MatteoBassini

They sell either way whether they try or not. This is because demand for cars is still very high, just that a lot of people cannot afford.

Why bother selling to you, an annoying negotiator, when people who don't negotiate at all happily accept the sticker price at 10% interest per year?

For me a great bike is nothing if dealership support doesn't exist. Given the choice I'd also avoid imported bikes.

You get in an accident once on these things and you're in for a lot of headache, and that's when you wished you didn't buy a KTM. I got in a serious accident with my CB650F, two pages worth of parts needed replacing and it was fixed within 2 weeks by Bigwing Rayong.

If you live in India, Duke 390 is an incredible bike for the money, you can't walk straight without bumping into KTM spare parts there. But in Thailand? I'll stick to the mainstream brands.

5 hours ago, Vacuum said:

What are you going to do with 407hp on Thai roads?

You should know that Thailand is one of the fewest places in the world where the biggest fine for speeding is 500 baht that you don't need to pay.

If anything, 407 HP is only useful in Thailand and some sections of the German autobahn.

I have a 90 HP bike and trust me, I wouldn't have been able to use all of it anywhere else other than Thailand.

I had a Fiesta.

Bought in 2017 with 20,000 KM on the clock. Transmission shat itself after 5,000 KM. After going in and out of the Ford dealer 4 times due to their cheapstake trial-and-error fix as they've been advised by the parent company, the transmission was replaced under warranty, taking over a month and no loaner car given (I don't know why I still expect to have this Thailand, but it's quite pathetic to expect customers to use the non-existent public transport in Pattaya).

Reached 50,000 KM before selling it, had no issues after transmission was replaced. But 30,000 KM is absolutely nothing and doesn't tell anything about whether or not the transmission will last. For those who really want a Fiesta, buy it and manual swap it. Costs 50k including labor and 100k in depreciation because it's a manual.

For those that really want a Focus but are worried, get the new one with the 1.5 ecoboost engine, the transmission has been replaced with a traditional torque-converter automatic. 2 year old Focus for 500,000 baht is a steal in my opinion.

Instead of categorizing, they should provide sufficient space. I got spoiled riding my 650cc to malls, when I had to ride a smaller bike I was reminded how miserable the parking is.

Why can't a whole parking floor be dedicated to bikes? If it's the subject of "Car drivers actually spend money while bike riders are poor" even has a joke that doesn't hold itself anymore.

On 9/25/2019 at 7:02 PM, keith101 said:

So that's 1,100+ orders from all over the country in 76 Provinces at an average of just over 14 per Province which is 3.5 orders per day , wow big deal .

Thailand has extremely low car ownership. This is easily reflected in yearly car sales.

Your math is just numbers that don't explain anything. have you been in the rural areas? Driving a regular car is rare because most people buy pickups. A car that isn't Toyota achieving a thousand orders is indeed a big deal.

1 hour ago, eisfeld said:

I don't think there is a HP classification for car excise tax in Thailand anymore. Afaik it's all based on emissions, cc, engine type (like EV etc) and car category (like pickup truck, van etc) now.

 

The reason why there is no 3.5L V6 sold anymore is because it incurs a heavy 50% excise tax being over 3000cc.

 

The tax structure is a bit <deleted> because a pretty heavily polluting diesel pickup can get a tax rate which is a third of the one a completely electric vehicle with zero emissions would get.

If there's no HP classification anymore then Honda could've sold the 2.0T Accord for nearly the same price as the current Accord Hybrid. There's no CC issue because it's less than 2,000 CC. I believe there still is a HP tax because of that.

On 9/20/2019 at 11:07 AM, Rdrokit said:

I just can't understand why Thailand limits engine size and horsepower. The CX5 is assembled in Malaysia and brought to Thailand tax free under the ASEAN Treaty. Now in Malaysia this year you can get a CX5 with the 2.5 liter turbo engine but it is not available in Thailand. Why?

Because of horsepower tax.

Anything over 220 HP is taxed heavily. 10 years ago Toyota and Honda offered a 3.5L V6 version of the Camry and Accord, it was assembled in Thailand but because of the HP tax, it drove the price upto 2.9 million baht.

Have you not noticed that the only cars with more than 220 HP assembled in Thailand is the 330i, 530i, and 43 AMGs?

