Name The Car You Felt Easiest To Handle

[NRX]

For me, it will always be the venerable Nissan Primera P11 with the SR20 engine. By far the most amazing set of wheels I have ever owned or driven.

Was it you who put up a pic of a Sri lankan P11 on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Primera#P11_.281995.E2.80.932002.29

[VVTi]

Was it you who put up a pic of a Sri lankan P11 on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Primera#P11_.281995.E2.80.932002.29

Nope.

[VVTi]

Ado... Forester...???!! Pau ne..

Well, Forester has the AWD advantage, but the P11 despite being FWD still corners better.

[HardHat]

There are 40 employees working in the office I am attached to right now mostly males. Recently as I was extremely tied up with work I asked EVERYONE who uses a car if they could take my car (Alfa 159) and go to Cinnamon Lakeside (our office is at Nawam Mw) and pick up something. EVERYONE refused because the car was manual!

/quote]

probably they refused because no one wanted to run the risk of driving a rare Alfa on CMB roads with tuk-tuks trying to overtake from left, right and if at all possible, over it as well

[Magnum]

Yes he is refering to City cars or City Sedans. Handling is definitely not the right word.

Responsiveness and Agility are also terms asscociated with sporting cars and are parameters of driver enjoyment which again links it to "driver's cars". I guess what Uditha is looking for is "ease of use in the city", "highly manourvarable with excellent visibility". A car even an unskilled (or less skilled) driver can manage to manouver around with little effort and no stress. These are typically chosen by women and men whose driving ability is well below average, which is the majority on our roads I am convinced.

I recall an example when I replaced a Sunny FB15 with a Mazda BJ5 for the accountant after the first day of use he asked me if the power steering was working properly because the Mazda's steering was significantly weightier than the Nissan's . I owned a BMW E36 at that time and I told him that if he drove it he would say that it did not have power steering.

There are 40 employees working in the office I am attached to right now mostly males. Recently as I was extremely tied up with work I asked EVERYONE who uses a car if they could take my car (Alfa 159) and go to Cinnamon Lakeside (our office is at Nawam Mw) and pick up something. EVERYONE refused because the car was manual! That's a small sample of the scale of (in)competence on our roads. There is a colleague of mine for whom reversing is the hardest thing in life despite owning and driving cars for the last 15 years!

I think some people can never learn a certain skill, i know a person who has been driving for a long and deals with vehicles, but he doesn't know to drive up a hill properly even with a automatic. He revs up the vehicle like mad

[GTAm]

I'm agreeing with points, but don't they also use terms like responsiveness for those nippy 3 pot jobs like the Kelissa?

You could be right. You mean responsiveness of the steering? Which is not the same as lightness of steering. What I meant with sports cars/sporting cars is throttle response as well as agility which is mentioned in describing handling. Probably for a City car it's more steering lightness and manouvarability. I'm sure the City car person will be terrified by instant throttle response and will drive such a car in the manner which is known as "bunny hopping". That's lunging forward when they hit the throttle and involuntarily jumping on the brake pedal the next moment in fear - jolting the car and its occupants.

While people might refer to steering response as lightness and easy of maneuvering, in a sporting car it's how direct the steering is. The more of a sports car it is the more direct the steering gets - tiny inputs give a big response. Deadly for our city car people. They will want mushy light steering with a big dose of 'play' for safety.

I've never driven a Kelisa btw.

[GTAm]

GTAm, next time you need the car moved. dont waste your time with them wankers... gimme a holler... I will come and move your car...

Ha ha sure mate.

[GTAm]

I think some people can never learn a certain skill, i know a person who has been driving for a long and deals with vehicles, but he doesn't know to drive up a hill properly even with a automatic. He revs up the vehicle like mad

Yes there are the exceptionally poor drivers who no matter what they do cannot master that skill. But I think the whole thing stems from our very loose driving test. For starters if you go with a so called Driving School, you are basically guaranteed of getting the license within the stipulated number of lessons. We also know how easy it is to bribe the tester (or anybody ). So we get a thousands of incompetent drivers churned out every year.

In fact I am convinced that a big part of the cause of congestion in Colombo is because people drive too slow.

[VVTi]

You could be right. You mean responsiveness of the steering? Which is not the same as lightness of steering. What I meant with sports cars/sporting cars is throttle response as well as agility which is mentioned in describing handling. Probably for a City car it's more steering lightness and manouvarability. I'm sure the City car person will be terrified by instant throttle response and will drive such a car in the manner which is known as "bunny hopping". That's lunging forward when they hit the throttle and involuntarily jumping on the brake pedal the next moment in fear - jolting the car and its occupants.

