By Aida Sevilla Mendoza
Inquirer

AS a member (and past president) of the Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi), I didn’t give high marks to the Volvo C30 that won the Car of the Year (Coty) Award for 2007. But that’s only because I was absent when the C30 was brought to the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Cavite on the last car testing day of Coty 2007 in October.

Thus the great expectations when I was given the chance to drive the Volvo C30 for four days early last month after it had already garnered the most coveted Cagi trophy. Were these great expectations met?

Yes, as far as the C30’s styling is concerned. While the C30’s face resembles the Volvo S40 with which it shares the Ford Focus’ platform, its sloping rear end/big glass hatch sets it apart from the rest of the crowd. The C30 is simply stunning. It looks like nothing else on the road, at least from the back. Its clean lines, short overhangs and aggressive, fast-forward stance give it an eye-catching profile.

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By Aida Sevilla Mendoza
Inquirer

RACING is not the only concern of the Federation Internationale de líAutomobile (FIA) although it makes and implements rules for motor sports worldwide including Formula One, the World Rally Championship, Le Mans, the Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions.

The FIA is also concerned about the clamor for dramatic action to stop global warming which is the subject of the ongoing Climate Change Conference in Bali attended by delegates from nearly 190 nations. Although automobiles today are cleaner and more fuel-efficient as a result of improvements in technology and fuels that reduce both toxic emissions and the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted per vehicle, the FIA knows that the development and deployment of cleaner and more fuel-efficient technologies is the key to future mobility as demand for automobile use rises worldwide.

Target

Last October, the FIA general assembly tackled the global problem of climate change and called on the United Nations to adopt the first-ever worldwide target for carbon dioxide emissions in passenger cars, 140 g/km as part of a new international framework for greener motoring. This could serve as an international target that all can aspire to, the FIA noted, adding that the benchmark would provide a way of measuring progress of the entire automotive fleet worldwide.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Inquirer

THE 4TH Car of the Year (Coty) Philippines Awards program, which was held at the Rockwell Tent in Makati last Thursday, established quite a few firsts.

It was the first time that: a European brand won the big trophy. The 2007 Car of the Year, the Volvo C30 (shown in photo) is a sports coupe that aced the Luxury Subcompact category versus the BMW 120i and the Mercedes-Benz B160.

What’s more, the Swedish carmaker outshone its German rivals two more times when the Volvo S60 T5 won the Executive Car of the Year Award and the Volvo S80 2.5L topped the Luxury Car category.

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By Aida Sevilla Mendoza
Inquirer

IF you are shopping for an affordable common rail diesel-powered multipurpose vehicle, the Korean manufacturers make choosing a difficult task. Why? Because Kia Motors and its parent company Hyundai Motor Co. offer not one, not two, but three CRDi (common rail direct injection) MPVs to choose from: the Hyundai Starex, Kia Carnival and Kia Carens.

But when it comes to a compact CRDi MPV, the choice narrows down to the 2007 Kia Carens since the Hyundai Matrix was withdrawn from the Philippine market a year or so ago. The Carens first entered with a 2.0-liter, DOHC, 16-valve gasoline engine. The CRDi variant showed up soon after, completing Kia’s CRDi-powered foursome together with the 4×4 Sorento midsize SUV, the 4×4 Sportage compact SUV and the Carnival midsize MPV (which this column reviewed last August.)

No competition

With no other CRDi seven-seater compact MPV in competition unless you consider the D-4D Toyota Innova a compact MPV, the Carens enjoys a monopoly in this segment. The Toyota Avanza, Mitsubishi Fuzion and soon-to-come Nissan Grand Livina all have gasoline engines.

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By Aida Sevilla Mendoza
Inquirer

NEVER eat a full meal before you board a Lancer Evolution X with a Mitsubishi Motors Corp. test driver at the wheel. This was what we learned during the handling demo organized by MMC at a handling test track after lunch and a tour of MMC’s Okazaki, Nagoya plant.

Prior to the handling demo, we were allowed to take the Evo X for a brief test drive. The four motoring journalists from the Philippines (with this columnist as the only female) were divided into pairs and took turns driving the 2008 Lancer and the Evo X one lap each around MMC’s oval test track in Okazaki. We also got to drive the i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) around a slalom course on a smaller test track.

Test-driving the high-performance turbocharged AWD 2008 Lancer Evo, one of the 10 fastest cars in the world, was to be the highlight of our sojourn to Japan for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show. But whoa! We were told to limit driving speeds to 120 kph. And to make sure that we observed the speed limit, a Japanese MMC engineer sat in the back seat each time out.

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By Aida Sevilla-Mendoza
Inquirer

TOKYO, Japan–At a glittering international event like the 40th Tokyo Motor Show displaying 520 new vehicles of 30 carmakers at a venue spread over 440,000 square meters, it is difficult to hold the attention of the 1.5 million visitors expected, including thousands from overseas, during its 16-day run.

On Press Preview day, several manufacturers caught the eye by exhibiting outrageously styled concept cars. While the designs of the three concept cars presented by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. were not as edgily in-your-face futuristic as the Toyota HI-CT, Honda Puyo or Nissan Pivo2, they looked more user-friendly, more practical and more ready to leap from the drawing board into commercial production in the near future.

And for visitors already in the market for a new car, Mitsubishi unveiled the latest iteration of the Lancer Evolution, which is one of the fastest high-performance mass production cars in the world yet is affordably priced. The more sedate version of the Evo X, the 2008 Lancer sedan (named as the Galant Fortis in Japan) was also on view.

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By Aida Sevilla Mendoza
Inquirer

AS a motorist, I am glad that the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) project did not get embroiled in controversy the way the National Broadband Network deal did. I am sure that starting next February, this feeling will be shared by thousands of other motorists and commuters traveling north of Metro Manila because the Clark-Tarlac segment of SCTEx will lop off one hour from their traveling time.

Together with three other directors of the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP), the nonprofit, nonstock auto club that provides 24/7 roadside assistance at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), I checked out the Clark-Tarlac portion of the P27.5-billion SCTEx last Wednesday.

Driving an old Mitsubishi L300 double cab pickup truck with zebra stripe markings, Deo Manuel of the Tollways Management Corp. led the way with AAP veep Johnny Angeles and treasurer Jogy Mantaring Jr. as his passengers. I drove a 2007 compact SUV with AAP director Angel Kanapi in the front seat. (I won’t mention the brand of the SUV I drove, since its aircon conked out on the way back to Manila after a stopover at the Caltex station near San Fernando. Let me just say that it’s not a Japanese, Korean or European marque.)

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