hahah! But you really gotta go in with your eyes WIDE open and do your homework extensively.  Have to also understand the nature of the car market for that particular model.

One way of making an assessment is to first decide 1. if you buy new, what car can you afford? 2. how long do you plan to use the car before changing?  Then you can roughly work out what 2nd hand cars budget you should look at.

E.g. Say you can afford a Civic and want to use it for 5 years.  A new civic is about RM125k.  A 5 year old civic is on average around 90k (estimate la from Mudah).  Your depreciation is approx RM35k over the 5 years.  So, without taking maintenance and financing into consideration for now, techincally you can buy a 35k 2nd hand car, use it for 5 years and throw it in a lake after than and will be no worst of financially.  But we all know that the car will most likely have some residual value after that.  So, conservatively, say the 2nd hand car has a residual value of RM15k after 5 years.  That means, your 2nd hand car budget is now RM35k + RM15k = RM45k before you can be financially worst off than buying a new car.  Go to mudah and see what cars you can get for RM45k.  You'll be surprised. 

You may say financing 2nd hand car more expensive.  Agreed.  But you are financing over a lower amount too.. i.e. 125k vs 45k.

What about maintenance?  Won't it be higher for old cars?  Agreed.  It will be.  But thats where you need to do your homework and research.  It can be minimised.  And OEM parts are way much cheaper than parts from authorised dealers.  Also, check the warranty on new cars.  Not all include free service, only warranty.  So you still have to pay for your regular service... at authorised workshop.... and we all know the prices there are... ahem  .

Take it a step further, you can actually buy cars that depreciates less than 35k in 5 years, and won't be worst off.  So, if you think a car will half its value in 5 years, you 2nd hand car budget is now RM70k... getting interesting ya? 

Anyway, just food for thought.  Its not 100% foolproof and I'd suggest you have a healthy cashflow before you embark on this journey to be on the safe side.  But the reward is sweet!
Spot on! 

hahah! But you really gotta go in with your eyes WIDE open and do your homework extensively.  Have to also understand the nature of the car market for that particular model.

One way of making an assessment is to first decide 1. if you buy new, what car can you afford? 2. how long do you plan to use the car before changing?  Then you can roughly work out what 2nd hand cars budget you should look at.

E.g. Say you can afford a Civic and want to use it for 5 years.  A new civic is about RM125k.  A 5 year old civic is on average around 90k (estimate la from Mudah).  Your depreciation is approx RM35k over the 5 years.  So, without taking maintenance and financing into consideration for now, techincally you can buy a 35k 2nd hand car, use it for 5 years and throw it in a lake after than and will be no worst of financially.  But we all know that the car will most likely have some residual value after that.  So, conservatively, say the 2nd hand car has a residual value of RM15k after 5 years.  That means, your 2nd hand car budget is now RM35k + RM15k = RM45k before you can be financially worst off than buying a new car.  Go to mudah and see what cars you can get for RM45k.  You'll be surprised. 

You may say financing 2nd hand car more expensive.  Agreed.  But you are financing over a lower amount too.. i.e. 125k vs 45k.

What about maintenance?  Won't it be higher for old cars?  Agreed.  It will be.  But thats where you need to do your homework and research.  It can be minimised.  And OEM parts are way much cheaper than parts from authorised dealers.  Also, check the warranty on new cars.  Not all include free service, only warranty.  So you still have to pay for your regular service... at authorised workshop.... and we all know the prices there are... ahem  .

Take it a step further, you can actually buy cars that depreciates less than 35k in 5 years, and won't be worst off.  So, if you think a car will half its value in 5 years, you 2nd hand car budget is now RM70k... getting interesting ya? 

Anyway, just food for thought.  Its not 100% foolproof and I'd suggest you have a healthy cashflow before you embark on this journey to be on the safe side.  But the reward is sweet!
Spot on! 

With all due respect Sir. The part below fxxking enlightens me.

'E.g. Say you can afford a Civic and want to use it for 5 years. A new civic is about RM125k. A 5 year old civic is on average around 90k (estimate la from Mudah). Your depreciation is approx RM35k over the 5 years. So, without taking maintenance and financing into consideration for now, techincally you can buy a 35k 2nd hand car, use it for 5 years and throw it in a lake after than and will be no worst of financially.'

Thank you so much for the great insight

I've been in the market for a Beemer second-hand, but from the club and other forums on average the repair costs average abt 1k a month. And what abt fuel consumption?

Would appreciate if you can shed more insight...

the thing with depreciation is that they depreciate by percentage, not amount in ringgit.
so naturally a 100k with 25% depreciation means 25k, while a 50k with same depreciation will be much less.
normal car depreciates at the same percentage, regardless of the price paid when its new.

Amazing. What is your current ride?

Which model are you looking at?  RM12k per annum from my experience is abit high.  My experience using a E38 7 series was as follows:-

- Regular oil and filter change = about RM450 - 500 using fully synth castrol edge (BMW oil mah).  I change every 10 - 15k.
- Change wear and tear front suspension arms - About RM3,000.  I changed towards the end of my ownership.  The previous owner also change before I bought it.  So it should last around 4 to 5 years.  Rear arms still in good condition when I sold the car.  Also changed by prev owner before.
- Rear brake disc - About RM350 per pc. 
- Battery is i think about RM300+
- Tires are about RM2k per set of 4 for 18'.
- Change headliner - RM800
- Also changed some misc. hoses and seals, roughly about RM1000+ all together.

All parts used were German OEM (i avoided the Taiwan OEMs) or ori BMW, and I used a reputable BMW specialist workshop.

I think that's about all I had to spend on maintenance over the roughly 5 years. Don't count the facelift, rims and bodykit upgrades la. 

FC was a little on the high side at 6.4kms per ltr. 

The low maintenance cost I believe was partly due to the car having a full service record from previous owners and most of the major wear and tear parts have been changed by either the autorised dealer or a reputable BMW workshop by the previous owners.

Been looking at the E90 initially for fear of the high maintenance. But after reading abt your exp I'm gonna do more research on the E46.

My current budget only allows me to own a 2.0L, so am currently only looking at the 3-series...i don't know if I should look at the 5 series (again the fear factor)

We should yum cha some time..

Go for new global proton car.
for sure is quality because mahatir just ask for 1.5 billion for proton to do work.

so it only means this car come with good leather seat and ESP/ABS

If you are willing to try something different, you may want to consider a late model 3 series (E36).  They can be bought for under 30k for a good condition unit or much lower for a fixer upper.  Maintenance is not as expensive as most ppl think and the driving experience is much better than any sub 50k new car you can find now.  The key is to find one that is well maintained by an enthusiast owner.

And also, its pretty much at the bottom of the depreciation value already.  Even if you lose half of 30k and sell it at 15k say 5 years down the road, you'll probably lose less in value than any other sub 50k new car that you can buy now.

I've done is as a first car many years back.  Used an old BMW (1990 model) and sold it after using it for about 5 years.  I lost only 5k.  Even if I factor in maintenance over the 5 years, I lost less than 15k (and that included replacement of wear and tear parts, regular maintenance).  My next 'old' BMW (1997 model) also after selling, I lost only 10k in value after 5 years of use.  In comparison, the 'new' recond car I bought, already lost 90k in depreciation over 5 years.... 
Only issue is to find financing for such an old car, but something to ponder on perhaps?