steveromagnino

prepare a number of itemised bills and have this ready to present to the cops with a claim of charges resulting from damage the dog caused (all likely are circumstantial but gives you some leverage).

Indicate prior to this time via your wife to your neighbour that you plan to request damages as a result of her dog, because until now you were unaware that she was the owner of said dog.

you are very very unwise to make a false statement, that's a criminal offense and you could easily be caught telling it, especially with a witness.

I would strongly recommend you stick to the true version of your story. Indicate that you were reversing and the dog once again as it had repeatedly done in the past ran behind the car into your blind spot, you are unsure but may have heard a slight bump, and thought you might have tapped into the dog but were unaware and did not believe you had injured it significantly.

the reason why your wife is so angry, is because this type of thing is a little like cheating; as one of my family once said, "if you are going to cheat on your wife, then must know HOW to cheat" meaning that the appearance of respectability is almost as important in Thailand as the actual respectability. Your conduct for a Buddhist is reprehensible, and so your wife is definitely very angry at you for killing a living creature and you have forced some of that sin onto her now by sharing it with her. Now while SOME (ok a few) Thai people have no problem with poisoning, killing and otherwise worse for animals, the majority cannot and won't do this. Your wife sounds like a decent enough person; it's not the dog's fault it is badly behaved, it is the owner's.

So how to fix?

1. tell your wife you wish to go the temple or whatever you think will alleviate your mistake and show genuine remorse for killing the dog

2. avoid stating it 'deserved it' because everyone else was quite ok and could control their tempers

3. say to your wife you genuinely didn't know you killed it, and that you think that it is almost certain the dog had no owner but anyhow that the neighbour if they wish to be compensated should also compensate the neighbours for the damage it caused including your own cats

4. make sure that information is relayed to the owner in a polite way that you wish to go to the police and clear it up, but also that you wish to ensure that the whole situation is cleared up

5. then go to the police and be ready in a worst case to admit hitting it but being unaware, and you may still need to pay - make sure your wife is already on your side and you know what is going on at all steps

Oh life in the sois, what joy. next time, jai yen yen (bloody hard I know if the dog tore your cats apart).

Ford is laughably useless in Thailand.

Even the sales guy at Ford said he has no idea what Ford Thailand will deliver them each shipment, and they could delayed delivery of my Ranger 4X until the last time they said they had no idea when they would be able to deliver or IF at all, and kept blaming the floods...except that I booked it AFTER the floods anyhow, so they should have known all this already at least approximately.

In the end had to give up; everyone told me dealing with Ford would be like that, and it totally was.

Nice cars,so it's pretty frustrating to not be able to buy anything from them.

There is another way. Spend peanuts on an older car that is going to get you your money back all day. Find a decent repair shop you can trust and spend 1 milion baht on wine women and song. The rest just waste!!

I bought an immaculate MB 500SEL with a new 3 litre Toyota vvvti 24 valve engine for less than a quarter mill. Its got wired in GPS, remote central locking. excellent stereo with mp3, parking sensors and all electric seats (including the back). It pulls 225bhp and petrol costs are low. The bodywork is immaculate. If I sell it in a couple of years I will get my money back. And in the meantime I have a fantastically fun car that I don't have to worry about.

Result!

My friend did this with a baby Benz 190e, and my Mini fits into this criteria (2nd hand but relatively by Thai expensive prices well priced). The only issue is if you want a car that is 100% reliable and for peace of mind, with the most recent innovations, then that means buying new or close to new. In my friend's case, it was a bit of a pain as it kept breaking down; for mine it meant fiddling around to get it how I wanted and dealing with wear and tear; it's there now but if I want to sell it that money to make it good is not factored into what it would sell for.

No right or wrong answer, but probably the middle ground (cars 4 - 8 years old) is where they are still dropping in value, but still cost closer to a new car - whereas an almost new car is almost as good as new, and an 8+ year old car (for some models) means it is already depreciated but still not ancient.

