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You are choosing ONE car -it could be a 27-year old japanese car, 8-year old indian car, 15-year old European car or whatnot. What you should be worried about, is that specific car. Not whether it is Japanese or Indian or Andromedian. Keep your options open. Assess a few cars and buy the one that would be in the best condition. Don't worry whether it is Japanese or Indian or Andromedian. However, in my experience, Ford Lasers hold on to their build quality far better than most other cars, even after they age. One reason could be because your average penny-pinching gamey goday person goes for Toyotas most of the time.

Both of them would do around 10-12kmpl in city driving and 16-18kmpl for long trips.Note that some owners have claimed about the steering rack noise(which is a common thing for most of the toyota’s due to SL roads).You’ll be able to squeeze out more kms if you are extremely lightfooted and drive like a granny Anyway when considering the fuel economy...just don’t think about it mate..they are cars with good fuel economies. So you’ll never get the low figures of a Cefiro or high figures of Hybrid. At the end of a long journey 1-2kmpl difference would likely to save you around 100 rupees.

Between the two I'd go for the viva elite since it's newer and since it's a fun little car to drive. A similarly priced passo would be a bit more older. For a first car something simple like an elite will be a good choice.

Since you are ok with indian hatches you might as well consider something like a March K11 those are bland but reliable cars that have been around for ages. You will be probably able to get a late 90s model for your budget specially since you're looking for a manual ( manuals are a lot cheaper)

Boy this conversation might have confused you to hell, let me share my bit if your your budget was towards the 18 mark an Indian will be a safer option because you can land a newer model, but at 13.5 you can get a much better jap, rather than the Indian ones at the price also cars from this era may not be as economical in terms of fuel but spares are cheap, and cars from this era have ample parts, cheap parts in many makes, simple services and you can run 92 oct, saving a bit more, and you are extremely LESS likely to lose money via depreciation through a jap car in this era, and mileage won’t also be a big deal as all are high, whereas Indian cars of your budget range when old fall apart, loose money and mileage concerns pop up, interiors are shabby and lack more, even road presence is less. Get a jap, You ll fall in love with it and develop a passion no one looks down on a well maintained clean jap car, whereas even a brand new Indian car is no head turner in our local context, they maybe good but it’s just the mentality here.

Go for the Japanese or Euro ride. They’ll be far more comfortable and refined than the Alto and Zen. Also note that the Indian vehicles tend to show their age really faster than japs. Japs are safer too?

Hello and welcome to the forum! Both of these cars are good in fuel economy and reliability. Viva elite is the malaysian counterpart of Daihatsu Mira so the car is almost the same. I know few owners and no one complained any fault about the Viva. For the price you pay you’ll be getting a 2004-2005 Passo and 2011-2012 Viva Elite. Passo will be a bit comfortable than the Viva. Passo will give you more running repairs due to the age and you’ll find most of them hacked to death. So IMO Viva Elite is the best bet when it comes to fuel economy and reliability. It’s just an average car with nothing to complain about.Good luck!

Go for the Alto mate. But be wary of the rusting in the Indian model. Check thoroughly before buying.

also consider crash safty,..

It will depend on the car itself...if the car is hacked and in bad shape then even a Japanese car will cost a lot to maintain because it will have to be fixed often. In general: - As I said before the Indian cars of the time period you are looking at were not the best built..so age starts to show quite early on. - Maruti parts are significantly cheaper than most GOOD OEM parts and originial Japanese parts. However, the service life does tend to be shorter so over a period of time you will spend almost the same amount of money for the Indian cars by having to replace the same part a few more times (again..this depends on the car and the part). - Good OEM parts and original parts for Japanese cars can be quite expensive. Howeer, there are plenty of cheap Chinese knock-off parts that are dirt cheap. If you use such parts then the maintenance/repair costs for a Japanese car would be almost the same as that of an Indian car. However, using these parts is not recommended.

if you can scratch your budget a bit- Lancer CK2 (1996/97).

You should add Mitsubishi Lancers to the list.... you will get reliable, more newer and good looking car as a result.... (if 8-10 kmpl is a decent fuel figure, u will get "Decent Fuel Consumption" too... ?)

Okay...so the Indian cars of the era you are looking at were not the most well built units...they lacked refinement and certain qualitative elements that make them less desirable and questionable when it comes to longevity. Having said that...the answer to your question depends on the car you are looking at. If you find a really well maintained and cared-after 27 year old Corolla that has had proper pre-emtive/scheduled and running maintenances done...it very well be more reliable than a poor or averagely used 8 year old Zen or Alto. But then on the other hand a Corolla that has not been properly maintained could be a complete night mare and actually be a lot worst than your 8 year old Alto. Yes..the E100 was solidly built and it can handle quite harsh use but that does not mean it is indestructible or that it does not break down. Like Crosswinds said...go look at the cars...see which one is acually better and what you actually like.

People will "lose" money if their car is stolen. As long as you have used your car that will not mean you have 'lost' money right? Even though in SL the perception was that a car is an investement it is no longer so. People have slowly started to realize a car is also something that you use like a a washing machine or a computer. In my humble opinion buying a hybrid will not FIX the so-called problem. Because even though hybrids are the trend these days I really don't think they will have a second hand market like the AE110's of yesterday. Since hybrids have a battery that wears out people are a bit hesitant to buy a used hybrid. also recently it has dawned on the local buyers that car's actually do wear out and due to this mentality shift second hand market will not be that big for hybrids, petrol cars, electric cars or anything. If it's an investment you are after I recomend you buy a plot of land (not anywhere where there are landslides) I remember way back people used to consider resale value even when buying a mobile phone. Thank god we are past that.

Ya in ebay there are sooo many high temp paints available in spray cans. But the thing is cause of the size I guess it will cost more to ship here. Anyway I called C*C and asked them and they told me they only have it in 4L cans and the price was around 6k. So I practically changed my mind about painting the silencer. Anyway after that I went to a near by paint shop and asked about high temp paints and they had a small can for just 800/=. I bought it and now gonna try and paint a small corroded part using a brush and see the result. If the results are good I"m gonna paint the whole exhaust unit.

Hi guys, So a colleague at work got delivery of his new MG ZS on Friday (Drove it to work on Tuesday). Of course, everyone was complimenting him on the looks of the vehicle, since appearance wise, you can;t get anything like it for LKR 5 mil. I didn't have a chance to go for a drive, but I did manage to hop in and have a look around (My colleague got the 1L 3 Cyl Turbo). Based on first looks, it looks pretty good...to the untrained eye. An average person will not notice anything negative, at least as long as the car is new. If you look closely though, you can see where corners have been cut. If you take the seats, the top part (the part that you rest your bum on) is made out of artificial leather. But the rest is all cloth. The dash looks "shape"..but A/C vents and stuff are quite similar to the BAIC X25. The entertainment system comes with Apple CarPlay support but not Android Auto (weird). There is decent legroom at the back, plus some decent luggage space. Since the car is new, my colleague was getting around 7.2 kmpl. So it is likely that with time, fuel consumption might settle in the 7-8 kmpl range. What I cannot comment on are the mechanics (didn't get a chance to pop the hood). Lots of folks here on AL have also raised concerns about the really bad quality of aftersales service provided by the agent, so that's something to think about.