The name ‘Dilantha Malagamuwa’ should ignite the passion & pride of virtually all Sri Lankans as we’ve never had such an internationally renowned and proven motor racing champion, ever! Indeed Dilantha has under his belt an incredible one hundred international FIA approved race podium finishes with over seventy race wins! Dilantha is truly a living legend of the motor ...

The PV series Volvos had a production run from 1947 to 1965. The Volvo PV is generally a referral to two nearly identical automobile models, the PV444 and PV544. Volvo held a reputation for manufacturing dependable, fine automobiles since their beginning in 1927, but the defining moment for solid durable vehicles really began with the PV444′s introduction. Knowing that ...

Here at Motor we always keep an eye out for interesting and exotic machinery to hit the roads of our little island and subject to the owners’ approval we always love to share the stories with you, our loyal readers. This explains how we came to be testing the Italian beauty featured on our pages today; none other than ...

CHOCOLATE MILK-SHAKE PERCEIVED AS ‘ALCOHOL’? Snippets and the good wife docked in at our favourite, trendy ‘Not-So-Common’ restaurant on Flower Road. Yours truly was famished and so duly tucked into a grilled beef with pepper sauce followed by relishing one of those must-have-once-a-month, ‘Chocolate Milk-Shakes’! It was past 10 pm when I slipped my Ford Ranger into Drive and headed ...

Dyan: You have been in the racing limelight for a while and have made a name for yourself as a gutsy driver surprising many – winning the ‘Drag Race’ for instance… Sajaad [smiles] I have been passionate about cars from my boyhood, taking in everything around my father’s car. Then as I matured I took to studying all about ...

The road to Hakgalla was being widened, there was no rain in sight and the dust made our approach to Humbugs quite unpleasant to say the least. While we waited for our lunch however a cool breeze whipped out of nowhere and the climate turned balmy. It was in fact Hakgalla at its best. Just 10Km from Nuwara Eliya ...

In a market full of lookalike sedans, where most designers seem to be in a grip of conservatism and most notably where the Japanese designers have gone into slumber, it is quite refreshing to see a fresh faced product that comes along from Korea, in the form of the Hyundai Elantra 2011. The new Hyundai Elantra, sports a bubbly ...

Ford is a brand that once enjoyed a stellar reputation in the Sri Lankan car market. The older generations still fondly remember their Prefects, Anglias, Escorts and Cortinas that were ubiquitous on our roads back then. Unfortunately for us Sri Lankans, the previous agents for Ford, rather than nurturing the brand, gave it step motherly treatment. Hence Ford in ...

In the midst of God tipping his bath water and unleashing turbocharged thunder claps on us during the whole week, a welcome ray of sunshine emerged in the form of the latest incarnation of the Audi A6 dubbed the C7, which is the subject of this test. The A6 was the worthy successor to the Audi 100 and is ...

Most Sri Lankans are likely to associate the Lancia brand, named by Top Gear TV as the greatest manufacturer of all time, with a car and an era that can be considered the lowest point in the 105 year old firms’ entire history. That car of course is the Fiat developed Beta which despite being quite competent in its ...

Good food, good company and a rare find on the Plantation Bungalow list, and I couldn’t believe it that the cook’s third generation with such anecdotes to tell… it was truly amazing. Once a home for Scottish planter Sir Francis Whitelaw; Panthiya retains many of the features of the plantation bungalow. It has been fully refurbished recently with the ...

Suddenly there is a great brouhaha in the country regarding the teaching or learning of the English language in the Sri Lankan style called Singlish. Whilst our all knowing political masters were espousing the native brand of Singlish, the glitterati and the airy fairy literary types were busy hosting authors and critics from all over the world to a ...

DYAN SENEVIRATNE TALKS TO RANJAN ALUWIHARE, AN ARTIST WITH A DIFFERENCE Dyan: Ranjan I have seen some of your work of art displayed at Freddie Alles’s office – your attention to detail is really striking. What drives you to draw cars? Ranjan [smiles] I took to this hobby which has now evolved to a passion from around the age ...

A look in a dictionary and you will probably see the word Subaru under the term All-Wheel-Drive (AWD).  Okay that’s probably not true, but in the automotive world the term AWD is never too far away from Subaru.  This is because Subaru has stubbornly stuffed an AWD powertrain in every one of their cars in recent history and to ...

It lies resplendent in the sun kissed by its rays and it could be your holiday destination in Sri Lanka with the Eastern seaboard calming down after the tumultuous weather of the last few months. Pigeon Island in Trincomalee has miles of beaches and is perhaps one of the best places to watch the sun rise. The wealth of ...

The Triumph Spitfire was built by Standard-Triumph to compete in the small sports car market which had opened up with the introduction of the Austin-Healey Sprite. The Sprite had used the basic drive train of the Austin A30/35 in a light body to make up a budget sports car. Triumph’s idea was to use the mechanicals from their small ...

We drive the Fiat Bravo T-Jet 150 The Bravo is Fiat’s stylish contender against other mid sized European hatchback models such as the Renault Megane, VW Golf and Peugeot 308.  The first application of the Bravo name was for the very pretty Bravo/Brava duo from the automaker produced between 1995-2001. The very average Stilo replaced them thereafter and managed ...

The baby of the range comes of age In today’s diverse automotive landscape Land Rover is something of an anomaly. While every other car maker scrambles to stretch its brand over every possible niche that it can think of, Land Rover sticks to essentially one simple philosophy; building the very best off road/sport utility vehicles available. They have stuck ...

DEHIWELA ‘VIBRATES’ WHILST PELIYAGODA ‘SCORES! No silly! Dehiwela has not gone all funky and vibrates to the beat of pop! Many concerned motorists have complained to me that if ever they get caught in a traffic snarl up on the Dehiwela Flyover their cars start to vibrate! “It’s quite scary”, they echo in unison. Come to think of it, ...

The Korando (apparently an acronym for “KOrea cAN DO, yes really) started off initially as Korea’s version of a Jeep CJ-7.  The first one in 1983 was produced by the Geohwa Company. Geohwa was then bought over by Ssangyong’s predecessor Dong-A Motors (snigger..!).  I can’t recall seeing an original Korando in Sri Lanka but the 2nd generation came over ...