Purchased: March 2002
This was the first car I ever bought in Thailand, I came to Thailand in 2001 and I was determined not to make any major purchases for the first year after my arrival, so it was only in Jan 2002 that I started looking at buying a car.
I had never owned a Suzuki car in the UK, so this was my first. My decision was based on finding a reasonably priced, and easy to maintain vehicle which would be suitable for all sorts of road conditions in Thailand. I saw this parked by the side of the road in Chonburi with a sign that said in Thai that it was for sale, there was a telephone number but no price, which is quite normal (but annoying) practice in Thailand. I soon discovered that it was for sale at 180,000 baht, which at that time was 4700 US Dollars or 2760 UK Pounds. It needed new tyres and some attention to the brakes, but otherwise it seemed in good order.
The first thing to fix was the brakes, I went for a complete overhaul with new pads and shoes, a couple of new discs and new master cylinder and the whole job was really cheap. I’m fussy about brakes.
The rest of the car checked out as in good order, so I bought a nice set of alloy wheels and new tyres, I was amazed at how cheap wheels and tyres are in Thailand compared to the UK.
This model had a carburetor and no power steering, so it wasn’t quite as nice as the later models which have both, however it was fun, reliable and took me touring round huge portions of Thailand that I otherwise would not have got to see.
The Suzuki Carribbean is basically a LWB Suzuki SJ413 with a pick-up style body and short cab, the short cab has a small rear bench seat that whilst not up to carrying full sized passengers over any distance is still useful. These were built in Thailand for many years and are still a common sight on all Thailand’s roads, they offer really cheap 4×4 driving and are much more capable off-road than you might expect.
I sold this because I decided I wanted something a bit more comfortable. That was a mistake, I bought a Mitsubishi Galant Royale that was unreliable, it wasn’t long before I bought another Suzuki Jeep and then a few years later I bought yet another as a cheap runaround and second car. I really like these little cars and I have never yet had a breakdown in any of them.
Cars I Have Owned 
Was the rear cab section removable? was it in a kit. Im looking for somethin like it to put on my 1987 jx custom with 3.8 Buick V6, Or if you know someone that could hook me up to get more info of rear top.
Micheal Williamson
4820 S Fraser St
Georgetown, SC 29440
843.902.4826
Hi Michael. In Thailand the Suzuki SJ Caribbean was sold like that, the cab section was sold as a spare part by Suzuki Thailand until a couple of years ago,it cannot be removed by the user though. Various companies in Thailand made aftermarket cabs, Carryboy and Starcab were two companies who made them but neither make them now. I know that in Thailand the Suzuki garage on Highway 118 in Chiang Mai will fabricate a replacement cab in steel on request for about 25,000 Thai Baht (about 700 dollars) including fitting and painting, though I doubt they would be able to ship outside of Thailand.