New vs Used Car Buying Experience

Very simple rule to follow. If your car is ganjil, and it is a genap day, don't be in the centre of Jakarta before 10am or after 4pm. Get a grab or gojek instead. If you follow this rule you won't have any trouble with police.
 
Not sure whats Ganjil and Genap?

Yeah thats an easy way to put it :) Center of Jakarta is just 1 or 2 KMs i guess and of course spend more money and help the economy through Gojek and Grab.
 
Great thread, fun read, great input.
I am 74, have lived in Bali for almost 30 years, first here in 77...when Kuta rush hour traffic was rice farmers pedaling home from their rice paddies. Not so different, right? In those days Kuta was far away from Legian, before it ate all the smaller banjars.
I had sold my liter bike and Honda prelude before decamping from L.A.
I was on the fence about whether to buy a bike or car here?
I settled on a Suzuki Futura Carry (1360cc motor), which cost 27 juta.
That was, and still is, the only new car I have ever purchased.
With 200,000+kms on it?
It still runs great. I run Pertamax Turbo in it, when it is available,
and it is surprisingly nimble. It is a 5 speed, and I have redone the whole interior
with MBTech synthetic leather, and added a second Denso Air conditioner, because with just one it was never enough. Now it gets really cold.
I added a couple of cameras and a great Blaupunkt Blue Tooth sound system, with upgraded speakers, and absolutely no complaints there.
I just paid for reregistration, including new license plates and it was just under 1.5 juta.
A good friend who used to drive for Silver Bird in Jakarta, is blown away by how well The Shaggin' Wagon has stood the test of time. Live long enough you see everything. I need to get it repainted, but it certainly gets me where I need to go, and appreciably more quickly than a casual observer would expect! lol
Honda cars and bikes are great, but where I live in Bali the larger bodied cars can be problematic on the narrow village streets. The Brio and City are Hondas which would make more sense on narrow banjar streets. The Injected V-tech engines are way more powerful than required here in Bali, great on the Autobahn or city or freeway driving in wealthier zipcodes.
 
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Great thread, fun read, great input.
I am 74, have lived in Bali for almost 30 years, first here in 77...when Kuta rush hour traffic was rice farmers pedaling home from their rice paddies. Not so different, right? In those days Kuta was far away from Legian, before it ate all the smaller banjars.
I had sold my liter bike and Honda prelude before decamping from L.A.
I was on the fence about whether to buy a bike or car here?
I settled on a Suzuki Futura Carry (1360cc motor), which cost 27 juta.
That was, and still is, the only new car I have ever purchased.
With 200,000+kms on it?
It still runs great. I run Pertamax Turbo in it, when it is available,
and it is surprisingly nimble. It is a 5 speed, and I have redone the whole interior
with MBTech synthetic leather, and added a second Denso Air conditioner, because with just one it was never enough. Now it gets really cold.
I added a couple of cameras and a great Blaupunkt Blue Tooth sound system, with upgraded speakers, and absolutely no complaints there.
I just paid for reregistration, including new license plates and it was just under 1.5 juta.
A good friend who used to drive for Silver Bird in Jakarta, is blown away by how well The Shaggin' Wagon has stood the test of time. Live long enough you see everything. I need to get it repainted, but it certainly gets me where I need to go, and appreciably more quickly than a casual observer would expect! lol
Honda cars and bikes are great, but where I live in Bali the larger bodied cars can be problematic on the narrow village streets. The Brio and City are Hondas which would make more sense on narrow banjar streets. The Injected V-tech engines are way more powerful than required here in Bali, great on the Autobahn or city or freeway driving in wealthier zipcodes.
Are you selling it?
 
I am reminded of the line from Men in Black..."over my dead body! Your terms are acceptable"
A very old friend here, has about a dozen cars and 30 or more motorcycles, an amazing collection. The cars and bikes range from extremely quirky to very high end, all of which were purchased second hand. Every time he gets in The Shaggin' Wagon, he is amazed to find that my air conditioning is appreciably colder than in all of his high end rides, BMWs, Mercedes & a Jaguar. There is certainly much to be said for being a good friend to the service manager at Han's Denso in Denpasar; and his, and his team's knowledge and attention to detail are seriously world class.

