AMG C43 Coupe - good choice of car for Thailand?

[pedro01]

26 minutes ago, eliassfeir said:

Ok, you are not a liar. 

 

But then can you explain one by one and in great details what those problems are? 

 

Yes, I do daily drive a Mercedes (AMG) in Thailand, and on one occassion I had a (tiny) incident with a motorbike in Rama IV in Bangkok, guess what? the fault of the accident didn't fall on me "cuz I drive a Merc and I am farang..." 

 

Not a single issue at all, not any different than if I was driving a 1994 Pick Up Truck... 

 

Could you please go into more detail as to what the problems driving a Merc could cause then?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say - it probably wasn't just the car, if you catch my drift.

 

Never had an issue anywhere in BMs or Benz. With the Z4,  I'll have a chat with motorcyclists at traffic lights - or give the girl on the back of a bike a wave.

 

Fortunately - the wife has an epic sense of humor and just rolls with it. I also cannot drive past a Thai Karaoke place with girls sitting on stools outside without beeping the horn.

 

But actual issues? With other people? Nope.

 

Well - there was one - my wife went to Lotus in her PJs and 50 Baht flip flops once. A woman was looking down her nose at her at the counter. She was packing her car when my wife got to the 5 series and started packing the shopping and the woman went up to her, looked her up and down and said "That's YOUR car?".

 

She is lucky my wife was in a good mood to be honest.

[pedro01]

6 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

In my experience, if you want to impress the ladies. You go to an upmarket club on somewhere like Thonglor. Order a drink, sit down, rummage around in your clothes looking for your phone. In the process you put a money clip with about 10,000 baht on the table, find your phone. Get up and go to the toilet whilst, absent mindedly, leaving the 10,000 baht on the table. 

When you come back all the ladies are most friendly and the 10,000 baht is still there.

 

A mate of mine did that for years. He always drives a leased late model Camry.

 

Relationships should start with a woman wanting you for your pen1s, not your wallet. 

[pedro01]

10 hours ago, mjakob007 said:

how would a C43 compare with a beemer 430i?

anyone that has used both?

No - but the 4 is nice too - I would go for the M40i version though. The pic attached was from our tours around looking for a new one for the wife. It is a nice looking car.

 

The 3 Series M40i is well worth a look as they made it a lot bigger too. 

 

Here's the thing though - BMWs are less reliable. When you buy one - it comes with a lot of free service which is built into the price. BMW do look after you very well and address any issues - but it's the bleeding edge. No issues with our Z4 though - but keep it in mind. I think BMW don't mind throwing in tech that's just been invented.

 

Benz give you <deleted> all - not even GPS, not even first service - you are paying for the car and only the car.  So generally speaking a 4 million Baht Benz will be a better car than a 4 million Baht BMW

[pedro01]

7 hours ago, malathione said:

I think it's a great car for Thailand. Discreet and fun and reasonably priced. I'm looking at getting a GLC 43 as a normal use car. My daily driver is a Z4 M40 like Pedro's but not really the most practical. Roads are just fine, I drive all over the country regularly.

 

Don't really understand the hate here.

Nice car - but you should fire your builder

[sharksy]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:46 AM, itsari said:

I had a Mercedes years ago and that car i enjoyed but caused many situations that I would of been happy to do without .

Pick ups are not desirable in the cities as they have a miserable steering radius .

I also own an AMG (4wd),  true about the miserable steering radious - I think this is a 4wd "thing"

[HeijoshinCool]

On 9/28/2021 at 3:23 AM, pedro01 said:

nor do they bring unwanted attention. 

.

 

Like on this thread.....????

[sharksy]

4 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

A45?

The GLA45 (like the CLA45) is based upon the A45.  I have the GLA45 - bigger boot and higher spec than the similar models.

[RafPinto]

1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

Relationships should start with a woman wanting you for your pen1s, not your wallet. 

You mean pennies? Or is it satangs?

[BKKBike09]

On 9/28/2021 at 12:24 PM, guzzi850m2 said:

How about the Volvo S60 recharge?

