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Posted by TheFonz - - 0 comments

I'm a strong believer that Malaysia is not as cheap as what you always here on the news.Yes its true that we have like the cheapest nasi lemak on earth, but that is just nasi lemak. We don't eat or need nasi lemak everyday. Take car for example, almost a necessity for all Malaysian these days.Is it affordable enough? One good example, mini cooper, let see how do we define as cheap

This is a brand new mini cooper 09 in the US, going for 17,741 USD. If you convert, let say worse case scenario 1 USD = RM 3.8, this brand new car will be RM 67,415. This price is almost equivalent to Peugeout 206, Vios J Spec and maybe some Kia models over here. Kesimpulannye, Malaysian drive a Vios lowest spec and American is driving a 09 mini cooper for the same amount of money.


Compare to this brand new mini cooper 08 selling in Malaysia with a price tag of RM 195,290. This is equally to 51,000 USD. Do you know with that much of money, what car you'll be driving in US?We are talking 2010 Ford Mustang highest spec, Chevy Camaro, VW Tiguan. All those falls below 51K USD to be exact.Kesimpulannye, Malaysian drive a brand new mini but the American roars the street of NY with Mustang with the same amount of money.

Thats is brand new, now lets talk about 2nd hand cars. Continental cars in Malaysia is overprice especially when it comes to brand new.Due to this, the cheaper version which of cos the 2nd hand market aka recon cars has become very popular, that's how NAZA became so popular and rich. The estimate depreciation rate varies between 20-30% right after you drive out of the show room, then another 10% per year .


This is a 04 mini cooper selling for 129K, estimate about 34K in USD. With 34K, you might wanna consider a Mercedes C200, BMW 3 Series, Volvo S60, VW Eos or Hummer H3 as your car in US. Im talking about brand new here ok, not second hand. In summary, we drive a 2nd hand coop, the American is driving a Hummer with the same amount of money.

Second hand mini is basically price around this region, 5-10K USD, which translate around RM 38 K here. With 30K, dont even dream of smelling the interior of mini, Proton Persona pn tak lepas. At the end of the day, you end up driving a kancil (terase aku), your American counterpart is driving a 2nd hand mini. Sgt tak adil kan.

This is one of the example which in my opinion indicates that Malaysia is not cheap at all. For those who can afford, I must say that, if their purchasing power is in US, we'll be seeing lotsa gallardo and bently on the streets of malaysia.

P/s: Need a pay raise..