[henry2703]

Hi Guys!

Today is an exciting day! I will be collecting my E90 320i this evening from the stealership!

Bought myself a 320i E90. Unfortunately i can't quite justified the purchase of the 325i which, i test drove and love it. But the price tag is too heavy.

The situation in Singapore is a little bit weird. We are only allow to drive the car for 10 years. And the car has to be scraped after that. The bloody car price is crazy as well. I paid about A$ 110k for the 320i. A 325i would set me back roughly A$ 142.4k.

That aside, i can't wait to trade in my old civic and get my hands around the new steering wheel.

The options that came with the car, as usual I suppose:-
Bi Xenon headlights
Blackline tail lights
leather seats
PDC preinstalled
Auto head and wiper

Unfortunately Comfort Access is not quite an option. Neither is Logic 7 sound system.

Ah well.. I am ranting too much.

One last thing... can anyone advise me of the price for the rear bootlid spoiler in Australia? preferably in Melbourne where i visit on a regular basis. It is costing me A$ 770 bucks here fromt he stealership, including installation. And I am wondering if i can get it any cheaper and get it installed locally.

All help is appreciated!

[astra]

wait, "location singapore"... does that mean you are singaporian, or live in singapore?

welcome to the AUSTRALIAN forum anyway though

[e93]

Welcome Henry,

The std rear spoiler is $440 plus painting. Suggest you get aftermarket from the US. Check with nick@jlevisw.com for price and availablity for your car. M3 style spoiler should be available (if not now - very soon)

[henry2703]

Originally Posted by astra

wait, "location singapore"... does that mean you are singaporian, or live in singapore?

welcome to the AUSTRALIAN forum anyway though

Yes, I am Singaporean and am from Singapore. I used to stay in Melbourne until 1999 when i moved back home....

I figure out the "Australian" part of the forum will be closer to me... the US part only has 335s... which is a world a part from what we get in Singapore

[henry2703]

Originally Posted by e93

Welcome Henry,

The std rear spoiler is $440 plus painting. Suggest you get aftermarket from the US. Check with nick@jlevisw.com for price and availablity for your car. M3 style spoiler should be available (if not now - very soon)

Even at A$440, it is still cheaper than in Singapore.

Do you know if it is possible for them to have it painted in the original Silver colour that the 3 Series come with? so that i can carry it over and use 3M tape to stick it to my butt?

[LEA69]

Hey Henry, good to have a fellow Singaporean on board! I grew up there but living in Melbourne last 10years, got me a E90 as well. I go to Spore for holidays every 1-2 years, swap tips mate!

I got a few items from a mob in Spore actually for my E90, wasnt that cheap but good quality. Ill PM it to you.

[amberzombie]

hey same here! grew up in Singapore but spent the last 7 years in Sydney... looks like there are more of us here than i realised!

it's good that you got a Bimmer... there are just too many Mercs in singapore at the moment. go BMW!!

hey LEA69 care to share that contact with me for parts in singapore too? i might be going back at the end of the year.

[LEA69]

hey amberzombie! make sure u bargain & dont be so kiasu! Shop owners know when you want something, especially when it comes to BMW parts, same as everywhere else, you own a BMW, you pay 10x the price even for a replica!

[ed-320d]

I used to live in Singapore too. I visiting the country after Xmas. LEA69, Can you please PM the parts info too.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Welcome to the forum mate, it's a pain how expensive cars are over in Singapore, but i guess that's part of the price you pay to live in probably the cleanest country in the world. Oh, i forgot to mention the tax rate there isn't bad either.

[henry2703]

The direct tax isn't that bad.. yep....

If you put in the indirect taxes.. we are probably on par, with half the benefits you guys gets across the ocean.

__________________________

There isn't too many mercedes in Singapore... If i have my way, I would have gotten the C 200! unfortunately wife likes the 320 much much better...

___________________________

Hey i would be glad to take anyone heading here for shopping if you are interested... just PM me... would be nice to meet up for a beer or something at least.

cheers,
Henry

[LEA69]

The odd mercs you get in Singapore are either limo taxis or owned by Ah bengs!!

[astra]

Originally Posted by henry2703

If you put in the indirect taxes.. we are probably on par, with half the benefits you guys gets across the ocean.

Benifits, woot!

Handouts galore from centerlink for whoever pops out the most babies!

Oh, and when the winner gets their handout, i sugest they go spend it on coke and cigaretes...

*sigh*

I'll shoot myself if labuor gets in

[amberzombie]

i wouldn't call rising house prices in conjunction with a rising interest rate a "benefit" unless my last name is Costello (first name not Elvis).

but you know what... after all that's said and done... at the end of the day WE here on the forum just brush off the rising interest rates and buy our beemers still. that DOES really say something about the Australian economy in my opinion. either that or we're REALLY REALLY bad with our personal financial decisions AHHAHAHAHA

[1q2w3e4r]

Originally Posted by amberzombie

i wouldn't call rising house prices in conjunction with a rising interest rate a "benefit" unless my last name is Costello (first name not Elvis).

but you know what... after all that's said and done... at the end of the day WE here on the forum just brush off the rising interest rates and buy our beemers still. that DOES really say something about the Australian economy in my opinion. either that or we're REALLY REALLY bad with our personal financial decisions AHHAHAHAHA

Unless you pay cash for everything your contributing to the increasing pressure pushing interest rates upward

But you already knew that! Cut up the credit cards!

