Histavia

Within about 2 years or so under the ASEAN agreement, all this sort of stuff should be sorted out

"never ganna happen?" - well is HAS to, I think we can expect some dramatic changes in accessibility to other countries for private cars and they may happen quite quickly.

It does concern me thogh that so many appear to be driving in Laos without any cover.

As I understand it, you really won't have much cover with the Laos insurance. I'd recommend extending your Thai insurance to cover Laos. About 3 or 4 thousand baht for 2 weeks.

Can you do that for cambo also ??

I drove in laos last year....went one way down a way way street.....just the wrong way....got a fine......got called by cops another time for something and kept driving.

Pretty hopeless trying to take a car to Cambodia.

As I understand it, you really won't have much cover with the Laos insurance. I'd recommend extending your Thai insurance to cover Laos. About 3 or 4 thousand baht for 2 weeks.

It really isn't that difficult.

If you play around with the drop-downs tc you'll soon learn hich ones to click.

I bought my car of this site.

"oh they are so expensive" was a cmment I got off one "expert" - if so how come they have so many use it? Anyhow you should be able to negotiate if you are going to buy a second-hand car. ....and working out a simple web site will help.

I'd probaby have got there by the time I did all that.

The company will give you a quote.

Then when you own the car they will send a man round on a bike just to make sure the car is what you say it is.

Some DLs do not require you to take the driving test - only the eyesight test etc.

An international driving permit is acceptable valid for one year - I think you ae only meant to drive in Thailand for 6 months without getting a national licence.

As others have said - getting a one year licence is easy - I'd think you need a "proof of address" certificate from immigration - (allow a couple of days for this).

I would suggest that you cross the 5 year bridge when you come to it.....probably don't need non-imm visa.

Avoid major LTA offices like Pattaya they are usually full of farangs who don't know what they are doing and officers who charge "extras" left,right and center.

Isuzu probably has better re-sale prospects.

however the Navara is slightly bigger - wider - and goes like a ROCKET - the first of the high-HP 2.5 turbos that all the companies are releasing this year. (at 174 it was the most powerful pickup on the market - on paper at least).

Back seats on the Navara 4 door are frankly an embarrassment - uncomfortable and low quality - they really should be better on a truck this size (it really is quite big)

The Navara is also rather low for a 4wd.

Another problem with the Navara is that if you want to "customise" the wheels you have vey little choice as for some obscure reason it has hubs that are completely incompatible with any other vehicles so any wheels have to be made for that model alone.

The "Calibre" version is considerably less powerful

Isuzus seem to get REALLY rattly engine after a couple of years - Im sure there is no real problem but it is just aggravating.

As you now know the Isuzu is being replaced with a new model

I don't think this is going to happen to the Navara for a couple of years or so.

Pickups are much more dangerous for kids in a collision than sedans. In fact they are less safe in collisions full stop.

More rubber better in the wet? Not necessarily - it depends on how good te tire is at clearing water so the rubber touches the road. It also depends on the kind of rubber.....there are many , many factors.

Low profiles have all sorts of ride problems.

Bigger wheels and tires will handle the potholes better.

As for handling - many don't really drive often or quickly enough to notice any difference. however on 4WDs and high-rise pick ups there is a centre of gravity problem and the higher they get the greater the risk......in general.

pickups are NOT likely to handle best with a one ton load in the back....they are designed to handle loads of "UP TO" whatever the manufacturer states - this does not mean they "handle" best with a full load.

Furthermore the greater the mass of the vehicle the more work the engine will have to do - you will detect a reduction in performance and fuel consumption.

Weight distribution on pickups is not usuallyery good - especially on 2dr models.

tons of 4x4 workshops around, they should have a wide variety of lift kits, probably cheaper than going through Mitsubishi too, if they'll even give you the option of this kind of upgrade!

Is it a 4x4? - They should be about the same height as a Pajero anyway.

Really - either way I'd avoid most of the 4WD "experts" . Most garges, tyre shops etc should be able to do it without overcharging you .......

You need to decide how to raise it.

