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  1. Resurrecting an almost useless thread to post my views; As some of the fellow autolankans requested I'd like to add my humble, non-professional, not entirely scientific review on the Nissan Leaf 2013-2015 G grade Well to start off with it was acquired by my father after letting go of a 13 year serving CR51, bullet proof reliable vehicle. Sad moment indeed, Do note all facts and figures on this post are from October 2015, given the rapid advancement in the industry, figures may change in months. Before moving on to the car proper, the leaf charges on a 20A circuit, so you need to have a dedicated line with a 32A circuit breaker and 2.5mm 3 Core wiring (250LKR per metre) to power it, also it uses a non-generic NEMA 20 Plug that can take 20A, however these plugs are exploited by local retailers and sold for ridiculous prices. Also the charging cable (EVSE) itself is costly to replace, as of 2015 - LKR 100,000 Orange electricals produces a 13A Multisocket which so far can withstand this plug mismatch and somehow deliver near 20A with a bit of heat of course. All in all the wiring will cost LKR 5000 to 15000 depending on your requirements. Charging takes 4-5 hours if your capacity is below 20% As for fast charging, the current method is a big exploit and thereby I did not inquire or use that service, also the fast charge takes a toll on the drive battery, therefore I am playing it safe. I am yet to inquire into the Solar net metering system, and the new day/ night charging rate scheme by the government. Anyways my prime concern of this review and the purchase of this vehicle is not economy, so it ends here. My facts about the car will be scattered, in this article, as I believe this is how the average Joe would grasp it during a first drive. On first impressions, the car looked a bit awkwardly styled, but the look does grow on you, It is no ordinary hatchback as the car is in measurement few mm larger than the average townace, in length and breadth, and is just a few inches smaller than a KDH, Almost sounds jibberish, Silly fact indeed but you got to keep em side by side to realize this, and this in-turn makes parking an issue too. Sitting inside, it is indeed very futuristic, with the awkward gear knob, looks copied from a Pruis and a Beamer, it has two displays one for the usual driving data, and one for the "Lorax" in you, I will not go in depth with the gauges as I do not want this to be a user guide. The seats are not comfortable, on a long run they do take a toll on your back, however the leg spacing and the cabin is well arranged, Six footers need no warning thus not at all an average hatchback, the cargo area is also satisfactory, (coming from a guy who hauls his stuff in a pickup) The interior however is almost entirely plastic, even in its highest grade, UK trims do get rewarded with leather seats though. The door cards are rather thick, well insulated and leather lined, strangely! The roof liner is the conventional material pretty much what you get on every Toyota. The multifunction wheel, is not entirely that useful as the interface is in Japanese, a big fan of its premium leather wrap and small size though. Coming to the head unit, the thing is completely integrated into the car ECU, thereby making it impossible for an aftermarket upgrade, and almost all the advanced EV options are in Japanese, so pretty much useless, till you get google translator. To date there is no language conversion for the main unit, the only solution is to replace it with a UK unit. also the unit has a SD card, unique to each car, these cards are stolen during trials and in the harbour, without the Sd card, the entire head unit is useless and needs to be swapped. Otherwise some of the advanced options of the car are never reached. Sadly the cars integrated gps prevents me from setting our local time, locals have plenty of hacks but I prefer to keep this car near stock. However the smaller displays can be converted to english, but as I mentioned earlier, the mudalalis in the industry are exploiting it with various big quotes. My dealer installed the language pack FOC, which works brilliantly. Not a fan of the pedal type handbrake either, Sitting inside, visibility is rather poor around, and rear visibility is just 25% or less, very poor on Nissan's side, given that its such a well thought after car First drive, the amazing silence, thats what gets you, the car is equipped with a flimsy horn, city horn as Nissan puts it, I am awaiting a high efficiency set from Hella which will go in this weekend, deal is with that silence, you gotta be hooting at everyone you see as no one notices it coming and any given speed. Same goes with animals on the roads. The built in fake sound producing device cuts off after a certain speed, ( 30kmph) and even when its in action it is not convincing enough. The steering is amazingly light, almost zero road feel though but very fast responding, and the turning circle is very good, drawing back to its city car roots, The handling is very tight, almost zero body roll, but the car feels heavy ( approx 1500kg unladen), The car is comfortable, the suspension landing somewhere between soft and hard, but the 17" rims and low profile tyre with 36PSI helps me to count the road grain well. potholes are an utter disaster, road noise is very apparent, but given the lack of engine noise, you can't blame em So in the not-so-famed eco mode, the car can range around 215km, provided you drive like you were on the license trial, but if you thrash it around mildly, you can tange 180, But once the eco mode is gone, and heavy thrashing you can do roughly 150km tops. ( all in a full charge that is) Again, getting rid of eco and B mode (engine breaking), it pulls very well, pretty much amazing even to the race car driver, mostly due to the fact that the motor (actually motor!) has a lot of torque compared to HP, All in all a very nippy car, the thing has traction control, and with it off, you can actually wheelspin of the lights! The the instant torque of the motor makes it an absolute nightmare climbing slippery hills, only way is to feather the throttle and hope it crawls through, a well paved hilly road is an absolute joy as it has so much grunt, the artficial engine braking and regen system makes descent very easy, the car has disc brakes all around making it stop very well, but I feel that the regen system does most of the decelleration, and the discs kick in only in an abrupt stop. The VSC does kick in if you push the car hard on slippery roads cutting power off the motor. the brakes seem to be operated by a motorized vacuum servo. The aircon is pretty much comparable to conventional cars with climate control of course, the integrated bose sound system is of course lovely and has the option to alter in volume as the road noise varies. Steering controls and bluetooth work very well. The oem reverse camera is absolutely useless, even with its telematics nonsense. Under the hood the main thing you can see is the charging apparatus, the motor is neately tucked away underneath. The only fluids that need attention/ topup are coolant (Yes it has a radiator to cool the internals and It has blue coolant!), brake fluid and wiper washer fluid. The car has standard fuses and relays. Other than the Drive train, everything else including lighting, stereo, aircon and other ancillaries are all run by a 12v system which leaches from the drive battery and is also trickle charged by the solar panel. The headlamps are equipped with pretty LEDs for low beam and the tail lights are LED too, the high beams are halogen and pretty much everything in the lighting department are standard bulbs found in other cars ( guess whos buying LEDs) The car has very good ground clearance, comparable to a vezel, so you won't be rubbing the road everywhere you go. I've pretty much covered about 300km+ on the thing including two 120km trips, the car never ran out of charge. and the range anxiety never hit me, but I did drive sensibly, between 40-70kmph and about 120kmph max in an overtake (stupid I know, new car blues took over) . Its an absolute joy in the highway as in cruise control, it lost only 1% charge in the katunayake expressway. The fun part is, the lack of noise in that speed, reminds me of an electric train. Also did a few runs around hill stations and always managed home to charge. When the battery hits near-reserve level, some Japanese woman starts blaring god-knows-what through your speakers, which puts the fear of god in you. There is one forum up already with a handful of members, and pretty much a load of facebook 'clubs' for leaf owners. they do share a wealth of information but need guidance to get a proper club together. So at the end of the day, it is a rather satisfactory automobile, Its not the replacement for your trusty corolla, but pretty much it is what your corolla will become someday, I could call it my very own time capsule. Apologies if it was too long though
    27 points
  2. Drunk driving is a serious traffic offence. If the person is drunk, he is not fit to drive. If a vehicle is driven by someone who is not fit to drive (minors, unlicensed drivers, drunk drivers, dogs...) then the insurance company will not settle the claim. Its plain and simple. Also your friend will get his license suspended for 6 months. I hope your friend broke a leg or something. Idiots like that should be shot before they hurt someone.
