MoonRiverOasis

Sorry to hear about the delays for delivery for those waiting...

I was curious....after reading it seems the Ford & Mazda are basically the same truck from the same plant...Engine,Trans,Frame?

If so is the only real difference exterior styling & some interior styling then?

For instance the Mazda

FSC 2.2 Hi-Racer 659,000 Baht

Is it basically the same as the Ford

Open Cab 2.2 Hi-Rider XLT 699,000 Baht?

Yep, underneath they're the same - chassis my Mazda, Engines and gearboxes by Ford. The differences are interior/exterior styling, the suspension tune, and model grades.

The 659K Hi-Racer doesn't have ABS like the XLT - the 715K Hi-Racer is closest in spec to the XLT Hi-rider, but the Mazda gets a couple of extra minor features for the extra +16K

My Fiesta has been at a Ford dealer for over three months now.

Water got in while parked during the flood (it was never driven in water).

The water level was just below the seat cushion.

After six weeks they sent the seats away for cleaning, six weeks later and the seats have yet to be returned.

Sounds to me like you should be pissed off with your insurance company..

It's pretty hard to believe the Ford dealer wanted to repair the chairs - they are in the business of selling parts.. My guess is the insurance assessor strong-armed them into it. Also, it sounds like the chair repairs are being undertaken by a 3rd party, which will also likely have been dictated by the insurance company, so how can you lay blame on the dealer for that?

The big question is, who is your insurer? I'd like to make sure I stay away from them

The issue with the gear box sounds the same as the one in Aus.

Some say it's the adaptive programming learning, some a software fault but most say after awhile it starts to get better.

Certianly sounds like a software problem to me.

OP: keep the pressure on Ford to fix it. I had similar problems with a Mitsu once, and after a little persistance ended up with an engineer coming to my house for day, and custom programming the AT until I was satisfied.

MRO what is the likelihood that this roblem exists with the bt50? Would the ecu and programming be essentially the same as the ford's? Seems like its wise to hold off on a purchase for a year in the hope these bugs are ironed out.

It's highly unlikely the BT-50 would have different AT firmware.

If you're also confident it's just a software issue, it shouldn't be a reason to hold off - updating the AT firmware is a 10 minute job, and if you have a decent tech doing it, they will normally point out some other options you can enable/disable as well

For e.g. Auto-door lock (when x KM/hr reached) and unlock (when P engaged), auto-window-up (on P or door open), one-touch lane-change (i.e. quick touch of the stalk turns on the inidcators for a preset number of flashes), Auto re-lock (if accidentally unlocking the car by remote, it will re-lock if a door is not opened with x secs), etc etc.

The issue with the gear box sounds the same as the one in Aus.

Some say it's the adaptive programming learning, some a software fault but most say after awhile it starts to get better.

Certianly sounds like a software problem to me.

OP: keep the pressure on Ford to fix it. I had similar problems with a Mitsu once, and after a little persistance ended up with an engineer coming to my house for day, and custom programming the AT until I was satisfied.

These rooftop satellite receivers are only good for receiving from Thaicom 5, so that means free to air (from satellite) and TrueVision only.

Yep, has to be the tire pressures - I have test driven the Colorado, and it's much improved over all last-gen trucks for ride quality.

Warp answered right: Taxes

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/435479-taxes-on-cars-in-thailand/

There's no special taxes for a sports cars or Mini's BTW

I think MB has discontinued adoption for grey market cars now, as per BMW. They announced they were stopping that policy a couple of months back, but who knows.

Just to clarify, up until August 2011, MB Thailand actually gave a free warranty for gray market imports. The change in policy was the introduction of the adoption fee...

I have no idea so asking, will there be a NEW Allroader ? as Chevrolet are coming out with there own pickup based 7 seater ?

Chevrolet:

2012: All-new Trailblazer - to be unveiled in March

Well, there will definitely be a new Thairung... Whether it will still be called the Allroader isn't yet known though

MB Thailand have a program where they will 'adopt' your import and provide it with a 3-year unlimited KM factory warranty. Entry cost for the program for E-Series is 300,000 Baht, and your vehicle must be inspected to see if it qualifies first. The cost also includes all changes necessary to properly localize the car for Thai conditions.

So unless your importer is going to offer a substantial discount in lieu of their own standard warranty, buying official looks like a better deal IMHO.

