218i AT and B200 has nothing to do with fun and luxury... they are just a product for those who wants a badge.
They are not RWD. Its just a mini MPV with premium badge.

If you can stretch your budget to 80K, you can checkout Mercedes W204 C-class with 1.8 CGI, either C200 or C250.
The W204 is the next best thing if you want slightly more reliable compare to BMW, Audi, VW or the French.
Moreover, W204 is CKD, there are a lot on the road thus parts and maintenance shouldn't be a problem if you willing to spend a bit more.
But still dont expect Toyota/Lexus kind of reliability.

Nissan used to be reliable cars, but once it form alliance with Renault under Carlos Ghosn, all they focus is cut cost and profit.
Renault didnt learn anything about reliability from Nissan, but Nissan reliability got plague from this alliance.

This post has been edited by twincharger07: Jul 21 2021, 03:28 PM

👍🏻

Thank you very much for the suggestions.

W204 is not bad, my family member used to own the older gen, but the older one gives much more headache.

Since conti is not that reliable as expected, any recommendations for fun and reliable japanese car besides Lexus?

Try Mazda..
Beware of Mazda 6 as it is CBU, parts can be more expensive than Merc and BMW because they are CKD
You might want to try Mazda 3, the previous gen with GVC

Conti car reliability is subjective.. real enthusiast will still own a Conti and they learn a lot about preventive maintenance, which part to change by when, what are the frequently wear and tear parts. For them some BMWs are bullet proof like those with N52 still running at 300,000km with regular maintenance.
But if your definition of reliability is just changing engine oil, put petrol and go like a Toyota, you will be frustrated..
Car enthusiast find joy in spending time and effort in maintaining their cars.. and what they gain in reward is the pleasure that Conti cars gave them.

Thus if you are not willing to sacrifice and put in effort, you will not able to enjoy the joy that Conti cars give you.. so you can just continue driving local or japanese cars..

I spent tonnes in my VW, the car drives very well, but need a lot of care.. and I have another Honda at home for our long journey drive

This post has been edited by twincharger07: Jul 21 2021, 09:17 PM

if you have any mechanical inclination, by all means go for conti

if not, you are going to be driving moneypits.

not to discourage you, conti needs alot of t&c

Mechanical inclination is one story, affordability is another story.

Owned conti before this, it is truly a different experience, require lot's of TLC.

So far, still not able to solve the reliability issue.
I will put this case to rest, in search of Japanese car now, in the midst of researching more details.

As car enthusiast that spent the first 17 years of my life sitting 99% Toyota (whole family and most relatives are Toyota fans), I don't agree the first part.

1) Toyota also fails like any other cars. Master brake pump, coolant leakage, coolant thermostat failure, alternator failure, power steering fluid failure, air cond compressor leakage etc. Only thing is they are cheap to repair with 3rd party or recond part. If go for original, spend 1.5 to 2x.

2) If we take reliability as the car just changing engine oil, then that will frustrate anyone who love driving. Because the car will drive like shit. I know a few foes (a decade older than me, far younger than my parents), thinks Toyota suspension is very good that never need to change. Their definition of good is simply suspension "DIDN'T RATTLE". For car enthusiast, that's not how we define good. The support is weak, the play is too much, turn in not as direct, we start to replace the parts already.

Totally agree on the second part, we take pride on keeping our car at pristine working condition. Not just hack to make them run.

I insisted on ordering original clips, and not using cable tights and wires, the older foes call me crazy, saying no one will go under the car to see.

In Australia, Toyota cars are famous for being being boring and usually acquainted to being an 'old man's car' - why? The reason is because they seldom break down so the term 'boring' is used

Now cars that are exciting are cars that breaks down often (VW and Audi flashes to my mind) - these cars make life very exciting because you are kept busy all the time (with your mechanic)

agreed. same case to Alphard/ Vellfire known issues of Steering rack. Cost some thousand to replace it and some even mentioned is will happen in future after a certain interval. FC of those cars around 6.6-8km/l is not a typical Toyota FC figure but that it is. so all car doesn't matter have their pro and cons

my idea, why Toyota is problem-free cz they just retain the basic not updated engine etc. here, they were reluctant to give best features on our market, last time they were known to only give 2 airbag, old tech engine plus 4 gear auto torque converter. And retain it as long as they can until their sales suffer.

now only we get a minimum 6 airbags from them and a CVT plus dual-VVTI engine after pressure from low sales. Remember an expensive Camry reupdated with a newer engine cz of public feedback and pressure, here they slot us with even a previous-gen Engine for Camry b4 update it back to the new engine.

