Digger

The first model had appalling electrics and is unreliable. The second model is better as it used a BMW diesel engine and some components. The newest model is basically Ford components and built on a new production line - early indicators are that the quality is much improved but the second generation are still pretty good. The one to avoid is really the first generation.

Freelander WAS assembled in Thailand a couple of years ago at the same facility where Volvo kits get thrown together. Its no longer assembled here as they have a large glut of unsold Freelanders. That price is probably referring to the 2002 model which has the old headlights as the most easy way to recognise it. The upgraded model 2003 with the new style lights and interior is more expensive. Last I heard they still had to shift about 250 of them before the new model arrives and they sell at the rate of about 4 a week.

Not the experience of a friend of mine who has one as a company car in Thailand - infact the company have about 5 of them for senior execs as they fit the entire family. His view is that they are good for 3 years and then they go off lease and back to the leasing company. His view is that they are good for the first 2 years, then things start falling off, mechanics become suspect etc - he has no axe to grind, he just sits in it and his driver drives, but he is not impressed.

If your property is somewhere around Maprachan, you might want to chat with the guy who runs Laurel Park - its an estate of property that seems to be rented out, I think his name is Simon but just ask in Delibean coffee shop at the front of Laurel Park which they run as well. I think he is Australian or a Kiwi but I have certainly never found a better looking housing estate. If you dont know where it is its on the road from the resevoir that leads up to Horseshoe Point Hotel - about 2km on the left hand side. I dont know that they even offer management services, but for sure they seem to have plenty of gardeners and guys carrying pool hoses whenever I go to the coffee shop for bread.

I rented both the US version of the Captiva and the Ford Edge while on a trip to the States. The Chevy was OK, but outclassed in every way by the sexy BMW X-5/Lexus RX330-looking Edge. Little nits appeared with the Chevy--such as the cup holders are positioned on the floor tray between the front seats. Of course in the US they all have V-6 engines making them real peppy. Does anybody know if the Edge, perhaps under a different name badge, is coming to LOS? This is not the same SUV as the new Ford Ghia...completely different vehicle. We have agonized over buying a Fortuner vs CRV for months here. We took a long demo spin in both cars and came away completely dissatisfied with the harsh ride and engine rattle of thediesel Fortuner. The CRV is beautiful but pricey and has a small cargo carrying area. It's a hairdresser's car, while the Fortuner is a Thai road-control hog's heaven. Never seen a considerate Fortuner driver yet, always pushing to get past you no matter how fast you are driving.

Back to the topic though, resale value matters little to us as we plan to keep whatever vehicle we buy for a long time; but we do want a comfortable car that can handle long road trips and double as a grocery-getter. Captiva? CRV? No, not Fortuner!

Might be worth having a look at the Nissan X-Trail which was a car I knew nothing about until I read a review of it in the British magazine "what car" when they were doing a big road test including the new Land Rover Freelander, Toyota Rav 4 and a Hyundai I think. To cut a long story short, they really raved about the Nissan and how good it was in pretty much every area. Considering its price in Thailand - must be worth a look at least. They sell it here with a 2.5L petrol engine and I think its about 1.2m baht

The house / condo market is not moving at all yet there are no real bargains out there.Nobody is reducing prices,infact a lot of properties on the market which can't sell the owners have increased the price.It's totally crazy.If anyone can point out any bargains then feel free.As long as crazy owners ask crazy prices the property market is doomed.If you have a nice place then the impact is not relevant as you'll not want to sell,but my advice to people trying to sell GET REAL with your asking price.10 years ago it was hard to find a property over 6 mil,now it's hard to find one under that price.

EPG.

I think the reality is that most of these houses and condo's are not paid for with borrowed money, hence no real financial reason to sell. I considered selling a property I own near Pattaya which I have rented out and decided at the moment, whats the point - the buyers are not there and those that are are expecting firesale pricing. So I have just decided to keep it and keep it rented out. As I did not borrow the money, I am under no pressure to sell it.