[henry2703]

Originally Posted by LEA69

The odd mercs you get in Singapore are either limo taxis or owned by Ah bengs!!

NO LAH.... some of the mercs drivers are getting younger and younger with the launch of the New A, B and C class lah!

hahhah...

[henry2703]

Originally Posted by amberzombie

i wouldn't call rising house prices in conjunction with a rising interest rate a "benefit" unless my last name is Costello (first name not Elvis).

but you know what... after all that's said and done... at the end of the day WE here on the forum just brush off the rising interest rates and buy our beemers still. that DOES really say something about the Australian economy in my opinion. either that or we're REALLY REALLY bad with our personal financial decisions AHHAHAHAHA

unfortunately, rising house prices and rising interest rate is call market movement, and inflation. Good thing is, Australia's economy is supported by a borad comodity base. So It is looking better than most other countries. (sorry... occupational hazard of a fund manager)

Tax is, when a E90 320 is worth about SGD $ 43k, and the government tax another 250% on it. And on top of that, you need to pay another $20k to the government if you wish to own a car in singapore. That is not all, registration tax for a 320 is about SGD $1450 per year. And despite the fact that 50% of the petrol in the world is refined out of the facilities in Singapore, we are paying SGD $2 for the 98 oct petrol.

BTW, my apartment in south bank with 3 bedroom is worth AUD $500k..... in Singapore, the same size apartment so near the city would set me back about SGD $ 3 to 4 million in today's prices.

FYI, SGD to AUD conversion is about AUD 1 = SGD 1.3

So.... in comparison, costello is doing a pretty good job... considering, anyone who is interested to work in Australia is working now... unemployment is at its lowest in the last 20 years... .

[henry2703]

Originally Posted by 1q2w3e4r

Unless you pay cash for everything your contributing to the increasing pressure pushing interest rates upward

But you already knew that! Cut up the credit cards!

rising interest rates is a function of too much money chasing too little things in the market... i don't think it helps if youa re paying cash for everything... but that is OT.. so i will stop here... otherwise i can go on forever.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Who cares what's happening, if you can see something moving, such as interest rates moving up, real property prices dropping, simply use your head and position yourself to profit out of it. It's not rocket science.
Property prices are a simple function of interest rates, look at commercial for a guide, the value is a function of the cash flows discounted by the cost of funds borrowed to purchase the property, the cost of funds goes up the value of the property drops. The same will happen to residential property, just look at the multiples, aust property is overcooked and has only 1 way to go.... down.

[e93]

Originally Posted by BMW //MPOWER

Who cares what's happening, if you can see something moving, such as interest rates moving up, real property prices dropping, simply use your head and position yourself to profit out of it. It's not rocket science.
Property prices are a simple function of interest rates, look at commercial for a guide, the value is a function of the cash flows discounted by the cost of funds borrowed to purchase the property, the cost of funds goes up the value of the property drops. The same will happen to residential property, just look at the multiples, aust property is overcooked and has only 1 way to go.... down.

Disagree - property is overcooked in the mortgage belt suburbs which represent about 20% of the market. Eastern suburbs grew 23% last 12 months. Northern Beaches 20%. Queensland, Victoria and NT all recording consistent growth. Higher rates force rents up- Higher rents eventually attract more investors. More investors push prices UP. Happy to wager a bet right now that average property prices overall are higher 12 months from now!

[BMW //MPOWER]

Originally Posted by e93

Disagree - property is overcooked in the mortgage belt suburbs which represent about 20% of the market. Eastern suburbs grew 23% last 12 months. Northern Beaches 20%. Queensland, Victoria and NT all recording consistent growth. Higher rates force rents up- Higher rents eventually attract more investors. More investors push prices UP. Happy to wager a bet right now that average property prices overall are higher 12 months from now!

In the years leading upto 2004 we saw growth in the order of 30+% p.a. which is simply put, unsustainable. What we are going to see going forward is slow growth over the next 4 years in the range of sub 10% as a max, which when translated into real terms and so on, is actually negative real growth. What we are really looking at is the biggest property bubble in history, australian property on an international scale is the most expensive in the world. If you look at median house prices as a multiple of median household income australian property overall is at 6x and in sydney it is around 10x which is utterly insane, considering the US has just gone into total meltdown once it nudged 4x and is now sitting around 3.4x.

The other point you missed is that the bottom end of the market, the mortgage belt areas actually support the rest of the market bar the top end which is immune, hence any major event in the mortgage belts will echo through the other suburbs, think of it like a wave of water coming towards you, this is the exact phenomena that's happened in the US also. e.g. Who is going to pay 1mil for a property 10kms from syd, when only another few k's down the road an identical property is around 60% of the cost? The movements in the mortgage belt are the best early indicators of the pressure which will be experienced across the general market.

The australian mentality with property is the only asset class that exists is abysmal and people are going to get burned pure and simple. I understand this is partly to do with a lack of financial literacy compared to other countries and a great lack of share ownership along with other investments.

Also, my other comment was in reference to commercial property which is actually how they are priced as large commercial premesis (50mil+) are generally on fixed leases and so on, where you will actually see property values drop as debt cost rise. Simply look at the unit values of commercial property trusts over the interest rate cycle if you require emperical evidence.

[e93]

The same economic cycle has repeated itself over and over - and its going to keep doing it! All markets ebb and flow over time. Property, like all other asset classes will continue to grow in value. Thats life!