Building in Nontharburi/Pak Kret

[unclezillion]

i thought you always wanted a jag?

[Roger Ramjet]

i thought you always wanted a jag?

I always did. The first problem was I had nowhere to put it, the second problem after I fixed the first was, there were only two Jags in the whole of Bangkok for sale in my price range, both were in shocking condition and the used car salesman wanted twice the amount they were worth, so.......... sometimes you have to compromise, which is what I did.
And even this BMW needs work done as it was owned by a Thai who had little respect for the mechanics of such beasts. Thais have this horrible habit of forgetting about services and replacing old parts with genuine real parts, they'd much prefer to make the car look nice even if everything under the body was made in China and demeans the running of the car. I have tie rod ends, bushes and hand brake pads to replace, which gets done at the dealer on the 27th. I've already had it fully serviced, transmission fluid changed and a heap of other stuff.
A decent car is something to respect mechanically and the Beemer (Bimmer to you blokes) is one of those cars.
It has already been on the dealer's computer and I'll just keep taking it back till I'm happy. The first thing I bought it was new sports shoes, so it could live up to its potential, which it has. Now I have to break it of bad Thai driving habits, which I also know how to do.
Drive a Jazz, Jazz and Swift then change to a BMW and you'll know what I'm saying. Shear driving pleasure.

[unclezillion]

second hand card are very overpriced in Thailand. You can buy in the UK ship it over and pay your taxes and still get a better deal
My brother and Nephew both work in the Jaguar design dept and would not drive a jag if it was free! Both drive BMW's
My best mate is probably one of the best jaguar mechanics around will also no longer touch them. He tells me to buy an Audi
I like you like Jags but probably those from another time

[Roger Ramjet]

second hand card are very overpriced in Thailand. You can buy in the UK ship it over and pay your taxes and still get a better deal

I actually looked into that with a Japanese mate of mine. It is not all beer and skittles let me tell you. Between the Revenue Department and the Customs mob, people just leave the car and walk away. Just last week the Revenue Department held an auction of all the unclaimed cars (they claim to clear space) and the people who were there bidding were the importers who just wait the 3 months extra for each auction then buy the car they were going to be charged 5 times the price on. My mate even went and spoke with the Japanese rep at (I can't remember what they call it) and he said the whole thing was a closed shop run by the Thais and we could order two body bags if we wanted to.
I still love the Jags and Clarkson when he drove across England (to beat God) went in a Jag and he actually bought it after that run. If ever there was a man not scared to say a car was a lemon, it's Clarkson (just ask him about his Ford or Mercedes).
I drove a Sovereign here in Thailand and I saw what Thais had done to it and it was a crying shame. I was even tempted to buy it at 300,000 but I would have been working on it every day for months just to get it back to its original glory and it would have cost more than a new one.
The BMW was my second choice, its taken me 70 years to own one and I'm not going to let this slip through my fingers.
My silly daughter thinks I'm going too let her drive it, but I have news for her, she's a Thai and doesn't even understand why a car has to be serviced. When I die I will know that both cars will look sparkling clean on the outside and the mechanics will be crap and both probably won't run.

[MGV12]

Just last week the Revenue Department held an auction of all the unclaimed cars (they claim to clear space) and the people who were there bidding were the importers who just wait the 3 months extra for each auction then buy the car they were going to be charged 5 times the price on.

One of their scams is to import exotic toys but take the brain[s] [ECU] out after it's in the container .... bringing it back to LOS in their suitcase. Customs won't even take a car out of the container until the dues are paid. The agent refuses to pay the duty and walks away ... when Customs try to move the car they find it won't go. Come the auction anyone with a brain won't touch an exotic with no brain ... except the agent who already has it and the price he pays is inclusive of all duties.

[Roger Ramjet]

except the agent who already has it and the price he pays is inclusive of all duties.

And that price is a quarter of what he would have been charged by Customs and the Revenue Department, so if we (Farangs) know it's a scam, why isn't the Government fixing it?
I also can't see the figuring of the Thai used car market where they claim that the owner is just getting some of the tax back he paid on the car when new! My wife worked for BMW and the Dealer pays the tax at the District Office every week, not the buyer..... well indirectly, but that's gone the day it's paid.

