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Wish All Auto Lanka Fans a Very Happy New Year 2019!! 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. 2018 Top Ranking Contributors are as follows.. @Crosswind @Davy @matroska @iRage 2018 Top Ranking Bloggers 1) Project R by @Komisiripala [Click Here] 2) Project Refina by @PreseaLover . [Click Here] In year 2019 we aim to work closely with our top loyal contributors and make quality motoring contents for general public. We invite all of you to come and enjoy all facilities provided by autolanka.com

So I think I should share my opinion about Corolla 121 since I have closer to 7 years of ownership experience. I have driven an ES5 clocked around 170,000kms and a 3 clocked around 100,000km. I bought the 121 when it was clocked just 93,000km and now she's closer to 154,000km. I am nearly 80kms away from Colombo and I never had any problem regarding maintenance and sourcing parts. Other than usual running repairs, the car never came up with an issue. Still the car drives like it did on the first day I bought it. When it comes to reliability, Toyota is the best. When driving, the handling is considerably better than Axios, Allions and Premios, but the Hondas and Mazdas feels a bit more connected to the road and sharper to handle. You can feel the difference when you sit in a Honda, as the driving position feels sporty and the seats provide better side support. Also Honda seats are bit on the firm side. But the Corolla makes you feel like you are sitting on a comfortable chair. The Corolla is much more refined and isolated from the outside world. Also the suspension handles potholes and bumps much better. On the other hand both the 3 and ES5 felt way less refined for me. The ES5 i drove had Dunlops but the road noise is pretty annoying. Ride is okish until you hit a pothole or a bump, since the car is noticeably bumpier than Corolla on bad roads. It is the same story with the 3 also. But both of them gives a sporty driving experience than the 121. All the three models have equal amount of power produced by the engines, while both 3 and ES5 is about 100kg heavier than the 121.When accelerating Corolla is slightly better. When it comes to fuel economy, yeah you know the answer. A Corolla 121 is not a miracle machine by any means. It's just more suited for Sri Lankans who seeks economy and reliability. While the car is much more refined and comfortable than a Honda or Mazda, it will make you feel like you are just another guy on the road. On the other hand Mazda and Honda would make you a different person. If you need further details P.M me Cheers

Happy New Year AutoLankans!!! Amen to that @trinity!!!

Happy new year everyone.Best wishes for 2019.May our Mitsubishi fraternity grow stronger and stronger in 2019!!

Also I forgot to mention that most of the Corollas for sale have been beaten to death and the with tampered mileages you might have to be extremely careful when choosing one.I also had plans to go for a 2007 Allion around 4.2million and gave up the idea due to bad examples.Better to go for a known car.Always request for service records and eco test reports.Sometimes you can assume that the mileage is faulty even by looking at the cars condition.Finally I decided to go for a 2013 Allion by the end of next month even I have to stretch my budget to the max, because the car is owned by a close relation of mine.So wish you good luck on finding a nice ride.

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.

Yes I totally agree with the fact that finding a good 121 is extremely hard.Even today I went to inspect a 2013 Allion on a car sale,just to have a rough idea about the one I’m going to buy next month.The car had 79000km on the odo,but the leather of the steering shows the signs of heavy usage.But the seller has painted the interior silver door handles and they look new.Even the plastic scuff plates had no signs of usage.The sales guy have put polythene covers on the steering wheel and gear knob to make it look like a new ride.So I’m talking about a 2013 made car.121 is nearly 2 decades old now,but still there are many carefully used ones.A close relation of mine also wanted to buy a 121 after seeing mine in 2014.So he got a very rare chance.A first owner car with 67,000km done,G grade,champaign gold in J plates.The car was in pristine condition.It was hard for me to believe at that time,but now due to careless usage the car starts to show it’s age.So if you are going for a 121 make sure to find a one with all the service records even the mileage is high. I forgot to mention about the GP1. It’s really a nice car to drive and ticks all your boxes. But if you plan to do less kms per month,its better to avoid hybrids.Other than the oil burning issue and battery issue,for me ground clearance is a bit of a problem. When deciding about the reselling, it is really hard to guess.Usually in SL market Toyotas are easier to sell.But sometimes that’s not true.Two guys I know had 2017 Premios.One is pearl white with 50,000km on clock.Advertised in quick sale site for 7.26 mil and sold in two days.The other one is a 2017 wine red with 30,000km on clock.I has been up for sale for nearly 2 months (7.2mil)and still not sold.Also there are two Civic FD1s for sale in quick sale site for nearly 1.5 months still with all the records and stuff.One FD1 was quoted as 4.2mil at the begining and now the price has been reduced to 3.7mil,but still up for sale.

