Upcountry

I'm selling my 95 octane burner, and thinking about getting a diesel Mercedes.

The last time I saw one at a used car lot I was told the car burned "oil", not diesel. Only newer ones here are diesel, said the salesman.

So, I'm wondering which models and years to start with in my search. For the purposes of this question, the older the better, all Merc models.

Thanks!

Any experience with biodiesel here in Thailand?

When you wash your hands, you should use the soap for about 15 seconds to kill the germs.

Those waterless alcohol soap things do a faster job, so I've heard.

I've also heard that toilets are generally cleaner than computer keyboards. Maybe we should swab that waterless soap on them.

Missed that ad, but I'd like to know if a pre-96 'BM can be upgraded to use ethanol without problems. Up to now, it doesn't seem so. The fuel system is too tricky.

I'm also wondering if gas Mercs can be converted to diesel.

Unless your landlord won't allow it, you could install a hot water warmer/heater in your kitchen or bathroom sink if you want, right?

We have one in our kitchen. It definitely helps with greasy stuff, especially during the cool days or hours, and helps get things cleaner in general. We don't use it all the time, though. Usually the soap works well enough.

Forgot to ad that we could set up an account and place an ad via www.rotbarn.com.

Here's a summary:

www.thaicar.com - can place an add, but can't search for private cars

www.taladrod.com - tricky to set up account, password problems, gave up for now

www.one2car.com - have to call to set up an ad

www.rotbarn.com - add placed, in Thai. Not sure how to search, except by make.

Well, I have tried setting up ads on Thai car sale websites. It's been very frustrating.

First, I used www.thaicar.com, which has an English menu. You can actually place an ad in English, but not all the data you enter (such as location) may actually get into the database. When I tried to edit, I got only a Thai interface. I finally called them, and got some help. But I also got an explanation for why my car does not show up when I try to search for it:

The standard search only shows cars from dealers! annoyed.gif

I tried other methods of finding it after it disappeared off the recent additions menu, and it can't be found. So, Thaicar.com seems to be only for dealers. I don't know why they let me bother to enter an ad in the first place.

To advertise on other sites, I needed the help of a Thai reader. It is hard enough to do it that way, but these other sites have their own strange peculiarities which ring of a half-a$$ed, non-user-friendly attitude. In one case (one2car), we have to call to place the ad. In the case of taladrod.com the process of signing up for an account (again in Thai) ended up in a loop that frustrated us into giving up.

I'm getting the feeling, in any case, that advertising a car as a private seller is not well supported. We were able to to place an add with www.rotbarn.com.

Here's the summary:

www.thaicar.com - can place an add, but can't search for private cars

www.taladrod.com - tricky to set up account, password problems, gave up for now

www.one2car.com - have to call to set up an ad

www.rotbarn.com - add placed, in Thai. Not sure how to search, except by make.

If anyone has a suggestion for advertising on-line, I'd appreciate it. jap.gif

Speaking of selling, I have run into a nightmare with online car sale web sites here in Thailand.

First, I used www.thaicar.com, which has an English menu. You can actually place an ad in English, but not all the data you enter (such as location) may actually get into the database. When I tried to edit, I got only a Thai interface. I finally called them, and got some help. But I also got an explanation for why my car does not show up when I try to search for it:

The standard search only shows cars from dealers!

I tried other methods of finding it after it disappeared off the recent additions menu, and it can't be found. So Thaicar.com is only for dealers.

To advertise on other sites, I needed the help of a Thai reader. It is hard enough to do it that way, but these other sites have their own strange peculiarities which ring of a half-a$$ed, non-user-friendly attitude. In one case (one2car), we have to call to place the ad. In the case of taladrod.com the process of signing up for an account (again in Thai) ended up in a loop that frustrated us into giving up.

I'm getting the feeling, in any case, that advertising a car as a private seller is not well supported. If anyone has suggestions, I'm listening.

Where are you?

I have an old Marantz CD player and Philips CD Player that I don't use anymore.

Did you get my PM?

If you are going to use DVD+R or +RW, check to make sure your friends have DVD drives that an read them. Some computers and DVD players only use -R/RW discs. Some can't use RW of either type.

Jiu-Jitsu,

Did you get my PM?

In general, you usually get the most for your money if you buy a 2-year old car (they depreciate more in the first couple of years) and sell when it is around 6 years old (depreciation will increase after this). That's the theory, I guess, but it certainly would vary according to the type of car and location/country.

After I sell my car, I may just look for an old diesel pickup to get me by until hybrids are affordable and practical to own. Wish I could get a Golf, but they don't sell them in Thailand.

With your engine tuned up according to spec, you engine will get the best performance and fuel economy with the gas it was designed to use. It's not good, generally to use 91 in a car that was designed for 95, and I think worse to use 95 in a car designed for 91.