    23 points
  3. The idea behind this document is to create a guide to buying a used car in Sri Lanka. This is just my preliminary draft, and if it's useful I hope the experts here will add/edit it, and create a final detailed guide, which maybe could be posted somewhere in autolanka (if they think its useful) Buying a used vehicle in Sri Lanka (This applies to purchase of a used car regardless of the price/age, and applies to all registered and 'reconditioned' vehicles.) 1. tests you can perform: ================ Engine ==== Before starting: - check the engine oil. Is it at the correct level? Yes: OK/Owner topped up No: Owner does not top up, engine burning oil, etc Color of oil - Light brown/colorless - engine is running reasonably good/recent service - black - engine running bad/never serviced Note: diesels tend to have dark/black engine oil After starting Did it start easily? Yes: OK No: problems in engine/battery/starter motor/tune/etc. does the exhaust show visible smoke (white, black, bluish or grey smoke)? this coud indicate engine problems such as oil burning, worn engine etc. -- note: diesels do occationally smoke a bit, especially under acceleration does it maintain operating temperature? - listen to the engine in idle - do you hear clattering, rattling, or any odd sounds? they could indicate various problems ranging from bent valves to broken mounts? note: diesels are somewhat louder than normal gasoline engines Test drive =========== Lets say you decide to go for a test drive.. .. Step out of the vehicle, and ask the owner to get it out of his driveway/car sale etc. As he does this observe the vehicle, and see if it smokes or struggles during the procedure. Look at the place where the vehicle was parked. If there is visible engine oil/coolant, etc this could indicate problems in the vehicle. (water may be visible from the car's A/C, this is normal). Ask the owner to drive you: 1. Along a rough road (so you can test the suspension) 2. On a good road, ask the owner to drive up to at least 56km/h (or whatever local speed limit) so you can see how the vehicle performs at high speed. Turn OFF the radio and A/C and listen to the car for rattles/hums Tip: a hum from front/rear may indicate need to replace wheel bearings (or what our people refer to as razors) - Stop the car and ask the owner to back up a small hill, and observe the car exhaust for smoke, this is a good test of the clutch/etc. Actual test drive: - First make sure the vehicle has insurance and road licence which are valid. Ask to see them. Then test drive the vehicle very carefully. Make sure you have a good flat road and there is very little traffic. Remember its an unfamiliar vehicle and proceed with caution. First, test the clutch and brakes. The clutch should engage neatly before releasing the pedal fully. If it engages very late, it could mean a blown clutch plate. If there are clutch/brake problems, don't drive any further, and ask the owner to resume driving. And ask yourself whether you are sure you want to buy this car, from someone who couldnt even do basic maintenance. Reviewing the owner How the owner behaves during the test drive can give you a clue of how s/he uses the vehicle in real life. For example: - Does he roll down the window and drive (even though there is an A/C) - this may indicate that the A/C rarely worked. - Does he drive like a rally driver (in which case you can buy the car if you are willing to buy an extra engine, transmission and suspension) How has s/he spent on the car? If he has spent a lot on cosmetics while ignoring real existing mechanical problems, then you should probably consider another car. Is s/he straightforward and honest? Does what the owner says match up to what you see? For example, if the owner said the car had 2 owners in total and the log book copy shows 4 owners, then they could be lying about other things, and you should be cautious. Sometimes owners make mistakes, or simply don't know an answer, but overall if the owner appears to be honest and straightforward, that is a positive sign. [Ask Questions As you review the car, ask questions from the owner. If you see anything odd, ask about it. If the owner is honest and straightforward, its a positive sign. Try to gauge how much of what the owner is telling is the truth. A good way to do this is to pretend you don't know something and ask a question. After the test drive ============ After you return to the owners house/car sale, ask the owner to pop the hood and inspect the engine. - check temperature management. The gauge inside the car should be half or less. Aside from the gage, the engine should be reasonably managing temperature and the fans should be working properly. - Carefully tap the radiator cap with the tip of your finger. If it burns your finger off, the temperature management isnt good. Similarly the engine bay should not be boiling hot (unless it's a Nissan ) Physical inspection of vehicle ===================== 1. Visual inspection: simply look at the car - see if the lines are straight. Look at the paint. Uneven areas could indicate repainting. - look at the wheel arches. Look at the brakes. Look under the car (front/rear) If possible, take the car to a service station and inspect the underneath. If this is not possible, try to look under the car and see what is visible at least - (carry a flashlight with you when you go to see the car). - look for rust, damage, etc. - look at the engine compartment. Are there odd wires and do things look as if they have been messed with? Sometimes legitimate mods (e.g. alarm systems, aftermarket headlamps) require new wiring but if you see a mess inside, it probably means the wiring has been messed up by local mechanics in which case you should think carefully whether you really want this car. - (If the vehicle is cold) carefully open the radiator cap - check if it contains coolant, and if there is any signs of oil (could indicate a head leak) Look at the engine. If it has a slight layer of dust its OK. If it is shiny and has a layer of oil that means it has been washed at a service station. I prefer a car which has a normal slightly dusty engine vs one that has been washed and scrubbed to 'look' new. - look for leaks in radiator pipes. (with the engine off) remove the engine oil cover - if you can see nice clean silver metal with perhaps yellow brown color (engine oil) this is a positive sign. (note: diesels do tend to have dark/black engine interior, this refers to gasoline vehicles only). - Look at the fluid levels of the various fluids (power steering, brake fluid, auto transmission if auto) - if they are not up to level it could indicate leaks or careless owner. - if the vehicle is hot you may be able to open the radiator overflow tank (be careful) and check if he uses coolant. Not using coolant indicates: 1. Owner is an idiot 2. Radiator has leak and owner is topping it up with ordinary water. Either case, don't buy the car. 2. Tap test gently tap the body of the car, with a fingernail (dont rap it loudly) as you walk around. Check the hood, front left and right side and back carefully, also doors (as these are the main accident prone areas). Other general ideas: - Ask the owner what maintenance was performed. If he tells you a list of things replaced/repaired, this is usually a good sign and means the owner took some effort to look after car. - check the mileage? Mileage can be modified - but if it corresponds with the appearance of the vehicle then it could be accurate. - ask for receipts particularly for the timing belt/clutch etc HAS THE VEHICLE BEEN SERVICED/WASHED? If the owner was so cheap that he couldn't service the vehicle before he sold it, then do you really want to buy a car from him/her? *Exception*: Sometimes the owner may be actively using the car in which case it may be a bit dusty but all the same he/she should have washed/serviced/detailed the car within a few days of deciding to sell it. Now Consider the actual condition of the vehicle and make a list of all problems you encountered: Scenario 1: vehicle has major problems which can be fixed ===================================== for example: - Clutch plate gone. - brakes not too good. -minor suspension probs (e.g. weak shocks). - minor engine probs (e.g. poor tune up). Indicates that the seller was a cheap idiot (or typical local) Verdict: Buy with caution, knowing there could be other existing problems, and repair BEFORE YOU DRIVE said vehicle. Scenario 2: Vehicle has minor problems which can be fixed later ========================================= - A/C not running cold enough. - Minor dings, dents, scratches. - Minor cosmetic issues. Verdict: Buy the car, but set aside money to fix those problems later on. Scenario 3: Vehicle has major problems which can't be fixed easily =========================================== - Chassis problems (cracks/bent chassis) - major engine problems (e.g. grey/white/black smoke, burning oil, head gasket leaks) - major suspension/mechanical problems - gearbox problems which would necessitate replacing gear box... so on. Verdict: don't buy the car, unless you own a garage, have a million to spare, or are plain crazy. Other costs Aside from the above, there are a number of things you usually have to do, when purchasing ANY used car. These usually include: - Insurance & road licence. - 4 tires. - full service/oil change/air filter etc. - brake pads/etc - New battery (if existing battery not too good). - Timing belt (if close to 100k km's or multiples of that). Many people will say they replaced the belt, they could be lying. It's easier to spend 10k and replace it than to undergo a broken belt and engine rebuild. If they have replaced the belt, you can get a good garage to visually inspect it. signs of a good vehicle: - Vehicle is clean. (As in, the owner has washed, cleaned, and serviced it.) - is in good mechanical condition (good engine, transmission, suspension, brakes, body) - owner has focused on maintaining the mechanical condition of the vehicle - Vehicle has been maintained properly and scheduled maintenance has been done, e.g. brakes, clutch, timing, etc have been replaced at the proper intervals as necessary. - owner cares about vehicle, services regularly, engine oil is not dirty - owner is upfront and honest about any flaws. - owner uses a good garage for maintenance, and used original/quality components Suggestion 1: To all the experts here, can you please add your comments/suggestions tips on buying a used car. Suggestion 2: Would it be possible for Autolanka readers/Admins to set up a car pricing guide? This could be something updated regularly to show average true market values (like edmunds.com) and be useful to people looking to purchase a car. If any Autolanka readers have suggestions on what they check when buying a used car, please add them here. Update: Top gear have some excellent tips here:
    22 points
  4. 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
  5. I'm pretty sure I've shared this before, but I can't seem to find my own post, so here goes again: A few years back, when it was high time I was to give my car a full paint job, I saw this offer on a local deal site where Mr P a i n t offered a 50% off for a paint job exceeding 100,000. The T&Cs said that the maximum discount that will be given is 50,000, which means you get a fixed 50,000 discount for all jobs exceeding 100,000. I obviously thought this was a good deal and wanted to make use of the opportunity. I had previously gone to many paint shops and obtained estimates, and all of them ranged between 80,000 - 100,000. The deal site specifically had mentioned "obtain your voucher here and THEN go to Mr P a i n t" to get an estimate. I did the opposite because I wanted to know how much they will charge for a full paint job. So I went there. Two guys inspected my car from top to bottom and they quoted 130,000 for the full paint job. So this meant that I will end up paying only 80,000 if I had a voucher. I asked the guy to give me an estimate. And he was typing out the estimate on the PC when I started inquiring about the deal they have currently going. He said that it's possible and asked me to bring the car again with the voucher. The guy then paused preparing the estimate and went away for a bit and came back. After coming back, he asked me if he can send me the estimate via fax the next day. Although I didn't notice anything fishy then, I said okay and left. I never got the estimate the following day, or even the day following that. So I called him. After multiple reminders, I got the estimate. With a figure of 180,000. As obvious as it is, they have taken into account the 50,000 benefit that I will be making from the deal and increased the estimate so that they wouldn't incur a loss. I was furious and called the guy who prepared the estimate and his response was "sir giyaata passe api oka gana kathaa karaa, sir ge car eke wadeta kohomath mey gaana yanawa". I totally lost my cool at that response and I rang up the manager and blasted him for misleading customers and trying to rip them off. I also made sure that I contacted the deal site and had the deal taken off before some other soul got caught to their scam. I was lucky I didn't fall for it. This might not be related to the quality of their work, but I personally wouldn't submit my car to a workshop that is known for ripping people off.