[unclezillion]

both my family members work in the electrical design dept. they say the jag has 6 toes the amount of
wiring that a BMW has. i'm over in the UK next week i'll see if i can get the brains to a jag on demand and what would be involved:)

[Roger Ramjet]

both my family members work in the electrical design dept. they say the jag has 6 toes the amount of
wiring that a BMW has

But when you consider the Apache helicopter has enough wiring to cover the whole of the Eiffel Tower 6 times over and three computers and it rarely goes wrong, wiring is not such a bad thing in the electronic age, and open the boot of a BMW and remove the side panels and you'd be amazed what is on the side walls.
Anyway I'm more than happy with it and will be even more happy come the 27th when all the servicing is finished for a while....worn bushes, pitman arm joints, hand brake pads and other things that should have been done months ago. But, I'd still be interested in the brain box of the Jag.

[unclezillion]

yup there must be a factory programming disk which would be handy to get hold of

[Roger Ramjet]

yup there must be a factory programming disk which would be handy to get hold of

There are but they are restricted to certified mechanics at certified garages and most times the car manufacturer just sells their "laptop" or box of tricks separately. You have to get access to the two plug-in spots on the driver's side floor and you need special plugs as well.
Oh well, at least the BMW dealer gives me a detailed printout of everything.

[Roger Ramjet]

Just as a follow-up the BMW is finished and has all new German parts and runs like a dream. The reason for many failures was the use of Chinese parts by the previous owner. The boss of the garage, I will now be taking it to, showed me what they had changed (besides the transmission) and used a grinder to cut them open, then showed me what the German part looked like. You can copy something, but getting it just right with the proper materials is crucial.
The shells of the Chinese parts once opened showed totally different materials from the same German product. The brake pads look almost the same, but not quite, the filters look almost the same, but again, not quite. The metal casings made of aluminum in Germany are made of metal in China and just painted to look similar. Most of the stuff was fake and failed as quickly.
I now have a six months warranty and I also have a written guarantee on all the other work.
I should have the motor compression tested, but I think I'll just trust to luck with it as it runs as sweet as a nut. This morning I was returning from dropping off my wife and hit Hwy 345 and wondered why the one vehicle on the highway was going so slow, then I looked at the speedo and it wasn't him it was me going too fast at just under 200 kph. Smooth as a baby's bottom too and no trouble in slowing down for the U turn. A truly beautiful car that deserves its reputation as being better than the Mercedes in all classes.

[unclezillion]

the wife has decided she wants one of these lol

[Roger Ramjet]

the wife has decided she wants one of these lol

Tell your wife she's got bats in the belfry. Honda make some really great bikes and having ridden both the 450 and 750 police bikes it's just like sitting in an armchair. But, in Thailand it's like signing a death certificate.
My road to highway 345 has just been finished with concrete (about 5 months now and now they are digging it up again to put in storm water drains on the other side. There was no signs posted except one in black and red that I just managed to avoid at 0500 hrs this morning. Luckily I was going slow or I would have put the BMW into a bloody great hole for the manhole cover. For over a mile there were no signs and even with the headlights on high beam and the two spotlights you couldn't see the holes until you were just about on them and with cars coming the other way it was a "just hope" situation.
I did get rather angry about it and went straight to the Or Bor Tor when they opened and their boss was there grinning as I tried to get across the dangerous situation for 5 miles. The girl who could speak English asked what car I was driving this morning and she thought I had put it into the hole. When I told her she abused her boss and then said she had told him accidents would happen. So I ended up with the boss in the BMW and took him along the 5 miles. Not one red light flashing, not one reflector, nothing, just a black and red sign in Thai and traxcavators taking up 70% of the road and no one directing traffic. It was chaos. I bet he doesn't post all the photos he took on facebook.
I even took him to a small stall that is selling red flashing strobe lights for 50 baht each that people on bicycles wear on their helmets and the illegal red and blue LED lights that mini vans so love to mount on their dash, so they look like police vans. 150 baht for those. The poor stall owner was having kittens when we pulled up and the bossman got out.
I reckon the whole 5 miles could be lit for about 5,000 baht, two 12 volt batteries, a lot of D cell batteries, and all mounted on left over rebar. I shall see what happens when I take my wife to the mini van tomorrow.
Tell your wife I wish her a quick painless death on the sissy seat when you go under a truck. At least she will go out in style. But it is a nice bike.

[Saffles]

You need to live here in Phayao... The road to my house winds around the Ing river...smooth and curvy... No houses, just rice land. No traffic but during planting season a little busy with motorbikes parking on the curves. Who taught Thais to park on blind curves?

[unclezillion]

i drive a bike every day in Bangkok and never had a problem
you just to have the mindset that everyone is out to kill you. it is actually quite safe when there is a
lot of traffic & much more dangerous after 9pm when they go ten times as fast whilst still driving like idiots
my last two bikes