wildewillie89

5 hours ago, speedtripler said:

Don't wanna burst your bubble but.... Farangs typically expand when they retire in Thailand..... 

Hahah that's 40 years away but I don't drink and the Thai diet put me in the prediabetes range so my diet is pretty strict now so I should remain relatively normal weight.

I think car companies are releasing trucks that are done up these days to save the trouble. So the Triton has released the athlete in the hope people don't have to modify it after they buy it. It will never look like a Ranger, but then again a truck is there to serve a purpose not win the red carpet award, so won't play too heavily on my eyes/mind. 

2 minutes ago, Farma said:

As mentioned they are work vehicles and most likely the same low spec as you drove for 90 minutes. Reversing camera wasn't included. When spending 4 or more hours in one each day little things become noticeable. The noise was one.

 

Little niggles like the storage position for a water bottle interfering with window control on the Izuzu. Seat fabric wearing out on the ford and Izuzu but not on the toyota. Storage for small items lacking in the Mitsu etc.

 

Each of the pickups have their flaws. Comfort and general all round ease of driving make Toyota a cut above the rest for me. 

That's fair enough. Unless having to travel, it is just doing day to day driving and a bit of farm driving so wouldn't be in it enough for the little things to worry me too much. Main focus is purely safety and space, but I can fully understand why many like the Toyota. Unfortunately, just doesn't fit my body or safety standards. Maybe when I retire and have shrunk a bit haha

3 hours ago, Farma said:

I've had a mix of work pick ups with the last couple being an Izuzu and a Toyota. Prior to that was a ford. All diesel and all made in Thailand.

 

The Izuzu had problems with the centre dash unclipping all the time, then the aircon freezing up if used for too long. It finally died a couple of months ago with a gearbox problem. Others in the fleet suffered accessories electrical problems

 

The Toyota Hilux I was given after that for the past few months has been my favorite out of all the pickups. Even with just under 200k kms it still drove and rode like new. A negative was bumpers starting to rust through the chrome.

 

The past 1,200 kms I've been driving a brand new L200/Triton. I'm not happy with it at all. My major gripe is the amount of noise the engine makes. Its like driving a tractor. None of the other pickups were that loud even when old. Another annoyance is the height of the tailgate making it hard to judge distance when reversing. Apart from that the engine has plenty of power. 

If engine noise is the only real concern then shouldn't be too much dramas. I was in a new one for a 90 minute drive and didn't even notice the engine with everyone talking. Reversing issue wasn't negated with the use of the camera?

2 hours ago, madmax2 said:

Its the drivers not the trucks that cause the safety problems in Thailand 40% of drivers do not even have a license, drive like you expect to meet a driver who should not be allowed to drive on the road and all the trucks are safe

Anyway toyota was my choice and i am happy with it as i was with all the toyotas i have owned previously, only had it 8 months and have no intentions of changing it at present, if i do change vehicles it will not be into a brand new model, best to wait a couple of years so they can sort out the teething problems most new models have,

That's the beauty about toyota, no radical updates and changes just continuous minor improvements and updates in each new model which keeps them reliable vehicles to own even when they bring out a new model

If I was back home whether a truck scored 34 or 36 in crash  tests wouldn't bother me all that much, but here the 7% or so increase I think it is an important factor. Having two little ones in the truck I obviously want the truck that performs closer to the top end of the list in crash tests when one of these 40% of people decides to hit us lol. I really like Toyota's, especially after the Top Gear special. I have driven a couple here and still liked the way they drove, just were a little small for my body shape. Surprisingly, I was more comfortable as a passenger in a low spec dual cab Triton for a 90 minute drive than the 10 minute drive down to HomePro in a Hilux. Those are the only reasons why I haven't given Toyota a closer thought. 
 

24 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Ford dealers are not owned by Ford. They have a license to sell the product line, and provide warranty service. Does Ford care that the problems are evident ? I am sure they do, but not having much - if any - say in how they are resolved. Ford Thailand has this responsibility ultimately. Their decisions are the ones the dealerships must follow. As for the parent company in USA, look at how they handled the DCT fiasco to see where their interests lie.

So would it be fair to say some Ford dealers are great as they have trained staff and the others are shockers? Or is it a Ford Thailand problem that revolves around every dealer?

