Are Older Men in Thailand Trading Love for Financial Ruin

[JBChiangRai]

16 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

I know you were looking at Good Cat at one point

Amazing pictures here of good cat flooded for 3 days and battery does not need replacing

some comments state that Catl battery has very good waterproofing.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1108386864190877&set=pcb.1108205944208969

 

Good Cat is still a possibility.

[TroubleandGrumpy]

On 10/10/2024 at 2:48 PM, Ralf001 said:

 

Sorry, what advice did you offer ?

Horses and Water ............... 

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Horses and Water ............... 

I have owned horse's... costly to own, cars are cheaper.

[Yodarapper]

Update:

thought about it and considering we don’t know how long we are going to be here we are not going to buy electric. I would love to as think Thailand is better prepared than Europe and I like the idea of charging at home (I will not have the house or driveway I have here back at home) but the fact we may leave in a couple of years just means no full electric.

 

new top contenders are the Toyota Yaris Cross or the Veloz. I prefer the Corolla Cross but unfortunately that’s just out of our budget.

 

I am going to test drive both - the Yaris cross is nice but it seems smaller than my current MG ZS….anyway between these two cars any advice? Anyone here owns either?

 

thanks for all your comments!

[Yodarapper]

19 minutes ago, Yodarapper said:

Update:

thought about it and considering we don’t know how long we are going to be here we are not going to buy electric. I would love to as think Thailand is better prepared than Europe and I like the idea of charging at home (I will not have the house or driveway I have here back at home) but the fact we may leave in a couple of years just means no full electric.

 

new top contenders are the Toyota Yaris Cross or the Veloz. I prefer the Corolla Cross but unfortunately that’s just out of our budget.

 

I am going to test drive both - the Yaris cross is nice but it seems smaller than my current MG ZS….anyway between these two cars any advice? Anyone here owns either?

 

thanks for all your comments!

Forgot to ask - how much down payment do I need to put down to not need a Thai guarantor?

 

Last question - should I go new or is it worth finding something on Toyota sure and financing there? But for example an older model Corolla cross is still upwards

of 800k so is a new Yaris cross or veloz better?

[josephbloggs]

24 minutes ago, Yodarapper said:

Forgot to ask - how much down payment do I need to put down to not need a Thai guarantor?

 

Last question - should I go new or is it worth finding something on Toyota sure and financing there? But for example an older model Corolla cross is still upwards

of 800k so is a new Yaris cross or veloz better?

I bought second hand here once and regretted it, but that was 25+ years ago before you could get certified used cars, you could only buy from unscrupulous tents.

Since then I have always bought new but that's because I planned on keeping each one for maybe 7 years. If I only thought I would be here for a couple of years I would definitely buy a certified second hand dealer car. But that's just my personal opinion, it doesn't make it right - I just don't see the point of buying new and selling it again after two years.

[Sigmund]

Petrol or EV no matter...I only swear by japanese.

 

Today, even Audis or VW's are breaking down on highways,  just after few months or years of use.

[Kinnock]

The GWM Jolion hybrid looks to be a good deal at the moment.  Price just reduced too, although no third row of seats.  Seems to be lots of GWM dealers too.  For family transport the new Toyota Innova looks great, but it's over 1 million.

 

I'm also looking for a replacement for my X-Trail.  It's been a great car, and as we visit farms the 4X4 capability is useful.  The trade-in price was a bit of a shock though.  Our X-Trail has been well cared for (still looks new) and always main dealer serviced, but dealer only offered 200k for our 6 year old low-ish mileage car.

 

I checked used prices against Toyota, and while the price drop was less, the discount given on the original new price for the X-Trail (compared to zero discount on Toyata at the time) makes the depreciation similar .... so I think it's the fall in the used car market rather than brand specific depreciation.

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

58 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

The GWM Jolion hybrid looks to be a good deal at the moment.  Price just reduced too, although no third row of seats.  Seems to be lots of GWM dealers too.  For family transport the new Toyota Innova looks great, but it's over 1 million.

 

I'm also looking for a replacement for my X-Trail.  It's been a great car, and as we visit farms the 4X4 capability is useful.  The trade-in price was a bit of a shock though.  Our X-Trail has been well cared for (still looks new) and always main dealer serviced, but dealer only offered 200k for our 6 year old low-ish mileage car.

 

I checked used prices against Toyota, and while the price drop was less, the discount given on the original new price for the X-Trail (compared to zero discount on Toyata at the time) makes the depreciation similar .... so I think it's the fall in the used car market rather than brand specific depreciation.

 

I bought a Haval Jolion Ultra, I fell in love with the car when it appeared at local malls together with the Haval H6 ( the H6 a little too big for my needs ) around Nov 2021 i think.

I wasn’t in the market at the time but admired it from a  distance until around 18 months later when they started to sell off the showroom models with a healthy discount and I bought one.

The Jolion is a remarkably well put together car with a plush white interior ( now available in black also ) which took a little getting used to but i came to like. A very comfortable ride with a good acceleration ( combined 190 hp ) and imo a beautiful car.

 

The downsides, for me, were:

A small luggage storage area for a decent size SUV, 390L, due to hybrid and 12v batteries in the rear, forget about a spare/donut tyre.

Poor fuel economy, although quoted at something like 23.5 km/l in reality 17 km/l was the max i could squeeze out of it, not great for a hybrid.

Limited infotainment system.

No way to utilise the hybrid part of the system, it tended to do its own thing ( running in EV mode on and off ).

Made me rethink the whole Hybrid option and vowed to go PHEV or HEV next time.

 

My brother in law was deeply impressed with the car and took up my offer of the same price as i had paid ( heavily discounted showroom model with 7k on the clock in mint condition, one of the last available ). So i let it go after 6 months and only adding another 6k km.

 

The H6 PHEV is a much better option, imho, with a great 201 km ( in reality probably 150/180 km ) range and now reduced to a reasonable price. A much more flexible car which takes advantage of a healthy EV range and more flexibility.

 

A Jolion PHEV would have been ideal for me but sadly it never transpired and i moved on to a full EV.