    21 points
  6. Guys, finally I bought 'FD 1', I was seeking a well maintained FD1 or FD 4 for months but was not lucky enough. After many cheatings and hassles, I accidentally found this red beauty. And also after dozens of negotiations, I settled with her. This FD1 is a brand new import under the permit scheme and registered in 31st of December 2007. previous owner is a doctor & he was the first owner and had maintained her with Sfat#d Mot#rs and had all service records from the beginning to up to date. Two Autolankans were helping me with this. Hyaenidae, B@tman and also I thank full to who wrote threads about FD's. I read each & every thread about FD. Thank you all guys. Here are some photos of her.
    19 points
  7. I've always said Sri lanka is not ready for electric cars. Not yet. As long as we burn oil and generate electricity to barely meet the demands, we will never be ready for electric cars. We will be ready for electric cars once we start generating excess power, after electrifying all the little villages in the country and meeting basic power requirements of industries and people. Until such time, electric cars should be discouraged.... and this is a good move (even if that wasn't the intention). Electric cars bring cost savings for a selected few and harm the masses in general. However, I don't expect Sri Lankan car owners to understand that. We are one of the most selfish people in the world.
    19 points
  8. My fellow AL Guys, I have been an avid autolanka member since I got my first car (Mazda demio) back in 2017.One thing that always intrigued me was how much AL members loved their lancers. So I always thought to my self what would it be like to own one. I have read every posts/discussions related to lancers ( AL Famous BRATT tread- that was one hell of a tread and I read all 32 pages of it) and I always questioned myself "is this actually good as members claim it to be? so I decided a give it a try. Long story short, when I saw this advert on autolanka about a month a back my eyes were completely fixated on this beauty. it was one of the most beautiful lancers I have seen. However at that point I had some other personal issues to take care of and my mind was not in a good mood to concentrate on the car. After sometime back I was surprised to see the lancer was still on classifieds. I thought it would be gone. So I contacted the seller, who confirmed me that the car was still available. I was over the moon and 2 days after I went to inspect the car and that was it. Knew she was meant to be mine.I paid an advance after inspecting and reserved the car for myself. ( hats off to the previous owner who is a Known lancer enthusiast for properly taking care of the car) It took another 2 weeks to sort out the finances for myself ( to sell my Demio and arrange the rest of the funds). and Last Friday I brought the lancer to my rural village. couldn't be more happier. I would like to thank AL members specially Davy,Trinity and the rest of the AL Lancer guys who made me a lancer lover and eventually an owner.So without further ado I bring to you " Evangeline" ( I bought this ride for her.Had to name the car after my daughter). More pics and updates to follow.
    18 points
  9. 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
  10. Procedure: - Strip the interior (seats, carpets, dashboard, upholstery etc.) and exterior (windscreens, trims, lights, badges etc.) components. For a proper job, the engine bay will also need to be emptied, so that the bay can be painted. - Do body work (repair rust, straighten out panels) - Prepare the body for paint (this will involve sanding down the old paint so that the new primer/paint will stick properly. Doesn't have to be stripped to bare metal IMO). Then prime the body. - Apply paint and clear coat. - Re-attach all components - Do initial polish (a final polish will need to be done after a month or so) Legal issues: - You need to change the car registration with the new colour. For this you will have to submit a "Change of Particulars" form to the DMV. I believe the form is CMT 72 which can be downloaded from here. Search the forum for more info. Problems for insurance: - There shouldn't be any. However, you will have to submit the car for inspection at the insurance company, so that they can update their database with the new appearance of the vehicle.
    17 points
  11. This is one of the dumbest questions I've seen in Autolanka. Sadly, this is the Sri Lankan mentality. You are only considering fuel economy, while ignoring the total cost of ownership. My neighbour has a KS- series Alto. He spends double the money maintaining it than I do, with a KQ- Ford. (I've seen him replacing clutch plates, brakes, door lock that seems to be breaking every 2 weeks and after all the repairs, the car still sounds like a tractor...) but hey u know what, it gives 16km/litre so he's very happy...
    16 points
  12. have a little spare time this fortnight so i stepped in to say she's almost almost done. man its been quite a journey. so here's a few photos of the end products and the build summary: ENGINE - L 16 block fully rebuilt - High compression flathead pistons - 219 "peanut" competition head - twin hitachi SU side draught carbs - SSS camshaft - comp cams competition coil - comp electronic distributor - NISMO low pressure electric fuel pump - triple core aluminum radiator - crank fan delete - custom extractor and exhaust by KelumWJ projects - battery delete GEARBOX - 5 speed close ratio dogleg 180B gearbox - WRX 4 rear diff with LSD BRAKES - 510 SSS front discs - 510 SSS brake servo - rear discs from S13 silvia WHEELS & TYRES - BBS 15" mesh alloys - 195/55/15's to match the stock rolling radius SUSPENSION - gecko street spec coilvers front and rear - cusco front tower strut LIVERY - BRE DATSUN 68 homage - BRE OEM "spook" font lip LIGHTING - BMW M3 E30 headlight retrofit - 510 SSS rear sequential turn signals with custom build electronic sequencer an logic circuit by @kalinga INTERIOR - 1968 JDM SSS gauge cluster - SSS japanese oak wood gear knob with custom emblem - 610 SSS steering wheel (just fell in love with it) yes, 610 - equus volt, oil pressure and water temp gauges on enter console - AC retrofit, ducted through existing vents, and controlled by blower controls. - two point retractable seatbelts. i'm still working out a few kinks and constantly ironing out little imperfections. but man oh man has she come along way from when i started out. just thought you guys would like to see her now.
