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matroska

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Posts posted by matroska

  1. 6 hours ago, iRage said:

    Here you go...it created quite a stir when it was up for sale sometime back...

    image.png.3d815c2378eb08828beb7ff519da78e1.png

    a kit car with a name that reminds you of a central American civilization and a name of a car derived from a greenish insect. 

  2. 1 hour ago, sathyajithj99 said:

    Hey guys! Need your expert opinion on something . Since my elder son started kindergarten , I'm looking for a small hatch for my wife to take him there daily. My budget is between 2.5- 3million. She prefers automatics and easy parking. Fuel economy is not an issue

    I am considering 

    Perodua Kelisa

    Perodua Kenari

    Chevrolet Cruise

    Other suggestions are also welcome.

    Thanks in advance.

    Kelisa, Cruze, Kenari in that order would be my suggestion. 

    Kelisa is very easy to nip in and out and parking. Simple maintenance as well. Kenari, would be the same drive train. But I don't have any experience with it. 

    Cruze - again very useful if you have bad roads. Not as nimble as the perodua a little sluggish at times - would be extra useful to haul stuff if needed. 

    If the need is primarily to take your son to and back from school the obvious choice would be a kelisa.

    Other options in the same price range would be Suzuki Alto Japanese version of the same vintage that comes with an Auto box and a 650 CC engine. 

    • Thanks 1
  3. 17 hours ago, Gummybr said:

    Another failed attempt at marketing a Chinese mass produced car as assembled in Sri Lanka. This vehicle was sold in a market as made in USA and were found out by the public. Has various names in different countries. Rinco Aria, Yitai Motors YTEV08007, Volt City EV

    spot on! 

    So just for clarity - Xiahou FEV appears under many names and landed in Sri Lanka marketed by a roller door maker as the Elme City at an eye-watering price. 

    Your turn @Gummybr

  4. 1 hour ago, Gummybr said:

    Ok then, try this. Could be difficult, if you need clues let me know.

    Triv0010.jpg

    Triv0020.jpg

    this was asked a few years ago in this same trivia: Now I  see a SIMilar CAr AROunD hEre  .... Shall I answer or wait for someone else? 

  5. On 1/14/2024 at 3:51 PM, iRage said:

    Sadly no 😕

    Bingo ! The floor is your Gummy bear :)

    To @matroska's credit...there was a Langley for sale a few years ago advertised as a Skyline :) which prompted a discussion on AL forums back in the day. Know a few old AL members who actually raced down a Lanley on the roads thinking it was a Skyline :D 
    Also, back in the day the Langley was sold at Nissan Prince dealerships, the same dealerships that sold the Skyline. Japanese advertisements often referred to both cars having the same design DNA.

    argh! The Langley .... there was no other Nissan of that era with lights like that... I have only seen one langley in Real life and that was at a school 'walk' in 2008. 

  6. 18 hours ago, iRage said:

    Oh..uhh..ok.
    Here is a pretty easy one. I think this was posted before on this thread...
    image.png.55899a40cb0a25de3b0fe142e1f4f7a5.png

    I hope there's a silver line in the sky in the new year! 

  7. 9 hours ago, Gummybr said:

    Wish you a very happy new year!

    Why not try this, shouldnt be difficult.

     

     

    Triv0022.jpg

    Triv0011.jpg

    That's a Subaru Leone. Nice looking car but sadly not very popular locally - has a bit of popularity in Australia. The one in your image is the older version - the one for sale with 11 Sri Plates and being sold by a priest. The more common variant is the 3rd Gen - imported brand new in the early 90's running with 18- plates usually. Some of their books are used to run dodgy imprezzas. There's a blue Leone with good body rotting away on the roadside near Minuwangoda. Like this car so much that around 2020 I did a feasibility study of buying a couple of cars one as a donor to fully restore a Leone. Never really moved on from there. There are a couple of decent Leone's on the classifieds the blackish one has been on sale since 2022. :( 

  8. 5 hours ago, iRage said:

    Speculative. I would be willing to bet that this has more to do with the type of people who bought the Toyotas vs. those who bought the Honda.

