Short of not driving your car. I don't think there is much you can do.

But, you can try to find third party top mounts and see if they have better use of material for their top mounts. Sometimes third party top mounts uses better bearings and rubber quality. And they might be cheaper too.

I am not sure for Mazda, but i have came upon a brand called Lokco and their mounts are pretty OK. They are a local company and uses rubber produced in Malaysia. In fact, if my memory is right. I was told they have a subsidiary which is a rubber producer in Malaysia or something of that sort.

They make mounts primarily for local cars and i have seen they produced even for some of the more common Honda models. You can give it a try though. I am just not sure if they made mounts for Mazda.

http://www.lokcoint.com.my

If the GST is removed outright with no clauses. That itself is already a huge discount. At least 6k worth of discount which no Bermaz promotion can top as of now.

The question is whether any dealerships has the model, spec and color that you want in hand for a registration and delivery before SST is re-announced. And knowing Bermaz has a shared stockyard rather than individual dealerships having their own fleet of cars lying around. Chances are going to be slim especially when mass amounts of people starts making booking for it.

So, you better be quick in trying to hit every dealership to see what they can give. Of course, the best scenario is to get a GST reduction and promotion reduction together. But, that highly depends on your luck as well.

Never had PS4. But Yokohama V701 is not too bad to me. At least it is better than the previous Toyo DRB that i used which was supposed to be a quieter T1R.

No one has a concrete answer as of now. It is all speculations as the announcement will be catching a lot of parties off guard as well.

Currently only Edaron Tan Chong group has announced price protection plans for both the brands under their wings. Even that does not mean a guaranteed cash reduction buy a reimbursement in terms of service vouchers.

I believe the other automakers are adopting the wait and see method to see how the entire framework pans out for them.

It is slightly more expensive, but have you considered wrapping?

Spraying a car different color is a very worrying sign when you decide to sell the car off.

This does not happen with all the people. But, some people if they see the car is in a different color compared to the original registration color during a 2nd hand purchase. They might get suspicious and think the car has been involved in a major accident and has been resprayed over.

I have heard of such arguments and there is no logic behind it. But, there are just such people in reality. You might need to have a good argument on why there is a color change on the car.

A full paint job for exterior and interior is also by far not cheap.

Vinyl wrapping prices highly depends on the quality of the wrap and also the workmanship. A real quality wrap is usually very expensive, in the regions of 5k and above with 3M wraps and those special texture or colors and partly also they do some minor detailing on the paint of the car to prep for a better wrapping job.

But, i have seen it as cheap as sub 3k if you are not really picky on the quality of the job. Sometimes there are worries of edges peeling or they cut corners by using half length wraps just to join some long or wide pieces which will result in seams

https://www.mudah.my/Malaysia/Cars-Accessor...+wrap&so=1&st=s

The good thing with wrap is that if you don't like the color, you can always change it. If you decide to sell the car, you can decide to peel it off. Also heard of some horror stories after peeling off the wrap.

So, each options does have some concerns. My 2 cents

Wrap a small part, yes. But not entire car.

Wrapped before a small PP spoiler as i wanted two colors on it.

Among the list of items. RCTA was the only one i think is the most useful thing to have whether anyone thinks it is needed or not. It is almost just as essential as reverse parking sensors.

More so if you like to park head-in.

Hatchback is a very niche market.

It used to be offered at a lower price point and now they have decided to only sell it at top spec levels.

Not everyone is willing to pay for the most expensive Mazda 3 in the lineup and lose a boot at the same time to boot

True, there are several factors to this. Sometimes a high spec car is easier to let go when it is time. But that is years down the road anyways.

And, the automotive industry in Asia is crap. They cannot deal with having optional spec for cars because of additional complexities on the production line. So, everything is made into a set meal and you just choose which one fancies you best.

Find transmission recon shops or just go directly to chop shop. RM30k might as well buy another car of the same year without problem and drive it.

Find someone who is familiar of the transmission from a BL chassis.

https://www.mudah.my/Mazda+3+Auto+Gearbox-53404658.htm
https://www.mudah.my/Mazda+3+mazda+6+5+spee...ox-65361223.htm

This post has been edited by KnightSports: Jun 14 2018, 09:13 PM

They are like apple. Official auto repair shops now won't "repair" things. Anything repair related for them is to chuck old one out and replace with new one. That is what they term as "repair".

I understand it is less complication for them, but the costs are just not friendly to consumers.

Very unfortunate.

I don't really know if it is a good thing or bad thing. How much can you trust it to the point that you depend on it to tell you where you are reversing into?

Odd manufacturer size. Can find, but won't be happy with the price.

Foot in mouth got la

I can only tell you this. There is no such thing as whether RM15k is worth it or not. It is all down to your personal values of what you get in replacement for your hard earned cash.

At the end of the day, this value of RM15k means different things for many people. If you are sure this are things you will never miss now, you just need to make sure you will never regret it down the road as the decision is ultimately yours.

Just don't let your decision on skimping cause you your regret down the line.

If the looks that you think is cool on the high spec car can be done or replicated by aftermarket enhancement, i don't see why you cannot opt to spend the RM15k making it cooler outside of the dealership. Furthermore, you can add your personal touches to it and make the car your own and the one and only unique one on the road.

Unfortunately, i myself fall into this trap over and over again where we cannot drive a stock standard car. So, even if i buy a high spec unit. Something is bound to be changed as the urge to tinker is always there.

But, the point that ginny88 is trying to make is beyond just the cosmetic differences as some upgrades from GL to high spec is not easily done and if done will definitely cost more than the RM15k difference. Not to help that your car will never carry the high spec badge even after all the money and hard work dumped in to make it that on the registration papers.

p/s: point i am trying to deliver is that no one can say for sure that you will regret, you just need to make sure that your mind would not change post purchase especially you see someone having something you don't

This post has been edited by KnightSports: Jun 19 2018, 04:40 PM

SC would not like to deal with this kind of things even if it is possible. Too much waste of time and too little profit.

The other question to this is how much are you willing to dump into getting this done? RM5k? RM10k? parts might be possible to acquire, but it will be astronomical pricing and might involve things that are unrelated in the first place like trim pieces in case certain parts requiring different trim pieces to fit properly.

Just thinking about the logistics of adding the millimeter radar, infrared, cameras, what is possibly a whole different side mirror, rear radars, wiring harnesses is more than enough to kill your intention.

Not trying to be a buzzkill. But nothing short of getting a halfcut or something like that will make this economically possible.

p/s:

This post has been edited by KnightSports: Jun 20 2018, 09:25 AM

Yes, it is not easy to decide. But others can only feed you information to come out with your own conclusion, not help you decide.

Financially, like what Zer0pulse says. RM15k amounts to very little in monthly payments in a 5 to 7 year hire purchase agreement. Unless you are those person who calculates everything down to every cent and take into account the interests paid over the HP period. Then, i don't think anything can convince you to get it otherwise.

Instead of just focusing on things you think you do not or might not need. Why not focus on what things you like between GL and High Spec and whether if that is worth shelling out the extra monies.