Options for cars in Taiwan?

VarmintCong

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Anyone know a good website or anything for cars in Taiwan? We might have to move there for a couple years and will need a car. Has to be big enough for family, so a Golf or Focus is probably fine but Fiesta is too small (not having seen one in person).

Would love to try something fun that we can't buy here, like a Suzuki Swift Sport or something. Can't be a GR Yaris or anything expensive unfortunately. :)
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yamazaho

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Anyone know a good website or anything for cars in Taiwan? We might have to move there for a couple years and will need a car. Has to be big enough for family, so a Golf or Focus is probably fine but Fiesta is too small (not having seen one in person).

Would love to try something fun that we can't buy here, like a Suzuki Swift Sport or something. Can't be a GR Yaris or anything expensive unfortunately. :)
Which city are you moving you, if you don't mind me asking? I am Taiwanese and I used to live in Kaohsiung (second largest city in Taiwan and it's in the South of Taiwan), and it's not hard to find used car dealers in most big cities. If you are moving Taipei City, there is this dude's shop called "小施汽車商行" in New Taipei city that SEEMs pretty legit. The shop owner has his own YouTube channel so feel free to look it up for his videos.

Owning cars in Taiwan is not a "cheap" matter. If you have one, you need to pay yearly tax based on the size of your engine. Fuel in Taiwan is not cheap at all, and finally having a space to park it can be quit expensive (considering you may be renting an apartment or a house). Anyways, I hope you enjoy your journey there man, I LOVE TAIWAN!!!!
 
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VarmintCong

VarmintCong

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Which city are you moving you, if you don't mind me asking? I am Taiwanese and I used to live in Kaohsiung (second largest city in Taiwan and it's in the South of Taiwan), and it's not hard to find used car dealers in most big cities. If you are moving Taipei City, there is this dude's shop called "小施汽車商行" in New Taipei city that SEEMs pretty legit. The shop owner has his own YouTube channel so feel free to look it up for his videos.

Owning cars in Taiwan is not a "cheap" matter. If you have one, you need to pay yearly tax based on the size of your engine. Fuel in Taiwan is not cheap at all, and finally having a space to park it can be quit expensive (considering you may be renting an apartment or a house). Anyways, I hope you enjoy your journey there man, I LOVE TAIWAN!!!!
Thanks, someone finally responded to my thread! :) We're going to Hshinchu for 2-3 years. Will need something to fit our two kids, so 5 door hatch makes the most sense.

I'm told you can rent a car, but not sure you have much choice.

We found the SUM website that has used cars - damn they're expensive. Do they negotiate on new or used cars in Taiwan?
 

yamazaho

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Thanks, someone finally responded to my thread! :) We're going to Hshinchu for 2-3 years. Will need something to fit our two kids, so 5 door hatch makes the most sense.

I'm told you can rent a car, but not sure you have much choice.

We found the SUM website that has used cars - damn they're expensive. Do they negotiate on new or used cars in Taiwan?
Scooters are actually the primary transportation that most Taiwanese do, typically these days 125c.c. engine are very common (100c.c. engine can be cheaper). They are friendly with gas consumption, cheap on tax and can get you through small ally and streets. And the biggest advantage is easier to PARK (legally or not-so-legally LOL). So yeah that's something you may want to look up first.

SUM is one of the largest used car dealer in Taiwan, and yes negotiation is a MUST. I will be very cautious when looking for used car market as some cars are imported from USA and a lot of times they can have damages that you have no way to know. Carfax is not really a thing in Taiwan and you will need to look over the body panels for screws that showed signs that were previously removed, and also need to check the engine blocks for signs of leaks yourself. I would rent a car for a few months and see if owning a car is something that you MUST have for the 2-3 years that you are planning to stay. Like I said, owning a car in Taiwan is nothing like here in the US. After all the whole island is about 5% the size of state of Texas.

Toyota Corolla Altis is probably one of the THE MOST POPULAR small cars you will find in Taiwan, LOL just my observation.
 
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VarmintCong

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Scooters are actually the primary transportation that most Taiwanese do, typically these days 125c.c. engine are very common (100c.c. engine can be cheaper). They are friendly with gas consumption, cheap on tax and can get you through small ally and streets. And the biggest advantage is easier to PARK (legally or not-so-legally LOL). So yeah that's something you may want to look up first.

SUM is one of the largest used car dealer in Taiwan, and yes negotiation is a MUST. I will be very cautious when looking for used car market as some cars are imported from USA and a lot of times they can have damages that you have no way to know. Carfax is not really a thing in Taiwan and you will need to look over the body panels for screws that showed signs that were previously removed, and also need to check the engine blocks for signs of leaks yourself. I would rent a car for a few months and see if owning a car is something that you MUST have for the 2-3 years that you are planning to stay. Like I said, owning a car in Taiwan is nothing like here in the US. After all the whole island is about 5% the size of state of Texas.

