I definitely do like the matte finish on the trim. Now the whole registration proces had to start. As a foreigner, doing anything and everything that involves a government process in Japan completely and utterly sucks beyond words. So the registration took 2 days as opposed to the usual day (so that puts us on Sunday...this does not include the time that was taken to register and certify parking space for the car and other things which was done before the car was delivered). Now the insurance subscription can take place..that took another 3 days and finally the car was picked up on the 24th of December. The dealer had accidentally charged us for a custom number for the plates...so selected 17.37 as a homage to the very first Toyota our famiy owned, 15 Sri 1737. A metallic blue, 1985, AE80 DX which my dad picked up in Japan when he and my mom came here for some training program in 1987. The thing costed us like 300,000LKR at the time after duty. It was also the first Toyota I drove..in 1987... Some of the JDM-holics will notice the 3 (category) number as opposed to a 5 (categor) number you would expect in a hatchback. Although the car has a 1600cc engine and weighs just 1280kg (which apparently is spot on based on weigh-ins many have done on the internet), the car's width, at a whopping 1805mm, puts it in a standard passenger vehicle category. We finally took delivery of the car on the 24th of December. After dropping the Corolla off at home...it was straight to the local Autobacs store for some rubber mats as snow was expected on Boxing day weekend. So life with a yaris begins....
    14 points
  5. Alert : This is not the awe-inspiring blog where a 60-year-old rare car gets restored. This, non-existent ladies, and gentlemen unfortunately is much much more mundane. So bear with me. Everyone needs a beater car - you could come up with many reasons why... but deep down another set of wheels is such an alluring prospect. Time to time it feels so good to keep your daily with all its techie bits aside and just rattle down the lane in a simple box on wheels with just a speedometer. Three years ago me and my father bought a 1972 Datsun (B110) and since I was broke then and had no space in my house which was being built it fell upon my father to fund it and keep it in his garage with his Beetle. I drove it on the weekends for short distance trips and let me tell you that car was fun to drive. However, cars of that vintage need a lot of TLC. It's not a beater car at all and you need to develop a bond with the car to keep it running - you have to know exactly how much gas it needs to stop it from stalling and when and when not to use the choke (yeah choke....remember?) So clearly it's not the type of car that you can throw the keys to a close friend (yeah I'm a little picky when sharing the car keys) OR even the wife (who by the way is quite a competent driver) and expect them to figure out to drive it in case of an emergency. I've always had a soft spot for the boxy little cars from the 1980's - you can read about that infatuation here. Under these circumstances I decided to save up a bit and get myself a beater car from the 80's .Given that I have little parking space under a tree in the garden(the Civic sits in the garage) my choices were limited to hatches. In a sense the 80's was a decade where hatches gained popularity so a 80's hatch was an ideal retro-relic that would double up as a reliable beater car. My budget was quite limited ~500,000 I was ok with a car with a bit of work to do and . The most tempting option was to go for the definitive hot hatch : a Golf and I entertained this idea for quite a while and did a fair bit of research. The other temptation was to go for a Fiat Uno. However, all the research I did gave me doubts. Golf's at that budget were disasters waiting to happen and the Fiat - as much as I loved it (one of my first die casts was a Bburago Fiat Uno and as a result I grew up loving Fiat Uno’s) didn't seem a very practical option unless I was really really into it : I'm talking about "Get on an illegal immigrant boat from Negombo and swim the last 100 miles to Napoli and walk to Turin and steal parts from a Mafioso's uncles Fiat" level dedication - since I can't swim anyway I gave up on that too and shelved these ideas under 'When I grow up'. By now Japanese flags were appearing in my mind and some usual suspects came up - Toyota Starlet EP71, Corolla2/Tercel, Nissan March K10 and Daihatsu Charade G11 .Yes the Honda fanboy in me screamed 'Civic' but Civic hatches are rare and unmolested ones are even rarer. One look at the Civic hatches for that budget with their garish Nilkamal plastic mods and hideous color combinations (that only a guy who smokes too much KG and listens to bus-Ajith can think of ) gives you cholera that screams 'Hondaaa' when it exits your body. So, I eventually narrowed down to basically 4 models and the hunt began. As usual the Toyota’s were overpriced and the only EP71 within my budget was mysterious car that had some work to be done but had the YOM as 1981 (the first EP71 rolled off in 1984) and the Corolla2/Tercels were well beyond budget. At the same time, I’d been floating the idea of an engine swap and having read a few threads on 4EFTE swaps on Charades and March K10’s in Pakistani and British forums I started focusing on them. After many weeks and many futile trips, (and weird encounters - including a persistent and scantily clad lady insisting I wait till her husband comes and make an offer for a car that was on the verge of collapsing into a pile of rust and a small child beating a poor Charade while I was inspecting it with a wooden stick until the flaky paint started coming off ) I realized these once-honest hard working engines were basically gasping for life. Then April 21st happened, and things were put on hold for a few weeks. I continued to do more research on engines, repairing, parts availability as well as engine swapping along with my friend and realized that the easiest 80’s Jap hatch to live with will be from Toyota AND when and if I wanted to do an engine swap it would be relatively painless putting in a Toyota Engine that was easily found. As for the budget well – it was a bit above budget ( dad came to the rescue). In September 2019 I ended up with this – a Toyota Starlet EP71 from 1985 registered in 1989 with a fake Soleil badge. There were various grades for the EP71 and judging by the equipment of this car I'd place it at either XL or DX however the DX had Fender Mounted Mirrors so unless someone installed door mounted Mirros on a DX the car was probably an XL. The A/C worked, there was some minor rust issues, and the suspension apparently needed a bit of attention, The interior while not pristine was acceptable and just like that I had my beater car which was a little bit older than me. So how was the ride? – The car is quite light and for a car without power steering it’s extremely maneuverable. The driving position is low and quite nice. There was a few rattling bits here and there expectedly, and the breaks were rather weak. The 35-year-old 2E was quite tired by now and to be honest when you must keep coaxing it to keep going like asking an asthma patient to keep breathing well it’s not that enjoyable. At the same time the car developed a very specific issue : The car would start without fail every morning – BUT once you drive somewhere and switch off the engine it would not start for an hour. Keep it for an hour then it starts again and runs well for the whole day. Basically, the second start will not happen sooner than one hour after the first start of the day. I had to arrange my timetables accordingly! By December I was running out of patience with the 2E and at the same time I’d been yearning to put in a 4EFTE as it seemed quite straightforward. However, Recon 4EFTE’s from Japan were now going for 250,000 and having spent more than intended already on the car I was already on a very tight budget. Ok that was too long for the first part – I’ll get back with another post on the mechanical mods done on the car to date. Ciao! Here's a few pics of the car from last year:
    13 points
  6. I will provide some basics of the car before I go into a detail review, Model Code: GRS182 Trim: Royal Saloon G Engine: 3GR-FSE Transmission: 6AT Mods: • Buddy Club coilovers • Monza Japan Wheels wrapped with 235/45R18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Directional tyres • V*P Table • Carrozzeria tweeters • Carrozzeria secondary head unit (You cannot replace the head units in these cars as the AC controls and other car settings are built into the head unit) • 6000K low beam and 3000K fog lamps • Aftermarket exhaust until the muffler (It came from Japan with a complete aftermarket exhaust but had to fix an original muffler back in as it was deemed to be too noisy to pass the roadworthy, it also had flaps with a switch to adjust the loudness which is also illegal in Australia) • Every single interior and exterior light had been replaced with LED • Few Junction Produce goodies I recently got myself a Toyota Crown GRS182 Royal Saloon G. The 182 is powered by the 3GR-FSE which churns out 256 horses and 313NM torque, the power is sent to the rear wheels via a 6 speed automatic tranny. The GRS182 was offered in two standard trims, Royal Saloon and Athlete. The Royal Saloon is the luxury comfy trim while the Athlete is the sporty version, sort of like Premio and Allion but in this case you get different suspension tuning as well. Mine being a G trim it gets few extras which the standard Royal Saloon didnt get or was offered as optional only. The Crown has plenty of power and its always eager to get up and go, its very responsive even when you are driving on the standard mode. Switch into power mode and it becomes even more sharp and rev happy. If you launch this hard you’ll notice the traction control kicking in even with 235 thread low profile tyres, of course you can turn off the traction control if you want to do some burnouts. Handling and stability are spot on with coilovers and grippy tyres, it will go through corners without a worry. It’s also well stable and sits happily at freeway speeds, you barely feel the speed even when you are doing 100km/h. It’s a big car with a big heart but it’s still fairly economical, urban driving returns around 7.5km/l while highway driving returns around 14-15km/l, however it strictly requires 98 octane fuel. The seats are very soft and when you sit down you sink into the seats sort of like sitting on a plushy sofa, also there’s plenty of adjustments on the driver seat for the driver to get the perfect driving position. In addition the rear passengers can recline the rear seats like in Premio/Allion but in this its done electronically with the press of a button. Even on coilovers and low-profile tyres the ride doesn’t feel harsh. The car is a complete feature fest, I’ll name a few: Comfort access to unlock the car AFS headlights Dual zone fully automatic climate control system Backup camera with front and rear sensors (You can even adjust the sensitivity of the sensors) Air purifier Rear AC and head unit controls for rear passengers Fridge/Cool box Sun blinds Swinging A/C 10 speakers + centre speaker and subwoofer with an amp. Plus another pair of Carrozzeria tweeter has been added to my car. 10 airbags Front and rear electric seats (The rear seats can be tilted with the press of a button) 3 memory settings for driver seat Electronically adjustable telescopic steering wheel Cruise control Wooden trim steering wheel (optional extra). Tyre pressure monitoring Speed sensitive door locking Crown is an import to Australia so it picks up lot of attention on the road and at car parks, I have had people ask me what kind of car is it or what brand of car is it. Among the JDM community there’s a fair bit of following for the Crown and if you need any help regarding the car there are groups on FB with fellow Crown owners to sought out your problems (Haven’t had any yet though). For parts there are places who stock import car parts, of course prices aren’t cheap as parts for an Australian delivered car. Similarly, there are mechanics also who have an understanding of import cars. However, the problem with owning a JDM vehicle in Australia is that they are very popular among thieves so full insurance is a must and only a handful of companies provide insurance to JDM vehicles. In terms of second hand market and resale value JDM cars are among the top, there’s a prominent fanbase for JDM cars in Australia and they tend to hold their value well. Lately JDM cars have in fact gone up in value during the pandemic. Theres only one common problem with the 180 series Crown, that is dashboard cracks. Toyota used a very soft material for the dashboard which cracks as it ages, this problem was there on the 120 series Mark X and few other Toyota vehicles from this period as well. Only solution for this is to use a dash mat. Some pics for you all
    12 points
  7. The first thing that struck me when i sat down to drive this for the first time was the really low seating position - it did not take a lot of getting used to though. The height is of course adjustable and provides a much comfier driving position. The passengers seat on the other hand though cannot be height adjusted. The rear seats too don't have the fabled "magic seats" functionality where you can fold up the seats to increase space in the rear - but you can fold the seats down to create a humongous amount of boot space - I do not quite remember the exact capacity but it's quite a lot. Due to the shape of the roof , while the rear seats are quite comfortable and have a decent amount of space for your legs you might feel a bit of head room is missing. But it won't really translate into a problem - unless you are from Marhsall Eriksen's family . The SR grade (and the SE) for that matter comes with fabric seats - and the interior is black by default (for all grades) . So no "Baij Interiyal" advertisements on the classifieds for this model then. The materials for the seats are quite "scruffy" and the interior is a dust magnet. The material used on the seats particularly are prone to attract a lot of dust and small particles of whatnot. There are speakers on all four doors - something I noticed in other contemporary Hondas as well - the doors also have the same dust-attractive upholstery. I told you there's only a repair kit - but the good news is there is a bit of space in the rear that can double up as storage space or a spare wheel well - so if you're paranoid about having only a repair kit, you can easily carry around a spare The cockpit is contemporary Honda fare. The steering wheel itself is quite plush and has a nice feel to it - though the steering itself is light which I will talk about when i have an entry regarding handling. The usual controls are all there including the cruise control buttons and beneath the wheel you can find the paddle shifters (again paddle shifters + CVT is something i would talk about later) The control for the lane keep assistant is also in the steering wheel. Mind you the Wiper control stalk is on the right and the headlight control stalk is on the left - takes a bit of getting used to if you've previously driven JDM's only. The "Auto" mode in the Wiper means that it will enable the rain sensing wipers and depending on the amount of rain you get the speed will adjust as well. Nice touch but i personally feel it's a bit too dramatic. If i remember correctly the SE grade does not have rain sensing wipers. This being the SR grade you do not get a push start you need a key - the Push start button is there only on the EX trim. With the honda sensing package you get some features like proximity alerts, automatic breaking and lane departure warning. These can be turned on and off and the switches are located near the ignition on the right hand side along with the headlamp leveling switch. The shifter console includes the parking brake (yes there's no separate lever for that), the brake hold button (so your foot can be taken off the brake in for example color lights) there is also a button to toggle the eco-mode as well as to turn on and off auto-braking. Between these two buttons you would find the adaptive damper button on an EX-trim car. There cubby hole is quite small and disappointing given the fact that this is not an alto- and there are no individual cup holders etc - there is a circular holder that can easily accommodate a bottle in the storage area below the slide-able arm rest. This storage area also has a usb port that can be used with the infotainment system. However it has to be said both the usb outlets in front are not in the most accessible places. The other usb slot is practically invisible and hidden by the armrest console along with the HDMI port and Next to that is the 12V circular power outlet. Mind you there is another 12 V power outlet in the boot as well - handy when it comes to plug in your car vacuum. There is also dual zone climate control - other than the dedicated climate control panel fan speed etc can be set via the touch screen.
    12 points
  8. For starters...I do not drive it nearly as much as I would like to (or should). I am barely reaching the 5000km mark now....however, the 5000km that I have put on have been rather exhilarating long drives...so there is that. The car does sound like a tractor on start up For the most part, the car has been a pretty trouble free car. Although the car is not practical, with limited rear passenger and cargo space, we have made it work; and the car has become our long distance cruiser. The car feels very safe and planted than the Corolla, so when ever we hit the highway, its always the Yaris. Using the car for a while has made two things obvious: 1. Toyota has not spent much money on the nicities: For what you pay for it; what you get is almost everything that is mechanical. Apart from the to front premium sports seats, everything else about the interior (including the faux leatehr rear seat) just feels cheap. Its full of black cheap plastics. However, there is a bit of contrast in texture that makes it somewhat acceptable. In fact the high gade (Z ?) standard Yaris and Yaris Cross have much nicer interiors. Heck..the GR Yaris doesn't even come with a reverse camera and standard in Japan and only comes if you get the Safety Sense package which is a 250,000yen extra (but having safety sense reduces some taxes and insurance premiums a bit so what it eventuallly costs you is a little bit less). Heck..sports car right ? 2. Everything that has been done to the car has been done for a reason : When you whip the car around you feel the ho the low weight roof has helped to place most of the weight on the bottom of the car. The wider rear track and the longer suspension travel makes complete sense when you are ripping around a bumpy b-road. Although the car can be a bit jittery around town, at speed it just eats up the bumps like it doesn't exist. Also, the way the car pivots (again courtesy of the different track widths). The car is very playful...as techie as it is, it is also obvious that the car is not as refined as the Evo or the WRX in terms of the AWD (and even power delivery). It is sheer grunt. As a result, the GR Yaris is a car that you have to constantly drive when you are driving at the limit. When you drive an Evo or WRX, even if you shut off your brain for a few seconds, pick a line and stepat the gas; you feel the AWD system working to keep you on track and deliver the optimal power to get you in and out of a corner. The GR Yaris...not so much...you have to listen to the car and you as the driver needs to know what you should do to get you through that corner. So if the Evo/WRX are semi automatic, point and shoot cameras; the GR Yaris is like a completely manual camera from the late 70s. On the topic of constantly driving and listening to the car: the car is very communicative. What gives me the biggest kick is the little twitch it does in the rear when it reaches a point of underseering or oversteering Maintenance wise I have not done anything other than the 1000km check up which was the end of the break in period. The break in was pretty fuss free except for the rear diff having a knock everytime I let go of the clutch. This was fixed after a fluid change (along with every other fluid) at the 1000k check up. Other than that there was a safety inspection after the 1st year and now the next oil change is up (1 year after the 1000km checkup because I do not use the car that much). Being a bespoke car and perhaps not going throughthe rigorous QA of standard Toyota cars, somethings are a bit of a miss. The carbon fibre wrap (that covers the actual carbon fibre roof) doesn't have any treatment on it so it is easy to get dirty (I use a lot of product to keep it clean). As a result many other owners have had their roofs develop a white patch. Then there is a rubber beading that runs along the roof gutter where the carbon roof joins the metal body. The beading has a tendency to shrivel up on the rear-end. So it doesnt neatly fit in the back. Then the trunk mounted battery has a breather valve itha hose running to the floor of the trunk for the gases and any battery fluid to escape. Unfortunately the battery fluid gets splattered on the under carraige and leaves a rust trail. Other than that...the only thing I have about the car is that the plastics scratch easily and the brake pads release a lot of dust (which is a pain to clean). I shall not post any rear-end pics
    11 points
  9. About 3 years later, the car is back on the road. Photos showing the current condition of the car will be included here. Let me first add a few close-ups.
