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Ok now that the process has completed, I would like to share about my latest motoring experience.

 

I have owned a 2015 Vellfire for a year, and due to many reasons I shared previously, decided to change it to 2 small rides. As I did not want to pump in much cash, I could only look at rides of upto $80k each. Good thing the Vellfire was offloaded at very good price, I eventually only need to pump in another $10k.

 

Now what can you get for less than $80k? One thing I was not keen to go PI route again unless bopian. So the typically options if getting new rides are small japanese rides like Jazz or Note, or Korean cars like basic Elantra and K3. Then I also looked at used cars which I have never done before to see if any cars worth it. Eventually I fixed my eyes on 2013 B200 which would cost about $65k which are latest model but pre-facelift. My confidence grew after I visited a few used car dealers as the condition of the cars were really good for any 5 year old cars. The leather are basically still wrinkle free and all the internal panels and buttons are still in very good condition, unlike the jap rides I have had which look old after just 2 to 3 years. Eventually I settled on 2015 B180 which is essentially the latest facelifted model. As the 2 rides are for my wife and myself, my wife wanted to get a Jazz initially but she was put off by the Jan/2019 delivery timeline. She was not keen on Elantra/K3 after seeing them in flesh. After awhile, my enthusiasm on B180/B200 rub off on her and she decided to get a B180 as well.

 

Now I will share why I think B180/B200 is a viable alternative compare to typical jap/Korean fares. For about the same cash outlay, it is 7 years of former vs 10 years of later. I am willing to forsake the 3 years to have better motoring experience. It is a Mercedes after all, though a lesser one so to speak. After doing test drive of Jazz/Note and seeing K3/Elantra in flesh, I am ok to give up 3 years of ownership for the B-class ride. I love the B-class ride as it is almost perfect for what I want in a small car -  compact on the outside, spacious in the inside, and full of all the hi-tech features in a very safe and powerful package. Imagine century sprint of 9.1sec, assist parking, integrated TPMS, latest safety features, etc ,etc.. And best of all, it is still the latest facelifted model.

 

And I also did abit of research on ownership cost. I used to think servicing and parts for Mercedes is going to cost much more, but reality is not really that bad. For servicing, C&C offers servicing packages of 3 and 5 servicing. For B-class, it cost about $810 for 3 servicing, and $1400 for 5 servicing. If you factor in servicing interval of 15,000km for Mercedes, 3 servicing would be more than enough to cover 2 years of servicing. This means before any replacement parts, servicing cost for my case would come to $810, which is actually lower than what I was charged for my previous jap rides over the 2 year period with 4 servicing. No doubt I have to cater more for replacement parts which is going to cost more now.

 

And the road tax I have to pay for my B180s also cost lesser than the Vellfire, $740 + $740 vs $1800. But I have to pay more for insurance. Even for petrol also I have to pay more but not much more as the FC for Vellfire is about 7.5km/L whereas B-class should get about 12km/L sasily, so not much difference.

 

And then I have to navigate the used car dealers to get the used B180. This part is the most tricky and dreaded as have read many horror stories. Eventually I would say I am just lucky as both cars were transferred within a week of taking over the rides after finalizing the finance part. I know I should have done more by checking service records at C&C before confirming the deal but I chose to belief the STA reports and test drives and everything look and feel normal.

 

And after owning both rides for a week and 3 weeks respectively, I have been happy with them so far. I would not be willing to shell out the money for them brand new, but pleased tat able to get them now at about 50% off their past purchase prices. I would think they are good deals for 3 year old cars.

 

The motivation has been to try something new as not getting young anymore. And if it does not pan out well, can just sell them away and get something else that is safer. Whichever way I see there is no harm in beating this path. And right now both my wife and myself are enjoying the rides very much as it really offer much more than the typical jap/Korean fares. And if both rides are still in good shapes 7 years from now, just need to renew the COE for another 5 years. Hope this will inspire more to do the same. 

 

My apologies for the long story, as impossible to do it in 1 or 2 paragraphs. Hope you enjoy this sharing. Cheers.