Maybe wait another 10 years for Toyota to start with DCT gb as others.

Find a Mazda 6 with 2.2L Skyactiv Diesel Engine

Well bro, I thought conti car better for long distance. Why use your Honda for long distance travel instead? Mind sharing your thought?

I suspect Toyota is concentrating more on the mature population for their clients. Most of my retiree friends in Sydney drive Toyota/Lexus. Older people like us don't really care much about technology (some of us don't even want to upgrade our phones that often because we have problems reloading the apps again). We just want a reliable car to drive in. Safety is probably the other very important factor we look for.

In Sydney taxis are mostly using the hybrid Camry and from what i hear from taxi owners are the Toyota engines goes on and on. I have owned a Camry (with a Lexus 3litre engine) and it is the best car i have owned (i have owned quite a lot of cars in my younger days when i was doing well financially before the share market killed me in 1987/1988 ). Now i am nearly 60 and what i look for in a car is very different from what i looked for when i was 25. We are financially better off than before and our perspective are different as well

My VW is 9 yr old, good for solo drive, going Touge..
But the DSG is still a time bomb as it is from the same old batch as those having a lot of issues. I am lucky for not having stranded by the road side but already have a few "limp mode" power cut off problems due to ignition problem and driving very slowly to the workshop

Already spent rm15k in preventive maintenance and fixing, probably another rm10k more if I plan to use it for long distance or to keep for a longer period, but the car is only worth less than 30k.. so I just use it for short distance and weekend drive.

My Honda is still fairly new.. going back to Penang with it together with my family gives me better peace of mind

As the saying goes, it's better to have a second reliable car if you want to go Conti..

This post has been edited by twincharger07: Jul 23 2021, 02:11 PM

Well, coming from a family with a mixture of Japanese, Korean, local and German made cars which we typically keep them for more than 8 years, we can tell the difference. That is my side of the story.

Cheers..

Hah.... That sounds reasonable. Sounds like your VW is a money pit. My opinion is to sell it off for whatever it is worth now. It's going to be an endless pit and once breakdown and cost a bomb to fix, you're going to have second thought about fixing it. It could end up a junk if not fixed. If fix, it'll cost a lot.

Yup... It is not something that worth keeping long term.. no heritage, no differentiation.

Unless if it's EOS or Scirocco 2.0 that are 2 doors and you don't see them being produced anymore, these are the ones that probably worth to keep for long term.

Others Conti worth to keep if you have deep pockets like E90/93 NA 6 cylinder, as this is the last NA 6 cylinder that BMW produced, old school hydraulic steering.. Something that you will never experience in the world of electrical steering and turbo charged era.

If I am given a choice to keep a car no matter how money pits they are, probably will be an NA V6 or Inline6 .. that we will not gonna see them anymore

Your story reminds me of my colleague when i was working in Sydney Uni. My colleague bought a VW Tiguan (when he bought, it was four years old). He has so many problems with the car ever since he bought it and after driving for 2 years, his engine had to be rebuilt. Labour costs in Sydney is very expensive. He bought the car for about A$29k but spent more than A$20k in repairs!! My friend is French and he traded in his car for a Subaru Forrester (brand new) - he only got A$10k as a trade-in but he was happy to get rid of that bomb!

Never go for the Scirocco. My friend owned one before. He bought new but the DSG can rosak twice in one year.

Ts, go for the b48 f30 but your budget was 80k. hmm seem like f30 2014-2015 max with N20 u can get at this price budget. If can top up get the b48 engine. Or you may get the w204 merc from other forumer suggested. cheers. All the best