[vb-saan]

Just to clarify a few bits, especially because some of the information are a bit off.

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Car is just a symbol of Capitalism in such a Communism oriented city-country.

From my 20+ years of my experience of living here, its as capitalist as it can get (and that’s not a bad thing).

Originally Posted by sgmuser

In SG, toll is there (automated one at that like the Fast tag) from 1990s onwards for entering CBD area which was costing around 10 SGD at that time.

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) goes anywhere between SGD 0.50 and SGD 4.00 now, depending on the area, and time of the day.

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Parking in Suntec City would cost 20 SGD at that time for a day approx. even for employees in that building. So, around 400 to 500 dollars only for parking need to be kept separately, other than the toll and fuel costs.

Parking costs are steep, like in many developed countries. Many organizations do pay parking fees as employee benefits (organization/job-level dependent). My previous organization was in Suntec City, and parking was covered as a benefit.

Originally Posted by sgmuser

The cheapest car would cost around 40000+ SGD where half of this amount is for the government permit.

The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) for Category A (less than 1,600cc & 130bhp) now stands at SGD 80,000 and Category B (above 1,600cc or 130bhp) sits at SGD 102,000. And the COE permit is valid for 10 years, and needs renewal if one wants to keep his/her car for longer. So an entry level Toyota Vios will cost SGD 125,000+ and say a Mercedes A-Class starts at SGD 180,000+.

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Chinese would be more interested to know more on which origin car someone is owning rather than which car - European or Japanese. Japs meant cheaper obviously. Strangely, Nissan outsold Toyota continuously in those years of 2000-ish.

In general, the people here identify themselves as Singaporeans, not Chinese, Malay, or Indian.
And with high COE, there are months when a BMW sells more than a Toyota. Reason being, if I am paying so much, better to get a continental car (a term for European brands here) instead of a regular Toyota or Honda.

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Hyundai are considered cheap options by the Chinese in those times (the hierarchy!).

This is a global phenomenon. Korean brands have improved leaps and bound in the past decade or so, and that shows in the acceptance and sales numbers globally. Cars like rickety Accent is a thing of the past.

With efficient public transport and end-to-end connectivity, cars are not a necessity for the general public here. And to an extent, the high COE does helps to keep the road congestion under control. But even with this high cost of ownership, we have almost all major manufacturers (with their latest models) in the playing field here, which is quite interesting.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by sgmuser

Congestion and traffic lights all around. You can go from South tip to North tip in 45 minutes to one hour and you are done with the country!

Singapore and Bangalore are roughly the same size. The fact that you can go end to end in an hour tells you the opposite actually - that traffic flows smoothly and freely, even compared to most Western cities.

[sgmuser]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Just to clarify a few bits, especially because some of the information are a bit off.

There is nothing off except you talk about numbers now vs my 2000ish numbers. I clearly mentioned it already. Yes, I might have got the toll price off. The point there is talk about the technology they got in 2000s and we got few years back.

I worked for Microsoft there and my experience is when Singapore was a bit more livable compared to now. The population was around 4m and now it should be around 5.5m. Most of these imports are from where you know already.

The point is SG is not the best place for car enthusiasts when I was there. It is not about the numbers 'now'.

Parking fee is fee whoever pays it.

O.T but, you may think you are Singaporean but for the Chinese Singaporean you are an Indian and that is the truth and I had seen in it there.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Singapore and Bangalore are roughly the same size. The fact that you can go end to end in an hour tells you the opposite actually - that traffic flows smoothly and freely, even compared to most Western cities.

Try to understand the point here which is not about traffic jams but rather the limitations for car enthusiasts from various perspective and here I talked about geological. I know it is a pain in Bengaluru which requires a separate thread in tbhp! :-)