What’s illegal?

Indeed many welcome the news that our dear President Noynoy Aquino has signed into law criminalizing or making illegal the act of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

But as my dear colleague and fellow columnist James Deakin joins many who are similarly concerned, what level of influence of alcohol makes it a crime to drive? For drugs I guess it would be much easier to detect as it is just a question of whether you have it in your system or not.  

The law is there—signed, sealed and delivered but the IRR (Implementing Rules & Regulations) are still to be worked out, making it still non-implementable, just like the anti-dynasty law, which many now see as more of a farce rather than a passed and approved legislation.

 The public, especially those whose lives have been affected by the tragic consequences of drunk driving, have their eyes on the Department of Health and other government agencies tasked to determine what level of alcohol content in a driver’s blood can be considered illegal. Guys, let’s get on with it and fast, please.

Kia’s all-new Carens is here!

For those who have been eagerly waiting for the launch of the automobile that has paved its arrival to Philippine roads with two esteemed awards; a Gold Star Car Award from Australia’s Wheels magazine as well as another much-coveted award from Red Dot, an internationally recognized award-giving body that’s considered one of the most prestigious design awards in the world—the long wait is over—the all-new Kia Carens is here!

Not only that, because in preparation for the arrival of the all-new Carens, Kia has collaborated with DreamWorks’ animated film, The Croods, to introduce the newest member of its wide array of remarkable vehicles in a fun and thematic way.

The all-new Carens has a diesel powertrain and offers up to seven seats and a broad range of convenience and safety features. Compared to the previous generation model, it’s presented as more compact but also more spacious.

It’s equipped with a 1.7-liter engine with 136 ps @ 4,000 rpm and 33.7 kg-m @ 2,500 rpm when equipped with the manual transmission or 32.6 kg-m @ 2,500 rpm with the automatic. All models are fitted with 6-speed transmission with a choice of manual or multi-mode automatic gearboxes.

It’s equipped with MacPherson strut front suspension mounted on an all-new sub-frame to isolate the cabin from road shocks. The rear suspension features the new CTBA (coupled torsion beam axle) which replaces the previous multi-link system.

The new Carens features all-disc brakes wioth ABS as standard on all models.

In its first public unveiling last week at the Bonifacio High Street, Ms. Ginia Domingo, president of Columbian Autocar, exclusive importer and distributor of Kia vehicles in the country, confidently announced the all-new Carens’ variant line-up and corresponding prices: Carens 1.7 EX at P1,480,000, with three colors to choose from: Clear White, Galaxy Brown and Ebony Black, the Carens 1.7 LX M/T at P1,140,000 and LX A/T at P1,230,000 with four colors to choose from: Clear White, Bright Silver, Camden Beige and Galaxy Brown.     

“Please feel free to drop by any of our Kia dealerships located all over the country to see and test drive this remarkable all-new Kia Carens, a completely new model from the ground up with its sleek and sculptured design making a dramatic shift away from the look of its predecessor,” was the invite sent out by the lovely top-honcho of Kia Philippines during the well-attended event. 

Mitsubishi’s three-in-one party

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, Inc. (MMPI) gathered the motoring media recently for a three-pronged event—to celebrate the proclamation of the Mitsubishi Mirage as the Car of the Year by the local motoring journalists’ Car Awards Group, the announcement of the up and coming exciting activities that would involve owners and future owners of the award-winning Mirage including some members of the media, and the announcement of media’s favorite MMPC’s executive vice president Mr. Taizo Furuhasi’s assignment out of the Philippines and back to Japan.   

Furuhasi-san is a known wine connoisseur and the wine drinkers and wannabes among the motoring media would either observe first what he orders during the Mitsubishi events and would follow suit or, like I would always do, just ask him straight what he recommends, and he would always gladly oblige. Aside from his being very friendly and approachable, the media has learned to go to him for answers to sensitive questions that involve government policies affecting the local automotive industry. And these he would not try to dodge but always try to answer as truthfully with utmost diplomacy.    

I had the chance to have an on-cam interview with the gentleman after the surprise announcement during the party that was met with mixed emotions by the media. This is always the case with departing expats who have won the admiration and friendship of local journalists—sad for the departure but happy for their promotion, which more often than not happens to those who have finished an admirable tour of duty here in the country. Furuhasi-san happily said, “I may be assigned to Japan to meet newer challenges but I will still be very much involved with the Philippine operations together with those in the other countries in the region in my new position, so I will still be coming here every now and then”—and that wiped off a lot of long faces among his friends, this one included.    

All the best to you, my friend, Taizo-san and I’ll see you soon to once again share the best wine in the house.

The unique BMW driving experience

I missed an exciting BMW driving experience recently only because I was out of the country. Otherwise, I would have lived the dream of every motoring journalist worth his salt—get behind the wheel of several high-performance automobiles and be encouraged to drive them to the hilt, without guilt! 

Due to the conflict of schedules I asked my son, Ray Louis to take my place—“that lucky son of his father.”

And what tale of awe of the test drive I was told upon my return from a recent trip to Paris, well, after similarly coming from at test drive—“even Steven.”

To begin with, Wee (my son’s pet name), boasted of having been comfortably and elegantly chauffeured from the early morning meeting place at The Fort to the test drive venue, the Clark International Speedway aboard the luxurious BMW 7 Series super elegant carriages. 

The objective of the test drive was to make select members of the motoring media experience “hands-on” the engineering works of art of the BMW M division, which produces exceptionally powerful versions of BMW models.  

Guiding them through the enviable high-performance driving experience was JP Tuason, who has the distinction of being “the only M-certified Filipino driving instructor in the world.”  

Executives of Asian Carmakers Corporation (ACC) led by its very charming and lovely president, Maricar Parco and executive director Glen Dasig, ably assisted by marketing manager, Karl Magsuci, who were all there pulled all stops for the event by making available a whole array of BMW highly-desirable models like the complete line of M cars; BMW 1M coupe, BMW M5, BMW X5M, Z4 sDrive, 1 Series and 3 Series for the journalists to drive, experience and punish going through a string of driving exercises that demonstrated why BMW is a premium automobile brand worldwide and what kind of driving monsters BMW’s M Division makes out of the already premium high performance BMW vehicles.

It was arguably a test drive many motoring journalists would find hard to forget.

Voting for the country’s most preferred models and the most popular automobile of the year nears

We shall have the Media Launch of the 2013-2014 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards (AFPCA) and the Auto Focus Media’s Choice Awards (AFMCA) this week.

Being a continuing learning experience, the yearly search for the country’s most preferred models in each category and the most popular, the Automobile of the Year—People’s Choice shall be tweaked further this year, the minor innovation in the rules to be announced by its Awards Committee chairman, Gerry Aquino, to the motoring media during the launch. 

Public voting online thru Facebook starts at 12:01 am of July 1, 2013 and shall end 3 months after at midnight of September 30, 2013.

We shall be regularly updating you on this yearly voting exercise here on this column.

Happy Motoring!!!

For comments email motoringtoday-star@stv.com.ph.