Car Car Car car car car

The first car I drove was a family car. It was a 1.3cc Honda Civic, drove by my elder sisters and passed down to me ….. I started driving when I was 17 years old. The first car belong to me was/is this sweety Proton Wira 1.3 manual, bought in 1996. Back then, I was still studying in USA, and my sister placed 1 year booking for this sweety. I suffered 6 months taking buses to work. Woke up super early, took multiple buses to office or customer sites, reached office with dirty face, then had to leave early to catch the last bus out of customer sites. Reached home very late, TIRED. It was so HORRIBLE without a car. My life would be miserable without a car, as I said before , it is my leg - my independence ! All this while, I’m not crazy or fancy to drive nice or luxury car. I learnt that people scratch my car, there are lots of idiots or inconsiderate folks around town, they could simply open the car door, bang into others, or do lousy parking and bang others ….I’d be very sakit hati driving a nice car and kena scratch. Plus I’m enjoying the freedom of not paying car installments – hey, it’s been 6 years free of car installment ….I’ve got 6 yrs of peace mind on this car thingy ….

CNY is around the corner, car dealers have all sorts of attractive promotions to promote last year’s cars, good trade in. This morning, while driving to work, realized my car is eating up higher maintenance costs, especially the petrol consumption has been increased drastically, aiii

Then lunch, this colleague who seldom join me for lunch, suddenly appeared and offered his service. So he chauffeured us. He just bought a new Honda City … wow ! envy …there goes the lunch topic ..CAR. Gosh, his 1.5 auto City only consume 0.09 cent of petrol per kilometer…another colleague upgraded to Nissan Sentra, his 1.6 auto consume 010 cent/km … when I heard this, my mind thinking hard, my heart pumping hard …… back in 1996 , the measurement I took on my sweety was 0.10 / km ….now in 2005, my car consumption definitely higher ( btw, I cannot measure, as the meters are out , not functioning ) – costly to change the whole dashboard ……I surfed car dealer sites now …

Here are the estimate for 5 % interest rate for 5 years trade in my sweety :-
Camry 2.0 - RM 150 K, mthly installment $2400
Altis 1.6 - RM 107 K, mthly $1700
Vios 1.5 - RM 77 K , mthly $1200

Is it time to retire my sweety ? I promised myself that my next car must be non-proton, otherwise, status quo. I prefer Toyota car, but but but , you know what , I cannot afford ( not even my dream car yet )…..gosh, this is so sad :( . I was indeed lucky to drive Camry, Nissan Ultima in California during my business trips…that’s where I actually felt the huge difference of driving low end car vs higher end ….Quality vs Price --> comfort and safety. Camry in US costs USD23k, if I were working in US, I definitely can afford a Camry ..... :( , then what is the point of thinking along this way, reality is I'm living in Malaysia, and sucks, car price is super crazy high here ..... accept and work around lah ! Still I feel like nagging sikit here ....If I bought Camry, I'd be driving a house running around the town. Car car car ....this is one item which goes 1 direction - depreciate only....yet to a certain extend, it is an important vehicle or it plays an important role in my life, no doubt, it is just a vehicle to bring me from one point to another point only....but but besides sleeps, office hours, staying home, I do spend a lot of time in 'car'...it is in this 'car' that I get to connect closer with family, friends or colleagues, listen to songs, also, when I'm really really down, it is this 'car' which accompany me for a ride to nowhere ... so how ???

My feeling now is kinda sad actually, I can’t afford Camry or Altis , to spend $1200 for a small compact Vios – lacking appetite. Oh, another fact ….. part of my dream car is actually embedded here, between the walls and the tiles of my house …….

my 'new car' embedded inside here :(


Aiii, guess I need to ponder on this item ...Jan 14, 2005 - I declare I cannot afford a Toyota car …. going to cave and cry soon…..

Seriously, I think I need to start prepare for car upgrade project.... what are my choices now ?
a) seek permission to work from home more often - save my petrol and toll costs
b) reduce mthly expenses !!! AM I SURE I LIKE THIS ???
c) start more savings, prepare for car downpayment next year
d) DREAM of getting an assignment to US, then can earn USD - solve my $$$ then
e) Hop to another higher pay job - anyone wants to hire me ?
f) Flirt and hook up with a Toyota car salesman / manager / staff ( heard they have attractive employee staff price )
g) Smarter choice - be Toyota employee - let me call Mr. Teluk Intan and connect me to the IT folks