1258 - Random Car Thoughts

I'm still sticking to my opinion that in an ideal situation we'd have one internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, ideally fuel efficient and reliable, and that would be complemented by a hybrid or full EV.

To go even further into this opinion, that ICE vehicle should ideally be an SUV or MPV that has good ground clearance so that in events of flash flooding we still have a vehicle that can be used for emergencies. From what I've seen in Facebook Marketplace the ideal used car models I'd like would be early generation Pajeros or Vitaras. Should I suddenly have the money to spend and the opportunity to get a brand new car, then the new Toyota Land Cruiser FJ.

Yes, the three vehicles I mentioned all have 4x4 variants and all can be modified to have snorkels and whatever other mods you need to allow the vehicle to wade some floods (warning, link leads to a Google AI response). This doesn't mean I'm going flood hunting to drive the car through, it just prepares me in the event of (say it with me now) an emergency.

Then we move on to the hybrid/EV car. My first choice would be the Toyota Zenix Hybrid because of the size and space. I'm also willing to go the other way with either a BYD Seagull or a Dongfeng Nanobox as a city car. Why the Nanobox? Because the Nanobox is also rebadged and sold (or was sold) as the Dacia Spring.

That might be an intriguing two-car garage. A small EV and a relatively bigger ICE car. If I had the money to buy and maintain then my choices would be the LC FJ and the Seagull, sadly. I don't see too many Dongfeng vehicles here and I don't even know if they will eventually stop selling here. BYD hopefully is here to stay, with them having a lot of dealers nationwide.

Out.

1257 - Exercise Update

For the past few months I've been growing frustrated with myself because of the fact that no matter how I pace myself, the farthest I could jog was always 4 km. And it was already a struggle to finish 3 or 4 km whenever I tried to jog.

At first I thought it was all mental, so I tried conditioning myself that I was going to jog 5 km the next day. Never happened. It was getting frustrating. So I decided to switch gears and try something else.

I went back to intervals. I set up my interval timer app to do ten sets of 3:1 intervals, meaning 3 minutes and 1 minute. I added warm up and cool down as well. I estimate this would be enough to cover 5 km and indeed, my first trip out I was able to do 5 km.

I have no idea what's up, why I couldn't do 5 km jogging straight. I was able to do this before. I guess I just have to adjust to whatever is going on with me, and hope that eventually I'll get my old stamina and endurance back.

If not, at least I can still jog 5 km, just in intervals.

Out.

1256 - Motorcycles

I don't know how to ride a motorcycle. Well, not really. Back in my college days a classmate of mine used to ride a Kawasaki AR80 "Mini Ninja" and being young and stupid, I learned how to ride it. I haven't ridden a motorcycle since so I definitely need to take lessons how to properly ride a motorcycle.

Anyway could this be my midlife crisis? Wanting to ride a motorcycle? I honestly don't know. But there is one motorcycle sold locally that intrigues me, the Honda CL500. There was another motorcycle that caught my eye, but I'm not so sure it's still being sold. Google shows me a link t their official website but just going to the homepage it's not listed (I think). I'm talking about the Bristol 400i.

Both do seem like decently sized and practical motorcycles, that are allowed to travel in expressways here, hence my curiosity about them. I'm also in my 40s now so I'm not looking for the fast (both in actual speed and looks) motorcycles. Just the ones that you can enjoy cruising in. Plus I'm a fan of scramblers and cafe racers.

Out.

1255 - Flood Control and the Monsoon Rains

This past weekend saw some monsoon rains yet again, and the flooding was worse. Pampanga was the worst hit and a lot of places are probably still submerged.

One of the notable places that was flooded heavily was a section of NLEX, or Northern Luzon Expressway. I think it was in San Simon and the roads were basically impassable. A friend of mine who went to Pampanga from the weekend until Tuesday had to extend another day and risked driving home at night. His travel time was 9pm to 5am.

This is crazy. Frustrating, and just pathetic. People's lives are being affected by monsoon rains. This did not use to happen when I was younger. A lot of this, in my opinion, has to do with corruption and elected government officials who are in it to fatten their bank accounts. This probably isn't even an opinion but a fact.

I don't usually write about these things but I feel like I need to vent. We Filipinos don't deserve this, and I honestly feel like we're being taken for a ride by elected government officials.

What a shitshow this country is in right now. I never imagined myself growing up and experiencing these things.

Out.

1254 - Two Car Garage

I know I like to blog about dream car garages. I even do "attainable" posts. How realistic though, because honestly with the current times I honestly doubt I'd be able to save enough money, or earn enough to afford a car loan, to get a brand new car.

So here's something different. It's still a two-car garage but I'll be very realistic. Our 2024 Toyota Wigo G will be the first car since we already own it. So what would the second one be?

Obviously I have to look for a used car. If you're lucky you can find a decent one in the used car dealers or on Facebook Marketplace, I guess. Now what would I want for a second car?

My first thought was an MPV, which means it can haul people and a bit of cargo, or cargo and a bit of people. Then because of the recent flooding even with only monsoon rains, my priorities shifted to something else.

Maybe the second car should be an older, reliable SUV that you can install a snorkel. Like a 1st gen Vitara, or a 1st or 2nd gen Pajero. Unfortunately, an automatic transmission is still the preferred choice since between my wife and I, I'm the only one who can drive stick. And if I send my daughter to driving school it would be useless to have her learn stick when we don't have any manual transmission vehicles.

Now what would the point of the second car be? It would be our coding car and our bad weather car. Bad weather because the ground clearance should be higher than the Wigo, and sudden heavy rains should not make us worry if the car would be able to pass through flash floods. Now I'm not talking about waist deep floods or worse. Maybe ankle to knee deep if push comes to shove.

That's why I thought of the Vitara and Pajero, two capable off-roaders that have decent ride height. And they won't look out-of-sorts with snorkels on either. Plus if they are automatics with 4x4, I can probably take them off-roading once in a while.

Anyway, the old gen 1 or 2 Pajeros do have the MPV-ish capacity of being 5-to-7 seaters, and both could carry cargo as well. The Vitara not as much.

The big question with my current ideal choices for a second car is maintenance. Would these cost a lot to keep running and reliable? Would the vehicle I find (if I do end up buying one) be in good condition?

Fuel economy isn't really an issue here since my plan is still for the Wigo to be the daily driver, and for the second car to only be used when the Wigo is number coding. Unless it's raining bad.

Out.