Wavey
There is a lot on these *** about cars so I won't go into details.
Most of the horror stories you have heard are true. A car here can cost more than a house in the UK (alright a small house). $60 grand for a Skoda seems a bargain.
In very general terms assume about $70 grand for the starter models (Hyundai, Proton ) and at $80 grand you get a reasonable choice of small salons and should be able to keep your girlfriend happy. Most of the Japanese big sellers are in the $80 -$120 k range (Honda Accord 2.0 at about $132). The larger European 2 litres are around $150-180 k.
Buying - 30 % deposit and balance on HP from supplier or bank. Interest rates around 2.5%.
Haggle - can get $10 k off the larger cars.
Leasing - assume $1,500 to $2,000 a month for 1300-1600 cc and $3,000 for 2 litre.
These prices include maintenance and insurance but often exclude CDW. Haggle and you can usually get it thrown in.
DON'T assume a leased car is new - could be 5-6 yrs old. New are available and best deals are often from the car retailer rather than a leasing company.
Leasing is more expensive than buying as the car has no residual value at end of contract. Main advantage is that you don't have to find such a large deposit.
Second hand - can't help you there but a problem in this market is that the COE (this auction fingy for the plate) has come down over the last couple of years. Therefore people are trying to sell cars at prices close to the current new prices as they are trying to recover an expensive COE. Again haggle until they get real and conceed defeat. If you want to check out some second hand prices head over to Ubi where there is a multi storey car park just containing dealers and their stock.
P.S. Do the maths and you will realise that you can take several taxi's everyday and it will work out cheaper than owning a car. However, as you have found, when you need them ...........
PPS. Once you have the car don't drive it. This is fine city, cameras everywhere. I lost $130 and four points in my first week!