    15 points
  13. 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
  14. http://autolanka.com/forums/topic/15723-lancer-or-axio-update-bought-a-lancer-aka-the-bratt-thread/?do=findComment&comment=254150 Thought to start this with a comment I made back in 2014. "Only thing i can say is that owning a Lancer EX is my dream, if i had the capacity of buying a one, i wouldn't think twice about it." We'll that dream came true last Sunday. I bought a Lancer EX a couple of days back!! . I was lucky enough to find a good specimen imported in 2011 which had all maintenance records with the proof of mileage. The previous owner had done all necessary maintenance at the agents. Car drives great and is in great condition. Without further ado,I bring to you,,,,,, trinity's Lancer EX
    14 points
  15. 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
  16. I don't have pictures (I probably do,I'll dig them up) But I have a story about: My 2004/5 Mazda 3. So what>you guys may ask? Its a Mazda-f-three. No big deal, we see them all the time. Yes true, but this car taught me one of the most important life lessons: Living within your means. It all started one fine afternoon when I was zooming off to pick up my wife (then fiancee). She had called and asked if I could pick her up after work and I, eager for any chance to meet-up, had promptly agreed. I grabbed my keys, jumped in my newish Mazda3 and zoom-zoomed off. The weather was great, the car was on point and doing all the zoom-zoom things it was advertised to do. I was on my way to see my love, things were great and I was in a fantastic mood. So naturally, like for most car guys, my exuberance spilled over into my driving and I started to think I could drive better than I really could: My car was not a Mazda! It was a race car, and I was Schumacher! It was great for a little bit, but unfortunately no one had informed the general public that they were on a race-track, and driving along at full tilt, I soon had an upstart: I took a blind corner a little too fast (to the car's credit it whipped around the corner just fine) and bang! I rear ended a white Toyota, that was around the bend pottering along at a leisurely pace...I was already into the corner when I saw the car and I had no chance at any sort of evasive action for my instinct was to slam on the brakes. As soon as I got on the brakes, the car started sliding as it was already pivoting around the corner and I slid right into the back of this poor old Toyota that was just rattling along minding its business, and knocked it forward. Shit. Shit. Shit. I slid to a stop and sheepishly jumped out from behind the wheel to check on the car in front. Thankfully, things weren't as bad as I thought for it had ended up being a relatively low speed collision. The brakes (and the involuntary slide) had done their job and dulled the impact down to a fender bender situation and it was not the full on shit-show that it could have been. I assessed the damage to the car I rear ended, and made my way to front of the car fully expecting an earful of choice words from the driver as the fault was irrevocably mine. Thankfully, the driver was an easy going sort of uncle who was more bemused than angry, and even seemed to think that I had rammed him because my brakes failed or something. Little did he know my brakes were working fine and that it was only because they did such a spectacular job of slowing me down that he wasn't Schumacher-ed from the rear harder! We sorted it all out: I took pictures and quickly agreed to pay for his rear fender that had dented in and then sort of popped out from the sides. I was appropriately apologetic, and the gentleman who was modestly dressed, seemed to take it well. Thinking to reassure him I was a bit expansive, and effusively promised him that I would do what it takes to fix his car for him. Looking at his older car that had a bit of rust and general wear & tear, I promised him it would look better-than-new by the time the paint guys were done with it etc. He seemed relieved, and by the general state of his car, I assumed it was because he would finally have a rear bumper that didn't have multiple dings and scrapes in it. Well the cars got repaired, and while I paid for his repair at the garage of his choice, I also wanted to meet him again so I could apologize and thank him in person for being such a gentleman about the whole affair. So I called and made arrangements to meet him and rolled up as arranged. Pulling up, I was a bit surprised as the bugger lived in a fancy neighborhood. One that was much, nicer than the area I lived in ( I was renting at the time I think too) and I was a bit surprised. I did a double-take but no, it was the right place, for I spotted the old Toyota sitting pretty (sans a bit of rust and looking shiny around the rear-end, but still looking tired around the front). I pulled in, rang the door bell and there was the old boy himself beaming, happy to welcome me into his home etc. So I palmed him the little gift I had for him, expressed regret for my actions and did the whole: "Thank you for being such a Gentleman" bit I had rehearsed. And being the crafty bugger I was; before I left, I worked around to complimenting him on his house and told him (frankly now) how amazingly beautiful it was. And get this: The bugger looks me dead in the eye and tells me: "Yes, Thanks! I live in this house because I have been careful with my money. I've invested most of my money, and putting it into this house, was part of my investments. Look, I bought that car outside AFTER I finished building this house and see, while this house is as beautiful as ever, the car is hardly worth selling in that condition". Feeling a bit bemused, I drove away feeling I had learned a number of lessons that day: Mainly not to judge people by how they are dressed or by the car they drive, as the guy I rear ended was a solid chap - morally as well as financially! But I also reflected on how I drove a nice new car, while living in a rented house, yet this smart bugger did the complete opposite. The lesson hit hard, as I pretty much cleared out my savings account to pay for the repairs on both the cars; yet this chap driving an old Toyota, was obviously much more liquid than I was...It was an interesting day, with lots of little life-lessons for me. The moral of the story: Drive a Mazda. It's totally zoom-zoom. And even if it zoom-zoom's you into rear-ending someone, you'll still end up learning something.
    13 points
  17. 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
  18. Excellency, I believe I'm not worthy to provide my humble opinion for thy request. I am but no engineer -though I'm aware of issues . I hath but owned one car that falls in your excellency's budget of the proximity of 3 million, which is the Honda Fit GP1 which hath been extensively discussed. Would your excellency care to do a search for that particular car? There are many more models I could suggest to your excellency but sadly I'm not qualified to be worthy to provide input. The current car I own exceeds thy budget hence I'm unqualified to be honored in providing an input for your excellency. Please pardon this humble peasant.
    13 points
  19. I'm babysitting (or is it Car-sitting?) member @milindu's baby this week. Some pics...
    13 points
  20. My Montero Sport Saved my life today. Took a T bone collision to the rear quarter panel, from a lorry, the thing came straight to the drivers door. I accelerated and saved my self, just got discharged from the hospital after a checkup, No matter what new fellas say about crumple zones and what not, this thing is proper weight to weight. Just realise how strong these suvs are. Just a large bump and I drove it home. Amazed realising it took tg awhile weight and was shoved to a side. The lorry was a proper mahiyangana sand lorry, full load, the c**t was driving on a learners permit, couldn't control his reverse into the construction zone, lost control and rolled right onto me down a slope, face first. If I was in my vitz or a smaller car, I'd be in a morque now. Cops took over the lorry momentarily but I deferred them. Repair cost approx 100k, given I need a new wheel arch and tail light. And its pearl white, expensive bitch to paint. Despite my parents and friends deciding to ruin his life legally, the driver is in the hospital after negotiations but I am not pressing charges or taxing him for the repair, as he will loose his livelihood and be in jail. Best part is, if the car rolled over, I would be in the mahaweli river. Dear friends, please give up smaller cars when money permits. Get something large and safe. Due to privacy concerns I am unable to share pictures.
    13 points
  21. Hey that reminds me of my last car selling experience- So I advertised my previous car for sale alright, the first buyer who agreed to pay the asking price was a queer one - he didn't even take a good look at the interior, much less a test drive - he just fell in love with how good the exterior looked- "brand new wage thiyenne mahaththaya!" was what he said. He was right - I know a thing or two about paint protection (wax, people, wax!) - so the very next day we travel to the bank, do the paperwork, he deposits the agreed amount while I fill out MTA forms and stuff - while all this is going on in comes the protagonist of the story. The buyer introduces the newcomer to me as a close relative of his - a professional astrologer. He had calculated the best auspicious time for the new owner to get in the car (or hand the key over- I can't remember which) so anyway, after a wait of more than half an hour we do the deed on the auspicious time - the new owner wanted to take me home, didn't want me to take the bus, bless his kind soul! We were on our merry way when he suddenly remembered he needed a photocopy of some document and we kept an eye for a "communication". You see where this is going now dontcha? Le wild communication appears - driver slams on the brakes - a poor sod who was riding his CD90 too close rear ends the car - gets airborne - lands on the rear trunk and leaves one of his incisors on the trunk lid. We all get out - the very first thing the astrologer told me was "hondha welawata nekathata waahane paarata dhamme, naththan apey passen enne bike ekak nemey tipper ekak!"
