I see some of the cars for sale have hit 150,000 km, especially the branded German cars.

 

If you are looking for a good bargain for a used German car, will you consider one that has already chalked up 150,000 km?  Or is 150,000 km considered a foot in the coffin ?

It really depends on whether the car has had regular servicing, which is a lottery in Thailand.

I have a Toyota Vios with 157,000 km on the odometer. It's probably got another 100,000 km still to go. But then, it's only been owned by two farangs who serviced it regularly and drove it sensibly.

150,000 km is less than 100,000 mile .. German cars by and large are pretty bullet proof , 300,000 km is not uncommon with Taxis regularly getting up to half a million Kms .. servicing is key as is the case with most vehicles and having a good look round with an idea of what to look for but 150,000 km up is not necessarily one foot in the scrapyard .. 

14 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It really depends on whether the car has had regular servicing, which is a lottery in Thailand.

I have a Toyota Vios with 157,000 km on the odometer. It's probably got another 100,000 km still to go. But then, it's only been owned by two farangs who serviced it regularly and drove it sensibly.

You think Thais who buy German cars which are more expensive than Thai assembled Japanese cars don't service their prized assets regularly ?

3 minutes ago, thairookie said:

You think Thais who buy German cars which are more expensive than Thai assembled Japanese cars don't service their prized assets regularly ?

Having bought a Merc where the Asian owner put 91 octane instead of the specified 95 in the tank, and water in the radiator instead of coolant, my answer is yes. I know, one example only. A mistake of mine that will not be repeated.

It's a myth German cars are more reliable. The best performing car for some years in America in terms of reliability and longevity is the Honda Accord.

Depends on the car. If it's something like Toyota Hilux, no problem. It will last at least 500 000 Km. And local village Somchais will move water buffalos on it till 1 000 000 Km.

 

But if it's something like Ford or BMW, then 150 000 Km is pretty much as much as you can get out of that car. ????

Get it looked over by a professional outfit that specializes in such things. They will draw up a list of parts that need replacing or will need soon. 

 

150k is typically when systems and things need start replacing.

 

Better off buying a younger model. 

From consumer reports August 2020...

 

51 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

150,000 km is less than 100,000 mile .. German cars by and large are pretty bullet proof , 300,000 km is not uncommon with Taxis regularly getting up to half a million Kms .. servicing is key as is the case with most vehicles and having a good look round with an idea of what to look for but 150,000 km up is not necessarily one foot in the scrapyard .. 

 

300.000 km is not uncommon IF the car has a diesel engine. 

 

 

There is NO such thing as a bargain foreign car in Thailand as your getting ripped off by overpaying the huge import tax on it.

23 minutes ago, dimitriv said:

 

300.000 km is not uncommon IF the car has a diesel engine. 

 

 

I recently sold a Peugeot diesel with over 150000 miles (> 240,000km) on the clock.

I'd owned it for 23 of its 24 years and had serviced it "religiously" so it was still a "nice little runner, Arfur" ????

 

Mind you, I did sell it because of some obvious corrosion...... ????

19 minutes ago, VBF said:

Mind you, I did sell it because of some obvious corrosion...... ????

 

 

You mean just that  the floor board rusted through?        

Is maintenance a high baht cost here in Thailand? In the states you can pick up beautiful merc and bmw's with 100,000 + miles for cheap, it's the maintenance and repair costs which are prohibitive.

27 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Is maintenance a high baht cost here in Thailand? In the states you can pick up beautiful merc and bmw's with 100,000 + miles for cheap, it's the maintenance and repair costs which are prohibitive.

Maintenance for locally made vehicles is quite cheap. My Vios costs me 1000 baht for 2 hours of servicing, oil change, tune up, my mechanic checks everything.

On the other hand, expect to pay three or four times that for a Benz or BMW for routine servicing. It gets eye-watering if anything requires parts.

I wouldn’t buy a German/import car in Thailand for any reason unless I was rich and it didn’t matter. 
 

150k isn’t a lot but it’s at an age where things start getting worn out. Brakes. Tires. Suspension bushings. Engine Components. 
 

It’s fine if the car is clean and maintained and you know what you’re getting into. 
 

Our first car here was a 150,000 KLM Honda city that the wife drove for 7 years until she blew a head gasket not knowing what the overheat light meant. 25k later and all new DIS coil packs, plugs and wires, head gasket, and head machining and she drove it for another few years before we sold it. Always maintained by a somchai with a 2-post lift in his backyard super cheap. 
 

