Fun car 1mil baht - What would you choose?

[WarpSpeed]

Get yourself a new truck, do a few mods to it eg. uprate turbo's, jack it up, some bling rims....much better!

I just couldn't bring myself to buy some knackered old WRX or the like for over a million baht (GBP20k) that would be worth BHT100k in the UK....just couldn't do it....goes against all my senses.

Jack it up? Not very conducive to sporting around Thai streets more for the mud pits... Buying ANY car in Thailand is hard to swallow price wise no matter what it is, it always hurts..

[WarpSpeed]

I would choose a full sized Hummer.

Driving in Thailand is foolish, but driving a "sporty" car here is lunacy. The only places to drive really fast and yet responsibly are a long way from where I would want to live. The rough roads will pound it to pieces. The thieves will target it, strip or steal whole thing. You better have a great stereo in it because that will be your first pleasure, not the car, as you sit stopped in traffic. Park beside of a clunker and get big door dings or those tell tale scrapes on the rear panel when someone pulls out a little too wrong. Then there are the "key it" folks.

My advice is to take pride in the wonderful Thai woman you married, not a thing... a car.

Well back here in the states driving fast on the road is even less an option due to driving idiocy and police at every intersection and twice in between and the paranoia that imbibes in ones psyche, I'd take driving at a comfortable speed around Thailand over driving here any day, when in Rome and all that... Between the high traffic times there is space to have some fun, the road up and down to Patong was always a hoot, anticipating and passing at the right time was part of the fun and likewise off the island there are plenty of nice roads too and likewise around the country one just has to be a confident, skilled driver is all.

[misterphil]

Why do you feel the need for a turbo charged car? They have turbo lag when pulling out of junctions and are only good once they are wound up. Thailand isn't the right place for a car like this, because of the roads in Thailand, and all the bad drivers with no licences.

If you have to, get yourself a second hand Toyota Fortuner that's been modified with an uprated turbo, chipped and a dump valve fitted. I drove one before that was all uprated and it was a flying machine, pretty good comfortable cruiser too, with all the bells and whistles on it.

[WarpSpeed]

A matter of opinion... But turbo lag is not nearly as big a problem as it has been in the past, 2 stage turbos are a good example of that but another reason to buy a car that has some umph without the turbo anyway and even more umph with it.. If you know you have a turbo simply bring the revs up while holding the clutch, before pulling out, presuming one has bought a manual, as anything else is useless IMO, if not, you can still bring up the revs and hold the brake.

Edited September 3, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[mutha289]

Here's a list for you, and in no particular order. You'll notice I prefer 2 doors and I don't necessarily think a turbo is a necessity. Most of these can be found between 4 and 10 years old (not new) for close to 1 million baht and for some of the older ones a bit less. Honestly though if it was me I'd search for an older "classic" car and spend the money on making it so that I could use it every day or at least for those weekend trips.

Mazda RX-7, listed as a 2011 (questionable) for 1.2 million

Honda Beat listed as a 2010 for 450,000

Toyota MR-S listed as 2003 for 1.1 million

Toyota Celica listed as a 2000 for 750,000

Nissan 350Z listed as 2011 for 1.35 million

Mini Cooper S listed as a 2006 for 1.05 million

Peugeot 206 listed as a 2004 for 680,000

Daihatsu Copen listed as a 2008 for 1.18 million

[IMHO]

Fiesta ecoboost and put a bigger turbo on it same as has been done for formula ford.

749k for a new car is great, but im not familiar with a 3 cyl 1.0L turbo...especially how would react with a bigger turbo? I'll do some research.

What about the focus turbo in Thailand? The focus st looks great and has nice power for a hatch.

I dont know how to link on this phone, but its on the website under new fiesta.

Its the 1 litre 3 pot but search youtube for chris harris formula ford for whats been done by just adding a larger turbo. Ok the car is half the weight but 170 to 200 bhp in a fiesta chassis .

754,000 baht for the car.

oh and no focus yet.

Doesn't Formula Ford use the 1.6L Ecoboost though?

[IMHO]

One more old car to add to the watch-list is the MR2 TRD2000GT widebody turbo - there's only a few in TH, but when they do come up for sale they're usually just under the 1M mark.

[Strangebrew]

You going to take a dive in a car?

[WarpSpeed]

^^What happened to the wing? It's 2 cell phone towers now? Or is one the radio? Outside of that, it looks ok but those have to go or be done right..

Here ya go; 630,000 actually if I were there still, I'd be giving this serious consideration for a track car.

