It's a perception issue. The Camry never struck me as a car that signifies that you have arrived.

For having reached a milestone, usually people look at the top tier contis.

An interesting letter written by a concerned Malaysian online:

Why are cars way cheaper in the US compared to Malaysia?

8 August 2012

The recent car prices issue made me curious. Having been totally unaware of such huge discrepancies between Malaysian and world prices, I went on the Internet to see what real world car prices were. I was shocked. These are US car prices with US duty and import tax paid, which are just like Malaysian car prices with duty and tax also paid, but here, you will see, they are much lower and less exorbitant than in Malaysia.

Bear in mind all cars are CBU (complete built up) Japan, CBU South Korea or CBU Germany. The following cars we get here are CKD (complete knocked down) cars with more than 50 percent Malaysian content and "supposedly" are cheaper due to their being CKD and supporting Malaysian manufacturers.

I cannot understand, we support our own Malaysian manufacturers and beli barang buatan (buy local) Malaysia too, and yet the prices can be higher than barang buatan (made in) Japan or German, which is usually higher in quality. And yet, to make matters worse, US people's GDP per capita is higher than Malaysia and the average American earns five times more than the average Malaysian.

Mainstream car prices

Honda Accord US$21,480 (RM64,440) RM150,000

Honda CRV US$22,495 (RM67,485) RM150,000

Honda Civic US$15,955 (RM47,865) RM115,000

Toyota Altis US$16,130 (RM48,390) RM112,000

Toyota Camry US$22,055 (RM66,165) RM180,000

Kia Sorento US$23,150 (RM69,450) RM160,000

Hyundai Tucson US$19,245 (RM57,735) RM140,000

Hyundai Sonata US$20,895 (RM62,685) RM150,000

Hyundai Elantra US$16,695 (RM50,085) RM98,000

Luxury car prices

BMW 328i US$36,500 (RM109,500) RM300,000

BMW 528i US$46,900 (RM149,000) RM400,000

BMW 535i US$52,500 (RM157,000) RM600,000

BMW X5 US$47,500 (RM142,500) RM580,000

Mercedes E350 US$51,000 (RM153,000) RM400,000 (In M'sia for only CKD E250)

Jaguar XF US$53,000 (RM159,000) RM500,000

Jaguar XJ US$73,700 (RM221,000) RM1,000,000

Porsche Cayenne US$48,850 (RM146,000) RM570,000

Please forward this to every Malaysian you know so that they may realise how we are being cheated in car prices and have been cheated for the past 30 years. Most Malaysians pay close to 50 percent of their salary for their monthly payments for their cars. Not only do the banks get an easy ride (cause everybody is "forced" to take loans), we have to live in debt for over seven years, depriving our family of better food and clothes.

Why is the Government continuing to burden the rakyat with these exorbitant car prices?

Perhaps you should post it in a new dedicated thread for further discussion rather than going OT in this thread.

The Camry does lack almost every single safety feature that a modern car should have (and most do, including A segment cars, if they are EU spec). In the D segment I'd be expecting lane assist, radar guided cruise control/automatic braking and several other features. But the Camry is as basic as a 7000 Euro (RM 27000) Dacia Logan from Romania... and that is a Saga sized car.
I mean... come on, seriously? Also a 4 speed AT... there is really nothing that can explain the use of that, especially in a 2.0. If it were a 5.0 V8, then yes, maybe I can understand. But a 2.0? Others can offer a 6 or 7 speed DSG, there are 8 speed torque converters around, 6 is minimum (and useful with a rather small engine, to keep it in an efficient range and to maximize performance). Or just give it a CVT and set it up properly so that it gives a smooth ride, as the Camry should have. Don't let the driver feel any gear change. NVH should be good enough so that the weird engine noises that are created by a properly set up CVT shouldn't be too disturbing.

A 4 speed means more wear and tear on the engine, because to hold a certain speed the RPM may have to be much higher than with a 6-8 speed or CVT. That's neither good for FC nor for the engine.

Btw. near my office in JB there is a KIA dealer... every other day (at least) there is a truck delivering new KIAs, for a week or two now. Seems they are doing just fine. And if you want to service your VW in JB, prepare to get an appointment in 2 weeks. Fully booked and very packed. Also seems to be doing quite well.

If I want basic transport I buy Proton Saga or Myvi... or maybe even Viva.

In Malaysia people are scared of cars that are not popular. For sometimes understandable reasons.

The problem that I see for Toyota is that they try to squeeze everything out of Malaysians, without giving much in return. This can backfire badly. Opel once did that. They tried to reduce production costs as much as possible, in return (for high profits) the quality of their cars suddenly was very bad. People noticed, and even 10-15 years later Opel has not fully recovered. They used to be on top. Now they are struggling for survival. Toyota could end up like that too. Other brands, such as KIA and VW are picking up steam. Ford could too. Peugeot is picking up steam as well, however they may lose it fast if their quality is too bad.