A few things (as a Thai)

The S5 for 1.9m is selling the downpayment only there is still finance to pay (ขายดาว Audi S5 V8 4.2 FSI quattro 4WD) the ดาว means downpayment. So expect it is more like 3m-5m likely with a bunch of payments to go.

I expect the TT 2012 is the same - there is no real reason why cars go super cheap on these sites; you tend to get what you pay for; a TT around 2008/9 is around 1.9m - 2.6m depending on options; a TTS or upgraded one (which that one is not) is more - also bear in mind 2012 for an Audi does not necessarily mean it is a real 2012; it might be:

2008 - imported 2012

2011 - first registered 2012

The CLA is a very nice looking car from certain angles, but they have squeezed a lot of car and curves into a small profile; that said it is probably going to grow on you as long as you are under 183cm tall as the driver (I am hitting the ceiling) and you an handle the dual clutch system; who knows maybe Benz will supply an improvement to it or maybe others don't mind it; VW has a dual clutch that actually works.

The thread about the 116i no one seems to specifically say anything about the ACS tune other than to comment on the price

ลองคิดดูเล่นๆนะครับ

116i + AC chip + จอยาว = 1,999,000+120,000+130,000 = 2,249,000 THB ก็ยังถูกกว่า ​​A250 ครับ

If you think for fun, the car plus the chip plus an idrive equivalent is a total of 2.25m so still cheaper than an A250

My personal addition to this, of course when you come to sell it, the chip is worthless.

AC Schnitzer in Thailand is part of the Millenium empire, so you might stand a chance of keeping BSI, however, I am skeptical of the numbers that suggest you can easily just ramp the motor up to 200HP on the fuel options here in Thailand as opposed to 98 octane petrol. And according to ACS they are VERY specific you need the higher octane rating for this tune.http://f20.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=763707&page=2

Also, in the past getting AC Schnitzer to provide the full range of services here locally could be tricky (they only provide some of the range of products) - I do not know if they provide this part or not. Again, could be down to the fuel.

Certainly the Prince engine in the Mini it's not so difficult to get the JCW variants up to those sorts of numbers.

Still seems a bit slow for some reason, apparently (according to a few links) the 116 is quite a tricky car to launch whereas the Scirocco and the Golf have the launch control system if you like doing drags. Seems to lose quite a bit from the flywheel to the road, and maybe the weight isn't helping as much as with the Mini given that it is around 150kg heavier than a Mini for much the same power.

http://preisliste.ac-schnitzer.de/acs_kpl/preisliste_ausgabe_motor_daten_engl.php?Modell=1er-F20/F21&Teile_Nr=110082380&ID_NR=10076

Always liked the look of the 1 series, but without starting with a 125 or a 135 then it's all a bit of fiddling around with a car that seems to be always destined to be a bit slow. Review doesn't seem so positive either

http://www.autoevolution.com/pdf/news_attachements/ac-schnitzer-bmw-116i-short-test-by-auto-bild-71227.pdf

328 with the right kit can certainly turn a few heads, nice looking machine; that said I'd wait for the new to market 4 series (or possibly the 2 series if they make it here) both hopefully arriving very very soon as the current 3 has been around a year++ and it always gets a bit diluted with all the 320s and other low grade variants of the same body shape.

FWIW Frank and I both went through this exercise before...and we both ended up with Minis, his one a BEAST (the GP) mine just a worked Cooper S - original shape first generation. Still a dream to drive. Now (I think) we both also have 2nd cars as well for 'the missuses' (1 missus each, not multiple missuses each, just to be clear).

Mini Cooper. A new Mini One lists for less than 2M.

There is a world of difference between a Cooper/One and a Cooper S, The Cooper/One is around 120HP or less, the Cooper S is around 170-210 depending on the variant and model; the weight is the same so this is the difference between a Ford Fiesta/Mazda 2 type shopping basket....and (at the top end of that range) a decent performance car. The handling without the extra horsepower is still good, but it is just way, way too slow to be considered a fun car without the supercharger/turbo.

