Hi Forumers,

I am choosing between a Toyota Altis 1.8 and a Kia Cerato 1.6. Both are C-segment cars.

Advantages of buying a Kia Cerato 1.6
- Cheaper price of RM99,888
- Cheaper installment
- Cheaper road tax
- Cheaper insurance
- Free 3 years services including parts and labour
- 5 years warranty
- More gadgets and safety - cruise control, vehicle stability management, 6 airbags
- Better dealer discount

Advantages of buying a Toyota Altis 1.8 (RM116,990 with navigation)
- Better resale value, lower depreciation rate
- Perceived better quality
- Good after sales service
- Good Brand

So far my concern is on after sales service by Naza Kia. While resale value is better for Toyota, given that we have to buy at higher price plus some other spending over the first 5 years (road tax, insurance, services etc.), this factor is not significant. Quality is subjective, both seems good from first hand test drive and feeling. Brand is less important compared to other factors.

Anyone can shed some lights on the after sales service? And if any other concern that I should be aware of when choosing these two cars?

Thank you.

Thanks for the comments. My rationale to compare these two cars is cerato 1.6 cheaper than altis 1.8. If I have to pay rm11x,xxx, I will definitely go for altis. But given that kia car has lower resale value, lesser brand value, unknown quality and after sales service, I will consider it only if kia car is significantly cheaper, such as in this comparison.

My personal opinion is to find out the total expense for a car after driving for n years. For the current scenario, let's say I take a 5 years 90% loan. I can calculate how much exactly I need to spend on installments for 5 years, roadtax, approximate insurance and original service center maintenance (Cerato first 3 years is free). So installment + roadtax + insurance + maintenance are my total expense. Assuming in reality that Kia car depreciates faster than Toyota car by 5% more, I can estimate the resale value and minus off from my total expense. Coupled with some incentives when I purchase the car - NCD55%, car discount, dealer discount etc., then I can find out my NET EXPENSE. Of course, this does not include the Time Value of Money which is more complicated.

And hence, Toyota Altis (RM114K) and Kia Cerato (99.888K), after 5 years, RV is RM58K and RM36K respectively. However, you will also spend more for Altis, given higher installment, road tax, insurance and maintenance. At the end, the Net Spend for both cars is about the same, slightly more than RM70K. That means resale value is immaterial now, and main consideration should be on other aspects such as safety, features, design, service, quality etc.