Car or a pickup? petrol vs diesel?

[cool]

hi esteemed forumers,

which do u think is better? a car like Honda City or a pickup like Isuzu D-max spacecab? of coz i understand the practicalities of a pickup which can carry a whole thai family of 10 compared to a car which can accomodate 5-6 occupants. Comfortability and driveability will go to a car, while a pickup will be more 'macho looking ' on the road.

Just comparing on petrol vs diesel alone, which vehicle will be cheaper to maintain over the long run? Statistics show a car will use about 30 mpg, while a pickup will use maybe 20mpg.

Will appreciate any advice from current car/pickup owners.

Many thanks....

regards,

cool

[jayenram]

A lot depends where you will be driving. The roads outside the main urban centres are not usually well maintained therefore whilst a car may be more comfortable, a pick-up (4 x 4) will probably be more durable. FYI I can drive around 500 km on about 60 litres of diesel in my Mazda Fighter (long run).

[lopburi3]

If you live in an urban area you will lose a lot of face with a truck.  It is not 'macho' as much as 'cheap' in most Thai eyes.  Disagree that roads are not good outside major cities, as most are quite good (except when you travel a truck route bypass).  There is a place for trucks upcountry however as they are easy to repair and have the clearance for rain rutted dirt roads.  So if you plan out of the way travel it would be a good choice.  But travel between towns/cites and most tourist attractions can be done with a family car these days.  As for gas/diesel would go gas in car or diesel in truck.

[cool]

yes, ideal case would be to have both a truck & a car, but my budget only allows for one.

trucks will be good for rain rutted dirt roads, cars will be ideal for urban centres, and look more impressive, save face too.

8.3 km/litre diesel for ur mazda fighter is not bad. cars average about 12 km/litre gas. i understand gas costs about 15 b/litre, how much does diesel costs? 12 b?

[MaiChai]

My simple answer would be. If you live and drive mainly in Bangkok, get the Honda Civic. If you don't get a pickup.

Personally, I think pickups are more sensible in Thailand as the roads aren't that good (including the new ones!!!). Put it this way, if you buy a car, figure on your suspension being more stressed then they are designed to cope with, and you may see quicker wear/repair bills.

PS: Nissan do a petrol version of their pickup if your adverse to deisel engines. A friend has one and its fitted with a 2.4 litre, which means it really flies when doing long distance driving.

Benefit of diesel is that you can find these really cheap petrol stations to fill up at.

[ajahnlau]

The best of both. Try a Nissan Wingroad. It drives like a car but has a back like a pick-up. Runs on gas and goes as fast as any car. Costs me just over 1 baht a km on the hwy.  The back seat will not hold 3 large farangs but will accomadate 3 small Thais. Also available with auto trans. New at about 414,000. Bought 3yr. old low kms. for 250. Know of 5 other farangs in my city with same Nissan NV and all like them. Some of these guys are over 6' and 200lbs. lots of room. Have had mine 3 yrs now and change oil and go.

[cool]

i'm currently residing in chiangmai, so maybe a pickup truck will be useful. Nissan Wingroad is a good idea, a compact wagon with the additional bootspace for 3 small thais but it lacks the torque or power to carry heavy loads. eg furniture

i dont understand thai pp as to why driving a pickup is considered 'losing face' compared to a car when they are both priced similarly at about 500k.

Diesel might be cheaper than petrol, but a 2.5 litre diesel engine(pickup) will probably consume more $b than a 1.5 litre petrol engine(car).

Horsepower Torque

Vehicle comparison kw bhp Nm kg-m

Honda City 73.00 100.00 128.00 13.10

Nissan Wingroad 76.65 105.00 134.84 13.80

Isuzu2500 58.00 79.45 176.00 18.01

Isuzu2999 88.00 120.55 245.00 25.07

[Toybox]

Since I think a vehicle in Thailand may pertain to a status symbol, if you're classy, choose a car.

[dreetje]

http://www.inter-car.net/intercar/online17.html

[MaiChai]

Ask ten Thais a question, and you will get ten answers. Maybe we can call Thailand the land of inconsistency. Thus, if your worried about social status, then don't. Only dumb uneducated Thais are concerned about it; the educate well travelled Thais will be more interested in you as a person than what car you have  ::

Also stop trying to impress Thais; let them get to know the real you. After all you can do too much to cater for their culture while ignoring yours  :: Sometimes, Thais could learn from others by appreciating other cultures other than their own.  

