Japanese and European Marques

As we know more and more Japanese car are now design and produced to target towards high end users, and at the same time to compete with the well known European cars.

Recently Volvo introduced a new facelifted S40 2.4i, which costs less than a Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, both 2.4. The Japanese cars cost above RM 170k, whereas the well-known safest car Volvo S40 2.4i costs less than both the Jap marques.

So if you are capable of buying these cars, which one is your prefer choice? Why?

For me I think I will still go for the continental car because:
1. Safety issue
2. Cost
3. Maintenance
4. Luxurious
5. Status

For these 5 points, I will definitely go for the Conti car. Except pt 3, which I think most of you would argue about, let me tell you my finding here. It is true each time Volvo servicing would costs close to or slightly above RM 1k, but that's in the interval of 20,000km, whereas Japanese car servicing interval is in the region of 5,000 km to 8,000 km, and each time the servicing costs would amounted to around RM 600 to RM 800. So for the same distance done, and maintenance packages offered, how could we says Volvo maintenance costs more than Japanese marques?

I am currently driving one of the "old" conti car, and true enough the maintenance costs would be higher now than those Japanese cars, but we all know all cars are subjected to wear and tear, and if a normal good maintenance and keeping of car is being done, I don't think there will be any different for either ones.

Besides, this shows Volvo is trying to penetrate Malaysia market, and with its current model, design, feature offered and price tag, I believe there will be more people choosing Volvo over Japanese cars. The only downside for Volvo is the resale value, which will approximately be halved each time you sell.