Gonzo

I have only driven my new 2010 Vios for 4 days now and so far I am very happy with it. If I had to buy a car tomorrow, with the 5 different cars I had on my original short list available, the Honda Jazz, City, Civic, the Toyota Vios and Vigo, I would not hesitate to buy the same car I purchased. It handles very well, has plenty of room inside for a compact car, uses little fuel, looks better than the previous Vios models and the interior of the car is a lot better than what I first thought. My first choice was the Honda Jazz, but it was not available at short notice. The Honda Jazz is probably a very good car, but looks like a pig-ugly little runt of a thing, when I park my 2010 Vios next to it. I liked the Honda City, but there is insufficient room for a tall guy sitting behind the steering wheel. The Civic had surprisingly little room inside as well for a bigger-looking car on and costs at least THB 200 000 more. I liked the Vigo, as I had a Hilux for many years, driving in the Australian bush and it was one of the best vehicles I ever had. The reason I did not buy a Vigo, was that I only need a compact car for running around Jomtien, Pattaya and Naklua. So I finished up with a Toyota Vios E/Automatic 1.5, purchased from the the very nice sales people from the Toyota shop, a few kilometres past the Bangkok Pattaya hospital on Sukhumvit Road. I might have a different opinion about buying a Toyota Vios in a few months time, if things go awry, but I doubt that will happen. The Vios is the most sold car in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and surely most of those people would not buy the car if it was a heap of shit. I hope I am not proven wrong.

On the way back, we took the white Baht bus outside the Toyota dealer on Sukhumvit, which turned right into Naklua after a few hundred metres, where a standard blue Baht bus was waiting haf way on the street from Sukhumvit to Naklua Road. All the passengers were transferred to the blue baht bus at no charge and then went all the way to the Pattaya Thai, Pratumnak Road intersection, where we caught the Jomtien Baht bus outside the school. One poster previously said to check out the Mazda 3. I replied I did not like the bubble looks of it. That is the Mazda 2 I was referring to. This evening we walked past the latest Mazda 3 and it is a very nice-looking small to medium-sized car, well worth to have a look at. I don't know what happened at Honda. MM says he always had good experiences there. Maybe the ample staff had an off-day, or they were on a go slow after someone got the sack. I have a suspicion the girl might have been lying, about Landon having resigned. Thai girls will tell fibs occasionally. Honda has been making very good cars for a very long time. The problem with the Honda dealer in Pattaya is, as far as I am concerned, they don't have more than three cars in their show room. They want you to choose a car and a colour and then wait for three month until the car arrives. If you are lucky they might have a car you like in their small selection inside their shop and let you buy it. Well, they offered me the Honda Civic, but would not let me have the blue Honda Jazz I wanted badly. The reason I want to buy a car now and not want it delivered in three months time, is, that in three months time I am due back in Australia to make some changes to my will, do my tax return and catch up with some old friends. I also want to do some refurbishing in my condominium and discuss the subdividing of a block of land with the lands department. I wanted to buy a new car in 07, when the markets started to get the wobbles, again in 08, when we had a financial meltdown, when lots of people thought the end was near. In 09 I dithered over a costly court case, which I thought would drag on forever, but in the in the end things went well. I got sick and tired of being a ditherer and wanted a car in a hurry. I could have bought a better car, but not in a corrupt country like Thailand, with its uncertain future and the forever changing idiotic regulations for Farangs. I think the Vios will be alright. I jumped the gun and got the resident certificate this morning, which apparently won't be required until the red company plates get exchanged for the white ones. Before I went to the Immigration office, I went to a clinic to get a doctors certificate for a hundred baht. I got the doctor's certificate from the receptionist, without seeing the doctor as usual. Immigration told me you don't need a doctor's certificate at the Immigration office for the resident certificate for just buying a car. You only need a doctor's certificate to get the resident certificate for a driver's licence. I felt a bit like an idiot. Cheers