[MaiChai]

If I was going to buy a new pickup, it would have to be the Toyota with common rail and 16v technology. Much more advanced than the offerings from everyone else. Common rail version is 21% more efficient that the older one, while the 16v gives more performance. Common rail sprays the fuel with a finer mist, improving efficiency, while the electronic injector control fires the injectors twice per stroke of the piston; an initial small fire, plus the main one. This reduces the knocking associated with deisel engines, and provides a quieter engine. Take a look at http://www.toyota.co.th/eng/innovation/latest_03.asp

But I can't afford a new pickup, and the existing one is low tech, which is great when it comes to maintenance and reliability  

[jayenram]

The advantage of being from Yorkshire is that we've never heard of "face"

[Thetyim]

Sorry to disagree with you all but my present pickup is a Toyota and does 11 km/litre

My old car was a 2500cc Isuzu Adventure and did 14km/litre

[MaiChai]

Gosh, how did you work that out; its rather precise?

I wonder if Toyota, being the reputable, international and well respected company that it is, can make such bold claims about the common rail technology used in its pickups and the improvements in efficiency? Basically, I don't think they are lieing, and to be honest, the common rail technology is the best breakthrough in deisel engine technology to happen in the last 50 years. It wasn't invented by Toyota, and is now being deployed by many manufacturers. I think all the manufacturers will adopted this technology; its just a matter of time.

PS: I have an Isuzu 2.8TDI Rodeo; very impressed with its solidity and generally sturdy construction. However, I can't say the same with the new Isuzu D-MAX, or any of the other pickup manufacturers new models. However, I'm not a ludite, and do appreciate good technology, and the Toyota seems miles ahead of everyone else.

2500cc is a noisy engine. I have it in my other Isuzu pickup, and they are still putting it in the D-Max. I complained to a friend who works for an Isuzu dealership about how noisy this engine is, and why are they using it in the new D-Max? He could not understand why I was complaining!

[cool]

Isuzu is the top selling pickup in thailand. i wonder why? is it because it consume less diesel than other brands? or maybe the Thais know something which we foreigners are not aware of?

the "2KD-FTV" toyota diesel engine may not be incorporated into the newest model yet as it is a new technology.

The figures are precise because i entered the BHP on a spreadsheet which converted it into KW. Here's the figures for Toyota hilux-tiger Type   5l-E, OHC 2986cc

Max. Output  Kw/rpm  71/4000

Max. Torque.  Nm/rpm  200/2600

It seems that the output & torque lies halfway between the 2500cc and the 2999cc Isuzu. So Thetyim, is the toyota that u are driving now 2500cc or 2999cc? it's not fair to compare a 2500cc isuzu with a 2999cc toyota.

Maichai, i think the 2500cc isuzu is underpowered with only 79 horses compared with 98 horses for toyota 2999cc and 120 horses for isuzu 2999cc, so we will tend to overstep on the accelerator which results in a noisy engine.

[singa-traz]

Anybody in this forum driving a Honda CRV in Thailand ?

[Thetyim]

Maichai

Don't believe all the sales bumf from Toyota.

The fuel consumption of the D4D is the same as the old 2L engine. Take a look at Toyota Netherlands website for the real figures. 11.2km/l for auto and 11.7km/l for manual.

I drove a 4door auto for three months and got exactly 11.2.

The D4D however is far better than any of the other options is very quiet and smooth  a pleasure to drive and much faster.

My old Isuzu 2.5 was very noisey and I had to sell it because I was getting headaches if I drove for more than an hour.

Isuzu dealer said there was nothing wrong with it.

Singa,

I drove a rented CRV and was very unimpressed with it.

Gear change was awful, road noise excessive. Give me a Sport Rider anyday.

[MaiChai]

The Honda CRVs had a lot of problems, and probably arn't that hardy as they are aimed at the fashion 4WD market, rather for serious 4WDing. Anyway, they are made out of Honda Civic bits   If you want something sturdy, get something based on a pickup.

Toyota 16V D4D common rails are available as pickups in Thailand; I've seen them about. You can also get non common rail Totota D4Ds using traditional direct injection (old Hilux Tiger model), so its easy to mix the non common rail and direct injection D4D fuel consumption figures (the 3 litre engine is available in both configurations). I would say this is the best pickup you can buy. Isuzu DMaxs look nice, but use the old engines, and they may give you new technology things like airbags, etc if you ask them nicely! Isuzu is a small manufacturer compared to Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Mazda. OK No. 1 in Thailand, but almost unheard of anywhere else.

Isuzu 2500cc engine is an old engine. New DMaxs are using revision T of the engine, while my 14 year old Isuzu is using revision A. But its basically the same old noisy engine; Isuzu I think keep using it because it is quite a fuel efficient tough engine.

I don't know why the Thais keep buying Isuzu. Sheep mentality or perception that they are tough and sturdy?

I still like my two Isuzu pickups; they are both mega cheap to maintain and share common parts. However technology has moved on since I bought them and there are better trucks about.