POINTS TO PONDER: What's after WYY?

As per title, what comes after WYY since now already "WSS"? Anyone know?

Could It ended up like Sabah "WAA1234A", with the last digit move 1st until "WAA9999Y" then "WAB1234A".

OR Could it ended up like most of us predicted "WAAA1234"? Ladies and gentlemen, What's your opinion?

Please run-in your new car before speeding dragging... Or else..

TO all new car owners, please ensure your car's run-in before attempting the TOP SPEED... When I took delivery of my Honda Civic FD2, the salesman said "Run-in" for the 1st 2000km. MAKE SURE RPM below 3500rpm. Reason? All I know is "Fuel consumption, lower in the long run" AND engine not strained.

Else, I'll post your car no. plate here... To get the ball rolling, here's the 1st one:

Make/model.....No.plate.....Colour.....Date/time/location
1) Toyota Vios J: WSG 3756, Black, 24 March 2009, 4.20 to 4.45pm.
- KLIA all the way to NKVE Damansara toll.

The owner's insane, tailgating my Telstar @ 160km/h. Guess what? The car's barely "3 WEEKS OLD". Ie. Not running in... Interesting note, 3 WEEKS OLD Vios J 1.5 manual vs 10 YEARS OLD Telstar 2.0i Auto. I "WON" the "FRIENDLY RACE". Both at toll booth (KLIA and Damansara), Managed to keep a distance 3/4 of the journey from KLIA to Damansara Toll. Telstar's acceleration and high end speed prevails though on paper very close in acceleration. 0-100km/h 10.8secs (Vios manual) vs 11.2 secs (Telstar).

Topspeed (claimed) 185km/h vs 200km/h. Though, fastest I've driven that day's 177km/h. At that speed, 3rd gear => 5300rpm (roaring), while 4th gear @ a relaxing 4200rpm. That's why the Vios J can keep up with me.

Note that, I always ended up the loser, never won "race" before since 2002 It's because, my "opponent" ended up overtook from the left, ZIG-ZAGGING (eg. from RIGHTMOST lane to LEFT junction), often right before the Divider AND finally, from the emergency lane. until today, THIS CAR... SORRY, got carried away...

2)...

And the lists will go on and on...

Re. RM5000 "discount" for >10 yrs car in exchange of NEW National Car

Friend's opinion: The announcement to scrap 15 years old car and get a rebate of 5K to buy a new NATIONAL car. But why new "NATIONAL" cars only. This seems like unfair to NEW Non-National car makers. What about used car dealer that sell 10 years old cars, who is going to buy it assuming the life line remain to 5 years (15 years) while the price stated by used cars dealers are base on market value.

Another problem will be the car price, our cars selling price are one of the most expensive through out the world due to high tax rate. Many people are unable to pay for the car installments despite having all kinds of downpayment discount and car loan offer.

Base on the report, there are about 1 million cars that were more than 15 years old on the road, why is this group of car owner not wanting to change new cars. There should be a study on this as well but I believe the reasons behind no doubt will include some of the above.

SECOND OPINION (Jeff's):

Cars that are 15 or more years old can still good and useful. My friend's car a 1979 Datsun 120Y is 30 years old (same age as me) this year and gives no problems at all. There are absolutely no reasons at all to scrap these old cars.

Unlike Singapore, the public transport in Malaysia is terrible. Without a car, no matter how old, it is very inconvenient to travel around. With good public transport, there is less need to own cars. As their old cars are scrapped, the owners can use and depend on public transport.

Typically, These old cars are fully paid and car owners are no longer burdened with payment installments.

Many of the owners of old cars are pensioners and retirees who can't afford to pay a few hundred Ringgit monthly installments. Even if they wanted to, no bank would lend them the money to buy a new car.

Some are people who just don't want to pay installments month after month. There are people like my friend (1979 Datsun 120Y owner) who don't see any value in a new car, other than to show off. An old car is perfectly fine to travel around.

A car/s is not an asset but the fastest depreciation liability. What else could lose 10% to 15% of its value after the 1st year? For a relatively cheap car of RM60K, this means a loss of RM6K - RM9K for the year or RM500 - RM750 per month.
How can a car ever be called an asset when there is absolutely no way for it to gain value but only to lose value?

Some old cars have very little residual monetary value left. Many of them are not even worth RM5K. But a RM1000 old car (such as Datsun 120Y) is good enough to travel around town.

BUT WHAT ABOUT GOOD RESALE VALUE CARS? Example "Honda Civic EK 1998". Guess what, this car I mentioned is STILL WORTH RM39,000. Isn't it CRAZY to offer JUST "RM5000 to scrap it? In my opinion, it's NOT JUST CRAZY but INSULTING as well. Another example is "MY CAR" 1999 Ford Telstar Ghia (longtermer in this blog). For your information, my car's STILL WORTH around RM18,000. MY SUGGESTION: Give RM5k for MORE THAN 20 YEARS OLD CAR INSTEAD OF 10 YEARS...

