akumabito
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| posted on 24/9/07 at 08:20 PM |
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Audi or BMW or Volvo or..?
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]
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McLannahan
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| posted on 24/9/07 at 08:41 PM |
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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?!
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 24/9/07 at 10:51 PM |
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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.
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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Hellfire
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| posted on 25/9/07 at 06:18 AM |
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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
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akumabito
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| posted on 25/9/07 at 03:48 PM |
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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?!
The market for cars and houses is really odd around here. I have no idea why cars that shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred quid
still cost several thousand after nearly 15 years..
It is almost as if people here believe depreciation is offset by maintenance costs (ya know, spend a few quid on an oil change, and in effect,
you're raising the vehicle's value by said amount )
It's the same with houses, too.. it's often cheaper to have a new house built than to buy an existing house...
Importing a car is a big no no.. Import duties and taxes and bureaucratic nonsense all combined will amount to a customs charge of well over 200% of
the showroom value of the vehicle.. So even if I'd buy a 500 quid car, there is really no point at all unless I'd be willing to pay tens
of thousands more in customs charges.
What lengths they won't go through to protect their own marginal car industry! (several manufacturers have plants here in Thailand just to
avoid having to pay those duties and make their cars inaccessible for this part of Asia..)
So I either have to put up with the ridiculous prices, or keep riding my trusted little Yamaha Fino scooter..
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