Mr. Steven Tagle expressed in his letter that all these advertising and promotions regarding better driving economy by using a particular brand of fuel is a lot of bull. Sir, you are entitled to your opinion and I respect it.
Ms. Cinderella Jacob of Baguio City inquires whether switching from one advertised brand to another (both unleaded) is advisable is one brand really has better fuel performance and economy than the other.
There is also Mr. Alfredo Castro who even bought some kind of device, which he thinks doesn’t really work as much as it is claimed.
And I still have quite a slew of those questions in my archives from the time I started as one of the first broadcast journalists for motoring some twenty years ago.
Firstly, I believe that there are many factors involved to be assured of economical driving or driving longer distances using less fuel or having more kilometers run on a liter of fuel.
The first and foremost factor is the vehicle — How big is its engine? How many cylinders does it have? What is its total weight? Is the condition of the engine well fine-tuned that it burns all the fuel that it injects?
The next major factor is the driver — Is he or she a "jack rabbit" starter? Is the driver fond of always having the "pedal on the metal" and breaks just when the vehicle is about to hit something or right before the pedestrian lane of every intersection?
Another vital factor is the driving conditions — Is it always "stop and go" traffic?
And then, the fuel — Does it burn easily? Is it added with additives that help it burn easier and cleaner? And here we have to include the source of the fuel — Are the claims really substantiated? Is there truth in its advertising? Are the additives claimed to be added, really added and do they really work as they are claimed to work?
Yes, fuel has something to do with economical driving. But there are questions that I cannot answer even if I wanted to.
I was part of the panel of judges composed of Speed magazine’s editor and top motoring technical writer Manny delos Reyes, LTO’s Ditas Gutierrez, well-known automotive technologist specializing in alternative fuels, Eng’r. Alexander Loinaz and top executives of Isuzu Philippines Corporation led by its president, Yoshifumi Komura, EVP Kazuhiko Sho and VP for dealer network Ken Takashima to pick the best entry in the Isuzu Inter-dealer Custom car Competition.
The participating Isuzu vehicles included the Alterra, Crosswind and D-MAX and it was a wide line-up of dazzling dressed up vehicles. Aside from the difficulty of judging the participants based on their pictures, which meant that those that were better photographed may have a slight edge, a big part of the dilemma is how to reconcile what is beautiful to what’s functional. There were some entries that were just equipped with every imaginable accessory that’s available in the market for the model while there were those that had only what’s needed for daily and some special needs.
But actually it was Isuzu that came out the better winner as present and future owners could really assimilate a lot of ideas on how to beautifully and functionally dress up whatever Isuzu model there is — kudos to Myrna Gonzales and her group for the well-thought of project.
And here are the winners:
2nd Place : DMax c/o BMD Bulacan
3rd Place : DMax c/o Gencars Batangas
Best in DMax : IADI Cavite
Best in Crosswind : Isuzu Manila
The "Sports Den", the newly opened sports and gaming room cum TV lounge at the plush Valle Verde Country Club located just across the ULTRA in Pasig City was the chosen venue for the affair. Booze and classic Pinoy "pika-pikas" flowed to the motoring journalists’ delight while watching a replay of the Hungarian Grand Prix at the cozy place’s wide screen monitor.
Loud cheers and jeers were heard almost all through out the showing of the race especially during the many highlights of the spectacular race, the most thrilling so far in the year’s series. You can actually tell who of the journalist are partial to which race driver judging on the cheer or jeer but of course it was Jenson and the Honda F1 Racing Team that was the toast of everyone — after all it was our good friend Arnel Doria, newly-promoted division head for marketing of Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) who was taking care of the tab.
"We initially thought of holding the party in a more public place but then now we are glad we decided to have it here at the Sports Den as everybody feels so safe, at ease and at home just boozing & whooping it up the whole night" said the also newly-promoted Tin Tin Reyes, who is now the full-fledged top honcho (Group Head) for corporate communications of HCPI.
James Deakin of STAR, C! Magazine and Auto Extreme was one of those who came early for the party and joined later by Dino Directo of Standard/Rev Magazine, Lester Dizon of STAR/Motorcycle Magazine while SPMJ members who were present included Anjo Perez of Bulletin, Brian Afuang of Manila Times and Ron delos Reyes of Auto Review. There was also the STAR’s top sales account manager Jeff Reyes, STAR’s occasional Motoring section contributor Ayvi Nicolas, STAR’s very own Motoring editor and SPMJ member Dong Magsajo and quiz wizard and top-notched writer Bong Barrameda.
Well-known sports and motoring columnist Al "Sir Paul" Mendoza together with Top Gear chief editor/Manila Times motoring columnist and SPMJ founding director Vernon Sarne did another medley of Beatles hits after the showing of the race.
Monaco here we come, Arnel-san?
It’s the Turkish Grand Prix that’s up next.
The reason for the emphasis and the logic on "keeping your engine’s revolution high" is precisely to avoid a possible ceasing. Because once the engine stops, that’s when the sucking action sort of happens and that’s when the water gets into your engine and into your electronics and end of story — you’re stuck.
Happy Motoring!!!
For Comments: (e-mail) motoringtoday-star@stv.com.ph.