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Ok now that the process has completed, I would like to share about my latest motoring experience.

 

I have owned a 2015 Vellfire for a year, and due to many reasons I shared previously, decided to change it to 2 small rides. As I did not want to pump in much cash, I could only look at rides of upto $80k each. Good thing the Vellfire was offloaded at very good price, I eventually only need to pump in another $10k.

 

Now what can you get for less than $80k? One thing I was not keen to go PI route again unless bopian. So the typically options if getting new rides are small japanese rides like Jazz or Note, or Korean cars like basic Elantra and K3. Then I also looked at used cars which I have never done before to see if any cars worth it. Eventually I fixed my eyes on 2013 B200 which would cost about $65k which are latest model but pre-facelift. My confidence grew after I visited a few used car dealers as the condition of the cars were really good for any 5 year old cars. The leather are basically still wrinkle free and all the internal panels and buttons are still in very good condition, unlike the jap rides I have had which look old after just 2 to 3 years. Eventually I settled on 2015 B180 which is essentially the latest facelifted model. As the 2 rides are for my wife and myself, my wife wanted to get a Jazz initially but she was put off by the Jan/2019 delivery timeline. She was not keen on Elantra/K3 after seeing them in flesh. After awhile, my enthusiasm on B180/B200 rub off on her and she decided to get a B180 as well.

 

Now I will share why I think B180/B200 is a viable alternative compare to typical jap/Korean fares. For about the same cash outlay, it is 7 years of former vs 10 years of later. I am willing to forsake the 3 years to have better motoring experience. It is a Mercedes after all, though a lesser one so to speak. After doing test drive of Jazz/Note and seeing K3/Elantra in flesh, I am ok to give up 3 years of ownership for the B-class ride. I love the B-class ride as it is almost perfect for what I want in a small car -  compact on the outside, spacious in the inside, and full of all the hi-tech features in a very safe and powerful package. Imagine century sprint of 9.1sec, assist parking, integrated TPMS, latest safety features, etc ,etc.. And best of all, it is still the latest facelifted model.

 

And I also did abit of research on ownership cost. I used to think servicing and parts for Mercedes is going to cost much more, but reality is not really that bad. For servicing, C&C offers servicing packages of 3 and 5 servicing. For B-class, it cost about $810 for 3 servicing, and $1400 for 5 servicing. If you factor in servicing interval of 15,000km for Mercedes, 3 servicing would be more than enough to cover 2 years of servicing. This means before any replacement parts, servicing cost for my case would come to $810, which is actually lower than what I was charged for my previous jap rides over the 2 year period with 4 servicing. No doubt I have to cater more for replacement parts which is going to cost more now.

 

And the road tax I have to pay for my B180s also cost lesser than the Vellfire, $740 + $740 vs $1800. But I have to pay more for insurance. Even for petrol also I have to pay more but not much more as the FC for Vellfire is about 7.5km/L whereas B-class should get about 12km/L sasily, so not much difference.

 

And then I have to navigate the used car dealers to get the used B180. This part is the most tricky and dreaded as have read many horror stories. Eventually I would say I am just lucky as both cars were transferred within a week of taking over the rides after finalizing the finance part. I know I should have done more by checking service records at C&C before confirming the deal but I chose to belief the STA reports and test drives and everything look and feel normal.

 

And after owning both rides for a week and 3 weeks respectively, I have been happy with them so far. I would not be willing to shell out the money for them brand new, but pleased tat able to get them now at about 50% off their past purchase prices. I would think they are good deals for 3 year old cars.

 

The motivation has been to try something new as not getting young anymore. And if it does not pan out well, can just sell them away and get something else that is safer. Whichever way I see there is no harm in beating this path. And right now both my wife and myself are enjoying the rides very much as it really offer much more than the typical jap/Korean fares. And if both rides are still in good shapes 7 years from now, just need to renew the COE for another 5 years. Hope this will inspire more to do the same. 

 

My apologies for the long story, as impossible to do it in 1 or 2 paragraphs. Hope you enjoy this sharing. Cheers.

 

Happy you are happy.