 

2.2mill, over 400hp combined! That's more than the C43 at 60-65% the cost?

 

Okay you don't get the MB badge.

 

 

https://www.volvocars.com/en-th/v/cars/s60-hybrid

They're good cars but it's not 400 bhp all the time. From memory something like 230 from the petrol motor and the rest from the electric.

 

Perhaps more to the point, all Volvo cars are now electronically limited to 180 kmh "for safety" (but it's okay to have a 2-tonne car that's posted to do 0-60 in sub 5s).

[eliassfeir]

1 hour ago, sharksy said:

I also own an AMG (4wd),  true about the miserable steering radious - I think this is a 4wd "thing"

Are you sure? He was talking about the miserable steering radious of pick up trucks, lol, not AMGs...

 

I wouldn't think the 4Matic version has any less steering radious than the standard RWD version.

Edited September 29, 2021 by eliassfeir

[eliassfeir]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

You mean pennies? Or is it satangs?

 

The larger the better.... 

[RafPinto]

2 minutes ago, eliassfeir said:

 

The larger the better.... 

I know.

 

[pedro01]

1 hour ago, eliassfeir said:

Are you sure? He was talking about the miserable steering radious of pick up trucks, lol, not AMGs...

 

I wouldn't think the 4Matic version has any less steering radious than the standard RWD version.

The AMG c43 does not like doing small circles 

[talahtnut]

On 9/28/2021 at 8:23 AM, KhunBENQ said:

AMG C43 for Thailand? No. Currently you wouldn't get any further than 50 km out of town. Nice for Bangkok promenade posing.

My Benz for today:

Good taste, but mines an old workhorse, not very showy is it,

the inside looks like rubbish tip. My favourite is an old 2cv,

also looks like a skip inside.

[mjakob007]

3 hours ago, pedro01 said:

No - but the 4 is nice too - I would go for the M40i version though. The pic attached was from our tours around looking for a new one for the wife. It is a nice looking car.

 

The 3 Series M40i is well worth a look as they made it a lot bigger too. 

 

Here's the thing though - BMWs are less reliable. When you buy one - it comes with a lot of free service which is built into the price. BMW do look after you very well and address any issues - but it's the bleeding edge. No issues with our Z4 though - but keep it in mind. I think BMW don't mind throwing in tech that's just been invented.

 

Benz give you <deleted> all - not even GPS, not even first service - you are paying for the car and only the car.  So generally speaking a 4 million Baht Benz will be a better car than a 4 million Baht BMW

Thank you for sharing and i agree with you.

the 5 year vs 3 years free service is in favor of BMW

similarly cost of 3 year extended warranty is 3X times for a benz

 

 

[eliassfeir]

1 hour ago, mjakob007 said:

Thank you for sharing and i agree with you.

the 5 year vs 3 years free service is in favor of BMW

similarly cost of 3 year extended warranty is 3X times for a benz

 

 

Yes, but that's only cuz BMWs break at the very least twice as often as Mercs do. 

 

And the fact that I have free service, doesn't make it anymore enjoyable for me to take it to the garage. 

 

In fact, when something breaks, I would very much rather pay out of pocket and have whatever done in a couple of hours, than get it free but having to leave the car there for a couple of days ????‍♂️

 

Then it's a mess, every single plan you have in your agenda for those days, needs to be rescheduled, or at least planned in a different way. 

 

I prefer a reliable car over one which breaks more but has free service... Some people love driving their car to the mechanic, I hate it...

 

[mjakob007]

5 minutes ago, eliassfeir said:

Yes, but that's only cuz BMWs break at the very least twice as often as Mercs do. 

 

And the fact that I have free service, doesn't make it anymore enjoyable for me to take it to the garage. 

 

In fact, when something breaks, I would very much rather pay out of pocket and have whatever done in a couple of hours, than get it free but having to leave the car there for a couple of days ????‍♂️

 

Then it's a mess, every single plan you have in your agenda for those days, needs to be rescheduled, or at least planned in a different way. 