At the rear you can either fit a block, new springs, add a leaf or extend the link to the springs - all have their drawbacks.

at the front the usual thing is to put some spacers on the shocks or fit new "extendable" shocks.

non of this costs more than a few hundred baht, except for new shocks - about 5k a pair or a rear springs about 2k to 4k.

you may also want to look at the size of tires you have fitted - they might look a bit odd if you raise just raise the body.

In many "developing" countries second hand cars are dear.

This is partly due to the potential return one can get on the money spent e.g. quite old cars have a rental value and a work value....... this is coupled with very low depreciation - so money is not thrown away as fast a a new car in Europe.

labor costs are incredibly low, so fixing a car becomes a practical solution - rather than insurance write-offs you get in Europe.

The climate means there is little or no corrosion - this country doesn't need to put salt on the roads!

The regulations regarding road-worthiness and running old are are virtually unenforced so anything that starts is a viable proposition.

Road tax gets less as vehicles get older

Import duties protect the Thai market from a lot of outside competition - (and a huge range of vehicles!!!) - but homemade new vehicles are about the same as anywhere - so secondhand is the rate of depreciation.

It's not just Thailand - Even if you look at secondhand prices in Australia, you'll see they are pretty high there too.

In fact until the late 80s early 90s second hand cars in UK were pretty dear too......I used to bring back left -hookers from NL and Belgium to sell in UK - they were so cheap comparatively, people would put up with a steering wheel on the other side.

Derogatory comments about dodgy deals based on assumptions about racial behavior are of course baseless. No dealer wants to buy or sell a dodgy car - but if you DO buy a lemon then there is little or no comback - under the law, nothing to do with racist interpretations of behavior.

I believe th equivalent vehicle in Thailand is the "prerunner" a 2WD high-rise. As suspension and other components can be quite different on the Thai models it is only really a warning.

All pickups have a chassis construction and a relatively high centre of gravity and therefore can be more likely to roll over. The wieght disriburtion etc on pickups is also suspect and they have to be driven with respect.

It is for the work permit not the extension to a Visa.

And there is no such thing as a "Work Visa". There is a visa that permits someone to work, and there is a Work permit which is the authorization to legally work in Thailand.

Can confirm that it is required for Work Permit for Teachers...

Yes - I can confirm that it is required now for RENEWAL

I understand that anyone renewing a work visa is now required to take a medical including a syphilis test. Have the teachers got to go through the same hoops?

your problems will be with the utter incompetene of the Nissan sales team

any reduction in fuel cosrts will sooner or later be taken up by the fuel suppliers. I see the initial reduction at the pumps is already being eaten into.

"automatic" is a bit misleading as anyone who drives a "manual" will tell you that gear-changing is "automatic" there too.

Thank you so much guys. I'll have the battery and wipers changed immediately.

From your description of ."sometimes I have to try 2 times before it can get started." - I wouldn't blame the battery straight away. If it can turn the engine over quickly enough then it should have enough power.

Having said that 2 years does seem to be about the norm for a battery. Especially in unsealed batteries where evaporation is uite a lot more significant than one would expect in a more temperate climate.

I notice some people try to save money when buying a battery by getting a lower amperage one (often not realising that is why it is cheaper) - this will lead to problems towards the end of the battery's life - which will also be less than the allotted 2 years.....check your manufacturer's specs.

Any mods to a car will be used by the insurance company as an excuse not to pay.

Basically they agreed to insure the vehicle as it was on the day the insurance started. If then you modify that vehicle you are invalidating the insurance.

If you get insurance without notifying them of modifications already made you are also in breach.

One thing that annoyed me was when I asked Nissan to raise the suspension (8cm) and change the wheels on my new Navarra before delivery, they siad it would invalidate the guarantee - on the whole vehicle

TA - I love your post - it in it you make 2 wildly flawed postulations that perfectly encapsulate the standard of reasoning that has permeated this thread. I can't imagine a better coda to the whole thing.

KKBum - you amaze me - now I take it that you are questioning the motorcycle fatality figures.

