Steady Footing With The R350

HERE'S an interesting tidbit from Datuk Michael Tio, the managing director and group chief executive officer of PKT Logistics Group.

According to this 41-year-old father of two who started life as a used car dealer at the age of 18, a car is very often an extension of one’s personality.

Say, if you drive a Mercedes, high chances are that you may be a stable, consistent and conservative character with a corporate outlook.

If you prefer a BMW, then you’re most probably one of those ambitious but fun-loving types.

To satisfy your curiosity, Tio has been driving a Mercedes R350 for the past three years and incidentally, the car that will ultimately turn him on is not the one which has the most kick or power but one that will offer value for money and good resale prospects.

It is such consistent traits that have put Tio at the helm of PKT Logistics which offers total transport solutions not only for fast moving consumer goods but for CKD vehicles and automotive parts for manufacturers and assemblers in the Asian region.

Another advice from Tio is to never buy a car from a smoker who has no qualms about lighting up at the wheel. People who smoke while driving, maintains this anti-nicotine crusader, is obviously not too particular about car care as evidenced by the burn marks and stinky interiors.

As for the best candidates to buy a second car from, it is the ladies who win hands down because they are most likely to send their cars in for service on time. In addition to being high scorers in the hygiene department, they are less likely to go into hard shoulders causing less wear and tear.

Tio is not blowing hot air here. Long before he started the automotive logistics division in PKT, a venture which he described as a "high volume game", Tio has been wheeling and dealing in luxury cars from his days as an accounting student in the University of Hull in Britain.

“The first car I bought while in college was a Mercedes 230E from an old couple. They were pretty worried because I had a baby face then and looked much younger than 18. When they asked me where I got the money, I had to tell them I was buying it for my father. Then when I got into the car, they had to teach me how to drive it because I didn’t know how to operate an auto transmission,” recalled Tio.

Being a car dealer made Tio a popular guy at school as at any one time, he’d have a Panther 3.6, BMW 735 or a Mercedes 300SE in the parking lot.

Delving into his past experience, Tio revealed that he has always found Mercedes cars durable while the most complaints came from the Jaguar owners. The BMWs, after a certain mileage, had electronic issues. This was during the 1980s and Tio recalled that this was a time when the British car dealers had yet to iron out their communication strategies with their Chinese buyers. In came Tio who argued for his brethren whenever there were complaints about imperfect gearboxes that made the cars jerk in the second and third gears, a common problem at that time.

“This was my form of customer service and most of the time we negotiated on repair bills with the buyers and bore the costs,” he said.

Ironically, the car dealing venture that would pave the way for his future nearly got him into trouble. The stress caused Tio to fall asleep at the wheel during a trip from Hull to London and he nearly collided head on with a lorry.

Though those used car dealer days are over, Tio still has a pressing dilemma concerning the current love of his life, his gold R350 (the other is his wife’s Peugeot 308 Turbo).

“I’ve had this MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) for the past three years now and it’s time for a change but I just don’t know what to settle for next. The R350 has such a strong presence and till today it is turning heads,” said Tio.

Man and machine found each other when this freight forwarder was looking for a mode of transport that could accommodate his two children, their comics, their minder, his father-in-law and husband and wife.

There was some fierce competition with an S-Class along the way but good old fashioned Teochew sensibility prevailed as Tio weighed the pros and cons.

“For a 3,500cc engine, the R-Series was definitely more value for money as it can seat more passengers. I also like the big front grille,” said Tio.

The only gripe that Tio has is on the lack of after sales service when it comes to his ride, namely in the spare parts department. A brush with faulty electronics in the auto door of the booth of his R350 saw Tio going back to the workshop not once but three times!

“They told me that they had no stock in hand and a replacement part would take a week to arrive,” he said.

Tio is one of those doting owners who will not hesitate to replace a driver the moment he suspects that they are trashing his car.

“I don’t like the drive-fast-and-then-brake style. It makes me feel very disturbed because I can feel the engine transmission suffering from all that work. At the end of the day, I can feel its exhaustion,” he said.

Tio’s driver, Mat Noor, who is in his mid-40s knows this well and both work to make each journey in the R350 a pleasant drive.

“We work as a team,” said Tio, who always makes it a point to sit in front with Mat Noor.

Story and pictures by Grace Chen

Published in CBT (Cars, Bikes and Trucks-NST)