[freakmuzik]

I think no methodology can bring a complete, unbiased picture as we are talking about various countries and financial conditions and varied nature of offerings in terms of automobiles.

If the intention was to just statistically understand how easily a population gets access to cars, yes, the cheapest available car in the country can be considered.

Just like this, a lot of 'IFs' are going to be there for every method of study. There needs to be at-least one constant and here it's two models of Cars. And Corolla is one car that is kind of the most uniform (relatively, I mean) across various countries. I personally feel this is not a bad mode of study. But having it analysed in multiple modes and then coming to a conclusion would have been more cohesive.

[devilking]

Even considering only Toyota Corolla and VW Golf, Singapore comes out on top.

https://blog.seedly.sg/factors-cost-...ice-singapore/

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...ngs?itemId=206

The price of a VW Golf comes out to be SGD 110480 approx and Toyota Corolla comes out to be SGD 135988 approx after adding the CoE. That's INR 60.26 lakhs for a Golf and INR 74.18 lakhs for a Corolla. Of course, converting into Indian currency is meaningless here but just doing so for a ballpark figure comparison.

The thing to note here is that CoE prices are right now low and stable at SGD 47-48000 right now. A few years ago they had crossed SGD 100000 which means a Toyota Corolla would have cost SGD 188000 approx at those prices.

But if one factors in average incomes of course SG will be out of the picture because of the high income levels there.

[LTAutoMad]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

As per a recent study, Australia ranks as the cheapest country to own a car, requiring only 49.48% of the annual salary to own and run a car.
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Sorry, I had a good belly laugh reading this absurd piece of news! This just proves (again) that one can get whatever outcome one wants, depending on how you interpret / analyse any data.

This may be true in case of a Corolla, which is an entry level small car in Australia, but for any performance car / luxury car / supercar, Australians pay through the nose an absurd "Australia tax" just because the auto companies misuse the restrictive government policies, play unofficial cartel and fleece us as much as possible.

The Australian prices for everything from a 3-series to X5 to S class to Boxster to 911 to Ferrari will make the US guys laugh. Even after excluding the Luxury Tax, one can easily see how much we are overcharged. The manufacturers give a glib explanation that the Australian models are very highly specified - well, nobody asked for those specs!

All Japanese / Korean cars are priced well, including their 4WDs. Perhaps the Landcruiser 200 is the only luxury vehicle where we have price parity with USA or UAE. Hats off to Tesla for converting their US prices directly (albeit at a high rate) and selling without an Australia Tax like the Germans & Italians.

The government imposes strict restrictions on the import of new & used cars - this was set up decades back to protect the domestic industry. Since 2017, there is no more Australian car manufacturing and all petrolheads were hopeful that the government will allow us to import new and hopefully, even used cars directly from RHD markets like UK, but the automobile companies lobbied very hard citing the bogey of safety (even if bought in from the EU!) and warranty. The government folded before their onslaught and we continue to be sitting ducks for the Germans & Italians.

New car prices are only the starting point - the labour charges are very high in Australia, even your good FNG will charge $150 per hour - double that for the luxury brand dealers. Spares, tyres etc. are all priced very high compared to USA.

Talk to any Australian petrolhead about performance cars / supercars and their pricing in USA / UAE and see the wishful look that comes on their faces! The high new prices mean very high used prices also.

[Mafia]

Car prices are a huge range of prices. Salaries are also in a huge range.

The calculation matrix cannot justify a median car price and a median salary logically.

652.29% of whose salary to own what car in Turkey? The repayment of a purchase like that will be some 20 years or more akin to a house. The resale value of cars in these markets must be crazily high too. a 5-year-old car with 10-15% depreciation!

Or you study the whole thing based on a very high-selling car in most countries. Perhaps a Toyota Corolla.

What kind of a job would you pick to compare it to? for that I don't have a straightforward answer. Maybe an average of the top 5 professions in each of the countries and the respective median salaries or earnings.

All this is a futile exercise which yields results that are inaccurate and fleeting at best.

[Goldenboy]

I would also add, while the prices and numbers such as average salary are important, the quality of the car also plays a role. Localized platforms, inferior transmissions and deletion of safety and other features often mean that cars sold in developing countries are less safe, have worse features and come with lower build quality, so it's not a fair comparison.

For example, last I checked, the Suzuki Swift in the UK comes with 6 airbags, additional braking safety features versus the Indian variant and a CVT automatic option.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by LTAutoMad

Sorry, I had a good belly laugh reading this absurd piece of news! This just proves (again) that one can get whatever outcome one wants, depending on how you interpret / analyse any data.



All Japanese / Korean cars are priced well, including their 4WDs. Perhaps the Landcruiser 200 is the only luxury vehicle where we have price parity with USA or UAE. Hats off to Tesla for converting their US prices directly (albeit at a high rate) and selling without an Australia Tax like the Germans & Italians.



New car prices are only the starting point - the labour charges are very high in Australia, even your good FNG will charge $150 per hour - double that for the luxury brand dealers. Spares, tyres etc. are all priced very high compared to USA.

Talk to any Australian petrolhead about performance cars / supercars and their pricing in USA / UAE and see the wishful look that comes on their faces! The high new prices mean very high used prices also.

I had a good laugh too, when I saw Australia topping this list.
Prices of performance cars aside, what about the yearly registration in states;
that does add to the cost of ownership a fair bit for cheaper cars.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by Goldenboy

. For example, last I checked, the Suzuki Swift in the UK comes with 6 airbags, additional braking safety features versus the Indian variant and a CVT automatic option.

Not entirely correct. All Suzuki Swift and Ignis models sold in Norway and perhaps the UK are hybrid models with 4X4 drive. They use a dynastart which is a combined starter motor and alternator in one unit.

Under acceleration, the starter motor gives power assist to the engine.

Singapore must be the most expensive country to own a car.

I just spoke to an old classmate in Singapore. 17 years ago he bought a Corolla and he paid $100,000 including the COE. 2 years later he sold it and bought a Toyota Altis for $82,000.

Today the CEO is sold at auctions and not at a fixed price like before.

10 years later he renewed his COE for 5 years and he paid $26,000 and after that he had to scrap his car.

In those 15 years, his car had done only about 35,000 km.

Out of curiosity I checked out the road tax I would have to pay for my car in Singapore. It would cost 6200 euros for a year because of the age of the car.

Now I pay only 340 euros.