While people might refer to steering response as lightness and easy of maneuvering, in a sporting car it's how direct the steering is. The more of a sports car it is the more direct the steering gets - tiny inputs give a big response. Deadly for our city car people. They will want mushy light steering with a big dose of 'play' for safety.

I've never driven a Kelisa btw.

2.2 turns lock to lock in a Alfa 164 Super vs 100 turns in a Toyota Corolla... SOmetimes the Corolla felt as if you are turning the sluice gates of Victoria dam...

The Alfa steering was the quickest I have ever known. The 164 was a barge by Colombo standards but it was a barge that turned the quickest. Driving that in traffic was a breeze.

Edited June 14, 2013 by VVTi

[VVTi]

Yes there are the exceptionally poor drivers who no matter what they do cannot master that skill. But I think the whole thing stems from our very loose driving test. For starters if you go with a so called Driving School, you are basically guaranteed of getting the license within the stipulated number of lessons. We also know how easy it is to bribe the tester (or anybody ). So we get a thousands of incompetent drivers churned out every year.

In fact I am convinced that a big part of the cause of congestion in Colombo is because people drive too slow.

When I was getting my NZ license I failed twice, once because I answered a question wrong.... They asked when you park next to a road, how far away from the road turn you need to park, I said a car's length, the correct answer is minimum 1 meter.

The next time was the Inspector was in the car with me and she asked me to stop the car on the side of the road. Then asked me to merge back in to traffic. I put the signals, looked at all mirrors, waited till it was clear and moved. BOOM. FAIL. It seems that you MUST look over your right shoulder to ensure that you literally eyeball the road before you merge.

A friend was failed becasue he let the car roll at a STOP sign. A STOP mean STOP.... something I never see in SL.

THats how tough getting a license in other countrys are.

Edited June 14, 2013 by VVTi

[Pericles]

You could be right. You mean responsiveness of the steering? Which is not the same as lightness of steering. What I meant with sports cars/sporting cars is throttle response as well as agility which is mentioned in describing handling. Probably for a City car it's more steering lightness and manouvarability. I'm sure the City car person will be terrified by instant throttle response and will drive such a car in the manner which is known as "bunny hopping". That's lunging forward when they hit the throttle and involuntarily jumping on the brake pedal the next moment in fear - jolting the car and its occupants.

While people might refer to steering response as lightness and easy of maneuvering, in a sporting car it's how direct the steering is. The more of a sports car it is the more direct the steering gets - tiny inputs give a big response. Deadly for our city car people. They will want mushy light steering with a big dose of 'play' for safety.

I've never driven a Kelisa btw.

For me, in the context of use, the responsiveness was throttle, and agility is steering quickness and direction changing. Of course, part of that equation of ability to maneuver in traffic depends on the size of the car too, smaller being easier, so its not exactly the same as good in an autocross course.

Come to that, I've never driven a Kelissa either. I got the feedback on its responsiveness from Dinesh D. That was when we were asking why he ran the Kelissa for the MRA drags at Katu instead of the Evo.

[GTAm]

When I was getting my NZ license I failed twice, once because I answered a question wrong.... They asked when you park next to a road, how far away from the road turn you need to park, I said a car's length, the correct answer is minimum 1 meter.

The next time was the Inspector was in the car with me and she asked me to stop the car on the side of the road. Then asked me to merge back in to traffic. I put the signals, looked at all mirrors, waited till it was clear and moved. BOOM. FAIL. It seems that you MUST look over your right shoulder to ensure that you literally eyeball the road before you merge.

A friend was failed becasue he let the car roll at a STOP sign. A STOP mean STOP.... something I never see in SL.

THats how tough getting a license in other countrys are.

+1. I got license in Oz and passed just by the skin of my teeth. I managed to remember looking over my shoulder when merging I nearly lost it when turning at an intersection I veered on to the other lane slightly. I quickly corrected myself and gave a smile to the lady tester

[Watchman]

When I was getting my NZ license I failed twice, once because I answered a question wrong.... They asked when you park next to a road, how far away from the road turn you need to park, I said a car's length, the correct answer is minimum 1 meter.

The next time was the Inspector was in the car with me and she asked me to stop the car on the side of the road. Then asked me to merge back in to traffic. I put the signals, looked at all mirrors, waited till it was clear and moved. BOOM. FAIL. It seems that you MUST look over your right shoulder to ensure that you literally eyeball the road before you merge.

