It’s always great to see old friends and former colleagues during motor shows. At the GAC Motor display pavilion during the 2025 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) in particular, I saw Ryan Bermudez, who’s now the Sales Director of Astara Philippines, the distributor of GAC, among other car brands. “It’s been a while”, he greeted as I approached him after ...

It was a sunny Wednesday morning, April 30th, the end of the month. My wife Shawie and I drove up in the all-new 2025 Suzuki Dzire Hybrid GLX CVT to the lookout point inside the La Jolla Beach Resort in Balanga, Bataan to take a few beauty shots of our Alluring Blue Pearl Metallic media test drive unit before the ...

My wife Shawie was planning a surprise for her mom (my mother-in-law) Maryam who was going to celebrate her birthday in April 2025. Initially, our daughter Vette suggested to celebrate her grandma’s birthday at Pico de Loro Beach Resort in Batangas or at ACEA Beach Resort in Subic Bay. But because it was going to be a landmark birthyear (it ...

Why is it that when we get to borrow large media test units, such as full-size luxury cars, SUVs or pickup trucks with large engines, it’s my husband Lester who gets to drive them? Is it because of that sexist pun “Big Toys for the Big Boys”? I understand that he’s the Editor-in-Chief of this website, licensed mechanical engineer, amateur ...

Twenty-five years ago, I left my job as Customer Relations Head and National Sales Trainer of Nissan Motor Philippines (NMPI) to work as the Operations Manager of Brightpoint Philippines, the largest mobile phone distributor in the country. A few months into my new day job, I started moonlighting as a writer upon the invitation of a good friend, Manny delos ...

I don’t usually gush about electric vehicles (EVs). Sure, they are chockful of technology, are utterly efficient in converting electrical power into motion, and they operate quite silently. And perhaps, this is where my inner gearhead gets to argue with the engineer in me. After owning and driving muscle cars, sport sedans and SUVs with big V8 engines under their ...

When we first saw the 2025 JAC JS8 Pro after William Uy, the dealer principal of JAC Quezon Avenue, lent it to us for a test drive just a few days after the inauguration of their dealership, we couldn’t immediately tell which category it falls under. It looks like a midsize sport utility vehicle (SUV) but it would be unfair ...

I have to admit that I’m not really the outdoorsy type of guy. I love the great outdoors, savoring the scenery, exploring nature and all, but afterwards, I want to take a shower and do my business in the privacy of a well-equipped bathroom and toilet, and then go to sleep in a warm comfy bed. I’m not one for ...

Whenever we test drive and review sport utility vehicles (SUV) here in Power Wheels Magazine, we always categorize the test vehicles size and type as subcompact, compact, mid-size or full-size SUVs. For those who are new in the automotive world, subcompact SUVs are those small 5-passenger crossover models such as the Ford EcoSport, Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Raize, and other brands ...

In the mid-1980’s, Japanese carmakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda wanted to enter the lucrative American luxury car market but found it difficult to do so because their brands were associated with economy cars. So, they individually came up with their respective luxury and performance auto divisions – Toyota with Lexus, Nissan with Infiniti, and Honda with Acura. The three Japanese ...