Also, the supercharger or turbo it is easy to get an extra 30 HP out just by changing the ECU, exhaust, air intake and the ratio of the supercharger (via the pulley system). No idea how you would get any significant gain out of the normally aspirated motor short of fitting a turbo or supercharger on it.

@Julius main issue with the Audi is they are almost all grey market, and the model is about to be replaced. If you are buying 2nd hand, then not so much of a problem, although practically the Scirocco is the same car (as the TT 2.0 TSI) with supposedly slightly better handling and a more practical layout; there are plenty of VW garages able to service Audis and VWs in Bangkok (there may well be upcountry but I don't know this brand so well).

For what it is worth, I have thought a bit about your situation, TransRepus, and I would point out the following:

- if you want a car with the practicality of a 4 door/hatch, then really the choice between a Scirocco and the V40 is the right one

- if you want to start driving in formula drift :-), then the GT86 is a nice car, but it will require mods out of the box to get it to let go easily, and it's a bit above your budget; however it really is worth a look because it is a relatively new model of car; the only issue is the only 86 I would consider (myself) is a manual, which will be more difficult to sell after

- if you are going to a 2013 close to full price car new or close to new, I'd lean towards the Volvo because it is a 2013/14 model; the Roc is getting past it's mid life as it really is a 2009 model for Thailand - this means in late 2014 or early 2015 it is foreseeable the Roc would be superceded by a new Roc based on the GTI mk7/MQB platform, and with stablemates the Audi TT coming in 2014 (supposedly) - financially it may also be that the Volvo holds its value slightly better as a result 5 years from now for the same reason

- if you are getting ex demo around early 2012 type model or even earlier, and at the right price, then lean towards the Roc

- if you plan to do a lot of mods, then lean towards the Rocco because as it stands now the Volvo parts are not around to fiddle with; also there are some options to buy some of the performance parts cheaper now than what they were selling before as the car reaches its midlife

I see, but this 1.78M car is only 7 months old, It will be 3-4 years old when it is time for me to replace it. The one you proposed will be 6-7 years old then. Doesn't the years matters here?

Steve, Thanks again for your thoroughly and informative posts here.

I would say when the car is 5 years old say, then the selling price will be around probably 800k-1m (Rocs seem to hold their value quite well so far) depending on if there is a new model. One that is another 2 years older is probably 600k-900k.

My comment was simply that there is probably more than 200k worth of tuning gear on that car, so it makes sense and anyhow since you will likely have a warranty issue should something go wrong, might as well pay less and get much the same end result.

Or at least, be confident you can negotiate 1.78 down to around 1.65-1.68m (at a guess).

If you can contact multiple Volk dealerships, you may find one of them with an ex demo for around slightly higher than the 1.78. Try VW Wipawadee and ask to speak to K Tarn (said Dtarn, rhymes with barn); she seems very smart and helpful.

Note I have no connection with VW just love the Roc and the Golf.

CRZ is not the CRX type car; rather it's more along the lines of the Veloster (looks awesome, but is pretty slow) - 9sec to 100kmphr is going to be way too slow, that's slower than a Focus - also I do not share the optimism that the car will hold it's price so well; hybrids aren't proven yet at all; once they get to 5 years the next owner will be worried when they have to replace the batteries (this was pointed out to me for the BMW hybrid 3 series which is a bit of a beast in terms of performance....but the batteries are only expected to last 8 years then you have to replace them). And it's at the end of the day, only a Honda fully imported, with all the same problems as any other boutique car (including the Roc).

The Honda also has a fairly worthless backseat, same problem as the Mini - so for some ppl that's fine, for me if I was considering the CRZ, I'd probably just get a 2nd hand Audi A1, Abarth or Cooper S, all of which would smash a CRZ in every performance department and have a more usable interior.

And don't get me wrong, I like the CRZ a lot, it's a cool little car, just not really a performance car.

