3 Year Old Ford Ranger 4x4 4 Door

[billd766]

The details get worse...turns out it's now 4 years old and into it's 5th and I've found out that the high mileage is because it's been used by a marine repair company transporting parts long distance to and from Phuket - and driven by lots of diiferent employees at that.

Amazing how it's transformed itself from a one lady owner, 3 year old 4X4 bargain.

Do I still want it? ....err, let me think a nano second, NO

Thanks to everyone for their input - Not one of you said go for it... and I've listened

Geoff

It all depends on what you really want. This one sounds to me as though it is a bit of a dog and not regularly serviced.

My Thai wife told me never buy a used car in Thailand unless you know the owner and car very well.

It reminds me of buying ex military vehicles, one careful owner, (the government) and 100 careless drivers.

Mine has about 135,000 on the clock but it is one owner from new and regularly serviced.

There has only been me, my wife, her brother and her Dad driving it. I used to use it for working sometimes and a lot of weekends I used to travel 800 km to home and back to BKK.

geoffphuket

Cheeky Farang

Who gave you permission to take that photo of my wife and her sister?

I can say that as she is upstairs and not looking over my shoulder.

[qualtrough]

This is no Jazz

167k in three years???? Forget it. Maybe they are looking for someone too nice to refuse and found you.

I don't know anything about this particular model or whether or not the price is a good one, but you should not necessarily be put off by high mileage over a short time period. This can be better than the same mileage over a longer period. Why? Components often wear out because of age, not use. Seals dry out and crack, gaskets start to leak, rubber components degrade over time, etc. & etc. These components will generally be in much better shape after three years than they would after 5, 6, 10, etc. Thus it is not unusual to find a high mileage but relatively young vehicle more reliable than a low mileage but older machine. If you ascertain that it is in good mechanical shape and that the price is a good one it could still be a good deal, all other things being equal.

[nikster]

By and large, used cars are a bad deal in Thailand.

I bought my last used car in Thailand from a "lady owner"... well OK it was purchased for me, I didn't really have any say in it, long story... but we got the car.

Lady owner sounds good because you tend to think of women not driving as hard / crazy / bad as men, which is true for most women I have seen drive so far. Yeah we all know an exception to the rule, going twice the speed limit with a joint in one hand and the foot planted firmly on the accelerator, but let's face it, she's a minority.

However, it can also mean "doesn't know anything about cars and has never every done any maintainance on it unless forced" which was true for our car. Everything was falling apart on this particular model.

I also think it's a bit of a cultural thing - don't take offense, but Thais don't take care of cars properly. Yeah we all know exceptions, but by and large, that's what I think.

Just look at the average garage - they are very quick to offer some quick and CHEAP hack for any problem rather than fixing things properly. CHEAP is the word here. If a hard blow with a hammer can make a problem go away for the next 3 months, go for it! It's nice to pay 90 baht for a repair but you get what you paid for.

Add to that some seriously bad roads and pretty high prices and used cars are not particularly attractive.

I worked in Germany for one year and it was pretty much the exact opposite there. I bought an old Mercedes there. Cost me BHT 90,000

The owner had regularly done maintainance on this car, and _all_ maintainance was done at the Mercedes Benz garage. Which ist 2x as expensive as a regular shop even in Germany. But I never had a single problem with this car even though it was 12 years old. I ended up selling it for the same price I had bought it for.

Once somebody stabbed both my front tyres though. I took it to my local garage (yes, I am cheap) and thought they might be able to fix them as those were brand-new tyres. But the owner explained to me that he is obliged by law to replace the tyres for a brand new pair because they are specced to go to 190 kph and it was illegal for him to fix the tyre and he would be responsible if they broke at high speed and I had an accident. So new tyres it was!

I forgot to say: GOOD thing you stayed away from that Ford. Do not buy a car with questionable history, especially not in Thailand, that's just asking for trouble and trouble you will get... If it was a Toyota I would give it a second look, but Ford, no way.

Edited September 8, 2006 by nikster

[Plus]

I don't know anything about this particular model or whether or not the price is a good one, but you should not necessarily be put off by high mileage over a short time period. This can be better than the same mileage over a longer period. Why? Components often wear out because of age, not use. Seals dry out and crack, gaskets start to leak, rubber components degrade over time, etc. & etc. These components will generally be in much better shape after three years than they would after 5, 6, 10, etc. Thus it is not unusual to find a high mileage but relatively young vehicle more reliable than a low mileage but older machine. If you ascertain that it is in good mechanical shape and that the price is a good one it could still be a good deal, all other things being equal.

You are comparing 167k on a three year old and on a six year old cars. In this case you should compare it to a same three year old car but with 60-80k - about average mileage for Thailand.

[qualtrough]

I don't know anything about this particular model or whether or not the price is a good one, but you should not necessarily be put off by high mileage over a short time period. This can be better than the same mileage over a longer period. Why? Components often wear out because of age, not use. Seals dry out and crack, gaskets start to leak, rubber components degrade over time, etc. & etc. These components will generally be in much better shape after three years than they would after 5, 6, 10, etc. Thus it is not unusual to find a high mileage but relatively young vehicle more reliable than a low mileage but older machine. If you ascertain that it is in good mechanical shape and that the price is a good one it could still be a good deal, all other things being equal.

You are comparing 167k on a three year old and on a six year old cars. In this case you should compare it to a same three year old car but with 60-80k - about average mileage for Thailand.

No. I wrote that if the price is a good one it could still be a good deal. As I also wrote, I don't know anything about this particularly model. However, if this one is priced, say, 30% or more below a similar aged but lower mileage example (i.e. a good price) it might still be worth a look, provided of course he has the mechanicals checked out , e.g. compression, etc. & etc. by someone he can trust.

[geoffphuket]

Just a quick update.

Apparently the car’s been sold for the asking price of 250,000 Baht. Obviously someone thought it was worth the money…. I’ve no regrets

Thanks to everyone for the replies

Geoff