Continental makes - why unpopular?

[Neilchua]

Now that this forum has split up discussions on conti & Jap makes, wonder why our Conti (except Merz & BMW) makes like Renault, Opel, Seat, Skoda and Fiat are all quite discriminated against as seen by the low resale value. Whereas Jap makes like Mits, Toyota & Nissan have such excellent followings.

 

I have test drove Skodas , Seats and some Korean & Jap makes and I somewhat still think that the mid-level Conti makes are much superior than the Japs in terms of value for the money.

[Smallkid]

How are the new SEAT cars? My dad's corona going to die liao, he considering changing to SEAT TOLEDO or SKODA OCTAVIA, but to me the SEAT looks nicer.

Edited December 25, 2001 by smallkid

[Turbobrick]

I agreed that the maintenance of conti cars are in general more expensive, but prices are parts of conti cars are dropping over recent times. It's the labor charges put forth by greedy mechs who are discouraging would-be conti car buyers IMHO.

[Fabiaman]

Not entirely true that conti parts are more ex.

 

Toyota & other Jap makes come out with new models every 3 years whereas Merz and other Conti makes only launch new versions of the models every say 10 years. Hence the availability of parts for a model that run for 10 years shld be much cheaper than parts of a car that is sold only for 3-4 years (reducing chances of having any OEMs)

 

Anyway, that is theoretically true as its a vicious cycle for Contis.

The cycle goes:

 

Contis less favoured

-> Lower sales volume

-> Lower inventory of parts in workshops

-> Higher prices of parts as workshops need to source from agents or import directly

-> High prices of parts makes contis less favoured... and it goes on and on....

[Neilchua]

Hey Fabiaman, are you the same Fabiaman in the Delphi forum? Why arent you getting the rest of the guys over here?

 

As for me, me & my dad are still undecided abt the Fabia. Tks for your email reply last month. Really nice to know a sincere forumer.

[Forddie]

my ford has been kind to my wallet for the past two years of ownership. i go to my regular mechanic who did my previous jap car and he has no problem servicing my car. for more complex or warranty issues then i go back to regent motor.

[Fabiaman]

Hee.. Neil, nice to know you too.

 

As for asking the Delphi guys over, I guess I will need to get Skodaman first. He is w/o doubt the best in Skoda related stuffs and sure hope he can make this home instead of Delphi.... which is terribly slow to load sometimes.

[Skoda_Man]

Hey Fabiaman, let me get the hang of things 1st lah... new forum new interface very hard to get used to lah after like 1 year in Delphi.

 

Back to the point on Conti cars,

Conti cars have not been popular since the 1980's cause of cheap cheap Japanese cars. Thus why the distributor of Japanese Cars are BIG and listed? Cause they make tons of money during that period (remember how they play with the OMV then?). in the mid-90's the Conti car make a comeback with more models and more suited for hot climate and have improved since then. Thus they will always have to play catch up with the Jap Car distributors in terms of size, experience, and $$$ backing.

 

On the price of service and parts for Conti car more expensive... well, economic of scale lah.... look at the Jap cars on the road compare to Conti, like 5 to 1. Of course everything else cheaper lah.

 

Just my worthless view......

[Sky8807]

My views why conti car unpopular

 

1. Low resale value. No demand secondhand.

 

2. Jap car meet the needs of the consumers here. The majority are comfortable with japs and now the korean also. The mindset of Jap cars being better, reliable had already being in our minds and is very difficult to reverse that.

 

3. Though conti car give value for the money but the higher cost of maintenance in the spare parts and news from previous owner who converts to jap can tell you about the numerous headaches that they had with their conti car of yesteryears. Might not be true in the present model and also in the future. This takes time to accept.

 

4. Inferior distributors in Singapore for some of the conti car. Some distributors are not exactly as reputable ???

 

5. ANOTHER mindset is continental cars are not as trouble free as a Jap car. That I must agree, seeing the number of complains and my mindset also. The future might not be so I hope.

 

6. As for maintaining a Conti car will be more expensive than a Jap car. I don't think so for the current model and future. The conti have after so many years realize the demands of the market and seeing the japs swing ahead of them like no body business even though in the area of good handling and safety standard they are no way near. Today, the japs are moving towards the conti and many joint venture are made.

 

7. We are now having the best of both world, the good points of the Japs and the conti in our car. Many of the bad point in conti car are now disappearing.

 

8. This is the 1st time I own a conti car, so far is okay. Only time will convince me that the conti car is a good choice. At the moment, I still stick to a jap car for reliability and good resale.

[Ghostrider]

IMHO, after owning Japs all my life (so far) Conti cars are nice but the resale value sucks.....my personal favourite is the Xantia. Would have got the car is not for its notorious resale value.

 

Past history on the conti cars do not really favour them too. Seat used to plauged with problems until VW took them into their wings. Skoda....need we say more on the Favourite ??? (at least a much better car than Lada). Renault....not surpirse to catch one at those 2nd hand deaaler with multiple owners. (one I saw had 9 owners in 8 years !!)