For the Roc 1.78m seems a little high, I think you can find cheaper than that, check out taladrod.com for instance this one 1.69m and done around 20k with a black interior (they did come originally with 2 colours black and the brown color) and that should be negotiable; a lot of these Rocs 2nd hand are owned by VW/Porsche type dudes who bought it as a fun car to tinker with, they didn't buy it as a daily driver so a lot of them have pretty low kms. Prices in Thailand 2nd hand I'd be offering something like 10-15%/150k less than the asking price, and the end point will be something like 10% off the asking.

http://www.taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet3.aspx?cib=1270007

For any ex demo check how long it has actually been around, you can find out from the VIN number on the windshield there is some program online that tells you down to the month when it was made. I would not worry too much about warming up/cooling down as normally you test drive with the dealer in the car. They don't seem to like people giving them sideways thrashings (we did but they didn't seem to appreciate it much). If they will give you 3 years warranty on a (likely) 2012 car (best case) with about 8,000km then that's a sweet deal even if you need to pay slightly more. The biggest thing that can go wrong though is the DSG (apparently) and if you tinker with the car, then you may be better off to just buy 2nd hand or not worry too much about the service, since it likely will be covered by the tuning company, not VW themselves.

Here is a place for tuning stuff for the Roc get your GF to translate, but it's reasonably clear what is what if you don't read Thai

http://www.vwsociety.com/webboard/index.php?PHPSESSID=mc1urm4rb78a4rtu6s796dont5&board=3.0

Scirocco it's pretty simple to just either purchase one almost new (since you are tuning it the warranty is probably not useful anyhow) which has some of the following (I also considered a Rocco before getting a Mini Cooper S which I have also, ahem, modified most of the items below to get to around 200HP)

- modified free flow exhaust

- free flow air intake

- modified software/ECU

- new springs (to drop the car to the height it should have been from the factory which is about 20mm at the front and 25mm at the rear)/coilovers

- boom sounds

APR or ABT are two of the good tuners here, not so cheap though - in general buying a tuned car is almost guaranteed to result in a cost saving as the price of a tuned car is the same as a non tuned one - I don't really believe that the thrashings from boyracers in a low enough mileage car should be an issue:

http://www.goapr.com/products/?vehicle=Scirocco

Note the Roc tsi, Golf gti, Audi TT are basically the same engine for the most part (ignoring that the R is a different spec motor) and all of them easily you can get to decent power pretty easily - in my opinion VW tend to understate the power anyhow of their cars; I'd guess most of the time the Roc tuned smashes a Mini tuned, but the WRX would be quicker than both of them thanks to being able to get that power to all 4 wheels. Mini handling is a strong point, but the Roc is no joke, it's a lovely lovely car.

BTW just saw my first CLA on the road today (see quite a few A classes now, seen a few V40s) and I'd still say in order of looks the Volvo looks the best from the front; the Rocco from the back, and the CLA looks grotesquely ugly from anything back from side; it is too small to pull off the CLS look so ends up looking bulgy and fat with a too high roof line; this despite the fact that someone over 180cm can't sit in it without hitting the roof. It's an Altis size car, swooping like a CLS.....not done well at all.

I would say the toss up is between the V40 Volvo as is and the Ford Focus if buying new....and the Scirocco if buying ex demo/2nd hand; like I say get your GF to call them and you might be pleasantly surprised on what is available.

Example Rocco 1.49m-1.55m gets you a tuned, decent car

http://www.taladrod.com/w20/Search/TbSch3F_Inf.aspx#mk:26+md:364

You are right, the Volvo guys won't be happy to modify (I did actually look seriously at this but also the only approved modifier that still gets warranty is polestar, and they don't have a modified T5 V40 kit yet and no plan to do) and it voids the warranty so not worth it until 5 years from now or whenever it runs out. Maybe Heico provides, I don't know.