    11 points
  10. i will summarise what the Teg has been through from 2014 to 2018, in the next few blog posts. ENGINE The car went through 3 additional rebuilds since the first before things start working aright. indika was not the man to have done this with, as he had no experience with B series hondas, and my vision was lost on him. i was severely restricted by the budget of my dreams so i couldn't afford any better. having said that, i have spent 3 times more doing cheap repairs 4 times over than i have spent doing it right, once, with sabry at PAS. the reason my Brian Crower cams were not producing power was that i had not raised the compression adequately in my cylinders. as i was unaware of this, i was running stock compression, which was 10.8:1, which is the lowest compression honda designed for the B series: the GS-R auto. the BC website quite bluntly states that one has to have at least a CR of 12:1 for their cams to work. in this light i was experiencing something like "anti-VTEC" where the normal lobes created oodles of power and when the wild lobes are engaged the car bogs down due to compression and fuelling inadequacies. on this discovery, and being at a bad place personally at the time, i gave up on the BC cams, thinking i have reached the end of my limits with the Teg and i will not be able to complete this. for the first time in my life, i compensated. i backed out. i sold the cams to Rumesh Rajakulendran, who was building his BabyMilo EK9 racecar, and reverted to my auto GSR cams. it was a very low point to have seen those cams go. worse yet, Ruma was thrashing every event he entered and winning by a country mile. he never forgot to acknowledge me and the cams. to add to this, a few months beyond this incident, sabry and i were trying to tune it, and the engine broke. the bearings had given way. and so began... 1. the second rebuild i have her this time to a local garage, Shafiq's, in attidiya. he had a lot of experience i was told with B series hondas, and he seemed to know what he was doing. shafiq then pulled everything apart to find out that one of my chambers is not in line with the others. this required an overbore to remove the discrepancy, and bigger pistons. at this juncture Ashan Silva was kind enough to gift me a set of P72 +25bore Civic Type R pistons, which i used in the rebuild. the bearing failure had also cut the crank, so i had to machine the crank as well. sadly this rebuild lasted the 2000km break in time, and the bearings gave way again while i was on the highway to galle, and it was back to shafiq's for... 2. the third rebuild. the bore was ok now, but the crank had got cut again, and i was given the choice of machining it yet again, and then limping around, as it would not last many trips to 9000+ rpm, or buy a new crank. a crank from honda was around 80,000, while an entire B20B non VTEC CRV engine in toto was 55,000. the choice was obvious. so we harvested the crank from that engine and did the third rebuild. at this point i did some research and came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea to mix and match parts, such as take a b20 crank, pair it with b18 pistons and con rods, and then use a b18 head, as the measurements are all different. the garage thought naught of this and then went ahead. and again, i did the 2000km break in, and was on the dyno tuning it with sabry. the second power run produced 189whp and 280Nm of torque. and then the bearings broke. the engine seized. and this it was time again for *-drum roll please-* 3. THE FOURTH REBUILD!! i was out of money, out of patience, at my wits end. my dream had fallen apart. i cannot adequately communicate to you the dejection i felt when this broke for the third time. my heart just froze over and i was beyond emotion. this was it. Project R had come to its end. with a son on the way and a house planned to be built, i was drained. this was my strength, my love and my life and it has just broken down for what i thought was the last time. i needed space. time. to think this through. one thing was for sure, i was done giving the car to half baked garages. this needed a pro. i wanted this fixed. so i sent her to Platinum as i wanted Sabry to repair it. someday. he removed the engine and i brought the body home. where it went up on jack stands and stayed that way until i could either afford a rebuild, or i made up my mind to sell her for parts and keep the Book. she stayed this way for 8 months. during which time i removed the tyres, and stored them in my room, and every sunday i would head out, and wash her, clean the interior and apply siddhalepa on the rexin surfaces to keep away fungus. this was my ritual once a week for 8 months. until such time i could find the means to afford a rebuild, and sabry could bring the parts down. the day finally did arrive, and boy did sabry pull out a corker. he had plans. big plans. he wanted to do right by me what numerous other people couldn't, and he made this his pet project. we decided to use the block from the b20 engine i had, as my b18 block was fried. and anyhow a b20 would have better lower end torque and thus be an easier daily driver. also my head was perfect. there was no signs of valve or spring wear and it was functioning normally. i had during this time installed a set of ITR camshafts also, and we thought we'd leave that just as it is. so the B20 block was harvested and bored to 2100cc. everything else was brand new. we ordered... 1. An Eagle crankshafft. aluminium. rated for 1500whp, 2. Wiseco pistons and connecting rods. custom made for my b20 block/b18autoGSR head, to produce a CR of 13.0:1. 3. a block guard was installed as the chambers of the b20 are larger, and thus weaker than the b18. the b20 had a redline of 7200rpm. we were pushing the 10,000 limiter again. so a block guard is necessary to prevent the chambers from warping. 4. ACL bearings 5. 510cc EVO 4 injectors, with impedance reset to match the requirement 6. AEM 320LPH high flow fuel pump, with a fuel pressure regulator. sabry took about three weeks for the work, and she was out again in all her glory. she was built with massive tolerances, where, would i ever need to scratch that itch, a set of aftermarket cams or even boost upto 0.8 bar would be easily handled. she was built to last. i do have to appreciate the effort Sabry put into this, as at one point he had made a mistake on the height of the connecting rods, and he sent them back to wiseco to get down the right ones wiseco refused to refund as the mistake was not theirs. sabry bought a new set for the right measurement out of his own pocket. i've switched over to LiquiMOLY MOS2 10w-40 oil, and it has been smooth sailing so far. it is only now, that Project R has truly come alive.
    11 points
  11. The Review So it all started when I decided to replace my Suzuki Hustler, Nice little car, thus the little part got to me, needed something bigger Pondered with playing my budget, sell something that I own? Or go new, went behind Merc CLAs, GLB 200s, Nissan Patrol, 150 Prados, CHRs so on, while in the works, a colleague on a visit to my workplace bought one, caught my attention, decided to go see one, then next day that was sold as another colleague took my word for it, saw it and advanced. Well finally after an extended hospital stay due to dengue hemorrhagic fever and its complications, finally made up my mind and imported a new one, fresh off UK. As usual this won’t be the brochure, so please do tolerate, this is going to be long though, Please note as I don’t have a professional cam, I’ll use professional promotional pics to make my point The exterior, In my personal opinion, it has a boxy look, just like an old school SUV, no sloping roofline, coupe looks etc, plenty of headroom and leg room is also tolerable, my family being mostly obese can fit in, It has pretty normal looking wheels 17”, with road tyres, 40psi and cladded wheel arches, giving this mild off roady yet practical look, it has lock nuts from factory, discs all around, One thing you would notice the door sills are huge, about 8 ” wide, My most favorite feature is the ground clearance, the way they’ve protected the undercarriage gives it ample ground clearance for even mild off roading, wheel articulation is not that good though. Tyres float easily, cross axling is certain Being the SZT trim, headlights are halogen, same with the fogs, it does have a very appealing set of drls, again it has a practical appearance, nothing fancy, almost a dinosaur when you look at newer pugs and the chr, hence why I love it, I went with the complete white, rather than the fancy 2 tone colours. The rear door handle is In the right place, in line with the front! The doors and the clamshell hood close with a very reassuring thump, this model does not have the panoramic sunroof or the safety / autobrake radar guidance kit. The rear is very simple, huge hatch, button operated, manual pull up and down. Led lights large and simple, I do like the fact the blinkers are hidden in the red taillight It has a large single reverse light, with an integrated red rear fog light, UK stuff! Its got large mirrors, power but they don’t fold, no winker lights, just fender indicators Folks in UK have heaps of good reviews all over as well. One reason I went ahead with it as they abuse their cars mostly. The interior, The SZT trim comes with Key start, which again I prefer Honestly love the interior, very plain, simple lines, the gauge cluster is very pretty functional, old school needles, pleased with the led display in the middle, shiny plastics easily scratched though Seats are hard but comfortable enough, they are very stingy on carpeting though, but gone ninja on soundproofing, door cards are wide but very plasticky, the upper half of the dash is padded, Paddle shifters move with the wheel – not a fan, well the steering is telescoping and adjustable and a very nice bit of kit, got all the multifunction luxuries, all lit in a nice red I feel the interior is extremely well insulated, being UK spec, as It tends to hold a temp for upto 6 hours in the cabin. There are very recognizable deep footwells, allowing dirt to collect, a vacuum is a must, rear being a bit small but can easily accommodate, Rear headroom is like in a van, zero issues, and you can easily look out the window unlike the CHR and vezel, or go all german shepherd with it down The glovebox is nice, the movement is damped, its lit, door cards have some storage, Rear seats do fold to give a slanted surface and does come in line with the boot, this model doesn’t have a spare wheel, hence the rear load tray can be placed at 3 levels, in one level you can hide the parcel shelf in the floor! Plenty of space in the boot, more than enough for 4 sri Lankan(s) luggage, again very stingy on the carpet, plenty of storage pockets, the repair kit is also rather small and tiny, It has a normal headliner, light colour, but very thick door seals, Overall rear and door trim feels plasticky yet, I mean not even comparable to a euro, but definitely better than a typical new jap, trim parts are firmly fixed, zero play Geek stuff Well its got TPMS, fancy MID, nice graphics there, torque power graphs, stuff of swifts! And IDLE stop, which can be delayed permenantly, Programmable lights, warnings, footwell lights, various blinks on rear lights, wiper timing, aircon levels, Infact there is a geek fest hidden menu in the MID, many settings to play with, including thank god! UNITs, it has the metric option on demand, and the clock has gps mode and manual mode! Its got 6 airbags, and fancy seatbelts, and a fest of isofix mounts THE SOUND SYSTEM? This is where the interior shines, the head unit is bosch, with Suzuki software, speakers I’m yet to confirm myself but my sales contact in UK, the sudda said they are sourced off JBL. The sound quality speaks for itself, go test one, don’t believe me. Zero distortion! This will be my first car where I have not replaced the door speakers or head unit, no need for a sub either, the factory software is epic, I had a leaf with BOSE gear, yet I did some changes but this, let it rest Nothing fancy, no graphics, fancy bits, but loaded with everything, within 4 squares, its even got carplay and android auto, I’m yet to find a way to install a local map to the gps, BT SD cameras, USB, etc it has all Call integration on this is better than a high end pioneer unit, has a separate steering control pad as well ENGINE and DRIVETRAIN The engine well, all 1000cc’s of underpowered goodness? Well no, actually I can’t thrash it as its still run a few km and need a break in, doesn’t feel slow, turbo is very responsive, but tiny in person, fits on your palm tiny! With a cute little BOV that whispers Being a 3 cyl. The engine ain’t noisy, no vibrations either, very impressive, I mean its enough for an SUV, I live up a almost 30 degree incline and it does climb up in 2nd or 3rd gear, the all grip system, is a poor excuse for 4wd, honestly other than auto whatever the mod, its like a dog on skates, sends too much of torque to wheels, everything starts to slip, yet I’ve never got the requirement to run it in 4wd under normal circumstances! Being FWD it just crawls on, just tested it The gearbox, this thing is like its on meth, constantly playing with the gears, revs the nuts off the engine, its not cvt, conventional, and noticeably jerky, moves gears too fast, very rev happy, loves to kick down and hold a low gear, bad recipe for breaking in I’m yet to get in sync with it, it loves to run the engine on high revs 2000 and up, which I don’t, it has enough gut to go in low revs, the best part is the paddles respond even when on D, allowing me to go in higher gears at will. Fuel economy- its got a PPF, so specced at 95 OC , lot of horror stories to come. 10kmpl that’s it for me, near far wherever you are Brakes, 4 moderately sized discs? What more do I say THE DRIVE Well this is where things change, most people like this, but was a let down for me, It handles like a car, suspension is not very soft, extremely comfortable, null body roll, very tight on corners, a very fast steering rack, I expected the whole boat bubbly SUV feel which this doesn’t have, probably shares something with the swift, brakes are superb, the engine has a nice little hum, can’t say roar, hell no Aircon, really good, no drop in power when its on, basic climate control system, simple display works well, no rear vents though but no complaints. Yet to try in Colombo Very good grip on 2wd mode, putting it on Auto is ok but on other modes is like sticking it in 2nd gear forever, doesn’t freewheel WHAT I HATE The horn, sounds like an orgasming cat, Carpets, it’s an SUV? Why the bloody kei car carpets Those wide door sills, will break an ankle shortly Yellowish halogen lamps, many telepathic communications regarding the mom of the guy who decided to put em. Wheel size, I prefer a chunkier tyre, smaller rim, Rear seats, can’t slide front and back, hence they’ve permanently left a large boot That center reverse light, I like a bit of symmetry! UK things, Bit of padding on the upper part of the doors? The antenna, of course its got GPS Glonass and all that, but a sharkfin? No option now The center arm rest flips up to reveal a small bin, where you can’t even shove a wallet in Overall, Again honestly I’m very pleased with it, finding every excuse to put a few km in to ease the break in mileage, it was a win-win for me, as I got it during the GBP dip, I’m hoping to keep this for a long time, probably a decade, and its got bucketloads of accessories online from UK, hence will manage keeping me broke for a long time, and yea I pissed the wife, she liked the small car, buying this I had to leave ‘her vitz’ in the rain as my garage got too crowded, after much torment ended up making a DIY cantilever extension, which managed to hold in this torrential weather and ended me falling of a 8ft ladder, cheers!
    10 points
  12. I travel quite a bit and I live far away from civilianisation, so I get to take some cool snaps of the car. I’ve thought of posting some in a separate chapter. Forgive me if some are reposted from other chapters. I’ll post pics every now and then. Since people seem to be understandably depressed these days added some cringy puns for yall. This interior is to-die-for… you really get that plane cockpit feeling. I love it( even though I hate planes). You can also see @AVANTE in his ex 😉 Boomer- Get off the damn internet and go outside yurh rascal. Me a millennial with a 508- Glady. Undisclosed location. Let a friend have the car as his wedding ride. Head turner. Home to me and my lion. This pic was obviously before kaputas hit my plane 😅 mustang? Tf’s dat? lol Nice and wet, just how I like it.
