Why You STILL Shouldn't Buy A Hybrid Car!

Since the heated discussion on the hybrid car that I posted earlier, 2 years later in 2013, let's check the resale price this time. I did a quick search on mudah and found these:-

Toyota Prius 1.8 Hybrid
New Car Price in 2011 = RM136,000
Used Selling Now = Lowest RM98,000
Value Lost = RM38,000
Yearly Lost = RM12,667

Toyota Altis 2.0
New Car Price in 2011 = RM128,500
Used Selling Now = Lowest RM91,000
Value Lost = RM37,500
Yearly Lost = RM12,500

Honda Civic 1.4 Hybrid
New Car Price in 2011= RM109,000
Used Selling Now = RM76,000
Value Lost = RM33,000
Yearly Lost = RM11,000

Honda Civic 2.0
New Car Price in 2011 = RM127,500
Used Selling Now = RM100,000
Value Lost = RM27,500
Yearly Lost = RM9,167

Seems like hybrid doesn't lose lots of its value when it's 3 years old. However, please bear in mind that I'm comparing with a 2.0 car which in nature less in demand. Let's take a quick look at 1.8 then.

Toyota Altis 1.8G
New Car in 2011 = RM119,634
Used Selling Now = RM95,000
Value Lost = RM24,634
Yearly Lost = RM8,211

Honda Civic 1.8
New Car in 2011 = RM116,500
Used Selling Now = RM96,000
Value Lost = RM20,500
Yearly Lost = RM6,833

The difference between a hybrid with a 1.8 model is so substantial, equivalent to?

Toyota Prius vs Toyota Altis 1.8G
RM4,456 per year = 2,122 liters of petrol (consider RON95 is RM2.10 now)

Honda Civic Hybrid vs Honda Civic 1.8SL
RM4,167 per year = 1,984 liters of petrol (consider RON95 is RM2.10 now)

I know lots of comments will say this is not a fair comparison, maybe it is, maybe it is not. Very much depending on how you look at it. This post is merely showing the hybrid is expensive in Malaysia, even with a fantastic fuel savings technology and tax free status. You can basically get free petrol on the savings over car depreciation value. Opps, need to change battery soon, make sure account got cash.

PS: new car price from livelifedrive.com and used price is based on mudah.my, and I take the lowest offer and mark up RM2,000. The highest selling price must be too optimistic, so I don't bother to average in.

Where Do You Want To Be a Billionaire?

Interesting chart from The Financialist site.
Link: http://www.thefinancialist.com/where-do-you-want-to-be-a-billionaire/

Which Smartphone to buy?

I'm always a saver, that's why I never have a new handphone since my graduation (aka stop spending family's money). I always on the lookout for a cheap used unit and got my first smart phone Dopod D810 for a mere RM800 which is 2 years old. I used that for 2 years, and got myself an iPhone 4 after trying to buy it for my wife. I were impressed with the iPhone 4 speed and retina display and I use it until today, for a good 3 years. Couldn't decide to change it last trip.

I changed my wife's iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 last year, and I don't see the need for me to upgrade as it's a waste of money. However, recently I got a little impatient when my loyal iPhone 4 started to slow down and sometimes hang until unbearable level. Now I'm looking again for a replacement. Scouting the market, and luck on my side that iPhone is launching the new model, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S.



Let's start with iPhone 5C. I remember Apple promise the people that they will be developing an affordable iPhone for the masses, which I thought it's a great idea. But when the iPhone 5C is out, the price at RM1,999 for 16GB?? The processor is the same, iOS is the same, rear camera is the same, in fact, everything is the same. Oh, iPhone 5C is plastic and spot a better front facing camera. Boring, need to tell more? I might as well get a used iPhone 5 instead. So much about making a model for the masses. Next.


Then come the iPhone 5S which they jack it up few hundreds ringgit to make it even more expensive at RM2,399 for 16GB. It got a new A7 chip with M7 coprocessor, finger print scan, and better camera with dual flash. That's nice to have, but the price is really putting me off. iPhone has been always upgrading their specification but selling at the same price, and this time they decided to rank up their phone at higher price, giving the masses something cheapo. I have RM2,399, but I felt reluctant to pay for it. But what other options do we have?


Of the entire market, only HTC One caught my eyes. My friends are using it, and I played with it for a while, and really love it. I didn't mention Samsung here, because I personally do not like the Android interface. I mean it's ugly, and it lag sometimes. Coming from iPhone user after 3 years, I can be that particular about lagging. However, HTC One changes all that. It's beautiful and snappy. I didn't changing the interface can have so much difference to overall user experience. So what HTC got for price tag of RM2,200.

It's running on a Quad Core 1.7GHz Krait 300 CPU, Adreno 320 GPU, 32GB internal memory, 2GB RAM, LTE, with 4.7" Super LCD3 Capacitive Touchscreen with resolution of 1920x1080. It got Corning Gorilla Glass 2, 4MP primary camera, 2.1MP front facing camera, and everything else a smartphone got. It support JAVA and Radio receiver, something that iPhone is missing. Everything seems good, because it is HTC flagship handphone. Every specifications kick iPhone ass, but of course, iPhone user is all about package and integrated experience.

I can basically get this phone brand new for around RM1,200 for a 2 year contract with iDigi 88 plan which I'm running now. That sounds good, affordable. Only problem is, this phone is launched February 2013, coming to a year cycle, which I thought new model might be coming soon. Also I will be losing out the effortless iTunes sync backup that I've got used to for past 3 years. Still not decided, will update again.