10 Unbelievable Facts about the Cars of Thailand

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12) 01/15/2017 at 20:34 • Filed to: THAILAND

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I’ve just been in Thailand for 2 weeks. I thought I’d share my experiences with some of the cars around, in dot-point form.

1. Seatbelts are optional (as are turn signals, lanes, survival). I rode in a few taxis - some had them, some had them but were broken, some had no seatbelts in the rear at all. I couldn’t believe some modern Toyotas were built without seatbelts.

2. There’s some sort of mini-truck craze. Many of the Hiluxes and pickups and whatnot are 2-door, lowered, with dope wheels. See below

The offset is dope, the wheels are dope, the stance is just right

3. Modification is common, but it looks to be mostly smoke and mirrors - whatever looks good (where good is very subjective). Example: The pickup in the pic above has many stickers, many badges, much fake chrome. I don’t think that’s a real RS below, though it’s the right color and with all the body bits. The Mirage below shows this taken even further. Exhausts are common, even on vans, taxis and tuk-tuks. Some of the vans sounded dope . Also saw many Evo IIIs which may or may not be fake.

I point and laugh, but it’s cool to know that even in a poorer country, there are enthusiasts and they make do with what they can find.

Note the Hilux in the background sporting that same minitruck look. Very common.

What. Why.

Some of these badges must be aftermarket surely. I don’t know what a Honda CityZX is. Maybe related to my old 300ZX. Not sure what that SUV is either.

I don’t know what a Toyota Soluna VIOS is, but perhaps these badges were actually factory. The huge array of stickers are so common they may as well be factory.

4. Most cars are Toyotas, but there are a small group of Frenchies going around. Mostly spotted in or outside mechanic shops.

Notice the whale-tail spoiler on the 323 Astina in the background. The huge storage box on that Hilux behind is a fairly common site too - ugly but very practical!

5. All the GM products are similar to Australia, but with different names. They have the Holden Cruze, Zafira and Captiva, but they’re Chevrolets! They have the Holden Rodeo, but it’s an Isuzu! Americans are probably familiar with this. No pics to back myself up since GM products aren’t very interesting

6. There are lots of cars I’ve never heard of. See the Soluna VIOS above, and the whatever below.

I think Thairung is a Thai manufacturer - high quality cars I’m sure

ADVENTURE MASTER

No grill! No idea how it cools down. Originally I thought it *must* be rear engined, but apparently it’s just some FF oddball Nissan.

Quite a few Nissan Sunnys around. I think this is similar to the Pulsar or Tiida or whathaveyou, but some were of a shape I’ve never seen before.

7. To my dismay, sports cars and coupes are uncommon. Most Thais ride motorbikes, so I guess if you get a car you’re doing it for the space more than anything. But we saw an 86, a 180SX and an MR2. Bangkok CBD had many supercars - we saw 3 Lamborghinis, all Aventadors, as well as a GT-R, 488 and a C7 ‘Vette (a real treat to me as an Australian!).

People hate this model of MR2, but they are short and light and I can only imagine the wider track would put my poor SW20 to shame in the corners

There’s a spoiler on the spoiler: deal with it

8. Motorbikes are used everywhere, for everything. Safety gear is not used anywhere ever. Not uncommon to see families packed onto a bike. This is a man riding a jetski being towed by a bike. Sometimes you’d see bikes towing 3 or 4 jetskis at once.

All those life jackets and he’s not even wearing one. Safety first mate.

9. The tuk-tuks in Phuket all have phat sound systems, and often neons too. They all play the same 2 Eminem songs on repeat. Some of the vans had these too. Not a thing in Bangkok at all, just Phuket.

At least one of those tuk-tuks is lit up like a Christmas tree

10. There are some absolute gems if you look hard enough. I found a random car yard in Bangkok that blew me away: a MITSUOKA!

This is no Jaguar - too small. This is a freaking Mitsuoka! Makers of the Orochi, the ugliest car in the world! I think it’s called a Viewt, based on a Nissan March/Micra.

Some sort of Austin at the front, but there’s plenty more weirdness behind.

