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  1. #31

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    If I wanted a cheap little runabout in HK (say I was living in some random village) what kind of prices would I be looking at for purchase, MOT, insurance etc? Also how much is petrol in HK? I mean at the cheap end.. something Japanese or Korean.


  2. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by HKHK154:
    If I wanted a cheap little runabout in HK (say I was living in some random village) what kind of prices would I be looking at for purchase, MOT, insurance etc? Also how much is petrol in HK? I mean at the cheap end.. something Japanese or Korean.
    cheapest cars are the ones that locals has a stigmia with, ie, fords ( even though modern fords sister cars are Volvo and mazda which they don't mind same platform and parts ) kinda like skoda in UK

    ie, example u can get a 2007 ford for same price as 2002-3 equivalent Japanese brand, even though the ford has better mileage and equipment as well as various European awards

    check in car28 to see yourself

  3. #33

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    Honda civi or Toyota corrola. Fuel is around 16.50 per litre.
    Insurance around 3k per year.
    Road tax 3.7k per year.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using GeoClicks mobile app


  4. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by kjames:
    Thanks for all the replies.



    The car I've bought is a weekend car. It's a 2001 Mercedes 320 clk cab. I paid 53,000. It's got the standard 70,000km on the clock, which I assumed means it's been clocked. I ignored the mileage and looked at the car. All the electrics work. No oil leakes. Drives well, steers, brakes etc. there's no Cambelt on them to worry about and the drive belt was brand new.
    The paint, wheels and interior are all immaculate.... So my guess is its maybe done in the low 100,000kms ....

    So fingers crossed it turns out to be good one.....I'll find out over the next few weeks. I know it's going to be more expensive to maintain, but I'll do some maintenance myself.
    Yep you're right,KJ, E class mercs don't use cam belts but timing chains instead, which usually last the life of the motor and are replaced during a rebuild. I have owned a few ( German produced ) Mercs over the years and enjoyed every one of them and found them to be extremely durable and inexpensive to maintain. My last 2001 W210 E class wagon that I owned for 3 years never missed a beat and breezed through MOT inspections. I have recently replaced it with a one owner, Zung Fu verified with complete agent books, 86,000km 2007 W211 E350 AMG edition wagon. Very happy with it.

    Your CLK is basically the same running gear/drive train as an E320, so should be pretty robust, plus one good thing about your vintage of car is that it has a manifold fed brake booster as opposed to the later W211 cars that have the electric pump driven brake assist (SBC ) which tend to play up after about 10 years of age. So that will save you $9000hkd inc labour.

    The other thing to watch out for on CLK's is the interior door cards where they are pleated, they tend to bubble and lose shape, so hopefully your car will be stored under cover out of the sun when it's parked, otherwise they need to be treated with a heat gun at around $1000hkd per piece = 4 ( 2 rear, 2 front ).

    That aside, the typical Merc convertible issues, hydraulic ram failures are pretty common at $4500 each one, plus labour. ( Much more if the pump in the boot fries ) So fingers crossed that the roof mechanism remains intact, that's about the only major cost on the CLK convertible, the rest should be quite low cost to maintain from my experience with them.

    If my mothers S class Mercedes was anything to go by, it almost clicked over 400,000km when it was finally traded in, it ran like a swiss watch, didnt drop a drop of oil, and had been meticulously maintained by Lanes Motors in Melbourne ( the Mercedes agent ) its whole life and drove perfectly, so if they are looked after and not left to rot, or be abused by skipping services, they hold together much better than majority of cars out there on the road.

    Good luck and if you need any repair, or spare parts advice, feel free to private message me via the GEO inbox.

    Always happy to give some experienced, helpful advice...
    Last edited by Skyhook; 18-12-2013 at 04:37 PM.

  5. #35

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    Thanks for the message......I'll contact you if / when I need some spares.

    Yep, it's only the roof that has me a little twitchy.... I operated it 1/2 a dozen times in the garage and it worked fine.
    But I think the experience of open air motoring is worth it.

    I'm quite a petrol head and can't think of a good reason to have a 'boring' car. I want my young son to have great memories of exploring the Hong Kong in a memorable car. I have strong memories of family trips in my dads 1275gt. I might be less passionate when I'm stuck with a broken roof in the rain

    Leaving work in 15 mins to collect it.

    Skyhook and scrambler like this.

