I beg to disagree with laptops and computer parts. Go for a cheap power supply, and your computer may die soon, or it will be unstable.

Or my laptop... I bought a Dell. A bit more expensive than a similarly speced Acer, and I topped up a bit for extended warranty. What can I say... It is still working after 5 years, where my friends had to replace their Acer after 2-3 years.

It's not so easy... With CE and IT I would invest in good quality and not just look at specs.

For contis the FL can be a significant upgrade, with new engines, new features, ... while sometimes the exterior remains unchanged.

Also for some reason new tech doesn't trickle down to ASEAN Japanese cars...

It will change, but very subtle, very slowly. Not RM10k/year difference. Those used car salesman will all bankrupt if you do that. RM5k/year at most. Even then used car salesman will tension. RM5k/year cheaper = RM5k lost per car. Now times 10 cars same make, RM10k gone like that. Unless of course, gomen decide, to remove tax altogether like hybrid-which is unlikely.

Point is, this sensitive topic, requires people to be involved in the industry to understand...
those outside will only see things on the surface and no amount of explaining to them will make them understand...

Let me see if my last 2 line proves me right.

I disagree with Japanese cars being over engineered. Germans probably are more over engineered. Look at the video of a sales man jumping on the open door of a Golf, rocking the car. And after that it is still like new and closes perfectly. Also they so an incredible amount of testing on their cars, under extreme conditions.

Japanese cars were over engineered perhaps, but now they seem to rely more on reputation and old tech.

Contis usually don't skip on their safety features, though they may otherwise be a bit empty. Those things are optional then. Several A and B segment cars now have city brake... A system that stops the car if sensors detect an obstacle in front and it becomes necessary to avoid  a crash. And those are very affordable cars that may come without air con.

Also some of these new features that come as standard With the FL aren't available as an option before. I think what you described is more common with Japanese cars.

Sorry. Not that kind of over-engineered. Japs like to give a lot into the new model, then settle for minor FL updates. Then give more effort in the next model, and minor FL updates. That what I meant by over-engineered. Too much emphasize on new model and relax for FL. Ford also follows this kind of model.

Germans give same amount of effort every time so there is significant improvement over previous model FL or not. Most improvement seems to be coming from VW AG rather than BMW/Merc. VW with its cunning modular platform series build cars like building lego. So their turnover rate is quite fast. They can afford that turnover rate.

Read more here:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/drive/a...il-of-carmakers

Meanwhile in Malaysia:
Perodua...nvm 
Proton, give a lot of effort, then public buy, public complain, then FL is better. If FL settles all or most issues (public no longer complain), all other FL's are just minor updates just to make it look fresh until about 7 years for next model. The best thing about having local car company is that, public can complain (which they are entitled to) and it will reach proton directly or indirectly. Problem with overseas cars, not that much. Export-centric countries like Japan/German actually need to rely on global public complain, then only settle issues or they find problems themselves through continuous wear and tear usage.

Very simple example is the rims on the original Satria Neo. Those turbine rims. It looked cool to the designers when it first came out. In fact, I have a sneaky feeling the designer played to much Need For Speed Underground with those rims on the car Those rims were later dropped for a more conventional design.  Also, the Savvy rear design. That "V" shape thing at the logo. That was latter drop as public did not like it. Gen2 rear seats, cannot fit in tall adults with SN front seats which are also the same. Solution. Persona, and making the seat base lower in the SN.

The take home point here is, if someone promise to abolish all tax, stop and think about it. How will he/she balance the books. I'm not saying it cannot be done. It can be done if on corruption and actually persecuting those involved, but whichever gomen needs to be super efficient in doing so-which is possible. At my estimates, corruption vs tax abolish, the gomen is about RM 200 mil short of funding tax free cars as well as maintaining current subsidised items. I'd rather have cheaper petrol than cheaper car. Cars devalue with price. Petrol nope. It means that with I can drive like I please and not be obsessed with MPG. Well, if they get back all the illegal outflow, then problem solved. A better method is actually to leave that 70% tax for Lambos, Porches, Veyrons-those supercars or cars with big engine displacement or more than 3.5L. Though engine displacement is flawed formula. Better still tax cars based on how fast it gets from 0-100 km. Cars <5 secs 0 to 100 will be taxed 300%. So you know that the super rich are helping subsidise your Telur Gred A.

