State of Motoring, Addressed

The day after President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino addressed the nation once more in his native tongue, today’s drivers air their own motoring concerns in a time of P-Noy’s “Daang matuwid” platform.

Inquirer Motoring made a quick survey of some of the most prominent engineers and auto technicians in the industry, and asked them, based on their interactions with their customers, what concerned Filipino motorists most nowadays. Their answer: cost of owning, maintaining, operations, fuel consumption and performance.

Ferman Lao, one of the proprietors of SpeedLab along Quezon Avenue, said that the relatively high cost of car parts worried car owners the most. This concern, he said, was most prevalent among owners of old cars. For example, he said, one such customer of his worried over a 12-year-old car that needed an idle control assembly for it to run properly.

“The part can cost close to P20,000 on a car that used to cost P700,000 to P800,000, now with a resale value of P300,000. That’s almost 10 percent of the cost of the car. In general, more people are concerned with cost of maintenance and operating costs, such as fuel consumption and economy. A smaller portion of the motoring public is concerned with performance and fuel consumption, while a few would still put their car’s performance as their primary concern. Perhaps the breakdown can be 70, 28 and 2 percent, respectively.

“From owners of cars zero to 10 years old, the percentage of concern would be 40 percent involving the balance of performance and fuel economy, 50 percent on the maintenance and fuel economy, and 10 percent on performance,” Lao said.

Similar concerns have been encountered by other auto engineers.

Auto Plus chief engineer Pacho Blanco, founder of Blanco Race Engineering, said that the most common problems with the cars of the people that he has worked with would be the balance between performance and fuel expenses (50 percent), performance (30 percent), and fuel prices alone (20 percent).

Olson Camacho of Project O on West Avenue said that commercial fleet accounts, whether trucks, cars or multipurpose vehicles, air the following issues: “Number one concern is fuel consumption, second is the availability, reliability and the prices of parts. Those carmakers or truckmakers who make these concerns affordable, reliable and readily available are the ones who last in the market.”

Prevention is key

Auto expert Steve Rendle shares simple checks that can be done weekly and prevent simple car problems into becoming serious, expensive ones. He said these checks would take only about 10 minutes: 1) engine oil level; 2) coolant level; 3) brake fluid; 4) power steering fluid; 5) washer level fluid; 6) wiper blade; 7) battery check; and 8) tires.

The major goals of preventive maintenance are to keep your vehicle from breaking down on the road, to catch minor problems before they become major expenses, to prevent premature wear and tear by keeping parts from wearing each other away and by removing objects that could damage your vehicle’s interior and its occupants, and to safeguard warranties and guarantees on your vehicle and its parts.

Automotive expert Deanna Sclar shares tips that will keep your vehicle running better and longer:

Change the oil frequently and regularly; do a monthly under the hood check, check the tire inflation and alignment; keep the interior clean; wash the vehicle frequently and keep it out of the sun; get rid of rust; change the filters and coolant regularly; lubricate the moving and rubber parts; and follow scheduled maintenance to keep warranties valid.