Compact Class

[tigerbeer]

Just wondering what is the most wanted car for that price. Please feel free to add the reasons on why you choose the car that you voted for. Also do let me know if I left any other cars in that range.

[Khutan]

I am going through the mechanics of buying the 2Lt Focus S.

Sorry Jai Dee, I didn't take our advice, but Ford did give reason why the "Buy Back" value will be about the same as the top end Corolla after 3 years. I can only wait and see.

[tigerbeer]

looks like honda civic is the preferred choice. anybody on why you voted honda civic? ; if u did.

[Tywais]

looks like honda civic is the preferred choice. anybody on why you voted honda civic? ; if u did.

I'm planning on getting the Civic 2.0 shortly. Been trying to decide for a very long time. I like the new looks (of course personal taste), the reviews are outstanding, the features are now complete (compared to the outgoing model), Honda reliability, power/weight ratio is excellent (have a Nissan Bluebird 2.0 turbo and would hate to lose the performance).

Also, my Nissan has a HUD (heads up display) to see the speed digitally without having to refocus back in the cockpit. Would really miss that feature, I find it much safer and the new Civic has similar functionality with it's two tier deck. Safety is top notch. Plenty of room inside, similar to my current car. The Altis, could never get comfortable in it - seating issues.

This does run a shade over the 1 mil indicated in the poll.

[Gary A]

I had decided on a Honda Civic but ended up with a new Ford Focus because of the 0% interest. I wasn't real happy about taking money out of the stock market to buy a car so the no interest appealed to me. The new Focus Ghia was 939,000 baht. I wanted a new 4X4 pickup but the wife won that argument because we already have a pickup and it was hard to argue that I needed another pickup.

[Berty]

Stick to Honda, can't go wrong.

[raybkk]

Wait for the motorshow coming up soon. Toyota will reveal its new Altis, Vios. However I rather spent the money on a second hand car. A 6 month old one taken back by finance companies. Save a fortune.

[Hssl]

Raybkk

I heard good deals can be had on re-po cars / pick ups......... How does one go about getting a re-po ?

TIA

[Gary A]

Wouldn't touch Ford with a ten foot barge pole due to personal experiences, horror stories from close friends about Ford Thailand and working in the trade.

Mazda 3 for me.

Well tud, Mazda 3 and the Ford Focus are built in the same factory and share the same platform. What gas stations do your friends work in?

[Moonfruit]

That may well be true Gary, but it has no bearing on the after sales service offered.

I personally have 2 Fords, and Escape and a Ranger, and my next car will be the new 2008 Escape when it finally comes, having had no trouble at all with Fords aftersales (i use the Suk 62 branch.)

I drove the Mazda 3 sport on a testdrive and christened it the Boat 3. IMHO it handles like a barge. Even my Escape far outweighed it in handling and power.

For the poll above i voted Honda Civic. Im about to buy two for company vehicles (unfortunately, none of them are for me!) after having driven all the competition, they are by far and away the most pleasing in many ways. They feel soooooo much more spacious inside, i guess because of that way sloping windscreen.

[moonoi]

Wouldn't touch Ford with a ten foot barge pole due to personal experiences, horror stories from close friends about Ford Thailand and working in the trade.

Mazda 3 for me.

Well tud, Mazda 3 and the Ford Focus are built in the same factory and share the same platform. What gas stations do your friends work in?

Which is also based on the same platform as the Volvo S40 and the latest generation Land Rover Freelander

Gets around a bit does that Focus platform!

I voted for Ford, as I think its the best value car under 1 million baht, and far better than the Mazda 3 (which I used to own) in terms of equipment levels.

The 2.0 Civic comes to nearly 1.1 million otherwise I would have voted for that. The 1.8 is a bit slow.

Edited February 19, 2007 by moonoi

[Gary A]

Will the Ford Focus be reliable? Only time will tell but with 3 the year bumper to bumper warranty, I'm not too worried. I have the Ghia model. The suspension may be different from the lower end models, I don't know. It has 16 inch wheels with low profile Good Year Eagle tires. It drives like a sports car. The steering is quick and it corners like it is on rails, very little body lean and very stable on roads that my pickup truck dances on. It is underpowered as far as I am concerned but I guess it does pretty well for the small 1.8 liter engine. The fuel economy isn't that great. About 11 kilometers per liter local driving and about 15 kilometers per liter on the highway. My Nissan diesel pickup does better than that so it is disappointing.

The Honda Civic felt kind of mushy compared with the Focus. The Civic's ride is softer and it doesn't handle as well. I couldn't tell much difference as far as engine power. Both are underpowered but both are quite adequate. The Civic as equipped like the Focus is quite a bit more expensive. I'd guess that the Honda resale value will be higher but I do like the looks of the Focus much better. One interesting feature of the Focus is that the rear seat backs can fold forward. The opening is large enough to to be able to put long items in the trunk, even a step ladder. I find it handy for my fishing poles. The trunk is also quite large. I have a fairly large cooler box that fits in nicely. The dual zone air conditioner (front and back seat) is a joke and I think it is useless. Of course the people riding in the back seat may think differently. The CD player holds 6 CD's. That's a nice feature. The ABS, four wheel disk brakes and passenger side air bag are comforting. I hope I never need to test the crash safety system but the ratings are excellent. The seats are perforated leather and comfortable. The drivers side seat is electric and multi position. The steering wheel is adjustable in and out as well as up and down. After my wife drives the car, I can hardly even get in the car without adjusting the seat. My head touches the ceiling and I can barely fit between the seat and the steering wheel.

