Salam
I learned about cars from Pakwheels forums immensely. Therefore, I thought of giving back to the community of my experiences in buying a couple of cars for my household. I had two cars, a City Aspire 1.5 (2013) and a Daihatsu Cuore (2008). However, due to growing family I needed a bigger car in place of Aspire. Although Cuore was running fine but I decided of replacing the car with an automatic one due to the growing traffic of Lahore.
Finding a Larger Car
Unfortunately the choices of larger vehicles in Pakistan are very limited. Parados and Land Cruisers are way too expensive for my budget and Bolans and Every are more suitable for local drives. After a lot of research I found three vehicles that fit my needs. Toyota Avanza, Suzuki APV and Toyota Prius Alpha (7 seater) all had enough space to accommodate my family. However, Toyota Avanza although it is marketed by Toyota Indus in Pakistan, I found very few vehicles on the road. That was surprising to me and to confirm my observations I searched on Pakwheels of how many Avanza's are on sale in Pakistan. To me this is a just a small litmus test of popularity of cars in Pakistan. I found less than ten ads of Avanza's for sale in all Pakistan. Avanza was off my list due to very low acceptance in the market. The second vehicle was Suzuki APV. I called Suzuki Cantt motors and found out that APV is not available in ready stock and is only imported on request. Also my family rejected the idea of APV due to its commercial vehicle tag. Therefore, the only remaining choice was Toyota Prius Alpha (7 seater).
Purchasing
I visited Umar of mycars. He showed me a 5-seater Prius Alpha in ready stock. I drove the car and liked its drive. However, since my requirement was of a 7 seater car I was not too much inclined to buy a 5 seater Alpha. After visiting a couple of other dealers I decided to give token money to mycar for finding a 7 seater Prius for me. However, something happened before I was able to handover the token money which forced me to change my mind. On around 10th of June Punjab budget was presented and the new budget slapped a duty of 150K on newly imported 1800cc cars besides increasing the registration charges. Therefore, I discussed with my family and friends and decided to get the 5 seater Prius Alpha after performing Istikhara. Although it had two less seats but had enough space in the trunk.
At first I was apprehensive about buying a car from a dealer. In the past ten years I have not bought a single car from a dealer. But I must say that I was impressed by the dealing of mycar folks. They showed me the auction sheet and auction picture of a dent at the back of the car which they fixed after importing it. They helped me with the registration and I got the number plates within a day after our deal was finalised.
Drive Experience
Well I have driven Prius Alpha for around a month now. I have enjoyed its experience so far. To sum it up I liked three things about the car: Mileage, Space and Ground Clearance. The mileage of the car with AC on in the city is around 18 km/l. On a recent trip to Multan the car gave me 22km/l with full load and constant AC. Compared to Aspire 1.5 this is around 80% better mileage. I got this car due to requirement of more space for kids and the car is so far seems to be perfect for my needs. The back trunk of the car is like a children play area. Kids enjoy it so much that they do not sit on the back seat any more. Finally, I am also impressed by this car's ground clearance. In the past one month I have visited many places in Lahore, Multan and some villages around Multan with very nasty speed bumps. Except for 1-2 bumps where the car was fully loaded it never even touched a speed bump.
Replacing the Cuore
After my experience with mycars I decided to get my second car from them too. Because of my requirement of an automatic car all PKDMs were out of question. Among the imported cars I again used my litmus test and shortlisted three cars namely Passo, Mirage and Mira ES. I am not sure why but I never liked Passo's interior. Mirage is a new kid in the block. Therefore, I decided to get Mira ES 2013. Fortunately mycar had a low mileage Mira ES in their transit stock. After Istikhara, I booked the car for very reasonable amount of 25K. I was even able to verify the auction sheet myself on japan-partner website. Mycar promised the delivery within 2 months. Well the car arrived within 45 days. On my request they gave me delivery of the car after the detailing on a Sunday since I had to leave for Eid holidays.
I have not driven Mira ES for long enough to comment on its drive and experience by my experience with mycar has been great. I can recommend them without any hesitation. Unfortunately in our country it is difficult to find honest and reliable traders. I am happy that I was able to find one.