 

Part on conti car parts is more expensive is not true anymore. But then there are tonnes of OEM parts for Japaness & most drivers here like to mod a bit here & there and Japaness parts is all over the place !! Unlike conti....a simple spark plug replacement can be a nightmare.

 

IMHO, I think the dealers better wake up their ideas & think that they stand shoulder to shoulder with Japs....they ain't....and until they realised that SG driver ain;t gonna forgo that reliability part...their cars ain't gonna move !! Their cars maybe on par or better than the Jap counterpart but money talks & bxxxxxxt walks. Jap dealers are mile ahead of them in term of sales fig.

[Turbobrick]

Yo Ghostrider, did U managed to get a test drive of the S70T5 U were thinking of buying some time back?

[Blue850r]

Well, Jap cars are built for daily city drving. Economical and generally problem free. However, the ride and features in Conti cars are far exceeding the Jap Cars.

 

On reliability, depends which make of Jap vs Conti. If you compare Toyota vs Alfa, Citroen, yes Jap is better. But if you compare Benz vs Mitsu, then you will be surprise, Benz are more reliabile.

 

Spare parts for Jap cars are higher than Benz or BMW on wear and tear items. E.g.

oil filter, today you walk in to any Spare part shop down town, a Toyota or Nissan Oil filter is $8 to $9.

 

But a W124 E200 oil filer is $5 or $6. BMW may be $8 to $9.

 

Next brake pads, Original Japanese pads $80 up but BMW or Benz $75 or lower.

 

Agent svc cost. Generally again Conti cars are higher but like BMW, 25,000 kms you svc 1 time, however, Japanese car every 5,000 kms. That 5 : 1 on costing. If you compare Jap car agent price and Conti car agent price, you may see that Jap is not really so much cheaper.

[Turbobrick]

Well said Prof!

 

True enough most Conti car's recommended service interval is around 15k-25k compared to Jap's 5k-10k klicks. That is lower overall maintenance cost for Conti cars

[Kauri]

Let me also say something since mugged by Zico just now. 8-P

 

1. Talked to a mechanic fren and his comment was that continental car generally is more lasting than japanese cars. the parts last longer and performance also better.

 

2. But traditionally sg has got more japanese cars. due to this, ppl import parts for jap cars from all over the world. U get alot of OEM parts, etc.

 

3. Conti car parts u still have to go back to distributor to get. Hence high cost. If you maintain your car with borneo or C&C, the maintenance/parts cost wld be as high, if not higher.

 

4. Hence, recurssively the popularity of conti car gets worse and jap gets better. So the parts oso gets more exp/cheaper.

 

However, there are other things to add.

 

a. trends: as more and more cars go on electronics, we'd realize that diagnostic system are exp and only agents can have. soon alot of the mechanics can only do body work and etc. they are less likely to be able to perform thorough maintenance for the car.

 

b. impact: then the cost of maintenance will even out and due to the longer durability we might see continental car doing better in terms of market share. when that happens, automatically the resale value will improve.

 

 

8-)

does it make sense ?

up to anyone to catch.

 

anyway i'm driving a P206. anyone else want to share notes on this little fellow ?

[Ghostrider]

Ya...managed to get a test drive & in fact the owner handed the keys over to me for the weekend.......it was a very nice experience.....totally stock the car & there was ample power liao.......with some minor & major mods....no doubt that this will be one muther of all meatballs....but front wheel drive with a mountain of torque is not funny man !!

 

But after the weekend was up....return back to reality......my humble little cxxxc.....[:p] No choice as the market was really bad & I had to top up with a substainal amount of money to make the DP........well....there will be another somewhere later.......just a case of bad timing......

[Ghostrider]

While it is true in your compario....not all conti cars enjoy the same status as a bimmer & merc.....

 

Not trying to nick pick but your servicing compario abit unfair leh......25000km is using Syn oil right.....if Jap is using syn oil....the interval is 10000km.....but still its a fair cry from what the conti are doing.

 

If all conti car distributor can work out some solution.....we car owners would have more to choose other than Sushi & Sashimi......I also want to taste what meatballs,blue cheese & red wine mah..........:)

[Turbobrick]

Hey Ghostrider brudder, tell U wat......next time we have another outing U have a go at my Brick and tell me wat diff U feel between my and the stock one U tested.

 

I want some feedback on the lag, power delivery, noise levels.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Blue850r]

Hi Ghostrider,

 

Conti cars are expensive to svc are the general public's perception. But as long as you are willing to do some shopping at Spare parts shops, you will soon realised that Conti parts are in fact cheaper.

 

I have both Japn and Conti car, so I can say for sure.

 

Last of all, of course we must avoid the unrealiable Conti brands lah ! These Conti brands don't sell in volume, so no economy of scale for parts dealer to bring in their spares cheaply.

 

In future if you have the opprtunity, try a good Conti brand and you will like it. However, don't choose the underpowered models also.