    13 points
  22. Hello Gents, After months of research and patience, I have finally found "The One". A car I have been waiting to own for as long as I can remember... a 10th Generation Lancer. What I managed to get is a Lancer RalliArt. Since this particular model isn't available in Sri Lanka (to my knowledge), let me give a brief introduction to the car. Mitsubishi introduced the 10th generation Lancer (Referred to as the Lancer EX in Sri Lanka) in 2008 and it was certainly a different Lancer when compared to previous models. From the hooded brow over the headlights that give it an aggressive look, to the matching rear end, it was a brand new look for the Lancer. Back in 2008 when Mitsubishi launched the 10th gen Lancer, they only really had two variants: The Lancer EX (GLX, GLS, GT) and then the mighty track monster Evolution X. While the Lancer EX comes with engines ranging from 1.5L (4A91) through 2.0L (4J10 and 4B10) to 2.4L (4B12), the power of all these engines were in the range of 109 - 170 horsepower while the Evolution X has a 2.0L Turbo (4B11T) engine that outputs 276 horsepower (The FQ400 in the UK has a massive 403 hp!). That's a pretty big gap right there and Mitsubishi introduced the Lancer RalliArt in 2009 to bridge the gap. The RalliArt also has a 4B11T 2.0L turbocharged engine - the same engine that comes in the Evo X, de-tuned. It outputs 237hp - that's 54 less than the Evo. It's basically ideal for day-to-day use as well as a drive along a twisty road or a track if you are keen. To put it into perspective, if the Evolution is compatible with the Subaru WRX STi, then the RalliArt is head to head with the WRX. Throughout this thread I will try my best to log detailed information about the RalliArt (strengths, weaknesses, comparisons etc.) and also share information about the journey with my car. Hope this will be helpful to someone some day. Before going into any more detail, here she is...
    13 points
  23. Finally I received my Ford Focus. It is a generation 3 model and generation 4 will be released in Q3 in Europe but the agent in Sri Lanka import 3rd Generation model in Titanium trim. However it seems this Titanium trim is customized for Sri Lanka or similar markets since some of the options available in UK titanium model cannot be seen. (Examples, leather seats, Auto breaking, B pillar key pad etc.). It has 8'' touch screen Sync 3 infortainment system with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. The Carplay works well but have to wait until iOS 12 to use Google maps in it. The model comes with 1.0l ecoboost engine and 6F15, 6 speed automatic transmission (not the dual clutch transmission). The engine has 123 bhp and 170 nm torque. Will update the fuel economy after 1500-2000 km and minimum 95 octane should be used. Yesterday I picked the car and drove to Kandy from Colombo and I did not feel it as a car with 1l engine. The engine is refined and you cannot feel the vibration common to 3 pot engines. The acceleration is also good and you can glide in 70 km/h less than 2k rpm. Did not do any hard accelerations since the engine break-in period is around 1000-1500 km but I had to overtake one 40ft container once and when the turbo kicks in, the the car performs really well. The build quality is great and it is a really nice car to drive. Very comfortable and handles well. My old car was a Honda Fit GP1 and missed the magic seat arrangement in it but Focus too have good rear leg space. Some of the pictures are given below. The color is Blazer Blue. I purchased this for a special discounted price and the current selling price is 5.85 millions.
    13 points
  24. 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
  25. Wish you all have a rocking year ahead spent with friends and loved ones!! On behalf of Team Autolanka, I would like to thank our Top Contributors, Senior Members, Moderators and all Members for their contribution and support throughout the year.  2019 Top Ranking Contributors.. @iRage @Hyaenidae @matroska and @Davy 2019 Top Ranking Bloggers are @matroska @tiv @kusumsiri and @alpha17 Wish all Auto Lanka Fans a Very Happy New Year 2020!!
    12 points
  26. 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
  27. Hi Guys, Having being an avid reader of the AL forum for years, I thought I'd create an account and contribute as I got a 2018 Civic SR for the wifey a couple of weeks back. (Edit: Looks like I had another account already. May bad. let me kill the new one). Since her N16 was aging (gracefully), we needed an upgrade. The SR had quite alot of features and the interior was quite impressive. With an acceptable amount of crumple zones and weight, it was the right container for the kids to go to school/tuition etc. I got it down through a friend who was kind enough to give the UK registration papers. It clearly states the First Registration date. Even though I trusted the guys, this was like the cherry on top. The Car was shipped in a container arrived in SL in 3 weeks. Put the bad boy on a flat bed and brought it home on the 3rd day after landing in Colombo. First impression of the car all positive. It looks impressive (however I still am not big fan of the back). There's interior is roomy enough for a family of 4. Has enough leg room at the back for an average Sri Lankan. However since the seats are quite low, people with long legs might find it uncomfortable on long journeys. The 3 cylinder engine does sound different.. being very blunt, if a low capacity diesel engine had sex with a land master engine, you would get something that sounds like the civic's engine. But this little turbo charged puppy tend to grow on you so at least for me it's not a deal breaker. From the performance perspective, I'm still breaking in the engine so trying to stay under 100 and 4000 rpm, but you do feel the turbo lag but once it kicks in, you can clearly feel the difference. Handling wise, I'm impressed by how road hugging the car is, quick lane changes are quite enjoyable but I'm sure the 235/45R17s are going to make me pay through the nose come new tire time. Fuel consumption wise, it started at 3km/L the moment after the first tankful and after about 100kms, it's at 6+km/L and still improving. Friends, since this is my first post, if I've violated any rules here, please let me know. More than happy to adjust accordingly.
    12 points
  28. There was an incident in the past where a man with one arm was driving a school van and he got arrested after several years of running this school van. In this country, anyone can get a driving license. I bet your pet dog also can get one if you spend enough money. There are special conditions where people with disabilities are given driving licenses. These are usually decided on a case by case basis after doctors recommendation. I think you need to go to NTMI (National Transport Medical Institute) and talk to the doctors there, your neighbourhood doctor's medical report won't be enough. In certain cases, they will permit the driving license bearer to drive specially modified vehicles and these vehicles also have special registration numbers (PZ-XXXX). You may have seen war-disabled soldiers who would like to make a livelihood, driving three wheelers with PZ- plates. However, Motor Neuron Disease is something that may affect your own safety and others' safety as well. Chances of you getting a driver's license with this condition is relatively low. You should check with NTMI on this one. The place is located opposite St. John's College, Nugegoda, very close to the flyover entry point.
    12 points
  29. An old man goes to a doctor and complains that he has problems with his sex drive. The doctor asks "How old are you"? The man says he's 80 Then the doctor says it's normal for people to not have a sex drive at that age Then the man says "But doctor, all my friends who are same age as me, say that they do it at least three times a week" So the doctor replies "So you also say the same thing to your friends" Hope this answers your question.
    12 points
  30. Change your mechanic. Can I suggest a cheap fix? Fill the tank up, pour in a can of 3M injector Cleaner or Wurth (NOT SOLTRON), Take the car out on the highway and run at 100km/h for at least a 50Kms (Kottawa-Hikka and back). Run without AC. Floor it, accelerate, on and off, basically, accelerate the shit out if it and you might clear the gremlins off. It's called an Italian tune and it works for Jap cars too.. But don't kill yourself or get caught speeding.