I agree with Thaiboxer, ethanol will be less efficient. Another bad thing about ethanol is that it will tend to evaporate from your 10 year old car's tank. That's one reason why I'll put off using ethanol as long as possible. It may okay for new cars, but in general it's recommended that car owner's fill up jut prior to using the car, not before parking it (especially for a while).

Indeed, priorities are mixed up.

For better or worse, I've been waiting for this country to drop tariff-like taxes on hybrid vehicles (so that dealers around the country might start selling/servicing them), but it hasn't happened. I really don't see any valid reason why this is still the case. They could be actively motivating Toyota, etc., to manufacture most of the cars here (if not the batteries).

Right now, there is a huge push to develop ethanol based on palm oil. I really hope that as soon as cellulosic ethanol (heat or enzyme) production is proven to be a more efficient way to do it, this country and others will shit their policies to produce ethanol without using arable/forest land or food products to power cars, etc.

But I'm not holding my breath. Why? Too much investment (and greedy paws in the gravy train) in the current environmentally unfriendly methods of producing ethanol already in use. These things are not easy to change.

According to a Bangkok Post correspondent I communicated with, one big problem is the quality of the fuel at various stations. Many do not do a good job with regular gas, let alone gasohol. I know from experience, that I used to get better performance with 95 form some stations and not from others.

Today I found that the stations selling 95 have changed since I last bought gas (I try not to drive much). There may be only 2 or so stations in town selling it. Very frustrating.

In Brazil, they do reasonably well - making ethanol from sugar cane. Because of the high sugar content, it costs about $3 to produce $5 of ethanol. In the States, they use corn, which has a lower sugar content and the cost to produce $5 of ethanol is about $4. That doesn't include transport and storage and pumping. If some really innovative thinkers got involved, they could devise a way to make ethanol by using solar energy.

Cellulosic ethanol is the new black.

It's made with either enzymes or a heat process. A production plant using heat is in rapid development in the US so it may be soon proven to to be an efficient way to make ethanol form wood chips, switchgrass, corn stalks or even kitchen refuse.

I'm crossing my fingers that the good sense of this method will overshadow the big business attached to the current method (always a bugaboo). If it does, maybe we can see ethanol as a decent oil alternative. But I still have to sell my 95 gas burner thanks to impending lack of availability.

Other than the forced move to gasohol (business/partly gov't) I agree with the minister's points (slower speeds, planned trips).

UC

Pepe',

You're right, it doesn't have to be complicated, but it does take some discipline and the desire to make the necessary choices.

From what I can see on this forum, and from other sources, not everyone is ready to accept the premise (conveniently or not). But we can't win the argument here, over beers or by force.

Only a combination of good science and good PR will eventually win most people over.

In the US, a recycling program (which is probably ongoing in most cities) allowed us to leave bottles, paper, cans, and other things in special bins out in front of our homes once a week (instead of daily for regular pick up). Otherwise decent human beings would completely disregard this option because they did not believe that doing their small part would make any difference or was worth their effort.

Knowing about how long it takes a car has to warm up in cold weather, I would start my car just a few seconds before driving off, but I had a neighbor who would remotely start his car and let it idle until the heater had warmed up the interior, and longer. I commented that it wasn't' worth the energy to do it, but his response was "I'm worth it".

So, it takes all types to make the world go around. Those of us who believe that a small effort to recycle or save a gallon of gas is worthwhile simply need to accept that not everyone feels that way. Hopefully, enough people on the planet do or will feel that way to make a difference.

Ok,

www.taladrod.com

Here I found a grid that showed relative prices for Auto and manual based on year. I'd like to find another reference to verify the results, but at least I found one.

Pepe, I've been trying to make a related point, that the things we can do to try to mitigate climate change (at least in regard to oil) are many of the same things we can do to reduce our dependency on oil, not to mention things like the cost of food (badly sourced ethanol) and the quality of the air we breath (which is an issue regardless of what the air can be proven to do to the change of the climate).

I think this thread has been sidetracked into flaming so that the most active posters have not found it useful discuss the upside of trying to pollute less regardless of the larger global warming debate. But then, this thread is focused on global warming as an issue in and of itself, isn't it?

So those who want to push the point that global warming is a fallacy are basing much of their argument on a "Libertarian" point of view. This means that "left wing" behavior modification types are trying to tell others what they can and cannot do based on "information" that Libertarians are not willing to accept. It is a political/philosophical world view thing, and there is currently not yet enough "proof" to convince everybody.

We have to accept that and deal with it. Eventually, if those of us who believe we are causing global warming are right, those who are reluctant to accept it will finally see the light or simply be in too much of a minority to do anything about it. No insult meant to posters here, but if we can have 'environmental terrorists' who commit unreasonable acts in the name of the environment, then I suppose the opposite can happen as well.