Just now, madmax2 said:

Up to you, most modern vehicles are reliable, i do not like the look of the Triton personally but have not heard of any bad reports about it, do your homework and if happy with the results go for it

The 2 american brands in Thailand are the ones i have read bad reports on, Ford and General Motors Chevrolet, their quality control and repair services are not anywhere as good as the Japanese brands 

I also cant stand the look of the Triton, but after the Ford, it is the safest option for the family. Will be more fuel efficient also, plus 60k cheaper. The Mazda seems to have a ridiculous reversing camera based on the reviews (not as clear as it is in the mirror rather than the centre screen). Isuzu and Toyota of course have the reliability reputation, it's just they score a couple points lower in safety (which could be the difference in a place like Thailand). 

I think the actual Ford product is probably the best overall, however, if the country doesn't have the workers to fix it if something happens then it is a little bit concerning. Do other companies have these issues also I wonder? Why is it only Ford that seems to cop it for this? Surely a big company like Ford couldn't be so out of touch not to train up their staff in 2018 (especially if these issues have been plaguing them for a while). 

5 minutes ago, speedtripler said:

Are you saying that Toyota actually do this or just that Ford don't do it? 

 

Most ranger owners who never had a problem are very happy with the vehicle... 

 

It's only when shit happens..... Ford gets the bad rep.... And apparently not just in Thailand, UK, South Africa and other countries seem eerily similar

 

Hilux or bt50 double cab with a 3" lift and 20" wheels is cheaper than a ranger and it doesn't look too bad (but I have no idea what it costs to do this in Thailand yet)  

 

 

The Mazda technicians get extra training than the Ford? I don't know a whole lot about cars, but aren't the engines similar with the Ford maybe having a little more spent on it (so in theory is a bit better). 

3 hours ago, madmax2 said:

In Australia a Auto mechanic serves a 5 year apprenticeship which includes one day a fortnight at Technical school to keep them up with all the current new developments in the drive chains etc

They have to pass exams every year and receive their diploma at the end of the 5 years 

 

I asked a ford workshop manager if the same applies here and was told no, all and only training is done in their workshop, Ford motor company are supposed to send engineers out to the workshops to keep them up to date but from my own personal experience they do not do this even after saying they would after many complaints about the quality of ford workshops service and their lack of knowledge of how to fix problems, its a problem with service created by the ford motor company in Thailand not the dealers in my personal experience 

In your opinion would the Mitsubishi Triton be the better option to go with then? 

1 hour ago, candide said:

Apparently you have an exceptional Mayor, who seem to be a good manager and can also get extra funding because he is well connected. Fine for you and this local community!

But how representative of the whole country is it? Can you generalise your local observation to the rest of the country?

I think my initial post in the thread stated there are many reasons not to keep the Army in, but for my particular local area it is doing wonders. 

I really don't need to generalise for the country as my claim was never made about the country. I merely implied that this over simplified, repetitive doom and gloom anti Army rhetoric doesn't cover every corner of Thailand. If we can take away the generalisation that all of Thai is worse off and realise some places are doing quite well under the current administration it may make for a more reasonable discussion rather than 'corrupt this, corrupt that' and finished topic. 

12 minutes ago, Lamkyong said:

yes

You could be waiting a while. The system is quite slow and has a lot of in fighting. 

Municipalities with government land go into a bidding war against each other basically. Bidding is based on strategic positioning, land, how close land is to the bigger cities, who you know, what you have to pay, the usual wonderful stuff in Thai. 

The Governor will look at all the applicants and choose one municipality to then be presented to Immigration. If Immigration don't like it then the process starts all over again. Our Immigration is currently temporarily in the university as some issues were had with another municipality trying to pay off certain people (who have since retired). Immigration staff came to our Mayor for help as they wanted to move to where they originally thought and had their welcoming party with the local officials as it was closer to the city (our area). A few things were said and now currently it is more likely than not that it will end up back in our area, but these things take huge amounts of time in Thai if they have interruptions. 

Even once passed, Thai has a lot of red tape, so the actual office wont be built for a couple of years after it is all signed off. And once built it may not be actually opened for a while after too. My advice would be don't get your hopes up anytime soon.

Just now, Lamkyong said:

 thanks  i asked because  in the Kalasin area  we have been waiting  for the new office news

 

but so far to avail

Regards to Immigration?

