haha I am from JB, the lobangs don't help you a single bit lar.

I get new parts (most of the time OEM) for consumer parts like cabin filter, mountings, etc. For body parts or speical sensors I will go chop shops. For the hydraulic cylinders for the retractable hard top I got it dismantled by local workshop and couriered to USA for refurbished

For you W203 C230k 1.8 litre, if you are to overhaul the timing chain with sprockets, you may consider make a trip to SG to buy the parts, much cheaper there due to no custom duty. As the parts alone can cost > RM5k, definitely worth to make a trip to SG.

This post has been edited by amdxp: Jul 12 2017, 01:57 PM

Suspect they are right. Well if you have the cash, no need to convince anyone right?

Ayyy.... Proton's are well built cars. Well at least my old iswara is anyway. 20+ years old still runs like a charm... well.... at least till a few months back :-)

wat da..... 6k needed just to change a simple keyhole.... with 6k I can buy new car d. a new old iswara + full recondition cost, make it look like showroom condition again.

"it is a experience to drive BMW or Benz.".... not sure if being sarcastic or..... hehehehe. lolz.

IKR !!! To each his own. :-)

Billionaire IKEA founder prefers to ride on a bus. "Arriving at a gala to receive a Businessman Of The Year Award he was at first refused entry because he had come on the bus.".

Link: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/387763...y-flies-economy

His money up to him how he wanna spend it. To each his own. :-)

Old cars are awesome dude.... I have an old iswara. and i know its awesome. :-)

Dude.... are u SURE you can afford it? Later got breakdown... dun pulak you have to sell a kidney to fund the repairs or worst still go behind chowkit satu jam 300..... transmission fail u pitch up a tent back there.

Ok... I better stop here before the guy come and say "his kidney la up to him if he want to sell it or not .... u not his parents wat".....

If there are knocking sounds coming from the engine bay, its gonna be a painful lesson alright.

Oh baby you can say that again and again and again. There is some truth to it. That sweet ride from the Golf GTI Highline still fresh in my mind. That sweet sweet sweet seduction from a combination of silence, torque, godly acceleration, smooth as silk shifts, and that comfy ride. Wow I just became a little happier just thinking about it.

I love the looks of merz w211 E230. Kinda of last batch before introducing the w212.

They throw away lots of accessories on this model. Gps was one of it, back then most car dont equipped with it. 18" rim plus advangarde trim.

2.5 engine with V6 and valve timing at 201hp. The m111 (black engine) like E240 didn't comes with valve timing.

car >10 years old ; very hard to get loan... even its cheap u need to pay CASH

secondly > 10 years there is insurance loading ; so its not really cheap

Another suggestion just came to mind. Go test drive a Golf GTI. For your age level, this car is kinda awesome.

All im suggesting is, go test drive it once, thats all. You might end up falling for it. I'm not even kidding. It gives you the right balance of the comfort of the old merc and performance of the bimmer in one package. And this one you might actually be able to afford. One test drive - with race mode on (emphasis added) - is all you need.

Unless its the badge that ur after.

If I'm not mistaken a Golf GTI MK 6 in reasonable condition may be even more expensive than a 10 year old Merc or BMW.

The upside is that it may be cheaper to maintain but on a 4K salary still a struggle.

Disclaimer: I'm not his parent, not advising him what to do so don't shoot me.

This post has been edited by Ginny88: Jul 12 2017, 04:16 PM

Great advise. Thanks man

Well, I'm driving a W124 E220 for 1.5 year now. My parents owned it for more than 10 years iirc. Just to tell you, old conti are definitely not cheap to maintain.

From my experience, you'll be okay most of the time. But you better pray "that day" never comes, I myself had experience of a small electronic stuff spoil, engine shut off while I'm taking a corner. You guessed it no power steering and steering lock will engage if I turn too much. It was slow so I didn't drive into other ppl's house. (maybe it won't be as bad la, but most probably not that "cheap" to replace)

That one small matter, not too expensive to find at chop shop. But unless you have good mechanics friend, your car go into unknown workshop means you rather wish you never own it. And idk is me or what, at a stage, you'll notice things spoil one by one, can be a really small thing but it is as if it's periodic.

The repairs my car have been through in my hands:
1)both new front absorber, some rubber bushing and ball joints and a minor repair for my quirky gearbox. Bill was 2.5k, well it was a reputable workshop that mostly work on contis so it was pretty much there lo.

2)alarm system spoil, remote won't work and the key can only open driver's door. Every other door have to open manually. Repair was RM60, that also because my dad knew the guy. If walk in will be easily 200+ due to the man hour to debug it. New unit? RM1k++ exclude installation.

But I do have to mention, my car is 24 years old, even older than me. So some things are expected. But it cost quite a lot to maintain throughout the entire ownership of the car (since my parents own it).

The 2 cars you mentioned, they aren't the most reliable platform (that era of Conti), especially that BMW, according to a lot of my dad's friends (mechanics, spare parts seller, car owners and whatever)(oh, and the infamous E60 of that era ).

It's almost definitely (or you can say for damn sure) cheaper to run a Japanese car than conti. Yes, they are not bulletproof (saw a brand new Accord with faulty DRL last week), but surely cheaper when you have to replace something. Just remember, you're buying a car that cost north of 200k, you should also expect the cost of maintaining the car to be of that calibre.

They aren't joking when they say old Contis are expensive to maintain, you lucky you good, not lucky, then it's a money pit. 50-60k play Honda city ba, or you don't want headache straight buy new myvi lo.

P.S. some Jetta is in that range too, but don't say I didn't want you

You are not his par.... oh wait... just saw the disclaimer.

TLDR Version:

1. It makes you closer to God.

2. Small thing spoil, you die. No wonder Euro Ncap now most car aiming for the highest 5 star safety rating, guess because of this... And people say my 20+ year iswara not a safe car. It only has like what..... 2 electronic item. The power window and like the radio. And the radio doesnt work so only 1 electronic item. But hey, at least my car didnt crash into other people house when my radio failed or that one time when my power window got stuck.

3. TS might wanna keep that platform reliability advice in mind. This info sounds pretty key, coming from a conti owner himself, esp if mechanics, spare part sellers, owners are all on the same page regarding the particular platform.

True, but you can't be lucky all the time. It's like gambling, sooner or later the odds will even out. You can reduce the cost of owning a Conti car if you have very good knowledge of the car, know where to get cheap spare parts and have a good trusted mechanic who won't chop you. Otherwise make sure your income is high enough to maintain it.

Your money... YOU SUKA !!!

This You made my day

*probably isolated case and my car is so old

True

If that mechanic is good enough, sometimes they won't even charge you to check one small problem, or they can tell you what's important and urgent to fix, what's not. Instead of giving you a list of all the things that you have to change immediately and charge you inspection fees.

Also, My parents encountered one workshop that changed some good stuff out of the car with some inferior ones, so they can keep the car going back every few weeks or months. I won't name them, but I think they closed down already.