Carhunting We Will Go

Apparently my mom thinks i need a new car. The 15 year old Wira I have is starting to have Alzheimer’s, so its probably a good idea. She wants me to get a 7 seater, so that when she comes visit me, she and my sister can fit into the car with my family comfortably instead of squeezing everyone into a sedan car. Well, if you know about the cars available in the market, you’d know that 7-seaters are either MPVs and SUVs, and MPVs are either compact or big ones. There are a couple of criteria, we have a budget limit of less than RM100k, which seriously limits the choices we have, but that didn’t stop us from test driving every model in the market, just to see what’s on offer.

The other thing was that my wife and mother were not a fan of local or Korean cars, speaking from experience. So no Alza, no Exora, no Sportage. And since my wife will be the one driving it all the time, she didn’t want a bulky car. So off goes the list car like Nissan Serena, Toyota Alphard and Estima, etc.

Anyways, over a few weekends and the Hari Raya break, we went carhunting.

Chrevrolet Captiva (from RM144,888)

OMG THIS IS MY DREAM CAR! Y U NO CHEAPER?!!!

Very impressed with this car and all the modern gadgets. Spacious interior, can seat 7 adults comfortably. Everything feels luxurious, from the console right to leather seats. Didn’t test drive it. No point if i can’t afford it right? The new diesel 2.0 model was just launched a few days before when i viewed this model, can u believe its more expensive than the petrol 2.4 version (RM156k vs. RM145k)?

Mazda 5 (RM153,400)

If the Captiva was my wow-car, then this one was my wife’s. We weren’t for a huge MPV like this, but the features really made the best impression on my wife. They have DVD player, automatic sliding door, sunroof, and the two back rows were spacious. But the one thing that set this car from the others that it felt sold and luxurious, unlike many other models that we tried that looked and felt cheap, especially the interiors.

But anyways, so far both Captiva and Mazda 5 were impossible for us to afford, but no harm in test driving them right?

Hyundai Santa Fe (from abt RM150k)

Mitsubishi Grandis (RM164,980.00)

Peugeot 5008 (RM159,888)

We also did the rounds on all the other models. They were all fantastic, good to drive, spacious and luxurious. Unfortunately they were all also beyond our budget. Among the three both the Peugeot and Grandis looked good, with the latter pricier. But Peugeot appealed to me more. The Santa Fe was the cheapest of the 3, but it didn’t impress us. Besides, my wife didn’t want a Korean car.

Chery Eastar (from RM82,888 to RM84,888)

You know the adage, you get what you pay for? Well, this is the cheapest car we viewed, so… Why would anyone seriously consider this car? The seat covers reminded me of my ’97 Iswara and the colour combination interior is so unappealing. Plus the if you look closely to their metallic paint, you can see its really dull, even compared to local cars.

Grand Livina (RM88,600 to RM97,300)

Now finally a car can seriously consider, with the price within our affordability. My wife had this car in mind to buy, until i test drove it. It felt underpowered carry 5 ppl going up the Puchong hill, plus i wasn’t impressed with the interiors.

Toyota Rush (RM85,888 to RM94,888)

I seriously can’t remember why we walked into the Toyota showroom, probably to see the Innova or the Avanza. We already knew we didn’t both these two models (Innova is too bulky, Avanza is too small) but we went anyway. Then we saw the Rush. Fit our requirements. A bit overpriced, though.

So that’s all the models we looked and test drove. We dropped by Suzuki and Ford too, but they didn’t have the range we wanted. I couldn’t find the BMW in Puchong, and let’s just forget about Mercedes. I also went to Honda, but they didn’t even have a showroom unit of the Stream to view. So which car did we finally decide on? Well, those who see me regularly will know in a month’s time…