What Cars Do You Drive?

[kelvgoh]

bought this 2 months ago......



a shot of the interior .....

Hey Kapitan,

Can't quite tell what make and model it is. englighten me (us) please?

Looks really gorgeous though.

[Kyo]

StarG - Thanks.....

SQFG - its not standard, the a/c vents not standard, the knobs for a/c and stereo not standard, the seats colour not standard, the color co-ordinated door panels not standard..... in M'sia n SIN, its call "zhng my car".....

Whoa there... did you *bling bling* the Prius too?

[SuperJonJon]

In-between posts #128 and 129, a certain SQTalker who shall remain nameless changed cars at least 3 times, probably more...

Who who?

[kapitan]

Hey Kapitan,

Can't quite tell what make and model it is. englighten me (us) please?

Looks really gorgeous though.

hahaaa.... I did it on purpose, not to say the make and model in my post...


.... for those who do not know, it is a KIA Forte....

[Nick C]

Love it

You have zhng'ed it nicely

Agreed!

[N_Architect]

Honda Accord 2.0L Automatic, will be replaced summer '10 with a new car (lease expires in 10 months). Currently 42k km on the clock. Will switch to winter tire set (mandatory here after Nov 1 each year) soon. First time I had a Japanese car, this one is a very nice car indeed - still not used to the 'less solid' feeling though (compared to German cars).

[kapitan]

since this thread has been brought up again,... here's an update on zhng my kar.....

changed front grill....


next up, waiting for the body kit to arrive,

[9V-SIA]

Looks different from Honda Accords in Singapore N_Architect.

Use to drive one. Very reliable car..

kapitan, Korean cars are getting more and more attractive.

( More than I can say for the new Merc E class. Urghh! )

Was admiring your Kia Forte when I sent wife's Mitsubishi in for service at Cycle & Carriage.

[KeithMEL]

Awaiting delivery of my shiny new 2009 BMW 118i - my first car so I'm v excited!

I also considered the VW Golf, however BMW Melbourne had a sale which made the price differential rather negligible plus they also threw in the exec package (leather seats, bluetooth, rear parking sensors). Finally, the Audi A3 as Audi had a similar sale, but they just seemed a little dull.

Other tempting options were the Alfa Romeos (whatever the compact car model is) and Fiat Punto based on looks alone - soooo sexy! But apparently they have a shoddy reliability history and the resale value is terrible; after all FIAT is meant to stand for "Fix It Again, Tony!" Happy to be corrected on this - as I really want something like the Alfa 159 as my next car!

[9V-JKL]

Congrats on your new car.

Fiat Punto based on looks alone - soooo sexy

Did you see the Abarth version?

[KeithMEL]

Did you see the Abarth version?

I haven't seen it around, I don't think it's sold here (it's not on the Australian Fiat site). The pics look v nice though! The other half was also eyeing the Fiat 500 but I pointed out that a shopping trolley would be heaps cheaper... But the reason we didn't go with FIAT or Alfa, as cool as both cars are, after all are the poor customer support in Australia, and the lack of trust in both brands over here means very quick depreciation. In the end I think a Bimmer represents a good balance between style and practicality, and at the price we paid it was totally a steal.

The other half and I really only need the car for inner city pottering and the occassional winery trip so don't need anything super powerful - i think we're only going to do about ~10k a year. So I don't really need a car, but I do want one - my graduation present to myself. At least it means where we go to for weekend brunches won't be restricted by the public transportation network and schedules.

(Oh and the other consideration was that the car has to have auto transmission as we just can't be stuffed with manual!)

[9V-SIA]

You made the right decision with the BMW 118i.

Italian cars have more "style" in their designs.

But you really want the reliability of a German car.

[Nick C]

VW Golf

Especially the new Mk6

[phaleesy]

But you really want the reliability of a German car.

I personally think Japanese cars are more reliable. My Honda Civic was 5 years old and it never had any problems. It could go on and on except that it had to be written off when I skidded and crashed in black ice.

My current VW Golf is about 5 years old. At one time (still under warranty), it could not accelerate beyond 40 miles per hour and it would groan and whinge when I go uphill. Some engine parts had to be replaced. Now bits are falling off. Plastic stuff near the passenger's seat fallen out, rubber stuff around the driver's door fallen off, auto thing for petrol cover refused to work, so I pulled the cover out by force (because I had to fill up my car or else I would be stuck!), it's now broken.