    12 points
  31. Disclaimer: I did not want this car. I was perfectly happy with my Vios. I might have thought about getting a second car, but that was it. The car is a 2015 Toyotal Corolla Axio Hybrid, with the face lift. Okay so with that out of the way, do note I will be comparing the car mostly with my Vios, and also with a 2010 Prius and a 2013 Prius C when comparing the Toyota HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive). Exterior 'Dat nose tho'. That is the most disruptive front end on a Corolla I have ever seen, bar none. It’s part of Toyota’s new design language, which came to being with the Lexus RX200h and got carried over to Toyota, as made evident by the Kouki Camrys, Axios and Aquas gracing the streets. However, you learn to get used to it, and eventually, from some angles, it even begins to look decent. Apart from that, the only other differences in the exterior are the improved rear lights (they look a lot better) and the introduction of brown as a body colour (not seen on JDMs since the KE7x models I think?), which replaces the beaten-to-death maroon. Interior The interior is mostly the same as the Zenki version, however, the dashboard can only be had in black now, plus the side a/c registers have been replaced with old school twist center twist type ones. There are also vents under the rear seats pointed at the rear passengers' feet, a la BMW X1 style. The sears on mine were beige, which is the apparently the "in" thing these days, god knows why, because they get stained if you even look at them for too long. I also like (and prefer) the regular (gated) shifter from the Aqua/Prius C rather than the center return in the Prius and Hondas. Oh and a thing of note; the B gear is the Toyota HSD equivalent of a Jake Brake which I find fascinating, and also very useful when climbing down inclines. The colour LCD is unobtrusive and offset to the right, and there’s also a tachometer, why I don’t know, since the left pedal is not connected to the engine in any way, but if I were to fathom a guess, it would be to keep the car as “normal” looking as possible. In fact, if I were to remove the hybrid emblems on the sides and replace the rear HSD emblem with a Start/Stop emblem, no one would know it was a hybrid. Bells and whistles The car has nearly every option box ticked, with the exception of LED head lamps, alloys and heated seats (don’t need them anyway). The dealer fitted alloys which actually look a good deal better than stock, and I don’t really mind the halogen head lamps. The car has Toyota’s new Safety Sense C system, which comprise of a trio of safety systems - Pre-collision warning - Lane Departure Alert - Auto High Beams I’ve got the latter two switched off, but I do use the pre-collision warning, because it also tell me when the car in front of me has moved off, which is useful for when I’ve got my nose buried in my phone sitting in traffic. Apart from that, it’s got basically got all the features of the current Allion/Premio, i.e. all auto windows, rear wiper, auto headlights, climate control, adjustable driver’s seat height etc. Driving and comfort Omfg, the steering. I used to think light steering was the bomb, with the few times I’d driven other hybrids, but eff me if the electric steering in the Axio Hybrid isn’t the numbest steering system on the planet. I can turn the wheel with my pinky, effortlessly. There is absolutely no feedback, at ALL; it gives zero indication as to what surface the wheels are on. I can be doing 80, and have no clue kind of road I’m on; the tire hum gives me more feedback than the steering wheel. The suspension is plush, but I have no lack of confidence when throwing the car into a corner, it remains planted on the road pretty well. It does dive during hard braking, something the Vios simply did not do; I would stand on the brake pedal and it would merely stop on a dime, flat and completely composed. The Corolla actually stops better, but it does so with ass in the air. Hybrid performance I usually drive in ECO mode, mostly because the car defaults to that if it is not driven for a few hours, and I can’t be arsed to press the ECO mode button all the time. The car has “only” 99hp combined, even though the engine is good for 74hp and the motor is capable of 40hp on it’s own. Clearly things have been over engineered in this case. Acceleration isn’t blinding, but pick up from a standstill with ECO mode off is clearly better than the Vios (thanks to all that low down torque from the motor). It’s clear even during hard acceleration the car is not struggling, and that it can do better. I assume they’ve tuned the firmware on the eCVT to keep engine stress down to the very bare minimum. Speaking of eCVT, the car has no gearbox; just two motors (one is used mostly as a generator) sitting between the engine and the wheels. The transition from EV to ICE and vice versa is much better, and quicker than a 2010 Prius. When the ICE comes on, it feels like VTEC just kicked. I often find myself looking at the tacho to see if the ICE is on or not, because road noise easily overcomes the engine noise when travelling at 40km/h and above. The EV mode is good for accelerating up to 60km/h or so, and I’ve managed to sustain as much as 70km/h on a flat gradient for brief periods of time. Driving in EV mode is a sublime experience, and I doubt I could ever go back to a regular ICE powered car unless it was an uber quiet euro. That fact also makes me yearn to own a LEAF, and I’m already working towards obtaining one by mid of next year. “Aiye, meka thel karanne kiyak witharada?” I managed to do 672kms on the first full tank. The journey consisted of mostly 100km/h+ speeds on the way to, and around, southern Sri Lanka. The average Colombo run is between 18kmpl to 20kmpl (paying attention to the real time gauge is pointless), with a maximum of 23kmpl reached during the trip mentioned above. I’ve posted a photo of the current stats, and you can see from the average speed I’m not exaggerating. So to wrap things up, I’m more or less satisfied with the car. I certainly like the fact that there aren’t many brown Axios out there yet (I see maybe one every two days). Without going into a tirade, I’ll say that I enjoy not wasting as much fuel as I used to for the past 15 odd years I’ve been legally driving. It has always been something that was on my mind while tolerating the grind from the Kotte area to Borella, and I’ve often thought that a hybrid would be ideal for this situation as it assuages my “waste not want not” mantra. And if certain detractors still believe that I bought this car to save on money (which many people do and I find absolutely nothing wrong with that), but I’m being all suave about it; I’ve got a fuel allowance which more than covered the fueling costs of my Vios while I had it, i.e. I spend 0 rupees on fuel out of hand and have enough left over to pamper the car with Modellista bits and bobs (coming soon).
    11 points
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. DIY Glove boxes When I bought the car there were no original glove boxes. So decided to make by myself as a DIY task in the post corona period. Here are some images of it. Used a thin Aluminum sheet as the base metal. The size for one glove box is 36"x8".
    11 points
  35. Thanks alot iRage! Wholesome stuff, This brought out the inner kid in me...gonna try it out? Also here's a 1:12 scale diorama I made a while back, needs a few more improvements and additions, spider webs & dust maintained for special effects?:
    11 points
  36. Happy new year to all of you as well and wishing everyone an amazing and safe year (and new decade) of motoring
    11 points
  37. This I came across in another forum and thought of sharing, in case if it will help another. This is some technical info about cars with auto transmission gears . The story is directly related to something happened to me during last few days. Non of the four garages visited by me diagnosed the troubles of my car and I almost lost few laks of money due to wrongly diagnosing and actions done by mechanics. That is why I give this information to others. One of the garages is said to be operated by a BSc qualified Engineer. (not Mr Alawaththa) The entire episode is related to a gadget called 'Inhibitor switch' and I found no one in those repair places knew correctly about it. I write this because the know-how may help someone someday. This is a long story. If you are not interested in 'gadgematics' do not read it. In auto geared (automatic transmission) cars you can see the gear position in the dash board. When you change the gear lever to P, N, D , R or 1/2 positions it is indicated by lighting the correspondent bulb in the dash board. Power supply to the starting motor is also connected through the gear lever . Power to the starting motor is only connected when you place the lever in P or N positions. Hence in other positions you cannot start the car. My problem started with erroneous indications in the dash board. When I changed to D to run the vehicle it shows N although the car runs at D. When the troubles continued I couldn't start the car at P but sometimes it get connected at R or even D. At the same time when I change the gears the engine shake like doing it half clutch in manual cars. When I changed from N to D to start running it made 'dug' sound with big shake in the engine and it jump forward with unusual high power. At this stage I consulted garage people, two places. One fellow had a test run and diagnosed 'gear cable malfunctioning' or kebal eka edila. So you have to replace the cable to get the correct indication in the dash board. For the shaking of the engine , he suspected broken engine mounts . I went to a reliable cable repair place near Subadrarama temple closer to Gram Sabha junction, Nugegoda . They correctly said no error in the cable and didn't charge me a cent and asked me to check the 'gear changing switch'. I did not know where is this switch initially. Later I found that is called the Inhibitor Switch and located externally at the top of the gearbox . I went to another garage I know. They inspected and gave reasons for the shaking of the engine when changing from N to D. Diagnosed: Engine mount failure. Some mounts broken or loosened. Replacement cost 6500 + 7500 x 2 = approx 30,000.00 He also suggested changing of the gear cable. He almost started the job but fortunately, I had an important work and took the car away. At this stage I could start the car at D or R positions and not P or N. Apart from the big shake at changing N to D or from N to R, I had no trouble when running. I was instructed by the both places if I can start at D and do the running there will be no problem at all, irrespective of what indicated in the dashboard. Sir, that is just to show you the lever position and nothing else, they said. Within one week another major trouble started. I felt the gearbox is working only at 1 and 2 gears. Normally