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1460296

Or this 570,000

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1453408

Well I wanted to post up the pics but the forum won't allow the pics so you have to check the link.

Edited September 4, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[bkkjames]

^^What happened to the wing? It's 2 cell phone towers now? Or is one the radio? Outside of that, it looks ok but those have to go or be done right..

Here ya go; 630,000 actually if I were there still, I'd be giving this serious consideration for a track car.

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1460296

Or this 570,000

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1453408

Well I wanted to post up the pics but the forum won't allow the pics so you have to check the link.

Not sure what you mean - I post pics all the time.

[WarpSpeed]

It depends on the site, some sites have protection and the forum won't allow them In which case you get a prompt that says "you can't post that on this community" paraphrasing of course, if you can post up those pics then I'd be very happy to have them.

[bkkjames]

It depends on the site, some sites have protection and the forum won't allow them In which case you get a prompt that says "you can't post that on this community" paraphrasing of course, if you can post up those pics then I'd be very happy to have them.

all I did was right click and save to desktop...

[WarpSpeed]

Oh ok, I don't save to my computer, I don't want strange files that may have viruses from such high traffic sites.. But thanks for the jpegs and the tip. I don't like the color of the Porsche just not fitting, looks really cheesy but that's easily changed, it'd be a nice, unique and competitive car for that market, though parts would be an expensive nightmare.

Edited September 4, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[bkkjames]

Oh ok, I don't save to my computer, I don't want strange files that may have viruses from such high traffic sites.. But thanks for the jpegs and the tip. I don't like the color of the Porsche just not fitting, looks really cheesy but that's easily changed, it'd be a nice, unique and competitive car for that market, though parts would be an expensive nightmare.

right clicking and copying a photo won't give you a virus...anyways most AV programmes autoscan everything before downloading. Never had a virus from copying a photo in my life.

Yes that orange porche belongs in a museum for dogs.

[WarpSpeed]

Ok well, I'll still do it the safe way, but thanks, have had many people give bad advice and once it ruins my computer it's not their problem it's mine. Just because you haven't gotten one doesn't mean it doesn't happen, many people who THINK they know computers find out stuff the hard way.

[bkkjames]

Ok well, I'll still do it the safe way, but thanks, have had many people give bad advice and once it ruins my computer it's not their problem it's mine. Just because you haven't gotten one doesn't mean it doesn't happen, many people who THINK they know computers find out stuff the hard way.

lol ok to each their own.

I have only be using comms for 20 years (and know very little about them) but never had a problem with saving an image as a jpg. Word / excel etc yes..

Anyways. I think the Pulsar offers good value for the OP's needs. Maybe the looks would grow on him.

[WarpSpeed]

Same as me, yes, to each his own, what else can I say? I know people who've gotten viruses from them and I have also gotten alerts when searching them personally and it goes to the source site. For me, best not to take the risk.

Edited September 4, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[BBesoteric]

Get yourself a new truck, do a few mods to it eg. uprate turbo's, jack it up, some bling rims....much better!

I just couldn't bring myself to buy some knackered old WRX or the like for over a million baht (GBP20k) that would be worth BHT100k in the UK....just couldn't do it....goes against all my senses.

I had contemplated this. I am not a fan of utes or trucks but the new Dmax look amazing with that beefy front grill. Also the low mitsubishi tritons turn me on too. The good thing about the trucks here is that so many shops and parts are available for them.

The only problem is becoming the local removerlist for your Thai friends when you make the purchase of a ute or truck 555, i feel sorry for some of my friends because they constantly get calls to help them with picking up a new item or something along the lines of that. Every now and then is ok, but being hassled by people you haven't spoken to in a while is a pain!

Well i wrote a huge post and a error came up......so ill re write it in brief.

The weekend drives up around chiangmai and chiangrai etc have some nice roads and mountains to climb, the turbo would come in handy. Also who can pass up a nice hit of boost?

The cars that were posted are good choices, some of which i didn't know existed here. The non turbo variants that have enough power and good fuel consumption would be the VVTLi toyota mr2 and celica. I used to drive a hatch with VVTLi, which is toyotas equivalent to Hondas V-tec. My 1.8L hatch that was about 1300kg had 113kw and was bullet proof. I just think the heat here would not work well with the high rpms, roughly redlining at 8200.

I've seen a older model Z4 which looked amazing and under 1mil at a BKK auction too.....Plenty of choices to think about!

In the end less maintenance and reliability get the most points, because i'd rather not have to be working on it all the time.

The pulsar would grow on me if it was similar to this stock haha.....

