F30 test drive - 328i

[morrogan]

If anyone been to Quill PJ, you will see a customised 328i F30 with white stripes and sports package added. The SA offer me if i like those rims/steerings/kits of this sport package, they can customise for me.. but the price tag is very hefty, its additional RM70k more.

WoW, 70k more..

Anyone went Quill PJ to test drive? i was told only have 328i luxury as test car. Where else can i go to test the 320d and 328i sports together? Ingress? AB?

Wow RM309k+70k = RM379k!!! can get 520d / 523i with extra for upgrading the rim and M-Sport bumper.

 

[ALBundy]

i think the underlying message that's to be shared is - we're not given options to what we would like to purchase, despite the hefty price tag on the cars. Of course corporations exist to make money, but at least give the consumer a choice. I would turn to the grey importers to buy a car because of the options presented, and to be frank, when they start bringing in the F30 335s at a lower price in a year's time, I'm sure you'd see happy faces on every BMW enthusiast who can finally own the N55 with probably a price tag short of RM100K less than how much it's sold by the ADs.

The F30 335i is pretty well specced up, anything that is lacking in your opinion? As for price, dont blame BMW Msia. Blame it on the high import duties and taxes.

A lot of people seemed to think that the authorised dealers are making good money selling BMWs. If that is indeed the case, then no one would be selling off their dealerships. The last couple of years have seen some dealerships being sold, Sapura Auto, Auto Bavaria Segambut, Auto Bavaria Kuantan, Auto Bavaria Kota Kinabalu and so on. It is not such a lucrative business as some of you may think. Till now, I still do not understand why some manufacturers are still keen to invest in Malaysia, other than to maintain a brand presence. First off these official importers/assemblers have to deal the with grey importers that are getting away with so many unfair practises! We dont' often hear authorised dealers getting super rich, but grey importers do! Does that indicate anything? Naza? Mofaz?

Grey importers dont need to spend any money for advertising and brand building, do grey importers have free car launch events for anyone of you? Do they invest big money for a 4S service center? Do they invest in BMW Driver Training school to promote safe driving? They are living off the official dealers and BMW Malaysia. We go for official launches, attend free test drives and makan, then we buy from grey importers! Nothing wrong with that, that's life in Boleh Land. We vote with our pockets, but the least we could do is to understand the "workings" behind the scene, rather than just kutuking them.

Yes grey importers are selling their cars much cheaper, and more often that not their cars are declared as used (even when its actually new by amending the year of manufactured, F10 M5 is available even before BMW Msia launched it, and cheaper by 100K. How is that possible if all taxes and duties are declared as per kastam requirements?!!!) and the value under declared to pay lesser taxes. If the principal and the authorised dealers have their way, or at least can have the same level playing field like these grey importers dont you think they will also sell the cars with a lower price and kill off these importers once and for all?

This is the underlying problems faced by all automotive players in Malaysia. Until the government revamps the NAP, and allows a free and open market I am afraid the situation will not change.

Cheers

 

[dark1234]

Bro , you forget ,
when you buy from official dealer , you complain or write to bmw malaysia, and you actually get feedback and resolutions.

for grey after you buy, warranty goes out of window. small stuff than is bellow < 1k they will do it. if above like electronic malfunction, even defect . you are on your own. i seen and saw too many this kind of case. branding cost money to keep customer happy even more.

its like capax and opex , buy from bmw dealer its capax pay high now, but long run cheap. buy from grey ,pay cheap now but long run expensive.

even recently ,when one e46 user car caught fire in highway make noise like hell to bmw malaysia . because when he tow to bmw workshop they told him his insurance does not acknowledge BMW workshop as official panel . so end up he need to fix his car at ah beng and ah hang workshop which uses recon half cut parts , as usually un happy he vent his anger at BMW malaysia. but the problem is the user not bmw in this case , he has the choice to buy from any party , but end up to save a few cent a smaller insurance company.its the insurance company here that causing the problem.

same goes to repair and stuff, you going to spend a quarter a million on a car, why buy second hand . if you seen top gear where 1 episode they actually do a CSI on the car ( 2nd hand ) it was bad. like nowadays Japan SPEC car , come with radiation or not FOC ?

actually i think this issue on the spec, when SKD version is out it should be better.

The F30 335i is pretty well specced up, anything that is lacking in your opinion? As for price, dont blame BMW Msia. Blame it on the high import duties and taxes.

A lot of people seemed to think that the authorised dealers are making good money selling BMWs. If that is indeed the case, then no one would be selling off their dealerships. The last couple of years have seen some dealerships being sold, Sapura Auto, Auto Bavaria Segambut, Auto Bavaria Kuantan, Auto Bavaria Kota Kinabalu and so on. It is not such as lucrative business as some of you may think. Till now, I still do not understand why some manufacturers are still keen to invest in Malaysia, other than to maintain a brand presence. First off these official importers/assemblers have to deal the with grey importers that are getting away with so many unfair practises! We dont' often hear authorised dealers getting super rich, but grey importers do! Does that indicate anything? Naza? Mofaz?

