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Oriental and Continental: Malaysian View


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#1
wmsoo

Posted 15 November 2004 - 11:09 PM

wmsoo

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l, as a continental car fan always come across negative or let say
unsupportive remarks from people around me of my car preferences.

What amazes me is this remarks mostly came from guys who didnot drives
any Conti car. And this make make me wonder what is /are the biggest let
off factor of Conti cars in Malaysia to deserve such a low remark.

Obviously any car have its own high and low points. My favor of Conti car
can be put down to 3:
a. Its road handling that l like the most eg Citroen ZX and Peugeot 306
b. Cheap to buy as my Conti cars are all second hand ie 1997 Peugeot 306
brand new was at +-RM90k now flooded the Star Classifieds at +-RM30k
c. The comradeship among the owners are beyond words with car clubs like
Alfa Romeo AROC,Peugeot MyPeugeot.net.or Volvo's VOCM.

l found it is extremely difficult for people who favor Oriental cars to
switch camp but once they crossed the fence, they become "born again"
fanatics and forget their, say, Nissan Sentra and now swearing by Peugeot
307. And l also found, no matter low remarks that the Contis score, there
are people who keep on changing Alfas after Alfas, Citroen after Citroen,
Fiat after Fiat, Peugeot after Peugeot or Volvo after Volvo. For example,
one pensioner that l know very well owns 4 Saabs 900s, a fact that l
myself cannot digest!

Lets get the discussion going, you nice people out there!



#2
TsLeng

Posted 16 November 2004 - 11:28 AM

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Same as those people buying Proton after proton, toyotas after yoyotas......


I don't mind being able to buy ferraris after ferraris.Clown

#3
yapvc

Posted 16 November 2004 - 02:25 PM

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a. Its road handling that l like the most eg Citroen ZX and Peugeot 306
this i agree with u. nothing come close to handling when one consider
conti cars.
b. Cheap to buy as my Conti cars are all second hand ie 1997 Peugeot 306
brand new was at +-RM90k now flooded the Star Classifieds at +-RM30k
if conti cars are good, why do we still see many owners sell off their
cars ? more and more amoh start switching to jap cars due to basic reasons;
affordibility, reliability, low cost of ownership and practicality....


SmileWinkBig Smile

#4
lesliecjt

Posted 16 November 2004 - 02:31 PM

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As for me it is pretty and straight forward affair.I follow the
Americans.If those Americans said Lexus,Toyota Camry and Honda Accord is
good,then I'll choose among these brands.If the Americans say you are
product is good then safe to say it is good or else be prepared to be
sued.

As for my preference for conti cars,it has to be a German minus Opel
(wholly owned by GM).The rest like Mercedes Benz and Beemer ok no
problem.Who said Malaysian don't like Conti,look at the number of Benzs
and Beemer on Malaysian soil.

#5
Cire

Posted 16 November 2004 - 02:46 PM

Cire

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The perception that conti cars are expensive to maintain, no spare parts,
no ppl to service the car, "cool dish" car...all got to do with the
earlier failures of the so call continental cars importers in the 70s/80s.
I remembered the time when Alfa Romeos was used as a police patrol cars.
It was a sight to behold as the Gulias and Romeos purred-by ever so grand
and powerful. Then, slowly and steadily, the cars are being moth-balled
at some parking yards due to no spare parts and unrepairable due to lack
of trained mechanics or workshops.
The importer then failed to get the parts in due to high cost and low
volume..then comes other brands like Fiat, Peugoet, Volvo, etc etc that
slowly and steadily disappearing too....again due to low spare parts for
replacements and lack of ppl expertise..
The cars brought in were not acclimatised to our hot and humid weather.
Soon, we see cars overheating, frequent break-downs, some on fire
(fiats), smoky Saabs (2T engine), etc.
As a way to get rid of the cars, the owners disposed off cheaply such
cars to settle for a Corolla or a Datsun, which is cheap, full of spare
parts, and low maintainence.
Importer abandoning the brands too did not help in promoting the contis.
Ask any ordinary motorist abt contis, they will say one thing, low resale
value, no spare parts, not many ppl know how to repair / service, and
last but not least is that the cars are very fuel consuming..