As i mentioned i had a black hatch with its suspension all worked and the stock engine with a few light mods. dyno'd it close to stock at one point and it was 113kw, but when it hit 5.5krpm and the higher cam sent it up to 8200, i could have alot of fun. Little things like the black leather interior, manual with short shifter, short wheel base and the suspension set up made it really fun for the turns. Also no turbo and only a 1.8L!

Actually the Pulsar probably wouldnt grow on me. The interior looks like it has more plastic than Mickey Rorkes face....

Edited September 4, 2014 by BBesoteric

[kjhbigv]

Get yourself a new truck, do a few mods to it eg. uprate turbo's, jack it up, some bling rims....much better!

I just couldn't bring myself to buy some knackered old WRX or the like for over a million baht (GBP20k) that would be worth BHT100k in the UK....just couldn't do it....goes against all my senses.

I had contemplated this. I am not a fan of utes or trucks but the new Dmax look amazing with that beefy front grill. Also the low mitsubishi tritons turn me on too. The good thing about the trucks here is that so many shops and parts are available for them.

The only problem is becoming the local removerlist for your Thai friends when you make the purchase of a ute or truck 555, i feel sorry for some of my friends because they constantly get calls to help them with picking up a new item or something along the lines of that. Every now and then is ok, but being hassled by people you haven't spoken to in a while is a pain!

Well i wrote a huge post and a error came up......so ill re write it in brief.

The weekend drives up around chiangmai and chiangrai etc have some nice roads and mountains to climb, the turbo would come in handy. Also who can pass up a nice hit of boost?

The cars that were posted are good choices, some of which i didn't know existed here. The non turbo variants that have enough power and good fuel consumption would be the VVTLi toyota mr2 and celica. I used to drive a hatch with VVTLi, which is toyotas equivalent to Hondas V-tec. My 1.8L hatch that was about 1300kg had 113kw and was bullet proof. I just think the heat here would not work well with the high rpms, roughly redlining at 8200.

I've seen a older model Z4 which looked amazing and under 1mil at a BKK auction too.....Plenty of choices to think about!

In the end less maintenance and reliability get the most points, because i'd rather not have to be working on it all the time.

You should try a truck, the interiors of the the higher end D-Max's are really nice and exterior looks good too and you can get the turbo's tweeked/uprated to give you the turbo boost! One thing this country is good at and that is tweeking truck engines!

Also, how easy getting spare parts for some of these cars posted?

Don't get me wrong, I love fast cars, have owned 350Z, Noble M12, RX8 etc etc but here a truck just makes more sense!

Take into account roads as well, I was driving back from Chiang Rai a few years ago and was overtaken by a Gallardo and watched in horror as it was pebble-dashed with grit and stones from the lorry in front.

I used to hate pick-ups but now would not change back to a car in Thailand.

Edited September 4, 2014 by kjhbigv

[bkkjames]

Get yourself a new truck, do a few mods to it eg. uprate turbo's, jack it up, some bling rims....much better!

I just couldn't bring myself to buy some knackered old WRX or the like for over a million baht (GBP20k) that would be worth BHT100k in the UK....just couldn't do it....goes against all my senses.

I had contemplated this. I am not a fan of utes or trucks but the new Dmax look amazing with that beefy front grill. Also the low mitsubishi tritons turn me on too. The good thing about the trucks here is that so many shops and parts are available for them.

The only problem is becoming the local removerlist for your Thai friends when you make the purchase of a ute or truck 555, i feel sorry for some of my friends because they constantly get calls to help them with picking up a new item or something along the lines of that. Every now and then is ok, but being hassled by people you haven't spoken to in a while is a pain!

Well i wrote a huge post and a error came up......so ill re write it in brief.

The weekend drives up around chiangmai and chiangrai etc have some nice roads and mountains to climb, the turbo would come in handy. Also who can pass up a nice hit of boost?

The cars that were posted are good choices, some of which i didn't know existed here. The non turbo variants that have enough power and good fuel consumption would be the VVTLi toyota mr2 and celica. I used to drive a hatch with VVTLi, which is toyotas equivalent to Hondas V-tec. My 1.8L hatch that was about 1300kg had 113kw and was bullet proof. I just think the heat here would not work well with the high rpms, roughly redlining at 8200.

I've seen a older model Z4 which looked amazing and under 1mil at a BKK auction too.....Plenty of choices to think about!

In the end less maintenance and reliability get the most points, because i'd rather not have to be working on it all the time.

The pulsar would grow on me if it was similar to this stock haha.....