Short answer? No...
But given my penchant for prudently putting the pedal to the metal,
when conditions are right...and the light turns green...it has occurred to me
that such an offer would not be entirely inappropriate, albeit respectfully declined.
I also recently added a video recorder overlay to the rearview mirror, which whenever the car is on records from cameras front and back. I have set it so that it always show me the view from the rear camera which gives a much better view than from the inside mirror position. When installing my automatic backup camera and monitor a few years ago, I had the tech add another camera into the right hand corner of my front bumper, which provided me a great view when trying to pull out of the driveway, with very poor visibility into motorcycle traffic flying by at speeds totally inappropriate for our little banjar street. Better safe than sorry.
 
Never in my life have I bought a new car. At 16 years of age, my first car was a 1928 Whippet which was sold to me by an uncle for 35 pounds. When I went to pick it up, my uncle asked would I be okay. My driving experience had consisted of a fellow at work drawing on a piece of paper, showing how to change gears, and a friend and I taking my stepfather's Ford one night when he was out and I drove up and down a laneway. Incidentally, when returning the car the garage, my friend managed to knock down the front fence and the car stalled in the driveway and we couldn't start the car. When my stepfather arrived home late at night he was not very happy.

Having reassured my uncle I would be okay, we started up the Whippet with a crank and did a U turn with such velocity that the passenger side door flew open. Almost swiped a parked car reaching across while still driving to shut the door. Otherwise all went well until travelling across town and under a culvert and up a steep hill I arrived at a set of traffic lights which were red. Luckily there were no other cars around as I released the handbrake and the car began rolling back down the hill. By the time I got to the traffic lights they were red again. Rolled back down the hill and this time waited to start and reach the traffic lights on green. Somehow I survived my teenage years. The sad thing was that to me the Whippet was just transport and I had no serious appreciation of what a wonderful old car it was ... with a klaxon for a horn. Always drove it as about as fast as it could go so that eventually there developed a soft knocking noise which developed into a banging and then later split the engine block from end to end.
1928 Whippet Model 96A Touring
 
Great anecdotes, yeah, I can imagine your stepfather was somewhat less than thrilled once he figured out what had happened! lol

I was recently shocked to learn that my collector friend has also never bought a new car,
which blew my mind. We were recently visited by my nephew and his family from New Zealand.
We had never met the 15 year old triplets, so it was lots of fun.
Climbing into The Shaggin' Wagon which was parked in full sun,
with Caspian (who can do a freshly scrambled Rubiks Cube in 9 seconds).
I started the car, turned on the AC full blast, and rolled down the driver's window,
suggesting that he might want to follow 🥵 suit, to more quickly vent the oven like heat...after a somewhat pregnant pause, he did so...a lot to process, he had never been in a vehicle without power windows! I proposed a race...him solving the cube, and me rolling down my window! That just cracked me up big time. 😂
Fortunately Caspian only needed to crank down the window, not crank up the starter!
 
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Are you still bringing your Shaggin' Wagon to Suzuki service center for periodic maintenance?
 
Yes it is routinely serviced by the Suzuki team, and I am good friends with the service manager, who always goes the extra mile.

That means, oil change every 5,000 KM as per Suzuki service manual.

For me, I always insist on oil change every 10,000 KM, not because of cost but time/effort and saving the environment (not wasting the oil when it is still good).

By the way, after almost 30 years, did you ever had the need to overhaul the carburetor? Nowadays, few mechanics knew how to handle carburetor. Younger mechanics don't even know how to tune-up a non-ECU car.
 
That means, oil change every 5,000 KM as per Suzuki service manual.

For me, I always insist on oil change every 10,000 KM, not because of cost but time/effort and saving the environment (not wasting the oil when it is still good).

