i must agree that reliability and cost is one of the reason why i considering jap car when buying d segment car. we already know car price in malaysia is overpriced due to tax structure, you can get better car in oversea country with the same $, but we have to pay so much here + higher spare part cost to maintain it. hence a lot of old man like me will go for T&H due to it's realiablity and cost of maintenance. In the past, didn't really look into detail on safety features of those cars. i'm they are already some safety features there,but can have more..
After reading lots of post in this forum, it has educated me the important of safety feature in a car. It is one of important aspect we must look into it when buying a car that suppose to have those feature. (price range wise), afterall, you won't know when accident will visit u.
also considering passat/golf, but the 'dsg' gearbox issue really stop me to go further. Not sure how many suffer from it, but when i search in google, seems it is a known issue and yet a perm solution not found. 508 is really nice interior, but again with the 308 turbo engine issue...
thanks for all the post, will take my to search more and be a smarter consumer.

Main problem with DSG from what I heard from Germany is when you switch between D and N while still moving. It hates that. Otherwise it should last longer.

Actually only Japanese cars are horribly overpriced. From what I have seen with VW, Ford etc. is that they are similarly priced to Germany/Europe. The main difference is that you can only get high spec contis here, the affordable entry level versions are missing. Japanese cars however are speced as good as contis in Europe, at similar prices. But once they come to Malaysia they have lost everything, while still keeping the price.

True that many countries also increase roadtax with cc as factor but usually not the only factor like in Malaysia. Like in Indonesia, the cars market price, model type and class are also affecting roadtax amount. In US if I remember correctly, there's gas guzzler tax which is based on how fuel efficient the car is, so even if the car has big engine but if fuel consumption can match smaller engines then it does not necessarily have to pay gas guzzler tax. But here, it's the only factor, hence becomes a bit unfair IMHO, for example: a guy who buys a Peugeot RCZ turbo (which is >200K sports car) pays less roadtax than a guy who buys a Proton Inspira 1.8. Then there's the guy who owns Lancer Evo pays the same roadtax as those who owns Proton Inspira 2.0 just because both cars have 2.0ltr engine, even though the Evo drinks fuel like a 3.0 car or even more if on boost.

As for mine, I cannot red line from 4th gear onwards cuz my car has that bugger 180kph speed cut which is not that simple to remove like most other Japanese cars. So I've redlined 1-2-3 lah to enjoy the full acceleration. I do like the sensation of having good power ready on tap at the tip of my foot.

Really? How much is a Golf GTI in Germany? I thought still much cheaper than here.

In Germany they catergorize the car in different "cleanliness grades". So stinkers (for example the Iswara) would be Euro 1 for example, the cleanest cars Euro 5. Then for every 100cc you pay, depending on Euro 1 through 5 (diesel has another list with different rates, these are higher than for petrol). So the rate may be 20 Euro per 100cc in Euro 1, 0 Euro per 100cc in Euro 5 (just guessing, but my Euro 2 diesel back then cost me 500 Euro per year, with a 1.9 liter engine. At the same time our Euro 4 petrol Xsara was tax exempt because it's so clean).
Every 2 years the car is tested if it still can be in the category it belongs to. If not, you'll have to fix the car IIRC. You can upgrade if you improve the car though, like adding a catalytic converter when the car came without, adding a particle filter etc.

I do like this system, it ensures the air is good. Even lorries aren't stinking that much, I almost never set the air to recycle, even in traffic jams.

I believe sports cars are discriminated here, so the government fixes a higher price. Also I think the Golf GTI is already quite well spec'ed. The GTI is around 27700 Euro list price for the manual car, 29600 for auto. That is without xenon headlights though, no metallic paint either. 17" rims, only 2 doors. No leather. No side airbags for the back (front side airbags got, rear are optional). No rear camera. No auto parking. No auto headlights (like Preve got). Only the very cheapest radio. No keyless go. No adaptive suspension. No rain sensor. No auto folding mirrors. No auto dimming rear view mirror. No cruise control.

Those are all options that will cost you dearly.

With the Passat the basic price is really low, but IIRC when I spec'ed it similar to the one in Malaysia for 170k I ended up at 155k or 160k... something like that. With the Touran it is even closer. A Ford Fiesta in Malaysia comes with DSG, in Germany it isn't even available. In the end I'd say the Fiesta is more expensive in Germany.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Feb 23 2013, 09:16 PM

That system makes more sense, not just blindly based on displacement like here. To generalizing/simplistic if just based on that.

Ic, then how about more expensive cars like BMW & Mercs or Italian & British cars, also almost the same prices for comparable specs in Germany??

This post has been edited by 6UE5T: Feb 23 2013, 10:36 PM

Lots of work configuring those cars... so many options! I would guess so, but haven't checked.