    9 points
  13. Ok so this is not a diet post. It's been a year since the EP71 went through a major modification. I've been putting off writing this - but better late than never. So here goes! In my previous blog post I mentioned that the humble 2E engine was really nothing to write home about and I did mention how it like many old carbureted engines would develop weird symptoms of it's own. Around 3 Months into ownership I was a little tired of the ailing engine and when it failed the emission test I was looking forward to get that sorted. I had initially thought of doing a 4EFTE swap but that was really stretching my budget and to be honest I was in a bit of a hurry to get the project rolling so I decided to settle for a 4EFE. Around Christmas time (2019) I managed to source a complete 4EFE Engine (off an EP91) with an Automatic gearbox (with ECU and wire harness) combo in Kandy. But a few days of Christmas revelry ensued and when I call the seller the ECU and the wire harness has been sold. Undeterred I decided to go for the engine and gearbox combo and source the ECU separately since the engine and gearbox was priced quite fairly. A trip to Kandy on a poya day in a Mahindra Bolero and we were able to haul the 4EFE home. (This also provided me my first Bolero driving experience - it was surprisingly fun. The 2.5 L engine on that's pulls really well). The choice of gearbox was something I lost a wee bit of sleep about - but eventually decided an Auto was ok as the main aim of the car was to be a beater, a nimble city runner and a lendable car that anyone could drive and whenever I had masochistic thoughts I could always borrow my dad's Datsun B110 and feel depressed about my diminishing stick driving skills. So it was eventually a very easy decision. With the engine and gearbox secured I asked my mechanic to start work on the car - while I source the ECU. And then I had to travel overseas for work for a couple of months. During this time my friend managed to source a recon steering column and shaft from an EP91 . This was 2020 now and Covid 19 happened. I barely made it home before the borders were closed. For the next 3 months the project stalled (sadly during this time a rat had managed to chew one seatbelt while the car sat at the mechanics) Around June things were getting back to normal and the project recommenced in earnest. Eventually we managed to source an ECU and wiring harness from a guy who stocked his parts in an old shed in his parents house deep deep inside the backwaters of Minuwangoda. After rummaging through a pile of car parts in the shed at 9 PM in the pitch dark, with the thrilling possibility of being bitten by 32 different species of indigenous snakes, we finally managed to find the wiring harnesses and a few more parts we needed. There was a few more things to be sorted - such as the condenser, A/C compressor, break and accelerator pedals and also the gear cable. Being a Toyota parts were quite easily found. The gear cable though was a bit tough to find and eventually we found out that a slightly modified AE110 gear cable would do the trick. Below are a few pictures of the engine swap. Transporting the Engine in a bolero The Original engine was a 2E with around 80Hp which was reasonable for a car that weighed 720 Kg. The old 2E being taken out. Out with the old - in with the new : 4e about to go in. The retro-style gear shifter that came with the Automatic versions of the EP71 would have looked a lot cooler than the EP82/91 gear shifter unfortunately which looks slightly out of place with the boxy/spartan interior of the car. Notice anything weird in the first pic? Things got tidied up a bit before I took the car for emission tests. Another change that I was not quite able to capture was the power steering conversion - which was basically swapping in an EP91 Steering column Tune in for the next post - where I will write about the overall driving experience. [Edit in 2022] Happy New Year Folks! Before I go in about the driving experience- I thought about summarizing (as best as I can remember) the mechanical mods done on the car. Parts : 4EFE Engine, Gear box wire harness and ECU (obviously). Radiator Oil Pressure Sensor Engine mounts Gear Cable (recon sourced of an AE110) Axel shafts (recon off an EP91) Fuel Pump (as with all Carb->EFI swaps) A/C parts : recon condenser, condenser fan, drier filter Wiper motor (Not directly swap related. The washer tank had to be relocated though) Steering (Entire recon column off an EP91) Brake wheel cylinders, Brake switch New Horn (again not directly swap related but the old horn wasn't working) Front shocks (to counter added weight as the engine is heavier) Silencer bush mounts This is all as I remember. I will add more if I remember.
    9 points
  14. Now..moving on to the interior.... The car has frameless doors...huge frameless doors. The dashboard is straight out of the standard Yaris. Stepping in, you are greeted with a pretty old fashioned mechanical cluster. Some people do not like it and wants it to be a fancy digital one similar to what is found in the high spec standard Yaris. I like it...it is simple, straight forward...has a very functional feel to it. Took a while for me to figure out how to adjust its brightness as there is no scroll switch... A little tag that only few cars can actually claim it and stand behind it as well.. Then there is the Button of Joy with a chucky gear lever... The dashboard being straight out of the standard Yaris does not work out too well at times. The location of the USB port makes sense in the standard Yaris as there is a huge cubby hole to leave your phone and other connected devices. Obviously this isn't possible in the GR Yaris, which leads to the phone getting kept on a storage deck under the TV screen with the USB cable running in front of the AC controls and the phone sliding off at times. Alternative is toput the device behind the cup holders behind the hand brake, which leads to the cable running across the gear lever. Its nice to see a manual hand brake in cars these days. This particular one has been setup for cornering by setting up the GR Four AWD's coupling system to fully open when the hand brake has been pulled. No...I have not tried it yet Premium Sports seats which comes only with the RZ High Performance (and equivelant grades) with the red stiching and perforated dots. The rear seat is not the most practical for passengers. My wife who is about 160cm easiy fits in the back with me driving. Its hard to expect an adult anything taller than 165cm to be able to comfortably sit back there on long journies. A child seat can be fitted in the back but harnessing a baby or toddler in there would not be that easy. It works for my kids as they can buckle them up themselves I hate the fact that only the front passenger side seat has a seat pull-out leaver to pull the seat forward in one go for the rear passengers to get out. The speaker for the Active Sound Control..comes standard in the High Performance variant or with the upgraded audio system. There are two on top, one on top of each front passenger seat. It is to pipe in pseudo-fake engine noise. I say pseudo fake as the actual sound is induction noise that has been filtered and then piped in to the car. So it is not fully natural...nor is it fully fake. The exhaust tone is quite appaling so at least this keeps things interesting. The trunk is good for week's grocey or a medium sized suitcase and a backpack.
    9 points
  15. Toyota Vitz 2016 2017 till 19 Well I’m not going to get too technical or sound like the fan club here But it’s a long story. Despite being a popular car, it’s a very bland machine, but has its perks Hence they are like the cockroaches of the current car scene. The car is so popular at the moment that I have seen 2 instances unregistered cars were exchanged for money for the market value and for lands, for debts etc. between businessmen as they considered the vitz to be equal to money in the bank. Well as for my Vitz tale, I purchased a car, yes full cash deal, wife went crazy over it, found the mileage was tampered Raised hell, returned the car, cash refunded got another car used it for 3months, saw a better car being imported , exchanged mine a small loss during the whole sales dip this year, got the new car cheap. so lost a few, gained a few. So tasted both waters 2016 and post facelift 2019 So the popular grades in Sri Lanka are the F and Fm being the entry level , not heard of a U grade car, There is a Gr or an Rs here, not sure and a proper Hybrid Yaris from Australia with a known gent The F has a Start stop model, with a pretty led display and rpm gauge Fm has no power Mirrors and has window winders in the back, and no rear wiper Mostly all these are 1000cc 1KR powered Lesson learnt, Do a through check on auction records prior to purchase of a car, I caught my cars issue through the Jevic reading, it had done 88000km, 2 auction sheets one with the altered odo and the other with the real odo, car read 34000 odd km, and boy it looked new, brand new My trusty mechanic couldn’t tell it was run either. Tyres matched blah blah, they played the game well, do note I will not reveal the seller as post conflict he took the car and refunded every cent, only thing I lost there was about a week of my time. So the vitz is a properly beat up car in Japan, so most here are too good to be true, heavily run. Always secondly go for a Toyota Lanka Inspection even if it’s a car off the factory, just to be safe Exterior Well the basic frame and shape has been here since the 2011 model, but is the 1000cc tax cut that made these models common here, it’s a good looking layout true, Personally I feel the 2016 model looked better and the 2017 odd models look like a scary grandma on the front, the rear looks cool, Especially if you got the led package, it looks like an audi, Headlights are either h4 halogen, horrible or the lovely leds with auto dipping and levelling. The styles are different with the years Also the bumpers are far more securely fastened in the 2017 facelift models but still they tend to hang front and rear both after going in our pillaged roads. So for those with that ocd, it’s never ending, I have it and I know, took apart 3 bumpers, the clips are pristine, the bulk of the bumper and humping the pot holes make them warp a few mm, so u have a noticeable panel gap on the sides. The tail gate is very well thought after, they open with like minimal protrusion from the bumper length, maybe 1 foot at most, and doors open very wide, and easily, handles and mirrors are shared across the whole Toyota line. Mirrors are kinda wide for a small car, so they ding up easy. Remember to buy a few extra lights. Interior, again no ,major difference between the 2016 and post facelift model, just a change in colour schemes, grey to gloss black, jewela had the fancy colors The 2015 model the air vents were different, thereafter they landed with axio style propeller like vents, which break very easy, Do note the multifunction wheel buttons are original in the car only if it has the 6 speaker sound system. The swap is very easy, 20min job cost about 10000lkr, but with Chinese parts, the replacement Chinese ribbons last only few 1000km and show airbag lights. Oem parts cost 80000 odd (may vary) the 6 speaker (tweeter) Seats, Nicely contoured, bit hard, bland fabrics, front headrests are sown into the seat bulk up to the f grades, there are many variations on the vitz line, so nothing is certain. Dealer level upgrades and variations as well There is space, even when you are 120kg The double din gap and the steering wheel I find well designed and well placed, giving it a bit of a dynamic vibe, the rest of the dash is like the designer sketched the aqua dashboard in a hurry. The gauge cluster in the f grade is really dated but does it’s thing ok, nothing to be happy there unless you get the f smart stop or a bigger engine. Most cars here do not have climate control, despite it being fossil parts, it works well, keeps the region cool, yes you loose a bit of low end power and ears hurt a bit more. Light colored roof liner, headrests in the rear, typical Toyota stuff. Leg room is ideal for the size, The door cards and dashboard remind you of a plastic dustbin though, they scratch like a lottery and love dust. Cargo area, quite large actually. Can accommodate the luggage of like 4, seats 4 easy, if you go 5 you gotta be closely related and malnourished. Below the cargo deck there is either a useless puncture kit or a space saver wheel, kit varies with car so I suggest a spare wheel. The jack is hidden under the drivers seat, not in the tray, so note that before your curse the fellow who stole the jack during a puncture Engine and drivetrain Yea so the 1000cc agony, no turbo. No isg, just groaning with the cvt box, Well it pulls, after a while, and if you floor it, it can keep up the guy who overtook you for going too slow and showed you the finger, and if you keep flooring it it can shift down and pass him. It’s just slow to respond, but certainly not a crawler, but no race car either. It’s just enough for traffic, feels brisk between 30kmph and 100kmph, thereafter it just sits. It’s the noise, it’s not like this huge engine revving noise, this is like a blown exhaust, leaking cat or a cow giving birth, something, loud and agonizing, the accelerator pedal is very flimsy, no feel, the car responds late to throttle, thereby it’s like asking a question and waiting for an answer. The vibration is more prominent on the 2016 models, the 2017 onwards ones have a completely different gel mount, we ll get to know more as the cars age. They’ve gone really stingy on the sound proofing on the f grade, so it’s like only 50% sound proof thanks to the engine. Cold starts give you the creeps, it’s that noisy, Reminds you of a 90s elf. So in Japan cars come with 0w20 oil, here Toyota recommends 10w30, there’s 5w30 as well so pick your poison, parts are cheap, the oil change costs between 10k to 16k depending on the joint, with genuine parts and synthetic oil. Approx 3.2l You shouldn’t be driving a car if you don’t know the intervals, Tip- almost all new jdm cars have a sticker under the hood, with oil change spec, so start translating oil change costs like 16k, agents can handle and recommended, at 40000km PCV valves get clogged easily, so keep an eye, same goes for the throttle body. So there are many variants of the 1KR engine, this having the 1KR Fe, The competition, Wigo and the Perodua cars have variants, so if interested dive in, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_KR_engine The drive, The suspension Well this is why this thing sells so much. The handling is really nice, feels a bit like a hot hatch (before you start cursing just the HANDLING) , but there is zero compromise on the comfort, it’s sedan matching comfort in a cheap hatch, in local context that’s my bottom line here. Road noise is very poorly insulated, has the pathetic dying bird horn, Usually the 14 tyres are chunky, so manage to cushion even more, The ground clearance is PATHETIC, so unless careful, it rubs everywhere, a good option is to fit mudflaps, they make a noise so you won’t bottom it out suddenly The front lip is more or less a sacrificial element, or a painters monthly allowance if you are conscious about the car They have had no concern on driveways and steep descents when they sketched that. As I write this, my car has been parked for 2 weeks as they’ve started meddling with the road. It can manage long journeys with comfort if you have a good stereo and if you drive “Normal” Do note road presence is less, so from biker to bus driver, no one gives a damn and tend to abuse you, being the small car slogan now. Turning radius is like a bicycle, so cops will start to smile while they write you up when you do that illegal U turn Fuel economy is like 11kmpl in traffic, my first Vitz did 18kml in the highway, yet to test the new car, 92Oc is specced, Toyota Safety Sense Impressive bit of tech here, extremely intelligent, doesn’t try to kill you, warns many times before braking, lane Change assist, auto wipers and headlights work very well, I’m sure the high beam algorithm was programmed by a very polite Japanese gent as it never sets high beams, even when it’s needed, good stuff. Pointers not to get yourself screwed Carry a spare wheel Do not go off road, steep slopes and avoid bigger potholes, and rocks on the road, you will feel the impact on your groin and pain on the wallet. If you do well you ll need a new sump or a bellhousing Don’t over load the car. Try to upgrade to factory multifunction steering, or don’t 92 is enough Jewela is just a trim level, gaudy with chrome Avoid FM models, they are like lorries, and used for mostly cargo and deliveries all over Mileage is almost always faux, get a personal import or a TL verified car Or just be very very very thorough, jump all the hoops when buying one. And pray it’s a good one. If you need help with auction sheets, ask It may burn a bit of oil after 50000km ish, Use genuine parts. It’s a crazy platform, we get a boring variant, like that cousin who became an accountant when the others are cardiologists, astronauts and rock stars Overall it’s a good car, not that refined, reliable, old time true tested stuff.
    8 points
  16. Painting was a most challenging field for me. Because never attempt to do a vehicle paint job earlier other than painting walls in the house . But I have watched (not seen) many times how a painter working from applying filler to last coat. There is a neighbor who do paint jobs and that was a big strength for me as it is possible to clarify somethings from him. So finally decided to learn the art of painting by Moggie. Gathered the basic knowledge from reading some articles and found following video very informative. Also these two technical books. How To Paint A Car At Home In 4 Easy Steps (video)  Causeway Automotive Paints (pdf) Debeer Paints (pdf) Next challenge was a paint gun and a air compressor. Bought a F75 paint spray gun and some flexible hose after expending around Rs 2500. But a air compressor is bit expensive. So again started to find alternatives. Firstly bough a 'paint zoom paint sprayer'. Though it could use with my spray gun with modified hose, the air pressure was not enough to spray well. So found an old deep freezer compressor and a empty AC gas tank. Used them with a foot air pump pressure gauge and some clips to make my air compressor. What could not find was a safety pressure release valve. So had to keep eye on the gauge frequently. When I get familiar with spray gun, watching pressure gauge was not essential as it can feel pressure via spray flame. Tried to remove existing paint in most body panels as the first job. Because the floorboard was completely new it made my task easy.