The Ford Focus S is much, much slower than the other two, and really is only a glorified hatchback with marginally better pep than the equivalent Toyota or Mitsi anyhow; the equivalent ST is not available here. I would agree that the current Ford range means they are moving from back of the pack tier 2, to front of the pack tier 2 possibly even tier 1 compared to the Honda/Toyota duopoly we see in Thailand. It's been quite a while since Mitsi has had a look in here in Thailand, reputation is of expensive servicing and poor resale (similar to a lot of Euro brands including VW, Volvo etc) except you are getting a pretty basic car to start off with. Again, new models might change that.

I agree, steer clear of the TT simply because it is reaching end of its life for the Mk2, and the practicality of the beast isn't so great anyhow.

One other option is the Veloster, looks the part and performance midway between the Focus and the Euro cars you are considering; however some might bawk at paying 1.79m for this level of car when you could get the Volvo (or even an almost new Rocco) for similar coin.

For sure, might want to consider that if you have a performance car back home, then buying a most basic people moving beast here is simple and cheaper. But for me, once you have acquired the joy of driving decent cars, then it's hard to go back to something more agricultural unless to serve a purpose (like towing or moving 7 ppl or something).

New Volvo V40S 2.0L Turbo, 213HP 1.82Mil Fun car, relative inexpensive, good looking, safe car. BUT unknown resale value, may be difficult to sell to Thais at all.

New BMW 328i, 3Mil Brakes my budget by far

New Merc CLA 250, 2.65Mil Very beautiful car inside and out. Brakes my budget but I might be able to handle it. But it is one year waiting time for one.

New Mitsubishi GT 2.0, 1.05Mil Nice car, looks good but only 154HP Any simple aftermarket tuning available in Thailand?

2nd hand BMW 325ia, 1-1.5Mil Premium car, fun to drive, the worst depreciation on the first owner. BUT not new, unsure mileage and history.

Volvo has not had a performance model like the V40 before; in the reviews it seems to rate pretty highly although not a pure sports car it is getting good reviews and may surprise you as a more popular car than the run of the mill S60/S40s of old; it will depreciate worse than the BMW or Benz but after 5 years, all of them will drop at least 50% so at least you are paying less upfront so cost in baht terms should be not so different.

Conservatively (you might do better than this)

e.g. Volvo buy 1.8m sell in 5 years 700k lost 1.1m in depn

Benz buy 2.5m sell in 5 years 1.25m lost 1.25m in depn

CLA you should test drive the A250, I found the dual clutch unacceptably poor; looks the part but couldn't handle the dual clutch arrangement or lack of engine note; also Benz has no maintenance included so that's a slight cost that Volvo or other new car wouldn't have (assume that's probably 100k over 5 years for the benz).

Mitsi has bad resale; would probably go for the Ford Focus Sport with 175HP rather than a Mitsi.

Personally I think the FT86 is a lovely looking car, but 7+sec to 100km is crazily slow, and for that sort of money you can get more performance although if you are doing track days etc, then the 86 is probably perfect in some respects.

If you are willing to look 2nd hand, and want a driver's car, then the Mini Cooper S; Audi A1 grey market 185HP if you can find one; Fiat Abarth; TT; Golf GTI Mk 6; Scirocco are all pretty attractive and in some ways any of them would be as much of a driver's car than the BMW (having owned BMW in the past I really don't get the appeal of the mid range Beemers, the M level is indeed a beast, but 325/328 are a bit mundane). the various chips and after market exhausts mods etc are all worth doing once the car is out of warranty; you will not get decent power out of a 116/118 BMW no matter what you do and the 125i is only available grey - BMW is not a car I would probably consider to buy grey.

BTW the Scirocco TSI 2.0 and the R are not so different; both FWD and you can easily get an ABT or APR tune for about 60,000b and a new airintake to get similar horsepower although the engine is different in each; 2nd hand Sciroccos are running around 1.5m for a 2 years old low km car. Definitely a lovely car with some style and having driven a worked APR stage 1, they are dead simple to get to good performance level very easily; a fairly passionate owners group as well with access to aftermarket parts. The VW dual clutch works, in the way that the Benz one doesn't. I personally think the Roc is a better body shape than the TT which has no rear seat to speak of and is about to be replaced as a shape. Roc if you call VW directly at say Wipawadee I think you will find they will quote you around 1.98m for a new scirocco BTW, or around 1.8m for an ex demo. Rocco you can change out the springs, put new rims on and so forth all easily done; a few of the 2nd hand cars have all this done already for 1.5m.

