Diesels are generally more fuel efficient. Reasons being high compression and also because calorific value of diesel is high. Means 1 kg diesel yields more power than 1 kg petrol (which in turn yields more power than 1 kg CNG).
You can always post the interesting story here. Will surely find a lot of eager ears here. Thanks for your invitation. Plz email me (don't PM) your mobile number so we can fix a time and spot.
Oh it's nothing at all compared to the many veterans here on pakwheels (who usually maintain a low profile).
Unfortunately the manual I used was of 2004 Corolla. The only similarity between this corolla and yours is the 2C engine. Else body dimensions, tyre size etc. everything is different. I am getting in touch with some other person who has 2.0D of same model as yours. I'll photocopy it if I get it. And that's why I'm asking for your number so it would be easy to hand the manual to you.
You had the luxury of letting go of clutch and brake because of torquey 2000cc. This option is not available in small engined cars such as mehran. The gear ratios are way too short. I envy you :).
The Toyota Hiace drivers are expert drivers who drive 10000-20000 km per month. They have remarkable control over their vehicles and have a great 'Mean KM between traffic accidents' ratio. This is more because they drive so much on the roads they literally remember each and every pothole and grip of each and every stretch of highway. They have a excellent idea of their vehicle's dimensions and acceleration/braking capabilities in all sorts of loading and road/weather conditions. Plus given their high vantage point they can drive along very near to your vehicle. Considering the wing-mirror of Hiace and a passenger car are at different levels the (side-by-side) distance between vehicles can be easily minimized.
They travel those roads daily whereas a tourist like us goes once in a while so can't (and shouldn't) show our full performance. They have the added benefit of being local to the area or being supported by transport mafia.
The tractor trolleys are another issue. They don't consider themselves a part of of the traffic. They set their cruise control (it is a standard feature on all tractors of all makes for ploughing purposes) to some lowly speed and just drone along. Plus the load is oversize so they have limited visibility, and it is overweight and loosely tied so they are very prone to disbalancing and overturning, hence they just maintain their pace and, slow and steady, finally win the race (after making so many others lose :)). Also, their engines are noisy and they can't even listen to the pleas urged by your horn.
Most of these drivers disdain good/ordinary passenger cars because of class-difference (and also because their are struggling with unfit machines w/o heating & cooling for a major time of their day). They consider us people as sissy drivers who come on roads to make their lives difficult. Anyhow highway is life in reality: if you have the guts to take your share you can make your own way otherwise somebody else will step on your chest to make his/her own.
Most of the crime in Pakistan is crime of opportunity. Many people are not criminals but commit petty crime if they get a chance, thinking nothing bad about it.
Plz go on with your photo journal. We're waiting here. If your images are taking long to upload being very big in size (in megabytes), try resizing (the resolution) and also compress them again by using MS Paint or some other more sophisticated software. The compression algorithms in-built in cameras or cameraphones aren't very effective and the image even in JPEG format comes out mostly uncompressed.
