Is 150,000 km mileage car not worth considering ?

[bert bloggs]

I have a chevy optra 180000 kms ,drives like a new car ,but it gets serviced ,oil change etc every 6000 kms . mind you the shock absorbers could do with changing .

[Grumpy one]

It all comes down to servicing the car from new.

I had a 740 Volvo in Australia, the odometer stopped working at 640,000 kms

The car kept going and was sold 3 years later

If in your heart you believe Somchai maintained his car on a regular basis, and I dont mean just looking at the engine

Then 130,000 kms is not an unacceptable distance to have travelled.

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Grumpy one

[peleid]

Always depends who has owned it before and how they looked after it. Had my Mazda 2 from new serviced on the button every 6 months, regardless of mileage.

[Don Mega]

1 hour ago, Deli said:

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

 

Qualified service techs for high end cars are easily found, people are just too tight fisted and cheap out  and go to B-quick and Cockpit instead !!

[ujayujay]

On 7/7/2020 at 8:53 PM, JeffersLos said:

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. 

No!

[Henryford]

The problem is not the engine which can go much further (if serviced) it's all the electrical bits on BMW/Mercs that will start to go.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, thairookie said:

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

Maybe YOUR Somcahi is, but mine aint.

[Proboscis]

On 7/7/2020 at 8:13 PM, 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 .. 

A good quality Mercedes Benz medium size car (back in the day a 200) would be driven as a taxi in Germany for 300,000 km before being sold. Often these vehicles would be bought for use as taxis in other countries.

 

If you are prepared to have some repairs done and the engine has been reasonably serviced, a Merc should run for as long as you do.

[Thingamabob]

20 years ago we bought a Volvo 850 GLE estate with 150,000kms on the clock. We still have it, now with 300,000kms on the clock. Looks like new, runs like a dream.

[toofarnorth]

15 hours ago, ICELANDMAN said:

My bike 200 B.

My Forza just last week .  2 oils , clutch , belts etc all dust blown out , took chap 30 mins to deal with the bike ,340 B.  GWH. Nothing now hopefuly for 3000 K. Too long in the tooth now to fiddle about with chains and gears.

[4MyEgo]

On 7/7/2020 at 11:12 PM, 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.

Agree, I have a Ford Ranger since new early 2016, regular services, 15,000 kilometre oil changes, goes like new, will probably upgrade next year and I allow 10% depreciation off the purchase per year so by the time its 6 next year will probably have 200,000 kilometres on the clock and be lucky to get 350,000, 400,000 if I am really lucky.

[Logosone]

It's still worth considering, especially if it's a German car since German cars are the best you can get.

 

With German, French and Swedish cars, and indeed now almost any car, the motor will run and run.

 

So it's  question of how well the car was looked after. Even with the best cars things can and will go wrong, electrics and many other things. After four or seven years you have to check the basics.

 

 

[Don Mega]

14 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

My Forza just last week .  2 oils , clutch , belts etc all dust blown out , took chap 30 mins to deal with the bike ,340 B.  GWH. Nothing now hopefuly for 3000 K. Too long in the tooth now to fiddle about with chains and gears.

Dont they run a drive belt, not chain ?

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, Logosone said:

It's still worth considering, especially if it's a German car since German cars are the best you can get.

 

 

 

 

Must  admit they do make great taxi's.

[katatonic]

On 7/7/2020 at 9:23 PM, 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.

My Volvos, both over 250,000km, and petrol engined, were both assembled in Ranong. Best value for money out there, drive like new and tough as old boots. Faster than Somchai's 3-litre diesel pickup/SUV/minibus too.. Oh, and I get parts from Lazada.

Edited July 9, 2020 by katatonic
Addition

[Don Mega]

7 minutes ago, katatonic said:

My Volvos, both over 250,000km, and petrol engined, were both assembled in Ranong. Best value for money out there, drive like new and tough as old boots. Faster than Somchai's 3-litre diesel pickup/SUV/minibus too.. Oh, and I get parts from Lazada.

If they were assembled in Ranong it was likely not by Wolwo as they are based in Samut Prakan.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Don Mega

[The Theory]

It is all depend on how it was treated by owner or owners just like any other car.

[katatonic]

15 hours ago, DavisH said:

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. 

She was getting ripped off. My mechanic, a certified Bosch agent in Phuket, specialises in foreign cars, I saw 2 Bentleys in his shop in the last couple of weeks and charges so little I've no idea, after using him for over 5 years, what his hourly rate is. In the US it's all about the labour cost but you can run decent cars here cheaply as labour is so low. The most expensive things we had done was a replacement gearbox on a Volvo S70 a couple of years ago for 25,000 baht, second-hand gearbox but still runs perfectly; he sourced a rare 200bhp engine (all the way from Sweden!) for a V40 t4 with a cracked block a while back and fitted it for, with lots of other work done, under 50,000 baht. Your friend could probably get that AC compressor from Lazada for around 10,000 baht - just looked for 30 seconds and found an S class one for 11,400bt. Fitting and gassing should be just a couple of k. 