But, I think due to the growing trend of awareness amongst younger
generations of Msians towards conti cars, the demand have slowly risen.
The appreciation of good conti built cars have given a new list of life
for just abt any contis on the Msian soil.
I own an Audi A4, and is the Sec.for Kelab Audi Malaysia. And I can tell
you that our membership database is growing by the days.

With many conti cars club being set up, owners and would be owners of
such cars can always check out the pros and cons of owing the cars, and
they could get first hand information from owners abt the particular car
makes etc.
No more are these ppl going to old timers who 9/10 would say any conti
cars is a cool dish car...no value, nobody wants car...
That may "rob" you the sheer enjoyment of owning and driving a conti car.
I advise those that have not driven one before, test drive one before you
comment and make a conclusion.
You will never know what you have missed out in your driving pleasure..

Audi...never follows..



#6
ket

Posted 16 November 2004 - 05:11 PM

ket

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Actually the term "continental" is leftover from british colonial days,
British do not considers themselves continental europeans, in those days
british cars dominated the markets here (Japanese cars presence were
insignificant then), French, Germans and Italians are
called "continentals", but over time " the term "continental" comes to
refers to all the european cars (Jags and Rovers included). PDRM used to
used Alfas and Volvoes, the pratice ended not because the Alfas were
unreliable or hard to maintain, it ended because Dr M adopted a "look east
(Japan)" policy. It not only affected the police but the army as well,
there was a time when the army stopped buying LandRovers and turned to
Pajeros instead, but the Pajeros just didn't measure up to military use,
so in the end the army still go back to the Landys. For the police, the
Alfas were ditched infavour of Daihatsu Charmants! Can you imagine how
pissed off the police patrol drivers must have felt, changing from
exciting Alfas to bloody Daihatsu. Alfas serves in the police from Gulias
to Alfettas, spanning two model generations, with that kind of long
association it is inconceivable that the police mechanics were unable to
maintain the Alfas properly.




#7
wmsoo

Posted 16 November 2004 - 07:10 PM

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Thanks guys for the good discussion.

#8
ZZRPilot

Posted 17 November 2004 - 02:04 AM

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>But, I think due to the growing trend of awareness amongst younger
>generations of Msians towards conti cars, the demand have slowly risen.


###### laa... after this no more cheap second hand contis...

I like things the way they are right now - rich folks fork out big bucks
for the newest contis (luxury marques not included) whose market value
starts to plummet the minute they`re driven out of the showroom, then
barely 4 years later us poor saps get to buy them second hand for half
the price. That`s what I call `rich helping the poor`!

Jap cars? Rich buggers buy them, then whack cut-throat second hand value
to the poor saps waiting in line.. haha...

Anyway... personally, I simply refuse to fork out the bullsh!t amount
people are asking for new cars and second hand Jap cars nowadays. So I
turned to conti cars lah...

#9
AE101rulez

Posted 17 November 2004 - 08:14 PM

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but to tell you the truth conti cars deappreciate more faster than a
japanese car. Somore some conti cars spare parts price can kill you. If
you buy a second hand conti car, surely you will rugi more when u sell it
in a few years time but what the heck, nobody untung when selling or
buying carsSmile

#10
cpyew

Posted 17 November 2004 - 09:39 PM

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Let's put this way, the satisfaction of driving a well look after conti car after 10 years
is still there. It's still stable, firm and safe due to the chasiss and suspension
technology. No matter the depreciation, maintenance costs, the drive comfort is still
there on long drives, it any time beats the japs.

Can't really say much about oriental cars after 3 years. Have had mazda, nissans,
toyota, their stability, body roll come loose after 3 years. Just my personal opin.

cpyew