it should change 1 to 2 at pickup and then to 3 to top levels with the increasing speed, automatically. Now it changes only once, from lowest to the next . I could not run beyond 35kmph and RPM was much higher than usual. Again I took the car to the garages . Now the diagnosis was gearbox failure. As per the experts, all the troubles I had before were signs of this final outcome. Some wheels or parts of the automatic gearbox has damaged and you can't run the car with it. Only Low gear wheels are not broken yet. Repairing is not advised and what they do normally is fixing a new gearbox. Cost of a used imported gearbox is around 135-150,000.00 No other option now. I have to find two lakhs. The total job: Engine mounts : 30,000.00 Gearbox 150,000.00 Inhibitor switch 6000.00 labour cost 25,000.00 approx. Total 211,000.00 I was not satisfied at all about these garage people in the whole drama. I asked them the functioning of the Inhibitor switch in deep buy they couldn't give me satisfactory answers. As per them the switch is to track your lever position and indicate it in the dash board and cut the ignition power when you are not at Parked or at Neutral . Nothing else. I felt suspicious. All started with wrong indication of gear positions at the dashboard . That means the inhibitor switch is broken. After that the engine and the gearbox started malfunctioning. Hence, without letting others to remove the broken gearbox I decided to check the inhibitor switch my self. I removed the battery and its underneath panel to open inhibitor switch area. Normally it is placed under battery at the top of gearbox. (see image) There was a lever to connect it to the gear cable. The cable is connected to the hand stick inside the car. Inhibitor switch rotates when you change the gears and connect particular wires to send current to dashboard and other places. I removed and dismantled the switch and found the plastic 'hand' inside was broken. Hence bought a new one paying 5,500/- with 15% discount. I connected the new one to the wires and then fixed it to the gearbox . The correct positioning of gearbox and the switch can be achieved using indicator holes. They are aligned at N position. Then you have to place the gear lever (inside the car) at N position and connect the cable to the lever at top of the switch . In this way you place N inside the gearbox, N at the switch and N at the gear lever fixed to each other. Connecting current wires to the switch was the most difficult job. It has 9 connectors. After fixing everything I started the car. Changed to D. Nothing happened. For a second I thought even first gear is not functioning. Within second car started to move. I accelerated and had a run . Amazingly everything became normal . Gear changing is as good as or even better than a new car, done at correct speeds very smoothly . No shakes. No wrong indicator lights. RPM much lover . No mount problems. Gearbox is perfect. All the trouble was due to disconnected Inhibitor switch. Not only to the dashboard, it connects power to reverse light and connects some lines to the car computer. Actually gear controlling computer 'sees' the gear position using the signal from Inhibitor switch. Without the correct signal the controller cannot guide the gearbox to change the gears smoothly. That makes it behave badly. If anybody get this type of problems better to check and replace this switch before going for big work or replacements. Later I realized there is a designers laziness involved here. Instead of getting feed back from the gearbox to 'show' the gear position to the controller, the designers has done it in a very bad way. They fixed a switch in between the the hand gear lever and gearbox and monitor the gear cable to determine what inside the gearbox. If the gear cable elongated or some connectors in the switch weathered or broken its signals become not tallying with actual position. As the controller is blind to see the actual gear box and they made it to 'think' the signal from the switch is from the gearbox it guides the gearbox wrong way. My total cost was 5,500/- +travelling. By doing it myself I saved approx 200,000.00. http://investorsentiment.forumotion.net/t4788-technical-stuff-not-stocks-inhibitor-switch#35939
    11 points
  38. Toyota Gorilla Ashkio 141 japan modal (not thaiwan) ,Bajj intariyal ,winkel miraar, pul opshan, baket shit, lady doktar owning, ganuin milaj 69,000 km. Hand 10,00,000 /- pinans 53,000 *48, Susuki avery badi van sexchange conisadared.
    11 points
  39. My old vanettes speedo glass has been faded , bubbled and cracked since I bought the vehicle and it kept getting worse and i've tried to find a suitable replacement for a while with no luck. Recently the glass cracked apart in two in middle and it looked terrible. Vanette C22 dashboards rare to find and one bugger asked 45K for a heavily warn out one. I could not spend that much for the glass and two air vents ( except those , the existing dashboard is fine) . So I decided to make a glass myself and it came out very nice. 25010M is the part I made. total cost : Rs 400/= ,only thing I bought was a piece of transparent plastic board from a number plate making place. here are few pics I took while doing it, only took about and hour for that whole job. I feel like an ass when I think about the time I wasted stopping at every breaker joint I see where ever I went. Sorry for the lack of extra details , but this is too easy for anyone to get wrong. If anyone needs more details please PM . 1. Removed front part of the cluster, and cracked glass is fixed with a piece of duct tape to take measurements for the new one. 2. Lay the glass on the plastic board and draw the outline with a pen 3. Cut the straight lines with a help of a steel ruler and a paper cutter. We dont need those small extrusions around the glass since we are going to duct tape it to the frame and hot glue it. Just cut straight. Cutting the plastic board is bit difficult using the paper cutter, put cuts on both sides before applying gentle pressure to break the glass - just like glass cutting, but put marks on both sides. 4. smooth out the edges with a angle grinder. 5. it has a small curve along two sides, use the angle grinder to grindout the plastic to get the previously marked shape 6. The original glass has a convex shape , no need to worry , we can use the frame around the dashboard to push the glass to the speedo cluster to get that shape, ( I tried to use the hot air gun to bend the plastic glass after warming it up and messed it up once - dont do it) 7. Drill out a small hole for the trip meter reset . 8. keep the glass on the meter frame and duct tape it. dont try to bend and close the gaps on the right and left sides. duct tape the top and bottom only. Use hot glue on places where the clip were before. Use it generously . 9. Fix it to the dashboard , tight in the screws well - and thats it! Looks just like new.
    11 points
  40. 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
  41. Title should read "need to look rich, but too broke to pump fuel"
    11 points
  42. I do not see a logic to justify your decision. I have number of friends who regularly visit Sri Lanka but they all use rented vehicles during their stay here. For your financial analysis if you consider the time value of money (NPV), then you will lose more than the 12.25 figure predicted above. However if you intend to use the vehicle only twice in a year for two weeks each time, then are you going to let it idle for the rest of the year or leave it with your relatives? In either case the losses will be much higher and the troubles associated with leaving a vehicle attended or unattended will definitely off set the "feel good" factor by a huge margin.
    11 points
  43. As many have pointed out, when owning a car you have to cope with additional costs as well. Let’s say you buy a used Japanese car which is within your budget. From my experience, I know that It would set you back around 2,000-3,000 rupees per month on average for maintaining an old car. This is the average spending per month for all the costs that occur throughout the years such as insurance, servicing, repairs etc. For ease, let’s make it Rs 2,500 per month. You say you have to travel around 500Km’s per month. Let’s assume your car does 10Kmpl and it runs on petrol. So that means you have to fill in about 50 liters of petrol per month which adds up to around Rs 5500. And on top of that you are on a full lease of around 25,000 rupees. When you add all of these up, you’ll be spending around Rs 33,000 (25,000+5500+2500) per month on the car and you’ll be left out with around Rs 37,000 to manage all the other expenses. So, do you think you can manage with that? You say you don’t have any savings as well isn’t it? So, I feel it’s a bit risky. If you buy a brand new Indian car for that budget, you’ll be able minimize the maintenance cost. But think about the depreciation. Brand new Indian cars depreciate over time very quickly compared to used Japs. Used japs within your price bracket do not lose their value that much. Most probably you’ll be able to sell it at the price you bought even after 4-5 years of ownership. So, even though you’ll be spending less on maintenance, you’ll be losing money due to depreciation when buying a new car. Let’s say over a 5 year period your brand new car loses Rs 200,000 in its value. That means you’ll be spending around 3,300 per month indirectly. So, ultimately there’s not much of a difference. In fact you’ll be losing more money if you go for a new car. Think about the other impacts of getting into debt as well. When you find it difficult to manage your other expenditures, your family life will also get affected. You’ll be even blaming your wife and pushing her for a job. A wife at home is actually a blessing. You’ll be free of most of the house hold duties since she’ll be managing all that. Trust me I know how easy it is from experience. If I were you, I would wait for another year or so without committing myself into debt on a car. I would save or invest the 25,000 and spend the other 8,000 or so on family. How about enjoying life with your newly married wife? Go on a trip or two. Buy her some nice gifts. Maybe some gold jewelry which would come handy in an emergency. Doing those things would be difficult when a kid or two comes aboard so enjoy life while you can. If you feel that saving money does not yield much of a return these days, get a loan and invest it on a land. I did that last year when the loan rates were reduced. When most of my friends were getting loans to purchase the latest hybrid, I kept my old Jap and purchased a land for a per purch value of Rs 350,000. After less than a year, the land value has risen up to Rs 450,000 per purch. Just think about the gain. Think wisely and act wisely. Don’t get in to debt without having at least Rs 100,000-200,000 as a reserve for an emergency. I wish all the best for you.
