Thread: Cars are so expensive in Thailand!

^ looks like they have been playing about with/updating the website over the last hour or so, not so smooth...

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

Nice, but why not this colour?

Because I like the one I got.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

why not this colour?

metallic piss..?

^ kinky bastard...

Originally Posted by Humbert

My wife wants one of these Hyundai Tucsons. I think they cost around 1.8 mil. Anybody have any experience with Hyundai in Thailand?

No experience in Thailand Humbert, but did have a saloon Hyundai in the Uk (secondhand). In my view they are cheap and nasty toys, not built to last and probably the value will depreciate fast here similar to that in the UK.

The exterior finish was poor and didn't suffer the winter climate in the UK very well. They may have upped their game since the late 90's but pesonally from past experience i would be looking elsewhere for a more durable vehicle.

^ I agree.

Maybe things have changed, but I had 2 experiences:

1) A hire car for a week while my company car was in for acccident repair. It was the worse car I've ever driven. The build quality and general feel were awful.

2) When I lived in Mongolia, I was friends with some Korean diplomats who had to use the embassy Korean 4x4s. Anytime they went out of the city they borrowed Japanese cars from the Japanese embassy because the Hyundai broke down all the time. The Mongolian climate is harsh.

Neither of these incidents were recent, so I'm sure they've upped their game, but the Japanese, European and American car manufacturers have also been upping their game...

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

The Chevrolet range has stepped up their game this year

Not much better than Hyundai. Both look good, but are poor vehicles when compared with other manufacturers.

^ that is the issue. I saw a few months back the worst 5 cars sold in America according to customer surveys; Chevrolet had three in there (including the Avei)!

Not apopular choice in Thailand.

Good to hear it has come down to its correct price.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

judging by the way I've seen them aggressively driven - taking great joy in driving slowly as they tailgate me,

Have you seen them here? I thought they hadn't been released yet...

Originally Posted by madjbs

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

judging by the way I've seen them aggressively driven - taking great joy in driving slowly as they tailgate me,

Have you seen them here? I thought they hadn't been released yet...

He's almost certainly talking about the Captiva.

^ no I'm not. I've seen 2; they look good.

Based on current annual new car sales, how long before the market is saturated and prices start to get more realistic?

In UK just over 31m registered (2010) Number of cars declines for the first time since Second World War - Telegraph

In Thailand just under 27m (2009) How Many Cars are on the Road? | Cat & Nat

Figures are surprisingly similar for an equally similar population size.

In 2000 there were only 20.6m vehicles on the roads in Thailand. The number of motorcycles was 12.9m at that time.
I doubt the percentage of motorcycles in UK is quite as high as it is here.

http://www.un.org/esa/gite/iandm/viroatpaper.pdf

In the UK in 2010 there were 1.3m motorcycles registered. Number of Motorcycles on the Rise on UK Roads

It's OK guys, I enjoy talking to meself.

^ first sign of madness...

There seem to be enough cars on Thai roads to say the least... Everybody seems to have a car or 2; this is not a poor country...

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

^ no I'm not. I've seen 2; they look good.

Spoilt for choice!

A Daewoo Captiva or a crappy Chevy Fortuna...

^ the Trailblazer looked nice, not sure about the build quality...

Today at Honda, they said a new CRV will be out by the end of the year; if it's a bot more 'manly' than the current one, it might be nice.

I got these pics of the net, if this is it then Honda have managed to fuk up the Civic and CRV...





Same shite technology too... Honda seemed to have really lost the plot with these pretend new cars; same gearboxes and engines, hardly any other technology or interesting advance, horrible looks... Shame, I liked Honda, but many other manufacturers (such as Ford) are actually moving forward, seemingly not Honda - the engine and gear boxes of these cars are 3 years, at least, out of date...

The CRV has been slowly morphing into a station wagon (which I believe you Limeys call an 'estate') over the last ten years.

Honda and Toyota seem to be behind most of the Euro manufacturers nowadays. When was the last time they won a Car of the Year award?

Then again, they seem to be designing ugly things to compete in the US market, so they don't really need to push themselves too hard.

^ the new Civic we get here is the US version, Honda haven't bothered to make an Asian version this time around - that may be why it's crap; but same out-dated engine and gearbox is a shame; Toyota, Ford and Mitsubisi moved forward to 6 and 7 gears a couple of years ago (even Chevrolet are moving forward with looks, gearbox and engines); come on Honda...

Estates are not popular anymore, but if they are gonna make an estate then make an estate not some girly looking horrible thing made from out-dated parts... If Toyota bring out some good cars this year, and the Koreans keep improving then Honda will quickly lose their spot as the number 1 (boring) reliable decent technology cars.