I wish Malaysians had the option of ordering the car they actually want, not the car that the importer things people want.

anybody can share which car company can provide better after sales service than T n H?

very keen on Camry. About to booking very soon.. Reason... proven car... good after sales... dont really care about technology (good attitude driver, comfort drving, rv)

continental/korean MIGHT very expensive to maintain after warranty end due to difficulty to get spareparts.. Camry not perfect but at least no major issue found.. u can read many scary story especially about gearbox issue for conti car.. parts availability for korean car... buying new car meaning less hassle.. else better buy 2nd hand.. any comment?

if comparing car itself. i might go for passat or mazda 6.. but for current bolehland situation, less choice for me..

Nissan has good after sales service. If you buy a new Renault than that might be the very best after sales service you can get. F1 race in Malaysia? You get invitation. Can meet Vettel. They invite you for track days. etc.

To be honest I don't think contis are that expensive to maintain, if you can source a bit and get the parts early enough (cheap sources can take a while to arrive). If you just go to some workshop, yes, they'll cut your throat. Though they may also do so when you drive a Camry.

Yeah that would be great! I'd just order basic manual car with minimal electronics (just power window & locks) & A/C but using the most powerful engine option!

Haha, I would go for a manual one, with a ton of gadgets (HID etc. and of course all of the safety stuff) and a strong diesel engineq. Small but nice looking alloy rims, no bodykit, and tick the badge removal option.

Yes, you'd have to wait a while for the car to arrive, but you'd get what you want, and nothing you don't.

So safety isnt important to you as well eh? Or are you one of the many who thinks that 'as long as i drive safely then im gonna be safe'? I would expect the older generation with limited access to the internet and very fixed old mentality to still go for the Camry. So, if ure one of those then yes the Camry would be the best car for you.

Its because of ppl like you that Toyota can still sell that crap Camry with such poor specs at such high prices in Malaysia and ASEAN. Thats why when UMW removed the stability control system in the Camry, they had the guts to say that the Malaysian public didnt ask for it. Was also scary seeing the Camry fail the IIHS small overlap crash test so badly with the front driver's airbag & steering system a total design failure. But im sure all this wont matter to ppl like you who are are only concerned about resale value and service.

But dont worry. Toyota's share of the pie in Malaysia is getting less and less every year thanks to the more informed younger generation who are beginning to see that Toyota aint Gods anymore. Now there are much better spec'd and designed cars than Toyota out there offering more value for money products that the overpriced aging dinosours that Toyota still produce.

So yes please continue to support Toyota. You are a dying breed in Malaysia.

This post has been edited by cybermaster98: Mar 1 2013, 12:52 PM

I couldn't agree more.

The *perception* of cheap to maintain Japs cars come from those who service their cars outside during the 90s. Those time Japs cars have minimal electronics. But now all cars have tons of electronics. The cost to replace those electronics if spoilt is nearly as expensive as those of conti cars. Be aware that Peugeot parts come from Gurun, Kedah. Ford, MB come from Thailand. So do Honda.

The very expensive ones come from Europe, such as DSG gearboxes.

+9999999 Support on your view. Our country is like a Toyota & Honda dumping ground where those old engine + gearbox that can't sell at outside, all will be dump to our country.

all,
just back from showroom of mazda,, M6 really nice.
cx5 also nice. If you hv budget to buy camry, it is really worth to look at these, i think the design will last quite some time.
cheers.

Why not consider Teana 2.0L CVT quite smooth

I just bought a camry. The way some of you described camry are so scary. To most salesmen out there, pls dont use this tactics to scare off who wanna buy camry. Not good laaa...definitely you will not tell which company you are working with...some of these tactics are meant to be...meaning you are paid to write these sort of slanders. All car should be driven carefully regardless of brand. If you hope that, you are doing something good to your company, well its too bad. This kind of business needs sincerity and far from telling bad about others. I am happy with my C2G. Dont condemned others. If 10 years old engine works fine, so what?

It is best to expect the worst, and prepare for it. It is good to constantly backup you data to different locations (just in case there is a robbery, your house burns down, ...). That doesn't mean you hope for something bad to happen, but it is good to be safe.

The same thing applies to cars. There are models that are safe for a car of that price range, and there are models that aren't. The Camry falls in the latter category. It thus makes sense to prepare for the worst. Malaysians are good at that when it comes to resale value, but they seem to value their money more than their life. Being badly injured/dead can also mean huge financial losses.

Just face it. Anything can happen on our roads, regardless of how you drive. You can fall asleep at 80 on the motorway. A good car will notice and wake you up and ask you to find somewhere to sleep. A not so good car will simply do nothing and you'll end up in a car crash. Which, in a car with poor passenger protection is more deadly than in a reasonable safe car. And in any case it will be expensive. The resale value of a totaled car, Toyota or not, will be poor.

I'm not affiliated with any car company. I'm just sharing my thoughts.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Jul 15 2013, 11:56 AM