[ipso_facto]

Originally Posted by reallyreallyslow

You will not believe how much it cost here in Singapore. The 550i is like 300k nett after the 15-20k discount!

On top of that, the road tax is a staggering 3.5k per annum. Worst of all, the car can only be owned for 10 years, after which another lump sum fee has to be paid to keep the car for another 10 years, with 50% increase in road tax.

List price of the most basic 520i is almost 200k usd. Yup, no typo, 520i.

Ludicrously expensive. I have two observations on this though ; (i) Your government builds superb transport systems and pedestrian facilities, so they are putting those taxes to good use and (ii) I have seen an inordinate number of Ferrari, Lamborghini and S Class when I was there last year.

[reallyreallyslow]

Originally Posted by ipso_facto

Ludicrously expensive. I have two observations on this though ; (i) Your government builds superb transport systems and pedestrian facilities, so they are putting those taxes to good use and (ii) I have seen an inordinate number of Ferrari, Lamborghini and S Class when I was there last year.

Good pedestrian facilities because we can be fined for jaywalking.

Public transport system was good until a few years back. Nowadays the public transport is the biggest issue our dear transport minister has. It got so bad that the CEO of the train operator had to step down. Of course, it was expected when the whole can of worm, from operating the public transport by listed companies in near monopoly environment, was popped open.

Yup, due to the COE level, more luxury cars are registered. BMW and Merc are top sellers here. This is a place where even highly educated middle class is struggling to make a living because of poor governance. On paper, the country looks like it is flourishing and booming. In reality, our wages are depressed and inflation is crazy. Inflation was over 5% last month. The above is coming from someone who just bought a car at 200k usd two months ago. So it is really not only the poors that are badly affected by poor governance here.

[loraineB]

Thanks for the post. I got a BMW in Houston recently, and it was the best experience in my life. I found the car dealership through a great car site. The website also helped me narrow down my choices in cars that had all-wheel drive and could work in all seasons. From Momentum BMW you'll receive the most beneficial car buying experience achievable. The quality of these cars is so high that BMW has been on the Car and Driver's 10Best list over 20 times. Whether you are looking to purchase are new or used BMW, you're sure to get a vehicle of great value.

[bmwombat]

This probably won't help much as I just bought my new 535d MSport (with heaps of options) in Australia & Ozzie prices are way, way, way above what the same car goes for in the U.S. My heavily optioned 535d MSport had a list price of around AUD184K on the road but I bargained it down to AUD140K on the road & I know that there wasn't any special BMW price support in the car. So i'd say there's a fair bit of margin in the Ozzie BMW prices. Also the car is factory-ordered so there's no extra incentive for the dealer to move a car off his showroom floor.

[lmaleke]

another observation coming from me, in Singapore (or in Hongkong) you might as well go all the way to purchase a nice car (given you can afford to shell out the money) and by only then the COE will become just another piece of paper...

Originally Posted by reallyreallyslow

Good pedestrian facilities because we can be fined for jaywalking.

Public transport system was good until a few years back. Nowadays the public transport is the biggest issue our dear transport minister has. It got so bad that the CEO of the train operator had to step down. Of course, it was expected when the whole can of worm, from operating the public transport by listed companies in near monopoly environment, was popped open.

Yup, due to the COE level, more luxury cars are registered. BMW and Merc are top sellers here. This is a place where even highly educated middle class is struggling to make a living because of poor governance. On paper, the country looks like it is flourishing and booming. In reality, our wages are depressed and inflation is crazy. Inflation was over 5% last month. The above is coming from someone who just bought a car at 200k usd two months ago. So it is really not only the poors that are badly affected by poor governance here.