In the jungle

I have done this.

I imported a 1969 Honda C50 in parts.  It has done 10,000 miles from new.  I knew it could never be registered here.

I did it for purely sentimental reasons as it belonged to my late father.

I have ridden it a few times but it is not really suitable for modern road conditions.  Too slow, 6v electrics and poor suspension by modern standards.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

I drive all over TH, rarely if ever fly.   I actually enjoy driving, and wouldn't never put my dog on a plane.  To much hassle to fly now of days, and you can't take anything with you, and I'll need a car when I get there anyway.

 

Besides being cost effective for 2 adults & dog.  Stress out my dog in a cage, in TH heat...no love there.  

 

Prefer the ZS over the EP, for the same reason, shorter length.  I do agree, the EV market is limited  MG needs to come out  with a <600k MG3 EV, or one of them with stripped down EV truck, <800k.   All vehicles, ICEs & EVs are just silly priced.    Cars costing as much as houses, that's nuts.

 

Kudos to Suzuki for offering up a 416k AT for around town.

 

Wt. not really a factor and I actually prefer heavier.  As long not too much.

 

ZS ICE vs EV wt.  1290 vs 1570 kg

 

I hit a little import with a New Yorker years back, dented up the front of my car, sent the little one spinning into a wall, and they all got banged up inside.  ???? No airbags or seat belts.

We all have different tastes and requirements and I am sure your MG EP suits yours.

After reading your final paragraph I am going to get a nervous twitch every time I see an MG EP behind me ????

Maybe I could accept 1200 kg for an EV as weight distribution and c of g are much better.

Another reason why I would not buy an EV right now is weight.

I have a firm preference for cars that are light.  Most of the cars I have owned have been under 1000 kg.

To take one EV example, and honest I am not picking on you Khun LA, the MG EP weighs 1574 kg.  That is 789 kg heavier than my daily driver.

As energy density improves weight will come down.

11 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

in various ways, your comparison is incorrect.

 

transport time and cost from your house to the airport, as well cost from the airport to your destination (hotel / hua hin, etc.) must be included. 

 

show me a flight for 700 baht including one piece of luggage, maybe for next week. where do you book your cheap flights ...?

 

if I fly to Bangkok, it takes around 5 hours from my house to the airport and to the hotel in downtown Bangkok. if I go to Hua Hin, it takes about 7-8 hours ... and the cost will be at least 2'500 baht per person (taxi, ticket, bus). that is only for one person, if you travel with your wife or family than it will be much more costly .... if using the car, the cost for 1-5 person is more or less the same ...

 

we all know, an ev car is not for everyone, and that is a good thing!

 

 

You will not get a flight for 700 Baht if you want to fly next week. 

700 Baht was the price I got for 10 May when I checked, I think, three days ago.  7kg luggage is what you get for that price.  Adding 20 extra kg increases the price by about 500 Baht.

Normally I use Air Asia but Nok flies the same route.  The airport is 25 minutes from my house.  Total journey time door to door is about three hours.

I have never said an EV is not for me.  Rather there is nothing on the Thai market right now that I would buy.  No doubt that will change.

7 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Mango & papaya comparison  ...

... an entry level 3cyl MT ICE (338k) vs 800k EV, ex: MG EP

... SERIOUSLY, that's just ridiculous.

Advantage Celerio ... going further topped up, that's about it.

 

Celerio:

Maximum output (PS/rpm) ... 68/ 6,000

Maximum torque (Nm/rpm) ... 90/ 3,500

 

MG EP:

Maximum power (horsepower (kW))163 (120)

Maximum torque (Newton-meter)260

 

Which would you rather own, and drive for 3 -4 hrs straight ?

... nuff said

 

i recommend the Celerio, quite often, if that's what your budget dictates.  For others, buy something you actually want.

The Celerio is not what my budget dictates.  It is what meets my day to day requirements and it is not my only car.

For longer journeys, most commonly Bangkok, I prefer to fly.

My question for you is for a 500 km trip which would you prefer, an MG EP or an Airbus A320 200?

The Airbus takes typically 47 minutes from take off to landing and per flight it can cost as little as 700 Baht.

One of the reasons why I did not buy an EV this time around is because I do not want something as big as the MG EP.  Choice in the EV market here remains pretty limited.  Doubtless that will change.

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

How much petrol could you have purchased by getting a Suzuki ICE car for 318000bht, instead of your EV costing 900,000bht.

I'm thinking that 500,000bht difference would have paid for a lifetimes worth of petrol.

How much do you spend on coffee and snacks while waiting for your EV to charge?

You beat me to it.  In fact I did that calculation based on my own usage (10,000 km a year) and assuming an EV cost of 800K.  I ignored the Neta because it is a Noddy car.

With a purchase price of 318K for the ICE, which is what I spent, it would take me 25 years to get to 800K for cost of ICE car plus cost of fuel.  

Any argument that maintenance costs are higher for an ICE are offset by the fact that I have 500K in the bank earning interest whereas EV man does not.

I am not anti EV.  I just don't think now is the right time to buy.  EVs are so much simpler than ICE that they are bound to be a lot cheaper than ICE in time.  Perhaps in five years I will be tempted. 

On 4/9/2023 at 8:52 AM, KhunLA said:

ICE vs EV

In a word or 2, operating cost ... cost ... cost ... cost

 

Popped down to Ban Krut yesterday, for the hell of it, and 136 kms R/T. 