 

I prefer a reliable car over one which breaks more but has free service... Some people love driving their car to the mechanic, I hate it...

 

yes, outage hurts when those are the only wheels at  one's disposal.

 

out of curiosity, what are the common breakdowns?

[eliassfeir]

1 hour ago, mjakob007 said:

yes, outage hurts when those are the only wheels at  one's disposal.

 

out of curiosity, what are the common breakdowns?

I've never driven a BMW myself, but come on, a close friend of mine with a 330i, he suddenly got a Check Engine Light in the middle of the expressway, limp mode..... Turns out his intake manifold MELTED!!! Because they are made of freaking PLASTIC! On a BMW!!!! 

 

1 week in the garage... who cares if it's free to repair it....

 

I've also heard from someone whose gearbox broke down within days of buying a brand new BMW from the BMW dealer.... 

 

That is not to say Mercs don't break either, but I don't know... in several years of owning different (new & used) Mercs, I've only ever had to crawl back home when the turbo popped in my old turbodiesel E320 CDI (and that likely has got more to do with the speeds at which that car was driven than with the quality of the turbo instead)... 

 

As for the rest, Mercs will develop quirks here and there overtime (less so if you follow the maintenance schedule),  which will take time repairing in the garage, but you can plan for it ahead of time, so that it doesn't impact your life... Nothing that will leave you stranded when you most need the car, in other words. 

 

Example: After a trip to Phuket, and passing certain potholes in some 20km of very poor road near Pha Nga at well over 110km/h, my car's suspension developed a funny noise on the front rear, the bushings in the wishbone popped.... But I took it to the garage in the weekend and was fixed already, nothing that prevented me from getting back home.

Edited September 29, 2021 by eliassfeir

[pedro01]

1 hour ago, mjakob007 said:

Thank you for sharing and i agree with you.

the 5 year vs 3 years free service is in favor of BMW

similarly cost of 3 year extended warranty is 3X times for a benz

 

 

Actually, my take is - you don't actually know how much of the price is the car with a Beemer.

 

The free servicing must be a fair chunk of the BMW price. 

 

I think you just have to buy what makes you smile at the end of the day.

 

 

 

[malathione]

My only experience with Mercedes these last few years is this. Dead reliable if somewhat uncomfortable! But hey at least it's a convertible...

[mavi]

If you buy new and plan to keep it long time it's a good choice.

And as petrol cars will disappear soon, it's a good idea to keep it forever !

 

[pedro01]

1 hour ago, mavi said:

This is a well known problem, BMW cars are krap made of $hit. Why do people expect when they get 5 years free service ?

Buy Benz only.

 

 

 

 

I think you mean warranty.

 

A company with a very low quality product would not open themselves up to the risk of a long term commitment to fix all issues. It would be cost prohibitive.

 

The warranty actually tells us it's not too bad there. It also tells us that most likely - companies like ZF that make the gearboxes are bearing some of the brunt if there is a fail there. 

[pedro01]

BTW - My take on the free servicing - I am not a fan. It isn't free, so you are paying for servicing up front - something I would prefer not to do as I don't even know if I will have the car through the period.

 

The warranty though - I'll take that. Just never had to use the warranty on a Benz.

 

Funnily enough - I used to live in Japan and I started and ran the Thai branch of a subsidiary of a Japanese tech firm here.

 

When Toyota went to the US - they got an immediate reputation for amazing quality and reliability. It turns out (this is what Toyota execs told me), that they over-engineered for reliability because they didn't have the support network in the US to handle cars coming back with issues. You might have presumed that everyone was making them as well as they could and the Japanese were simply better - but they sunk a larger amount into that side of things because of lack of men on the ground. 

