Mercedes-Benz has always been a brand close to my heart. My family has had many different generations of Mercedes since the early 1990s. My father's first Mercedes was a W126 280SE in which he bought second hand. He upgraded to the same model in 300SE engine form after a couple of years. Unfortunately, I did not get to enjoy the ride in the car as I wasn't born yet. In 1996, my father's business took off as the global economy was booming. With more excess money in the bank, he went to purchase a brand new Mercedes W140 S280 in silver metallic color from Cycle & Carriage. It was the first Mercedes I had ever sat in. The purchase price of the brand new S-Class was close to RM400k with insurance and road tax, which was equivalent to the price of a semi-D in a prime area back in the day. In 2002, my father traded in the W140 for a W211 E240 Elegance spec in metallic blue color. He pre-ordered the car with Cycle & Carriage in mid of 2002 and waited for close to a year. The price for the E240 was RM428k.
Later in 2008, my father purchased a pre-registered W204 C200 Kompressor from Cycle & Carriage. It came in Avantgarde spec with brown leather seats. As it was a demo car, we got it for about RM30k cheaper at around RM230k. Unfortunately, it was met with a major accident when my brother drove it on the NPE highway. The suspension of the car was badly damaged due to the incident. Since then, the car did not feel the same anymore. In 2011, we traded it in for a recond UK spec Mercedes-Benz W212 E250 Avantgarde which came in obsidian black metallic color. We only had it for 2 years before trading it in for an Audi A6 Hybrid (Oolong Grey Color).
When I came back from the United States in 2016, my father purchased a Mercedes A250 for me as a graduation gift. It was a pre-owned year 2014 car with the color of polar silver metallic in AMG spec. The mileage was around 11,000 km only. As of 17 June 2020, the car had a mileage of 51,000 km. It is undoubtedly one of the best performance cars I've driven.
Since starting my first job, I've bought over 5 used Mercedes.
1st Purchase: Mercedes-Benz S350 2003 Japan Spec *SOLD*
2nd Purchase: Mercedes-Benz S280 1997 (Cycle & Carriage Spec) *SOLD*
3rd Purchase: Mercedes-Benz 300E 1986 UK Spec *SOLD*
4th Purchase: Mercedes-Benz S280 2004 (Cycle & Carriage Spec)
5th Purchase: Mercedes-Benz S320L 1995 (Cycle & Carriage Spec)
Mini Cooper S R56 Year 2007 Car Ownership Jan 2017 -
In the late of October 2016, I landed myself a job as a management trainee in TNT Express. After a few months of employment, I decided it was wise to reward myself with one of my dream cars, a Mini Cooper S. I went searching around online for several weeks and got to view several Minis that I had filtered in my shopping list. During the third or fourth week, an ad in Mudah.my caught my eye. It was a Mini Cooper S R56 listed for sale by a used car dealer in Cheras. Immediately, I booked an appointment with one of the salespeople to view the car the next day.
It was a fully-imported R56 model from Oxford, U.K.,which was brought into Malaysia by Auto Bavaria in 2007. The exterior color was sparkling silver with a black roof on top while the interior came with cream beige nappa leather seats. It had a 143,000 km mileage on it at the time of my purchase. It had the classic Mini speedometer in the middle which is one of my favorite Mini iconic designs. After a short test drive session, I decided to put a 10% downpayment on the car with 90% loan from Public Bank. The car's price was RM56,000, so after adding insurance and processing fee was RM60,000 on the road for the Mini. It came with a 1 year smart warranty. After bringing the car back home, I decided to name the car Mr. Sparkle due to its sparkling silver color.
Long story short, the car had many mechanical issues. I admit that I did not do enough research on the R56 pre-facelift's prince engines, which were plagued with many issues. The main issue that annoyed me the most was the 6 speed gearbox, which had trouble shifting from 3rd gear to 4th gear occasionally. Undoubtedly, the car's performance was lightning fast which never failed to amaze me when I stepped on the throttle. Handling was superb as well, I can drive it like a go kart through heavy traffic. For the gearbox repair, I spent about RM4,500 even after claiming the third-party warranty. The total repair bill in the invoice shown was close to RM10,000 for the gearbox. The other issue was the steering lock ECU, which costed me about RM1.5k to replace. Moreover, there were a lot of oil leaks from the engine's valve cover, which costed me a bomb to repair. Mr Sparkle was one of the earlier batches of R56, which I believed it was why the car had so many problems.