 

I like the new gen Merc, but the old B series were really terrible machines from what I have seen. My colleague had a B200 which I had the "joy" of sitting in year 2013, think it was a 2010 or earlier model. The interior was masses of cheap gray worn plastics, I only recall it was worse than the terrible american rental cars I sat in before. Aircon needed about 5 minutes after drive off to activate, and mainly blowing hot air... my colleague was like "its like that". Gear stick was some weird side mounted unit that didn't look better than the one on an old LiteAce van I drove back in 2002. Reliability according to her was mediocre also.

 

I hope the newer B's have improved... tremble when I recall this unit. She changed to BMW a couple years later.

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Happy you are happy.

 

I like the new gen Merc, but the old B series were really terrible machines from what I have seen. My colleague had a B200 which I had the "joy" of sitting in year 2013, think it was a 2010 or earlier model. The interior was masses of cheap gray worn plastics, I only recall it was worse than the terrible american rental cars I sat in before. Aircon needed about 5 minutes after drive off to activate, and mainly blowing hot air... my colleague was like "its like that". Gear stick was some weird side mounted unit that didn't look better than the one on an old LiteAce van I drove back in 2002. Reliability according to her was mediocre also.

 

I hope the newer B's have improved... tremble when I recall this unit. She changed to BMW a couple years later.

Now much much better already.

 

Watch "Mercedes-Benz B-Class 改款試駕" on YouTube

 

 

Watch "Mercedes B-Class hatchback - Carbuyer" on YouTube

 

 

Watch "Mercedes B-Class B-Klasse AMG-Line B220 MPV FULL REVIEW test driven Facelift 2016 - Autogefühl" on YouTube

Happy you are happy.

 

I like the new gen Merc, but the old B series were really terrible machines from what I have seen. My colleague had a B200 which I had the "joy" of sitting in year 2013, think it was a 2010 or earlier model. The interior was masses of cheap gray worn plastics, I only recall it was worse than the terrible american rental cars I sat in before. Aircon needed about 5 minutes after drive off to activate, and mainly blowing hot air... my colleague was like "its like that". Gear stick was some weird side mounted unit that didn't look better than the one on an old LiteAce van I drove back in 2002. Reliability according to her was mediocre also.

 

I hope the newer B's have improved... tremble when I recall this unit. She changed to BMW a couple years later.

Now much much better already.

 

Watch "Mercedes-Benz B-Class 改款試駕" on YouTube

 

 

Watch "Mercedes B-Class hatchback - Carbuyer" on YouTube

 

 

Watch "Mercedes B-Class B-Klasse AMG-Line B220 MPV FULL REVIEW test driven Facelift 2016 - Autogefühl" on YouTube

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I have a different kind of dilemma.

 

I am fortunate to enough like our minister to have 2 cars in my family, but the feeling of having my whole family sitting in one and appreciating each other company is beyond words.

 

Although it gives me little pleasure to drive a loti car, I would gladly trade it for the obvious reason for now.

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Why same car? I thought its better to have 2 diff car for diff experience?

 

Maybe get B180 and another one X1 or Q3

I was thinking very troublesome haha, would have to send the different cars to different workshops for servicing. If same car, at least common problems I will know and manage better. For spare parts, everything just buy 2 sets also lesser work.

 

Actually there is another reason I am not getting a B180 and another ride - the "stupid" gear stick located at steering wheel. Normally it is located at centre, between front passenger and driver or on dashboard. But for B-class, at least, it is placed at right side of steering wheel to save space. So the left stick become 3-in-1 stick in the process. For new owners, due to muscle memory it is very easy to toggle the right stick when need to do signalling or activate wipers. But doing that now would change the gear! Have changed a few times to Neutral while driving, and manage to recover haha. So we think if we have another ride of other different brand, then will be like asking for trouble. Butt then again, this was only one of the considerations lah.

 

Anyway I do not aspire BMW or Audi experience haha.

Enjoy your new ride.

Thanks.

I have a different kind of dilemma.

 

I am fortunate to enough like our minister to have 2 cars in my family, but the feeling of having my whole family sitting in one and appreciating each other company is beyond words.

