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People judge that diesels are noisy by idling.But it's quite unfair.In fact they are quieter at highway speeds compared to any petrol one. Because of lower RPM(2500 vs 4500?).Man I love that cruising feeling.

The quietness of a car has more to do with the amount of sound deadening material used, thickness of panels, thickness of metal & glass used and aerodynamics (Also tires) rather than the actual engine and gearbox. In which case the prius should be pretty bad since it's an eco car made to be light as possible (other than the aerodynamic part). If you need quietness and refinement buy a euro, you can buy a decent ride like an 2011 A4 diesel for arround the same price you pay for a that uglya## prius.

Dear All, Although I am very new to this forum I have been reading your comments for a while. Finally I thought I would create an account and raise a few general questions (that I have for a long time) as you guys seem to be more educated and rather knowledgeable about cars/models than me. Serena/Engine issue- We all aware that what happened to owners at the end. However, Sri Lankans have digested this problem via different ways (replaced by Vannette engines, sell the vehicle for peanuts, etc) I just wonder whether the Manufacturer has taken any steps to fix this problem (to regain the damaged reputation, for example-product recall for Japanese users ?),Does anyone know any information on this, whether it happened to a specific batch/has Nissan admitted it? I guess that it is certainly an engineering issue. I remember, a caller asked (at a one of the Autovision programmes) whether it is ok to buy this car or not . Mr.Lal Alawatte mentioned few cons of this minivan and finally came to the point, “I am not condemning any car model as those are designed and made by professionals/qualified experts, but, very frankly, I should say that there is a problem”. 2. Nissan Primera P12 and Cefiro A33: Both models started to appear in our roads after 2000 At the beginning they both were well accepted by “Sri Lankan taste”. Personally, I really like them as they present very decent and professional outlook. However, soonafter, they were labelled as “gas gustling big fat ladies, so stay away”,.. eventually, Primera lost it’s second hand market compared to other rivals like 121s and TI my roads, we cannot blame the buyers as buying a car is an investment for us, so everyone needs something in return, at least the capital that we have put on. Well, the fact is, we Sri Lankans like to enjoy the luxury and ready spend extra lacks on comfort (because, we all look for full option vehicles with many buttons, no matter what it does). So, why buyers are not ready burn extra few litres of fuel per month? I feel they arrived too early in to Sri Lankan market in terms of affordability or more futuristic at that time… Do you think that story is not as bad as we think or is it another myth fabricated by so called “car brokers”, because several good car models have been victimized by them which made owners ended up huge losses. I totally agree to someone’s comment that I saw in Presea project- or in similar words “those days we used to see vehicle models with taste/charisma and personality that added colour and diversity, but look now, our roads have been flooded with Pruises and Vezels, 3.Toyota Emina/Estima-Can someone explain me why this vehicle could not attract the SrI Lankan market although its spacious/diesel/family carrier. I spoke to few “wahana osthars” but no clear answer was given, (someone told me its not successful either in Japan). Did the price made the matters worst ? Thanks for your time… KR, AJ

Are you sure you don't want you to hear the sound of engine??

Yes. Agreed. They just have smart phone/PC and Internet connection. But not willing to learn new things and how to use those tools. Who is reading user manuals of phone, television they buy ? Just plug the TV to the power and pressing remote controller keys like monkeys and learn. Same thing happen everywhere. This will create idiotic nation. Tuk-tuk and bikers are common example for this too.

Well speaking about fuel consumption, I don't think you need to go in and out of petrol sheds all the time even if you drive a chrysler or whatever falling in to that category. All you need to do is to make it full tank ( As such vehicles equipped with the matching fuel tank) and maintain as you drive. Anyway, Let me kindly share an experience I had with a diesel hybrid car. One day, someone I know visited my house with his Mercedes-Benz car which was recently bought with Blue-tech technology & it was Diesel. The car was luxury but I hated its noise because it was quiet until EV mode is on but very ugly sound when the engine is powered up. To be honest, it was a bit lower to my 4DR5. LOL. I kind of disappointed with Mercedes-Benz engineering about Diesel hybrid. ( I don't know how fair it is to others ) If I had your concern, I go with Premio Or Allion or Leaf (Upgraded version with longer range)

Hybrids are only quiet when running on EV mode, when the engine starts it sounds like freaking lawnmower. If you are looking only for hybrids the axio would be another choice, has descent boot space and reasonably comfortable.

After 12 years on Autolanka you think you've heard everything.. and this gem of a brain teaser comes along! OK, yes, I too was thinking along the lines of lightning striking the ground and being conducted to the car through the grass/weed. But if THAT's the case, the electric charge still needs to leave the car. It wont shoot back upto the sky, and it already came from the ground. Which would mean the lightning took the path of sky > car > Weed > ground > house. But if the car was parked in the garden, i presume in very close proximity to the house, the lightning wouldn't have hit the car to begin with. If recall my Grade 10 science, a high point that attracts lightning forms shields everything under a 45 degree umbrella of sorts (aka the typical lightening rod). So how..................... And just sharing..

