Greetings to all!

I’ve just joined the forum from Singapore/South East Asia and recon I should probably tell you a bit about MB in my current domicile. I’ve seen that Rainmaker is relatively close by (Philippines), so he might be able to confirm some of the strange things that are going on here when it comes to cars.
Believe it or not, Singapore is the world’s most expensive country to own and operate a car. This is one of the reasons why you don’t see a lot of the big MBs (anything above E200, but still some S280 ) around. To give you an idea, a brand new E200 with standard fittings costs you S$ (Singapore $) 181,000, which is equal to about US$100,000 (Exchange rate is ~ 1US$=1.8S$). My own 1987 200T cost me ~US$42,200 about a year ago, and I can only drive it until 2011 (10 years total) before I will have to pay some more . On top of that, my annual road tax which is based on the capacity of the engine (in my case 2 liters) and the age of the car (the older the car the more you pay) comes to a whopping US$1,660 a year. Insurance is comparable to US prices, gas is about double the US price. On top of that we have to pay thru our nose for highway use, similar to road toll in the middle ages.

To check on some used car prices for yourself just visit the classifieds in our local daily at http://classified.asia1.com.sg/classified/Vehicles.html. FYI, abbreviations in these ads are: C&C is the only licensed MB dealer here, COE is a piece of paper that allows you to operate a car on the road for a maximum of 10 years, price for this COE is determined by open bidding, the more you bid the better the chances are you can put your car on the road, currently stands at >US$ 20,000 a piece.

Just for the heck of it, a new S600 will set you back more than US$560,000 (yes, over half million US$!), annual road tax will be around US$7,110.
Having stated that, I can only envy some of you guys with the big guns - no way I can afford this kinda car here and still be able to eat… But I love my 200T, which is considered a big car here, particularly when it comes to parking lots that are all made for ‘miniature’ Japanese cars .

But then again… Mercedes has a 10% market share in Singapore, making Singapore the country with the highest MB density in the world – go figure . MBs are a status symbol here, and ppl save whatever they can just for the ‘privilege’ to own one. I could tell many stories here, but you would probably find it totally absurd.

On a different note, Singapore used to be a British colony, hence we drive on the other (left) side of the road and our cars are RHD. Although I grew up LHD I’ve been here for almost eight years and have trouble adjusting back when I go back to LHD countries, kinda weird. That also brings me to a request: I’ve been looking high and low for a workshop or parts CD that includes the RHD 200T, but no luck so far. Could any of you, possibly the UK guys, help me out here with some info? Would be ‘quite marvelous, indeed’.

I should bring it to an end here, hope I didn’t bore the whiz out of you, cheers,

Frank

Btw, ‘franksgarage’ is not anything automotive related but stands for something called a start-up incubator that I’m involved in. Bill Gates started in a garage and made it big, so… (yeah, right).

Tell me about it!

Same thing in the philippines,Mercedes is a status symbol in that country its to expesive to own one unless you're rich.The good thing is you can have a choice if you want a US or Euro version.Some ppl use there MB for party's only and use japanese cars for daily commute.I was there for 5 years.What about AMG's are they expensive in singapore?

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96' E320

AMGs are very rare in Singapore, there are many wannabes though.....