Tea with AK71: Buying a car now?

My current car is almost 5 years old.  It is a Mazda 6 2.0 and was purchased at a price of $80k.  I intend to drive it for a few more years since it is still virtually trouble free.

However, out of curiosity, I went to check if I could still buy a new Mazda 6 2.0 for $80k today.  Wow!  I was shocked to find out that $80k could only get me a Mazda 2 1.5 today, not even a Mazda 3 1.6.  I have heard from people, in recent weeks, how much new cars have gone up in price in Singapore but this is kind of scary.

I went to check on the Mercedes Benz A160 which was a car I was recommended to buy many years ago at $99k but I thought it pricey.  The A160 is no longer available but the A180 is almost $130k if I want to buy one! I like this video:

In August last year, I convinced my mom to change her car as her then 3 years old KIA Magentis 2.0 had many problems and the workshop quoted a repair cost of almost $3k after her car's three years warranty lapsed!  The car loan was fully paid up by then and I advised her that the $3k saved from repairing the KIA could go towards paying for a new car. 

We decided on a Mitsubish Lancer Mivec 1.5 for $60k and deregistered the KIA for $20k.  We only had to pay a balance of $40k.  Guess what, it would cost her about $80k now to get the same Mitsubishi 9 months later!

Very rarely do we make money from buying cars but my mom did (well, by saving money). $20k.  No small change.  Makes me wonder if I should have changed my car at the same time she did.  ;-)

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Grow your wealth and beat inflation.