Like my friend, an owner of 1979 Datsun 120Y, Mr.Chieng said: "I'd prefer buying a property for investment over investing on a "New National car" (which this "package" is all about) and ended up paying $$$ INSTALLMENTS".

Fuel price increased TODAY...

Fuel Price increased TODAY by 78cents for Regular Petrol (from RM1.92/L) to RM2.70/L. For V-power, new price => RM3.15/L.

I was considered lucky, filled up my petrol 2 days ago (both cars) 3 June 2008. Hence avoided the crowd. Here's the aftermath as taken today:

Above: V-Power Pump.

Above and below: Super and Diesel.
.

RM.78 per litre for petrol? RM1.00 incrase for Diesel? RM3.15 for V-power? That's a lot... Adding salt to the wound, the Cooking Gas, TNB also raised their prices. For sure "tsunami's coming". No, not the sea tsunami, I'm talking about economic tsunami. As fuel increase, so will Food & Beverage line (Include Restaurants, Hawkers, Hotels), RICE (already), Transportation line (lncluding Airlines (More fuel surcharge!), Public buses, Express buses, TAXIS). Speaking of taxis, the government better increase the taxi fares (if not 1) There'll be a PROTEST by taxi drivers, 2) Overcharging / ripping off customers will be more rampant).


BUT AND A BIG BUT... (A poem)

Our "Gaji" (Salary) is STILL THE SAME.
Our Car prices are still the same*
We still need to pay toll
But we are not on a roll.
Yet we still have to pay more
For the price of our petrol.

* = (man, why don't they consider my proposal,
Remove fuel subsidy AND remove excise duties, import duties
and sales taxes as well?). But if the Government wants to cari makan, just remove the excise duty will do. Please reconsider...


Jefflim "sigh~" out. The End. Thanks for reading this...

PS. Oh! Almost forgotten, there's "ANNUAL Subsidy Rebate" for All Petrol Passanger cars below 2000cc and Diesel SUV Below 2500cc. How much? It's RM625 only.

Does anyone knows how little is it? It's only RM12 per week. Assuming that a person paid RM86 for 45L of Fuel tank before the price hike. He/She will how have to pay RM121.50 after the price hike. Again, if he/she consumed the fuel in 1 week... Enter the "Annual Subsidy": RM12. As a result => 121.50 less 12. Still have to pay RM109.50 theoretically. This is still a FAR CRY of RM86.50 before the hike.

Subsidised diesel to go can, give us better quality diesel 1st.

JEFF Lim's comments: It's disheartening to hear that the Government wanted to remove diesel subsidy. They don't realise that our diesel quality's the "Worst of the Worst" @ EURO 1 where as the World already using EURO 5. You know what, ironically Malaysia produces the BEST DIESEL in the world by the name of "Shell V-Power Diesel" only to be exported. Here's an extract of article 1. I felt very angry upon reading it... WHY we, Malaysia don't get this quality diesel, YET the Government want to remove the diesel subsidy.

"Shell V-Power Diesel is a top performance diesel fuel designed to help modern diesel engines deliver more power, for longer. Already available at about 5,000 service stations across Europe, Shell scientists have used the same fuel technology behind V-Power Diesel to create this special racing fuel for Le Mans."

"This remarkable result was due in part to the inclusion of Shell GTL (Gas to Liquids) Fuel in the race formulation. Shell V-Power Diesel is the first and only premium diesel to use this special synthetic fuel technology which is created from natural gas in Malaysia using a unique Shell synthesis process. Shell GTL Fuel burns more cleanly and efficiently than conventional diesel because of its outstanding purity and cetane quality."

Here's the DISAPPOINTING ARTICLE 2 taken from today's The Star:

Friday April 25, 2008
Subsidy on diesel to go first, says Shahrir
By TEH ENG HOCK

""KUALA LUMPUR: The restructured fuel subsidy scheme will see the removal of subsidy on diesel first.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said diesel would soon be sold at the market rate at the pumps when a mechanism to deliver subsidies directly to those entitled has been decided upon.

“We are looking at diesel first, and how to ensure that subsidised diesel gets to the right groups, especially to the transport sector and (those involved in) certain economic activities which require diesel subsidy so that we can cut out leakages.
“Schoolbuses for example. We have to have a mechanism on how to deliver the diesel (subsidy) to the schoolbus drivers so that the cost of transport will not go up,” he said.

Without the subsidy, diesel will cost more than RM2 a litre. The price of diesel at the pump now is RM1.581 a litre.
Shahrir said the move to restructure the fuel subsidy was necessary to ensure the money was not wasted through various ways such as diesel smuggling.
“We want to look at diesel first, then obviously we will have to look at petrol subsidies,” he said.

