I'm just browsing some website to see what sort of cars I might actually afford here. You'd think with everything else in Thailand being so bloody cheap, a guy would have no problem buying a car, right? Well, for some odd reason cars here retain their value a little too much I'm afraid..

I'm going over my options on One2Car.com (go take a look, you'll see what I'm talking about with the ridiculous prices being asked for used cars...)

So basically, I'm looking at cars up to a maximum budget of 200,000 THB, although I'd be much happier cutting that down a bit to 150,000 to 160,000 or so..

If it were just me, I'd get myself a Suzuki Samurai, or a Jeep CJ6. There's plenty of 'm, and not too expensive either. Or perhaps a Land Rover Series 3 or so.. unfortunately, I occasionally have to share the car with my wife and 5-months-old son, so a 'tinker car' is out of the question..

So I'm looking for something more or less bomb-proof..

First two makes I was thinking about were BMW and Volvo. Especially Volvos seem to be holding up quite well here. Lots of very nice looking examples around, despite being about 15 years old..

Volvo-wise, most cars on offer are the 440, 460, 760 and 940 models. Some cars I was just looking at include this silver 1994 440 GLT and this blue 1994 460 GLT

On the BMW front I can really only afford the 3 series. And at that, most of the cars on offer are the BMW 316 and 318 models such as this blue 1991 318i or this red 1992 318i

I've also had a quick look at Audis. It's odd, but Audis don't seem to retain their value as much as the other makes. You can get a car a few years younger for the same price. For example, here is a nice silver 1995 Audi 80 2.0E and here's a dark-colored model from 1996.

I'm just looking for some advice. My parents had an Audi 80, and it had 380,000km on the clock before it went to the scrapper. And it only went there because some &#$^ crashed into it. A friend of mine had a BMW 318iS of the same age, and never had any significant problems with it either.. I have no direct experiments with Volvo's, but ain't the legend that after a nuclear strike the only two things that survive are cockroaches and Volvos?

So yeah, any input is greatly appreciated. I've already accepted the fact that I am likely to pay a ridiculous amount of money for an old car, but that's ok.. I should get most of it back again if I decide to sell it on after a few years..

[Edited on 24/9/07 by akumabito]

[Edited on 24/9/07 by akumabito]

Is that 1994 Volvo really selling for £2600? Have I got that conversion right?

168,000.00 THB = 2,605.07 GBP
Thailand Baht United Kingdom Pounds
1 THB = 0.0155064 GBP 1 GBP = 64.4897 THB


Why are cars so expensive? Really depressing if a 1994 Volvo is worth SO much there.

Would it be an evil cost to import a Volvo (or anything else for that matter)

On UK Ebay a Volvo of that age would be about £500.

Not that any of that helps - sorry! Just curious to appreciate why cars are so expensive for you?!

id only pick on the 940 especially if its a turbo - theres a couple of volvo owners in thailand who post on some forums i frequent.

Audi everytime.

BMW's are way over-rated IMHO (yes, I've had one), here in the UK they are the most popular car on the hard shoulders. (Motorway breakdowns)

I've had a Volvo (460 Turbo) the build quality was pretty poor. Reliability was questionable on occasions, but that engine was awesome. Renault unit IIRC.

Audi - rock solid build. Very reliable. My choice everytime.

Steve

quote:

---

Originally posted by McLannahan
Is that 1994 Volvo really selling for £2600? Have I got that conversion right?

168,000.00 THB = 2,605.07 GBP
Thailand Baht United Kingdom Pounds
1 THB = 0.0155064 GBP 1 GBP = 64.4897 THB


Why are cars so expensive? Really depressing if a 1994 Volvo is worth SO much there.

Would it be an evil cost to import a Volvo (or anything else for that matter)

On UK Ebay a Volvo of that age would be about £500.

Not that any of that helps - sorry! Just curious to appreciate why cars are so expensive for you?!

---