Toyota Vios 20,000 Km Service
My Toyota Vios will be due it’s 20,000 km service in the next week or two, I had been thinking of changing it shortly but considering the amount of kilometers I’m putting on it I think I will just keep it.
I bought it brand new in December 2006, it was a recent face lift model so I expected to be seeing a new model in the next couple of years, but they released the mew model in Febuary, just 2 months after I bought mine. The nice girl at the Toyota dealer said that I could return mine and get a new model without it costing me too much (though she did not specify how much) and I figured that it might be a sensible move. Trouble is that I just cannot make up my mind about the new model, and when I bought this car I expected to keep it a few years not just a few months!
I really like my Vios, for those of you not familiar with the model they are built by Toyota Thailand and marketed in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. It has a 1500cc VVTI Twin Cam Fuel Injected engine which is sooo sweet. They are priced at the lower end of the market, mine was just 480,000 baht with a discount, though I upgraded the wheels to the ones in the picture above which took it to 498,000 baht. I got loads of free extras including 12 months first class insurance, over mats, tinted windows etc.
My only real gripe is that wish I had not got a black one! The black paint looks fantastic when it’s clean, but Thailand is such a dusty country that it’s never clean.
Thailand is not the sort of country where you wash your own car, it’s either baking hot or it’s dark..not much in between. When I do wash it myself I end up drenched in sweat and it looks like I pointed the hose at myself. Also, it’s cheap enough to get it professionally cleaned every week or so and it helps keep the local car cleaning lads in a job. The cost of a proper hand wash and valet inside and out about 100 baht ($2.20), shockingly cheap compared to the west.. but hey, why do you think I live in Thailand?
