My personal opinion is that one must earn at least $6k net take home monthly (about $7k before CPF) to comfortably own a small jap car (say corolla) without having to sacrifice the quality of life in other areas.

Therefore $3040 is definitely not alot. Since it is not alot, why is it in the newspapers? My wild guess is that it is a SMU advertisement. Why the chicken rice seller earning $3k to $10k per month not in newspapers?