 

Would I do that if using an ICE, probably not, as nothing down there worth the ฿350 worth of petrol it would have used, that we haven't seen already over the years, and would make our mid price munch, a bit expensive.

 

In not caring about contributing to the overall pollution, that 'Save the Planet' ... Man Made Global Warming / Climate Change y'all complain about, then you should have just to put a few extra ฿฿฿ in the ol' pocket.

 

Since we charge with excess solar at home .... FREE transport.

 

Actually the best thing about our EV.  It gets me out of the house, whether down to the bottom of the province, or up to the top of.  Leaves plenty of reserve battery once back home.   It's a long province, though sadly, not very wide.

I think "FREE transport" is a little too evangelical.

Free at the point of use I would say.

I have no recommendations for you but I do have a lot of experience with manual gearboxes.

I suspect the problem is with the gear selection mechanism external to the gearbox.  On a manual gearbox this will be gear cables or rods or a combination of the two.  Wear in the external selection mechanism can cause the problems you describe.

If the problem is external the fix should be relatively cheap.  The key thing is having someone with the knowledge to diagnose the problem.

Is it a reasonably common brand/model in Thailand?

53 minutes ago, JayClay said:

You think that cancelled passports don't flag up on airport and immigration systems?

 

Sounds like it's a lot easier to travel fraudulently than I thought. They should probably do something about that.

That is not what I think. 

That is what I know based on more than twenty years working for the Home Office in the UK and abroad; mostly for the Immigration and Nationality Department (latterly renamed the Immigration and Nationality Directorate). 

4 hours ago, JayClay said:

If the passport has been cancelled by HMPO then check in systems and Thai immigration systems will both be aware of this.

 

 

No they will not.

So a police road block is an "extraction point" now?

How apt. 

Extracting the cash.  Extracting the p***.

On 12/1/2021 at 11:01 AM, CharlieH said:

Havnt read through all of the above.

 

My comment is buy Toyota, Transam hit that on the head.

Second DONT buy from a "used" dealer you dont know what you are getting and they"ll tell you pretty much what you want to here.

Toyotasure is a network attached to most Toyota dealers that sell secondhand cars and all have been verified and checked over etc.

 

Be aware that cars under 2 yr old wont be far off the price of a new one, thats how it is in Thailand for vehicles generally.

 

 

Don't be so confident about Toyotasure.

One of the vehicles I considered buying recently was a Hilux Revo 4wd single cab being sold by a Toyotasure dealer.  In fact the vehicle is still on One2car right now.

I spent an entire morning looking in detail at the car and discussing what deal could be done.  After that time invested the dealer mentioned that the car was owned by them and used as a run around for their workshop.  Great.  So you can tell me the entire history of the car in detail then?

Remarkably, and to their small credit, they sent me a lengthy print out which revealed that the car had undergone substantial body repairs with pretty much every body panel forward of the windscreen and both doors being replaced.  The chassis had also undergone repairs and personally I have doubts as to whether such a repair is even valid.  The work had all been done in their own workshop and they have a well earned reputation as an excellent repair facility.

At that point I decided to buy a new car.

The important point to note is that they only revealed the history to me when I specifically asked the right questions and this level of ethics is what you get buying at the top end of the used car market.

Good luck with the tents.

Part of the reason why I bought the Celerio is because I think you would be very unwise to spend big money on a  new ICE right now.

1 hour ago, LosLobo said:

SUKI CELERO GA/MT apologises now 338.000Baht

 

Equipment Lists - Suzuki CELERIO | Suzuki Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

That girl does some excellent reviews.  She invariably flashes her knickers at some stage of the process.  I suspect it may not be an accident.

1 minute ago, transam said:

The CVT doesn't have gears, but it has 2 ranges, the CVT uses the engine's torque to alter the drive belt position to speed up or slow down, as you speed up past a point it will switch to the second range. A clever system....

It also has a sports mode, if that is engaged you may feel the ranges switching more often....There is an "S" marker on the dash, pointing out you are in sports mode.

I think what it does, in the Swift at least, is simulate gears.  I didn't try the Celerio CVT so I cannot comment on that.

11 minutes ago, transam said:

The new Celerio is different to that, though...

 

It was partly your enthusiastic comments that motivated me to test drive the Celerio.

Not this ugly bug thing though.  Mine looks essentially the same as yours.  So far as I know this blue thing is not on sale in Thailand.

On 4/7/2023 at 7:15 AM, KhunLA said:

Aside from MGs, been spotting more than a few BYDs.  Not sure which models, as they all seem to be coming towards me.  So, very easy to spot.

 

There were three of these hogging the chargers at the PTT I stopped at on Phetkasem road yesterday.  All the same just different colours.

A very frustrated Neta man was stamping his booties in the background.

In my experience not in Savannakhet.  Use the wifi in your hotel if you are staying in one..

My mobile is seven years old.  Maybe a newer one does better but I doubt it.

Moto GP is getting too close to a Ducati one make race series.

Japanese have pretty much given up.  Other teams are make weights.

Proof that you can buy a World Championship.

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why are you addressing your "Scouser" remark to me?

So funny.  You bit.

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

...but they do have to be able to stand, legs a-kimbo, with their arms firmly crossed across their chests and a serious scowl on their faces in a lame attempt to intimidate anyone who gives a fck!

They are going for the Scouser look but without the guns and violence.

Generally speaking you do not replace a timing chain until it starts to develop an audible rattle.

And if it did do that on a Suzuki K series it would be way beyond 100,000 km.