Shahrir said crude oil prices were at US$117 (RM372) per barrel, and the Government spent RM33bil on fuel subsidies last year.
He said another RM20bil of subsidy was spent on natural gas to subsidise Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s power generation.
“You are talking about RM53bil. And that does not include the subsidised amount that people pay. Our oil export in 2007 was RM77bil.

“So it is almost one-to-one what we consume and what we export,” he said.
On the Food Security Policy, Shahrir said it had been discussed in Cabinet and the Agriculture Ministry would look into increasing production to counter inflation.
“What we have not resolved is the delivery and distribution to consumers. We need to take into account some things. For instance, I want uniform pricing for foodstuff in Sabah and Sarawak and the Peninsula.”

He added that the inflation of food prices was higher than the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which recorded 2.8% in March.
“We cannot use the CPI as an indication of inflation as it does not reflect the price rise in food. The CPI is a theoretical basket of goods based on the consumption of a theoretical average family.

“In the basket, there’s the food component, transport, clothing and so on. If you take out other components and only focus on the food component, then you will see that the (inflation) rate is higher than the CPI,” he said.""

END OF a STUP1D Article.

BA$TARD Shahrir, as I said in my previous post, just remove the stup1d subsidy (except subsidy card/s for School Buses, Lorries, Fishermen, and those needed) and REMOVE whatever Excise Duties, Sales taxes as well. I'm sure ALL Malaysians will thank you.

Remove fuel subsidy. Yes! But remove duties & taxes 1st...

Firstly, I'd like to mention that the Government cannot afford to subsidise petrol and keep prices artificially low forever.

However, I want to point out that when you talk about the price of petrol, you have to also talk about the price of cars in Malaysia. These two items goes hand in hand.

If one expects we Malaysians to pay the real price of petrol (say, RM3.00 per litre) in the future when the petrol subsidy is zero, then the price of cars must also be real, ie, duty and tax free.

If one expects the people to pay the full, real-world price of petrol – and I must say it is a perfectly reasonable expectation – then we Malaysians expects, also reasonably, to buy cars at real-world prices, without the exorbitant taxes currently imposed.

For example, a Honda Civic at the real price is about RM65,000 (as in Labuan). Instead, it's priced artificially high at RM112,000 in rest of Malaysia.

Now, when the average consumer buys a car, he has already paid (in the form of import duties, excise duties, and sales tax) to the Government, IN ADVANCE, a sum GREATER THAN THE PETROL SUBSIDY he can expect to enjoy over the time he owns the car.

Let me give you a scenario:

If a consumer buys a Honda Civic at RM112,000, the duties and tax he pays, up front, to the Government is more than RM50,000.

Then, he enjoys the fuel subsidy each time he fills up with petrol. To benefit from the RM50,000 that he has paid, in advance, it will take approximately 16 years (assuming he uses 60 litres of petrol a week and the subsidy is RM1 per litre)!
So, it is not fair to say that the subsidy of petrol has to be reduced or removed when the commodity price goes up, without reducing or abolishing the hefty taxes on cars.

You can’t use the “cheapest petrol in South-East Asia” and “price of crude oil has skyrocketed” excuses to justify the reduction in petrol subsidy as long as the ridiculously high tax is imposed on cars.

Any Malaysian won’t buy your story because we know that we, as motorists, have already paid for the petrol “subsidy”. In advance.

My conclusion: BOTH the Fuel subsidy AND "Import Duty, Excise Duty, Sales tax and ALL sort of other Vehicle taxes" MUST GO. As seen in The UK, where the petrol price's sky high BUT the car prices there are one of the cheapest in the world. If UK can, so can Malaysia.

Ironically, the British average monthly income's GBP3,000 but their average 1.6cc mid-size car's only GBP13,000 (Toyota Corolla 1.6) whereas we Malaysians earned an average of RM1,800 (GBP280!) but our Corolla Altis 1.6 were priced at 110,000 (GBP17,000), thanks to the Excise Duties, import duties and sales tax.

Propose: Road tax based on insurance instead of...

I hereby proposed that our roadtax be determined by Insured value (or resale value) instead of Cubic Capacity (CC). Why?

Because it's Unfair for say (Example 1) a 15 years 0ld 3200cc car (1991 Honda Legend) owned by a Pensioner worth RM10,000 but have to fork out RM3,000 road tax PA. The pensioner don't want to sell his car due to sentimental value. It's his LAST COMPANY Car which he bought over when he retire...


Again, it's unfair as (Example 2) A New 350,000 E-class owner only pay RM3xx roadtax PA. Why is it so? Because the car's a 1.8.

Can you sense the irony in this 2 examples?

To ensure fairness, the Government should implement this proposal As soon as possible (ASAP) so that some Rich folks won't get away with the Loophole. It's SHOCKING, a 1796cc Mercedes E200K worth RM350,000 owner only have to pay RM3xx roadtax.