Also from what I can see, not much property is built 'to speculate' (ie sell once its finished) and so builders tend to only build something when the buyer stumps up the cash. With the general feeling of a confused market - I dont see anything changing for another year at least, except a lot of realtors are going to be going out of business.

Most ladyboys I know would not pass the time of day in CM2 - they tend to go to other venue's where they get the level of respect they feel they as spending customers deserve. Personally I have been into Spasso and Sheratons new bar with a ladyboy and they have not said a word (probably help that we spent about 8000 baht between us). Novotels loss is anothers gain. Equally Bed Supperclub is LB friendly - they seem to have no problems.

PS by the way, they always use the ladies toilet in case you did not realise.

Thanks for your supportive comments LivinLOS

I certainly am not moaning about the visa system, nor do I feel that Thailand owes me anything. I'm 'man' enough to accept that! But I certainly do feel that this country is shooting itself in the foot when it comes to providing a longterm visa solution to high net worth individuals who want to invest in the country and who wish to remain here on a longterm basis.

Without trying to be rude, I'm talking about the entrepreneurs and innovators, not about the 'monkeys' who are actually employed to do the work! For them, with a WP etc, extension of visas seems reasonably clearcut.

But if you are an investor in Thailand, what visa do you get? A B visa. And, after 5 years of such visas, this is the first time that I have been told that an investor is not allowed to extend such a visa, simply on the grounds that he is the employer, not the employee. That seems ludicrous. And BTW, I have paid a lot in taxes. The hotel business that I financed has to pay all relevant taxes.

In my particular case, the unfortunate medical situation with my Thai wife means that extension based on support of Thai wife etc is also removed. (That was an unforseen situation).

I have now registered at Chulalongkorn University for the MA in Thai Studies. This will at least allow me to get a non-imm ED visa from the Thai embassy in KL.

Finally, my comments about PR. I want to be in a position to apply for PR because I want to 'belong' in Thailand. For me, having PR will give me a sense of security, without having to worry about visa issues in later life. For many people on this board, PR is not for them and I respect that completely. But for me, getting PR is a very important target, but one which seems to be eluding me

Simon

Solution seems simple to me at least.

1. Form a legal company with you as a shareholder and MD

2. Include as many things as you can think you might want to do under its business interests

3. Physically buy into the hotel business you operate using that company

4. Register for VAT

5. Get a work permit

6. Pay income tax on the notional salary of circa 50-60k month

7. Structure the deal that you as a director loan the company money, which gets shown in the annual accounts

8. Company repays the loan to you as it can afford, which is basically tax free as its repayment of a loan.

AFter 3 years of the above, you can apply for PR.

Not exactly difficult is it??

I cant help but laugh at the posts that Simon often puts up. For such an obviously clever guy, I am surprised he has very little common sense. Its so easy to set yourself up here legally - forming a company that owns a resort among other activity - him as the MD and after 3 years of paying taxes on his declared salary he can apply for residency. Really, you should have thought about this a long time ago instead of playing with coffee shops. beer bars and everything else you have dabbled and then failed in. The failure part is part of life, no shame in that, but what surprises me is that certainly in your posts you come across as somebody who 'believes' that Thailand owes you a huge debt. Personally I dont agree, and seemingly nor do immigration - lets face it - you have lived here, probably spending money that was generated here (by using your brain) - yet you have not paid one cent in income tax. Personally, I am not at all surprised and cant help but wonder how you have not developed a strategy to enable you to live here. It was the first thing I did when I came here - some ventures have been good, some not so good, but the crux of it is that my company is well established, with employees and all of us pay tax. My last work permit and visa renewal was actually done in 3 weeks - by far the quickest to date. The key is looking at the rules and developing a strategy to help YOU in what you want to achieve, yet all you seem to do is lurch from one crisis to another because you think your smarter than everyone else. What was it that Helmsley women said "only little people pay taxes" shortly prior to her being taken away to prison for tax avoidance. Some things in life are certain - death and taxes are at the top of that list.