    8 points
  17. Here are more pictures of the car before I bore you with words to read... The car has an interesting width to length to height ratio....kind of reminds me of one of those Tamiya snap-on model cars with disproportionate dimensions. The only concern I have is the front wheel splurting out debris on to the rear fender. Well..it is not a concern..it is a fear. Other users have had their rear fenders pitted with debris, but they all have taken their cars racing. No..Toyota does not offer mud flaps for this. Yaris Cross TRD flaps can be made to fit apparently and right now the options are from the likes of Rally Flaps..either way they cost about 30,000 yen per set. Thinking of getting some generic flaps and cutting them out to fit the car. The little badge that says it has something special that will take you almost anywhere... A back-end that you grow in to...from side to side the car measures in at 1805mm (for reference...a Prado is 1885mm, Allion and Hiace (std body) is ~1695; GT86 1775). That is pretty wide for a car that is only 3995mm long (Allion 4590mm/GT86 4240mm). It took a few days to get used to the stormtrooper helmet look. As you can see...no rear wipers....the glass is so small it absolutely makes no sense to have one (but hey..race car...don't need one). That is a bubbly lower rear end. For once...it is nice to see Toyota design features actually doing something. Functional air ducts to cool the brakes. These are standard on the RZ high Performance. All other grades have this covered and can be retrofitted by buying the parts seperately or bought as a dealer option. Practicality continues with the typical huge gaping grill found on all modern Toyotas. In this application it actually works to maximize air flow to the intercooler. Almost the same headlights you would find on the standard Yaris Z grade with a slightly different trim around the lamp. Again....matte black trim 18" Forged BBS rims wrapped in Michellin Pilot 4S tires....the tires are pretty good in the dry and wet...have not tried it in the snow and to be honest Summer sport tires never do well in low tempreture conditions. The combo is offered only in high Performance variants and as a 1st Edition exclusive the rims ae in matte black (although you have to be really really OCD to notice the difference with the nn-matte black variant). 4pot calipers with 356mm slotted disks (295mm and 2-pots in the back). 18 Trunk mounted battery sitting right next to the water tank for the intercooler. The intercooler so far seems to have been offered only in the Japanese market high Performance variant as standard kit. The RC can be ordered with it as a dealer option or the parts can be bought from Toyota for a self installation.
    8 points
  18. Finally. At long last, the ITR sedan conversion is done!! Here she is in all her glory. More glam pics in the upcoming months! Few niggles I’m trying to fix. The front end didn’t come with fender liners/mudguards. Sourced those from uk. Also I was using a lengthened shifter linkage from an ek3 with a d series box. Apparently that’s why shifting into reverse and 2nd are difficult. Waiting on a proper ITR shifter linkage from the UK as well. Along with the stock dual bend shifter.
    8 points
  19. During the last 6-7 years, the demand(mostly imports) for the Compact Crossover SUVs have been significantly increased in SL car market. This spark was first ignited by the introduction of Honda Vezel making those crossovers popular among Sri Lankans. Most car buyers started to think that having a compact SUV is pretty beneficial when poor roads scraped the underneath of their Premios, Allions and Axios. Another factor is the low engine capacity of these crossover SUVs, which is a nice invitation to the buyers in a country where almost 95% of the petrol vehicles imported have an engine capacity below 1500cc. After sometime the turbocharging craze began with the introduction of Audi Q2, Honda Civic 10th gen and Toyota CHR. With the help of turbocharging, now the power of a 2000-2400cc engine can be extracted from a 1500cc engine. Since then SUVs like CRV started doing the trick. Now most people in SL have lost their faith on the Honda’s i-DCD hybrid system in Vezel, Fit and Grace. So the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was born… Overview We all know that as a vehicle manufacturer, Mitsubishi haven’t been much successful during the previous two decades. Even the Lancer was killed from manufacturing. But when it comes to the Eclipse Cross, seems that Mitsubishi is giving a fierce competition towards other similar SUVs in SL market such as the CRV and Vezel(a subcompact crossover SUV). One major thing that the Eclipse Cross stands above the others are the amount of options available throughout the range. On the CRV we have to step up to the top of the range model to get all the options. But with the Eclipse Cross G and G Plus (which are mostly imported to SL) have almost similar amount of options except for the infotainment system with the touch pad in the G Plus variant. What I drove is a 1.5 Turbo/CVT G variant with full time 4WD. When we talk about the exterior design, without a doubt everyone loves the front end design. Its muscular and sharp, but without being overly flashy like the body kit loaded CHRs. When we walk towards the back, we totally forget what the front end looked like. Totally different compared to the front design and for me it looks kind of awful. It looks similar to something like a Honda Insight, but always reminds me of the Pontiac Aztek (what Walter White drives in Breaking Bad) which is regarded as one of the ugliest cars of all time. But here its better than the Pontiac Aztec, nevertheless most people wouldn’t be happy with the back end looks unlike the front end. But for me, the overall design of the CRV is a bit better and looks bigger than the Eclipse Cross. So let’s move to the interior. Interior Here in the photo, it's the G Plus version, which comes with the factory fitted infotainment system Mitsubishis are famous for having cheap and plasticky looking interiors from the past. But here they have a much better interior design. It looks better and richer than what we have seen in the Outlander, which is a bit boring and less attractive with a plain design. The silver inserting with the combination of the piano black plastic panels certainly gives a rich and upmarket feel and for me, it’s the best interior I’ve ever seen from a Mitsu. But remember that those piano black panels are easy to get scratched and attract fingerprints. Dash design of the Eclipse Cross is much sportier than what you get in the CRV, even though CRV with those teak panels looks more premium(but dull) despite the awful placement of the gear shifter. If you plan to bring down one, better to go with a fully loaded one which has done few kilometers in Japan, because adding options such as sunroof and leather seats additionally cost around 400,000 LKR. The driving position is spot on with all the controls are in easy to reach positions. The position feels sporty with the steering wheel setup and the height really gives the confidence and “king of the road” feeling. This design gives you the feeling that everything is wrapped around you. All doors have soft padded armrests and plenty of spaces to store bottles and your stuff. There is a head up display which shows the speed and the digits look a bit small for me. Seats are comfortable with good side support, but they are on a little firm side. Plenty of headroom and legroom are there for all the passengers I never found it lacking space, specially in legroom department. The standard 6 speaker audio system is great when you compare with the systems you get from Toyotas. Has thumping bass (which most owners in SL are looking for) but the vocals are a bit laid off and lacks the top sparkle in the trebles. Overall most people would be in love with the system. You can squeeze out the maximum by installing something like a Pioneer or a Kenwood aftermarket player if you have the G or a lower grade. I haven’t come across the in-built unit with the touch pad in the G Plus unit, but it might be better as Mitsus always had good audio systems (mostly in the bass department) in their vehicles from a long time. I still remember cranking up the volume as a kid in a 16 Sri Mirage till the bass hits the chest. There is a one with a Rockford Fosgate audio system but I haven’t come across that system in the JDM Mitsu site. Thus they give you the option to add premium speakers for front and rear, which might be better. There are few disappointments in the interior. One is the Speedometer and the Tachometer. They have been directly taken out from something that was made in 2007-2008. Looks dated and boring as it doesn’t match with whole interior design. For me the boring to drive Toyotas have better looking meter panels even in the 2007 era. Anyway it’s only a little thing. Another problem that I had to face while driving is the Gear position of the Auto gear shift level. The indicators in the shifter panel seems misaligned with the lever and there was few times I have mistakenly put into the N instead of D after starting the car. Maybe this is because I’ve been used to the gate-type shifters. Other than that I personally don’t like the design on the seats. Looks a bit flashy, something like an Alto. So let’s move onto the part which makes this car really stands out among others.. Driving Simple. Best of both worlds. Most compact crossover SUVs have firm suspension (Vezel owners know what I’m talking about), even though they are less enthusiastic on corners. But here it’s a totally different story. I travelled on some bad roads, climbs and on a stretch. Suspension soaks up most of the potholes and imperfections on bad road while keeping the car without swaying. Comfort wise, it’s on par with cars like Axios and better than Aquas, Fits and Graces. But when you push it to a corner it stays flat without much body roll. On cornering you feel that you have plenty of grip even though it sits high. Another thing is that the car feels rigid on corners. Trust me, you can do some really enjoyable driving from this babe! I mean it has the perfect balance between comfort and handling which is a really tricky job to achieve from an economical car like this, while being a crossover SUV. I drove the CRV and for me it feels a bit choppy on bad roads. Steering is a bit of a let down when you consider with the other characteristics, because of being light and numb. But still, it is sharp. Sometimes I felt that it is not nimble as the Vezel (maybe due to the size). Then the engine. When I drove the CRV for a short distance, I noticed that the power is a bit hesitant on the lower end. But when you put your foot down the engine comes to life. I noticed the laziness in the throttle similar to what you get in a Grace or a Vezel when travelling at low speeds. I also mentioned earlier in this forum about how all the Honda i-DCD hybrid systems feel a bit hesitant to start climbing hills, and surprisingly, even being a non hybrid and a CVT, the CRV also waited a second or two to start climbing the same hill. In the Eclipse Cross, power delivery is flawless and feels punchy throughout SL street legal speed limits. I did floor the throttle for a brief time period and ended up speeding up to 120kmph without breaking a sweat. Power is always on demand and surprisingly I did not experience any issue in the acceleration department like the CRV. So thumbs up for the engine performance. But the car that I drive had the full time all-wheel drive system so there might be some improvement in grip and acceleration levels over the 2WD version. Brakes are okay, without any significant feature to highlight. The vehicle is surprisingly quiet on roads with minimal road noise levels, so you hardly feel the actual speed. When we travel around 60kmph gives the feeling of driving at 40kmph, because of this isolation. There is a slight issue and that’s the engine noise. From the outside, the engine is significantly louder than most of the 1500cc cars like Premios and Axios. The radiator fan kicks in frequently worsening the situation. The engine can also be heard as a slight whirling when traveling with a light foot, which seems as a slight noise because only a little amount of road noise is entered into the cabin. So the engine noise is highlighted. So let’s move onto economy. Economy The fuel figures are a bit like a mixed bag. When the car was brought home from Hambantota, on 92 octane, showed a figure of 12.3 kmpl which is a bit on the lower side. After few days, averaged shrunk to 6-7 kmpl territory on 92. It had 2500km on the clock when it reached home and after the 92 ran out, 95 was pumped. Still the car has rarely left the town, but gives a figure around 8.5 kmpl, which is good for a AWD vehicle. Final Words IMO, I think Mitsu have really done something this time after being out of the track for couple of years. For me, this is the best to drive among CRV and Vezel, with a nice balance between comfort and handling. I have not yet driven the Peugeot 3008, which is considered to have a better interior and better driving experience, but most people in SL would look for a Jap made vehicle. The CRV has a much more bigger and muscular looking exterior plus 7 seats, but the Eclipse Cross is better to drive and more comfier. CRV has a kind of premium looking interior with teak panels, while the Mitsu has a modern looking sporty interior. For owners who are looking for a premium feel, I think they are better off with a CRV while the ones who are looking for a sporty yet comfortable ride might be satisfied with the Eclipse Cross. Also the options like the touch pad navigation system, Head-up displays, panoramic sun roof plus the sporty front end design would like to grab attention of most buyers. Still none of us could comment on reliability department as the vehicle is very new to SL. But I will always recommend this over something like a Premio, Vezel or a CHR for bringing down for the permit, because you get car-like comfort and “go anywhere” ability with the Eclipse Cross. Only downside is the fuel economy, but I think it’s a bit early to comment on the exact figures. Therefore it’s always safer to avoid the 4WD versions. But I personally believe that a person who can afford to bring down such vehicle can handle a bit more cost for the fuel. Thank you for reading!
    8 points
  20. It's been a while since the last entry where I rambled on about the minor details but now for the all important part how does this actually drive. I've done over 5000 Km's now and I guess spend enough time with the car to give my honest feedback on how it handles etc. I'm not going to dwell on the statistics and figures since that is readily available on the internet - but for formalities sake the Civic comes with the P10A2 engine - Honda's 3 cylinder turbo charged engine which has somewhere between 125-130 BHP. So the overall driving experience ? Well it's adequate and after the break-in period it seems the car is actually quite eager than it was initially. There is a bit of turbo lag and coupled with the torque at low revs you feel a bit like driving a diesel ....no complaints though. A question I usually get from some people is whether this model comes with the much maligned DCT - well surprise surprise it does not. Honda have mated the P10A2 with a CVT. Of course there is always the manual and that is actually supposed to be great as per reviews from the UK - but considering I use this car to drive daily to and from work in the colombo traffic I had to be a masochist to opt for a manual (which I'm not - and god bless future me when I try to sell a manual in Sri Lanka ) . Those who have driven the GP5's and Graces know that the Dual clutch set up is actually a blast to drive - which is not the case with the CVT. My previous car also had a CVT gear box and frankly I'm not a fan of them at all. But then given how DCT's fared locally I guess having a rubbery CVT over a DCT setup is not a huge deal. All grades of the FK6 comes with paddle-shifters - now I know it's a bit funny to see paddle shifters and CVT in the same sentence but what the setup actually does is have more of a simulated shifting mechanism going when you use them. When you're in normal 'Drive' mode you can use the shifters to change gears but the car is too eager to override you and kind of spoils the fun. However if you change your gear to 'S' then the HUD will display an 'M' indicating that the car is ready to receive manual input and a blinking indicator also indicates when the time is right to shift up. Of course if you don't shift at the right moment the car will give you some time and after a while will override you. S mode, and the 7-Speed CVT with the shifters is a little fun time to time but I think it's there more as a gimmick to be perfectly honest. I will upload a video on this later on and update the entry. There is an ECO mode which can be enabled/disabled by a switch on the gear shifter console. Turning off the Eco mode will give you a more fun driving experience as the car is much more peppier. For more fun on an open road shift to S and use the shifters. I use the E03 expressway daily and that's where this car really feels home at. I mentioned the low end torque - around 2250 RPM there is a sweet spot and you can feel that pull. Due to it's dynamics the car feels very well planted and very stable at high speeds. You just feel the car hugging the road and hurtling forward - which is a really nice feeling. The handling is quite good -the steering is a little lifeless but adequately sharp and the ride is very controlled. I drive an SR which does not have the adaptive damper system found on the EX. The ride is generally smooth even with some potholes - though I cannot give any feedback about the rear since I've never actually traveled in the back seat. Road noise is something I've always associated with Honda's and once again this is no exception though the road noise insulation is comparatively better than that of smaller cars like the Fit. But it does a good job of cutting out the racket from that noisy 3 pot engine - which believe me is quite loud and rough when you actually open the hood and take a look. But inside the car it's generally quiet. To sum it up ... Cars with downsized engines for the sake of reducing emissions and improving gas-mileage are not meant to be fast performance cars in the first place. But Honda have tried to give the driver a bit of feel-good factor with the fake air vents and the paddle shifters and the overall 'sporty' feel. I wish it didn't have the CVT gear box and the steering was a little less lighter. But the noisy little 3 pot engine pulls really well given it's size and the weight of the car. The 1L Turbo Civic is no Type R but for a bird with clipped wings it flies pretty well. And now for the FAQ Section ---------------------------------------------------- [1] "Nice car bro how does it do on fuel ? " : I drive in generally bad traffic I wouldn't claim it to be the worst since I don't travel to areas like Rajagiriya/Dehiwala etc. And the car returns around 7-8 KMPL. On general I get about 10 KMPL in a 50-50 City/Suburban drive. On the Expressway I get around 6L/100Km which means about 16.6 KMPL. On the average long distance drive on non expressways depending on the time of the day the car will do between 12-16 KMPL. [2] "The car is a bit low isn't it? " : One fear I had earlier about the car before purchase is it's low ground clearance - somehow I have found it to be ok so far. I recently traveled on one of the most horrible roads I have seen in the western province - it was a tiny impossibly narrow dirt road with immense pot holes and pieces of rock jutting out leading to an almost forgotten home for the senior citizens where we had to give dinner. It was a hellish drive in pitch darkness but somehow i got through without a single scrape. For a better understanding I will try to upload some daytime pics of the said road. [3] "Aren't the back seats a bit cramped?" Leg-space wise no. There's quite a lot of leg space . The thing is due to the curved shape of the roof some may feel that head-space is a bit lacking. The only person to complain so far was my 6'3" /125Kg cousin. So unless you're some behemoth you are OK. Having said that I must say the Civic is a little too driver oriented with a lot of care given to the driver and lesser focus to the passengers: for instance the seat height adjustment is not available for the front passenger. It's a little darker in the back too.
