As with ANY car, look at it on it's own merits. There's plenty of NZ new cars that are piles of crap, and I don't trust Kiwis to look after them properly, unless they're an enthusiast etc... and even then - you still need to make your OWN assessment.
I know NONE of my lease cars were serviced as the book said to.
Most of the Singapore stories are myths, made by dealers trying to sell you a jap import or NZ new one "they happen to have in stock".
Same with most of the Jap import stories - most of them are from people who brought from a dodgy dealer, or brought on price, not real condition. Not that many really nice cars are sold new in NZ, so you need to bare in mind MOST are imports, so there will always be more stories, and the types of dealers selling them are in it for the money, so buying the cheapest car they can get, for the most profit. It's just how it works.
Northland and Auckland regularly have similar humidity to singapore (high!), AND we hit dew point more often - potentially worse!
Most of the wiring issues are from the manufacturing of the wiring - Just like the plastic cooling system parts, the wiring uses recycled plastic to meet the German requirements. Also, they use things like soy and other oils, rather good, old fashioned nasty petroleum based plastics. It's a worldwide thing, but anywhere that gets hotish (including cars sitting on Aucklands carparks/motorways) suffer from. Google wiring problems, and you'll see MANY brands have the issue, and it's all over the place. They Mid 90's was a REALLY bad time for mercedes wiring - you could literally powder some parts of the insulation in your hand!
I had a Singapore import BMW E39 for years and my best friend had a NZ New version. They both had all the same issues - rubber bits going brittle and wire insulation going brittle where they were exposed to heat. They are all standard issues that happen everywhere, eventually. I never had a wiring issue, though he had the insulation fails at the thermostat and either cam or crank sensors. I had the ABS module fail, but that's super common E39. Plastic engine bay parts disintegrated at times, on both.
My wife and I have smilar Age VW Tourans, hers Japanese imported, and mine NZ New. They have similar issues too - my door cards are fallingaprt - hers are fine. Her eadlining has sagged, mine is a little loose just in one corner. Both have had plastic coolant fitting changed, because they looked brown and brittle (preventative).
Maybe if you live in Norway, there less effect from the heat :-D
I would include the cars origin as a factor in my decision, but certainly not base the decision on it entirely.