I decided to keep the originals because I or my mechanics are not good enough to calculate the actual air flow needed for the condenser to cool down as it is designed to be originally. Twin Turbo > Thanks for your suggestion. I have done the drum to disc conversion (Front & A bit recently) and PS (Long time back) but you made me think something else. Originally 4DR5 comes with a Hand Brake lever next to the Steering (Left) and what we need is to lift it up harder. Normally, The lever is locked when it is lifted up and rotating a little to anti clock wise (Or clock wise ) releases it. My concern is that, if in case it was touched and rotated like I said before, it goes down which means the Hand Brake is off. I was thinking about this because after I fitted the Dual AC unit, In the cases of I leave the vehicle while others are inside and AC is on, Only this handbrake provide the safety. So in case if it releases (I have a 2 year old kid and I am really concern about this matter now. ) the vehicle looses the control. Since this vehicle has a hand brake shoes mounted to the drive shaft, I kind of thinking whether it is possible to have an electronic pull type solenoid (Or something similar to that) which I can switch on and do the same as the manual lever does. So If you guys have any idea about it, please share your thoughts. You know the requirement and suggest me something better. That will really help me. Thanks a lot.

Not a very good thing to do if you have a relatively modern car... everything from the ECU mapping to the proximity based keys will go bonkers..

Fittingly it's the FB14 " Gona" model

You missed the most important item in your check list it seems ? "The Timing Belt"

Wow.. Thank you so much for your kind wishes guys. First birthday at my very own home. So this one is kinda special. Thank you for making it more wonderful with your blessings. Cheers guys!

Agree with maxxarox's post above. However my approach in estimating the panel capacity would be slightly different. If you estimate the self discharge (leakage) current of the battery to be 0.075A (rule of thumb figure taken as 1/100th of AH figure) and the residual consumption of the car to be 0.050A (can be measured), the total residual discharge will be 0.125A. This works out to 3AH discharge per day (0.125X24) but would require a 5AH of charge because the charging efficiency will be around 60% at 80% SOC and above (Source: http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/7427/Lead_Acid_Battery_Efficiency.pdf). Assuming a typical fill factor value of 0.7 for the solar panel and a float charge voltage of 13.6V, a 20W panel can deliver 1.029A at full sunlight (=20*0.7/13.6) that work out to 4.8 hours of full sunlight (5AH/1.029A) to compensate a discharge of 3AH. Hence depending on the location where the panel would be placed which decide the availability of sunlight 20W panel would be sufficient for the purpose. Please note that I have not factored in the loss due to series regulator but still this calculation should hold good. Above figures are estimates and the method is basic and hence, they are open to challenge and refinement.

I would personally prefer the one with crocodile clamps as you'll have to keep the key inside the vehicle and turned to "ON" position if you want to use the cigarette lighter socket to charge the vehicle. Charging cannot happen if there is no sunlight, it can be cloudy or shady, but you will still need some sunlight. You can leave the car parked in a garage and have the solar panel hung up on top of your roof or something.This is an energy conversion from light to electrical. On a photovoltaic solar panel, the electricity produced will be directly proportional to the sunlight falling on it, also the angle at which the sun's rays fall on the panel have an effect too. If you are mathematically savvy, for optimum energy capture, the sun's radiation will have to fall perpendicular to the panel (at 90 degrees). If the incident radiation falls at an angle on the panel, the angle of incidence wil be (90-theta) and the effective area of the panel will be Acos(theta), where A will be the area of the panel and "theta" is the deviation from the perpendicular of sun's radiation. This will reduce the effective area of the panel, hence reducing the energy captured. Since you haven't mentioned the voltage output of the solar panel, I'll assume its 16V. Energy of car battery = VIt = 16V x 75Ah = 1200 Wh Time to charge a completely flat battery = (Energy of car battery / Wattage of panel) x k (constant) = (1200Wh / 5W) x 2.5 = 600 hours Note that I'm multiplying by a constant k (for which I have used a value of 2.5) as we're considering a practical situation and hence the loss of energy has to be taken in to account. The wattage rating on the solar panel is the product of the open circuit voltage and the peak current (which we cannot get always due to variation in sunlight), when the solar panel is connected to a load (battery) the voltage will drop to about 12.5V and also all the energy supplied to the battery will not be stored, some will be lost as heat, so a combined loss factor of about 2.5 is ideal. So basically, a 5W panel may not be sufficient even though you don't allow the battery to go completely flat (you have to confirm the voltage using a voltmeter when the charging process takes place to confirm this), but a panel that produces about 15W - 20W would be highly recommended. Also keep in mind that car batteries are not meant to be deep-cycled, means that they should NEVER be allowed to go flat or even go close to being flat, this has a major impact on their lifetime. Sorry if this post looks confusing, please ask if you need any clarification EDIT: Also make sure that your panel has some sort of a charge controller built in.

I'm willing to bet that the civic's were driving in reverse at the time! Or it was probably like the time a three-wheeler guy raced the white Gallardo and won! (The 3-wheeler vs the Lambo race is up on facebook somewhere and its pretty funny. I forget where I saw it, else I'd link it here. They totally did it for jokes, the guys in the three wheeler are like: Don't worry machang, put it in gear in and over take, you don't need to worry! In Sri Lanka tuk-tuk is king, not Lamborghini. You overtake, I'm going to record it, to show the world!)

Send him to the Panda owner's club page and tell him to ask the tough talking guy who races all the Civic's where he got HIS!!

No need for any secret service, how about you just do your fellow countrymen a favour and explain it all here?