    8 points
  21. The car as it may seem right now.... Broken and Shiz.. About to get a new life... Tinkering Done!
    8 points
  22. 2019 Suzuki Hustler Review Though I had to let it go, this little vehicle made a huge impact on my life, during a difficult time It deserves a review, it was that good, Exterior Well it’s like this, some like it, some don’t, and I didn’t at first We had lost almost 2 mil after buying a leaf, into depreciation, so in retaliation this was the only Reasonable thing I could afford in its place. So giving into my dads idea I did bring her home, It was red with a black roof, on those puny steel rims With time I decided to bin the cute look and make it look a bit macho, Found a set of Suzuki rims, off a sedan, 0.5jj larger making it 5.5jj and increased the tyre size, I’m sure I gained at least 3 to 4 cm in clearance. Added a set of tiny low cop radar led fog lights, as I was frequently traveling to hill stations at the time, and a reverse fog as well. Had to make do with an ornamental roof rack, few carbon fiber wrap work, and matte black paint on the wheels Loud little Hella Horn was fitted as well, window visors, made a little runt of an suv, 2 door of course lol. The factory styling, mine was a G grade, none of the J style bling, but had the fancy led headlights with halos, believe me they turn on when you unlock the car, like a beamer! It was a matte black village, every exterior plastic was matte to give that off road intent, had a small sill trim that extended up to wheel arches as well, Rear bumper was again no nonsense, wrapped very close to the body, with a nice trim in the middle, The bumpers seat very high on these, almost showing off the tyres, giving this rock crawler vibe It was one confused car, The interior, It has this tiny Dox matrix display in the gauge cluster, shows little videos of a hustler going places, adds to the cheer, has a hidden menu, of course in Japanese, has many settings to play with. This is shadowed by the huge speedo, which is the only thing in there Again heavily influenced by the FJ cruiser, painted plastics, very solid gloss, no play, some panels had a miniature chequer plate pattern, to add, 2 glove boxes and one with a kg mark to allow you to place a laptop, There is no center floor console, like on those ancient suvs, one can walk across the driver and passenger areas, upon folding the tiny armrest. Which has a tiny hidden compartment as well. It came with a Chinese head unit, Which I intended to replace but never got the chance, however I installed front and rear cams, for show obviously, as it has so many large windows for its size, you feel like you are in an aquarium, I used to get murdered by my wife for looking at younger models you know! It felt so revealing that I had the 4 door shutters heavily tinted and was cursed by my dad repeatedly when he drove it in the night. It had these tiny quarter windows which I left untinted, cops can get a glimpse of inside, thereby had zero issues! I did manage to upgrade the front speakers with kenwood 2 way speakers, rear door speakers were not there, so did a retrofit of the same, also mounted a set of hertz tweeters to the factory slots, All into the factory wiring. I mean there was nothing marvelous with the sound proofing, but it held the sound well, just enough for usual radio and Bluetooth audio, Mine didn’t have the multi-function steering or cruise control, Auto headlights were ok, self leveling very useful here and there, The space, that is what it was, that tall boy design, it was like a room inside rear seats move back, compromising inside luggage space, but leg room and headroom, again basically a room for 4 No contours on the seats, making them flat, nice pattern, but hard, and waterproof.. Apparently it was designed to have a makeshift bed at any given time, the front passenger seat has a adhered table on the back, so upon folding flat forwards it can be a table. If you do the same with the corresponding rear set, you have a 6 foot is platform, which Suzuki calls a bed, and gosh the accessories they have for this car, 6 brochures! Being a kei , rear cargo room is scarce, but redeemable with angry passengers with less leg room. The luggage area is again heavily cladded with the same mini chequer plate plastic, giving it this premium suv boot feel, and it has these flaps that adjust accordingly to leave a flat surface, Below this deck, you get a rigid foam pack, with the tyre kit, And yes you can fit a 15” space saver in a hustler, matter of sliding the rear seats forward Pull out the foam pack, hide it under your bed, slide the wheel in, then pull the seats back, leg room is reduced by a tiny amount, no one notices it either, the seat tugs the rubber and it is held firmly in. The flaps cover the wheel, and you have the luggage space. It has a nice roof liner, light color, easy to clean, and 2 tIny dome lights Even a 12v socket in the very back , suv cues all over. Rear foot wells are flat, you can basically open the doors and blow the grit away, front may need a vacuum but can survive with a brush, Sadly the hustler comes with a plush oem carpet set, mine were stolen at port, Engine and drivetrain, Well yea with 660cc, cvt and no turbo, one would say it was slow, The difference is the ISG, that thing manages to hold the revs up like an electric turbo, thereby it’s not slow, wagon R owners have told me the hustler is faster, probably the ecu tune as everything else is the same, besides the body and suspension which is entirely different, The 3 cyl engine was a bit noisy, but no vibrations, and idle stop worked with the isg, thereby no start motor noises, it just instantly kicked the engine in The hustler never had the adjuster issue as the engine bay is crazy well shielded from below, unless you wake up from a coma and hose the engine bay no issue there, the gearbox feels fine, just a continuous drive, I mean not fast but no jerks, manages hills easy. Well below the passenger seat on the front, the hybrid battery lives, more or less a house of capacitors, hence why It can be repaired easily. Never had any issues, charged up fully and discharged as well, The fuel economy, I used 92, it was as per spec, it did 20kmpl at most given times, with idle stop off The drive, Well this is the sole reason why I decided to write this review, The drive feels really nice, composed, firm, tad bit of body roll, bumpy suspension Handles very well, It was genuinely fun, going to nuwara Eliya to Kandy In it, it was a memorable trip, climbs are nothing, I mean it doesn’t sprint up but 30 to 40kmh it scoots on, It’s on bad roads and muddy roads that the whole wannabe suv thing comes to play, it has amazing grip and ground clearance, feels like a true off roader, mine was not 4wd either Where I live the roads are being constantly raped by various govt projects, the workers used to smile when I go about in the hustler as it just skips over mud and ruts they pillage on the road, the floor Pan is flat, so it can fair really well, my dad accidentally parked it on the first stair at my local bank, approach angle that crazy! Those tiny wipers do a great job cleaning off mud and rain, What I don’t like, Very little in fact, The smart key, makes a complete fool of the car, tried both keys, halfway across the commutes the car starts looking for the key, so once I flash it near the start button it shuts up, changed many batteries, it’s inherent. The base carpet is very cheap, and easy to tear, they’ve used a heap of ridged foam to make the floor flat, basically every footwell has a ridged foam insert, if you spill it’s going to seep way down, And yea a drunk friend spilt a beer, finally had to take all 4 seats apart and put a nice carpet to cover everything, this helped with the road noise too, a style carpet that was intended for the Kdh. The safety system – sheer hate If a bus overtakes you, the car decides to stop, simple as that, stop in such a way that you , your passengers and the guy tailgating you; all to have a heart attack, no buzzer warnings Also it has this great love for bikers, almost with pure emotion. Does anything to spare a bike, even whilst sacrificing its own butt to the route bus or yoghurt lorry , as we’ve all seen on videos. And seeing the bikers we have here, all the adventurous stunts they perform the only solution is to reach for the auto brake off switch. The 12v battery, the electronics and start stop system really strangle the 12v lump, you ll need one every year, a safe measure would be to turn off idle stop, as it reduces engine. Wear Overall, I really do miss the car, it was a joy in the city, can park in a 3 wheeler space, large doors, easy to climb in and out, extremely easy to clean and wash, nippy on the lights, very unassuming yet also gets a lot of attention. Almost regret the sale, but life is too short to drive a single car. TIPS IF YOU WANNA BUY ONE YOU CAN NEVER JUMP START 92 is enough, Buy the highest grade you can, Below 30000 to 50000km is the safest Get the one with the led headlights, Check the roof, black roofs flake paint easy, thin metal meaning they rot the same. Check the mileage usual blah, auction sheets, Make sure the battery is in the car before you purchase it, or clear it from port If there is a yellow blinking light continuously, indicates charging system fault so first replace the 12v battery, if it doesn’t go away means isg or battery failure. Run Check the tyres, the oem Dunlop enasaves don’t last long, sidewalls bubble in months Those steel rims are not that strong, a big pothole can warp them, fellas are selling them by the dozen after this, buy alloys, not those I suggest maintenance at A*W, they know the car in and out, and use the 5w30 Castrol synthetic oil, change at 10000km, 0w-20 is too thin for our temperatures , up to you Please Use genuine parts, Never physically leave your car at the agent or any mechanic, the hybrid battery internals can be removed in 5min with 2 tools and will fit in a pocket, Buy a spare wheel Brake pads need replacement every 20000 to 30000 km Rear liners 60000km Be careful when leaving parked, They can’t be harvested like wagon R s but mirror covers and the mirror plate are stolen like any car. Whole mirror assembly can’t be removed as the bolts are inside unlike the wagon R Parts are rare and expensive, especially the 4 lights, worse if led. 175x65x15 tyres will fit the oem 165x60x15 and will have no rub issues, no big speedo error. Learn how to use google translator Join the wagon r and hustler fb pages.
    7 points
  23. Corolla 121 can be introduced as one of the most popular cars in TYPICAL SRI LANKAN vehicle market. Even being aged closed to 20 years they still sell around 3 million. So still most buyers are interested about this car, and I planned to share my 7 years of experience in this blog. I used a 2000 manufactured G Grade one which has a 1500cc engine. What it really is? Just a compact car designed for A to B transportation with good fuel economy and realiability. Driving So I’m going to start from how it is like to drive. When compared to the other cars in the same category the acceleration is really good for a 1.5L motor. The car is comparatively lighter than the 110 and Axio, so for me I’m yet to experience a better acceleration from a newer car with the same engine. It has good kick down acceleration due to 4 speed automatic transmission. For me the engine performance is better than the Civic ES5(1.5l), Mazda Axela 2004-2009, Lancer CS series and Nissan Tiida. Handling is a bit sharper than the newer Axios,Allions and Premios, but not sharp as a Honda or a Mazda. Steering is really light with a very little amount of feedback from the road. Due to the rear torsion beam setup the car is not steady in corners when compared to the older 110 and Carinas(which has independent rear suspension). But it is comparatively better in corners than the Axio.Braking is ok. Neither great nor bad. When it comes to handling Hondas and Mazdas are better. On the highways the car is steady for speeds around 100-120. After 120 there was a slight vibration(due to the resonance of the engine) but when you accelerate further around 140 the vibration goes away. There is a noticable change in stability after 140 as you can feel the car is well planted than before. You can go all the way upto 180 without any issue ONLY IF YOUR CAR IS IN PERFECT CONDITION(TIRES, ALIGNMENT,BRAKES AND SUSPENSION). I’ve tested twice and really impressed. For day to day driving around the town the car is good due to reduced length and good ground clearance. Ground clearance is really good when compared to other cars from the same class and even with never Fit,Grace and Prius. The light steering really helps for easy manouvering. Visibility is okay, but sometimes the thick front A pillars are a bit disturbing. Also there is a problem about visibility when the dashboards is reflected from the windscreen during direct sunlight. Driving position is pretty higher like most other Toyotas and not sporty at all. Feels like you are sitting on a chair. Comfort When I bought the car it was running on its original shock absorbers. But in 2015 I changed them using Japan made KYB Excel G and it reduced the the comfort level by a considerable amount. But the car is more comfortable than Mazda Axela, Honda Fit GP1 and GP5, Civic FD3, Honda Grace and Vezel, Toyota Aqua. I can really handle potholes well, but bumps can make the car wavy due to the rear torsion beam setup. The refinement levels are really good when compared to the above mentioned set of cars and it is another field that the 121 really excels. Under lightfooted driving the engine noise can’t be heard, and road noise levels are much lower. After long journeys I felt less tired than the Gp5 and Gp1. Seats are really comfortable and are a bit firmer than 110,FB15 N16s, but not firm as the Allion Premio 260 2007-2012 F grade and Hondas and Mazdas. One thing that I noticed was the rear seat thigh support is better than the Premios and Allions. Seat space is okay of you are under 6ft. Front seats feel a bit cramped due to the dashboard design beacause I’m 6ft. I always felt that Front seats are less spacious for me when compared to the other cars, even the GP1 is better. Fuel Economy Another area that this car excels. Based on my personal experienced around the town it does only about 9-10 kmpl with full time ac on 92 octane(because I live in a really hilly area). For trips like Colombo to Kandy it car return around 14-15kmpl with full time AC. It returned well over 18kmpl when travelled through highway to matara and longer trips with less traffic with 3-4 adults on borad. Also note that driving pattern hugely affects the economy level. Slow driving will never return good fuel figures. Maintaining a speed level around 70-80 will return really good fuel figures. After the first few months I never calculated fuel figures since it is much less expensive to run. Reliability This is the car which made me a Toyota fan. It never broke down. Never even had to touch the spare tire. I had done 60,000km (93,000km to 153,000km). I only had to do the running repairs and replacements. Did the tuneups and changed the ATF fluid once for every 40,000km. Used only Toyota oils.Did the services on time and never let the “makabasses” touch the car. Changed the AC cooler. Changed one hub razor. Only the running repairs. But remember that most of the cars up for sale have been through much abuse and therefore don’t expect the same level of reliability from every car. Make sure to set aside about Rs.100,000 for the repairs when you are buying a car. Also note that some cars have manufacturing defects, eventhough the car model is proven reliable. I know a guy who sold his 2010 personally imported Allion after doing 60,000kms due to excessive repairs. That depends on your luck. Options Has a good amount of options considering it’s age. Always go for a G, G limited or a Luxel grade if you buy one. I will do another entry explaining about all the grades and options. Build Quality Interior is really good with soft touch materials on the dashboard and upper doors. All trim pieces are solidly fixed so I never experienced any “creeks”. Interior material quality is better than the 141 Axio and 2nd and 3rd gen Prius. Good when compared with the cars of the same category. Notable Faults with the car -The steering rack is issue is famous with these Toyotas. It gives no problem except for the “duk duk” noise when travelling on bad roads. I repaired it but again after 3-4 months the noise came. Best thing is to replace it with a good reconditioned part. -As mentioned before the dashboard’s reflection on the windscreen reduces the visibility during direct sunlight(only when the sunlight falls directly on the dash) -The center console has a small compartment, just over the ash tray and the lid of it was broken from the begining and in most 121’s I’ve seen it broken. -Discoloration of the headlights is pretty fast due to the shape of the headlights Resale The car was sold over a month ago keeping me a 150,000 profit even after 7 years of usage. Remember that if the price is right you can easily sell it. I was quoting a really high price earlier and got a chance to sell it keeping 275,000 profit. But at that time I had no car to move on so gave up the idea(3 months ago). I advertised the car on a not-that-much-famous site on internet and next day morning two boys came for inspection and in the evening gave the advance. He still calls me due to satisfaction.? Really I loved the car throughout it’s stay with me for 7 years. Really a good car which is suited well for the Sri Lankan conditions and Typical Sri Lankan car buyer’s requirements. Make sure to look after the car well and it returns you with good reliability. Always use japanese parts and good mechanics for the repairs. Hope to do another entry to this blog about the Grades available in 121. This review is based purely on my experience and some details might differ from car to car. Please inform me if there is something inappropriate or wrong and welcome for all comments. I triend my best to provide and unbiased review.Thank you for reading? Cheers!!! -alpha17-
    7 points
  24. Work from home with the curfew being imposed gives me a bit of time to write on my new vehicle. I have so far owned only cars and I have always been am ardent fan of 4WD's so I was on the look out for a vehicle when I was getting rid of the Fit Gp1. I wanted something that is reliable and something that could be used as a daily drive. This time I didnt mind going for a 3 door vehicle as my brother was going to be out of the country for a years period and I could use his vehicle to transport my parents. So I had a look at the quick ad website and found a Toyota Land Cruiser BJ70 (Short wheel base coil spring model) ex army auction vehicle. It was advertised at a home so I picked up the phone and called him up only to find that he had given it to car sale in Malabe to sell. Asking price was also ok so I went and had a look, vehicle was very well restored but when I took it for a test drive I was shocked to see how bad it was mechanically. It would pull hard to the left when I pressed the brake at low speeds and it was scary. So what I did was I spoke to my relative running a garage and asked how much I will have to spend to sort out the brakes, luckily for me one of his wife's relatives is a big LC fan and he had restored one of these and I was told to get in touch with him. No sooner I told him the details he gave the full back ground story, and he asked me to look a round a bit more. Look around was what I did and low and behold this Suzuki Samurai pops out from no where. I have been an big fan of the Suzuki's and I had so much of literature on the Suzuki's but this was something new as the ad said coil spring. So I did a bit of research and was happy to see that they came with electronic fuel distribution and 82hp engine. I dug into my stash and then I found the original brand new catalogue which bought me down to earth as it said 64hp and carburetor. I didnt want to let go of the chance so I immediately took a call to the previous owner and ensured that it was a personal vehicle and asked if he was in around Colombo to which he said yes and when I tried to go see the car he said that he didnt bring it and the vehicle is in Ambalangoda. So I asked my brother to accompany me all the way to Ambalangoda, at first it was going to be only the two of us but since they were going away for a year they wanted to go on an outing so the whole family went with me. When I got to the previous owners place I got to know that he has a few more Samurai's / Jimny's with him and restoring these were his past time. So I asked if we could take the car for a spin to which he agreed. The first impressions were quite good it did have good pulling power and when asked he said that he has taken it on the highway and reached 120kmph. I of course didnt want to take a risk on a completely new 20+ year old vehicle with a very high center of gravity. So we did the negotiations and finally paid about 75,000 more than I anticipated but for that money I had a few off road goodies included which altogether was worth about Rs. 300,000/- which was a pretty good deal. Kit Included, 1. 2" lift kit 2. Original Warn winch bumper 3. Whinch 4. Work lights 5. Original Suzuki for lamps 6. Roof rack 7. A brand new set of Maxxis Radial (In Australia they go as AT tires) 8. Working snorkel I was not a big fan of the external colour scheme and it was more of a "Thorombal Karaththe" look to it. I asked the previous owner why he went with that look and he said it was done during a phase of his life that he liked this colour scheme. Everyone has their own liking's. I took the car home through some scenic roads which included stops at some of my brother's friends and a waterfall and got back home in the evening. Very next day I took it to my relative and asked him if he could change the colour of the grille, door handles, wiper blades and mirrors as it was painted red and white instead of the original black. he agreed and so I proceeded to take off the stickers on the body. A change of plan came during the next week as the original book said Mettallic Blue, which according to the catalogue was a colour called Reddish Blue. So I went back and asked the garage to change the colour to the original colour as per the tag bit with a change only with the final coat which should be matt. There were a few loose ends that needed to be tied up and it was left at the garage for them to attend to all. The rains in October and November didnt help me one bit as it took them a long time to get it finished, and I was getting aggravated as I had planned to do the devil's staircase in November and was pushing them like crazy. It went to the extreme of me going and sitting in the garage on Saturdays observing the work. However two days before my trip I got the vehicle but disaster struck as the garage driver was stopped by police just taking the vehicle out of the garage without license and insurance. The next day I went and took the stuff and took the vehicle home and to fix a set of new wheels which I had planned. I took it all the way to bambarakanda but was not able to go up the devils stair case due to land slides etc. I had ordered a set of new LED headlamps but they got delayed to come so I couldnt fix it on the first go.