I dont mean for this to come across as negative but really who have nobody but yourself to blame. Anybody with half a brain cell could see that 5 years of Non-imm B visa's would come back and bite you one day, as basically you abused the system.

Quite a few ladyboys i know swear by a dr Thep who runs a clinic somewhere near Pratunam. he is not for the squeamish though as he does the surgery under a local anesthetic which made my skin creep when I heard it. Apparently he charges 45000b to both thai and farang and your recuperating for an hour (yes thats it) and then your away home. Without a doubt though, the examples I have seen have been nothing less than spectacular (even more more so when you considered he created breasts on people born as guys). He is not the cheapest, but he is considered one of the best in his field, but as I say, bumrungrad type service its not.

I stick by my original post. The man should now be imprisoned and fined the equivalent of the victims wages. Assuming the rubbish picker would work until he is 65 and at say 5k baht a month multiplyed by the lenght of time he would have had left to work, (15 years) add an extra 20% to take care of inflation and then the funeral expenses and give it all to the family. Not likely to happen though is it?

RIP

Yeah what you say is right of course, assuming someone is going to look after the injured/dead persons family. However there is nobody to do that, except the driver - so how it works is you buy off the family by providing the compensation and get off from further problems. Not saying its right but thats how it is - money talks in a country like this, particularly if the person injured is a relative nobody. so you put the guy in Jail and who pays the compensation? Family end up with nothing - why pay compensation AND do jail time - its one or the other - just the way it is here.

This is becoming more common thats for sure - its done a lot on the Rama 9 expressway coming into BKK - basically they have a guy with a radar set up on a tripod under a bridge (keeps the sun off him) and he radios the speeders through the police at the next toll booth. They actually only stop real speeders going over 80kmh - since I noticed it, I have never been stopped as always drive that stretch at 80kmh - they pull over heaps of drivers - easiest way is to admit it, pay the agreed fine (no receipt of course) and carry on - for me at least my time is worth a lot more than 500baht.

Does anyone here know anything about the selling price for previously owned Mercedes'? I have a 2004 S and I am thinking of buying a 2007.

Probably your best bet would be to see what the dealer you use will offer for it - I understand MB have some pretty big marketing funds to shift out new motors, which might up the trade in price of your car. That would the case if the dealer you use is one of the few MB dealers who also sell used premium benz's - however expect to get a shock as to what they will offer you. Sellling privately is a nightmare unless you enjoy wasting countless hours with dreamers who have no money and no ability to actually buy it. Mate of mine earned about 300,000b a couple of years ago when he was selling a car of his - he had 6 people pay 50,000b deposits and none of them could arrange finance so he kept their deposit everytime. In the end he just took it to a tent and got the cash straight away, albeit much lower than he knew the vehicle was worth.

I financed my car with Daimler Chrysler leasing and it was a piece of cake - 20% down and no guarantor, pay back over 3 years. Its a typical HP type agreement where the repayment is shown as being artificially low - as they take no account of how much capital you have repaid - so for example the calculation would go something like this:

Borrow 1,000,000

Interest rate 10% = 100,000b interest

X4 years = 400,000 interest

total repayment = 1,400,000

divided by 48 months = 29,166 month

So when you often see the interest rate as being 3-4%, you can see that it works on the same principal as above (where i used 10% because lazy to get a calculator out) so the real interest cost is about double that once you take into account that capital repayment.

However DC leasing are not keen anymore on doing any finance other than for Mercedes - they bend over backwards to get people approved for their own brand, but shy away from other brands unless you have a proven history with them.

One thought in my mind is watching Jeremy Clarkson testing it on the UK's Top Gear programme and it got stuck in the mud.

Sorry but which model got stuck in the mud?