I initially was shocked and thought this was a JC Cosmo, I now believe it’s a Cefiro.

This is next door to the pics above. Two Rolls-Royces! That’s unheard of for Thailand

Very cool Cefiro. Not sure if he actually drifts, but it’s in that style.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 20:51

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That jet ski picture is a true did I just see what I thought I saw moment.

HammerheadFistpunch > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 21:14

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Im still confused by that jet ski...i can’t tell exactly whats going on, is it really being pulled by the bike? is there a wheel to stabilize the trailer? How the hell does he get it in and out of the water?

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 21:15

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The Honda City ZX is most definitely a real thing. In most of the world (like Australia and Mexico) it is just a Honda City. I *believe* that in Thailand and a few other markets with less strict safety requirements, the 4th gen City was called the City ZX, because they were able to continue to sell the 3rd gen for a few more years at a lower price. They opted to call the new one City ZX and keep calling he old one City or maybe it was City Type Z. VW has done a similar thing but usually they rename the older one. For instance, the Mk4 Jetta was renamed the Classico in Mexico when the Mk5 came out and stayed on the market for quite some time.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 21:47

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That “SUV” is the Toyota Avanza, one of the last RWD MPV’s out there!

Not quite as nice as its brother the Innova, but hey.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 21:52

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Awesome trip by the sound of it

Nauraushaun > HammerheadFistpunch 01/15/2017 at 22:07

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Yep, being towed. Maybe the information you’re missing is that the bike has a sidecar which has a wheel on it. That’s what stabilizes the whole thing.

I think they just wheel the jetski trailer down the beach by hand. But who knows lol

Nauraushaun > Amoore100 01/15/2017 at 22:08

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I remember seeing both of those while over there! Thanks :D

I bet you could drift that thing in the wet....

Nauraushaun > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/15/2017 at 22:08

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It was very awesome. The cars aren’t even half the story ;)

Nauraushaun > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 01/15/2017 at 22:10

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Oh, awesome! Similar to that Jalopnik article a few months ago about how the Nissan Sentra from the 90s was still for sale in India or something. I guess they form some sort of bottom rung of cars, lower than the cars we’d get here but a rung or two above motorbikes.

HammerheadFistpunch > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 22:13

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Yeah i see it now. It was messing with my brain

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 22:41

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You’re into ladyboys then?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Nauraushaun 01/15/2017 at 23:05

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I’m not 100% sure but this looks like aN E39A Galant VR-4 . Just like mine, but JDM. I think other markets also got a GSX version which got you a turbo and AWD, but no 4 wheel ABS or 4 wheel steering.But it seems like importing used cars from Japan isn’t a super rare thing so it could be a VR-4. Also that MR-s is hot!

190octane > Nauraushaun 01/16/2017 at 00:48

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You never really know what you’re getting in Thailand until you take a look under the hood.

Nauraushaun > 190octane 01/16/2017 at 02:38

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Nauraushaun > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/16/2017 at 02:38

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Yes. That’s the other half.

The rest is recreational drug use.

Hell of a country

Nauraushaun > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/16/2017 at 02:43

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I’d say it’s probably just a regular Galant (maybe with a few body bits?). But we don’t have many Galants over here, I don’t know much about them.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nauraushaun 01/16/2017 at 07:05

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did you see any Commodores?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Nauraushaun 01/16/2017 at 09:07

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Oh yeah, there’s no badges on the trunk or taillights, and no sunroof. So probably no a VR-4 .

X37.9XXS > Nauraushaun 01/16/2017 at 11:25

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I spent two years in Thailand, and came to the conclusion that the only gear needed was an accelerator and a horn 

X37.9XXS > 190octane 01/16/2017 at 11:26

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The 1998 Kratoy will blow you away

Nauraushaun > X37.9XXS 01/16/2017 at 17:55

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We had a motorbike for a bit, it seems to me it’s mostly about everyone avoiding everyone else, and otherwise doing what you want. On a bike you can go around most obstacles, so you don’t need the horn too much :)

Nauraushaun > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/16/2017 at 17:55

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None. :(