By the way, after almost 30 years, did you ever had the need to overhaul the carburetor? Nowadays, few mechanics knew how to handle carburetor. Younger mechanics don't even know how to tune-up a non-ECU car.
Back in the 50s carburettor problems was an almost weekly occurrence with fuel contamination. Adjacent to the carburettor was a glass cyclinderwhich allowed bigger bits of contamination to fall inside before fuel flowed to the carbuettor. Another common problem was tyre punctures or leaks. Huge strides since then with tyre performance and general engine reliability. I agree with your view about 10,000 ks service. Using a Toyota Avanza the motor uses little oil and radiator never needs topping up despite the heat here. I still check though before a longer journey.
 
I typically take it for routine service whenever I sense a change, or issue. I have a tendency to opt for a major service occasionally, despite the recommendation for a minor service. The mechanics there enjoy working on my ride, because...they probably never have, on something that old...and they are well aware that it is somewhat of a Sleeper (Think the Dung Beetle in street racing lore). Once outside the pool hall, as a young guy was parking his muscle bike (Ninja? maybe) and I was starting the SW...it was a bit hesitant to fire...when it did, and I gave it a bit of juice...his head snapped around like WTF? I was thinking he might need a chiropractor after watching his shocked reaction! :oops: 😂
Another time at a red light, there were 2 guys on a bike to my left, clearly shocked, amazed and amused to see this old hippy driving such a dated relic. The light went green, I was gone in a flash, and when they caught up with me 150 yards later, because I had backed off the gas...they were grinning and all high 5s :clap2:
I've replaced the Alternator, Stripped the carburetor, rebuilt the starter motor recently as it was out of stock. Back when it was only a couple years old I installed a Racing Coil...which really boosted the power...I was no longer worried about passing. The coil I have now is the stock Suzuki one, but if I found a Racing coil for it again, I would gladly go for it. It really raised the bar.
I keep water in the car, and an eye on the temperature gauge when gridlock (macet coran) gets really bad and I am running one or both of the AC units.
When Nitrogen was first offered for tires here in Bali, I thought it was ridiculous. Only later did I try it and discover how it would extend and maintain optimal tire pressure. In the old days I carried a pump in the car, and pretty much visually checked the tires every time I left the house. Nitrogen does not permeate the tire as quickly as oxygen. Well worth the cost.
Tire slime inside the tires, as available at Ace Hardware is a good investment, against the inevitable nail or screw puncture.
I drive the SW like it is a sports car...but don't require a paid Police motorcycle escort, wherever I go.
When I see Lambos and Ferraris here in Bali?
I think somebody is trying to overcompensate for
a self perceived personal deficiency...and just a tad out of touch with the spirituality and artistry inherent in the Balinese culture and mindset.
 
The service manage at Suzuki knows where to access things which are no longer available from the Suzuki system and inventory. He lets me know, then buys them from whichever local vendor has the best alternative options, and I reimburse him directly. He gets great prices, and always gives me whatever discounts he might be able to authorize for work done at Suzuki, typically about 10% off, as promo pricing. He's great!
When I first moved to our Banjar there were lots of free range poultry, and Alu stalking them in our backyard near the river.
One day I was quite surprised to find this guy (whom I had never seen before) on top of my ride, as I prepared to head out...a kindred spirit, no doubt...the synchronicity of great minds?
He was quite full of himself and crowing contentedly on top of The Shaggin' Wagon :rolleyes:
It's nice to have friends in high places.


I was rather amazed, that even after I climbed in and closed the door, he was still right there, and he didn't abdicate his lofty perch until I fired it up and raced the engine!
 
Brothers by different mothers...of Invention?

While the owner of this rocket didn't feel the need for a full time police motorcycle escort?
When I watched him trying to pull out of this entirely unobstructed parking space head first?
It made me wish that I had followed him and videoed it, to see how he would do in the incredible traffic on the street at rush hour.
It definitely would have gone viral.
 

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