Supra_Natural

Congrats on the purchase, i really do hope you got it inspected before you bought it.

Ado, good to see the story, wanted to ask you about it after seeing your IG posts. It's a nice ride, you're a braver man that I would be for sticking to that interior though, I just wouldn't be able to live with it. You mentioned that the guy you got it from is a Jimny/Samurai enthusiast, I assume he has parts contacts etc? I've also got a JB33 (the 2000s model) Jimny in the stable now, and want to establish maintenance/parts contacts to keep it on the road.

If it's your first car, a 30 year old highly complex BMW would not be the ideal call. If you have your heart set on a BM, then an E34 5 Series may be a better bet as they are very solidly built and have a good support network worldwide and in SL. If you want something completely trouble free though, look for something newer, and preferably Japanese (Or even certain Koreans). Man I cannot believe I just typed that... Age catching up, I guess. Then again, if you don't mind some garage time and want to actively be involved in the running and maintenance of your car on a molecular level, by all means, go Euro.

Greetings all, sorry have not been as active on the form for awhile, will try and remedy that this year. Have had a Mazda 2 Sedan since March of 2016 and can confirm what people have mentioned above that it is a very very good car all round. @iRage I didn't actually get rid of it after the dump truck incident (which is what I assume you meant). Thankfully it's a pretty tough built car! It's clocked up just over 50k now and other than a few niggles, so far has been pretty reliable overall. Had the front suspension bump stop issue within a month of buying the car, they were replaced under warranty, also had an AC condenser leak that was sorted under warranty in the first year. Finally, had a AC blower issue in 2019 that took a bit of diagnosing to figure out. Other than that, all good. The car has plenty of power thanks to light weight and the skyactiv engine, while the 6 speed auto is a gem, super smooth and quick shifting. Handling is also pretty fun for a fairly basic car, I upgraded the smallish, low rolling resistance 185/65/16 tyres to 205/55/16s Toyos early on and they made a difference. Just changed front and rear brake pads at the last service too, for the first time. Service at Colonial was relatively all right, but I've switched to Mazna motors in Attidiya because they seem rather more knowledgeable and passionate about the brand, honestly. Overall, wouldn't hesitate to say go for it, as long as the car is in decent shape. Remember all skyactiv Mazdas are happiest on 95 octane though.

Try out Ultimate Motor Works. They recently absorbed another smaller company (Bavarian Auto Services), which had a fair bit of experience with older BMWs. A couple of old AL members are directors of the new company too, can confirm that they know what they are doing.

Bit late to this discussion, but having driven the majority of the cars on this list, I will still say that in a Lankan context a new MX5 is still one of the best fun cars you can buy for semi-sane money. The raw numbers are very low, but the sheer fun of the thing cannot really be explained in words, you really do have to try one out to get it (even I didn't at first, then I drove one). Considering our roads, traffic conditions etc, it is a great buy. Sure it's not cheap, but nothing is in SL anymore and with the right maintenance it will keep going for decades too. World's best selling sports car for a reason.

Speak to this guy - Prasad - 0773573228. He should be able to help you out.

I would suggest talking to the agents regarding service intervals. As for the manual I assume the Mazda 3 one will work, you can probably get it online. Look at getting the UK or Australian version.

Have it on the 6 and the MX5 but not the 2. I generally switch it off when I'm driving in traffic. Worthwhile checking with them how exactly they disable the Istop and whether it can negatively affect anything else. I don't see how it can affect the starter motor since as far as I know it's done via compression like you said. But it could put strain on things like mounts, and definitely does affect the battery.

Great choice mate, I'm sure you'll be very happy with the car. Agents should be able to sort you out for any maintenance as I assume it's the same 1.5 Skyactiv engine and 6 speed box that the 2 has. What is your final landed price going to be?

Seems like a bit of guerrilla marketing is going on here....

All this time, I also thought the same thing.... But I did wonder because you never saw "Commuter model" in the brochure or anything, just High roof and mid roof. Wow, you learn something new everyday!

Doesn't it come with parking sensors? All C160s I've seen have them fitted. Learn to use them, far easier than a Camera. If you MUST have a camera I'm afraid you're going to have to go the agent route and pay whatever they ask. Third parties will claim they can install one but they will invariably have to mess with the wiring to do it and doing that WILL void your warranty, not really a good thing.

All of these coatings are basically just an added clearcoat like layer, all of them will wear off eventually. For the price of those things, you can easily get your car waxed once a month at a proper place for years on end and still have cash left over.

Thanks man, 18 wanguwa run is still pending but I've done some other good roads already and it is amazing, the perfect sports car for Sri Lanka to be honest, just enough power to have fun in our conditions. Yup VVti and I have done some runs together, so you must have seen it in his pics.

I have no idea where you gents find the time these days to spend hours waxing your car. For me, I just run it to a good detailing place every so often and get the job done.

Aiyo that's really unfortunate, wish you could have kept it around. I guess family does change priorities, though maybe you could have kept it as your excuse for "Me time" haha. They are basically hen's teeth in SL, there are quite a few "Non Original" cars (similar story to the tons of Minis around) but I don't want to go that road so will keep looking for a legit one. NBs are even fewer, I think 2 cars total. Till I find one though, I have a mountain road corner carver in the garage because I replaced the Jag with a 2015 ND, which is a brilliant car. Mostly looking for the NA to keep it company lol. the E30 looks great too!

Any updates on this project @MrCat? Please do keep us posted. Also, your photo links are broken. I'm also looking around for a Mark 1 Miata over here, but they are on the rare side.

Congrats again doc, so glad to see your years of effort pay off man!

Please stop opening multiple topics to ask the same question.

Any particular reason you "prefer a luxury car brand"? Because you should know that neither of those options can exactly be considered a luxury car.

Buying a used car is not really as complicated and threatening as the average person seems to think it is. All you need to do is inspect any prospective purchase properly, make sure it has been well maintained and buy it at a fair price. There are places that can do the inspection in an unbiased manner nowadays too. Of course it takes some time and effort on your part so you need to have the patience for it. A good start is the excellent guide "How to Buy a Used Car in Sri Lanka" which is on the forum, written by member Saturn. It is a few years old but all the information is still spot on.

Do some research, plenty written about them online and even on AL forums. Good cars, great fun but they are all old now and some will have been abused. The majority you will see on the market are conversions so you need to make sure the job was done by someone who knows what they are doing. If done properly, this is not an issue. Original cars are super rare, I'm guessing there's a maximum of 20-25 GC8 chassis WRXs & Stis of all generations (1 through 6) in Lanka, possibly less. Make sure you get any prospective purchase thoroughly evaluated by someone who knows these cars, ideally by two separate parties to be extra careful. Lastly, if fuel economy is a concern, please buy something else.

Why are you replying to a thread from 6 years ago?

You realize that there is no such thing as "reconditioned" when it comes to car parts right? Those are just used parts, from a scrapped car. Their durability is basically a lottery.