Another option would be 2nd hand Impreza.

For 2m new the choices are a little limited; 2nd hand low km 2 years old you have a wide choice of cars all depends on what you think would appeal to you to drive and if you plan to fiddle with the car.

A number of new models are coming out, which always impacts existing car prices - for the SUV market we have new SUVs like the Subaru XV etc at attractive NEW prices; we have the new category subcompact SUVs like the Juke and Ecosport coming in under 900k supposedly, plus of course there are new models or relatively new models of the standards like the CRV, etc etc.

All the first car buyer cars that were defaulted on are now starting coming into the market (and there's quite a lot of them), and combined with a liquidity squeeze across the Thai economy (higher cost of living, higher levels of debt, reducing economic growth) this is causing a flow on effect to auto with car prices sliding downwards even for cars that were not part of the program.

If you buy new, not an issue as the first 3 years is entirely maintenance free.

Thereafter, expect Euro prices for parts for the most part. Like with Mini, VW, Benz etc, there are mechanics around from Volvo's heydays of 10 years ago who will do cheaper servicing than using Volvo Thailand (usually cheaper by 30-40% and most of the mechanics are ex dealer mechanics who got all the training then went and set up themselves).

check out taladrod.com and one2car.com for prevailing prices; selling yourself is likely to net you maybe 50k-100k more than going via the tent system if you can be bothered. CRVs have good resale prices for the most part. There might also be a CRV owner site where you can sell the car.

Let me say that the SPRINGER? in your profile pic is a beautiful dog!!!! I am a long time spaniel lover, and my dream is to have a springer spaniel to take around Thailand with me and to train to do cool stuff (like going for walks, fetching things, sports, biting the GF in the face, that sort of thing).

they race once a month for the most part, a mixture of a few keelers and some 25 foot one design Farr 25 Platus, the odd multihull mostly of the trimaran variety. it's usually the 2nd Saturday/sunday of each month.

The schedule of racing is here:

http://www.omycsailing.com/calendar/

It's pretty casual (IMHO) for most of the year and most of the people go to sail, have fun, and enjoy rather than the full on racing you might see elsewhere - there is a wide variety in skills from guys who are running IRC optimised boats, tacticians reading shifts and plotting courses etc; pre running starts for 30 minutes before races and doing rig tuning..... through to people who plow around the course with no kite and drinking their bodyweight in beer with the sails set and forget. Pick a boat that matches your aims in sailing.

The big more serious regattas are Kings Cup (Dec), Top of the Gulf Pattaya (May), Samui (June), Phuket Raceweek (july). There is also some specific platu racing with the platu cup, quite serious also with a few crews coming in from the region to race.

The other alternative is the dinghy scene at Varuna mostly lasers, RS dinghies and trailerable cats I think. Only if you speak Thai, the dinghy scene in Sattahip (which has the biggest fleets, but is mostly youth sailing so in optis and 420s). There is a windsurfing and kiting group of racers as well but I don't know their timetable and they race a lot less (although sailing almost every day with breeze in the high season for those sports which is from now until Sept).

Different boats think differently, but most skippers appreciate crew to pay for themselves race entry running at something like 800b I think for a weekend per person which is mostly to cover F&B cost of the dinner and free drink provided on the sat night and skipper pays for the boat entry.

He's suggesting it, to add legitimacy to the cases to be heard that Surapong and his allies want to press against Aphisit - the moment you charge Thaksin in an international court, you add legitimacy to the case against the Democrats in international court.

Even a 5 year old could see how their childlike plan works. He really does think we are stupid.

Benz A class is the A180 (a relative slug compared to the V40) for 1.89m from memory; the A250 which would match V40 performance is 2.49m, and the CLA is 2.65m; the dual clutch in the benz you need to test drive to decide if you could live with it (I couldn't).