Grey importers dont need to spend any money for advertising and brand building, do grey importers have free car launch events for anyone of you? Do they invest big money for a 4S service center? Do they invest in BMW Driver Training school to promote safe driving? They are living off the official dealers and BMW Malaysia. We go for official launches, attend free test drives and makan, then we buy from grey importers! Nothing wrong with that, that's life in Boleh Land. We vote with our pockets, but the least we could do is to understand the "workings" behind the scene, rather than just kutuking them.

Yes grey importers are selling their cars much cheaper, and more often that not their cars are declared as used (even when its actually new by amending the year of manufactured) and the value under declared to pay lesser taxes. If the principal and the authorised dealers have their way, or at least can have the same level playing field like these grey importers dont you think they will also sell the cars with a lower price and kill off these importers once and for all?

This is the underlying problems faced by all automotive players in Malaysia. Until the government revamp the NAP, and allows a free and open market I am afraid the situation will not change.

Cheers

 

[muhaiminrahim]

yup, i do agree the SKD version will more competitive:4:

 

[achtung]

The F30 335i is pretty well specced up, anything that is lacking in your opinion? As for price, dont blame BMW Msia. Blame it on the high import duties and taxes.

A lot of people seemed to think that the authorised dealers are making good money selling BMWs. If that is indeed the case, then no one would be selling off their dealerships. The last couple of years have seen some dealerships being sold, Sapura Auto, Auto Bavaria Segambut, Auto Bavaria Kuantan, Auto Bavaria Kota Kinabalu and so on. It is not such a lucrative business as some of you may think. Till now, I still do not understand why some manufacturers are still keen to invest in Malaysia, other than to maintain a brand presence. First off these official importers/assemblers have to deal the with grey importers that are getting away with so many unfair practises! We dont' often hear authorised dealers getting super rich, but grey importers do! Does that indicate anything? Naza? Mofaz?

Grey importers dont need to spend any money for advertising and brand building, do grey importers have free car launch events for anyone of you? Do they invest big money for a 4S service center? Do they invest in BMW Driver Training school to promote safe driving? They are living off the official dealers and BMW Malaysia. We go for official launches, attend free test drives and makan, then we buy from grey importers! Nothing wrong with that, that's life in Boleh Land. We vote with our pockets, but the least we could do is to understand the "workings" behind the scene, rather than just kutuking them.

Yes grey importers are selling their cars much cheaper, and more often that not their cars are declared as used (even when its actually new by amending the year of manufactured, F10 M5 is available even before BMW Msia launched it, and cheaper by 100K. How is that possible if all taxes and duties are declared as per kastam requirements?!!!) and the value under declared to pay lesser taxes. If the principal and the authorised dealers have their way, or at least can have the same level playing field like these grey importers dont you think they will also sell the cars with a lower price and kill off these importers once and for all?

This is the underlying problems faced by all automotive players in Malaysia. Until the government revamps the NAP, and allows a free and open market I am afraid the situation will not change.

Cheers

how do u justify the price diff between a CBU 328 and a 335 in malaysia???? a whopping 180k difference
while the price diff in uk between the 2 is only 5000 pounds... thats about rm 25k.
so u reckon the rest is the taxes??? as far as i know its 300% max
no matter how i calculate the difference it doesn't add up...
would be nice if someone can explain this

 

[ALBundy]

Import duties and tax rates go up in accordance to engine capacity.

That's why cars with high capacity engines are so expensive here, not only BMWs but other premium brands too.

Check with kastam.

 

[supersonic]

Import duties and tax rates go up in accordance to engine capacity.

That's why cars with high capacity engines are so expensive here, not only BMWs but other premium brands too.

Check with kastam.

Pls see this website. Max import duty + excice duty is 105%

http://www.maa.org.my/info_duty.htm

 

[supersonic]

Pls see this website. Max import duty + excice duty is 105%

http://www.maa.org.my/info_duty.htm

Sorry ..should be 135% excl 10% sales tax

 

[achtung]

View attachment 23616

still doesn't figure out ?!?

 

[ALBundy]

There is a 25% excise duty difference a 328 and 335 plus the 335 is almost fully specced with sunroof, variable sport steering, HUD, Harman Kardon stereo. The profit margin of course could be higher in the 335,535.... just like the M cars and all as they don't sell that many compared to the bread and butter models like 320i, 328, 520i and 520d.

As I said earlier and from what I have known, the profit margin is not like what you guys think it is. I would be more excited to be a grey importer that anything else

 

[astroboy]

Also don't forget due to the many tactics used by BMW dealers.. most of us bought our ride at a discount of 5~15% from the price tag depending on the year and mileage of the car.

Something that listed at RM309k would probably change hand at RM280k.. look at the E90 325i now, I was told around RM200k at 0% interest for 1st 5 years of loan tenor.. despite a RM300k price tag.. not to mention the hassle free ownership provided by authorised dealers during the warranty and BSRI period.