Sorry for making it clearer - it was the BMW X3 that got stuck just as he was explaining about its traction system that would focus power to any wheel with grip. End result they had to get a tractor to tow it out. Having said that, the RX is no better than the X3 for muddy conditions (which is what you mostly face in Thailand) - I a say if you need true off-road ability, go for a Toyota Prado (the sensible choice for service, resale value, quality) or Land Rover (the best product when it works, but be prepared to visit the service centre on a frequent basis and used values plummet, which actually makes them an attractive option if you can find one about 18 months old). Demo models of the Land Rover are easy to obtain and would be around the price of a new X3. Also been reading great reviews of the new Freelander - however I dont think its due here for another year.

The new X3 though has a fantastic engine - they have lifted the horse power up by about 40hp to circa 250 and its a lot more powerfull and flexible than the engine it replaces. Basically that was done in line with the mid life revisions that have recently been lauched - lots of executive models available at BMW showrooms now which are the old model, but again, attractively priced by BMW standards but if you went with the BMW I'd pay the extra and go for the new model. Having said all that, one that took my eye was the Nissan Murrano(spelling) which is same price range and more of a 'muscular' 4x4 than the Lexus RX - looks great in the burnt orange colour on the Nissan website.

Unless something has changed in last couple of weeks, BMW do NOT use the disel engine for the X3 in Thailand. Its a 2.5l petrol engine which has just been upgraded. However saying that, you can hardly compare a X3 to a Lexus - they are different categories of vehicles. One thought in my mind is watching Jeremy Clarkson testing it on the UK's Top Gear programme and it got stuck in the mud. Hardly a great advert for a 4X4 which you want to take off road. If you want real off road capability get a Toyota Prado or otherwise if you like visiting service centres get a Land Rover Disco - the new one is still getting rave reviews and seemingly quality has vastly improved under Ford. Another idea might be the often overlooked Ford model thats imported from Australia - very cheap for what it offers. I forget the name but its not the Escape.

I always find it amazing how so many people on this forum are such saints. Look around you guys - this is happening all the time - my maid told me at the weekend that a farang smacked a stationary thai off his motorbike on Soi Siam Country Club and he is in ICU with 3% chance of survival. How many times, have you seen countless flower and spirit house memorials to the dead who tragically died in accidents. I am not saying that this guy was correct in anyway, but really some of the comments are just so ridiculous, until of course it happens to you....... Then suddenly 1,000,000b saves you from going to jail.

Its always Foodland in Pattaya for me - I hate Tesco Lotus with a vengance in Pattaya. Why have 50 cashier positions and only 5 open?????? Labour is hardly expensive. Probably spend 4000b a time in Foodland, revenue that would probably be 10X what Tesco averages but it has no concept of what to offer in Thailand. The British top management in Thailand really has NO idea of what is going on in the farang orientated areas - they should be cleaning up in BKK, Pattaya, Phuket and Sumui - but wherever they have some service focused competition - they lose everytime. What makes it even more annoying is that I own a not inconsiderable amount of Tesco shares.....

A simple example, last time in Tesco, I had to pack my own shopping, push my own trolley to my car and then glanced through the receipt and found pretty much everything I buy is way more expensive than Foodland.

In my experience in Thailand, Whilrpool service totally sucks - had to wait 9 weeks for a spare part from Brazil for a fridge and after 2 YEARS am still waiting for the replacement part for my top loading Whirlpool washing machine. No surprises, never bought anything Whilrpool since and there service centres are just plan hopeless. I have found Electrolux service to be good with plenty of spares on hand + Japanese brands tend to be good, as they rarely break down in the first place. If it was me I'd be going for a Japanese hot water machine, but cant say I have ever seen one, hence I got an Electrolux front loader which is fine. The instructions on some models are totally simple - basically just showed the maid, turn it C wash and press on.

Actually come to think about it - I remember the advertsing blurb when Northshore was launched saying that due to changes in the planning laws, it was going to be the only building of its kind (presume height, distance from sea) to be finished in Pattaya. Then lo and behold, we get the View Talay place barely a couple hundred meters further down the beach, the Amari extension popping up and now Northpoint in Naklua. So presume there has been some 'perceived' change in the planning law as I seriously doubt that Raimon Land as a public company is going to go down this road (with Northpoint), unless the actual law had been changed, as it pertained to the 200m distance. However I guess thats the crux of the Pattaya City arguement - they changed the law, but it remains to be seen if this is valid versus what the central government had in place from what back in 1978 or whenever.