Equivalent BMW is the 116, again a relative slug but looks the part as it comes with an M bodykit, around 1.89m also.

With Benz/Beemer they have a premium thanks to slightly more wank value and better resale, arguably.

Skoda vRS I wasn't aware it's only 1.65m but that's a great buy; if it is the Fabia you are talking about, then that's the next size down from a Golf (same platform as the Audi A1/VW Polo) and would suffer from slight resale issues, but it's an awesome little car albeit doesn't quite have the looks of the VW or the Audi IMHO. Distribution of the Skoda brand hasn't been so popular in the last few years, sadly. Definitely smaller, a lot smaller than a V40 inside and out (think fiesta vs. focus). Bear in mind the Fabia is about to be replaced AFAIK in the next year or so, and there won't necessarily be a VRS for the new model apparently.

The Hyundai Veloster is a funky looking beast, for sure. Very similar performance to the Volvo on paper, and price is very attractive at 1.739m; I suppose some who don't want a Japanese/Korean car would prefer to eye the Volvo. Gets good reviews; Hyundai also suffered in the past a little from resale issues but by the time 5 years from now that may no longer be the case depends on how their distribution model changes. Would be curious to see space in the back as it's pretty low slung, more like a Scirocco than a Golf.

More importantly:

PM Yingluck is not even attending the meeting to consider the amnesty bill, she is "busy" with a mobile cabinet meeting in Lopburi??

Really?

When did they stop lying about her attending the St John event as the reason she couldn't be there today?

Busy lady.

Cool bananas. Test drove a S40 about one and a half years ago, put your foot down and you could count to ten before it moved.

New S60 , newer than about one and a half years ago ?

S 60 is about 2 years old now; a lot slower than the V40.

The entry level 5 series has an attractive promo, however it is, as others have stated, possibly a little underpowered.

Depends if you are driving or being driven; if being driven then a non issue. If you are driving, then maybe the 525 or 528 might be more fun.

Personally, I don't think that the cache of a BMW or Benz is so great as it was here, now that they are so much more common. However, if you need to get from A to B and you can afford it, why not do it in something nice. As a driver's car the BMW and the Benz are better than some of the Japanese choices, but still you aren't going to be really driving a driver's car unless you go with a performance variant or go more exotic again.

For sub 4m, if you want a drivers car, then going top spec for the next size down is where it is at, but that isn't going to work so well if you being driven, or are carting around loads of kids or 3 meea nois (I bow to Heng's intimate knowledge of cars and loose women, for me I just know that rolling up and saying you drive an M5 might hold less sway than being able to say 'pom mee fino hai chai' in certain circles 5555555).

And if you want to see chronic depreciation, look no further than the grey market high performance variants; some of them drop like the proverbial stone. For a Thai assembled 3,5,C,E or similar, you cannot go too far wrong as there is quite a decent secondary market and attractive promotions and buying terms on the cars - for sure not as cheap as a Honda, but that's like saying why would you own an IWC when a G-shock also tells the time. BMW at least has BSI which helps remove the headache of the thing breaking down. Which it will (speaking as a former BMW owner). For 5 years at least anyhow.

I looked at this car at the motorshow; the 2 spec levels are basically regarding non essential stuff like size of wheels and so forth; the engines are both the T5 which is very, very decent (as in Golf GTI, Cooper S, A250 decent) in terms of performance.

The gearbox cannot be more 'average' than the A250 for sure, and Volvo does have that nice understated boxy but good coolness factor to it (anti-cool?) compared to the try-hard look of some of the other choices, all of which are more expensive.

It is not relating at all to the S40 previous generation at least in terms of the engine, since this one is putting out 213HP I think. The new S60 rides really nicely, would imagine this new Volvo would be pretty sweet as well.

I think Volvo are now doing all in maintenance deals (like BSI, etc) so that removes another barrier as well; in retrospect I should probably have bought the Volvo at the last motorshow, as I'd have it by now.