Cuba teka siapa yg introduce 7 & 9 years tenure in the 90s and why? It is to save the so call national car maker back then during the economic crisis. And it has overstayed since then and allowed the car manufacturers to increase car prices consistently as they see it as "baru extra RM5" sebulan kalau 9 year loan. It was never for the consumer cash flow or whatever reason (insert your reason here). Buy what you can afford (including repair and maintenance).

Ye betul, total untuk interest tu RM90k (rounded up to 5%). But again, back to the concept, janji your interest gained is higher than the 4.5% interest charged by bank, then it's OK. Simple je concept dia.

EPF historical dividend payout for the past 10 years (2014-2023) is 5.95%.

Nak execute strategy ni, need to be confident to be able to invest the cash and get returns of more than 10%, on average, over that 9 years. Not impossible, but will need some effort. S&P500 ETF, track record over the past 60 years, on average, is about 10% gain per annum.

Epf cant wdraw. If can wdraw like house installments then many people will benefit from it
9yrs loan but payment made by monthly epf wdrawal

9 years loan end up you pay more, but if no choice then what to do right

same idea, for Car loan interest that below 3% (if jackpot got 2.2-2.4%) it is good already, and put cash to other investments. Just hope many will try to maintain the car properly and can use it to at least 10 years, instead of take 9 years but after 3-5 years, already eyeing new car hence need to trade in. Well, my idea, if we maintain the car properly, change all wear & tear, the car for sure can drive normally and efficiently even after 5 years above.

T5 said i can pay cash for a car below 150k. Just like my Maseli A class Sedan cost 241k and i up front 150k and loan only 91k for 3 years.
Each people had their capability. So of course approaches is different.

I took a 9 year loan before and while I finally settled everything on time and in full, the amount paid is about 36-45% more on top of the vehicle's cost.

Since then I only took min 3 years and max 5 years since I always buy low RV vehicles. I will never buy Perodua, Toyota or Honda because these brands are easy target for thieves and vandals. Had I bought a new Myvi and only to have it stolen after a few years later, the insurance money will not be able to cover it especially on a 9 year loan. Even if it does cover, there won't be any money left to put up as deposit for a new car.

Another example was my 2007 Mitsubishi Triton bought back in 2008. Took a 5 year loan against the SA advice and paid almost 1.5k monthly. But I was glad instead. Because after 7 years or so, I sold the car for 55k cash. No loans to pay and even got a refund from the insurance company. With that cash, I bought an used Navara and used until it broke down and sold it for 35k cash. Kept that cash to survive during the MCO. Lucky...

How do you count affordability? Is it the yearly salary thing?

can afford to pay in cash (theoretically). can afford
take loan for the cashflow

Affordability based on yearly salary is a reference. Some people if they do not have many commitment of course they can afford higher price car and even more than 30% of their income. For bank they only evaluate our fix commitment and they do not really factor in whether we need to pay for wife or kid expenses or not. And for banker who desparate for sales they will try put the bank loan approve. Example a couple with 2 kids and house instalment 1500 with salary of 5000. If they wana buy a car monthly instalment of RM1500 bank will surely approve. But when the family have house and car instalment total 3000, they only have balance of 2000 for 4 person living expenses. In this case buying a car with instalment of 1500 is not ideal at all coz family have to sacrifice many things like reduce outing, reduce kid's extra activities or courses etc.