    Could it also do with the overall architecture of IMA vs HSD. IMA was at best a mild hybrid system - as opposed to HSD.??? The tradeoff was fuel economy?

    The early Honda Hybrids were nominal hybrids. I.e : the FD3's GP1's GP2's and insights had fuel economy that was on par with a small engined ICE car. 

    The previous decade was the hybrid craze and friends, relatives, colleagues all bought Hybrids. Down the line it was clear the Toyota batteries just simply died quicker- even the people who cut no corners in preventive maintenance. 

     

    5 hours ago, iRage said:

    Not to sound snobbish but I don't expect the average Aqua, Prius, Axio hybrid owner to have been the type to buy a Honda

    They actually did from 2011-2016. Tour operators bought the GP2 Shuttle by the cartload and the GP1 was cheaper than the aqua so many bought it. Those were serially abused on the same scale as an aqua.  For some reason the 2010-2015 ish Honda hybrids (GP1 oil burn apart) could cop some abuse. It all changed with the DCT trio  and the FK6's though :D 

  9. 14 hours ago, fiat fan said:

     FD1 is the best (unless you find a fd2)

    FD1- 1.8L engine. Good power and good economy. Around 8kmpl city and 14kmpl outstation. Has options like paddle shifters and sunroof.

    FD2- it’s the type R. Very rare and very expensive. I imagine you know what the type R is.

    FD3- hybrid. Battery is bit weak. Not a big gain financially because money saved in petrol will be sent on the hybrid bits. There was a member here who had one. Only model to have 8 airbags IIRC.

    FD4- basic and underpowered. 1.6L engine thats not that fun,little slow and not that economical overall. 9.5 city and 12kmpl outstation. Car too heavy for that engine.

    Find a manual FD1. Best economy and power!

     

    FD2 Super rare. 

    FD1 - Rare but available.

    FD3  - Exceeded my expectations when I took @Dee Jays for a little spin. Hybrid drive train has held up pretty well compared to other hybrids. 

    FD4 - Commonly imported b/new back in the day. 

    while FD1 is the top of the ladder FD3's and 4's are waaaaay better than the options in that budget. 

    On 12/13/2023 at 11:11 PM, Isuru Adhikari said:

    Is it worth buying a Honda civic in Sri Lanka?

    Nothing is 'worth' buying in Sri Lanka but hey we have to make do with what we have :D so yeah 5 million spent on a FD series Civic is worth than the same spent on a 121 which probably goes for the same price now. 

     

  10. 9 hours ago, fiat fan said:

    Thada thada jathi. i8 thama machan ontapenrr yakada heena.

    (Likes a video of an i8 with a sinhala-rap song (they all sound the same?) in the background on tiktok on iPon 15 pro max bought from idealz (and got photo posted on their fb page) while waiting for the pickme food guy to deliver the cheese kottu from mr kottu...plan to give the pick me guy 100 rs and write an essay on facebook about it)

    • Haha 1
  11. 21 hours ago, Ruwan.perera said:

    also i have around 1.8m in hand and plan to lease 1.0 - 2.0mn. Don’t know how it helps just to let anyone needs to know. 

    Here's  a little suggestion. Why don't you skip the lease ( anyway it makes more sense to go for a personal loan than a lease) for the 1.8M you have in hand -go for a first gen Mazda Demio. It's a hatch with some elements of late 90's Crossover/MPV styling. Manuals are cheaper so 1.8 /1.9 should fetch you a decent car. If you want an auto it might be around 2Mill but you can always bargain - so you won't really have to go for that lease. (You will be able to fit in mainstream hatches like March K11's and Starlet EP82's for the 1.8 Budget too) 

    image.png.6f4238b200a3a18b5e93329adb8fe22e.png

    If this is not your cup of tea and need to go for the 3.5 Budget

    SX 4 and 2nd Gen Demio's are good choices as the two above suggested. I'm not sure if they will fit in your budget. The SX4 of course has the more SUV vibe to it. 

    two more suggestions. 