The future is always interesting.

Three things I hate about using gasohol in my older car:

1. The lower caloric value

2. Corrosion of parts not not designed for gasohol

3. Evaporation (they say that you should fill up just prior to use, not if you plan to park for a while)

Newer cars may be better at dealing with these issues, but older ones are not.

Point taken about the higher price. Paid more than 32 for 95 gas today, and I'd be happy to do that if I could get it where and when I need it. One thing to find a station around town, but on a long distance trip it can be more of a problem. Been there, hassled with that. So, yes, it may be available if you can find it, but....

Based on talking to people today, I get the sense that a consignment sale, involving the active efforts of the salesman would mean a 20% commission ( or cut into the final price of the car).

Sellers are telling me that there is at least a 100,000 Baht difference in price between a manual and automatic transmission for a BMW 3 series. Very surprising.

I checked out kelly blue book and Edmunds (US used car price organizations with websites) that don't give me a good comparison (mileage, etc., seems to get in the way).

Finally, I found a good chart on www.taladrod.com that shows a smaller difference between AT and MT. More like 40k baht.

I'm still not sure what to believe, because the local 'BM dealer gave me a price range that shows more like 100k difference. Maybe they used their wholesale reference.

Very confusing.

Chloe's point about batteries and the miles involved in manufacture correlates with the notion of "food miles" and some other similar notions about the idea of local vs remote production. With food, the idea is that a locally grown vegetable in an energy demanding greenhouse may actually have a higher "food miles" or "energy miles" quotient than the same product grown in a more efficient way and trucked in.

Batteries are indeed a toxic problem. [on the opposite end of the life cycle, I have a box of old batteries that I'm saving until Thailand figures out that an organized toxic waste program is better than putting them in the landfill.] One of my big frustrations with hybrids and alternative energy is that not enough money and man-hours have been put into developing better batteries. They are making progress, but the latest news I have seen shows that we're sill a bit away from the next generation. They may not be ready in the time frame that the Chevy Volt is dependent on, for instance.

But I also see HS Mauberley's counter point. Hybrids are a very creative and technologically interesting effort to increase the miles a consumer vehicle can get out of a gallon of fuel. I heard that the US military may be experimenting with hybrid tanks! So don't be surprised to see a hybrid Hummer soon.

check out: Chevy Tahoe Hybrid (not quiet a Hummer, I know)

http://www.chevrolet.com/hybrid/

Given the battery problem, even if selling prices are adjusted, still brings to the ideological "face" value of the purchase. We tend to buy cars and find dogs and/or cats that reflect our personalities, don't we.

Today I took my car out to wash it and fill it up. I went to the Jet station that had 95 the last time I went there. Not today! I didn't believe the attendant when he told me to go to Shell, but I had nothing to loose. Fortunately, the Shell down the street did have it again (not the last time I checked). The attendant there said only one other Shell outside of Muang had it.

I love my old car, but... time to sell, indeed!

Just now I got the right-aligned result after posting a reply.

Well I tried to refresh twice to fix it just now on the Global warming thread

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;#entry1653941

I stupidly clicked on the Post data notice each time, forgetting what would happen.

So, if I posted duplicates.

Please, any mod who sees this, help me remove the duplicates if you can.

Thanks,

UC

Anyway, I have more to add to this thread which is on topic so will try to no longer have these childish exchanges with the likes of your ilk.

Choe, Wilko, and all,

Do you grok the concept of "do onto others as you would have them do onto you"?

I started a negative response with my first gut reaction to something Chloe said, and I later apologized because I realized that it it was rude and unproductive.

It doesn't matter if you come from the right, left or in between, when you knee jerk and lower yourselves to name calling, inserted into your arguments, you undermine your credibility. Both, all of you.

None of us has a corner all the best side of the argument. Clearly there is a lot of equivocal science on the issue of man's effect on the environment. Science being science, and the weighted, ideological drive that often colors research ensures that the debate will continue for a long time.

The main reason I keep reading this thread, other than the guilty pleasure of the cock fight, is to hear some semblance of cogent argument that will help me understand the climate debate a little better.

If we all took deep breaths (hopefully when someone isn't burning a pile of trash! ) and thought about the other's argument and how to carefully respond in a way that is at least intelligent sophism, we might learn from each other.

Wouldn't that be more entertaining, really?

I'm not going to call anyone a troll, but unfortunately, some posters on this forum really just want to get other posters' goats, so by refraining you avoid that trap as well.

My research so far indicates only automatic transmissions for my car.

Anyone know how much less a standard transmission is worth, generally, than an automatic in the used car market?