It occurs to me that your posts are revealing too and say quite a lot about yourself. It appears that rather than study the plethora of evidence available both physics and stats, you prefer to resort to personal anecdotal evidence and cherry-picking a few stats that you mistakenly believe support your preconceived ideas (not theories) which have been conceived using partially comprehended schoolboy science coupled with a limited ability for reading comprehension

A few hundred years ago common sense told us the world was flat. ....but with a bit of lateral thinking by a few guys who learned to actually test what we were seeing the march of scientific knowledge began and are understanding of the world around us is based on scientific enquiry and it's meticulous interpretation. Some people were inevitably left by the wayside and it would appear that some of them are posting here.

You probably don't realise it,but you have not addressed a single facet of my primary or core arguments and your conclusion is nothing more than simple gainsaying - which really makes discussing it pointless as if I was talking about the price of apples and you're talking about the color of the sky

You remind me of the people who work in the department for health and safety in the building trade, I only have one thing to thank them for, there lack of common sense and there stupidity, help me make up mind to retire early.

Whereas I'm pleased to hear that you are no longer endangering the lives of your fellow workmates and that health and safety had a hand in that, you do realise that probably for the same reasons you "retired" from the construction industry, you have failed to show that you have any understanding of the points I was making let alone mount any argument against them.

What a load of <deleted>. It's folk like you that have made it illegal to change a plug on an appliance or do ANYTHING in the UK. Ban everything.

still waiting for a valid argument - I'm getting more and more convinced that it won't be forthcoming from this poster. You really haven't understood a word. Can you tell me where I suggested banning anything and why or are you too busy stereotyping to see the world as it really is?

KKBum - you amaze me - now I take it that you are questioning the motorcycle fatality figures.

It occurs to me that your posts are revealing too and say quite a lot about yourself. It appears that rather than study the plethora of evidence available both physics and stats, you prefer to resort to personal anecdotal evidence and cherry-picking a few stats that you mistakenly believe support your preconceived ideas (not theories) which have been conceived using partially comprehended schoolboy science coupled with a limited ability for reading comprehension

A few hundred years ago common sense told us the world was flat. ....but with a bit of lateral thinking by a few guys who learned to actually test what we were seeing the march of scientific knowledge began and are understanding of the world around us is based on scientific enquiry and it's meticulous interpretation. Some people were inevitably left by the wayside and it would appear that some of them are posting here.

You probably don't realise it,but you have not addressed a single facet of my primary or core arguments and your conclusion is nothing more than simple gainsaying - which really makes discussing it pointless as if I was talking about the price of apples and you're talking about the color of the sky

You remind me of the people who work in the department for health and safety in the building trade, I only have one thing to thank them for, there lack of common sense and there stupidity, help me make up mind to retire early.

Whereas I’m pleased to hear that you are no longer endangering the lives of your fellow workmates and that health and safety had a hand in that, you do realise that probably for the same reasons you “retired" from the construction industry, you have failed to show that you have any understanding of the points I was making let alone mount any argument against them.

KKBum - you amaze me - now I take it that you are questioning the motorcycle fatality figures.

It occurs to me that your posts are revealing too and say quite a lot about yourself. It appears that rather than study the plethora of evidence available both physics and stats, you prefer to resort to personal anecdotal evidence and cherry-picking a few stats that you mistakenly believe support your preconceived ideas (not theories) which have been conceived using partially comprehended schoolboy science coupled with a limited ability for reading comprehension

A few hundred years ago common sense told us the world was flat. ....but with a bit of lateral thinking by a few guys who learned to actually test what we were seeing the march of scientific knowledge began and are understanding of the world around us is based on scientific enquiry and it’s meticulous interpretation. Some people were inevitably left by the wayside and it would appear that some of them are posting here.

You probably don’t realise it,but you have not addressed a single facet of my primary or core arguments and your conclusion is nothing more than simple gainsaying - which really makes discussing it pointless as if I was talking about the price of apples and you’re talking about the color of the sky

Buses and coaches in Europe have long been subject to construction regulations - seat belts are of relatively little use in a serious pile-up unless the structure of the coach is compatible.

quite frankly the buses and coaches here offer hardly any protection to their passengers in a collision. The minibuses are little better as their interiors are poorly designed too.