Toyota Corolla Altis is probably one of the THE MOST POPULAR small cars you will find in Taiwan, LOL just my observation.
Thanks, that’s a big help. My wife doesn’t want to ride a scooter and we need a car to take the kids around so we’re definitely getting one. We do have a local friend who can help us shop.

I wanted to get a 1 series hatch cause we can’t get that here, but it is too expensive. Some interesting options are a Mazda 3 hatch, Ford Focus ST Line or a 6mT Suzuki Swift Sport.
 


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VarmintCong

VarmintCong

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Scooters are actually the primary transportation that most Taiwanese do, typically these days 125c.c. engine are very common (100c.c. engine can be cheaper). They are friendly with gas consumption, cheap on tax and can get you through small ally and streets. And the biggest advantage is easier to PARK (legally or not-so-legally LOL). So yeah that's something you may want to look up first.

SUM is one of the largest used car dealer in Taiwan, and yes negotiation is a MUST. I will be very cautious when looking for used car market as some cars are imported from USA and a lot of times they can have damages that you have no way to know. Carfax is not really a thing in Taiwan and you will need to look over the body panels for screws that showed signs that were previously removed, and also need to check the engine blocks for signs of leaks yourself. I would rent a car for a few months and see if owning a car is something that you MUST have for the 2-3 years that you are planning to stay. Like I said, owning a car in Taiwan is nothing like here in the US. After all the whole island is about 5% the size of state of Texas.

Toyota Corolla Altis is probably one of the THE MOST POPULAR small cars you will find in Taiwan, LOL just my observation.
hey yamazaho, I was curious, is Taiwan a fun place to drive, once outside the city? It looks like a very mountainous place plus coastline, just wondering if it has lots of great scenic roads, and are the roads in good condition? I had a car in Japan for 6 months for work and it was an awesome place to drive once outside the city - perfect roads and lots of mountains.

As for the car, people are telling us we should lease for simplicity, and it doesn't seem crazy expensive. 3 year lease of a Corolla Altis is like US$500/month (with high mileage limit which we don't need), and seems like you can lease just about anything, not just Corollas.
 

yamazaho

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hey yamazaho, I was curious, is Taiwan a fun place to drive, once outside the city? It looks like a very mountainous place plus coastline, just wondering if it has lots of great scenic roads, and are the roads in good condition? I had a car in Japan for 6 months for work and it was an awesome place to drive once outside the city - perfect roads and lots of mountains.

As for the car, people are telling us we should lease for simplicity, and it doesn't seem crazy expensive. 3 year lease of a Corolla Altis is like US$500/month (with high mileage limit which we don't need), and seems like you can lease just about anything, not just Corollas.
If you had experience living and driving in one of the major cities in Japan (ie. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto), I would say Taiwan is not much different. Roads are mostly tight and plenty of mountain roads to drive on. Plenty of awesome sceneries, however the road conditions can be a hit or miss. If you stay on the major roadways, you will be fine.

One thing I will say that's pretty different in Taiwan vs. Japan is that signal lights are somewhat "optional" to Taiwanese at some places (if you know what I mean LOL) and there are A LOT OF motorcycles in the cities and that very small percentages of them don't necessarily follow the rule of the roads or the flow of the traffic. Haha so yeah def. need to get used to watching out for folks running through red lights or motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic.

I am not familiar with the leasing programs of cars in Taiwan man, so yeah you need to do your own research on that. I don't recall any of my family members (or even my in-law's side) lease any of their cars.
 
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VarmintCong

VarmintCong

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If you had experience living and driving in one of the major cities in Japan (ie. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto), I would say Taiwan is not much different. Roads are mostly tight and plenty of mountain roads to drive on. Plenty of awesome sceneries, however the road conditions can be a hit or miss. If you stay on the major roadways, you will be fine.

One thing I will say that's pretty different in Taiwan vs. Japan is that signal lights are somewhat "optional" to Taiwanese at some places (if you know what I mean LOL) and there are A LOT OF motorcycles in the cities and that very small percentages of them don't necessarily follow the rule of the roads or the flow of the traffic. Haha so yeah def. need to get used to watching out for folks running through red lights or motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic.

I am not familiar with the leasing programs of cars in Taiwan man, so yeah you need to do your own research on that. I don't recall any of my family members (or even my in-law's side) lease any of their cars.
Thanks, great info! When I was in Hsinchu for work 9 years ago I rode in taxis every day - one female driver was a maniac. She would go into the oncoming traffic lane to pass 20 cars in our lane, then cut back into our lane. That's not something you'd see in Japan, lol.

At least Taiwan seems to have scooter lanes, China needs that. I wouldn't want to drive in China.

We have people who can help us with the car thing, I just want to find something more fun than an Altis! Mazda 3, Focus ST-Line, Suzuki Swift Sport etc. My wife won't go for a $40k used Golf or 1 series, that's nutty. I think a Mazda3 is nicer than those and cheaper. Seems like the badge is really important in Taiwan, huge premium for European cars.
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