Tag: cars

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Road Trip

Went with the family on a year-ender road trip. James and I drove our cars in probably some of the best places to drive in Luzon.

  1. NLEx, SCTEx, TPLEx – Ripping through the smooth tarmac along the expressways. They sure shaved a lot of travel time and are fun by themselves.
  2. MacArthur, Manila North Road – Relaxed cruising along the roads to Vigan, Laoag, and Pagudpud. There are just the annoying slow trucks and buses that were a chore to pass.
  3. Naguilian Road – We reached Naguilian Road to Baguio at dusk. By the time we were at its twists, turns and uphill grades, it was dark already. Crazy. And fun!
  4. Santo Tomas Road – We missed a turn heading down from Baguio and went into a drive up the clouds. Twists, turns, and uphill grades in the fog. More fun!
  5. Kennon Road – A leisurely and picturesque route down from Baguio. Good thing the weather was good.
  6. Guimba-Victoria Road – Rally Stage! Tried to enter TPLEx at Rosales but it turned out to be still under construction. Instead of going back, we proceeded to Umingan-Rosales Road and then Nueva Ecija-Pangasinan Road all the way to Guimba. The two roads were pretty good. At Guimba, we then took the Guimba-Victoria Road. It felt like a road everyone forgot. There were asphalt, concrete, and dirt sections in various states of disrepair. Wished I had an STI or an Evo.

A good close the year in terms of driving.

 

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Ford Everest Concept

When the last Ford Ranger came out, I was expecting the new Ford Everest to come out soon after. Unfortunately, months went by and there was nothing except some Ranger-based renders and some spy shots of possible prototypes. Until now: Ford has just unveiled the new Ford Everest Concept down under. It will ostensibly be the basis of the 2014 or 2015 Ford Everest. And it’s better than I ever imagined. While some SUVs, especially crossovers, have gone unisex, even feminine, the Ford Everest Concept is very much rugged, brawny, manly. It practically oozes testosterone. I like, baby #2 or not!

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WTF: MMDA proposing to ban cars two days in a week

The geniuses over at MMDA are proposing to ban cars two days in a week.Why oh why are there people in the government thinking this way? With this kind of thinking then why not three days in a week? How about four? How about ban cars altogether? That ought to solve the traffic problem. Sheesh! Talk about killing the patient to free up hospital beds.

It’s elementary but maybe it’s worth stating for the sake of the people at MMDA: Transportation of people and goods is the objective. Traffic congestion is the problem. How about solving the problem while preserving the objective? Finding solutions may not be easy but that’s what you’re there for. That’s what you’re being paid for!

How about some ideas as well? Improve the existing mass transit system capacity (MRT, LRT), expand mass transit system (say PPP), unify intra-city bus system, get rid of provincial-route buses within the city, get rid of colorum buses, get rid of jeepneys and tricycles on the major thoroughfares… Beyond Metro Manila: develop other cities, improve intercity transportation. Oh right, you’ve thought about them. You just don’t find them easy. But nobody said it was easy. Again, that’s what you’re being paid for!

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Fast and Furious 6

Last Sunday afternoon, Jeanne, Michelle, and I caught a screening of Fast and Furious 6. Just like the previous installation, it’s a heist movie with cars. But this time around, there’s a hint of James Bond. The crew gets together for a job to stop an ex-SAS international villain from stealing and assembling some kind of doomsday device. See what I mean about the hint of James Bond?

Assembling the crew for the task was care of Hobbs (The Rock/Dwayne Johnson). I guess, James Bond was busy and he needed Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) uncanny ability for doing the impossible with cars (and anything with wheels). He accomplished this by dangling the possibility of Letty Ortiz being alive to the playing-hard-to-get Toretto. Of course he succeeded, otherwise there’d be no movie. First love never dies indeed.

But as usual, the whole point are the cars. It doesn’t matter where they are, what they’re doing. It’s all about the cars. The stunts are over the top and absolutely ridiculous. But there’s no denying it was fun!

You’d think it’s hard to come up with a crazier and more outrageous sequel. But they just may even be able to pull it off. Think Jason Statham of The Transporter fame. Wait for the post-credit ;)

Rating: 3/5

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Car Maintenance Day

Jeanne had to skip class today because I had to have the car fixed. The accessory belt had been squeaking for weeks, and a few weeks ago, I noticed a leak in the power steering hose. Finally, this week, the air conditioning conked out. Probably another leak. So first thing in the morning, we dropped off Michelle at her office. Jeanne and I then went on to Fusion R to get the accessory belt and the power steering hose fixed.

Fusior R was still closed when we got there so we had to wait until it opened. Good thing Jeanne was sleeping for most of the time. After they opened and leaving the car with the mechanic, we went to the battery shop to talk to Eric. But he wasn’t there so we instead went to the mall to have wait out the repairs. We got there early and it was  still closed. So we stood around, bought breakfast (yogurt drink, hopia, and bread sticks) at a convenience store.

Once the mall opened, we windows shopped, visited the bookstore for a reading session, visited the toy store, and visited the bookstore again for another reading session. Finally, we had lunch (gyudon bowl). After lunch we went back to Fusion R to pick up the car.

But it’s wasn’t over yet. We went on to Frigid Zone to get the aircon fixed. I thought they had a problem figuring out where the leak was and after a while they showed me tiny bubbles coming out of a hose. I figured a leak is a leak so I asked them to proceed.

After the car got fixed we went to a nearby coffee shop to meet and finally talk to Eric. After an hour or two discussing plans, we headed home. Jeanne was very appreciative of the fixed aircon. She said “It’s good that we got it fixed, dad.” But alas, it wasn’t so. Gradually the cooling disappeared and soon it was just hot air coming out. But it was already late and the shop was already closed. So we just picked up Michelle and headed home.

UPDATE: Went back to Frigid Zone and they fixed another leak. And I bet that was the main/real leak.