moonoi

As i am Thai/lao/Khmer and born and raised here i love my country. Just because we do do things such as driving and regulations the same as western countries and other countries , UK, USA and those others, there is no need to bash our driving. Go there then , why be here and then complain? We do drive well even partial intoxicated, altho i do not advice it to any my employes or driving students. I for 1 pride myself on my great driving skills, and not just that of a street or proffesional racer.

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Its precisely this attitude that causes most of the problems with driving here No one can drive well drunk I don't care who you are or what country you come from.

Is there any in los , and i don't mean those golf cars but real driveable cars.

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I've seen a couple of Toyota Prius II on the roads of BKK, but thats Hybrid not 100% electric

EDIT: I mean to say that it also has petrol engine but at low speeds it can operate on just the electic motor for silent running

The Mazda was the best 2.0L car around for a while, however I'd go for the new Civic now. It'll have much lower depreciation too.

The 3 is nice though. Not sure what minor changes there are though!!

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I have the previous generation Civic, don't like it much....not very comfortable for long journeys...no lumbar support in the seat I think is the problem.

Took a look at the new Civic and I don't like it, looks like Blancmonge on wheels! Not a fan of the new dash design either, prefer the overall more Coupe look styling of the 4 door Mazda.

Hi

Does anyone know the full details of the spec change to the Mazda3 introduced at the Motor Expo?

All I have been able to find is that the 5 door will be available with 1.6 engine.

Want to know as I've ordered the 2.0 R S/R 4 door and would like to check whether I actually get the original or modified one One of my collegues told me that the 4 door 2.0 won't come with a sunroof anymore, but I've had difficulty confirming this.

Cheers

kc

Yes John, the showroom is on the leftside off sukhumvit towards pattaya nua from pattaya klang.

Checkout the Triton, A thai rental guy I know showed me his new one, leather, sat nav, electric seats and electric back window. very very nice.

I went yesterday and looked at the Chevy and the Isuzu 4wd Auto's. I preferred the Chevy as it has the stronger chassis but everyone is advising me against it as it will not have the resale value of the Isuzu. I was very surprised that Isuzu clase the A/C as an optional extra!

But both Very nice motors.

The Triton ? ? do you mean the new Mitsubishi ??

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The Chevy and the Isuzu are the same vehicle, only differance is a slightly differant front end. Both built in the same factory.

Triton is supposed to be more comfortable and car like to drive, looks good from the front, but side and rear profile looks odd imho

I prefer manaul transmission, although I have a civic with an auto box here simply because of the heavy traffic.

I don't believe driving a car with manual transmission requires anymore concentration than an auto....and I've never had a problem with hill starts either, in fact personally I feel I can do them better than in my current auto car. In fact I dislike it so much I'm changing it for a Mazda 3 with the option to switch to "manual" mode, hoping this will take away my fraustrations of the auto box shifting up or down when I don't want it too.....especially mid corner at speed. doubt the pickup will be any better though...still as I spend most of the time at a standstill listening to the radio I think its probably the best option for bkk traffic 

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The new top of the line 2006 Honda Civics now have F1 style paddle shift, believe it is called autotronic. It allows you to drive fully auto or semi-manual, that is shift but no clutch used. Seems the best of both worlds. I'm going to look at one soon.

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Yeah but just look at it, its a horrible looking motor. And then you have the PlayStation dashboard, looks funky now but I'm sure anyone owning one will soon get fed up with it

I prefer manaul transmission, although I have a civic with an auto box here simply because of the heavy traffic.

I don't believe driving a car with manual transmission requires anymore concentration than an auto....and I've never had a problem with hill starts either, in fact personally I feel I can do them better than in my current auto car. In fact I dislike it so much I'm changing it for a Mazda 3 with the option to switch to "manual" mode, hoping this will take away my fraustrations of the auto box shifting up or down when I don't want it too.....especially mid corner at speed. doubt the pickup will be any better though...still as I spend most of the time at a standstill listening to the radio I think its probably the best option for bkk traffic

I was also told by my thai collegues that is better to drive on IDP than exchange for a thai licence. Not actually been given a reason though......

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I think your thai friends just blah, blah, blah,

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Hehe probably, I'm moving soon to nr Ram Intra Km8 so I'll probably look at getting proper thai licence after that, so I don't have to change the address on the license

I believe that an IDP is good for 90 days at a time (as is a UK license). As you will not be able to legally stay longer than 90 days (on a tourist visa), this will suffice.

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I spend at least 6 months in Thailand every year. I have an IDP it is valid for one year. I just wanted a Thai DL so I can skip renewing my IDP. If I cannot, mai ben rai.

Pgrin

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If you buy a car in Thailand your insurance will probably not cover you unless you have a Thai driver's license. The fact that you have a valid foreign driver's license and an IDP from the state that issued your driver's license is not enough.

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I drive here on a UK licence with an IDP and have had no problems with insurance (I have had to make a claim as well due to the I don't care if I die attitude of scooter riders here).

I was also told by my thai collegues that is better to drive on IDP than exchange for a thai licence. Not actually been given a reason though......

For the insurance on my current civic RX I payed 23000 baht for 1st class with Bangkok Insurance.

I'm in the process of changing my car now to Mazda 3 2.0R and have been quoted between 18000-22000 by the dealer, I just have to choose which insurance company to go with.

For running costs I personally find that the car is much cheaper than using public transport. I live in Sathorn not very close to MRT or BTS so min cost to just get to the station is 5 baht on the red bus and then a 10min walk...or 35 baht in a taxi and I haven't even really started to go where I want to. It easily costs me 100baht 1 way each trip on public transport.

The car costs me nowhere near that to run even including cost of insurance, tyres, maintenance etc etc.

I'm an inch taller than you mate, and I find the Altis is extremely cramped in the legroom dept, my Fortuner isn't too bad, but I wish the the steering wheel could be angled just a few inches higher.

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As I said, it is just OK.

But I can take my left leg and stretch it out completely straight because there is a deep pocket in the back of the left side down below. I cannot do that with the right leg while driving though.

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I originally bought my Civic for the same reason. Seems to be a problem across the whole Toyota range (I tried Altis and Wish) which is strange because I had a Corolla T-Sport in the UK (now why can't a buy that model here?) and that was fine, ok I know its a hatch and not a saloon but the floor pan is the same so you'd think the interior passenger space would be too.

I just put a deposit down on a new Mazda 3 Sedan. I prefer the styling of it and as its based on the same platform as the Volvo S40 and Ford Focus the hadnling dynamics should be great. I also like the ability to shift gears manually if I want to, something sadly missing from Toyotas and Hondas. As for the engine power, its the same as the US/UK spec 2.0 but detuned to 141 bhp from 150 supposedly reduces the emissions, I'm sure some enterprising person in bkk can obtain the UK/US engine map and load it up if you want more power (probably invalidate your warranty though). I was also told originally 4 months, but when I signed the paperwork they claim it could be as soon as 2 weeks, but probably sometime in Dec.

Can't say I'm much of a fan of the new Civic, I like the interior but I'm sure I'd get bored of it. I read one comment from a road tester that driving it was like playing a computer game...quite difficult to get used to thos fancy dials.

Anyhow...now I have my old car to sell 2005 model Honda Civic RX with Mugen 17" wheels and a 4 exit exhaust conversion (only from the back box, its just for styling not performance!) if anyones' interested