Just now, Lamkyong said:

sorry i meant which   Municipality/area

Province is Chaiyaphum. The Mayor in question has been ranked top 20 of the 8,500+ Mayors in the country regarding development of his area two years in a row and has since been elected by all Mayors in the province to represent them. Has also been chosen to watch over the police (hence forcing truck companies to pay road taxes). 

1 minute ago, speedtripler said:

i dont know if i could handle those problems in thailand with the language barrier etc 

ive had bad experiences with kawasaki thaialnd before when my bike was rekt and needed to wait through months of excuses to get new parts (factory is in  rayong to bkk so 2-3 months is outrageous unles theyre using 2nd hand parts from other crash repair bikes which ive heard they do )

I wouldnt like to go through that again for any amount of money,especially with ford lol 

they seem to have a reputation of not giving a fc.uk in thailand .......

That would have been a nightmare. I just leave those things to the Mrs, she is much more diplomatic than I am. 

Just now, Lamkyong said:

local area,   ?? please

Municipality

44 minutes ago, CantSpell said:

Great post, but them doing things fast could be similar to election's handout....

 

Would they really be serious about reforming the country, why not fix the local members.

I think it's more that he actually works, as silly as that sounds. I'm sure we have all been in and around government buildings, on the most part they are pretty cruisy places to work. He goes off Army work ethic it seems, so basically what we consider slightly less than normal work ethic, rather than working half a day a week lol. 

Our Mayor also has a very 'i don't care who you are, the law is the law' attitude. So gets frequent complaints from corrupt officials (police threatened him not long back re Road tax), but obviously nothing can come from it whilst the Army are at the top. Whereas many Mayors would be quite easily bullied into submission by other departments.

A lot of it from a local point of view I think is pure lack of education. Most local elected members either don't know what projects are available to them or can't be bothered doing the work to secure them. So maybe more advertising/training re projects could be beneficial for the country, and will get people forcing their elected members to work harder. 

The current government have done wonders for my local area, so I will not be too worried if they continue. Sure, people complain about corruption, but what government in Thailand isn't corrupt to some degree? Speaking of corruption, it is purely because these guys are in charge that the local truck companies have to pay the road tax to fix the pot holes in my area, instead of paying that tax to the police department instead to look after them. 

Of course, many reasons exist why they shouldn't remain in power also. But it isn't all doom and gloom for every corner of the country like repetitive negative members on this forum seem to imply. Our local areas budget has doubled, now has running water, free nursery with dental checkup, canals for farmers, roads with lines, 2 new markets, free wifi at exercise/meetings point, rice research lab, juvenile prison and looks like immigration will move here (already had their meet and greet party with the Tessaban, just need to finalise things).

Why? As the local member (ex-Army) bypasses other government departments and gets projects straight from the top (other ex-/Army in the Ministries). That means not having to hand out % of the budget to other departments (corruption) and the budget actually going into the project - no wonder the budget has doubled from the previous elected local members. 

Went to my vet last night and had a long chat with him. Took some info and diagrams of the procedures I want done. He said the ovary sparing spay he can do, and understood the importance of taking out 100% of the uterus to prevent future infection caused by the ovaries (pyometra). Also will obviously have a search for cysts whilst he's down there. 

He also knew of the gastropexy (tacking the stomach to the abdominal wall), however, had not done one before. He told me to ring up Khon Kaen to see if they had the camera equipment (shorter recovery), otherwise he will research and contact his colleagues in Europe to discuss any finer details of it and just do a larger incision at the same time of the spay. So he was happy to lose the business of the spay/gastropexy by putting the recovery time of the dog first which was nice to hear. 

Vasectomy is not the norm, but also not a difficult procedure to do. Interestingly, he also stated that he had heard of the newer research and that especially for bigger dogs these procedures seemed to be the trend when talking with his overseas friends who are vets. He admitted Thai was very far behind the world in the way they do things.  

From what I gather from the South African forum is that it was the early model Rangers that had all the issues and they have since been fixed and now the truck is doing well in sales. 

So I wonder if many members on this forum are living in the past, or if the solutions of the problems haven't been translated to the Thai market. Although Australia's Rangers are made in Thailand arent't they, so I would assume that isn't the case.

Maybe it is the Thai Ford technicians who aren't up to scratch if the current concerns that are raised about Ford Thai are indeed true. 