I favour the super rich being taxed more. Its a win-win situation. Not like Brazil where the rich and poor live side by side. The Finland model is better. The more balance you get, the more compassionate/caring the society is amongs each other.

mystvearn,
What's SGS2 mean ? Thanks.

Sorry about that.

Samsung Galaxy S2 phone

Yes, unless the BN government wakes up soon, by the next 3 GE, they can forget about ruling. Why 3GE and not next GE, the king-maker is Taib Mahmud. I don't see Sarawak fall into opposition hands any time soon. In order for PR to win, they need to overcome the gerrymandering. BN needs to have less than 40% popular vote before you can actually see anything.

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Malaysia

Maybach? Nvm, already defunct Also, here is another problem. Best method so far is by emissions. However, those kampung people with their 120Y cannot afford to replace their cars. Need to think about that one. At least in UK, they overcome this by excluding tax for cars 25 years or more. As cars which are 25 years or more are considered classic and pay a standard tax rate which is a lot cheaper.

Yes, that method is best. So you tax cars and people by income bracket. You cannot put 55% income tax across the board. 55% of RM3k is different compared to RM3mil income. Sure you get more from 3 mil, but 55% that guy on 3 mil can still eat Jenahak and Salmon everyday.

NCAP cannot be used for tax as cheap cars are usually poorer equipped and have poor body rigidity. Saga only 2 airbag, so will be higher in tax than some Volvo with its pedestrian airbag, lane departure warning and auto brake application. You can limit a baseline car of what to expect. Meaning, if no airbag, tax 50%, but by doing so, you will also increase the base car price across the board. There is no problem with this method. However, it can only be done once Malaysians value their live. If Passengers all wear seatbelt then can be done. If not, forget it. If there is no drive from the public the gomen will not implement. I'm still not sure if you still kena saman or not of not wearing rear seatbelts?

When mandatory airbags for new cars was introduced, car makers complain need to charge RM3k more for airbag. Now all settled. Truth is, car makers want to make most profit with least amount of stuff. That is why the vios tin milo edition is still selling very well. Actually it cost lest to put airbag than that especially if you are a huge car manufacturer that buys in bulk. Good thing is that, people are now getting picky with their cars. Those who don't want a Preve CFE (c-segment) are happy with their Kia Rio/Ford Fiesta (b-segment) car. Smaller car, similar price-better brand, better fit and finish. Proton is heading for trouble if do not see this. The trend now is actually small luxury rather than big luxury car. Fiat 500, mini cooper are selling well because they are small and sort of luxurious. Price/car size no longer holds true in future. At the end of the day, unless you use your D-segment Camry's rear seat all the time, chances are the rear seats are in great condition, as most of the time the car is used for getting to work. The only time you will need a big car is balik kg with those kuih raya and a trip to IKEA. If you have family, then yes you will use the rear seats more often. Even then for a working family with 2 kids <12 years, with 2 cars, is better to get an A-segment and C-segment car. The A-segment is the one you use everyday. C-segment only for balik kg, supermarket. Those who can't afford 2 cars, are better off with settling with a B-segment car. Those who can afford may also want the same cars. Husband and wife edition ford fiesta. Can be done. Not sure why it has not been done. My wife and I both use SGS2 (different colours)    D-segment cars are unnecessary now especially the general trend with each car generation is to grow bigger in size. The only use I can find a D-segment car is to impose yourself onto others. You'd be surprise that people are more willing to give way when they see a D-segment car going fast on highway. Also, another reason of using a D-segment car is to show to others I'm rich.

Like I said in paultan. This will be a very long reply...sorry. You only need to understand this once.

Car sales will be like normal-car prices gradually slash-by not much. Lets say that 20-30% removed over 5 years. You will not feel it immediately as newer models of the same make will go up with each model (except for the VW Golf Mk 7 which is the same price mk6-mk7). Price goes up with inflation. Unavoidable. So gomen remove that 20-30%, so the newer model will actually cost about the same as the model it replaces.