I have driven a friend's Toyota Vios a few times for short distances, say from Soi 8 On Jomtien Beach Road to Big C on Sukhumvit, via Soi Wat Boon and then to Friendship supermarket on Pattaya Thai, to buy a few more items or to visit Tukcom, parking inside the nearby temple complex for 10 baht Getting in and out of a Vios is certainly easier and the car drives well. I have heard people complain about getting a sore back, after driving for longer distances. In Australia I would have probably bought a Toyota Camry. The Toyota Camry in Thailand is more than twice the price of a Vios here in Thailand. I will know a lot more about the Vios after I take delivery. I just bought it to drive around town and if I am not happy with it, I will let readers know. Investing a bit over 600 000 baht in a car is not a big deal. If the car would have been in the 1 to 2 million baht range, then I would have probably done more research, before buying it.

Last Tuesday, I bought a new Toyota Vios 1,5 E/AT silver metallic, which will be delivered on Friday afternoon. That was not my first choice, but one of the cars available at short notice at the Thaiyont Chonburi Toyota CO.LTD, Pattaya dealer, on the left side of Sukhumvit Road, 3 or 4 kilometres from Pattaya Nua, driving towards Pattaya. The car cost THB 616500, including registration and the fee for the red number plates, THB 3500, which will be refunded, when I change back to normal number plates. That will make the total cost of the car THB 613 000. I paid a THB 6500cash deposit and picked up a bank cheque for 610000 baht on my way home at my bank branch, will be handed over after I get my car on Friday afternoon, tomorrow. The sales person, Supervisor Miss Palika (Kaew) spoke fairly good English. If I were a young bloke, looking for a relationship with a nice woman, I would put the hard word on her. An Aussie friend found his wife to be at the Mitsubishi dealership in Rayong that way. When I asked her about the free 40% window tinting, she nodded her head and quickly added the free one-year insurance, floor mats, a numberplate holder, a First Aid box and a car cover. I would have liked to buy the slightly dearer Vios G model, which comes with leather-covered bucket seats, whereas my Vios E model has only cheapish -looking plastic ones. I will get seat covers from Carrfour (?) to put on top of the plastic seating. Kaew also talked me into getting 60% window tinting and I am not sure, if I did the right thing with the darker tinting. I will soon find out. I will tell you what happened last Tuesday, before I finished up at the Toyota dealer. My first three choices on my list were the Honda City, the Honda Civic and I added the Honda Jazz after a couple of good reviews on this thread and after talking to my English sister-in-law, who has been working and living in Vienna and drives a Honda Jazz as well. We went to the Honda dealer next to the Bangkok Pattaya hospital first. They had 3 cars on display, a City, Jazz and a Civic. The had two demonstration models as well, a City and a Jazz, which can be taken for a ride. When we walked into the Honda show room, there must have been about fifteen sales people sitting behind their desks or standing around chatting. There were no other customers in the shop and not one of the many sales people paid us any attention. They did not even look at us. I walked to a white Honda City, opened the door and pushed the levers to have a look at the engine compartment and the boot. I then got inside behind the steering wheel. Martin was right, getting in and out of the car, if you are over six foot, is a pain in the arse. It was even worse sitting inside the car. I had to push the seat right back and recline it, so my head would not touch the roof. The Honda City is a car for shorter and slim people. Buy one for you Thai girl if you must. The car next to the City was a light blue-coloured Honda Jazz with all of its doors open. In the past I never paid this tiny-looking car any attention. I got inside the Jazz and was really surprised how much room there was for my 6’2” 86 kilo (187-lbs.) body. The impeccable finish of the interior of the Honda Jazz really impressed me. It is better than what the Toyota Vios has to offer, which looks cheap by comparison. The two rear seats in the Honda Jazz can be laid flat, which gives you a big loading space. The Honda Jazz is a small-looking car on the outside but large inside. The Honda Jazz had a THB 650 000 price tag on it. We were still not getting any attention from the sales staff. I had to walk to one of the desks and asked for Landon, the guy MM recommended. Landon does not work at Honda any longer, according to the woman I asked. I told the woman I was interested in the blue Honda Jazz. Her English was rather poor and she answered: Not can, man order. You wait 3 months. I said I wanted to buy the car now and pay cash. Not can. I asked to see the big boss. Ok, I ring manager. She went to the telephone and started a long conversation. The missus went over to her desk and it turnded out she was talking nonsense to a husband or boyfriend. I then went over to the Honda Celica with a THB 846 000 price tag and an unattractive brownish colour. I got inside and was shocked that sitting in the driver’s seat was not much of an improvement than sitting inside the Honda City. A bloke with broader shoulders than me would have even more problems. The Honda Civic has a very large dashboard, but what good is that? The sales woman ambled over and said can buy now. No thanks. I gave her the missus’s phone number to ring us, in case they had a change of heart about not wanting to sell the Honda Jazz. I asked someone outside how far it was to walk to Toyota. We were told it was about one kilometre. We walked about 2 kilometers and asked again. One more kilometres was the answer. We walked in the midday sun and I had just gotten over the flue. This must be the only stretch of road in Pattaya, where there is no shop with a cool drink to be found. We walked another 2 kilometres and found a small eating place with a fridge. They tried to sell us Som Tam and Khao Pad for 15 baht per dish, but I just wanted water. I opened their fridge and found three bottles of Sprite for 10 baht each. There was no water, but the fridge was full with Leo. I gulped down two bottles of Sprite and the missus had one. When we walked outside I spotted a small Toyota sign in the distance. When we eventually got there, there were lots of people getting their Toyotas serviced. There were quite a fewVigos for immediate sale as well. Like I said previously, I had a Hilux in Australia and you could not kill it with a stick. I don’t need a pick-up truck here, and there is no way I will ever cart any Thai family members around. Those trucks look so huge, when you compare them to the mid-sized cars. I want a smaller car to go shopping and do the odd trip to places within a hundred-mile radius. For longer trips I will use the bus, train and planes. Walking inside the Toyota show room was like chalk and cheese compared to the Honda experience. I don’t give a stuff if I will later come to the conclusion, that Honda cars are superior to Toyotas. If the Honda sales stuff is of such poor quality, what will their service department be like? What I saw at Toyota was very impressive. The customers book their cars in for service and then wait there until it is done, which normally takes less than two hours. They servive the cars every ten thousand kilometres and it costs 800 to 900 baht. In Australia, you drop your car off at 8AM in the morning and pick it up at 5 – 6 PM with a huge bill to be paid.

