You have done your homework. When one mentions comfortable car, what are the aspects that contribute to comfort. It's predominantly two factors, which is the noise and ride which is low noise from the engine and road, and good suspension that contributes to plush ride. For vehicles which come with suspension tuned for comfort, they mostly can't be driven at high speeds when taking a 90 degrees corner for instance, that's my experience with the 1st generation Nissan Sylphy 2.0. In my experience, the most comfortable car which I have owned is the old Nissan Sylphy from year 2006 around. When I switched on the engine, I can barely hear the noise of the engine. Even when cruising on the roads at moderate to high speeds, the noise remains fairly low. The soundproofing is really good, better than all cars which I owned after that which include the Ford Focus 2.0. Honda cars have one of the poorest sound proofing and additionally comes with excessive rattling sound in my experience, a prevalent or normal trait even with fairly new cars.

As for the next importance, the suspension. When the vehicle is moving on bad surfaced roads, irregular surface or bumps, with a comfortable car you won't feel much of the jolt as the suspension soaks up most of the shocks. What you get is a smooth and slow bounce with the vehicle when going over these uneven or bad surfaces on the roads, a plush ride. With other cars especially those tuned for spirited fast-n-furious drives, all the sharp shocks and thuds will be felt as you feel your body bouncing up and down together with the car as the springs or suspension react more quickly and rapidly when going over the unevenness on bad roads.

Sorry I was being long-winded. To cut a story short, I can only recommend one vehicle based on my experience, the Nissan Sylphy 2.0 from year 2006 or 2007 though I'm not sure if you can get it below RM20k now but for an almost 18-year old car I guess it should be around that mark or lower. I'm not sure about the newer Sylphy 1.8 if the suspension and soundproofing matches the older 2.0 model. The Nissan Teana also should be good though not sure if you can get it below RM20k.

I'm not sure about others, but for very old cars which are mostly in bad shape already due to wear and tear, people usually don't go for high cc, maybe 2.0 max to minimise paying for the road tax. Above 2.0 the road tax is already rather high for a old and cheap RM20k car mostly in bad shape which to me is not worth it. That may be one reasons used cars 2.2 or 2.4-litres and above all have a low resale value especially very old cars as most people will avoid them due to the high road tax.

still alot auntie/uncle units out there i think

have to deal with direct owner, not dealer, to minimze risk of taxi limo unit


can confirm, paying for 2.4 road tax sucks. first year will feel fresh, but when come to renewing, can definitely feel the pain from your wallet.

I will choose vios 1st gen or dugong with mighty toyota 4At. If possible get g spec with rear disc brake. Fuel saving, spare part, tyre cheap and easy get. Intake manifold position at the front easy diy took out to clean. Only problem when the fuel pump filter clogged, it's required special tools to removes. Send toyota service center around 1k to change and it's good to go for another 200k km no kidding.

Yes. To put it bluntly, getting a used car below RM20k, depending on the age of the vehicle if mostly above 10 years or close to 20 years old, sorry to say even though it's a bit harsh, these cars are considered to be junk already. People who consider these cars mostly want to save money and cut down wherever as they can, but do not realise the "hidden costs". The maintenance costs will be higher for old cars, but for certain models especially European (I know since I gone through the process with the Ford Focus), the yearly maintenance costs may actually be higher than the price that you pay for the car. Imagine you pay RM20k for the car but spend 10k or more than that yearly for the maintenance, how does that feel to you? Add in the high road tax for above 2.0 litre it's totally not worth not to mention to continue to "service" the car, wasting your time in workshops when it should be the other way round where the car serves the owner, not the owner serves the car.

Well, it may be prudent to avoid "problematic" cars when buying used, get one which does not cost much to maintain and has cheap spare parts. It's mostly Japanese or local Malaysian. European cars are mostly high maintenance. But OP here wants comfortable, so Proton and Perodua would be out I guess, the selective Japanese Nissan and Toyota usually fair much better.

This is very wrong thinking, as higher spec. especially for Toyota usually got better safety features like VSC or TRC. Since Toyota handling majority also know too bias towards comfort, if in emergency these safety features will safe your life & car from serious incident. If you go do research most safety features only reserve to those like Camry 2.4V & Altis 1.8G/2.0V. If below those spec. is damn kosong only ABS.

If you want to know what is VSC or TRC = Vehicle Stability Control or Traction Control System.
Go google and see youtube how they operate, especially during raining season these technology really helps.

Since buying Toyota, big or small cc their engine reliability also almost the same and will not got very huge difference when doing maintenance. If you think 2.4L road tax is expensive, go for Altis 1.8G/2.0V which got better safety features compare to those 2.0 Camry.

This post has been edited by littlefire: Mar 17 2025, 11:18 AM

2.4 roadtax just rm734 which is rm356 extra than 2.0. Being D segment sedan, where most are at rm100-110 for full tank, that is equivalent of an extra 3 full tank price.

Vouch the same, considering the budget. Reliable engine, very2 good FC even with 4AT. If really want to choose a better FC, take J spec with Manual, can get towards 17-18km/l

I"m not sure where did you get the idea about my wrong thinking as I didn't touch about safety aspects at all. It's a separate matter whether one wishes to consider a 2.0-litre vehicle which doesn't come with added safety features or not. You may not consider the Camry 2.0 but there will be others that will buy them as people have their own priorities and preferences.

Well, it's still almost double that of the 2.0..

That why need to educate majority of people, most people dont even know what safety features really means in a vehicle.

maybe can look for car with 1.5T or 1.6T (many option) where can get Torque as 2.4 level but at cheap roadtax. But expert the FC not as 1.6NA for real daily usage.

Agreed, 2.0 already enough and comfortable especially for camry 😊🔥

Well, there are still people who want to drive a Camry but don't have the budget for the 2.4, so no choice.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Mar 17 2025, 11:50 AM

If they cant, die die want drive big d-segment cars i would recommend them to look for others similar D-Segment 2.0 with better safety.
Honda Accord 2.0 & Nissan Teana 2.0 also offer better safety features compare to Camry 2.0 at the same period of time.
For me Nissan Teana 2.0 really is the dark-horse, as even for 2.0 they manage to offer 4~6 air-bags & VSC previously.
Even Accord that time only offer like 2 or 4 air-bags for lower spec. 2.0 model but at least VSC standard.

High spec car has all the bells and whistles, not kosong spec.

TS already stated ...
- ride comfort
- cheap to maintain
- reliable
- fuel efficient

It is general knowledge that a Toyota fits every category that TS stated above.
Your argument is just moot point only.
There are still good Toyotas running around, you know how to find or not?

Camry 2.0 got 2.2 also got.

The 2.2 is very damn old model, those are from the 90's XV20/10 model.
Not really recommend as the engine parts is really more expensive & rare compare to the newer 2.0/2.4L VVT-i engine.

Jetta 1.4 turbocharged

agreed, VSC & airbag are important. VSC especially on raining slippery situation