By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT is easy to fall prey to preconceived notions, biases if you will. Even the world of cars and motoring is not free of arbitrary, foregone conclusions. Rain always brings horrendous traffic. Station wagon owners have large, hairy dogs. Traffic cops like doughnuts.

Ask yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, what comes to mind when you think of the Hyundai brand? Honestly, in our subconscious’ hierarchy of automotive brands, cars with the italicized H aren’t vehicles that we are completely comfortable with. More often than not, a little sense of hesitation always creeps in when thinking of this marque.

Chalk up this line of thinking to a less than stellar complement of vehicles that initially introduced Hyundai cars to the local market around a decade ago. To say that the current generation of automobiles from this Korean manufacturer is now radically different would just state the obvious. Inevitably, everything changes over time. What really has to be said is that change has been kind to the Hyundai brand and the second generation Santa Fe is confirmation of the good news.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

FIRST, congratulations on your status as a respected leader in the international automobile industry. No, strike that. Rock star seems a title more appropriate. Turning around the worldwide operations of Nissan is possibly one of the greatest feats in the history of man making the automobile. You did that as an outsider, a gaijin at that. And now you have a Japanese cartoon character in your likeness to show for it.

Everything you seem to do is done in boldface. Unveiling the R35 Nissan GT-R, the spiritual successor of the Skyline, to the driving world last year in Tokyo, stole the show for all intents and purposes. Standing there, elbow to solar plexus with the rest of the world’s motoring press, even our habitually cynical lot was obviously excited. I was there in the Godzilla-frenzied mosh pit and have lousy, ill-taken photos filled with other journalists’ heads and shoulders to prove it.

Your statements at Davos this year were typically far from low-key as well. Betting Renault’s and Nissan’s future on electric vehicles is considerably risky. Add to that the pledge that your electric car will be fun to drive and provide a significant economic advantage over the internal combustion engine. Imagine the anticipation for this landmark endeavor, especially when it’s the CEO of world’s fourth largest automotive conglomerate doing the talking. Double the expectation since Carlos Ghosn spoke those words himself.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BIGGER isn’t always better, having more doesn’t always equate into being merrier.

When was the last time you chose to buy a car because of the number of speakers, cupholders or map lights in the cabin? These things are nice to have but in the end, many brands just do this to overcome their products’ shortcomings. We live in a world where products loaded beyond reason saturate the market. A common marketing tactic is that vehicles that can’t cut it as fundamentally sound products load up on knickknacks for much-needed brochure appeal.

Peeling back all the extras is one way to figure out just how good a product is. Finding a car that is good enough just by merely how it drives, sans all the frills, is a wonderful thing. Better even is when a lower model and trim level still delivers the same amount of satisfaction. But is it more amazing when a product with a smaller engine strikes almost the same chords as its better endowed brethren?

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IF the idea of a Filipino-designed car tickles your fancy, rest easy that you are not alone. There is enough history to point that we as a people have been perennially on the brink of breaking into truly homegrown auto manufacturing. Most will dismiss the idea of a locally penned automobile as sheer lunacy but there are some cars that have been designed and built in the Philippines that would argue otherwise.

Conge is a name that still comes up over rounds of beer and stories of better days gone by. Much of the reminiscing is centered on the two-door, two-seat Partner model, basically a fiberglass shell built around a space frame chassis and powered by a tuned Toyota 2TG.

In an age without computer-aided design and engineering software, the Partner soldiered solidly in the Golden Age of Philippine rallying, even foraying into Malaysia. Piloted by the best and brightest Filipino rallying talent at the time, both Conge Partner entries finished respectably on the international rallying stage. Mandy Eduque and Jun Espino finished well within the top 20, while Vip Isada and Blue Reyna hovered just above the best 10.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

BEFORE EVERYONE gets excited about the title of this week’s installment, an explanation is in order. While the issue of declining build quality is a valid and very important one, especially since the local emergence of economy brands from the Mainland, this rant is more about the changing spirit of the automobile.

More and more cars are being designed, built and marketed so as to appeal to larger market segments. Nothing’s wrong with that really, if one is benefiting from the sale of automobiles. Across the industry, from the boardrooms to the assembly lines, everyone tied to the car business is better off the more they sell.

Yet by pandering to the needs, wants and level of skill behind the wheel of a larger segment of the population, even some of the leading performance brands are beginning to hawk weaker tea. What more the compromises made by the mass-market volume makes?

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

EMPHASIS is too often placed on the person behind the wheel. Drivers are labeled good or bad, judged in the most extreme cases, by those who would just lounge and enjoy the ride. Behind the backs of the drivers who just took them to their destination, passengers whisper about nauseating pedal work, terrible lane choice and near misses.

Passengers should understand that by agreeing to ride with someone, a meeting of the minds takes place. When people get into a car, a social contract is mutely agreed upon. Someone is going to get behind the wheel and drive, while others pile into the free seats and just go along for the ride. Even in cases where the relationship of driver and driven is strictly professional, the car’s owner may have strategic control of the automobile but the how and when is under full control of the driver.

That said the behavior of those along for the ride is a gray area at best. In the worst of situations, this is seen as a free pass to act in whichever way they want. The light jokes about back seat driving, or passengers who think that an automobile can be operated by voice command, cease to become funny when it happens to you. Admit it, ladies and gentlemen, how many times have you wished for an ejection seat function in your car, just so you can lose the noisiest and pushiest of your cargo.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

EACH time a new road or highway opens, a sense of excitement and compulsion overcomes those of us who live to drive. Like ants converging on a fallen ice cream scoop melting under the summer sun, new places to drive are magnets to those who enjoy time behind the wheel. Fewer still are the times when the road itself is the reward for the long trip. This past Holy Week, it was the newly opened section of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway that tempted many from their moments of contemplation and out into the driver’s seat.