    11 points
  44. I don't know why Vezel is bad, but I know this.. For our people ultimate vehicle to show off their wealth/status/ego or what ever the f**k they have in their minds over others is to buy them self a jeep. Jeep in the sense is not the one made by GM but all others that has its shape and categorized as SUVs falls in to this lot. namely Prado, Montero & etc... While all mudalalies,kuddas & other people who earns millions per month could afford those so called jeeps and their 3 kmpl figures our PROFESSIONALS never had a proper vehicle which falls in to the above jeep category that does 20kmpl and could buy @ 4million until now.. So as soon as weysal hit the market they didn't think twice to pawn their nut sack, borrow up to the last cent they could borrow and withdraw all the money saved for their childs education to buy this status symbol of a JEEP! Sadly, how life f**ks you is a marvel, now every Tom dick and Harry drives a weysal.... How you could be so special when they out number 3wheels during rush hour. So now they wonder, what the f**kery f**k did I do... Is weysal bad? How could every f****r on the road could buy a one.. Where the f**k is 20kmpl? Should I drive in "N" gear to achieve it.. Their mindset is so low now they are wishing high taxes on hybrids makes weysal less affordable and due to this no one else will buy these Jeeps anymore thus making them special... So is Vezel so bad????
    11 points
  45. Dear @Roshan321, Before reading further, I suggest making a supermarket run quickly and getting yourself a large pack of diapers, because the excrement that's about to unfold for you won't be pleasant. But I'm sorry, I have to do this on behalf of all the members of the forum. AutoLanka forums has always been a place for sharing knowledge and personal experience about cars. A lot of senior members (including myself) joined over a decade ago and have slowly grown as members and gained so much knowledge. This is because most members are genuine, helpful gentlemen. On top of that, genuine members always try to learn from others without trying so hard to prove a point. My last two posts on this thread was saying exactly that. I was trying to get you to not try so hard (while getting members here also to give you a chance). Moderators including myself have been totally impartial. But you went ahead and made a mess of the situation. I'm sure you know what I am trying to bring up here so you better put on one of those diapers now. When I first read that post by @Saranga_S, I thought that it is too much of a coincidence for a new member to pop out of nowhere all of a sudden and say good about the vehicle in question. Then I read the full post and my suspicion was doubled. Then I read @iRage's response and I thought we maybe onto something here. So I had to dig in and everything started to make sense... I'm not going to tell you how I found out, but we know. In fact, we knew from the first post made by you using the @Saranga_Saccount, but I requested the moderator team (and other members who posted) to wait silently. As expected, you took the bait and responded as @Roshan321. So my question is... what do you have to say for yourself? How desperate are you to create fake profiles, post as a genuine owner, and to respond to your own fake profile thanking yourself for doing so. Maybe change that diaper before answering. Or pretend that you didn't see this - but rest assured we'll know when you read this. Finally, thanks to the moderator team (especially @iRage) for staying silent and helping me carry out this sting operation. Also special thanks to @Hyaenidae for the corporation and helping me hide one of his posts to keep things undercover until we were completely sure. --- Moderators, I'm not sure how we should proceed. We'll have a discussion separately I guess.
    10 points
  46. Hi Guys, I decided to convert my CS3 dashboard into a double din setup. My car came with the factory stereo and an in-dash 6 CD changer located at the bottom of the dash. This is how it used to look like: Note that I have removed the AC regulator knobs before the DIY. In order to do this, I had to obtain a double din conversion kit from eBay. This is what I got: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-METRA-95-7017B-DOUBLE-DIN-DASH-KIT-FOR-2002-2007-MITSUBISHI-LANCER-/181819356245?hash=item2a55473455 As you can see, the kit came with a kit that is 100% identical to the double din setup that comes in some JDM CS Lancers. The complicated part here is re-locating the AC controls to the lower part of the dash (where the CD changer is in the above photo). The first step was to remove the bezel around the stereo and the bezel that holds the CD changer in place. Then removed the head unit and the AC controls so that they can be relocated to where the CD changer was. Since this is a manual AC system with airflow controlled by a cable-operated system, it was not just an unplug-relocate-plug thing. Rather, the cables needed to be removed so that the AC control panel could be detached from the dashboard, then re-attach the cables through the CD changer opening. After the AC was relocated, it looked like this. As you can see the AC bezel that I got from eBay is a black one, I will need to get it resprayed to match the color of the dashboard. I tested the AC controls, air redirection and everything seemed to work as expected. The next part was to source a matching double din head unit. I was keen on buying a branded unit that had Bluetooth and support for a reverse camera, so I got hold of this. The model is Pioneer AVH-275BT and the unit cost me 38K including a reverse camera. few snapshot while installing the unit. mic and reverse camera after installing the unit overall it was not that difficult than i thought and really happy with the outcome. kudos to Davy who helped me to make this happened even sharing every steps to follow - which wanted to do by himself so badly - and specially to come out with this post :-)
    10 points
  47. Yes that would be normal for a vehicle like X-trail. What people say about their penis sizes and the fuel consumption of their vehicles is best ignored.
    10 points
  48. The most serious problem this country has is not all that. We have a power crisis. This country barely meets its power requirements and for about 6 months every year, the government needs to buy electricity from privately run mini diesel power stations to keep our lights switched on in the night. We don't have money to build new large power plants. The last time we tried to build one, we failed miserably, Now imagine the situation when we have 100,000 Nissan Leafs (or similar) in the country. A Nissan leaf with a 3300W charger takes all night (8 hours) to do a full charge (off Wikipedia). So lets assume a car is charged once in 4 days. 100,000 leafs x 1/4 x 3300 = 82.5MW. That's almost the capacity of Laxapana power plant - one of the biggest in the country! When these leeches with their electric cars aggravate our power crisis and if power cuts come in, who is going to pay for it? The poor kids who use one light bulb to study for their O/Ls and A/Ls. Its a pity that the power and energy minister, who is an electrical engineer, hasnt even thought about this. This country is not ready for electric cars. Not yet. And don't get me started about solar net metering. Even if you cover a 10-perch land with Solar panels, you won't be able to generate enough power to charge a Leaf.
    10 points
  49. This thread deserves an award for the sensibility of the question, the level of maturity people have shown in responding, and the active counter responses from the OP himself. I'm bookmarking this thread to share the next time someone asks "I can get a loan of $$$$$. should I buy A, B or C. It also goes to show that newbie-rape is not the norm here and the raping based on the newbie's individual attributes/stupidity.
    10 points
  50. Looks like we go a rail enthusiast in here. There are dedicated sites on locomotives on Sri Lankan tracks. Such as this one. Class M1 was made by Brush Locomotives, UK which is now defunct. There was one surviving engine in Sri Lanka, which was planned to be restored by a group of enthusiasts about 10 years ago but I don't know what happened to that project. Class M2 (General Motors Canada) was imported to Sri Lanka in 1955 or so. 60 years later, those engines are still running, except for the one blown up by the LTTE ("Sasketchewan"). The running ones include the engine that was washed off in the 2004 Tsunami ("Manitoba"). If you see a train engine with a wave painted on it, that's Manitoba. Not even a tsunami can destroy these engines. Class M3 was a failed local project. Nuff said Class M4 (Bombardier, USA) is too long for most of Sri Lankan tracks. They run mostly down south and to Puttalam Class M5 is quite common on the upcountry track because of its shorter wheelbase. Class M6 has two types. Ones with and without electric traction. Most of those are now re-engined with Mercedes-Benz (Adtranz) engines. Class M7 was imported when Queen Elizabeth visited Sri Lanka in early 80s. Hideously noisy, underpowered and smoky engines. Class M8 and M10 were imported from India. Class M9 (Alstom) was the worst blunder ever made by the railway authorities in Sri Lanka. There's a lot of criticism about these but the biggest problem was they were too advanced for our railway people. If you compare an M9 with an M2, its like comparing a Morris Minor with a modern Mercedes. And our railway staff simply didnt want to upgrade their skills. For example, when the M9 senses a derailment, it automatically brakes and stops the engine, saving thousands of lives. Our retards didnt appreciate its features and said its having 'electronic problems'.
    10 points
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