As i mentioned i had a black hatch with its suspension all worked and the stock engine with a few light mods. dyno'd it close to stock at one point and it was 113kw, but when it hit 5.5krpm and the higher cam sent it up to 8200, i could have alot of fun. Little things like the black leather interior, manual with short shifter, short wheel base and the suspension set up made it really fun for the turns. Also no turbo and only a 1.8L!

Actually the Pulsar probably wouldnt grow on me. The interior looks like it has more plastic than Mickey Rorkes face....

those are looks I can get used to.

[ignis]

Maybe a fun car ??

http://www.one2car.com/TOYOTA_CROWN/J02130280

with the money left over you can put a Twin Turbo motor in it

[frankphuket]

But SENSE or sense alone is not something all of us have or want to have when deciding on things....Part of it is heart, is feel, is Ego, is Satisfaction.

I don't think anybody here doubts much (incl. me) that a Pick up makes most SENSE in this country.

Yet, it doesn't 'turn me on'....

Live is tough enough, somewhere we petrol heads want to get some fun and satisfaction....and there the choice is truly thin...

I am over the point where I compare prices here with somewhere else....<deleted> for. I live here. Something are more expensive and some things less.

I am currently looking for a flat in London for our daughter to do her masters.....! City London the cheapest 20sqm flat you can find is about 50,000 Baht a month plus bills. Now, try to compare this with Bangkok City center.

You just can't, so just don't.

Before I would dish out 1m Baht on a 4-6 year old thrashed WRX, I would surely try to find a 2-3 year old VW GTI, as most of the ones i have seen are not thrashed. 1.1-1.3m gets you something really decent. Easily remapped to 250-260hp.

Before buying I would however make sure that the DSG is in good shape. I had issues with mine at only 10,000km. After fixing and another 15,000km all is well though.

This for example looks nice:

http://www.one2car.com/VOLKSWAGEN_GOLF/H05140357

I just wish my GTI has a manual gearbox damn'it.

Get yourself a new truck, do a few mods to it eg. uprate turbo's, jack it up, some bling rims....much better!

I just couldn't bring myself to buy some knackered old WRX or the like for over a million baht (GBP20k) that would be worth BHT100k in the UK....just couldn't do it....goes against all my senses.

I had contemplated this. I am not a fan of utes or trucks but the new Dmax look amazing with that beefy front grill. Also the low mitsubishi tritons turn me on too. The good thing about the trucks here is that so many shops and parts are available for them.

The only problem is becoming the local removerlist for your Thai friends when you make the purchase of a ute or truck 555, i feel sorry for some of my friends because they constantly get calls to help them with picking up a new item or something along the lines of that. Every now and then is ok, but being hassled by people you haven't spoken to in a while is a pain!


Well i wrote a huge post and a error came up......so ill re write it in brief.


The weekend drives up around chiangmai and chiangrai etc have some nice roads and mountains to climb, the turbo would come in handy. Also who can pass up a nice hit of boost?

The cars that were posted are good choices, some of which i didn't know existed here. The non turbo variants that have enough power and good fuel consumption would be the VVTLi toyota mr2 and celica. I used to drive a hatch with VVTLi, which is toyotas equivalent to Hondas V-tec. My 1.8L hatch that was about 1300kg had 113kw and was bullet proof. I just think the heat here would not work well with the high rpms, roughly redlining at 8200.

I've seen a older model Z4 which looked amazing and under 1mil at a BKK auction too.....Plenty of choices to think about!

In the end less maintenance and reliability get the most points, because i'd rather not have to be working on it all the time.

You should try a truck, the interiors of the the higher end D-Max's are really nice and exterior looks good too and you can get the turbo's tweeked/uprated to give you the turbo boost! One thing this country is good at and that is tweeking truck engines!

Also, how easy getting spare parts for some of these cars posted?

Don't get me wrong, I love fast cars, have owned 350Z, Noble M12, RX8 etc etc but here a truck just makes more sense!

Take into account roads as well, I was driving back from Chiang Rai a few years ago and was overtaken by a Gallardo and watched in horror as it was pebble-dashed with grit and stones from the lorry in front.

I used to hate pick-ups but now would not change back to a car in Thailand.

[bkkjames]

http://www.one2car.com/ISUZU_V-CROSS/G17140444

3.2 Litre V6 looks like that could be fun.

[bkkjames]

a little bit more money but I believe alot more fun...

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1454427

[ignis]

you can get one of the last EVO VIII for just under 1 million baht... 2006

a Skyline for 1 million you would be looking at 16 odd year old one..!!