Thanks for your interesting and useful post. I am probably wrong about the Honda Jazz being discontinued. It is more likely the 2010 model has not been released as yet in Thailand. There is a new car shown on the Internet, called Honda Fit. It looks similar to the Honda Jazz. Maybe they just changed the name? I rang a friend in Australia a while ago. He is a qualified auto mechanic and is full of praise of the Honda Jazz. He owns a Toyota Landcruiser 4-wheel drive, which is a necessity as he drives on bush roads you would not believe, when he goes fishing in flooded areas outside of Darwin. He drives through one metre deep water crossings and has his exhaust pipes on top of the roof of the Landcruiser. When he gets bogged he uses the electric winch, near the bull bar in front of his vehicle. I will certainly have a good look at the Honda Jazz, when I visit the Honda dealer on Sukhumvit Road, near the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. Now I have five cars on my list to consider. The Honda City, Honda Civic, Honda Jazz, Toyota Vios and the Toyota Vigo. Cheers Honda Fit

Not a problem. Thanks for you interest and trying to help me find the right car.

Hi Doolish, what are the hassles of putting the car in your own name? I know having to go to Immigration can be a bit of a nuisance. I think I can handle their disposition and unfriendly faces for a couple of hours. As long as I only have to deal with their officious behaviour, full of self-importance now and then, it's alright. Getting the doctor's certificate is a bit of a joke. The clinic I visit hardly ever has the doctor attending his place. The two girls attending the reception only ring him when it is absolutely necessary. When I ask for a doctor's certificate, they open a drawer full of stamped and signed certificates. They just add your name, passport number and the date. You pay your THB 100 and off you go to the immigration office.