  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    I think Skyhook works with bigger things than cars! He sounds to have the male obsession with four wheels if you ask me

    And Skyhook, we got a 2006 Honda Odyssey in 2010, had done 87k when we got it for 70k. The nearest we had seen for same year & model was $145k and *cough* 34k on the clock *cough*, with highly suspect paint job on the rear half, but of course had never been in any accident.

    Would have bought your mate's Volvo in a flash though.
    Kimmy is a bit of a smart cookie .

    And yes I probably do have a bit of keen interest ( obsession ) with go fast machinery , be it on land, sea, or air.

    As to the Volvo S80, you really don't want one when they break something expensive, my mate spent quite a bit of money on his, the transmission packed it in a year ago at a cost of $40K to replace, for a car that was worth less than that. He was very good natured about the whole thing, he made a very good living in HK so just wrote it off as another form of gweilo tax.

    I had a side line ( hobby ) export automotive business that ran for almost 10 years until the Australian govt made it very difficult to import luxury cars, but built good relationships with some very good people in the HK car/repair trade over the years, which is why I know quite a bit about how things work in HKG. I enjoy popping in for a coffee/chin wag at my local car yards in SK and Kam Tin etc etc. Some of you like going to bars etc, I like garages.... ha ha

    Your Honda sounds like a safe bet, and you purchased wisely, which there is nothing wrong with that. Good work that paid off .




    As to Scramblers request, none of my aviation buddies own MPV's, I know a captain mate who has a properly serviced 7 seater 2009 Volvo XC90 that's in mint shape, who is thinking about upgrading to a new BMW X5 7 seater, but that's about it that I know of in my circle. He was uttering around $150K for that one which is about the right money for a well maintained, unclocked example.
    Last edited by Skyhook; 18-12-2013 at 05:46 PM.

  7. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by HKHK154:
    If I wanted a cheap little runabout in HK (say I was living in some random village) what kind of prices would I be looking at for purchase, MOT, insurance etc? Also how much is petrol in HK? I mean at the cheap end.. something Japanese or Korean.
    Try to get a corolla or civic in hong kong, it is easy to repair in case the car has issue

    Sent from my GT-N7105 using GeoClicks mobile app

  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    As to the Volvo S80, you really don't want one when they break something expensive, my mate spent quite a bit of money on his, the transmission packed it in a year ago at a cost of $40K to replace, for a car that was worth less than that. He was very good natured about the whole thing, he made a very good living in HK so just wrote it off as another form of gweilo tax.

    Your Honda sounds like a safe bet, and you purchased wisely, which there is nothing wrong with that. Good work that paid off .

    Didn't make the OH happy though, he likes his European cars. I am the sensible 'it's cheaper to maintain in HK' voice. But he accepts it is a good car for the dog, and with it not being a car he would be overly anal about, he has no issues just running and running it for all our time here and then scrapping at the end. And he doesn't mind my slight parking or curb mishaps! Well, not too much...
    scrambler likes this.

  9. #39

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    at the end of the day - our car is jus to take us from a to b - an when we park not to worry about it getting a ding or what ever... very happy with our subaru - yeh it got a wee oil leak - but runs ok else

    the only issue for us is its a bit tight with the twins an the helper in the back..


  10. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    I am the sensible 'it's cheaper to maintain in HK' voice.
    That's very debatable about the Honda being cheaper to maintain then say an E class Mercedes in my very experienced opinion, because it certainly isnt the case with suspension / steering components. I know of a friend who owns a real beater of a 1995 Honda Odyssey, the old more boxy shape version before they went to the stretched wagon style, who hit a curb, damaging the front wishbone on the passenger side and knocked the subframe out by 5mm, making it impossible to align the geometry. New parts from Honda were ranged between $12 and $15K for a car that was worth on a very good day, $15K !

    She ended up getting second hand parts from a JDM breakers yard in Kam Tin, but it still cost her $6500hkd in the end. That's not my idea of cheap. I replaced both upper and lower control arms and two front wheel bearings on both sides of my previous E class wagon for $6000 inc labour, using brand new parts ! I also sold my wagon for $15,000 more than I paid for it 3 and a bit years ( almost 4 ) later. because they are as rare as hens teeth.

    In my opinion, Mercedes Benz, being one of the most common cars sold in HK, are generally cheaper to keep on the road than many others. Prices for MB and BMW parts, especially OEM bits, in HK, would have to be one of, if not the cheapest locations in the world to maintain a Benz. BMW also, to a certain degree.

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