[katatonic]

38 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

If they were assembled in Ranong it was likely not by Wolwo as they are based in Samut Prakan.

They are now. {They were assembled in the Ranong plant by Volvo.} Edit - you're quite correct apparently. Gets a bit confusing as they shared plants with both Ford and Mitsubishi here. I think now all production is in Malaysia. Pretty sure there was one in Ranong..!

Edited July 9, 2020 by katatonic

[Logosone]

46 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

Must  admit they do make great taxi's.

Personally I prefer the British Taxis. So roomy and spacious.

[Don Mega]

12 minutes ago, Logosone said:

Personally I prefer the British Taxis. So roomy and spacious.

Yuck, horrid vehicles.

 

In saying that I'd love one to build into a drag car !!

Edited July 9, 2020 by Don Mega

[rumak]

On 7/7/2020 at 8:53 PM, JeffersLos said:

 

Better off buying a younger model. 

I'm pretty sure this one has been serviced regularly ...

 

[Don Mega]

2 minutes ago, rumak said:

I'm pretty sure this one has been serviced regularly ...

 

 

Most likely re-sleeved a few times.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Don Mega

[thaiowl]

I bought a new Honda Accord in 1998 and sold it this year with 268,000km on the clock. Had it serviced every 10,000km. Over the years I had to replace the radiator and refurbish the automatic transmission.

Bough a 2012 Toyota Camry with 53,000km on the clock...that should see me off.

 

I would recommend Honda or Toyota...plenty of garages and spare parts in Thailand.

[Logosone]

I have to say I do love the new Honda Accord fully specced out. Great car.

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, runamok27 said:

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. 

Yes, you make a good point, and as regards the mileage, well it really does depend upon how well it is serviced and I give you quite a few examples; a lady friend here has a Toyota saloon with the 2.5 L engine and it has done about 180,000 km over the past 10 years, and is still going strong and sounds very sweet.

 

I bought a second-hand Opel 1.6 L saloon here and it was 15 years old with about 120,000 km on the clock, and although the engine was good, the gearbox needed work doing on it. I did keep it for about a year and then sold it for exactly what I paid for it.

 

A couple of cab drivers in Sydney were running around in Ford Falcons that had done well over 500,000 km, with one of them approaching the 1 million mark, although the suspension was shot and it really was due for the knacker's yard.

 

Treat them well and they will give you good service, same with many things actually!!

[DaftToPutRealName]

On 7/7/2020 at 11:55 PM, gargamon said:

From consumer reports August 2020...

 

Might still be worth doing some research there - the Mazda CX-5 for example is well known for having diesel sump issues from their 2013-2015ish model years. The fix is fairly simple and should have been pushed at the official maintenance in the West - not sure how it works here in Thailand considering their anti-consumer business approach, but you'd have to know about the problem beforehand to check otherwise expect an expensive bill.

 

Something so simple and small could have a massive effect on longevity considering it was leaving unburnt diesel in the DPF which would then have ongoing effects in terms of engine performance etc.

Yet the graph above makes no distinction between model and seems to be fine with the set of years which were model killers.

[CGW]

23 hours ago, NanLaew said:

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

I have a Merc, 7 years of service history (not Merc dealer, Merc trained) if there is a documented service history, I would be ok with it, if skipped - No.

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, thaiowl said:

I bought a new Honda Accord in 1998 and sold it this year with 268,000km on the clock. Had it serviced every 10,000km. Over the years I had to replace the radiator and refurbish the automatic transmission.

Bough a 2012 Toyota Camry with 53,000km on the clock...that should see me off.

 

I would recommend Honda or Toyota...plenty of garages and spare parts in Thailand.

Had a 2004 civic from new, regularly serviced for 200K kms. Solve it at 250K kms. Engine and gearbox still strong when I sold it. The radiator blew the day after I found a buyer lol. So I replaced that for them. That was to be my last road trip, but it wasn't meant to be.

I can't overstate the importance of regular maintenance. I saw some cars that were that same age as mine and they were trashed. 

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, katatonic said:

She was getting ripped off. My mechanic, a certified Bosch agent in Phuket, specialises in foreign cars, I saw 2 Bentleys in his shop in the last couple of weeks and charges so little I've no idea, after using him for over 5 years, what his hourly rate is. In the US it's all about the labour cost but you can run decent cars here cheaply as labour is so low. The most expensive things we had done was a replacement gearbox on a Volvo S70 a couple of years ago for 25,000 baht, second-hand gearbox but still runs perfectly; he sourced a rare 200bhp engine (all the way from Sweden!) for a V40 t4 with a cracked block a while back and fitted it for, with lots of other work done, under 50,000 baht. Your friend could probably get that AC compressor from Lazada for around 10,000 baht - just looked for 30 seconds and found an S class one for 11,400bt. Fitting and gassing should be just a couple of k. 

that 50K is the dealer cost, and apparently it is a know issue with her car, which is just out of warranty. Fortunately, her father pays 555.