It is actually worse in UK. I've been there 7 years.
Car cheap. Petrol £1.40/liter with the gomen there increase petrol prices twice every year by few pence. Then, labour, parts cost expensive. That is why people there, normal service all DIY. Even change broken light also DIY. This is because normal service ~£300. Over here RM300. Our labour is cheap. Who the hell wants to pay RM1.5k for routine service. Also, in UK, there is a 20% VAT on almost every item you buy. However, in UK you can survive with public transport alone. Cannot be done here.

We actually have it way better compared to them. Sure car expensive, but our purchasing power was never big to begin with. £1 = RM4.7x. Rafizi's statement is a populist move. Can be done, but gomen need to be ultra efficient/no corruption. Even if PR come in, Bank Negara will step in if budgets not balanced. PR wants to balance both cashflow and make cars cheap the same time.

Even if PR come in, Proton will survive. There are more than 10k people working in Proton. They have family members. Overall you got at least 30k people working from parts to SC. If you close Proton, who are going to give them jobs. 30k is a lot of people that can vote. Plus that with their sedara mara, any gomen that comes in cannot just close shop.

Rather than wishing "Proton Just Die" better bring in people like DSZ. DSZ was going somewhere. Now it is DRB's problem. Problem is, my sources inside Proton now a lot quit, DRB has a ruthless culture. That is why you see Proton Motorsports fb and Gomen fb website have opening places for Proton. I think I saw that last week. At least 30 vacant places, including senior level jobs. If you are qualified, better apply there. At least now you can help make it better rather than just talk: "Proton just die".

For the next 5 years, maybe current BN can copy the PR manifesto, say we will abolish 70% tax, after increasing fuel price, GST. Bank Negara as the safekeeper non-political organisation will make sure that if car taxes are removed, the nation does not go bankrupt. If PR comes in, and Bank Negara does not agree, the 70% will not be done. Bank Negara already come out with a ruling to for car purchase. Loan based on NET income, not GROSS income. This is done to protect the Malaysian consumer in order not to be in too much debt.

So, a cikgu sekolah, can no longer buy a RM300k Merc/BMW based on the Gross income of RM3k but must minus expenses. So now can only qualify at most a RM 70k car.

Bank Negara also needs to monitor cash outflow, currency levels, attack against currency (forex speculation), market trends. That is why, even though the gomen banyak hutang, as long as the hutang is done in RM, gomen will never go bankrupt. If Malaysia hutang China with RM, Malaysia will never be out of pocket, because Bank Negara can just print more money. The problem is when Malaysia hutang in €, $, £. Now, Malaysia cannot just go print those currencies. Most easy example: Go wiki Hyperinflation, specifically Zimbabwe. That country kena hentam kaw-kaw by UK (mostly) and forex traders, currency worthless-but the country is still working. In fact, if you noticed, from 1 bil Zimbabwe : 1usd, now 10k zimbabwe : 1 USD. That currency fluctuates too much for it to be considered stable. Once Zimbabwe currency is in freefall, the forex traders will buy it back. So the currency will have value again.

This is the same problem faced when Malaysia economic crisis. Tun M go ask people to spend. Logic behind this is if money is not circulated, it is worthless. You got money, simpan under bantal, it does not generate income. At least money in bank, bank can use for investment. Using money during an economic crisis to buy stuff actually is one method to make currency stable. Other methods include devaluing currency. Right now, if you notice, RM is quite strong against USD, GBP, but our currency is actually pegged by Bank Negara. Bank Negara now primarily follows the China Renmibi. I think it is at RM1 : 2 Renmibi or somewhere there. USD not a stable currency to peg on. Renmibi is artificially devalued. US, UK all dah ask China to increase currency. The economic crisis in UK, US is partly caused by China. China keeping its currency worthless, so outflow of currency from UK, US as they import China made items. Now China use it to buy gold reserves, and not importing stuff from UK/US block. So what happens is you see the Mat salleh so poor now. The € currency so bad. China also use the money to develop stuff inside its country, further alienating the Mat sallehs.