The V6 Accord continued to be assembled in Thailand for the Australian market but not sold in Thailand for this exact reason.

Isuzu is incredibly good at keeping secrets (or doesn't intentionally spill secrets like other manufacturers for marketing purposes), so a new model can either be expected at the end of the year motor expo in Thailand, which would be a huge surprise. If not then it's obvious it will be revealed in 2021.

2 hours ago, eisfeld said:

Seeing still no trace of motorbikes at BMW Millenium Phuket so I decided to call them up. Was a bit of a rough start to get someone to speak a few words of english. The third person understood roughly what I wanted but couldn't answer the question if they were selling motorcycles or not (...), they said they would ask someone from BMW Motorrad to call me back. A few hours later someone did call back, again someone who spoke barely any english but enough to tell me that in 2 months they plan to have a showroom for motorbikes. It'll be 6 months then since the old one closed and customers were left in the dry.

BMW sells more bikes than Ducati yet less dealers. Quite confusing.

Biggest AMG center in Asia in a country that has 300% import tax and in a dealer that sells less than 2,000 units per year.

This is usually done for people specifically interested in engine swaps.

Import dealers don't sell this kind of car, the document will blatantly show that the car is "จดประกอบ" meaning it wasn't imported as a whole car (CBU), but disassembled before importing and then reassembled in some way in the country.

This doesn't even exist in rumors.

Only the 150 was unveilved.

Best value for money right now is Lexus LS430.

500k for one of the best cars ever made.

On 7/10/2019 at 6:06 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

I guess I = Injection = No carburetor.

That is fine if all works fine but you won't be able to change any settings which are easy to change on a bike with carburetor.

So if you consider changing anything like a different exhaust, etc. that might be a lot easier on a carburetor bike.

There's seriously NOTHING good about a vehicle having a carburetor. You can change the mapping of a fuel injected bike, which is a million times more accurate than a carburetor.

I rode a CBR150 with a carburetor for 3 years and I will never go back.

If you're set on the STI, there's no competition here in Thailand.

If you ask me, for 3 mil I'd rather get a used E63 2011-2012 model. But "reliability" is subjective in this case, I wouldn't call any Subaru apart from the BRZ "reliable".

10 hours ago, keemapoot said:

I test drove (extensively) the new accord over a year ago in the US when visiting. I thought I might want to buy one in Thailand. I read every review I could find and was quite disappointed when I actually drove it. I drove both the hybrid and the EL. The seats are hard as rock and it sits too low. The car itself is a blast to drive and handles like a Bimmer almost, so clearly it's a driver's car unlike the Camry.

 

Recently I went to the Honda dealer here to check it out and after sitting in it walked away with the same impressions. But, seriously, to wait over a year for the car to arrive in Thailand in just inexcusable. Anyway, just like in the US, most of us have moved on to SUVs anyway....

Your problem here is you got too old.

"hard seats"

"sits too low"

All these jokes about the performance of the car in Thailand...

You guys are forgetting we can get the same, and even better performance in bikes that cost less than 800,000 baht?

58 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

The models being sold in Thailand are boring.

The market is too small and every single model has to be assembled locally.

Importing a Civic SI that will cost over 2 million baht or investing billions of baht just to assemble a few Honda Pilots a year isn't worth it because people keep buying pickup trucks here.

21 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Believe the spec sheet. If you believe the seller and it´s wrong what he said, you will hear a "mai bpen rai", that´s it.

 

Generally: if the car is completely imported they can change anything - and don´t want. If the car is imported in parts (as usual) and completed in Thailand it´s the same as above. 

 

I was interested in the BMW X3 and full of hope that it will come, when the new model came out, with ventilated seats. But no, they have a useless huge panoramic glass roof but no seat cooling. More crazy: the brand new X5 is offered everywhere with the option "cooled and heated cup holder". Not in Thailand. Huge glass roof but no options they make sense in a hot country.

 

If I buy a crazy expensive car like the X3 for 3.7 mio. Baht, it must be an absolutely perfect dream car and not one where I have to put a towel on my seat that I don´t get wet trousers from sweat. Also at the 5.7 mio. Baht X5. 

That's hilarious, my 2006 Camry that I bought for 400,000 baht has ventilated seats.