Grey importer? You can't even verified the validity of it's custom and duty documents.. I'm staying away man! Dowan to wake up one day and car kena tarik by Kastam..

 

[aoch88]

With regards to the price of the car, it's really our automotive policy that needs a revamp Proton says that they are competitive enough and if that's the case, why not the government reduce the tax rate to be the same as Proton or increase Proton's tax rate to be the same as other imported manufacturers? Unfortunately they can't and I don't think it will ever happen in the near future as well. Hence, we will have to stick with a hefty price tag for the car we love - the BMW.

My 2 cents :smokin:

 

[t2ribena]

in the beginning it was Proton, now its the AP Kings...very little to do with Protons...

nothing to do with tax, the abolishment of the AP system is long overdue...but this system is the lifeline to these AP Kings businesses...

 

[aoch88]

The AP kings wouldn't mind even if the tax rate is reduced. In fact, it is even better if the government reduces the tax rate because then they can sell more. Thousands of BMW grey import cars are being sold yearly even with the current price gap between AP vs AD. If the tax rate is reduced, the gap becomes bigger and it's definitely an advantage to AP holders than the AD's. Most AP holders are not honest in their tax declaration and they end up paying lower taxes while AD's can't do that because they always declare have to declare as brand new cars.

The whole NAP and high tax rate policy is here to ensure Proton survives. Even with such help from the government, Proton is not making good profits and if this NAP is revamped, Proton will go bankrupt very quickly.

Naza Group hoping Gov’t will reduce duties on cars:
http://paultan.org/2011/09/30/naza-group-hoping-govt-will-reduce-duties-on-cars/

 

[fschen]

Went to JB for a meeting today and test drive both 320d and 328i sport. I personally prefer 328i's response. Feel the steering wheel heavy-both model. Due to traffic jam most of the road, i was only able to try their power in short distance. Sport seat doesn't suit me. Find myself difficult to get out of the car- i am small size.

About the Auto Start/Stop function, got shock twice when i let the brake go. Didn't notice the engine was stop. Was thinking of using hand brake but the moment i let the brake go, the engine start and moving forward. Was shock and step the brake hard.

Saw both 3 series- E90 and F30, parking side by side. F30 is slightly bigger and longer. Like the front so much.

SA said 328i sport had fully booked. Left about 10 units of luxury. Need to make up my mind. Whether stick to 320d or change to 328i.

 

[takayoto]

I m still considering whether CKD or 328i

Any idea?

Went to JB for a meeting today and test drive both 320d and 328i sport. I personally prefer 328i's response. Feel the steering wheel heavy-both model. Due to traffic jam most of the road, i was only able to try their power in short distance. Sport seat doesn't suit me. Find myself difficult to get out of the car- i am small size.

About the Auto Start/Stop function, got shock twice when i let the brake go. Didn't notice the engine was stop. Was thinking of using hand brake but the moment i let the brake go, the engine start and moving forward. Was shock and step the brake hard.

Saw both 3 series- E90 and F30, parking side by side. F30 is slightly bigger and longer. Like the front so much.

SA said 328i sport had fully booked. Left about 10 units of luxury. Need to make up my mind. Whether stick to 320d or change to 328i.

 

[astroboy]

F30 vs E90

E34

E39

E60

And of course.. :4:

 

[fschen]

Does 328i come with adaptive light? Couldn't find from the brochure.

I was told there are people shifted their booking to CKD/SKD. If you find the CBU meet your needs. please go for it. Maybe the spec of CKD/SKD will be better.

Saw 1 320d beside showroom and confirmed that i am his "owner". Too bad that his spec pushing me away from him.

 

[andrewlim8]

Does 328i come with adaptive light? Couldn't find from the brochure.

I was told there are people shifted their booking to CKD/SKD. If you find the CBU meet your needs. please go for it. Maybe the spec of CKD/SKD will be better.

Saw 1 320d beside showroom and confirmed that i am his "owner". Too bad that his spec pushing me away from him.

even 528i doesn't come with adaptive headlight, what do u think about 328i ?

 

[andrewlim8]

The AP kings wouldn't mind even if the tax rate is reduced. In fact, it is even better if the government reduces the tax rate because then they can sell more. Thousands of BMW grey import cars are being sold yearly even with the current price gap between AP vs AD. If the tax rate is reduced, the gap becomes bigger and it's definitely an advantage to AP holders than the AD's. Most AP holders are not honest in their tax declaration and they end up paying lower taxes while AD's can't do that because they always declare have to declare as brand new cars.

The whole NAP and high tax rate policy is here to ensure Proton survives. Even with such help from the government, Proton is not making good profits and if this NAP is revamped, Proton will go bankrupt very quickly.

Naza Group hoping Gov’t will reduce duties on cars:
http://paultan.org/2011/09/30/naza-group-hoping-govt-will-reduce-duties-on-cars/

so what to do? we should use our vote wisely in the coming GE !!