 

Mind you - that does not excuse BMW and this

• A gearbox that went on day 9 and I returned the car
• The return car blowing the gearbox on week 9 and I returned the car
• I talked to Cesar Badilla - Director or Aftersales BMW Thailand - got a full refund and then told him "OK - now - if you want me to spend this on another BMW, tell me what has a different gearbox from that one and get me a big discount" - and they did
• 2 Fuel Pumps on that one - but to be fair - when the 2nd one went, they found the issue was the pumps getting gunked up from the fuel here - I switched to a different brand and all good 
• I also had one out of warranty issue that they fixed on warranty anyway

It's not great I know quality-wise - but the way they treated me - even when asking for money back - was stellar. Their cars are a lot of fun to drive and I still have a soft spot for them. How many car companies would give you access to one of their senior directors? And also - at that point, the dealer was already telling me "look - if BMW don't sort you out, we will".

 

So when I'm looking for a car and I go to BMW - I have no doubt I will be well looked after, whatever happens and I find that rare nowadays.

[ktm jeff]

46 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

BTW - My take on the free servicing - I am not a fan. It isn't free, so you are paying for servicing up front - something I would prefer not to do as I don't even know if I will have the car through the period.

 

The warranty though - I'll take that. Just never had to use the warranty on a Benz.

 

Funnily enough - I used to live in Japan and I started and ran the Thai branch of a subsidiary of a Japanese tech firm here.

 

When Toyota went to the US - they got an immediate reputation for amazing quality and reliability. It turns out (this is what Toyota execs told me), that they over-engineered for reliability because they didn't have the support network in the US to handle cars coming back with issues. You might have presumed that everyone was making them as well as they could and the Japanese were simply better - but they sunk a larger amount into that side of things because of lack of men on the ground. 

 

Mind you - that does not excuse BMW and this

• A gearbox that went on day 9 and I returned the car
• The return car blowing the gearbox on week 9 and I returned the car
• I talked to Cesar Badilla - Director or Aftersales BMW Thailand - got a full refund and then told him "OK - now - if you want me to spend this on another BMW, tell me what has a different gearbox from that one and get me a big discount" - and they did
• 2 Fuel Pumps on that one - but to be fair - when the 2nd one went, they found the issue was the pumps getting gunked up from the fuel here - I switched to a different brand and all good 
• I also had one out of warranty issue that they fixed on warranty anyway

It's not great I know quality-wise - but the way they treated me - even when asking for money back - was stellar. Their cars are a lot of fun to drive and I still have a soft spot for them. How many car companies would give you access to one of their senior directors? And also - at that point, the dealer was already telling me "look - if BMW don't sort you out, we will".

 

So when I'm looking for a car and I go to BMW - I have no doubt I will be well looked after, whatever happens and I find that rare nowadays.

I have a BMW 330 convertible. It had a new petrol pump a few years ago. Could you please tell me what fuel gunked up your pump , and what fuel you switched too. I like Shell V-Power.

[shady86]

Nice car only if you drive on certain roads and motorways. Holes and bumps will make your ride a nightmare.

[pedro01]

22 hours ago, shady86 said:

Nice car only if you drive on certain roads and motorways. Holes and bumps will make your ride a nightmare.

Nope. Roads here are fine and anyway - even on a bumpy road the ride quality is still going to beat the crayola out of a Yaris.

[vinci]

please don't start a topic in which you cannot afford, if you are dreaming then title it "i'm dreaming of owning an AMG C43 Coupe"

[richard_smith237]

22 minutes ago, vinci said:

please don't start a topic in which you cannot afford, if you are dreaming then title it "i'm dreaming of owning an AMG C43 Coupe"

Are you projecting ???

[leba]

6 hours ago, pedro01 said:

Nope. Roads here are fine and anyway - even on a bumpy road the ride quality is still going to beat the crayola out of a Yaris.

 

I wonder if when we will be old we will be ugly and stupid cheap charliers as so many old men in Thailand ? Can you imagine yourself driving a toyota at 60 or 70 ? it seems impossible for me that I lose my balls so early !

 

 

[seedy]

14 minutes ago, leba said:

 it seems impossible for me that I lose my balls so early !

So the kind of man you are is decided by the brand of car you buy ?