Plan to Upgrade Family Car into SUV

With new family member joining in, space becomes the number 1 consideration and that's why I'm looking for upgrade of my wife's faithful Civic to a bigger space car, like SUV. Lots of friends told me that Civic is big enough already, but it's amazing how many luggage you will be carrying when travelling outstation with baby in tow. Stretching my budget a bit into RM200,000 and see what I can get now.

Toyota Rush - RM86,000
Mitsubishi ASX - RM115,000
Suzuki Grand Vitara - RM121,000
Hyundai Tuscon - RM133,000
Kia Sportage - RM136,000
Mazda CX5 - RM137,000
Nissan X-Trail - RM145,000
Subaru XV - RM146,000
Honda CRV - RM146,000
Ford Kuga - RM156,000
Inokom Santa Fe - RM157,000
Chevrolet Captiva - RM161,000
Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4 - RM179,000
Subaru Outback - RM179,000
Subaru Forester - RM199,800

Alternatively, these cars are in consideration as well due to the bigger space.
Nissan Grand Livina - RM87,000
Peugeot 3008 - RM154,000

Seems to be lots of choices in the market now, but I'm trying to limit my choice to European/US made only, as they have better built in terms of safety and quality ride. That automatically crossed out almost all the cars in the market, leaving only the following:

Ford Kuga
Chevrolet Captiva
Volkswagen Tiguan
Peugeot 3008

Unfortunately, European/US cars are not favor in Malaysia, therefore their resale value is very bad. That open up the question of, why not find some used / imported / recond car from europe made brand? So what we can get for a budget of RM200,000?

Ford Kuga is relatively new in the market, so there is no used unit available.
However, being Ford, they are always hungry for sales, so look out for discounts from them. Discount can range over RM10,000 from Ford most of the time for this car price.

Y2010 Audi Q5 is in the range of RM200,000. For a new car that's selling in RM300,00 region, you basically save up to RM25,000 depreciation a year, quite a bargain to consider.

Y2010 Toyota Harrier 2.4 in the range of RM160,000. Not selling new in Malaysia, but quite a good bargain as well, and it rides very well. However, drawback is this model is already very old and doesn't looks that appealing anymore. New Harrier is expensive as well.

Y2010 Peugeot 3008 surprisingly only selling at range of RM70,000. Considering a new car of RM154,000, it basically depreciated over RM21,000 per year. A real bargain if you don't mind a used unit.

Y2010 Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 is in the range of RM135,000. Note that this is 2.0 model, where market selling for over RM240,000. That make it has depreciated over RM26,250 per year. Another good bargain to look at.

Y2010 Land Rover Freelander 2 is in the range of RM140,000. New car is selling at RM270,000. That makes it depreciated at RM32,500 per year.

Lots of bargain in the European / US section, but the important question is, will it continue to depreciate at the same rate? If yes then not worth buying it. If no, then worth every cents. Getting a high quality car at much lower price. Of course there will be maintenance involved for older cars, but at a discount of over RM20,000 every year in depreciation, I would be able to overhaul the entire car at that amount already.

I'm still hunting, will update again =) Stay tuned.