Bank Negara sees this, and decides, we will follow China at a 2:1 ratio. Why 2:1? It seems that Malaysia's manufacturing/output/export capacity is worth twice as much as China. That is in simple terms. So we are worth twice compared to China labour. Also, it protects the RM from the Forex speculators quite nicely. So you see that even though our RM: Renmibi may change, it will not be drastic. Of course, we based the currency on the gold reserves, but Bank Negara kind of binned that idea after our currency was attacked. Go wiki Malaysia currency. Malaysia was a key player in Forex exchange. Before the econ crisis, the country was the top 5 player in world currency manipulation. That was how maintained RM value.

If we followed DSAI, borrow IMF, Malaysia will surrender its RM sovereignty to a foreign body. IMF will bail out the country, but RM will no longer ours to control. See the € now. Its more of Germany dominating currency against Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus. Those countries kna tibai with Germany. Why Germany ok, the rest KO? Germany is a net exporter. IT makes stuff people want to buy. VW AG, BMW AG, Merc AG, all from Germany. China also want German cars don't want some Cherry.

The problem with not borrowing from IMF: our RM reserves was wiped out. More like the Forex speculation Malaysia was happily doing before got wiped off. IMF, and matsalleh say currency pegging is cheating. Actually it is sort of cheating. That time RM was pegged to USD at rate of 1USD: RM4, then lowered to RM 3.8, then RM3.5. After that we pegged to Renmibi. That is why now you see we have better currency to USD/GBP. I went to UK at a time when £1 was RM 7.2. Now it is RM 4.7. Before crisis it was RM 3.8 (best). How is this pegging possible? By controlling outflow of RM. That is why, if you got kids studying overseas, you want to hantar more than RM10k, need to get Bank Negara approval.

I suspect that the US/UK currency will devalue more and Malaysia will remain relatively stable with China. The matsalehs UK/EU/US cannot do anything with China. China allows daily currency trade. At the end of the day, the currency resets to a rate determined by the central bank. Also, China already bought USD 20 trillion of US bonds, at least. That time when USD was before crisis. That Meryl Lynch, Lehman Brothers crisis. Now, China is buying up all the gold it can get. Your wedding ring included. Last I read, China has the 6th highest gold reserves in the world. 1st - still US. Within 20 years, the gold reserves should be on par or surpass US.

So, how is this related to cars?
A lot. RM strength determines how much you pay for the overseas car. Will not matter a thing if you buy Proton. Its local, so foreign exchange means nothing. A stronger RM will allow Proton to source parts at a cheaper price based on exchange rates. Higher RM value=cheaper BMW. Recently, Japan devalued its Yen because its car, even PS3/Nintendo cost too much to make in Japan for it to make a profit overseas. This was allowed by the G8 which Japan was in. Japan purposely devalued its currency in order to make its exports more attractive. If not, it cannot compete with Koreans/China. What does this mean to the Jap people, they noticed that in order to stay competitive, take a currency hit. So making currency worth less, means they need more Yen to import that BMW. Also, the cost of daily goods goes up, if its imported.

So before you hentam the gomen, say UK cheap cars. UK people are paying the price for free trade. The rich people in UK are not affected. Even middle class, slightly affected. Those poor people in UK are worse hit. Oh, about that 70% tax thing. That is just a method used to balanced the prices. Rakyat dok complain memanjang, nanti gomen buat like UK terus ada yang kecut perut. Put GST, let petrol prices be determined by market value. Soon, you will need insurance to enter hospital in Malaysia. Malaysia has one of the best healthcare in the world. Go google UN report. In 2015, there will be no places for Doctors. No automatic places. Need to take test. We have reached developed world status on Doctor:population ratio.

The well off will be ok. The middle class will become the just above poverty level, and those worse off will be merempat if the gomen totally lepas tangan like UK/US. Not subsidising eggs, flour, oil, and essential foods.

This is not my view. This is the world economy.

Haizz, went to Sydney for holiday and saw cars there really damn cheap

Toyota Camry cost AUD 30k

Honda Civic  AUD 21k

Come back see malaysia price really want to cry