    7 points
  25. one of the greatest joys of having a car that actually runs and doesn't sit in the garage more often than it does at home, is that i can actually leather it now and then. this is one thing i am eternally grateful to PAS and Sabry for: for coming through with what they promised and building a car to last. it was on his insistence that i entered the drags. i stood no chance fromm the get go. i was in the 1800cc-2500cc NA class, and i was up against 5 other competitors who brought drag prepped monsters carried there on trailers. while i drove my daily whip to the track, raced, and drove back. but with a qualifying time in the 15s range, with the winner running 12s, i'm quite pleased! i was loaned a pair of semi slicks for the race. this is why i love this community. the love, people. the love! our resident rice police @VVTi and @Bugatti both took part in the one make BMW event, and i was sharing their tent space, feeling much like the Geisha to a platoon of SS soldiers... ^^this, by far, is my favourite shot. this is going on a wall somewhere. Built. Driven. Inspired. with Sacha Peiris in his Babyzilla here's the two time trials: and here's the qualifier. i was booted out after this. but hey, i'll be back! this was easily the most fun day of my entire life. to actually have a car that could run a race, and then go home in, to me, was the real victory. and while i sat there, on the start line, with the throttle blipping on launch control, i realized i didn't even have to run the race. i'd already won. the result was immaterial! <-- this was how the other 5 cars went home. mine is still proudly daily driven. all i did was remove the stickers.
    7 points
  26. I wanted to add some blog entries to this forum for a long time as it had helped me a lot to make informed decisions. To start things with, I thought of writing about a small car which exceeded my expectations. That is the humble "Daihatsu Mira". It was in the mid 2018 when I started to look for a second (small) car to use for urban commuting with a budget around 2.8 million. Back then, I had a Vezel RS hybrid as the main car. So the unregistered options were clear. It was either the Japan Alto mild-hydrid, WagonR FX or Daihtasu Mira. Test drove the Alto and felt that it was not comfortable and the interior quality was not good. WagonR seemed to be more comfortable but the "battery-risk-factor" drove me off of it. Therefore, I was left with the Daihatsu Mira LA350 and LA300 models. I didn't have a big issue with the brand Daihatsu since the loyal Toyota DNA was on-board with it. The decision between picking the LA350 and LA300 model was simple. LA350 was the latest, had superior acceleration and higher efficiency. However, the back door and front side panels were made of Resin (instead of metal). I was worried about the safety of the new model and decided to compromise efficiency and power to resort into the old model. After a hunt of nearly 1 month, I found a dealer (ironically the same guy who imported my Vezel) who had an imported X grade 2017, LA300 with all documents. This had the following options added compared to the base model. Full two-tone dashboard. Retractable mirrors. Rear head-rests. Factory fitted alloys. Multi-color meter display (base model has an orange display) It had 5000 km on the clock with very minor scratches on the body. Negotiated with him and bought for a fair price. Since then I've been using it for more than 1 and half years and had run more than 20k kms (the total is around 26k km). There had been no issues with the car up-to now. Since it came with Kobe warranty, I had to service it with A*to Miraj. Generally, they did a good job with the car. External appearance The car has a very cute (non-aggressive) appearance. To me, the front-end and side looks okay but the back-end looks a bit odd. If you want to make a statement, this is not the car for you. The 155/65/R14 tyres looks skinny and doesn't add well to the appearance (most common with small 660 cc cars). Overall, I guess it's alright for the price you pay. The silver body paint looks good on the car and needs little maintenance to keep it shiny. Interior appearance Diahatsu Mira has a lot of leg space available for both front and rear passengers. For me, its identical to the Vezel RS. The seats are made of fabric (forgot to take a picture) and feels comfortable opposed to the Japan Alto. The dashboard looks okay with very basic controls. This minimalist feel extends to the steering wheel as well. I had it wrapped for better grip and protection. The gear leaver in the middle looks a bit odd and would have preferred it to be between the seats. Unfortunately, Mira doesn't have a lot of rear boot space. Sometimes the weekly groceries alone completely consumes the entire boot space. Therefore, you cannot use this car for outings with friends. The rear headrests comes in handy and IMHO, its the best thing (apart from the factory alloys) about buying a X grade car. The drive This is the best thing about the Mira. It feels surprisingly comfortable for a car of this category. This is due to the perfect suspension balance setting. Even the steering feel is acceptable compared to typical Toyota cars with numb feeling. This is perfect for daily city commuting. However, taking bends with a bit of soul and moderate speed seems to unsettle the car. Moreover, it feels unstable after 90+ kmph. Therefore, be extra careful and responsible when using the car. The 660cc power-house is alright for driving leisurely in the city. It feels nippy and feels excellent for driving in traffic. However, things starts to go south when you are in a hurry or a sudden need to accelerate arises. Overtaking at speeds over 50 kmph needs to be done with a bit of planning. IMHO the engine feels a bit more powerful and refined than a WagonR of the same year. The Mira also managed to pull effortlessly on a steep hill upwards (even I had second thoughts before attempting the climb). The car is at its best in the 30 to 50 kmph range. I have accelerated till 110 kmph and progress after 90 kmph is very minimal. The idle-stop is alright but you feel the car while starting (not refined compared to hybrids). I usually turn it off during traffic. The brakes seems very progressive and linear. They do a good job to stop the car up-to moderate speeds. Braking during high speeds makes the car a bit unstable (maybe because I'm used to driving the Vezel which had way bigger tyres and all disk brakes) . Fuel efficiency The guy who sold me the car claimed 20 kmpl which I was hilarious about. However, to my surprise the car did 16 kmpl on the very first run. Unsure about the results I topped it again and found out that it did the above amount continuously. After getting familiar with the car, I'm currently getting 17.5 to 18.5 (even though the car says 19.5+) kmpl during ordinary work days. This went up-to 23 kmpl during morning school holidays (and when I regularly came home during night with no traffic). To give a bit of context, during most days I drive 60+ kms daily via the Galle road with little traffic on mornings and moderate traffic (except the notorious Wellawatta block) on evenings. To compare with please find my previous vehicle's calculated efficiency below. 1997 Toyota Corolla 110 Diesel 2.0 Auto - 8.5 kmpl (had 200+ kms on the clock) 2003 Toyota Vios 1.5 Auto - 9 kmpl 2007 Toyota Belta 1.3 CVT - 10 ~ 10.5 kmpl 2002 Suzuki Alto Japan 0.66 Auto - 11 ~ 12 kmpl 2016 Vezel RS hybrid DCT - 13 - 14 kmpl Therefore, the car was very easy on the wallet for me. One thing I must say that, I'm not a very aggressive driver. I try to stick to the indicators and drive (most of the time). Maybe its the reason I'm getting good efficiency. Maintenance This car had required only the routine maintenance up-to now. Since the car came with free services, I had to pay about 12 000 rupees per service (average). Please refer the image below (yes, I maintain all records of the car). Tyres and brake pads are still in good condition after 26k kms of driving. The insurance is a bit expensive. I guess its common for all the new cars. With C*linco V*P, I parted 80 000 rupees for a valuation of 2.9 million with all covers and 2 years of no claim bonus. Guess it's worth their service. Overall verdict Buy the car if... You need to buy your first car/ needs a second small car. You need a comfortable A-to-B car. You need a car with less repairs. You need a car with good fuel efficiency, You need a car with plenty of interior space. You need a car to tackle the daily traffic. You enjoy the low engine vibration during idle (Opposed to cars such as 3-pot Vitz) Do not buy the car if... You drive aggressively (My friend does this and he claims his LA350 does 13 kmpl). You need to make a statement with the car. You need ground clearance. You regularly drive up-hill. You need a big boot. You expect all fancy tech. There you go! My honest review regarding the Diahatsu Mira LA300. Hope this will help people for making informed decisions. Cheers!!! ?
    6 points
  27. ...and in the blink of an eye 3 years have gone by. It only occurred to me/us when the dealer called up to remind us of the upcoming shaken inspection and tax payment and to inquire what I wanted to do with the car loan. So off to inspection it went and decided to totally pay off the car. So now she is totally mine At the 3 year mark I have put 10,xxxkms on it and each one of those kms have been more smile worthier than the other. Interestingly as the engine broke in the car became more lively as the engine was way more rev happy. In 2022 GR Garage started a personalization program called GR Personal Selection. The program offered owners the chance to take the car for a track day, drive it and tune the car according to their own driving style. This included a software upgrade which bumped up torque to 390Nm (an increase of 20Nm from the stock 370), adjustments to steering weight, throttle response and AWD torque split. Unfortunately, the track days didn't work out with my schedule so got it tuned to some presets that were offered. So now the car has 390Nm of torque, heavier steering and high throttle response. I didn't do anything with the torque split of the AWD system as I felt the changes introduced a bit of understeer which I didn't like. The upgrades have made the car a lot easier to drive. So much so my wife, who always made the car leap from stand still or jerk when accelerating and shifting gears, found it a lot easier to drive than before. I bought the GR Yaris completely out of impulse. The original plan was to buy a standard Yaris with a MT until the GR Corolla was released. Thus, once the GR Corolla was released in Japan I had to go try it out and put my name down for one. The GR Corolla was a nice car. It is a lot easier to drive. The two rear doors make the car a lot more practical. The car does have a larger cargo area, however the usable space is not that much larger than the GR Yaris. The best thing about the GR Corolla is the engine improvements. The power delivery is much smoother and the engine is more responsive (the updated engine is going to be offered in the facelifted GR Yaris). Performance wise, although the GRC has more power, you cannot not actually feel it due to the added weight. Track runs have shown both cars to be equal in things like 0-100 times, etc...the main difference seems to be in terms of handling. The consensus seems to be that the GRY is better for rallying and B-roads (due to the shorter wheelbase) and the GRC is better for track use. Which brings me to what I did not like in the GRC. The weight...and the longer wheelbase. The GRC feels less nimble and playful than the GRY. Albeit...straight line, flat-out..the GRC is a lot more stable. Which I support is in line with the above mentioned consensus. So, after a lot of driving around in the GRC and a track day with the GRC and a bunch of other GR cars, I decided to stick with the GR Yaris (I was hoping to keep the GRY and buy the GRC as a second family car for its practicality. Wife insisted I had to trade in the GRY). Then there was the whole purchase method for the GRC. The cars were offered only through lottery with each round of lottery having only 550 cars (Toyota closed its 2nd lottery a few months ago and the next one is supposed to come up in a few months). To give you an idea of how crazy the lottery is....I went to the dealership/GR Garage to apply for the lottery the morning after the lottery started (1.00pm prev day). The system already showed 5000+ lottery applications. The low chances of actually winning the lottery reaffirmed my decision to hold on to the GRY. The GR Garage is a total car person's den. It has two racing sims, a library with car books, mini cars...and always has a selection of fun cars. In this instance they had their (Toyota Corolla dealership's) GRMN Yaris and GR Corolla Morizo edition apart from the white one in the previous pic). Now..the second moment of temptation.. I was so mad with Toyota that I went and ordered a Civic Type R. Now that was a very refined car. FWD and wonderfully balanced. Interior was well appointed. The adaptive suspension was quite good. The car came in at 4.9mil yen fully loaded (compared to the GRC's price of 5.8mil) and the car made you feel special for all that money you spent on it. At the time of placing the order the delivery period was 4 years. To my good fortune, Honda called last December and said I could have mine in April 2024 if I still wanted it. So... am I getting a Civic Type R in April ? I suppose we will have to wait and see. For now..life goes on with the GRY .... Yes...we still have the old Corolla. She turns 25 this year and has 52,000km. Still runs strong and along with her shaken inspection next week I will be replacing some oil seals (for good measure as some are 25 years old and some 10). Other than that I replaced two engine mounts and replaced the clutch and pressure plates about 2 years ago Its amazing how small the Corolla wagon is compared to the GRY. The day Toyota was crazy enough to ask a bunch of us to drive their cars The blue Supra was a manual and LOVED it ! If I could have afforded it that would be a car I would give up the GRY for in less than a heart beat. The pure grunt and glorious sound of a V8 was mesmerizing. Now....about that family car I wanted until a new toy comes around. Because the chances of getting a GRC was so low...the dealership managed to sell us a facelifted Corolla Touring ! Our/my first Hybrid car. The facelift has some exterior/interior design improvements, but the main change is the hybrid system. It now uses a 5th gen HSD mated to a 1.8L engine. Has a total combined output of about 137? hp and tons of torque thanks to an updated control unit and lighter batteries (so it has more power than the pre-facelift model and weighs less). It is interesting how the system handles the charge/discharge. The car does not let the battery charge up to a 100%. Only time it does is when driving long distances on the highway or going up and and down hills. At such times it just starts cruising on EV mode. Its biggest let down is the eCVT and has a little bit space than the old Corolla wagon...but everything else is pretty sweet. All in-all the (temporary ?) purchase of the Corolla Touring worked out quite well considering some unexpected life changes.