 

Although it gives me little pleasure to drive a loti car, I would gladly trade it for the obvious reason for now.

I actually prefer to have a big MPV so that the whole family can be together in same car when going out, for bonding etc. But just giving this arrangement a try for now. 

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I repost the link. The new car is much improved from the 1st gen B-class. Very modern and full of soft-touch material throughout. And full of modern technologies. Jazz/Note/Elantra/K3 will not have such quality.

 

 

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B interior indeed is a huge space. Sat in one before with 3 adults 3 kids yet still felt roomy. Kids could even crawl over to the boot space to get stuff.

 

Do be prepared to spend on costly and time consuming fix when the notorious AC failure though.

 

I'd wouldn't extend COE on this one but then the body value is virtually nil...might as well extend it if the car still runs fine and COE is low.

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Interesting choice..... but have you thought about if one day the manufacturer issued a safety recall to fix something critical and in a blink of an eye both your cars are down?

 

Yeah, you can still mitigate the inconvenience by sending in one car first to get it fixed and still have another to drive around and then send it in when the first car is done.  But that will also mean you are driving around in a ticking time bomb in the meantime....

 

my apologies, I tend to let my imagination run wild

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My uncle did the same. Both 2 brand new non turbo harriers within 6mths. We thought he was crazy!

? He downgraded from a premium car to 2 harriers?
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B interior indeed is a huge space. Sat in one before with 3 adults 3 kids yet still felt roomy. Kids could even crawl over to the boot space to get stuff.

 

Do be prepared to spend on costly and time consuming fix when the notorious AC failure though.

 

I'd wouldn't extend COE on this one but then the body value is virtually nil...might as well extend it if the car still runs fine and COE is low.

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

Can share on the notorious AC failure? Have prepared to spend more on parts, but hopefully this is not the $10k type of category haha.

 

My thoughts exactly on the near nil scrap value. Really no need to think if car still in good shape at 10th year. Will wait and see. Thinking of it as a bonus if can happen.

Interesting choice..... but have you thought about if one day the manufacturer issued a safety recall to fix something critical and in a blink of an eye both your cars are down?

 

Yeah, you can still mitigate the inconvenience by sending in one car first to get it fixed and still have another to drive around and then send it in when the first car is done.  But that will also mean you are driving around in a ticking time bomb in the meantime....

 

my apologies, I tend to let my imagination run wild

Think I not so giam lah haha. This B-class has been in the market since 2013 and facelifted in 2015. Any issues should have been surfaced by now. In fact a new model should be announced end of the year or early next year, but I not concern about it.

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I have a different kind of dilemma.

 

I am fortunate to enough like our minister to have 2 cars in my family, but the feeling of having my whole family sitting in one and appreciating each other company is beyond words.

 

Although it gives me little pleasure to drive a loti car, I would gladly trade it for the obvious reason for now.

 

I low SES, only can afford one small car, but I also prefer the feeling of whole family in one car.  [thumbsup]  [laugh]  [laugh]

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Thanks for the feedback.

 

Can share on the notorious AC failure? Have prepared to spend more on parts, but hopefully this is not the $10k type of category haha.

 

My thoughts exactly on the near nil scrap value. Really no need to think if car still in good shape at 10th year. Will wait and see. Thinking of it as a bonus if can happen.

 

Think I not so giam lah haha. This B-class has been in the market since 2013 and facelifted in 2015. Any issues should have been surfaced by now. In fact a new model should be announced end of the year or early next year, but I not concern about it.

http://www.sgmerc.com/topic/5110-air-con-gas/

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Thanks for the link. This is in 2011, should be the 1st gen B-class. No such complaints from 2012 onwards after 2nd gen B-class was released means most probably ok already right?

 

As I put elsewhere, this 2nd gen ride debutted in 2012 and had a facelift in 2015. If any issues should have already surfaced since it sells in large quantity overseas. Over here I only see 2 recall notices being issued after logging into LTA website. I will try to get the 2nd recall fixed when I bring the ride for its 60,000km servicing next month.

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