[BBesoteric]

Thanks for all your great points.

Actually im happy to see a bunch of enthusiasts here and linking pics and ideas.

The diesel utes that constantly have the turbo whistling is rather annoying. It would drive me nuts on a long drive.

The VW is a great choice. My friend has a 2012 model all blacked out and upgraded turbo system. It flies! There was a recent sleeper 3.6 golf r32 bi turbo smashing super cars on the euro drags that have 1/4 mile, 1/2mile and 1mile times.

1mil for that vw doesn't seem bad.

How do you find the torque steer and understeer on a fwd turbo?

Also that old mr2 is a nice car, but on thai roads in the wet would be quite dangerous. I suppose it would take time to get used to driving a mid/rear engine car. But I've heard the mkii mr2 have a real go kart feel to them.

[bkkjames]

Thanks for all your great points.

Actually im happy to see a bunch of enthusiasts here and linking pics and ideas.

The diesel utes that constantly have the turbo whistling is rather annoying. It would drive me nuts on a long drive.

The VW is a great choice. My friend has a 2012 model all blacked out and upgraded turbo system. It flies! There was a recent sleeper 3.6 golf r32 bi turbo smashing super cars on the euro drags that have 1/4 mile, 1/2mile and 1mile times.

1mil for that vw doesn't seem bad.

How do you find the torque steer and understeer on a fwd turbo?

Also that old mr2 is a nice car, but on thai roads in the wet would be quite dangerous. I suppose it would take time to get used to driving a mid/rear engine car. But I've heard the mkii mr2 have a real go kart feel to them.

my diesel doesn't whistle ... when I am in 5th gear cruising on the highway.

[BBesoteric]

a little bit more money but I believe alot more fun...

http://taladrod.com/w20/Search/CarDet40.aspx?cib=1454427

Like some others have mentioned here, there are cheaper products and more expencive products.

Considering that Japan have R35s for sale at around 2million baht...eveb less, I wouldn't waste money buying one here. If I was rich and loved them to death, then maybe I would. But for now I'll buy what I think is worth the price here.

Even 200k baht is alot of khaomangai that I could be eating or putting towards an investment!

[BBesoteric]

Thanks for all your great points.

Actually im happy to see a bunch of enthusiasts here and linking pics and ideas.

The diesel utes that constantly have the turbo whistling is rather annoying. It would drive me nuts on a long drive.

The VW is a great choice. My friend has a 2012 model all blacked out and upgraded turbo system. It flies! There was a recent sleeper 3.6 golf r32 bi turbo smashing super cars on the euro drags that have 1/4 mile, 1/2mile and 1mile times.

1mil for that vw doesn't seem bad.

How do you find the torque steer and understeer on a fwd turbo?

Also that old mr2 is a nice car, but on thai roads in the wet would be quite dangerous. I suppose it would take time to get used to driving a mid/rear engine car. But I've heard the mkii mr2 have a real go kart feel to them.

my diesel doesn't whistle ... when I am in 5th gear cruising on the highway.

Hehe. Have you done amy work to it? They have enough power at stock to have some fun. I know a few tuktui drivers in chiangmai with red dmaxs and bigger turbos and intercoolers, I was actually in the back and the 22psi boost literally made me slide from the front of the seat to the back haha.

[bkkjames]

Thanks for all your great points.

Actually im happy to see a bunch of enthusiasts here and linking pics and ideas.

The diesel utes that constantly have the turbo whistling is rather annoying. It would drive me nuts on a long drive.

The VW is a great choice. My friend has a 2012 model all blacked out and upgraded turbo system. It flies! There was a recent sleeper 3.6 golf r32 bi turbo smashing super cars on the euro drags that have 1/4 mile, 1/2mile and 1mile times.

1mil for that vw doesn't seem bad.

How do you find the torque steer and understeer on a fwd turbo?

Also that old mr2 is a nice car, but on thai roads in the wet would be quite dangerous. I suppose it would take time to get used to driving a mid/rear engine car. But I've heard the mkii mr2 have a real go kart feel to them.

my diesel doesn't whistle ... when I am in 5th gear cruising on the highway.

Hehe. Have you done amy work to it? They have enough power at stock to have some fun. I know a few tuktui drivers in chiangmai with red dmaxs and bigger turbos and intercoolers, I was actually in the back and the 22psi boost literally made me slide from the front of the seat to the back haha.

haha no work - you need to consult DR Chip IT... aka Transam for that. All I am saying is my turbo isn't kicking in when I am at 2000 rpm in 5th gear cruising at 100 kmh