    5 points
  28. All mechanical work on the project Moggie will discuss here. This was the differential original status. Cleaned & painted differential Back brake liners were wet with leaked differential oil because of weak oil seals. Found matching oil seal from local market and hope it will fix the leaking. Cleaned & painted brake shoes with newly applied liners. Cleaned and painted leaf springs Present status
    5 points
  29. Took one of my colleagues to check out the car which was in yakkala. The guy we bought from insisted that we get the car towed to wherever we were heading.He made me sign a piece of paper which says I'm solely responsible for whatever happens to me/occupants or to the car(this was my first red flag😂). The car had bold tyres on all four corners,Brakes only to the front wheels,no handbrake(not even the leaver), No horn, non of the gauges work,but a new battery. YAY!!!! 😂(Only thing which was made in this millennium) Everything made sense as soon as I got the car out of his property. I had to stand on the brake pedal to make the car slow down, not to stop, you cant literally stop the car but only to slow it. And there was a terrible wheel wobble above 40km/h. There were few times we thought we'd lost a tyre, it was that bad. The gear leaver was so sloppy even the CIA won't find the right gears. 2nd gear had a mind of its own, we could hear the gear teeth been chewed off when we try to change to 2nd. we drove from yakkala to Colombo and it took only 2 hours🤗. Rained cats and dogs mid way guess what?? Yeah the wiper motor was rooted too 😂. And to top it off windows wouldn't wind down because hand crank was missing. All in all it was a fun ride. Managed to get ourselves and the car safely to Colombo.
    5 points
  30. Had the car sat in the office parking for a few weeks. 1 because i was cought up with work and 2 i have to take the car home(kandy) to start working on it. Driving this death trap was out of the question. Got it towed from Colombo to kandy( boy it wasn't cheap).Got it home. My parents thought i bought a decommissioned hearse 🤦‍♂️🙆🏽‍♂️ Like i said before this is my take on restomod lets see how many of you can spot where this is heading towards 😉.🥺 The more i look at the car the more i find rust😅. Someone has tried to repair the chassis rails and had done a pretty bad job. It'd been welded with an arc welder 🤦‍♂️ අයියෝ සාන්ත !!!(check the photos). I get a feeling that this car had gone hand in had and nobody tried to repair it properly  I'll be taking the engine and transmission out next week to give it a once over.And also to check where my 2nd gear has gone.Btw i found the culprit behind the sloppy gear leaver.Also I've got a surprise for the build. Will post it if everything goes smoothly as planned. This is how i plan to break the build out. Rust repair tinkering and paint will be done by someone other than myself. Dont worry im definitely getting rid of that horrendous orange colour 😅 Drivetrain, wiring suspension will be done by me.I dont claim that i know everything and im not a "car guru". I know I'll make a heap of errors along the way. So please feel free to give your thoughts too. Im not hear to judge anyone but simply to build my perfect car.😊 I get to work on the car only on weekends because I work in Colombo and car is in Do please bare with me 🙏 At the moment car is sitting at home while I try to find a brave enough soul to start the rust work.I'd appreciate If anyone can recommend a tinker around kandy area that could take this job on without breaking the bank. ciao.
    5 points
  31. finally. finally i did it. i put this car on the map. nothing like some silverware in the display case to prove a point! not gonna say much. just this: 1st runner up, True Street Honda NA up to 2000cc. i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. that moment i got randika at the launch. happiest quarter second of my life! a few tweaks in the gearbox maybe for next time? i've done a few updates for this race. installed the Exedy stage 1 clutch, TODA Spec C cams, tuned, and installed the Tegiwa Powerchamber intake, with a cold air partition as well. the partition was locally made by Platinum, and completely seals with the hood when closed, so that air is directed into it from under the car. there's no loss of power during daytime heat, as demonstrated! also, i had some gremlins during the runs. first qualifier, my AC and alternator belts snapped. luckily i had a world class pit crew on hand, so they went to kalutara and brought back the belts from the only open spare parts shop "bimsara motors" (hence the hastily photoshopped "thanks to bimsara aiyya" sticker LOL). the platinum boys fixed it up on site. next, with the first qualifier, my throttle cable snapped after i defeated the s2000. guess i was a little too ecstatic about victory. that was fixed with cable ties. the OEM honda type R throttle cable will reach @The Don in UK soon. also the new clutch wasn't run in well enough, and i was missing second gear. was a nightmare. reverting back to the stock gear lever, instead of the skunk2 short shifter, as per advise from almost all the pro drivers. luckily found the ITR/CTR dual bend stock shifter also from the UK, and yes, Don's the man to bring that too. all in all, it was the most fun i had my entire life, i was thrilled beyond words to have won anything! i built a racecar AND I WON!
    5 points
  32. I’m pretty certain even a big boomer in a remote area of Sri Lanka recognise and praise the legendary Peugeot 504. Thats how good it was. It was a masterpiece and nothing less during it’s release. Then followed the faithful 406, a crowd favourite in Lanka. Tried and tested. Value for money even compared to an Indian Alto. After that things just turned shiiiiit. I’m confident everyone here has seen that Top Gear episode on “modern day Peugeot’s” and had a good laugh, I know I did. Then that decade ended and 2011 hit… SAY HI TO THE PEUGEOT 508.THE CAR THAT MADE PEUGEOT BREATHE AGAIN. Keen eyes will notice the Birth and Reincarnation of the mighty brand. Well we all know what the 508 did to pug. It made the brand get-off life support. Thanks to this car we see that beauty on the road named mkii 3008. This car really upped the game. The style/safety/tech(good lord the tech) and performance really nailed it. Handling was superb yet comfy, can really shame most cars out there. Available in both petrol and diesel. Station wagon models never made it to Lanka. But we do have a RXH here. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but nigga you think this ugly. You blind. I have had so many nice cars and yet this is the one that keeps me coming back to. You are right if you think the front end has mustang vibes. I’ve briefly owned a 2017 Mustang Convertible in silver and they do have resemblance. After all they both got the iconic “3 stripe” tail lights. I’m biased but I think it’s one of the best designs out there. Fight me lol. Till next chapter, here’s what you’ll see at night if you like it one shot style LMAO. Peace ✌🏼
    3 points
  33. Twenty-20 was a strange year for all of us (with no guarantees and nothing but feelings of optimism of 2021 being better); and it also would happen to be the year we moved back to Japan after 4 years in Vietnam (in just 72 hours’ notice as opposed to a planned departure/move in June). Upon our arrival we went through 5 weeks of self-imposed quarantine due to various internal moves…anyway…enough about that. As much as we love the Corolla wagon, it was apparent that the car was neither efficient nor safe. As fun as the car is, you can really feel the car’s fragility doing 100+ kmph on the freeway. Thus ensued the hunt for an economical, safe, family friendly hatchback. The two main contenders were the Yaris and the new Fit. Both are really nice cars and the Fit had a nice feel to its drive but felt a bit too restrained and grandfather-ish compared to the Yaris which was more youthful. Fuel economy wise both offer attractive figures and are quite good in the safety department with active safety features such as 6+ airbags being standard along with driver assist tech like lane depature warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert as standard. Some might wonder why none of the offerings from Nissan were considered..and why not even the safe Aqua. Well...my view was that at the time of us looking for a car, both the Aqua and eNote (and the March) were very dated cars. the platforms and tech was old..and they looked old. Thus, a 1.5L Manual transmission Yaris was on the table (sadly there wasn’t a single manual test drive car anywhere in the prefecture thus could drive only a Hybrid CVT). I could not take a photo of the exact car we test drove…but it was a Z grade 1.5L Hybrid CVT much like the one in the following pic but in, might I say rather attractive, Avant-garde bronze metallic.
    3 points
  34. Haven't had much time to work on the car. Few parts came in the mail though First off the ECU. YES! An ECU 😂. I'll be converting the stock carb A12 to EFI.Since this engine going to be boosted its much easier and safe to change fueling and ignition through a laptop than fiddling with jet sizes and distributor springs and what not. This is a low cost DIY Arduino based ECU called "Speeduino". Took me few days to assemble the ecu as it comes in individual parts. This little guy can run engines upto 8 cylinders. Has an 250kpa internal map sensor too. Since its arduino based I'll be adding a bluetooth module to communicate with the ecu wirelessly. Managed to 3d print and enclosure for the ecu out of abs plastic. Im still sceptical about the ecu connector. But this this will have to work for now. One more thing came in the mail 😅 Its a 1100cc e85 compatible (not that i need ) injector. I'll be running and SPI (single point injection) set up for now. This will flow more than enough fuel for the engine.
    3 points
  35. Bodywork started after disassembling almost all parts. Remain only the outer shell of the car with wiring harness which can not pullout easily. Gauge 14 & 18 zinc coated metal sheets used for most places. Firstly cut the right side of the chassis and welded new bar. Then the left side and floor board plates one by one. All door bottoms, front and back wings repaired. Mean time door hinge pins refilled at a lathe workshop. Finally attached all doors and wings again to check the aligning. Carbide 9kg and a oxygen cylinder consumed for this works.
    3 points
  36. Restoration work began. The idea is to work at home. Found a person to do the tinker work. I do the mechanical work and hoping to do the paint job as well in the future. Firstly removed the interior parts such as car seats. After that, the four doors were removed. Then front and back wings, bonnet & boot. Finally the differential and the engine were removed.
    3 points
  37. The car was exposed to the sunlight & rain for a long time. So there was corrosion on almost all body panels and floorboard too. Cleaned the plug wires, filled the tank, connected a charged battery and attempt to start it. After several attempt it started. The destination (my home) was 120 km and we started the journey around 11.00 am. As I was aware cars condition, selected rural roads. Brakes were very weak. So could not exceed 30kmh. During the trip had to replace a tire and the fan belt. Finally reached to the destination around 9.00 pm. Here are some initial condition pictures. Special thanks should go to @Davy for encouraging me to write this in a discussion.
    3 points
  38. Care to share some enthusiasm? The swift needs no introduction. Along with the Jimny, it's Suzuki's biggest money maker. It's a popular car among young enthusiasts, Tuners and ricers alike in Australia, Pakistan, India, Japan, Europe, Thailand and even here in Sri Lanka. It's the best selling hatchback in some of those countries. Alot has been documented on these cars in the internet due to its popularity as a grocery getter, learner-mobile and fun to drive machine. Suzuki took it rallying too and it is a popular budget track/autocross car. The Go The base JDM version has the M13A (equipped with DOHC & VVT, pushing 91hp) while our car having been the indian ZXi, had the G13BB engine (SOHC & Non-VVT, 86hp) , which is shared with the Zen, Gypsy, Jimny, Cultus & Esteem (not to be confused with the iconic G13B in the Cultus GTi). It's a simple engine, reliable and very economical. Nothing special here. It was discontinued after 2010 but new parts are plenty. Can be ordered from India, Japan, China and some other Suzuki engine parts are interchangeable. The gearbox is a 5-speed, smooth and is nice to use. The clutch on the Indian version is known to be weak though. Our car had an Exedy set on it and it was decent. The Looks It's a carbon copy of the Japan swift. The only differences are: 1) The antenna on the Indian version is upfront while it's on the back on the JDM version 2) The Wheel wells have a bit more gap due to the slightly taller suspension 3) There's a VXI/ZXi badge & ABS sticker on the trunk A smart looking hatchback, and the Azure gray paint suited it well. Not a Pininfarina product but not an ugly little bread loaf either. Only gripe for me were the 14 inch rims and the wheel gap which needed a bit of reduction. Shifting the Swift Swifts are stiff cars, this is a well known fact. Ours even had a set of KYB Excel Gs upfront so there goes. Body roll is minimal and the car is stable but they are uncomfortable for very long trips. But who cares when you are tackling the corners with joy and making the passengers sick. Compared to a March or Vitz, it's slightly more spacious and it's tall so visibility is awesome. I'm 5'8" and my dad is 5'10" and both of us fit well in the driver's seat and had ample headroom. Space and dimensions are exactly the same. Interior is the same too except there is no fuel economy calculator & external temperature thermometer. The Indian version is prone to rattles when it ages, they did exist in our car but it wasn't annoying and occured only when traveling on rough roads. Don't be fooled by the 200km/h speedo. V-max is 165km/h, 0-100 takes nearly 12 seconds but that's not the point. This car is all about the 'driving a slow car fast is fun' philosophy. It's no slouch either, as it is lightweight, it can pull off overtakes pretty well and has decent torque at low rpms to compensate for the 86 pony powers. It's a fun little bugger, never failed to make me smile. Some reviews compare it to a go-kart, it kicked off an affordable tuner culture in India, Jeremy Clarkson said the Sport version is better than the Mini of that year and James May said the 1.5 is a fun thing. What it lacked in power, it made up for in handling. Bells and whistles The ZXi has dual airbags, ABS/EBD, Auto AC with LCD screen, multifunction steering, rear defroster, rear wiper, 14" alloys including the spare tyre(same ones as the JDM 'Style' edition) shod with 185/70/R14 tyres. All these options are absent on the VXi and the tyres are 165/70/R14, hence I do not recommend the VXi for safety reasons. Indian cars have a reputation for being death traps,but the ZXi is an exception. It may not be solid as the JDM swift but its worlds above any other Indian hatchback. Like stated earlier, it's stable and solid enough for its size and weight, which is 1010kg (dry). Do keep that in mind when considering a car for a budget of under 2 million. Frankly, it's the only Indian car I'd recommend. Care to Mod? Alot of possibilities but If I could, I'd put a nice cat back exhaust & Cold air intake, flash the ECU, put 195/60/R15 tyres with a good set of 15" alloys as the chassis' potential is restricted by the stock wheels. Then for cosmetics, a Swift Sport Bumper front and back with a twin exhaust muffler, a subtle spoiler and a set of projector headlamps is more than enough. Or just swap in an M16A from a Swift Sport/SX4 and call it a week. A check through the TeamBHP forums will show guides on DIY mods and cases of turbocharging, engine swap and tuning too. What to specifically look for when buying *The interiors are of good quality but find one which hasn't been baked under the sun. *It seems overheating is a common issue of all Swifts (Indian and Japanese), so inspect the engine bay for any oil leaks or stains which are signs of gasket/seal failures. Inspect the paint on the hood, if there are tiny dots of popped metal/paint, it could be a sign of an overheated car. *These cars can be cornered and used hard, so keep an ear out for rattles and clicks from the suspension during the test drive. This is a 12 year old car afterall. *Check the engine bay, sills, underbody, wheel wells, under the rear seat & spare Tyre compartment for rust. Due to age and quality of the metal used in the Indian version, it's not scary but it's inevitable. Ours was well maintained yet had a tiny spot of rust in the spare tyre compartment and engine bay, still miles better than what I have seen in recent model Altos. Economy Obviously the Indian is cheaper to buy than the JDM, parts are cheaper/similar pricing as the JDM and fuel economy is better. *JDM manual does an average of 10-14kmpl *JDM auto does around 8-11kmpl *Indian manual, does an average of 11-16kmpl As of 2020, Expect to pay 1.85 - 1.9 mil for a 2008 ZXi (150k less for the VXi). All 2008 cars will have the magical 80k - 100k mileage on the odometer so don't bother believing that. If budget permits, a Japanese manual is a better equipped choice (provided one comes up for sale, as they are rare here). Expect to pay around 1.9-2.0 mil for a 2006 version. It's a shame to see the swift ZXi included in the 'Indian cars are crappy tin cans' package, just because the build quality isn't upto jap standards. No point in arguing with the bayyas and sales people either. It's a decent all rounder, as reliable as a japan swift, was alot of fun and proved to be good value for money. Ours was with us for a short time but I'll really miss it
    3 points