Btw.: Toyota Aygo. 1.0, maybe the size of a Viva. 2 airbags in base spec, above that 4. VSC always available as an option.
Toyota Yaris (Vios hatch). Comes with a 1.0, a 1.33 or a 1.4 (this one is a diesel). The base spec has 7 airbags, VSC and TC (with a non turbocharged 1.0?! Sure it really has TC, or maybe they just print it in the specs, cause who would be able to find out...). You do only get 14" steel rims, and there is no silly bodykit. The 1.0 has a 5 speed manual, the 1.33 gets a 6 speed manual or CVT. Hybrid got CVT and diesel 6 speed manual.
Avensis (European Camry) has 7 airbags in base spec (they don't even bother to mention front and side airbags), VSC+. You can pick between a 1.6 (132 hp) and a 1.8 (147 hp) petrol, both have a 6 speed manual, the 1.8 also CVT, and one 2.0 and two 2.2 diesels, all available with 6 speed manual, and the weaker 2.2 diesel with 6 speed AT. Most powerful engine is a 177 hp 2.2 diesel with 400 Nm between 2000 and 2800.

Now... Toyota obviously has the technology. They should start selling it here. They sell it at lower prices too, over there (even if you add Malaysian taxes onto the car prices these modern vehicles would be much cheaper than what we get here).

If it is refinement that I am after, Citroen C5 or Skoda Superb. Hard to top them.

And in terms of wood: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/16/img1772f.jpg/ This is a great use of wood in the interior of an car.

everyone knows this. it's just that we are used to it. well, a good lesson of don't buy what you can't afford.

bla bla bla.u n ur figures.its not that i totally didnt believe about the maximum figures.its because sometimes,they r useless.take for an example.how come the previous accord 2.4 feel more powerful than the current one which need to word hard on the throttle to get the feel. also the k5 which impressive on figures but feel more sluggish n slow that camry before reaching the maximum point for hp n torque. only the non japanese n non koreans have no doubt about the real power.just straight away compare by looking at the figures.. .the reason that i point out on power below the maximum point is because most of the times, we drive below the point.unlike the force inducted engine which maximum point is much2 lower and very accessible.

Ure the only one who feels that the Optima is more sluggish than the Camry. So maybe u should look at your own test drive skills before attacking somebody else for talking bout facts. At least he argues with facts. Thats the kind of mature arguments we encourage.

I get what you're saying. The rev counter for daily driving usually would not exceed 3.5k RPM, in fact gearing most likely switch once our cars hit slightly above 2k RPM between the 1st to 3rd gears which is usually where you would feel the rush of torque.

But without figures to look at, then all we have is driving "feel" and we all know how accurate that is. So it still comes back to figures at the end of the day and I can only assume they are accurate according to the manufacturer.

Having a look at the torque curve graph (if available) would shed more light than just the peak hp and torque readings.

i dont know why they is no graph for the comparison for both Altis 2.0 and Camry 2.0 but i know that the Camry is much heavy and the fc for it is around 10-11litter per 100km while the Altis is around 8litter per 100km.

but this cant tell much different. Is it really becoz of the so call dual vvti vs the vvti technology i also dunno.

All I know is, there's no going back for me to Japanese cars unless they incorporate turbo or unless their hybrid can give the same kind of performance like those Continental turbo engines found in the PUGs, VWs, Mercs, BMW etc.

I went to test drive the 2.0G again earlier today and man, it feels so underwhelming sluggish compared to my car.

This post has been edited by zweimmk: Aug 9 2012, 04:19 PM

The Camry 2.0 is sluggish even compared to the Optima let alone your car.

One is a using a closer 6 speed gear ratio gearbox, another is twincharger engine + close ratio 7 speed, fast shifting dual clutch transmission, how 4 speed camry can compare?

This post has been edited by lcy851031: Aug 9 2012, 06:12 PM

No la, what I meant was it's pretty difficult to drive back an NA engine after switching to a turbocharged engine.
Unless it's an NA engine that does 0-100 under 8s or less, LOL.

This post has been edited by zweimmk: Aug 9 2012, 06:53 PM

u have compare with singapore's car price?
or japan's domestic car price for imported one?

The superior gear box in your car also helps to better harness the power of the engine to give an overall better acceleration feel.

The high power output (force induction engine) + fast gear shiftting (reduce lost power during gearshift) from your Passat definitely reduce the sluggishness of the car. That what i try to say when both of you comparing the pickup sluggishness of the 2.0l 4 speed camry against your car.

I guess the myth "once you drive conti, never look back to japs car with NA engine" prove true to you as well.

NA engin that does 0-100 under 8 sec? I guess a D segment car with NA engine need to be bigger than 2.5l only can do that.

Btw, your car actually is twin charger engine, (supercharge + turbocharge engine), VW want to had the force induction kick in early compare to other turbocharged only engine.

This post has been edited by lcy851031: Aug 9 2012, 07:37 PM

passat not twincharger. its only turbo 1.8

jetta , golf, and polo have twin charger

Not sure bout Japan but does Singapore have its own national car project? Does Singapore have the amount of land that Malaysia has?

oh no,see?what ever excuse u trying to play here?why in other thing u want to compare,but when about car price,there was exemption?
to own vios there,even had to pay COE SGD90k alone,no inlcuded the car's price itself