2 hours ago, speedtripler said:

http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/225966-Ford-Ranger-From-Hell 

Interesting. Wonder if the newer 2.2 has similar complaints/resolved the complaints. Or if safer just to go with the Triton. 

The Ford owner's post was interesting. Many people complain, but when they actually have to name dealers and provide the evidence of the issues, suddenly all those complains disappear. The Mrs says that it is common on Thai forums for sales people from other makes to always jump online and trash talk. 

4 minutes ago, speedtripler said:

It is a bit loud ... This one is nice too

https://rod.kaidee.com/product-334436853

I like pickups but honestly wouldn't really use the rear bed or  off road capabilitys much...

 

It's a coin toss between a nice 4x4 and a sedan....

 

 

 

 

That one is a bit quieter. My concern in Thai is how the trucks have been previously driven. That is why I was thinking more new. Back home I would just buy used as they are much cheaper/easier to get inspected and usually driven relatively normally. 4x4 is something always in the back of my mind, I would love it, but then realism interrupts my thinking. Why not spend that money on the kids instead of using 4x4 once or twice a year lol.

Growing up and watching the Top Gear special on the Hilux, I really wanted one. A few of the cousins have them and they just seemed small for me (especially on long trips), plus the two little ones obviously make me think safety more.  I really do probably prefer sedans, but a pick up just seems a better option at the minute. The dogs are a part of the family as much as the kids and one is 50kg (still filling out), and the other is 42kg at only 7 months so no sedan can fit us all in. 

Also our farm down the road is your typical Thai dirt track full of holes, so the extra clearance would be appreciated. I think there is about 60k difference between the Ranger and Triton we looked at. May just come down to measuring the cars re car seats, seeing who can offer the better deal and finding out how good the Ford technicians are in our city. 

4 minutes ago, lanng khao said:

Youve got to remember that these dogs arnt the little lovable shitzus or dogs as we know them, these <deleted>@kers are almost wild, and when the pack mentality kicks in its everyman for himself, if I've got get the spray out or the snout tickler to save myself multiple injections and a 6000 baht bill, then that's what going to happen..

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 

Packs, I will generally drive off the most confident dog first, and the rest generally will follow or just stand there and bark. Most don't have the confidence to really act on an attack if they know they aren't backed up by the rest of the pack. I think that is where people get worried. They are fearful of just a bit of talking (or growling). That all it is most of the time, talking - 'we are so scared, please go away from us'. The problem is when people become more scared of the scared dog (fear bite). 

7 hours ago, speedtripler said:

 

 this one is cool  but its a bit mad looking  :

 

https://rod.kaidee.com/product-334435072

Haha not sure I want to stand out that much 

Thanks for the replies. 

ANCAP (Australasian Safety Ratings) - /37
The Ranger 36.72

The Triton 36.22 

The Mazda 35.72

The Mrs loved the look of the Ranger and felt very comfortable in the back seat when we took it for a test drive. Even the father-in-law has got on board with the Ranger (Toyota/Isuzu man). Power isn't really an issue with the driving I would be doing. 

My main concern was just wondering if there is any weight to all the comments re issues with Ford or is it more just a trash talk over allegiances with other brands? I really don't mind the Toyotas but the ones I have driven here I seem not to fit in (I'm just shy of 200cm), and they score 34.34 re safety. The Mrs work car is a Triton and I have done a long drive in it and felt quite comfortable. 

In fear of starting a fight (which from what I have seen generally happens here), is their any actual evidence to put to the Ford claims? Or is it just irrational hatred and hearsay? 

For roughly a million baht or just under, what pick up would people recommend. Safety being the most important factor as two little children will be passengers sometimes. Although resale is also important for many, not so much in this case, purely safety.

4wd wouldnt be used enough to pay the extra and if ever got stuck there are many tractors about. Primary use of car is everyday driving with a bit of dirt/farm road driving. Pick up needed mostly for cages to be put in for the dogs. SUV can come later if we decide to pump out any more kids.

Looking at what's available it seems the 2.2 Ford, Mitsubishi and Mazda ranks highest re safety. Is the Triton a better option re capable servicing in Thailand? Is the issue with Ford Thailand lack of mechanical understanding by technicians or a parts thing or just blown out of proportion?

Any opinions would be appreciated.