Any cynic will say that a Bentley is such an over-indulgent vehicle to drive through a country with a vast majority of its 1.3 billion population still wallowing well below the poverty line. There is indeed truth to that, as I and my colleagues from Asean were thinking about the night of the unveiling.
As soon as we touched down after a 20-plus hour plane trip to Portugal’s Algarve region, we were whisked off to the Porsche Center in nearby Faro, a 15-minute drive from the airport, and handed the keys to a Cayman with PDK. All the Cayman S units were spoken for, but I thought, a Porsche is a Porsche so the lack of power won’t matter. And indeed I was right.
Now that the holidays are almost completely over (except for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year that is), we can all once again focus on keeping our cars up and running properly.
The year 2012 brought about a lot of new and very pleasant surprises from big names such as Toyota, the launch of super-luxury exotic brands such as Lamborghini, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, the return of Peugeot, and Mitsubishi’s impressive answer in the small-car segment, the Mirage.
So I find myself in Germany again, for a world launch and another Inquirer exclusive. Business-class plane tickets, a 5-star resort hotel in the midst of a beautiful German autumn up the equally beautiful German Alps. Fortunately, I didn’t come here for the first-class treatment, wining and dining, etc. I came to Germany to drive. And drive very fast, stupid fast, as fast as I could drive on the Autobahn.
Ever had great memories back in the day with your car? I had a lot of great times with my cars back in college. I had two cars back then, a Mitsubishi Galant VR V6 in my freshman and sophomore year in college, and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS in my junior and senior year.
While the car market has grown immensely over the past five years, the vast majority of motorists still own, drive or maintain an older car, usually 5-7 years old, if not more. Common knowledge says that five-year-old cars tend to manifest most of the serious problems in car ownership. I hope to help you become more proactive and identify common problems, which can lead to more serious and costly ones down the road if left unattended.
As a car guy, you might or might not have realized it yet, but parking has somehow heavily influenced, if not dictated completely, where you hang out and spend your time for leisure with family, friends and significant others.
A vast majority of car enthusiasts have taken on a major project at least once in their lives, ranging from building a car with a specific purpose in mind (track, show, drag, drift etc.), to restoring an old car, usually something with special ties to their respective personal pasts, or a crazy swap, like converting a FWD car to AWD (popular on Mitsubishi Galants and Lancers in particular), or a monster engine swap, which nowadays usually involves stuffing Yankee V8 iron into a Japanese or German car for a real sleeper.
This particular topic has been on my mind over the last few months but it only hit home last week when I found myself stuck in a traffic jam, turning in from EDSA into one of the tight feeder roads connecting to the metropolis’ busiest thoroughfare. My source of irritation and annoyance was not the [...]
2011 has been a very big year for me and, more importantly, the local motoring scene with the launch and arrival of some cars that should shake up the landscape. Here’s a look back at some of my most memorable motoring experiences of 2011. 1.) Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4—it’s not every day you get invited to [...]
So Christmas in Metro Manila went well, the highways and byways, not to mention the shopping centers and business districts, turning into ghost towns, deserted and empty of cars, people and mayhem. I was thankful as I was delivering gifts to friends and colleagues last minute on Sunday afternoon. I was also glad that Metro [...]
