Right now in the market for a new car. I’m going to be doing some highway driving as I live in the South but have a lot of reason to travel North. Right now, I’ve got the choice down to;
Nissan Teana
Toyota Camry
Mazda6
I’m also wrestling with the size of engine to be buying. In North America all these cars come with a base 2.4 engine, but here that’s an extra load of cash. I wonder, however, about hte long-term viability of having a 2.0 in a larger size sedan. An advice, or inoput from theose in a similar situation, car-wise, would be appreciated. I, myelf am leaning towards the Teana or Mazda6 as the Camry is just about the most common car in Taiwan due to its great financing. You gotta like 30 months interest free on up to 400,000NT.
[quote=“mfaass”]Right now in the market for a new car. I’m going to be doing some highway driving as I live in the South but have a lot of reason to travel North. Right now, I’ve got the choice down to;
Nissan Teana
Toyota Camry
Mazda6
I’m also wrestling with the size of engine to be buying. In North America all these cars come with a base 2.4 engine, but here that’s an extra load of cash. I wonder, however, about hte long-term viability of having a 2.0 in a larger size sedan. An advice, or inoput from theose in a similar situation, car-wise, would be appreciated. I, myelf am leaning towards the Teana or Mazda6 as the Camry is just about the most common car in Taiwan due to its great financing. You gotta like 30 months interest free on up to 400,000NT.[/quote]
If you dont read chinese, it will be a bit hard to understand the screen menu and Tobe system in Teana 2.3 as it doesn’t come with english menu. I was in the market for new car several months ago and my first choice was Teana 2.3 EX and discouraged due to this, but still in my list though…
Mazda6 2.3 is a good car but I think the resale value wont be as high as camry and teana…
Why not accord 3.0?..I heard you can get it new (for current model) below $1mil now cash…I heard from “insider” that accord will go thru some upgrades in Sep…that’s what I’m waiting for now…and if they still sell the accord 3.0 below 1mil by then, I might take accord 3.0 instead of Teana 2.3
I picked up a new Accord EX-S 2.0 last November for 790k(Mobits, 3m tints and door sill plates thrown in). Honestly, I wanted the 3.0 but just settled on the 2.0 due to road tax fees being cheaper and the fact that I didn’t see the need for a bigger engine considering driving in Taiwan often puts us in traffic…So far, it’s been good…service has been normal and no major problems have occured other than the MOBITS(Honda tracking system) went haywire and Honda upgraded it free of charge!..
The only performance drag that I feel is when the A/C unit is turned on. The compressor takes a good chunk of power to run, so the engine suffers quite a bit when doing stop go driving in the city. It just looses some well needed grunt off the line and through the first 2 gears. Once it gets cruising it’s no problem. A 6 cylinder usually doesn’t have as much of a loss when A/C is used!
I’ve always owned Audis back in the western world and this is my first with a Japanese car. I would say that it’s an excellent car for it’s value here…but definetly far from being comparable to what i’m used to.
Cheers
BTW: Honda assembles the New Accords and New CRVs in PingTung. The plant is run by a Japanese big cheese from Honda.
[quote=“skylarkpuma”]I picked up a new Accord EX-S 2.0 last November for 790k(Mobits, 3m tints and door sill plates thrown in). Honestly, I wanted the 3.0 but just settled on the 2.0 due to road tax fees being cheaper and the fact that I didn’t see the need for a bigger engine considering driving in Taiwan often puts us in traffic…
The only performance drag that I feel is when the A/C unit is turned on. The compressor takes a good chunk of power to run, so the engine suffers quite a bit when doing stop go driving in the city. It just looses some well needed grunt off the line and through the first 2 gears. Once it gets cruising it’s no problem. A 6 cylinder usually doesn’t have as much of a loss when A/C is used!
[/quote]
If you can afford to spend this kind of money than get the larger engine…It’s just so much smoother and less aggravating than a windy little four banger, especially on a heavier car. Tax time is painful, but not as painful (at least to me) as wrapping your motor out to 4,000RPM’s just to maintain the speed limit climbing the hill to Lukou. Larger displacements motors work less to do the same job, are smoother, have loads more torque, and don’t suffer the A/C power loss blues.
I think most of the 3 liter motors fall in the 2,400cc-3,000cc tax bracket so not as nasty as my 3.2Liter truck. I pay 36,000NT a year, but the 3.0 liter Toyotas, Hondas and the like will be about 22,000NT a year. worth the tax and price difference IMHO, and will enhance resale value later.
I agree with MJB…if you can afford it, get a 3.0 car…I currently own a 2002 Escape and 1998 Accord, both 2.0L 4cyl auto… it ok for city drive, but both cars are underpower (AC on) when it comes to twisted mountain road and freeway…since the wife seldom drive now, we are planning to sell both cars and buy a larger engine one as I previously stated…oh…and a big bike for me
I searched for this, but didn’t find anything… Regarding “30 months interest free,” how easy is it to finance a vehicle as a foreigner? The junker I have shows little signs of dying in the immediate future, but eventually a new car may be in the cards. If financing is available at low to no interest, then it makes sense to finance. Anyone buy their new rides this way?