Vigo is Th most stolen vehicle

Yes, most stolen is the VIGO 4-door 4x4, followed by Fortuner - that's why 4x4 pickups require more downpayment and cost ~10K Baht more each year to insure...

Apparently many fo them are also 'stolen to order' but nothing like the way shown in that video - in TH they simply wait for you to return to the car, then jump in the back seat as you unlock, and hold a knife to your throat / gun to your head until you agree that giving them keys would be a good idea... The other popular MO is breaking into your house and stealing the keys. Both much less sophisticated than the Canadian in the video, but equally as effective..

Most common theft here in Phuket is vehicles as above, rented, sometimes but not always with false ID, and never returned

Yes, apparently rental thefts are also quite popular in Chiangmai too. I heard of one rental outfit that had 5 taken in just one week this way.

Yeah, I saw that pic awhile back, I thought it was strange too but just put it down to an early demo car.

On Fords web site they state that it has LRD, would they be able to get out of that advertisement?

Sure they can get out of it - read the disclaimer

If you pay close attention to that page, you'll notice it has a huge mistake too:

http://www.ford.co.th/servlet/Satellite?c=DFYPage&cid=1248927618966&pagename=wrapper&site=FTHEN&WT.ac=CTA_SA_Experience_Bottom#f=1

Can you see it?...

The left graphic should read "4x4 LOW locking rear diff"

the Ford brochure says the Wildtrac has RDL but not in the spec sheet...? maybe since it's in Thai it says it don't have it? lol..

TH Wiltrak's have a limited slip rear end, but do not have the locking rear diff other markets get.

If you look to the left of the A/C controls, you'll notice there're provisions for two black buttons- the one on the left-top is the Hill Descent Control, but on the left-bottom where the LRD should be, there's just a blanking plate...

Edit: Here's a photo of a TH model W/T, showing where the LRD button normally goes:

And here's the missing button on an Australian version:

Vigo is Th most stolen vehicle

Yes, most stolen is the VIGO 4-door 4x4, followed by Fortuner - that's why 4x4 pickups require more downpayment and cost ~10K Baht more each year to insure...

Apparently many fo them are also 'stolen to order' but nothing like the way shown in that video - in TH they simply wait for you to return to the car, then jump in the back seat as you unlock, and hold a knife to your throat / gun to your head until you agree that giving them keys would be a good idea... The other popular MO is breaking into your house and stealing the keys. Both much less sophisticated than the Canadian in the video, but equally as effective..

Expect new models of the Allroader to start surfacing within the next few months (based on the new Chev/Isuzu pickups). IMHO, great value but only if it's going to be a keeper (resale sucks).

Another option is the 2.4L 5MT gasoline Pajero Sport SUV (915K) - comparable to MPV's for performance and FE (i.e. not fantastic), but much more versatile, and likely better resale, as SUV's are way more popular the MPV's in TH, and the PJS is the best seller..

Back to the Allroader, while it has absolutely zero street cred and poor resale as a result, it's cheap to buy, and cheap to run, and if using an Isuzu engine, it'll last practically forever.. Where it suffers is fit & finish (don't look too closely, heh), NVH, and general driving manners. Some of these negatives should improve with the new generation though.

Haven't heard anything that would suggest the Mokka is coming to TH. As I understand it, the (codename) PM-7 coming in 2013 is bigger than the Mokka, but is an MPV (along the same lines as the Zafira, but slightly smaller & taller), not a compact crossover like the Mokka, which appears to based off the T300 (Spark) platform.

Thanks, no the Spark is to small....

So will keep waiting for the Mazda C5, or Subaru XV to come out......... The Suzuki SX4 is the idea size, but is very old now....... Appear to be a lot of New Nissan X-Trails about over the past few months, any good ? the new 2 lt, 2x4 is a good price..

I think you're asking the wrong guy about the X-Trial - to me 1.15M is a helliva lot of money to pay for something that bland I'm sure it's a great car, but even after 27 months on the market, I just still can't get over it's (lack of) styling..

If you're willing/able to wait, I'd recommend holding off until the XV, the CX-5 and the new Escape launch. Buying in this segment right now, if you don't absolutely have to, is almost like asking for buyer's remorse IMHO

Thank you for your answer MoonRiverOasis

Actually, what I was hoping for is not crossing through the border but by shipping to the port of Yangon.

Is there any companies that are able do it?

For example, I'm hoping to go to a company like Toyota or Honda and pay the cash for the car without tax, as I am not going to use it in TH. After that they just ship the car to port of Yangon and my Dad over there will be waiting to collect it with a permit to pass through the Customs and then pay the 100% tax for license in Myanmar.