The Honda jazz seems to be discontinued. The last model I could find is from 2009. Most of the cars mentioned can be seen in our condo complex and there are quite a a few Honda Jazz models. It seems to be a very small car with very little loading space in the back to put you shopping. I prefer to buy a sedan. A 4-door utility with an additional carry boy would be an even better option, I guess.

Martin, I was afraid that could be the case. I will still give it a try as you suggested. My weight varies from 85 to 88 kilos, so I am not over the normal weight limit. If I have any problems getting in or out of the Honda City, I will buy the Honda Cicic or a Toyota Vios, or whatever there is available without a long waiting period. The Honda cars are just nicer looking, so I will try the Honda dealer first. It is encouraging, that you only had to wait one week to get you car as well. I will pay cash, so there won't be the need of a work permit or an income statement. Thanks for the input. I have put Landon's name into my notebook.

Many people are saying the Mazda 2 and 3 are better cars. I don't like the bubble shape of the Mazda cars.

Locul Yokul, You got this one wrong mate. The Honda City is a smaller car and has a 1.5 litre engine. The price of the Honda City starts at around THB 600 000. The Honda Civic is a larger car with a 1.6 litre engine and starts at around THB 800 00, I was told by a Thai woman down below in the car park. She bought the new 2010 model a few days ago, naturally on hire purchase. She bought a black Honda Civic straight from the show room and it took only 4 days before the car was delivered. I hope I will be so lucky, but there is no way I will buy a black car. I don't understand the Thai love affair with black cars in a tropical climate. You get into a black car after it is parked in the sun and you will sweat like a pig until the aircon kicks in sufficiently after a few minutes. You never have the same problem in a white car. We unloaded hundreds of cars every couple of months from Japanese or Korean car carriers and I sure know the differenc between a dark and a light-coloured car after it has been standing in the sun. My Toyota price list lists includes 5 models of CAMRY, 4 models of INNOVA, 6 models of WISH?, 11 models of NEW COROLLA ALTIS, 9 models of VIOS, 3 models of AVANZA, 8 models of YARIS, 3 models of APHARD?, 5 models of FORTUNER, 12 models of DOUBLE CAB, 11 models of SMART CAB, 6 models of VIGO and 4 models of COMMUTER VANS. So you could be a bit mistaken here as well. Never mind, thanks for your input.

The last time I came on a tourist visa was 10 years ago. I have been getting a Non Immigrant O multiple entry visa ever since, which is good for up to 15 month, if you time it right. I prefer the visa runs every 90 days to the hassles with the officious Thai Immigration officials at Soi 5. I do two trips to my home in Australia twice a year, which count as visa runs as well and do another 2 visa runs to the Cambodian border twice a year. Thanks for confirming what Local Yokul said, the requirement of a resident certificate in Thailand, which I will get tomorrow from the Immigration Office in Jomtien Soi 5 after getting a letter from a doctor at a clinic confirming that I am in good shape. The last time I was required to get a certificate from the Immigration office, I needed 3 copies of the picture pages of my passport, 3 copies of the page with my Non Immi O visa, 3 copies of my departure card and two letters from the doctor for the 5 year car and the 5 year bike licence. The Immigration official also asked me for a copy of my chanote from the condo and a copy of the tabien baan house book. I did not have my tabien baan copy and she graciously let me off with a reprimand, without having to go back to the condo to get a copy. All the other people I know were never asked for the Tabien baan and chanote copy and still got their residency paper. Most of them don't even have a chanote or a tabien baan. They sure know how to fuck you around at the Thai Immigration Office in Soi 5. That is another reason why I prefer to do visa runs every 90 days, instead of getting a retirement extension.

