If you want to buy a car, look beyond cost of parts and resale value

Hi Baraza-JM-Not-Jimmy,

I read your article on the merits of buying a Nissan Bluebird over the Toyota NZE and found your argument on the economics very sound.

As such, I would like to support your reasoning.

The alternative to buying a car is leasing one, except that the owner has some operating costs that must be factored in.

I bought an ex-Japan Mazda almost 10 years ago. It cost Sh600,000, all costs inclusive, compared to a similar Toyota model that cost roughly Sh800,000.

I have added roughly 60,000km to its mileage and ensured it is serviced regularly. The maintenance costs have been quite low as I have changed the shocks, tyres, battery and brakes only once.

I bought original Mazda parts as the second-hand Mazda market was virtually non-existent. I could afford to have third-party insurance and park it anywhere without fear that it might get stolen!

If I were to write off the car today, I would take Sh600,000, plus, say, Sh60,000 in parts and Sh60,000 insurance, and divide these by 10 years and have the alternative to leasing costs of Sh72,000 per year, or less than Sh200 per day. I would probably receive Sh250,000 if I sold it in its present condition.

However, the Sh600,000 paid 10 years ago is probably worth Sh1.2 million today after inflation, so the Sh250,000 is worth just half, if we strip inflation from our equation.

My point is that too many people get engrossed in what the car would fetch in the secondary market over the true economic cost of the alternative to leasing (opportunity cost).

The secondary market value might be affected by all sorts of vagaries, including, but not limited to, accidents, inflation, sub-standard spares (a Toyota problem) and theft.

I also agree that the Nissan Bluebird is a marvelous car with a large boot and huge rear seating space.

I rented one for a safari and it posted close to 18km/l; not bad at all! It might have been designed for the Ugandan male market, like the Toyota Carina. I cannot elaborate my colourful hypothesis in your family-friendly space.

Hassan.

This, my friend, is why I read every email that comes my way. I might not necessarily respond to all of them, but I do read them all, and all in the hope that I might at one point come across a gem such as this.

What logic! What sense! You seem to have noticed the same thing I did in Kenyans: their warped sense of priority and their single-mindedness in trying to save a shilling wherever possible.

The result is that we tend to go overboard in our thriftiness and the outcome is absurd to any observant third parties. Whenever a person is buying a car, the first thought on his/her mind is “what will it cost me and how much will I sell it for?” The second thought, invariably, is: “Is it a Toyota?”

How about we focus on the car itself, the value it brings to our lives and the benefits it affords us?

This is the point where the car buff in me comes out, and I will say something a motoring hack never should: a car is a car. Never mind the fun I poke at some or the ruthless lashing I mete on others; at the end of the day, learn to appreciate what you have. Think about the reason you bought the car in the first place (besides as a tangible investment to be redeemed in the future once the dollar value of the Kenya shilling goes wonky or when your spouse insists the kids should go to an overpriced educational institute and you lack the wherewithal to support this whim but you cannot say no without looking like a proper bastard).

The car is a means of transportation. The car is a pod in which to get away from the outside world, a channel for some enjoyment, however ephemeral it may be. In some situations, the car is an extension of the family.

That is why my shoulders slump every time I get an email asking about “maintenance, consumption and spares”. Is this all that we see in a car? A money pit, a bottomless chasm into which disposable incomes go without ever coming out? If these things bother you, why not take the bus?

FUEL CONSUMPTION

You will never hear a bus conductor asking you to pay for spares, or maintenance, or to compensate for the driver’s heavy foot.

You might have noticed that some questions I answer passionately while some I just skim through the response in a hurry to get to the next one. That is because — how do I say this without coming off as a snob — it is tiring to repeat the same thing day in, day out.

What is the difference in fuel consumption between a Sylphy and a Corolla (None!). What is the difference in parts costs between a Premio and an Allion (None!). Between a CRV and a RAV4, which one makes sense (They both do, close your eyes and pick one!).

Four years of repeatedly answering these frankly pointless questions has led to slumping my shoulders so much, my posture is slowly but surely assuming the form of a question mark.

Then there are those questions that are bang on; questions asked by people who know exactly what they are asking and thus get an answer written by someone in his element.

Remember my recent GTR write-up? It came from the petrolhead within me; I relived every single second of that hot lap, I loved driving the car and when asked to describe how it was, I equally loved writing about the experience. That is the kind of query I like. If we discuss performance cars, I’d rather you asked what it is like to drive, how fast it is, or what  it handles like... don’t ask me how much you will sell it for before the next General Election or if the parts are expensive, because they are. Comparing white goods against each other is an exercise in futility. While impertinence breeds impatience, relevance will get you everywhere.

Your calculation just goes to show how little Kenyans in general think, no matter how long and how hard I rant here. Your calculation also shows that it doesn’t really matter what car you buy; what matters is what you do with it and how well you take care of it.

I know of people who own and drive reputably “unreliable” cars but have never done anything more than replace consumables and perform the requisite service at the right interval, and those cars run like clockwork.

I know of others who drive Toyotas that spend three days a week at the garage, two days on the road and two days parked at home. People spend anything from Sh600,000 upwards buying a car, so what is this about “cost of spares” that worries them so much?

So maybe the control arm of a Mazda Demio costs Sh8,500 while that of a Toyota Passo perhaps costs Sh6,000: does this mean that you will buy the Passo? If you are spending half a million shillings on a car, what is Sh2,500 here or there?

And how often do you plan to break your control arms anyway?

The Demio is the better car, no doubt about it; but buying the Passo because it has cheaper control arms beats sense. However, that is the Kenyan mindset.

TOYOTA CARS

Speaking of Toyotas: of the two factions I discussed, I would lean towards the second. Used Toyotas are a rip-off, especially if it comes with an “ex-Japan” label.