The first time I drove on this stretch of road was about a year ago, while the highway was still just a long line of compacted gravel that started in Clark and ended in several places on the way to Subic. Even then, the potential of the ambitious road was evident, the tell-tale signs of a world-class piece of public works already then unmistakable. A return trip, for the sole sake of driving the length of this particular road was inevitable.

The main thing that can be remembered from that initial drive was the way that the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway snaked and crested ever so gently. At speed, the most important safety feature of any thoroughfare is just how much road that drivers can see in front of them. At the legal speed limit a car travels 100 meters every three point seven seconds or so (100 m/3.75 seconds roughly). One can imagine at those speeds, emergency stopping or evading collision is a tall order for most motorists and their vehicles.

The more one can see ahead on a road, the farther out one’s event horizon is. Instead of having to react instinctively, one has time to process the situation and counter accordingly. This means that drivers have more time to deal with wayward vehicles, stray animals or whatever other potential dangers that may appear out of nowhere.

While the surface is generally reported to be less smooth than the revitalized NLEX, the quality of the material laid down as the road surface is very good. Black and sticky, likely due to the high amount of crumbled rubber mixed in with the asphalt, fewer surfaces available to the motoring public afford more grip. The benefits gained from the use of this expensive material are worth it. Stopping distances are shortened. Tires adhere to cambered turns like epoxy. Driving at speed is actually made a pleasant experience.If the management of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway sought to build a technically sound, world-class road, then it seems like they’ve achieved their goal. People have likened the driving experience to those they’ve had in more developed countries. The general opinion is the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway would not seem out of place in Malaysia or the Southwestern United States. Personally, the visual similarities with a section of the Autovia from Albacete to Valencia are quite uncanny.

Many ask if some of us will hit this section of the road at speed. The answer to the question is quite obvious. Already, drive times from the NLEX exit to the Subic end are circulating. While most are reasonable, slightly bordering on the fast side, there are some that are astonishing feats of pace. Let’s just say because of the way this road is built, the temptation to make velocity maximum (V-Max) runs is ever present.So it is with much anticipation that a return drive to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is being planned. A stable alignment setting, inert gas in the tires, top shelf engine oil and fresh coolant seem like bear minimums to be able to tackle this road with gusto in the summer heat without incident.

Just how fast will it take to travel this beautiful section of road from end to end? Let me quote an old philosopher from my university days for some perspective. Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. Words of wisdom that praise slowing down and taking everything in. Then again, I doubt Kierkegaard ever felt the bliss of a turbo at full boost.

By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT has been a while since a Merc put a smile on my mug; a feat that has to be given its fair share of credence. One car is primarily at fault for this non-abashed animosity toward recent models released by the suits from Stuttgart.

As if to punctuate the end of an era, Mercedes-Benz’s initial C Class reeked of undeserved commercial success. In place of the three-pointed star, a silver spoon should have been welded on to the first C Class hoods. Riding on the success of the relatively affordable and rather able W201 190, the worldwide public lapped up this new “Baby Benz.” In only a short span of time the first C Class started to top the sales volume figures of one of the largest luxury passenger automobile manufacturers in the world.

If not for the three-pointed star on the hood and trunk of the first C Class, many wouldn’t have paid it much attention anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, we must not forget that in the Philippines, nothing says you’ve made mad money, across all economic strata, like a car with the Mercedes-Benz logo on it. And a car that screams success sells. Not convinced? Just ask the guys over from SsangYong just how effective a sales tool the Merc logo is.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE 2006 launch of the 8th generation Civic meant a lot of things for many people. For Honda the car made a statement that a product that grows up can still be fun to drive. To the competition, a benchmark was again be set for the tricky compact sedan market. Everyday motorists got a bigger car, with an efficient engine and styling that lived up to the times. For some of us though, a new Civic only meant one thing.

While 90 percent of the population will consider the Honda Civic as an entry-level sedan that seats five comfortably and does the daily commute without fussing or missing a beat, smaller niches in the market sees it otherwise. Another nine percent see this car as a blank canvas, a car that allows them to express their individuality and passion for tinkering with cars.

Tragedies in personal expression can be seen rolling the streets of Manila on a daily basis, festooned with every conceivable aftermarket trinket and bauble. The remaining one percent, see the Civic for what it really is.

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By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer

ONCE in a while, it is great to suspend all manner of practical thinking. Every day it seems like a necessity to pinch pennies, to think of long-term feasibility and the function of the things we use. Testing cars cannot be oblivious of this frugal frame of mind. The emphasis in media on fuel efficiency, cargo capacity and value for money deals is a clear indication of the motoring public’s clamor for ways to help reduce the cost of the way they motor.

All this focus on economy can get to be tiring in all honesty. One can only suspend their love and enthusiasm for the automobile so much. Thank heavens then for cars that are expressions of striking design, inspired engineering and passion for the open road. Thank heavens for cars like the BMW Z4 Coupé.

It was more than two years ago, at the 2005 Tokyo Motor show that the preproduction model version of this hard-topped Z4 caught my eye. Bathed in a flat gray hue that added more drama to the already theatrical flame-like Chris Bangle design, this was a car that just seemed to absorb light, process it and exude attention as the by-product.

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