A friend was failed becasue he let the car roll at a STOP sign. A STOP mean STOP.... something I never see in SL.

THats how tough getting a license in other countrys are.

Yep.

In SG you need a 90% pass for cars and a 95% pass for motorcycles on the written paper.

And again not stopping at a stop sign, letting your left foot touch the ground (bikes), your foot or tyre touching the kurb etc are immediate failures.. And on a typical session (for motorcycles) only about 20-30% pass.

And they are so anal about checking your blindspot during the mandatory lessons, that it becomes so natural you. I still do it subconsciously.

What SL lacks is proper 'training' and 'testing' when issuing a Driving license. The results will take a few years to show, but that's whats known as long term planning, a term that's alien to sri lankans.

[iRage]

Completely OT and sorry for that....but for humor/irony sake...

When I was taking my Japanese driving test...finished 90% of the course in flying colors..hill starts...maneuvering through tight s-curves and the infamous crank turn course....at the very last corner...I was given an immediate failure...why ? when I came to a stop at the stop sign at the junction (and I did come to a complete stop) my front bumper was crossing the stop line ....this was followed by a 15min lecture on how my "bumper crossing antics at the stop line" could be dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists as they might hit it when crossing the road...heck even in the states I didn't lose points for that !

I re-took the test the next day and thankfully passed without any deductions....

[MasterDon]

For me it me 'elephant back' Corrolla wagon.it's a breeze to park in the city with good visibility allround.You can mosey around city streets in third gear at slow speeds where as other jap cars need to be in second.I'm generally not a fan of non turbo diesels but it has a lot of torque and top speed.also the gearbox is a peach.Although it ain't anything like a sports car it has good handling at high speeds,just enough to keep things interesting.

But nothing beats my LHD Citroen 2CV when it comes to parking with it's feather light steering and amazing turning radius.I've parallel parked in to spots even a Maruti wouldn't dare.And since I'm on the pavement side most of the time,I can always do an inch perfect parking maneuver.

[poscher]

Hi Friends,

Name the car with details (Model, Engine, Transmission) in Sri Lanka that you have driven in life & you felt easiest to handle.

In term of,

1. High visibility of no or minimum blind spots.

2. Easy handle in Cities, Parking slots etc.

3. Easy handling in rural area with bends, broken roads.

4. Easy handling in speedy cornering.

NOTE: Preferbly Sedan Type cars only

Not a sedan but a Hatchback/estate is the BMW X1 sdrive20d! if the Valeo front and rear bumper sensor along with reverse camera is fixed there are no issues parking the car or with the visibility, and there are very little blind spots. The car is small, only 4,457 mm long so driving in the city is great. The X1 is rear wheel drive and when traction control is turned off its tail happy, so its a lot of fun to drive in the rural roads. On broken roads it has the added advantage of the high ground clearance of 192mm and a comfortable ride. As to high speed cornering, it will handle better than many of the so called Japanese sports sedans!

The only drawback the X1 has is that its heavy steering wheel, but can get used to it.

Edited June 15, 2013 by poscher

[getposition]

The easiest felt car so far for me is my current ride 09 VW GTI. (lowered on H&R) compared to

1. 2007 Honda Accord

2. 2011 VW JETTA

3. 2008 Toyota Yaris (Sri Lanka)

4. 1996 Honda Accord.

5. 1992 Ford Taurus

6. 2009 BMW 335 xi

7. 1996 Toyota starlet (Sri Lanka)

sorry havent owned many cars in sri lanka to be compliant with the thread request

Edited June 21, 2013 by getposition

[Jaliya48]

I agree with MD; the CE106V is a breeze to drive and maneuver (mine's an automatic though-would've loved a manual in place of that 'box).

[Schiffer]

i 3rd that. had a "elephant back" and it was really easy to drive. very less blind spots, good turning circle easy to meanure

and for a sedan. the easiest i have driven is the suzuki baleno

[Watchman]

i 3rd that. had a "elephant back" and it was really easy to drive. very less blind spots, good turning circle easy to meanure and for a sedan. the easiest i have driven is the suzuki baleno

that car is not a sedan. it's a station-wagon

[peugeot407]

Poscher,

Please advice me where to buy valeo sensors in SL.

[zonda]

E 46 320 D

[Pericles]

that car is not a sedan. it's a station-wagon

Punctuation problem, I think.

[Schiffer]

sorry sorry punctuation problem it is

i was referring to the baleno as the sedan