I will consider buying a 4-door Toyota VIGO 3.0 diesel, despite not needing a pick-up, or HILUX utility, the name of the same car in Australia. I had a HILUX 1983 model, which I sold after 15 years with 300 000 km on the clock. It only had the 2 wheel drive version, with a 4 speed manual gear box and a petrol engine. I used to drive on some very rough roads and seldom got bogged. There was always the old Tirfor winch to get me out of trouble went I went bush.

Hi Groggy, I met an English guy a few days ago and he rents a Toyota Vios from the Dusit Thani Hotel reception at the special rate of THB 20000 per month. He also drives upcountry and is full of praise of the VIOS. I picked up a price list at a the Carrfour supermarket a while ago, where some Toyotas were on display. There is a choice of 9 different models, starting with the lowest priced VIOS 1.5 litre J/5M (NO ABS) at THB 504 000 to the highest-priced VIOS 1.5 S/A LIMITED at THB 709 000. I would probably pick up any of those models in between, as long as there are automatic in this shit traffic and can be bought at short notice from the show room and not with a waiting period of three month, when I have to do a trip back to Australia. Cheers Gonzo

I think I need my frontal lobes checked sooner than later. Do you need another residence certificate, like you do when you get a Thai drivers licence, when you buy a new car? Which car would you prefer, a Honda City or a Toyota Vios? I have driven the Toyota Vios, which drives very well with plenty of head room, but does not look as good as the Honda City. Is there enough head and leg room for my 6'2'' medium built frame in a Honda City? If not, the Honda Civic will be another option being a larger car. Is the Toyoya dealer diagonally across from the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital the best Toyota dealer and a reputable dealer in Pattaya? What is the Honda dealer next to the hospital like? Is it possible to get a car from their show rooms at short notice instead of having to wait for three month to have the car deliverd? Thanks for any sensible answers and ideas about similar medium sized cars are welcome. I am not really interested in larger cars or trucks, but could be inclined to show some interest in a Toyota Vigo 3.0, 2 wheel drive diesel. I just want the car to drive around town. For longer distances I will still use the train or a plane. I want to have a look at a car as soon as possible, as I am nearly well after a week at home with a rather bad case of a head cold or flue.

Stinky, you are a slubberdegullious bastard and as mad as a cut snake. On the other hand you speak the way you see things and don't pretend to be something you are not. Often you come across as a selfish and obnoxious prick, but I have a feeling a lot of it is just brinkmanship.. I like your directness, which is like a breath of fresh air, after listening to the my idiots on this list, who think their shit does not stink. You should be made a honorary Australian. You would fit in well in the land down under.

Aussiechic, thanks for the kind reply, but i can do without the sardines for the time being. When I go for my next brief trip back to Aussieland I will eat a couple of tins and then probably won't have any more cravings for sardines for a very long time. It is similar to me wanting to eat Kentucky Fried chicken once in a blue moon and being very disappointed after having eaten it. It normally takes another six month before I have another go at it. It is also similar to wanting to be home in Darwin again. Usually, after a couple of weeks back home I search the Internet for a flight back to Thailand. Do you think this is normal behaviour or should I go and see a psychiatrist?

It certainly wasn't me leaving John West sardines at the FLB for your pleasure. I would have eaten them myself. I am convinced there are no good sardines to be found in any shop in Pattaya. . Friendship supermarket has a supply of tinned German herring in various sauces and also has glass jars of pickled in vinegar Estonian herring. The glass chars contain 5 small herrings wrapped around a piece of small cucumber. They are outrageously expensive at around THB 320 per jar. The pickled fish smells a bit like cunt, wich has not been cleaned for at least 2 days, so keep a toothbrush and toothpaste nearby. The pickled herring tastes fantastic, especially when drinking beer. It cannot be used for sexual purposes, unless you want to make a nice-smelling pussy smell like a rancid one. They (the fish) are called Rollmops and very popular in Holland, Germany and the Baltic countries.