I must admit that the German cars have a more solid feel but I'm not entirely sure about reliability.

[N_Architect]

Keith: Congrats, it's a great car, I'd test driven it for a day [but finally decided to place an order for an A170 at the time - of course there are 2 different cars altogether but with my state of mind, you know, anything goes...] The Beamer has hard suspension, a low VCG and a high GM (and please ask Captain to explain further ), not much space in the back, drives great (typical rwd) and above all it's a BM [though it makes Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear sick, but we don't care about that, do we?]

9V-SIA: Korean cars don't only get more attractive as the years go by, but they improve consistently in terms of quality, reliability and technical specification. If you look at where Korean cars stood 25 years ago and where they are now, the leap forward made (compared to the time that has gone by) is simply huge. They still have that soft and smooth ride feeling of course, but that too can change pretty sooner than we may think...

9V-SIA and phaleesy: Reliability is something relevant. However, I also used to say that German cars are reliable. Over the years I have come to believe this may not necessarily be the case. Let me explain why. In Greece we use the same word, reliability, for the German cars. But German cars are more famous for their robustness and for their solid feeling, for their good and durable construction, and much less for their 'reliability'.

If you want a car that WILL run even if you are so careless and forget to change the oil at the prescribed regular intervals, buy a Toyota. These cars just don't get affected by things like that, they run and run and run without 'complaining'. Same (or almost) applies for the Hondas, Mitsubishi's, Subarus, etc. Another thing is quality control. With the Japs you're almost sure that what you're getting has been checked and WILL run as expected (again unlucky cases happen but as they say it's the exception that confirms the rule...)

Try all the above with an Audi A4 or with a Mercedes C or E class. Reliability? Quality control? Well, hmmm... I have a friend, he went and bought an A4 Cabrio... Poor fellow. The whole thing started to fall apart two weeks after he brought the car home from the dealer, brand new. One problem after the other. Mercedes? Same here, many owners unhappy, many problems, damages that shouldn't be happening when you pay premium money for a premium quality vehicle.

But... (yes, but, but, but) - Step into a German car. Make yourself comfortable in the seat. Smell the leather in the cabin. Now close the door. Listen to the sound the closing of the door makes! Get the feel of the robustness of the car. Try doing the same in a Japanese car. Feels 'cheaper', kind of 'fake', you know the (almost) same door is there, the structure is there but you don't FEEL it reassuring you. This is the difference. Go out there and touch, drive, feel a Mercedes from the '60s or '70s. There is no comparison. Modern cars, all modern cars, are light years ahead of those cars in terms of crash test safety, of course. But does anyone have a doubt that the engine of any Merc can do easily more than a million miles over the years? (i.e. become LPP ) Yes, a Subaru may be able to do that as well, but try that with a Renault!

So difference is that the Merc may break down perhaps more often than the other cars, but it's quality of construction, robustness and durability through the years is hard to beat. And this is the reason why you pay a high price when you buy a Merc or BM (At least the big models, cause if we start talking about the 1, A and B classes things may be slightly different).

ADAC in Germany releases a list with the most reliable cars every year. These guys naturally have stats from the number of cars they are called to pull over every year. I recently heard (and I say this w/o having done any web search now) that top of the list is ...Porsche [well, you wouldn't believe that, would you?], then Jap cars (that was expected).

Of course talking about Porsche we come to talk about high performance cars. And guess what high performance cars are like: 'high maintenance' girls - gorgeous to 'drive', but expensive to 'maintain'. True indeed.

[The term 'high maintenance girls' was first mentioned to me by a British expat I met once last year in the ICN OZ J lounge, as we were taking SQ609 to SIN. You know, we started talking about our great and not-so-boring 'expat' lives, I started saying the usuals about South Korea (that I am sure you really don't want to hear again) and then he started talking about his gf (a Singaporean) and about Singaporean girls in general (and yes, he used the aforementioned term for them all, which I found a rather generalized judgment and possibly inappropriate). Anyway, in some Asian countries girls are quite materialistic, this is true, but are they not so in European countries or in the U.S.? And what about us? We're sometimes even worse! (men, I mean)]

Anyway, I keep digressing, but you know me now, when I start to talk stories I find it hard to stop.