What brand of vehicle manufacturer do/would you drive?

[brianks]

Interesting what has been said about Honda service. Until two months ago I was very pleased with it cost and time wise. Experienced a problem with the alarm and interior lighting system and for two months (5 visits, 2 calls promised but never made) still is not repaired. On last weeks visit (after they finally called to say they had the part) they told me it would take 6 hours to repair. I would not accept that after over two months (and 5 trips in to dealer) of waiting. Got the service manager involved and they finally said it would take one hour. 45 minutes later they called wife (while I was waiting in their lobby) and told her they needed yet another part they did not have and I would have to come back again later. Of course when I went out to retrieve the car I explained that I was not pleased that they could not tell me personally about the problem. Again had to drag Service Manager out again then they said they would call next day to let us know if part arrived. Called two days later and part has not arrived. Still waiting for another call.

Since I paid to have the problem fixed on the first visit will be interesting to see if they try to charge me for the new parts. Shall be interesting to see how it all turns out.

May have to take it to Pranburi in the future.

[STEVE G]

...one is an Isuzu Dmax 2 door and the other is a Honda Civic, probably the two most boringly predictably Thai default vehicles you can have.

You have to remember that the main reason that Thais buy Isuzu pick-ups is because of their fuel efficiency, not excitment factor.
If you talk to them, they buy Toyotas for reliability and Isuzus for efficiency.
To be honest I tend to agree with them;driving anywhere now is just an absolute pain and all you need is a tool that does what you need to do.

[PeteC]

Re Brianks comments about Honda. Just like me being unable to find a good Mitsu service dealer out of 3 nearby on the eastern seaboard, Buks has down there. This alarm/light thing sounds like something they don't encounter too often. I don't know the best way to judge but giving them 3 chances over a period of time sounds reasonable, then head for someone else.

I just abandoned the Mitsu I was using as after other mistakes they started a program of refusing to check tire air pressure during normal service. Said they got in trouble as someone had nitrogen or similar in their tires and they let it all out.....and got chewed out. So abandon all of your other customers who use normal air for the sake of one ass chewing by some nut who puts nitrogen in his tires? Flawed logic is an understatement. Pete

[Spitfire]

You have to remember that the main reason that Thais buy Isuzu pick-ups is because of their fuel efficiency, not excitment factor.
If you talk to them, they buy Toyotas for reliability and Isuzus for efficiency.
To be honest I tend to agree with them;driving anywhere now is just an absolute pain and all you need is a tool that does what you need to do.

I would have thought there's very little it these days between the different manufacturers for this stuff now, most have got their act together.

Leaving aside the humour about them not being very flamboyant in the 'show your individualistic qualities' department when choosing a car, I was told one time that Isuzu offer government workers a special deal/contract on the two 2 door Dmax which make it attractive to get but it's a low spec one with few gadgets, might be why you see so many.

For me though, I'm a Mitsubishi fan, had a Triton for 5 years and was perfect, rugged and nothing went wrong on it after clocking up a load on km, good pickups IMO. Serviced it every 5000 km and cost about 1200 - 1300 baht a time for change oil/filters etc. Had a large service at 40,000 and 80,000, then one at the end of the warranty.

Maybe service does vary on the provincial region, ie the ones in the big cities are probably more professional than the smaller places, experienced it myself in BBK/Korat which was very good but had it done in Roi-Et once and Mahasarakham once too which wasn't so great.

I suppose all these garages are franchises with a sort of company quality ombudsman that attempts to make sure people get some consistency in service/prices etc.

How well it works though on a countrywide scale is anyones' guess I suppose.

[PeteC]

SF, you mentioned the 2011 Triton and PS are changing. Big changes, as I don't see anything on their web site? Pete

[Spitfire]

The 2011 Triton has a changed rear end from the 2010 version. The old one was slightly curved and wasn't big enough to get a motorbike in the back and close the back gate. They've changed it by making it longer (18 cm I think) and might be a little wider too. There are very few pics around of the 2011 version and they are only just arriving at the Mitsu garages now.

I did get my hands on 2 pics of the new one, the white top-of-the-range one. The full spec is quite good, LCD monitor with sat-nav, DVD, MP3 etc, you can buy an extra reciever so you can receive TV (Channel 3 etc), ABS, leather seats, Alpine CD player and lots else all comes as standard.

According to my source, they come in at 772,000 for the all singing all dancing white one and the black one is 30,000 cheaper, apparently white is the new black.

The main difference is the back end and it's a bit bigger, straighter with more bells and whistles.

I managed to scrounge these two photos of the white one for those interested. Couldn't get a good one of the back end though, they've only been out a month apparently. However, you can just see the straight lines of the sides of the back end, that's the main change plus all the extras.

Looks nice to me.

[PeteC]

I just re-did the entire suspension of my PS. Already had 18" wheels so put larger disks on the front, disks on the back, new springs and shocks, gas assist on the front. Totally different vehicle. Before in turns you would get a lot of uncomfortable lean, no more. The brakes were also spongy and faded with quick stops, no more. All I have to do now is take out the diesel and put in a 427 V-8, then I have a real runner. Pete

[hhfarang]

Pete, you're an old hot rodder aren't you!??

[STEVE G]

Get one of these Pete:

[ed9972]

Currently an Audi A6.
Great car

[PeteC]

Pete, you're an old hot rodder aren't you!??

I tried to be but budget was always an issue back then in the days you could look at an engine and tell what it was, and actually see ground beneath it and not clutter. I like Steve's truck pic. I'd have to get some emergency lights, a KFC Delivery decal and a train air horn for it though.

Now I have to solve a spare tire problem. 18" wheels and only a 16" spare will fit in the well. I can still put a 16" on the rear axle, but not the front as the disks too big. That means if a flat on the front, I have to do a double change by putting the spare on the back and switching a back tire to the front. I think I need to buy an 18" wheel and a low profile tire which hopefully will fit in the well. Then I'm done with this machine. Pete

[TypicallyTropical]

I told him he should buy a vehicle with a bit more flamboyance next time, he agreed too.

Keeping up with the Joneses, huh?! Instead of "flamboyance" I would use the word "toy" in my case. The Land Rover is for work, the Carrera is the toy and the MB is for the future ex-wife!

[Spitfire]

Nah, you've got it all wrong there mate........

Palm the Range Rover off to the Mrs.....

Use the Benz for taking her shopping and to restaurants etc......

Take the Porche 911 to work......

personalassistant4.jpg (25.91 KiB) Viewed 544 times

Take the "Personal Assistant" out for lunch huh?

[Aussie Mark]

It would be pointless buying anything but a 4WD in Thailand with the state of the roads.A luxury car would only get trashed.
In Oz I drive a Jaguar XK great car ,but if anyone else has owned a Jag would know when you buy one it comes with your own private parking bay ,its called your mechanic's hoist.
My car when Im in Thailand is called a Tuk Tuk

[pharvey]

When I was working and living in Rayong several years ago, I drove a Toyota Hilux - a great piece of kit and a real work horse that just kept going. Very sad to give it back when I left

Now living and working in China, I drive a Hyundai Santa Fe (2.7 V6). Chinese built so has a few problems!! But on the whole a fairly decent vehicle, decent standard spec, good drive and not bad at all on fuel consumption.

I like the look of the Mitsubishi Triton, and would likely look at something like that if returning to live /work in Thailand.