Happy new year guys! Hope you all have a great motoring year ahead!

except for the issues "1. The battery 2. The oil burn issue." , GP1 is a value for money. ?

Ok I'm a bit late on this one - if it were my money I'd avoid the 121 like the plague ...why? I did a massive car hunt island wide 4 years back and the most abused, rigged, horrible conditioned cars I came across were 121's.... you have a high chance of falling for a proper lemon. I have a soft spot for the mazda 3 but the Civic is also a very well rounded car. Now then the most left field choice here might also be a good one - I've used a Fit GP1 for 3 years (sold it ) and it was a true all round car for one it's newer, has a lot of bells and whistles like cruise control etc. and it's spacious as hell where you can carry cart loads of stuff in it. There are two big issues - 1. The battery 2. The oil burn issue. If you read the threads on the GP1 you will notice that a specific series of VIN #'s are affected if you get a car not in that range and get the battery tested you're looking at a car that is less than a decade old - due to the above issues generally the prices are a bit low so you can get a good deal. While you're at it also consider the non-hybrid FIT (GE6) that's a real value for money car. a bit OT but a general comment - I've not owned too many vehicles but here's a breakdown of the 3 vehicles that I have sold and the time it took for selling 1. Perodua Kelisa (sold in 2015) - sold within 4 hours of ad being published online. 50,000 LKR below advertised price 2. Honda Fit (sold in 2018) - sold within 12 hours of ad being published (ad published on an evening buyer came the next morning) 40,000 LKR below advertised price. 3. Nissan Sunny (FB14) (Sold in 2015) - sold after 3 weeks of advertising in A/L, quick site and the newspapers for 100,000 below advertised price. oh and btw a friend of mine has been trying to sell 2004 Vios for over 2 months now. So you see it's not always the "market " cars that get sold nowadays - the car market has changed a bit recently people tend to go for newer non mainstream cars than settle for ancient relics that have met half a dozen accidents, have an ac compressor from a different model , on open books and been re-painted by Paint basses using dulux weathershield.

Happy New Year Guys! Awesome to be a part of this community - where you learn something everyday and get to participate in quality discussions. Hope AL grows and continues to be the premier hub for Motoring enthusiasts in the country. Thanks Moderators for keeping this forum going ?

Happy new year to you all

Wishing all members a very Happy New Year! It's a privilege to be part of such a great community where people help each other and share their knowledge so that we can collectively grow as a group of like-minded individuals. Cheers for another year of happy motoring and great discussions.

The Toyota will fulfill all your requirements. In terms of “more car for your money “ there are better alternatives like the newer Civics , Lancers etc. IMO the best value will be sometime like a GP1 but it will be difficult to find a good example with a decent battery for your budget.

Keep the money in the bank and get a good rental when you visit, it will be cheaper than your maintenance and insurance.

If you are really concern in comfortability, go for a Nissan.

You missed my point...like I said... "The Corolla is a nice, reliable, no frills car just like the others on your list and yes it does have the typical Toyota reliability and robustness of the past." But in Sri Lanka..it simply is not worth it because of the prices people ask for. Yes, the car is tried and proven but; decades later, after how most of the cars' multiple owners had taken care of them the "reliability" and "robustness" that you refer too also has diminished (use of cheap and easily accessible parts, maka baas work, etc..used by people who know nothing about cars and maintained it based on the service station Jonny's and down the road Ranjith baas's advice...) So the high price that people put on it because it is a Corolla is not justifiable when you consider the fact that the reliability and robustness actually has diminished and for a decade old car it will have (or not have) the same issues of its competitor models. Also, now cars actually do depreciate in SL.... Also, it is unfair to say that the Honda and the Mazda have not proven itself as they have and both the Civic and the 3 of the era have been as reliable and robust as the 121. In fact the Civics and 3s have faired a lot better than the Sunnaes. Its just that the masses in SL never knew about it because they followed the stories of the car salesmen and the baases. So they never got sold in ship loads over here; so you do not get cheap parts all over the country (which by itself is a good thing because owners had to go get proper parts). In fact, I believe most of the Civics and 3s of the era have aged a lot better than the 121 because they were built with a slightly higher finish (dashboard materials, etc...) As I said in the end if one can find a good, honest one then yes go for it..but finding one will be quite hard..also it would be a high price.