My mistake was to switch from red salmon to sardines. There is no added oil in tinned salmon to my knowledge. There is lots of added oil in tinned sardines, unless you buy the spring water variety. Some of the board members immediately thought any kind of grease could be used for sexual purposes and the thread about fine imported food took a turn. Sexual activities between animals and humans are a punishable offence in Australia, so I better keep my mouth shut about such activities. A friend told me he knows a shop where they sell imported sardines for THB 184 per tin in Pattaya and he will have a look as he forgot the name of the place. Anyway, much too expensive in my opinion. When I returned from my last trip to Oz last October, I packed 20 tins of Canadian Brunswick sardines into my suitcase, a mix of spring water, olive oil and soybean oil varieties. The tins had the customary zip tops. When I unpacked the suitcase after my return, 4 of the 20 tins had popped open in transit and made a mess of the contents of my suitcase. I will do a better job packing my suitcase on the next trip back from Darwin.

If you like animals licking your ring, I think a dog would do a better job than a cat. Dogs have much larger tongues and are probably more enthusiastic than a cat. With male dogs you would probably have to watch out not to get fucked up your backside, unless you are into that kind of deviate behaviour. I doubt the fleas would worry a bloke like you. They would not be any worse than the crabs you are already used to. And no, I have not tried it myself. I have slight problems with hemorrhoids and use that part of my body for what it was designed for in the first place.

This afternoon I went with a friend to the seafood markets at Bali Hai Pier at the end of Walking Street to buy live prawns. They only had medium sized ones at THB 200 per kilo, which is reasonably cheap. When I got home, I got the missus to cook up one kilo (2.2 pounds). Normally I would relish eating fresh prawns dipped in a bit of fish sauce, but this afternoon I hardly enjoyed them. All I could think of was eating sardine sandwiches with salad and a bit of mayonnaise.

I have not opened the tin of salmon yet, therefore I cannot give an opinion on the taste of its contents. I am pretty sure they have the right vinegar and salad cream at Friendship's. They are the most Farang-friendly supermarket in town, in my opinion. One thing is for certain. The salmon is imported, but there is no way it is the good stuff from Alaska. In Australia, a tin of red salmon from the USA will set you back at least 5 to 8 Aussie dollars, depending on its size. I like tinned salmon now and then as a snack. A few years ago I discovered really cheap tinned salmon in Darwin, farm-bred and imported from Chile. It tasted nearly as good as the American stuff, so I started to buy it. Not long after that, I saw a report on TV about Chilean farmed salmon. Chile seem to be the largest producer of farmed salmon in the world. They showed large enclosures in the ocean, where huge machinery pump tons of pellets of fish feed into the closed off breeding areas to fatten up the salmon. Unfortunately, the Chileans were found out to use fish pellets, which often contain traces of heavy metals. They still sell the cheap Chilean stuff in Oz alongside the good expensive Sockeye stuff from the USA. Anyway, I am a fresh food eater and might eat a tin of fish as a snack after a night on the piss when I make it back home. I much prefer sardines and I have not been able to locate any in Thailand. My favourite brand are King Oscar sardines in spring water from Norway. Thy contain only healthy Omega 3, very small amounts of sodium and many good other nutrients. Any idea where one can find good European or Canadian sardines in Pattaya and I don't mean the salty Thai stuff in little round tins? I wonder if MM is keen on another thread about sardines on his fair message board?

Back to your, MM's and Jacko's favourite subject. Pink salmon in a red tin is now available at Friendship Supermarket for THB 96. Like Joe pointed out, a tin of tuna for THB 32 is much better value. The Thai Ayam brand of baked beans is just as good as the American Heinz brand at a fraction of the price.

We did our shopping at Friendship Supermarket today and spotted about 20 tins of salmon on of the shelves. It was pink salmon in a red tin . I think it was called Salmon Supreme and cost 98 THB per tin. It did not look like imported stuff as it had mainly Thai writing on it. The imported stuff usually tells you the name of the country where it comes from.

I never had a virus and I am going bareback with the missus. When I want to have a bit of fun away from home I use XXXL at the Jade House.