    1. Suzuki Swift Ignis/ Chevy Cruze HT51S : Again a hatch with some SUVish elements. 3.5 should be enough for a decent specimen. Have one in the family a rugged no-nonsense car. 

    2. Suzuki Swift ZC71S - locally called the 'Beetle Swift' - Not quite an SUV but very nimble and fun to drive hatchback. Might just stretch your budget beyond 3.5 though.

     

    If you are looking for SUV's for practicality then an alternate choice are wagons.

  12. On 12/6/2023 at 1:59 PM, matroska said:

    Since we tend to focus on the exteriors here's an attempt at something a bit different 

    image.png.568b55b7911c6cb56de94a8686e81b51.png

     

     

    is this a bit too obscure or is everyone busy christmas shopping?  I can expand the selection of the picture so that some clues become obvious. 

  13. On 12/8/2023 at 12:35 PM, fiat fan said:

    No offense to @matroska or the others. They were very worth at under 7 mil bnew. But 125 for a yakada heena tiktok special with 90k? Hell nah!

    mcn...collange yacada hin wlta hina wenn epa mcn...ubl meh malasian car peda peda irisy crnn epa ... ubl mna kiwwth api ape gman yanawa mcn...civik wthrk nem mcn depndr ecacuth bassnwa harida... thada thada 

    • Haha 3
  14. 18 hours ago, iRage said:

    That rear light is from a facelift Mazda Premacy.

    Which is probably why for some reason the Tribute crossed my mind - not same but same design language. Anyways Premacy never crossed my mind nor did the Ford Ixiom. 

  15. 22 hours ago, Night Fury said:

    What about these cars?

    • Hyundai EON
    • Celerio
    • Alto 800
    • Swift Beetle
    • Lancer CS
    • Civic ES

    I got these lists from my friends and I have no knowledge in these...

    First of all you'll have to decide your usage. The list contains some basic budget friendly city cars followed by the swift beetle and then two popular compact/midsize sedans. The first 3 cars and the other 3 are worlds apart. 

    Hyundia EON - will tick your boxes on fuel economy and ease of maintenance. Not sure about reliability or parts cost. Wouldn't recommend as a family car. Feels very cheap. 

    Celerio - Are you sure it's in your budget range? good specimens are above 3.5 M. Economical to run again feels very plasticky but better than the eon. The automatic version actually has an automated manual transmission. Several unit's have now started to show signs of trouble with the transmission - might be costly to fix. 

    Alto 800 - If you're going for Indians this is the safest bet. Get's the job done with minimal fuss. 

    Now even though the above indian cars are 'newer' than the below 3 cars' do not expect these to be trouble free. Yes they're usually cheap to fix but the very same models are popular taxis and rental cars and tend to be routinely abused mercilessly. 

    Swift Beetle - Again I'm not sure if you can fit this in your budget. Even the Indian VXI variant (manual) goes for above 3.5. Decent car overall.. a bit thirsty for it's size but a generally good all-round car. 

    Lancer CS - you will be able to fit a CS from around 2003/2004 within the budget. Very decent car. Not super fuel efficient (10KMPLish) but much much more car for your money. 

    Civic ES - probably the most interesting car in your list and the oldest. Extensively discussed in the forum to know more about the the three popular models in SL. Comfy ride, cool to drive and to me one of the best looking common cars in the early 2000's Again you will not get insane fuel economy but a decent car. 

    So as you see there is no single 'best' car - each has it's pro's and cons. 

    What I suggest is - take some time off and go and see one of each car up for sale...take a test drive . Skip the Eon :D I don't think the celerio and swift is in your budget but if you can go and take a test drive in each. Think of your usage pattern and decide what car truly appeals to you. 

     

     

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