air bag rear ? – up to u … thnk carefully .. if you practice defensive driving .. will accident occurs… ? accident occurs when you fail to observe your surrounding

intermittent wiper ? – wah lau small matter go shop and do lahhh
deadening ? – wah ..this also must teach ? go do sound profing lahh

We are actually buying the engine … the extra item we pay is the necessity ..
no offence guys .. engine is made in japan … that is the most imortant part.

when i buy car this 6 factors is my determination
parts
maintainence
reliability
comfort range
FC
market value – sellable

I think the price for J spac is resionable bacause with RM70K you can own a VVTi engine, Honda City with Vtec already cost around RM89K. People can not buy Toyota, can chooise Myvi or Viva from Perodua with DVVT engine from Daihatsu, a company owned by Toyota.

Not only that the Toyota service centre is also very friendly when you take your car to service. If you have Toyota car, then u will know how is the service in Service Centre and the difference between VVTi and Campro is !!!

Being a manual transmission lover this is good news. But after reading the comments on this post, I have different view. Frankly speaking I dint know much about UMW n stuff untill I read about here.

Haha, on a side note, hope Honda follow suit and provide a manual transmission City. There are still manual lovers out here! XD

even the Koreans started earlier than P1, except that their earlier models were not exported to other countries.
Korean cars are still not defect free, i have officemates, neighbours and friends with Korean cars and MPVs – still there are nagging problems. To compound the matter, the spare parts are expensive and sometimes not easy to get. But they are getting better, so is P1.
I have been to Korea many times and the newer models there are almost, if not on par with the Japanese. But somehow the models that reached our shores are old models and very much de-spec, similar to the Toyota Vios in question.

Yes, I understand your point about Japs starting earlier. Unfortunately your point on that will be blow to bits if we just simply look at the koreans who also started from Zero and now, is inching their way to being the top few. They solved the problem with QC and what not and are providing cars that rivals many. So what are your thoughts on the Korean and your argument?

Owning a Conti car is very much a symbol of status in M’sia. However, there are ppl who rather drive Jap than Conti because of Jap’s reliability. Ideal situation is a mixture of both Conti and Jap for the different occassion. Want to drive Conti car? Get 2nd hand la…so say cannot afford? Cannot afford maintainance more like it.

The oldest Proton cars is ‘only’ 22 years old whereas Datsuns/Nissan were around since the early 60’s,(my father bought a Bluebird in ‘64 or ‘65), Toyota came in just a bit later, Honda in the eraly 70s with the tiny Honda Life. Obviously they are perceived to last longer, because parts are easily available and can be shared within the Japanese makes. However in the earlier models, the body parts rusted badly and most don’t survive after 30 years, with a few exceptions, of course.
In about 10 years time we will know if Proton cars can match this or even break the Japanese car longevity record.

It is also true, as a few others have pointed out, that during the “M & M” era, Proton cars were of poor quality. Half cooked cars we put into production to meet ‘agendas’, i was told. However the newer Proton batch under Syed Zainal seems to be improving in quality. This is not surprising since he was with Perodua before and was a ‘Car Man’ not a politican. Time will tell if the previous owners who got burned with the Waja and the Gen 2 will came back to the showrooms and buy another Proton.

For those with the extra cash, they will go for the “T” or “H” logo. Yet there are others who says that the Japanese car buyers are actually ‘wannabes’ who yearn for Continental cars which they cannot afford – yet!

Yeah, I agreed that Maheleel’s period there is a lot of problem and Proton under the current Management does inspire much more confidence than the Mahaleel period. I am also attracted by the latest offering such as Persona, Saga and Savvy.

However, the argument against buying a Proton is that the brand loyalty has been abused and neglected for so long that you hear ppl say that won’t go near it no matter what, even if they have to pay the premium.

On the other hand, since the 80s, the jap brands have made a name for themselves already. As one of the commenter said, “father ask son to buy” and the rest as they say is history.

PS: I am not totally a Jap supporter, but I love a healthy argument.

Whether it’s overpriced or not, generally, people buy a Toyota because of it’s proven reliability and it’s brand. So UMWT pricing strategy to me is spot on. UMWT is looking for potential buyers who don’t mind parting their hard earned money for a reliable brand.

To some of you RM70K seems a lot for a bare bones Vios, but to those who really has the means to buy it, it is a bargain.

“T” badges for sale…..RM15 each. Large ones is RM20. Mari-mari!!!

hehehehe

People will buy a T because it is safe. In terms of practicality, maybe fuel efficiency (i said maybe coz nobody drives that way), reliability. But its boring. So yes, it appeals to likewise people. Who can blame them? But they pay in terms of capital outlay for this ‘comfort zone’. They then say its value for money. But you still always pay above average price. You can sell it back at higher price too. But you started off with a higher price anyway.

But if you buy a cheaper car, there is value in it too. You may be paying less interest. You know what you are getting is not a T. Your expectation is less. You are not too worried of a squeak in the panels. You’d be worried if the squeak came from a T wouldn’t you?

Value is where you see it. People buy a cheap car because that’s what they can afford. Because they have other priorities. Be it more money for food or other investment that will give them more returns than just emotional comfort.

I’d always buy a manual coz for me its fun to drive the twisty bits and taking comfort that I can do engine braking, power out of a curve, top the hill first and a more efficient racing line thru the corners. Coz if I want comfort, I’d stay home.

toyota are still up there when compared to a proton in terms of quality of course, but they did have over 70 years headstart over proton.

its true, though, when proton started with their own cars, waja, gen2..etc. the quality was horrible. But if you look at the scenario, there are actually 2 periods of “modern protons”. firstly, T.Mahaleel era, secondly, i believe the current proton management are a lot more serious about quality. the current cars although not perfect, are waaaay better than cars of that era. it should only get better from here and not worse, or else proton should just give up now.

the brand power. My brother says Toyota is good, so i buy. My father, friend, some stranger on the road also say toyota is good, so i buy.

we never stop and think whether is it really that value for money? or good as many people say it is? most of us anyway.

resale value is perceived by market, if most people here supports toyota, naturally it would be higher, but if things change, see if toyotas can still fetch the price they have now in the 2nd hand market.

better buy would be Honda City or Latio.

Ha, I admitted the one about the Saga thing in my previous post, but 20 yrs ago Saga has Jap parts in it. Proton saga only got worst when Malaysia started nosing around and manufacturing parts locally. Need I say more if we just look at the latest re-incarnation? Poor QC generally applies to “modern” protons

I wasn’t comparing European marques as that is a totally different thing and a separate topic altogether (which i reserve my comments on it). On the other hand, there are also well maintained Protons that can last long, but GENERALLY, Toyotas last longer……which is why some ppl consider buying them, or Jap marques as well.

I am still waiting for a car maker that provides options for what you want in a car (like in US). Its your choice whether you want a “kosong” car or filled with all available technology (GPS, xenon etc). Yes, I know about the maker’s econs of scale but I am looking at the consumer point of view. Its for the car maker to rough it out and gives us the best, don’t you guys agree?