These cars are supposed to be dirt cheap, but when demand soars, dealer mark-ups reach for the stratosphere too. When the dealers’ demands go up following client demand, the suppliers in Japan will not sit by and watch money fly out of the window; they, too, will raise the prices accordingly.

Toyota models notorious for this are the first-generation iST, the RunX/Allex and the Premio. Mark IIs used to cost a lot but once their notoriety on the fuel economy front reared its head, you can now get a good (lightly used) example for the same money it costs to buy an “ex-Japan” Passo.

They should all learn from you, Mr Hassan. There is more to a car’s worth than the cost of parts and resale value. Thank you for your very insightful message. Also, thank you for not calling me Jim(my).

*NB: the control arm prices quoted are strictly for demonstrative purposes, but you get my point.

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Hi,

Recently, I lost my job, and then my car, so things are tight. I need a small car for a hustle I want to start. Which car can I get for 100k?

Julia

Hi Julia,

My deepest sympathies for the dark turn your financial life has taken. It behoves me to be more circumspect than I will shortly be. However, there may be no gentler manner in which to break this news to you, so let me start with a proverb: “When it rains, it pours”.

Your recent economic difficulties have been further compounded by the fact that you will not get a reasonable deal for the kind of outlay you have in mind.

Safe bets nowadays start at at least twice the amount you quote.

Anything below that means you are dabbling in The Sinner’s passion; engaging in an exercise not entirely dissimilar to self-flagellation in that you will be punishing yourself willingly and knowingly but with no clear impetus to do so. “Hustle” is not a clear impetus.

A hundred grand will buy you a shell of a small car. Yes, a shell. There most likely will be no engine to speak of, and the same goes for the transmission. You will be lucky if it has wheels and suspension. There probably will be a family of rats living in the dashboard and a small crop of potatoes eking out an existence somewhere in the boot. Don’t even get me started on the interior....

You will not be buying a car; you will be buying a depression-generator and a money pit. The amount of cash you will put into getting the car even remotely close to what the manufacturer planned will suffice to buy another car in much better condition. Nobody sells a working vehicle at 100 grand nowadays, unless;

(1) the vehicle has recently been TWOCCed (Taken Without Owner’s Consent) and the police are hot on its trail, so the TWOCCer is trying to salvage what for him is a rapidly degenerating situation by getting some money out of it; or

(2) it is a working 1970s Volkswagen Beetle with a huge hole on the floor that admits rain water from below during the rainy season and threatens to drop the driver or passenger onto the road should they make the mistake of having a heavy lunch.

A car at 100 grand is not a good investment. Your current status as a “hustler” precludes your making a bad investment. Sensible decisions are what you need to dwell on, and buying a car at 100 grand does not constitute a­­ sensible decision.

Double the amount then let us have another council-of-war, I will have a better prognosis for you then.

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Hello Barasa,

I have some questions on VVTi engines

1) What is a Dual VVTi and what is the difference between it and the normal VVTi?

2) Is it possible for a car with a dual VVTi, 1,800cc engine to perform at between 15-16km/litre of gasoline.

3) What are merits and the demerits of a dual VVTi engine over the normal VVTi?

David.

David, since you’v e asked about Dual VVTi is, I assume you already know what VVTi is (Variable Valve Timing with Intelligence) and how it works (by adjusting the valve timing to optimise engine activity for economy below a certain engine speed and for performance above that threshold).

1. The main difference between VVTi and Dual VVTi is that VVTi technology adjusts the timing of the intake valves only while Dual VVTi adjusts both intake and exhaust valves (double-acting). In both cases, the camshaft has two profiles for the intake valves: the economy profile (below 6,000rpm or thereabouts) and the performance profile (above 6,000rpm). When the VVTi “kicks in”, oil pressure is exerted on an actuator that shifts the camshaft slightly, engaging the “performance” setting.

With Dual VVTi, the same thing happens, the difference is that this time the exhaust valves too are involved, i.e the camshaft has two profiles each for both intake and exhaust. Dual VVTi also minimises the start/stop compression pressures by adjusting the overlap sequences between intake and exhaust valves, making the process almost imperceptible — you might have noticed in not-so-advanced cars that starting and stopping the engine involves a small “tremor”: this tremor is well-nigh eliminated in Dual VVTi engines, which explains why Lexus cars and high-end Toyotas are so smooth to operate.

The ability to simultaneously open both intake and exhaust valves also allows for maximum scavenging of intra-cylinder charge, allowing very high rpm operation and thus liberating tremendous amounts of power from the same engine that boasts impressive low-end torque.

2. Yes. After all, the whole concept behind the variable valve timing procedure is to enhance fuel economy without the need to sacrifice cubic inches or engine output.

3. Merits: as stated earlier, with Dual VVTi the engine is very smooth, and it is possible to eke out even more miles for every gallon of fuel used. Demerits: a more complex engine. It might not necessarily be more prone to failure, but simple jobs such as head removal and/or overhauls are made a little trickier and require a little more caution.

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Friends, I may have said last week that I do not know of the existence of any documentation expressly declaring whether or not double-cab pick-ups qualify for commercial vehicle status.

Now I know that such documentation does exist, ratified by the President himself and published in the Kenya Gazette Special Issue of December 31, 2014, Legal Notice No. 180, which affects Cap. 403 of the Traffic Act.

It unequivocally states that double-cabin pick-ups are classified as private rather than commercial vehicles, and are, therefore, not subject to the provisions of payment of advance tax and inspection. I guess that means goodbye chevrons, goodbye inspection stickers, goodbye 80km/h and goodbye TLB....

Does TLB still exist?