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This is an interesting piece. http://www.ft.lk/opinion/Sustainable-and-broad-minded-solution-for-Colombo-s-traffic/14-674188 Quick Quotes "I didn’t want to explain to him that the traffic is created by drivers who drives recklessly and selfishly to reach their destination as fast as possible. They never follow lane discipline, never bother about pedestrians, and they go wherever they can move their vehicle thinking that this is the way to avoid traffic in Sri Lanka." "An open-minded and well-disciplined public will reduce 50% of self-created traffic jams." I doubt that is a research backed number, but it will definitely help. Some research here. https://www.smartmotorist.com/traffic-jams Now why do I bother posting? I can't reform everyone. But here is the hope. By reading this and learning something, it might cause people to modify their own behaviour. I have done a lot of practicing lane discipline. See the problem is, people in traffic are more reactive, they try to wriggle into whatever tiny space they can (watch the tuks) and then find themselves on the wrong lane. Of course, we can't always follow the recommended practice, have to keep moving out of the left lane due to potholes or idiots who parked cars where cars should be moving. But proactively putting yourself in the correct lane to manage your turns will help ease the traffic tremendously. As a small example take the traffic lights in front of Orion City. There is at least 4 lanes there, but cars that can travel straight through the lights are eternally stuck behind people who want to turn but occupy the wrong lanes coz they think they can get their thing done faster by doing so. In the end, my conclusion is this. When using public property, you do not have a right. You have a duty. This is the mindset I'm gonna have. Hopefully it will inspire others, but at least I'll gonna try it. Can't preach it without practicing it

A little update on the Mazda: I've been driving it on a daily basis now for the past two and a half months or so. The car feels so good to drive and I'm glad I went for the SP20 with the 2L engine. The Mrs also absolutely loves driving it. Apart from filling her up with petrol, I haven't done much to the car. I got rid of the bonnet protector because it was giving the car a grandpa look, and I waxed it once after a wash. The bonnet has a lot of stone chips which are really hard to see from a distance, but you can clearly see them up close. I plan to get a touch up paint kit and cover them up soon. I paid a couple of visits to the salvage yard just 15 minutes from where I live and found four 323 hatchbacks there. I wanted to pick up a AC blower motor (the one on the car is noisy), a wiper arm, driver's side mirror (as mentioned in a post above), centre control ashtray bezel (the one on the car is cracked) and a tailgate gas strut as the left one appears to be leaking a tiny bit although it holds up the tailgate up. The red 323 here is a 2002 car and has only minor damage to the front right. If it were in Sri Lanka, this car would be back on the road within about a week or so. Look how clean the interior still is. The trims and glove box were removed by me to take the AC blower motor out. Otherwise it was pretty neat. After bringing the parts home, I thoroughly cleaned the blower motor before installing it. That took me about an hour or so. This motor is also noisy, but not as bad as the one that was on the car. All of these parts cost me about 20 AUD (that is around 2500 LKR I think). I went to the same salvage yard again to pick up a front door speaker (passenger door speaker was not working), a couple of lug nuts (one lug nut was damaged for some reason) and a few clips for the engine under tray. Lug nuts and clips were just lying on the ground and they didn't even charge me for them. Only paid a couple of dollars for the speaker. I first took out the door card of the same red 323 I picked out the other parts from. Since it was my first time removing this particular door card, I remembered where all the clips and screws are so that I can carefully do the same on mine. Took out the door card and installed the speaker. Now I've got all four speakers working.

I would happily take a bus if the service is at least marginally acceptable. Instead we have to travel in lorry chassis buses packed with people, sweating, getting screamed at by conductor while experiencing stunts from the driver. This is where we can improve. If government or a public private partnership can introduce an air conditioned metro bus service with disciplined drivers/ conductors which has a regularized schedule. I bet many people who spend hours shifting in stuck traffic will switch to bus. Unfortunately, I dont see such an attempt from the government or I have no idea how as general public we can contribute to initiate such a course. This is a good alternative solution. But we need regular commuting times for this right? I myself has a chaotic work routine with abrupt travel requirements all around the country. So not good to me. ?

This was part of the scholarship ! So the applicants did not have to actually pay for it ! Part of it was done at the GOethe Institute and then followed up at the University or something once they get there....so cost was not an option....

Reliability of old cars are mostly depend on the previous usage and maintenance. If you are ok with 10 years old sedans. I would see following 3 options for a guy Mazda 3 or Axela Lancer EX Civic FD1/FD4 If you really really want a Toyota badge, go for a Corolla 141. If i was asked to choose a car for 3 million, it will be always old e46

That's your car being a law abiding vehicle