Should make for an interesting situation from the sidelines. So now you have a major public company caught up in this as well as one of Thailands largest hotel groups, not to mention any other projects that have not been launched yet that may be in planning stages.

I ordered from this place via door to door last weekend and found it very good. Even allowing for the 30 min journey out to Maprachan, the fish was moist and the chips just what I was hoping for. By the way I went for the local fish as I have never yet had a decent piece of cod in Thailand, presumably as it loses a lot of flavour, texture when its frozen.

Having said that, it seems a typical farang approach to blame the customer when the ad was misleading - lets face it, the beer had a 20b value if that - personally if that happened in a business I owned, the whole meal would have been complimentary. But then I am not involved in this kind of business, but I realise the danger of having negative feedback going without remedy - something that not many business owners seem to understand in Thailand.

Might help if the police actually started working during the dark hours instead of moonlighting as security guys in bars. But maybe thats too simple an explanation

As an aside, you really do wonder what the police are up to in Pattaya at times - The Bali Hai area "should" be under 24hr CCTV coverage given its the centre for almost any and every event that takes place in Pattaya, however I suspect the reality is that the only people who are required to have CCTV cameras are bars that control their own security function and to all intents and purposes do it pretty well - after all, when was the last time, you heard of gold snatching in a gogo or disco in Pattaya?

Really makes me wonder why I hardly ever venture over Sukhumvit these days when I come down from Bangkok at weekends.

Yes thats my point - the government could change the law or allow for an amendment in the case of Pattaya if the city can highlight some compelling case why it needs to be changed for the benefit of the city. A lot of this will be done in secret I suspect - as it is in any country and of course, such a change would be purely co-incidental to benefit the developers of this project, hence they may have to wait a couple of years till the dust dies down.

Oh and by the way, forgot the rehab centre, a far more likely scenario is that VT allow the land to be used for a collection of beer bars (with compulsory loud music) until they get their own way. I had overlooked what everyother Thai land owner does to bring some cash in Short time while they get their own way on a building project and/or sell the land at a price they find acceptable.

I understand your point Tammi, however the law about measurements from the sea does not seem to be consistent around Thailand. For example in Hua Hin, I have seen many condo's that are barely 50m from the edge of the beach, presumably these were not all built before this law came into effect. Therefore whats too stop, Pattaya City pleading the case that with this confusion, the law needs to be adjusted to be consistent, thereby creating a get-out which will eventually allow for the VT7 place to be built. It may not eventually be the same as the design already approved, but I suspect it will get built eventually. As I say, I suspect the stakes are too high and the lobbying at central government level will be too great for anything other than a building being put up - the thought of Pattaya City being sued by the developers would be something I doubt anybody will relish. Sure, central government may say "well it serves them right for taking money" however as we all know, a lot of dicsussions happen to avoid anyone losing face (and not to mention the city having to potentially paying out hundreds of milllion baht in compensation to the developer). As I say, I suspect that IF the court finds the planning approval was wrongly issued, we can expect a change in the law once this has all been forgotten, which then permits a revised building line. In the meantime, VT may decide to lease the land on a short term agreement to the city for the building of a drug rehab centre, dog home, etc etc (Basically anything which will cause as much pain to the winners as they can).

So what is to say that even if this judge agrees and stops VT7 being built, that the city planners do not just adopt a new law and permit high rise being built up to say a 100m line, thus tidying up a confusing law? Maybe the building will get delayed for 3/4 years and possibly the land area becomes a rubbish dump in the meantime, but I still believe that the stakes are too high for this building NOT to get built.

I hope for the Guys in the condo behind that it does work for them, but I would not hold out that much hope myself when this amount of money and face is at stake.