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Cars & Other 4 Wheels

2023 Honda HR-V S CVT with Honda SENSING: Sense and Sensibilities

When Colene Jalalon of Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) sent me a message that they’ll be sending me the latest Honda HR-V for a weeklong test drive, I was expecting that they’ll lend me their top-of-the-line RS Turbo CVT Honda SENSING variant. After all, Honda cars have become popular because of their performance and I’ve been anticipating a drive of ...

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2023 Geely Azkarra 4WD: Analyzing Its Overall Appeal

In his book “The Acorn Principle”, author Jim Cathcart summarized people’s behavior into four major styles. The Thinker tends to be orderly, precise, conscientious, neat, trustworthy and careful but they are also a bit fearful, dependent, defensive, traditional, restrained and non-expressive. The Relater tends to be loyal, attentive, patient, mellow, cooperative and pleasant but they can also be indecisive, immobile, ...

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2023 Foton Thunder 2.0 A/T: Tougher But Gentler Modern Workhorse

“Workhorse”. That’s the term I used to describe the 2009 Foton Blizzard pickup truck for a test drive story that I wrote in the Business Motoring Section of The Philippine STAR when I still wrote for that popular broadsheet. Rommel Sytin, who was then the president of Foton Motor Philippines (FMP), liked it so much that they used the term ...

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2022 Peugeot 2008: La Vie En Rose

I was driving along a scenic tree-lined avenue somewhere north of Manila when the infotainment system started playing “La Vie En Rose”. “Perfect!”, I said to myself. The French song seemed apt for the drive since I was cruising along in a French car. Although the music playing in my vehicle was American singer Grace Jones’ 1981 disco version and ...

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2022 Chery Tiggo 8 Pro 1.6T: My Chery Amor

If you’ve been to the malls lately, you must have seen the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro “World of Luxury” display at SM Aura (July 1-7), SM Megamall (July 14-20), Eastwood City (July 29-August 3), Estancia (August 12-18), and The Block at SM City North Edsa (August 25-31). If you haven’t, you can still catch it at SM Mall of Asia, ...

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2022 Suzuki S-Presso SE: The Subcompact Hatchback for Shiny, Happy People

We had our day planned: First, we will all go get our renewed passports from the Foreign Affairs office, which we weren’t able to renew in time because of the pandemic. Then, we will go to the mall to get new cases for our home computers. If there’s a watch strap shop in the mall, I’ll get a leather strap ...

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2022 Nissan Kicks e-Power: Five Things It’s Not and Five Things It Is

Nissan Philippines (NPI) took out all the stops when they introduced their last innovative electric vehicle (EV), the 2022 Nissan Kicks e-Power. On July 12, 2022, they invited members of the motoring media to the Clark International Speedway in Clark, Pampanga to experience the power and torque of the Kicks e-Power around the race track. Then, on August 1st, they ...

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2022 Ford Territory Titanium +: Going Back in Time with a Ruby Red Precious Metal

One of the joys of being a motoring journalist is that we get to drive the latest vehicles that are available in the Philippine market. The test unit is often delivered to us with a full tank of fuel and left with us for a couple of days for us to evaluate and enjoy. Of course, when we enjoy driving ...

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2022 Volkswagen T-Cross 180 MPI SE: More Than One Thing or The Only Thing You Need?

“I can deliver the T-Cross on April 13. Hope you’re free”, read the message I got on Viber. It came from Stacey Vasquez, who handles media relations at Volkswagen Philippines, under the Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. (ACEI) branch of the Ayala Group of Companies. She was referring to the 2022 Volkswagen T-Cross 180 MPI SE, which I’ll have the privilege ...

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2022 Honda Brio 1.2V CVT: The Silver Lining in Today’s Cloudy World

The news these past few weeks were downright scary: The price of crude oil has skyrocketed to nearly $130 per barrel after oil producing and exporting countries (OPEC) decided to cut down production. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine curtailed the delivery of oil to Europe, which further limited global supply and increased the prices. Gasoline prices here in the Philippines breached ...

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