  39. Today, my review is based on one of the most frequently seen cars on SL roads; Toyota Axio Hybrid. Since the car was first introduced in 2012 only as a gasoline variant continuing the 1NZ-FE engine, the Hybrid variant was introduced in 2013. So most people went for the hybrid variant instead of going for the gasoline variant. The the car received a minor facelift in 2015 together with the addition of the Toyota Safety Sense C (link about Safety Sense C- https://www.toyota.com/content/ebrochure/CFA_TSS_C.pdf). From the introduction, the car still remains as one of the most imported cars to SL. Here in this review I'm going to focus mainly on the driving dynamics and build quality. First of all, the looks. Yeah I know that it is not a head turner at all, but I really don't like the exterior look of the pre facelift variant (apologizing from all the owners). The facelifted version looks much better IMO but that is totally based on my personal opinion. Here my review is based on a 2014 Hybrid G variant. So I'll start with the topics. Interior We all know that most people were let down by the interior quality of the 2007-2011 Axio NZE141, due to really cheap and plasticy looking bits and pieces. So the newer version seems nice at the first glance. I really like the soft padding on the door panels and on the passenger side of the dashboard. When you close the door, you'll feel a bit of solidity. Design wise, 161 interior is better than the 141 in almost all the aspects except for the area where the gear shifter is located. On the 141 model the dashboard continues towards the front armrest as a one piece, but on the 161 it looks kind of seperated. This creates an empty space around the gear shitfter, giving the impression of a much more cheaper car. Watch closer and you'll notice the cost cutting effects which took place around the cabin. First one is the hard plastic dashboard top. On the previous 141 generation, the dashboard top panel was finished with a soft touch material. On the G grades, same material was continued on the upper parts of the door panels (dark grey part). But on the 161 Toyota have gone with the cheaper hard plastics. But they would not bring out the dashboard cracking issues which were existed on the 2007-2008 models. Main competitor of the Axio Hybrid, Honda Grace have a much more exciting interior with tons of silver insertings and colourful lighting in the dash. Compared to Grace, Axio's interior looks kind of bland for me, but the feels that it is a bit solid than the Grace. Seating is a bit improved from the 141. You'll get more side support on the front seats and seats are a bit softer (maybe due to the velvet like covers used). Front seating positions are okay and are mainly catered for a comfortable ride than a sporty ride. This car has a good rear seating position for tall passengers. On the Allion/ Premio thigh support is insufficient on the back seats due to lower positioned bench. But on the Axio Hybrid, thigh support is really good for tall passengers. Again you'll notice a cost cutting attempt on the back seats. Fixed headrest. Shame on you Toyota. You'll only get adjustable headrests in the Luxel variant, but there are only a few and those are gasoline versions. Leg space is okay and a bit better than the 141, but lacks when compared to Grace. Still most people would find the interior space is adequate. Options Almost equal to 141, but lesser than the Grace. You'll find Stability control and Electronic brake force distribution which was only available in the Luxel of the 141. Also you'll get nanoe (generates ions with water particles to reduce skin drying out when using the AC). From 2015 facelift, safety features became standard throughout all the grades. But thw two front tweeters came with the G limited and above variants of the 141 were absent. Actually there is nothing more to say about the options, so let's move on to discuss how it drives. Driving Once you sit on an Axio Hybrid you'll have to totally forget that you are in a driver's car. I mean "TOTALLY". Even from the earlier days most Toyotas are not famous for sportier rides, but there was a very little amount of enjoyment left. VERY LITTLE. But here, it is NONE. Even boring cars like Allions, Premios, 141s, Aquas, Prius and suprisingly the gasoline variant of the 161 Hybrid feels much more engaging to drive than the Hybrid Axio (But still miles behind other cars like Mazda Axela). I drove it on a twisty road and I got ZERO feedback from the steering. No weight. Numb. You can't predict how the tires would react to your input given through the steering. I almost met with an accident when I took a bend after speeding a bit on a straight road, because I was unable to predict how the car would react to the steering input given by me. The problem is when you drive the car at higher speeds you cannot predict the amount you'll need to turn the steering wheel to take the bend. Even the boat like Allions and Premios have a little weight to the steering which would help you a bit in this kind of occasions. Aqua shares the same powertrain with the Axio hybrid, but feels more nimble and sharper to drive. But this issue is less pronounced when you drive the car slowly. It is dead easy to drive and maneuver around the town due to this lightness. But on corners, the car has plenty of grip than the previous generation. I experienced a noticeable reduction in body roll when compared it with the 141 Axio. Also when you do over 100kmph the car feels well planted on the road than the previous gen ( 141 Axio felt like the car is flying, when the speed is over 120kmph). I remember that Toyota had repeatedly mentioned on their japanese site that the high speed stability was enhanced, at the time when the new model was first introduced. Then the acceleration. On speeds below 50-60kmph it has adequate torque. The motor gives sudden bursts of torque on demand, so it's easy in traffic and low speeds. When you put your foot down, for a brief period you'll really feel the assistance of the motor, but then it slowly fades away around 50-60kmph. For me it does not feel as fast as the 141 Axio ( Let's not compare it with the the Honda's equipped with i-DCD Hybrid System). The car weighs about 1150kg with 110 combined horsepower, but the 1310kg weighing Civic FD3 feels much more livelier and responsive even though it has the same amount of combined horsepower. Again, for day to day driving the powertrain is more than adequate. I know most of you feel disappointed about the driving dynamics about this car at this moment. But you should not forget that it's a Toyota's entry level hybrid. It serves all the purposes which it was intended to fulfill. A major plus point that you can experience in this car is the fuel economy. In freely moving traffic it gives around 15-17kmpl. Long distances would help to squeeze out around 25kmpl. I don't have much knowledge or details about the fuel economy levels, but I would be glad if owners can post the figures as comments. Then the smoothness. When compared to Honda's hybrid systems ; specially the i-DCD Hybrid systems in Fit, Vezel and Grace, the Axio Hybrid is silky smooth. The integration of the engine and the motor is seamless. You won't notice a single sign while the car changing from the motor to the engine, except for the slight engine whirling sound. As I mentioned earlier in this forum, there is a bit of as issue with the Honda i-DCD Hybrid system at the beginning of a steep hill. It feels like the gearbox is confused to choose the correct gear. You won't experience that in the Toyota. It just goes. The powertrain of the Toyota Hybrid system feels polished than the Honda's. Another benefit is the comfort level and refinement. The car is comfortable over bumps than the Honda's due to the softer suspension setup, but not as good as an Allion or a Premio. It's on par with the previous gen IMO. Road noise levels are also low and the hybrid system helps to eliminate the engine noise during lower speeds. I notice a huge difference in comfort and refinement levels in the Honda Grace when compared to the Axio Hybrid. Grace is bumpy and the suspension feels busy over bumps. Harder seats worsen it further. So for doing long distances Axio Hybrid is the best option due to the fuel economy and refinement levels. What we should not forget is that the purposes it was built for and those are economy and easy drive. Issues and Reliability Since I drove the car for a brief period, I cannot comment much about the reliability. The owner of the car (a close friend), I've driven bought it in 2014 as a Zero mileage unit and still owns it without an issue. Now the car has done around 60,000kms. I've heard about premature battery failure, but haven't met an owner who had to experience it. But there is a possibility for that due to the fact that it shares the same powertrain with the Aqua, which is famous for the same issue. Other than that, haven't heard about any complaints. Verdict At the end, all I have to say is that the Axio Hybrid would satisfy you if you expect what it can deliver at its best. Don't look for it expecting handling levels that would put a smile on your face. The issue of the steering wheel can only risky when you push the car to its limits, but if not, that is perfectly tolerable for a typical SL driver. I'd name it as a car which is perfectly suited for the typical SL driver. At the end I have to say that this review is based on none other than my personal experiences. Feel free to highlight the flaws and mistakes, as it would be helpful for my next review. Thank You for reading. -alpha17- For details about grades and variations, you can visit the links below 2012/05 - http://cdn.toyota-catalog.jp/catalog/pdf/corolla-3/corolla-3_201205.pdf 2013/04 - http://cdn.toyota-catalog.jp/catalog/pdf/corolla-3/corolla-3_201304.pdf 2013/08 - http://cdn.toyota-catalog.jp/catalog/pdf/corolla-3/corolla-3_201308.pdf 2015/03 - http://cdn.toyota-catalog.jp/catalog/pdf/corolla-3/corolla-3_201503.pdf
    3 points
  40. Hey guys, So just planned to do quick review after driving a specific car as it would help most of the people who seek out details about a particular model. Those entries contain details about how the car is like to drive, comfort level, build quality and interesting facts(if there are any). So I will be unable to post details about long term ownership and maintenance. This review is based on Honda Fit GP5, which is one of the most common cars in SL roads and one of my favourite cars to drive. Driving I have driven this car in hilly areas, bends, stretches and bad roads. So I will be able to give a brief idea about how it is likely to drive. The first thing you notice when you get into a Honda (specially if you are a Toyota owner) how the seating position, dash layout wraps around you. It just makes you feel like you are sitting in a driver’s car. The seating position feels much sporty and lowered. The Honda’s Earth Dreams Hybrid system (even though it has those early clutch replacements and a bit unrefined nature) is a joy to drive. The acceleration is really good even when the car is filled with 5 adults. I drove the car from Padukka to Kegalle once with 5 adults and I never felt that it was underpowered. The Fit will do 0-100kmph around 8-9seconds but I never tested that. But trust me the car has more than enough grunt for day to day driving and sudden overtakes. The steering is really light with a little bit of weight, but much sharper than a toyota. It goes where you direct without a delay. In corners it’s steady, feels much more planted and rigid. Given the size and power, the car is miles ahead in the driving area when compared with a Toyota Aqua, the main competitor. You can corner this really hard without any slips or stability issues. But the issue you’ll find with this car is the unrefined nature of the hybrid system. When you are going slowly round the town, the throttle response is a bit hideous. Sometime you really have to put your foot down to make it get going. When the engine kicks in, it’s much less of a trouble. This is existant in all the three i-DCD equipped models, Grace and Vezel also. Another thing that a felt is that due to the high amount of torque generated by the motor, the car is a bit hard to control during small manevours and specially entering into a garage with a bump. You’ll have to be a bit carefull or otherwise the car will jump forward. Around the town the car is a breeze to handle due to low turning radius and light steering. Comfort When compared with an Aqua, the ride is pretty comfortable, but not as a sedan with softer suspension setting, such as an Axio Hybrid. The seats are on the firm side and the suspension too, but for me the car feels a bit more comfortable than the Aqua. Also the seats hold you better when cornering providing good side support. One thing that you’ll notice is the amount of leg space for the both front and rear occupents when considering the size of the car. It’s really adorable. One day I drove a Fit from Kadawatha to Kegalle and after the journey I felt a bit tired which I never felt in my 121. That’s due to the stiffer suspension and a bit higher road noise levels since it’s a hatch. Interior Quality Most of the materials used are hard plastic. But the finish makes it feel a bit more upmarket. The door panels and dash are nicely finised with silver accents and piano black insertings, so I find the car to be miles ahead when compared with Aqua, Vitz and even the 3rd Gen Prius. The car has much more options such as paddle shifters, brake hold and LCD colour multi information display. Interesting Features and facts -The climate control system is touch sensitive, which cannot be seen on far more expensive car models. It’s really cool, but sometimes a bit harder to control on the move. -During a hard braking, the signal lights alert the rear driver by doing fast pulses. -When you pass 100kmph, there is not much power left. -Just like most Honda’s the original speakers are really good. Make sure to use a good head unit or keep the original japanese one than replacing with a crappy chinses head unit. Overall the GP5 is a car that I really love to drive and would fit a small family with kids nicely. The economy is good but not good as an Aqua. But beware of the dual clutch system and the hybrid battery when you are buying one. This review is based on my personal experiences and other people might have different opinions. If there is anything wrong or inappropriate please let me know. Also that this review is not sufficient as a deciding factor for a new car since it omly covers about the brief time period of driving experience but not MAINTENANCE AND DAILY DRIVING. Looking forward for your comments?Thank you for reading! Cheers! -alpha17-
    3 points
  41. What does one do when there’s nothing left to do? The interior! Picked up a beauty of a steering wheel from Dubai, since I last destroyed mine while trying to clean it. Plan is to send the old one to the UK for reupholstery. And the floor mats mats off of the OEM ITR sedan. These are mint!!
    3 points
  42. We are very excited to introduce all the new features and improvements to AutoLanka Forum, after the successful update which was carried out on 30th July 2017. 5GB Attachment Space - Now each member will receive 5GB of space to upload images. Please make use of our Gallery & Blog facilities to share your motoring related contents with fellow forum members and the general public. We will be increasing this limit time to time and if any of the members reach its limit, feel free to contact us to request more space. This will be a free service offered by autolanka for all of our members. Clubs - Clubs are a brand new way of supporting sub-communities within our site. Any member can create a new club under AutoLanka. Our aim is to centralize all automotive clubs in one place so that they can promote their club activities to the general public. Reactions - Offer more fine-grained sentiments towards content than a simple up/down or 'like'. They are now in common usage on social networks, and so users expect to be able to be more nuanced in their response to something they see. Complete Your Profile - Encourage or require members to fill out the details on their profile. Also now allows for quick registration to encourage joining. And a whole lot more..here is the full list! Leaderboard Enhancements Richer Embeds Group Promotion Improvement Fluid Forum View Member History Editor Uploading Improvements Authy Integration Commerce Improvements Gallery Improvements Statistic Reporting Copy Topic to Database Downloads Index Page Blog Sidebar Promoting Content Clubs Reactions Calendar Venues Social Sign In Streamlining Calendar Add Similar Event Gallery Lightbox Navigation Letter Profile Photos Device Management Delayed Deletes Calendar Event Reminders Content Messages Recommended Replies Complete Your Profile We hope you enjoy the updated AutoLanka Forum !!
    3 points
  43. The first question when a tourist visit to Sri Lanka is, "why you guys are honking this much?". A question that I even don't know the answer. We Sri Lankans uses our car horn for every reason. If we see a friend; we honk, if we see an enemy; we honk, if we see a girl; we honk, if we want to overtake; we honk, we are rather than driving the car; we honk the horn. In my personal experience, near Orugodawatte Junction in the morning time we can hear more than 25 honks per minute. Following are some honking etiquettes that I presume too good to share. When is it appropriate to use your horn? Generally, you should only honk the horn when reasonably necessary to insure safe driving. For example, if your brakes have gone out, honk to alert other drivers. Use your horn to promote safe driving However, there are times when it is common and acceptable to use your horn when there’s no immediate threat of a crash. Keep in mind that there is a big difference between giving a quick “beep” and laying on your horn with an obnoxious “BEEEEEEEEEEP”. For example, if the driver in front of you at a red light is not paying attention when the light changes to green, wait at least 4 seconds and then give a light, quick tap on the horn. If another driver is driving too close to the lane line or almost hits you, it is appropriate to give a quick “beep” to let them know that they made a driving error and need to be more cautious. A quick honk of the horn can mean “Watch what you’re doing!” Don’t use your horn to vent frustration Your horn is not a way for you to tell another driver you don’t like their driving. If someone’s driving creates an ongoing danger, call the police. Never lay on your horn out of frustration with another driver. Many instances of road rage begin with aggressive horn honking. You never know another driver’s state of mind, the kind of day they’re having, or how they’ll react to your blaring horn. Your safety is the top priority, so be calm when driving. If you must honk your horn at someone, do it lightly. Also, do not yell, mouth words, or use hand gestures to show your anger. Don’t use your horn to ask “What’s Happening?” Do not honk at your friends because this could alarm other drivers. You may startle another driver into slamming on their brakes, aborting their turn, or performing some other dangerous maneuver. Your horn is not a way to say “Hey” as you drive past your friends. No, your horn cannot magically clear a traffic jam If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, don’t honk. It isn’t going to make the situation any better; in fact, it will make it worse for everyone around you. Unless you are in a parade or stuck in a parking garage after your favorite baseball team just won the World Series, you should never lay on your horn in traffic. Honking is sometimes against the law In some cities, honking your horn between certain hours is against the law. I don’t think anyone will miss the neighborhood carpool mom honking at 6:00 a.m. to get the kids outside. You don’t have to worry about breaking the law if you use your horn only when absolutely necessary. Not wanting to get out of the car and ring the doorbell is not grounds for using your horn. Honk if you’re … Honking does not always pertain to alerting other drivers. Honking has become a way of showing support. For example, some people honk when they drive past students having car wash fund raisers. In Detroit, a U.S. District Judge ruled that not allowing “honking for peace” in anti-war demonstrations would be against the First Amendment. The bottom line is to refrain from immediately reacting to a driver’s “wrong” move by laying on your horn or even giving a quick beep. People make mistakes and sometimes you need to just let it go rather than using your horn to vent. The simple rule: only use your horn when necessary. When practicing with your teen, watch how he or she reacts when other drivers make mistakes. Discuss why honking would or would not have been appropriate for each situation. Thank you! Danushka.
    2 points
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