Stick with Honda/Toyota and pick a decent one and you’ll be ok. Cars today are pretty reliable. 
 

Diesels are good but when they start messing up, it really takes a specialist to work on them and the parts are pricy. Look up the price for 4 injectors on a seventh gen HiLux. Wowza. 

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Maintenance for locally made vehicles is quite cheap. My Vios costs me 1000 baht for 2 hours of servicing, oil change, tune up, my mechanic checks everything.

On the other hand, expect to pay three or four times that for a Benz or BMW for routine servicing. It gets eye-watering if anything requires parts.

Which is why I would shy away from any pre-owned Merc or BMW. If the owners found the basic servicing at the dealerships too expensive, they may have used Somchai or just skipped it altogether.

16 hours ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

You mean just that  the floor board rusted through?        

No Andy, not quite that bad! ????

Things like heater pipes corroding and breaking off at the matrix and the fact that earlier in the year I'd driven over a pothole and part of the wishbone had snapped which could have been VERY serious. Thing is, it passed its MoT in the September, and in the October I was offered a very nice replacement vehicle at a good price. No-brainer at that time of year. Oh and the buyer went over it with a fine tooth comb and gave me the asking price!

Somchai, who is frequently mentioned in this thread, could be a Thai-German luk krueng.

21 hours ago, AndyAndyAndy said:

But if it's something like Ford or BMW, then 150 000 Km is pretty much as much as you can get out of that car. ????

 

Said the guy who knows nothing and seem proud !

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Maintenance for locally made vehicles is quite cheap. My Vios costs me 1000 baht for 2 hours of servicing, oil change, tune up, my mechanic checks everything.

On the other hand, expect to pay three or four times that for a Benz or BMW for routine servicing. It gets eye-watering if anything requires parts.

 

Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Just changing oil costs me 10000 on the Benz...

 

555...

 

 

31 minutes ago, samtab said:

 

Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Just changing oil costs me 10000 on the Benz...

 

555...

 

 

My bike 200 B.

14 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Is maintenance a high baht cost here in Thailand? In the states you can pick up beautiful merc and bmw's with 100,000 + miles for cheap, it's the maintenance and repair costs which are prohibitive.

Plenty of yutube videos on that topic. e.g. USA 100K bmw 7 series selling for 4000 dollars second hand. A few repairs quoted at 9000 dollars. lol

A friend here just had her benz air cond compressor get a leak - 0ver 50K baht to replace it. I think she just got it serviced so it will be ok for a short while. 

1 hour ago, samtab said:

 

Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Just changing oil costs me 10000 on the Benz...

 

555...

 

 

Obviously, oils ain't oils 555. Benz oil is...special????

23 hours ago, nightfox said:

There is NO such thing as a bargain foreign car in Thailand as your getting ripped off by overpaying the huge import tax on it.

some of these expensive "foreign cars" are actually built here to circumvent the huge import tax.

11 hours ago, samtab said:

 

Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Just changing oil costs me 10000 on the Benz...

 

555...

 

 

Says the guy who offers nothing but the laughing emoji on just about every post.

 

Read the post again champ.

You're just confirming what he said.

If you look for reliability, then better look for Japanese cars: Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi.
Mercedes, Audi not the best choice. French, Italian: forget it.

My Toyota Hilux Diesel has 680.000 km on the clock and I love it ????

As other here said before, finding qualified service for "exotic" cars may be very difficult, as grease monkeys have very little experience, due to the little nbr of these cars around. Let alone the expenses

 

On 7/7/2020 at 8:28 PM, thairookie said:

You think Thais who buy German cars which are more expensive than Thai assembled Japanese cars don't service their prized assets regularly ?

I bought a small Mitsubishi for my wife, i told her servicing etc is  her resposibility,  after a couple of months i asked her if she had checked  the levels under the bonnet, Water, Oil,  + Tyre pressures etc. she informed me that her list of brothers in Buriram had told her i was talking rubbish, not necessary to check any levels..and to wait until something goes wrong ....then fix it

Any properly maintained vehicle should be good for far more than 150,000 kilometers. Unless you get a lemon, the vehicle should be good for 250,000 miles or about 400,000 kilometers. Now buying a used vehicle with high mileage is another story because you will never know for sure whether it was properly maintained or not. 

Get a Toyota or Honda my fj cruiser here in the states has almost 300,000 miles on it still on the original clutch (always liked a manual shift)it’s good off road and a decent trailer tower 6,000lbs or less Toyota all the way for me