I also looked closely at the Nissan Tiida. The interior room is amazing and I liked the design even though it is kind of ugly. Unfortunately the dealer tried to pull some BS by telling my wife that the interest rate was .4 percent. It was actually .4 percent per month or 4.8 percent add on per year. That is the same dealer that services my truck so I was quite disappointed and put off by his attempted scam.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Gary A

[raybkk]

Raybkk

I heard good deals can be had on re-po cars / pick ups......... How does one go about getting a re-po ?

TIA

TIA,

PM me if you like. My Thai friend works for a Finance company and is taking cars back on a daily base. Than passes them on to dealers. However if you get in between them you will get a good deal.

[Jim's_a_Thai_Fox]

Voted for the Civic.

Test drove the focus 1.8 Ghia, the Mazda 3 1.6, the Civic 1.8 E and Jazz 1.5.

Had a pick up before and they all felt great to drive after that sack of sh*t!

Decided on the civic as I preferred the looks/interior. Had a Focus in the Uk, very good car. In the end, found a 2nd hand 2.0 Civic with 18,000km, 9 months old, farang owned. Same price (870k) as about a new 1.8 (with no ABS/air bags).

The 2.0 has cruise control and the paddle shift gears - couldn't resist, big kid.

I get about 13km/l from it and am happy with the 2nd hand option - the farang i bought it off paid the 300k depreciation. nice one.

Cheers

James

[chanchao]

Voted for the Civic too. With my second and third etc choices being exactly the way the ranking currently is. The bottom ones are old and will be replaced soon with new models, so you wouldn't buy those.

> My friends that I referred to don't work in gas stations but have some real nightmare stories about

> Ford Thailand, especially their aftersales service, having made the mistake of buying Ford

> in Thailand previously.

With the trucks especially you can just get them serviced at the Mazda dealer. Better, cheaper, same parts. Not sure if that applies to the Focus/3 as well? In any case I wouldn't buy those because of resale value. Would buy Civic, or wait for the Altis replacement.

Edited February 22, 2007 by chanchao

[SoloFlyer]

I personally have 2 Fords, and Escape and a Ranger, and my next car will be the new 2008 Escape when it finally comes, having had no trouble at all with Fords aftersales (i use the Suk 62 branch.)

Any ideas when this might be?? 2008 as in 2007 or 2010?? or the perpetual 'coming soon'??

[tigerbeer]

Decided on the civic as I preferred the looks/interior. Had a Focus in the Uk, very good car. In the end, found a 2nd hand 2.0 Civic with 18,000km, 9 months old, farang owned. Same price (870k) as about a new 1.8 (with no ABS/air bags).

The civic 1.8 with ABS, Airbags, and the turning stability thing(?) costs 860,000 S AT(AS). The only thing it does not have is 16 inch alloy rims, digital climate control and a few other cosmetics. That would be the more pricey model but alas no ABS, Airbags at 901K. Top 1.8 model runs about 947K with the works.

as the OP of the thread, we did buy a honda civic 1.8. looked at the mazda as well and it is surely a good looker. same as the ford. our most important concern was the resale value of the car should we decide to sell it. after driving it for a little more than a month now, very happy with it. 140HP is really good enought for me and definately not a "slow" car.

now i want a mazda 3 as well . but reviews are that the engine is a bit sluggish? if thats the case, wouldn't the ford focus be the same?

the honda 2.0 is surely a looker. with lots of HP under the bonnet! at 1.09M baht for top of the line. i would rather pay 1.29M for the 2.0G Camry if I had that much of cash.

[lotus eater]

Wouldn't touch Ford with a ten foot barge pole due to personal experiences, horror stories from close friends about Ford Thailand and working in the trade.

Mazda 3 for me.

Well tud, Mazda 3 and the Ford Focus are built in the same factory and share the same platform. What gas stations do your friends work in?

Moonfruit pretty much responded as I would have. My friends that I referred to don't work in gas stations but have some real nightmare stories about Ford Thailand, especially their aftersales service, having made the mistake of buying Ford in Thailand previously.

On a personal level I have driven many Fords and none have really impressed. Incidently I was going to mention that a Focus would be about the only Ford I would contemplate buying outside of Australia (they've got some nice big V8 monsters there).

I chose a mazda 3 (5 door 2L sports) last july. Reasons: excellent reviews; looks; I wanted a 5 door. Yes it's a tad sluggish, and gives me no more than 10 km/litre if driven with enthusiasm and with the a/c working. However build, reliability and overall satisfaction so far - great. (More trifling point - it's not as common or garden as honda and toyota.)

It comes fully assembled from the Phillipines, so comparison with the ford thailand standards is false. Mazda thailand assembles only the pick up.

[Muppetbkk]

It comes fully assembled from the Phillipines, so comparison with the ford thailand standards is false. Mazda thailand assembles only the pick up.

So does the Ford Focus imported from Philippines fully assembled too!! Plus with the 0% finance deal Ford has at the moment the resale price on a Toyota or Honda works out the same overall....The money saved on the finance deal will make up for the money lost on refinance. Different if you pay cash of course. And Ford has changed a lot in Thailand since the old days when they had poor quality cars on sale here. They now have the European modeled Focus no the old fashioned Tierra. Bring on the new Mondeo!!

Edited February 25, 2007 by Muppetbkk

[Krub]

I am driving the 2.0 EL for a year now.

All perfect. A very nice car to drive.

Maintenance is not expensive

I already have 45.000km on the clock

Would recommend the Civic but cannot speak for the 1.8 engine