After two years of ownership, I realized that no matter how much I liked Mr. Sparkle, it was a money pit machine which would had continued to cost me lots of money. Thus, I decided to say goodbye to Mr. Sparkle. I sold it for RM50,000 cash through Mudah.my to a middle-aged Malay couple from Kelantan. They flew all the way from Kota Bahru to KL to purchase the car. Thankfully, they managed to drive the car back to Kelantan without any issues.
Mr Sparkle, you will be in fond memory as you were the first class that I bought with my hard-earned money.
Greetings from Michigan (25 Dec 2013)
Greetings from Michigan!
The winter weather in Michigan has been a challenge for me. As I had been used to the tropical climate back in Malaysia, I have trouble coping with the freezing weather here. I wasn't prepared for this!
We rented a Dodge MPV.
Right after the break, there are some pictures of some awesome food.
New phone for 2014 (24 December 2013)
I have been using my Samsung Galaxy S4 for several months now. Since I have arrived in U.S., I decided to get myself a new smartphone a new U.S. number. I went to AT&T to check out what they had to offer and saw the Motorola G. It is the latest smartphone in the market which has many different types of customization to choose from. However, the screen was two times smaller than my S4. Also, the specification of the Motorola G was not in par with the S4.
Then, I saw the iPhone 5S. It had been in the market for three months now. But the gold color and specification are very appealing to me. The last iPhone I had used was the iPhone 4 and I had a iPhone 3G before that. iPhone are very good smartphones, especially when it comes to the user interface. They have lots of features that gadget freaks like me need.
At the end, I got the iPhone 5S. Time to put my S4 to rest....
Regards.
Leaving Malaysia (18 Dec 2013)
December 18 2013,
It was the day that I had to leave my home country because I had to go to the States for my degree.
Message to my family: I will put all my effort into my studies to achieve my goals. I will make you proud of me!
Regards,
Thom.
iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S Unveiled (11 Sept 2013)
Apple has just officially unveiled their new smartphones today at 10 September 2013. The major technology breakthrough of the new iPhone is the feature of fingerprint scanner which is available in the iPhone 5S. Besides that, there is the 64-bit processor and slow-motion camera which are only available for the iPhone 5S.
On the other hand, iPhone 5C is a smartphone whose main targets are the youth. It is one of the best-looking colored smartphones yet in the smartphone market. The entire bodyshell is made up of high-quality polycarbonate. I have a Nokia Lumia 800 made out of polycarbonate and the color has faded. I'm uncertain about the quality of the iPhone 5C's polycarbonate plastics but I hope Apple will have something different to offer this time.
The new iOS 7 is one of the most beautiful user interface (UI) I've seen so far on a smartphone. It has bits of Android's interface but it has more contrast and color. Google, it's time to wake up!
My Galaxy S4 is still looking great so I won't change my phone for the time being. But people, if you're looking for a new gadget now, please get one of these beloved iPhones! In my opinion, get the iPhone 5S! It's the coolest gadget this summer!
Thom's Review:
iPhone 5C: 7/10
iPhone 5S: 8/10
Regards,
Thom.
Back to Earth!
Dear readers,
After a long break from my beloved blog, I will start blogging from today.
Regards,
Thom.
Supper at Boston; (8 June 2013)
Me and my gang were bored of ordinary supper in the Klang Valley. Without further consideration, we decided to have supper at a very popular Seafood restaurant in Klang at 2 a.m.
my first porsche experience; (17 October 2012)
my first porsche experience;
Today is the first time I've driven a Porsche along with my second elder brother. To make it even special, it is a rare Porsche 911 Turbo. Also, how often do you see a yellow Porsche around the town?
I drove it to a nearby petrol station.
My brother loves the car.
It is also our first time seeing the Mclaren MP4-12C.
How was it?
It was thrilling and simply awesome!
Regards,
Thomlee.
a new car in the house; (31 October 2012)
a new car in the house;
At 3 pm today, me, my bro and his friend Victor went to collect his new car at Ingress Auto, TTDI. Although it started raining when we were on the way, we look no further but our latest BMW. When we saw the car, my brother was so cheerful and lively. He finally gets a car after 3 months without a car.
I like the moment especially everyone is happy at the same time, it's a sight to behold!
Welcome to the family, sexy red beast BMW 328i.
Regards,
Thomlee.
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