Top 10 Cars for 2012

[PeteC]

...per Bangkok Post auto section. Full photos. I like the Volvo estate more than the BMW estate pictured. Can't say I've seen any on the roads here though. 2.249 million Baht. Pete

http://www.bangkokpost.com/auto/autorev ... op-10-cars

[margaretcarnes]

What the fluff is the Ford Focus doing in there? But yes Pete agreed - the Volvo to me has much more style than the Beamer, despite less under the bonnet. It probably comes out better in a roll as well.
As for Range Rover - dear me. It looks like it's starting to slowly morph into yet another low sleek fronted motor and trying to be something it's not. Should appeal to HiSo Thais

[JW]

Hi Mags,

Ford have been producing class leading cars for a good 15 years now - the new Focus is a stunning car with beautiful finish inside and performance to match, the most fun car to drive available here at reasonable price

Cheers,

JW

[richard]

I'll stick with my Bugatti Chevron

[PeteC]

I think the Ford Focus now holds the top spot for best selling car in the world, having overtaken Toyota who has held that lofty position for one or more of its models for many years. Now in Thailand at least, Ford needs to bring its dealerships and service centres up to the level of Honda and Toyota. If they do that they'll really have something, and a firm grip on 3rd spot here. If they don't do it and let things rot like Mitsu does, they'll crash and burn IMO. I hope they're smart enough to use the Japanese service model and not that from Ford America which isn't too hot in my experience, be it a few decades ago though. Pete

[Big Boy]

Ford needs to bring its dealerships and service centres up to the level of Honda and Toyota.

Start telling the truth would be a start

Actually, now that things have settled down with my personal purchase, I've had to go back there a couple of times. They are starting to come across as being very reasonable/helpful.

[PeteC]

I've been keen on that Volvo since reading the article yesterday. I had forgotten Ford has sold Volvo to Chinese, Geely The Ford platform apparently will be in place until 2017-18 but then what happens....Chinese junk will evolvo? Pete

EDIT: At least it's being run by and ex-VW man. That's a plus for now at least.

[usual suspect]

Just steering off-topic slightly, & picking up on the general view that Ford's Thai dealership needs to improve somewhat..I just had some work done on my Ford (not at the dealership) which resulted in the mechanic telling me I badly needed new gearbox oil 'cos the present oil was almost gunk..when my wife explained to the guy that the car had just had it's 160k service at HH Ford, so the oil SHOULD be new & OK..the mechanic assured us that the oil had not being changed in ages!..Thank you HH Ford.

[Big Boy]

Worrying.

[Takiap]

Also a bit off topic I know, but have any of you seen a Nissan Juke on the roads here? I've only seen one, and I was really quite impressed with the look of it. Apparently Nissan isn't selling them in Thailand, which is something I find really strange. It's a smallish car which I'm sure would be hugely popular in Thailand. As far as looks are concerned, I personally think it looks much better than most of the other cars in its class.

From what I've read, they would sell for about 700K here, but it seems you can only get secondhand imports for around 1.3 to 1.4 million.

[sticks]

having vehicles serviced in main agents is not what it seems you think your getting a great job done but at the end of the day they dont do as they should on the milage of the vehicle its even worst in england then here and the cost of it there is an arm and a leg the first service i had there on my mitsu pick up came to over £350 and that was back in 2002 when i checked under the bonnet they had charged for things they didnt even replace when questioned sorry sir we will give you a credit on the next service her it come to 1800 bht for a 20000km service at mitsu in HH and you can even go into the workshop to watch whats being done if you want, main agents are rip offs as we know but with todays vehicles the back street garage will not be able to service and repair them properly as they should be and also the when the diagnsotics starts to play up the main agents will struggle as well ive seen it hundreds of times in the uk and never get any money back just a bill every time you go there with the same problem

[PeteC]

The 2012 award for the longest sentence...and it's still going...... Pete

[richard]

Just steering off-topic slightly, & picking up on the general view that Ford's Thai dealership needs to improve somewhat..I just had some work done on my Ford (not at the dealership) which resulted in the mechanic telling me I badly needed new gearbox oil 'cos the present oil was almost gunk..when my wife explained to the guy that the car had just had it's 160k service at HH Ford, so the oil SHOULD be new & OK..the mechanic assured us that the oil had not being changed in ages!..Thank you HH Ford.

In my motoring days I owned Beamers, Range rovers, VW's, Audi's. At service depot's, after a service I was shown all the parts that had had to be replaced and shown the state of the old gearbox oil. OK, it could have been a standard set to show a customer but I doubt it.

With my Cherokee Jeep it actually came back to me in a worse state than when it went in. The boss hauled it back in, wrote out a cheque for the service, added a bit for inconvenience caused and fired three of the service staff. Invited me in to chat and said the whole service team were in the process of being replaced. NOW that is service

[PeteC]

If you think you have dishonest service at a dealer, find someone like here : viewtopic.php?f=44&t=22450

New car or not, warranty or not, the chances that you'll need major warranty repairs with cars today are slim to nil, which makes service at the dealer just something that they want to intimidate you into.

Find a good mechanic/shop and stick with him. Pete

[caller]

Are local 'dealerships' in LOS, franchises as they are in the UK (and elsewhere in the west I guess)?

I've had a Honda for many years and have used three, and the quality has varied enormously (Chiswick being the worst by far).