I'm sorry if my question is so novice. I understand it could be more complicated than that but basically that's what I want.

Thank you.

Manufacturer's dont' sell direct like that - you'll need to contact an exporter like Soni Motors as mentioned previously. Google will find them

Hi Moonriveroasis

You are of course correct that the cars are sent to auction, but not all.

If certain individuals within the customs department take a shine to your pride and joy they can when you have walked away from the extortion make an offer themselves for the car. possibly through a proxy.

This is why not all the cars end up at auction, mine being a case in point.

TTM

Yep, the best picks seem to have always mysteriously dissapeared by the time the auction lots are announced

The best bet will be your local DLT: http://www.dlt.go.th/th/

However, anyone reguarly buying/trading-in cars will usually have the forms on hand too - if you can find a way to ask them

Totally depends on both car and driver IMHO.

White is definitely cooler, both after being parked and while on the road - no shade of a doubt (pun intended)

Properly looked after, black can look absolutely fanstastic. However, it doesn't matter what you do to a white car though - even with a $10,000 wax-job it'll still only look as good as a regular one.

Then there's styling - some cars look better in black, some look better in white. A good example of this being my car and the wife's - mine (Cayenne) looks crappy in white, but completely awesome in black The wife's (Evoque) is the total opposite though.. with white and red looking superb on it, and black looking downright drab and boring.

In short, there's no simple 'black and white'; answer to the question, 555

I think you're approaching this from the wrong side of the border - IMHO, your best bet would be finding an importer on the Myanmar side who will take all responsibility to get your car across and legal. Even if you do manage to buy a car in TH tax-free, who knows what problems you're *really* going to face getting it into Myanmar?

As for buying from a regular dealer, that's not going to happen. Companies must have an export license in order to sell tax-free, and given the low calling for something lik this at a regular dealership, it's highly unlikely you'll find one who's gone through the paperwork and expense of it.

As for buying used, that doesn't seem to make any sense, as there's no way out of all the excise tax that was originally paid for the car, and is still factored into the price.. (Excise tax is the big one in TH).

If you're confident you get get it all sorted out at the border without any help, your best bet will be to contact one of the (few) Thai companies that specialize in vehicle exports - Soni Motors is the first one that comes to mind..

Not to good with Thai, so don't fully understand what is said...

Well over a year ago on a Thai TV Motor program was showing about the new CHEVROLET Zafira, my understanding was it was going to be made in Thailand......... Nothing and No info so guess understood wrong,....

A few days ago on TV they were showing another CHEVROLET MPV but smaller [sort of a mix between a Ford 'C' Max and a Mazda C5]

So far as I can find it appear to be in Europe soon called the CHEVROLET MOKKA, in Europe called the Vauxhall Mokka or Opel Mokka... [found with searching the websites]

Do Thai TV Motors reviews, show cars that are coming here or ones that will never come ? cannot work out if the CHEVROLET MOKKA will it be sold here or not..?

At moment waiting for the Mazda C5, or Subaru XV to come out [end of 2012 or early 2013]

Haven't heard anything that would suggest the Mokka is coming to TH. As I understand it, the (codename) PM-7 coming in 2013 is bigger than the Mokka, but is an MPV (along the same lines as the Zafira, but slightly smaller & taller), not a compact crossover like the Mokka, which appears to based off the T300 (Spark) platform.

Keep us posted if you do this. I've been keen on installing an old ipad. But my guy reckons its too problematic (might just wanna sell me a new unit though) and somewhere else quoted silly money.

An iPad is going to be tough given it's size... And an Android is going to be better suited IMHO, with it's support for widgets.

We have 4 ipad's and 2 iphones in our house, but only 3 Android devices total, so it's definitely not an anti-Apple thing

Next opp'ty will be whenever someone makes a pickup truck I want to buy, the other cars in our house at the moment are not one's you do this kind of thing to

MRO, now I'm very jealous, I'm trying to offload my RangeRover MKIII as I want the Evoque (2.0 petrol 4 door SI4).

Me too, but not enough to have buyer's remorse with the Cayenne yet, heh. The 2013 Audi Q7 will probably be the one to do that

MoonRiverOasis, it is the E90, the F30 not available yet.

That's actually good news in way.. Have been toying with the idea of buying the last ever V8 powered M3 Cabrio