i'm tryin to think of somtihin witty to say about her/his pose but can't think of anything

Elbows too pointy

Womens beach volleyball Tourney, Karon beach

what brand are these pickup/suv cars everyone is driving in thailand? and whats the price range there?
toyota?

toyota fortuner is one of them, maybe the most popular one? looks like about 1-1.4M baht for a new one

Nice wheels Spiv

For pickups the most popular models are Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max. For SUVs, Toyota Fortuner.

The base model 4-door Hilux is about 700,000 baht (but that's a 4x2 with a smaller engine and that is missing some safety features from the regular models). Fortuner starts at 1.1 million.

Went for the Mazda BT pickup. Liked it more than Toyota/Mitsu/Isuzu but if i was getting a SUV i'd go for the Fortuner over the Mitsu Pajero. Much better dive imo.

Toyota and Isuzu are selling most of the pick ups, probably because of good financing offers and local plants, which means no high import taxes on the cars.

Even though Thailand is rather safe I still wouldn't want to get a Toyota Fortuner TRD for example as it just makes you look too much of a target to the wrong people out in the countryside.

In BKK you would have to be crazy to buy a car with all the low cost taxis around.

For a balla looking TRD you'll pay about 1.2-1.5 million baht.

I sure bet PE wishes he was not banned after you posting that pic of the banger and your car.

There's nothing wrong with the Mazda/Mitsu offerings except that Thais are really anal about brands, and the reason most people go for Toyotas is that they get better resale prices than any other brand.

true and maybe I will regret when I want to sell it...where we stay every1 buys a Toyota Vigo and the Mazda's are quite rare and look good/nice to drive so went for that.

Even speaking as a tourist who occasionally stays for 3 months, I can't imagine being anywhere outside of BKK without at least a scooter. Talking to shady taxi people is just a recipe for a bad day, and the more centrally you live, the more problems you will run into. Having your own ride gives you independence to do what you want, when you want it.

That's why cars don't depreciate as much in Thailand. Even well qualified dealer mechanics are affordable so you can keep your car running longer without investing buckets of cash when something breaks.

My impression is also that the mechanics that work at big dealers are really meticulous and well-trained and knew their stuff. Awesome service. Every quote I ever got at a big dealer was super accurate, parts were priced very fair, and labor was dirt cheap. It's not like in the US where most mechanics are... mechanics... and dealers overcharge quite a lot for parts (compared to online.) and their hourly labor rates are pretty high.

Your tires do look pretty bald though...

They aren't bald, just covered in sand from driving up a dirt road

those rims are hilarious spiv

The dodgy drivers are only on lower Sukhumvit in BKK.

If you live outside those ****hole sois you will maybe have 1 bad taxi driver in 1000 that drives a long route or whatever, but generally most thais are honest and humble buddhists.

The only straight up rip offs I ever had was when I was a newbie staying at some hotel on soi 4. Scummy sois attract scummy people.

Lol at the phrase most thais are honest people and humble buddhists

I can't think of any country where lying is so common and accepted as Thailand

Saving face is not really considered lying.

Honest = The average thai doesn't try to take advantage of you in every day kind of dealings.

The mafia types that rip off tourists with jet ski scams and the like aren't really representative of the average thai.

The hooker that cons her john isn't either (hookers do that anywhere in the world).

The tuk tuk drivers in tourist areas are just a touristic phenomenon.

If you want to experience dishonest people head to Vietnam, where you end up feeling like everyone is trying to scam you in one way or another.

And in Kao Sahn Road, and Phuket, and Samui, and Pattaya, and anywhere large numbers of tourists might be found in Thailand.

i remember mochit bus station was hilarious last time i went there with 20 taxi drivers taking tourist to KSR for "only" 400b

You can always flag down a metered cab so it's no big deal.

The only real rigging is at night when the clubs close and nobody wants to take you for less than 200 or so as they'll most likely be with few rides all night, but even then it's not much more than 100 baht extra.

Try to take a cab in Kuala Lumpur and almost every driver is trying to haggle with you and won't ever use the meter.

I know you can get a metered cab for 25% of that , it s still a shame that they blatantly try to rip off tourist like that and that the thai government isnt more efficient at fighting that since it s really bad for tourism

I think it's no big deal, as you can always flag down a metered cab, but on the islands it's a bit out of hand as you have no choice.

That's due to the people that control the area though and the average thai doesn't really prey on tourists which can't really be said about Vietnam for example.

only in sukhumvit lol

Yeah, it's not just Sukhumvit. It's basically areas where tourists/expats/poker players tend to stay.

And it gets worse in areas like Phuket/Pattaya/etc, where the primary business is fleecing tourists. They often won't budge on their inflated prices, or you end up having to negotiate every damn time you want a ride.

If you go to live in out of the way places, the taxi/tuktuk/mototaxi/bahtbus coverage will be either very spotty and inconvenient, or non-existent.

None of this changes the fact that a car/scooter/motorcycle gives you freedom and you don't have to rely on any random dudes to ferry you around at their discretion for the price they feel like accepting. It's really nice to not be reliant on these people, especially when you're trying to get somewhere at a certain time.

Half of Asia is pretty similar. They're all about saving face and sending hints instead of calling you out on anything. Gotta read between the lines everywhere. I don't know if Thailand is better or worse in this respect, but this is more of an Asian thing than just a Thai thing.

Compared to other developing countries, Thailand is actually very good in this respect. I do take a lot of taxis/similar and feel screwed about 1/50 rides in Thailand - and it's *never* a huge amount of money. Even if you get charged 3x and pay 300B, it's not the end of the world. But at least they don't drive you "the long way," or change price on you, or hold you hostage in some dark empty street asking for more money to keep driving. In some other counties, it seemed like I was getting screwed a good 30/50 rides. In Thailand, you might have a "fast meter" scam that charges you 500B for a 200B ride. In other countries, the scam is much simpler: the taxi stops at a certain streetlight and a guy gets in and takes all your money at gun/knife point. More violent, more direct, much more money involved. Count your blessings next time a taxi says they won't use a meter and won't take you somewhere for less than 200B because of traffic.