if your flight lands late just get a taxi, traffic won't be so bad then (that's what I'd do)
As for Pattaya, Sunshine is a great location, soi 8 right?
That's very much central and easy access to wherever you want to go in the city. I have stayed there many times in the past, but it started to get very expensive relatively a couple of years ago, how much you paying a night there? have you tried
www.agoda.com to book rooms at all?