1265 - Youngtimer Cars

My best friend recently introduced me to this idea of 'youngtimer cars,' basically cars that aren't so old but worth owning, collecting, maintaining, or whatever it is people do with these cars. The category we agreed upon was that these cars should have been sold within 1980 to 1999. So yes, cars with model years starting before 1980, or go past to the 2000s can be considered as long as their year model falls between 1980 to 1999.

Our discussion even went so far as to set parameters when building our top ten youngtimer cars, with a cap of 500k for cars being sold in Facebook Marketplace. And it was challenging because I have limited knowledge of cars in that era.

It did get me thinking though, of what a good three-car garage of youngtimer cars would be. Cars that were specifically sold here locally, not imported or grey market cars. With those in mind, these would be the three cars I think I'd like to have and the reasons why.

First generation Suzuki Vitara. It should be 5-doors, automatic transmission, and 4x4. As always, this would be our bad weather car, with minor modifications. A snorkel and breather tubes to make sure it can brave floods should the need arise. It has decent size and space for my small family of three. This would also be my wife's car.

First generation Toyota Rav4. Again, 5-door and automatic transmission. Small yet spacious enough for daily driving if a bit of a gas guzzler. At least the car is tall enough and visible enough to other SUVs and bigger pick ups. The reason I chose this is for my daughter. At least she can drive a relatively big and safe car, but with a smallish size that can easily fit most parking spaces.

BMW E34 5-series. Again, automatic transmission. Wishful thinking is a touring, aka station wagon. I'm picking this over the E30 3-Series and E36 3-Series just because the former is too expensive and rare, while the latter is too common here. And honestly most of the variants of the E36 I see on FB MP are 316i models, which isn't bad. But there's something about the E34 that I really like, so yes, I do wish I could have an E34. It doesn't have to be the M5, I'd be perfectly happy with a 520i or 525i.

Special mention: Toyota Echo Verso (Yaris Verso). This is a bit of a cheat since it started August 1999, but this is the car I'd want for myself. Only sold in a manual transmission locally, this is still one of my dream cars. It can seat four or five adults, but the rear seats can be folded and dismantled to create a flat bed, almost similar to the Honda Jazz's Magic Seats. Plus being a 1.5L manual I'm guessing this has amazing fuel efficiency. The only reason I'm choosing the BMW over this is the transmission.

Out.

1264 - My Flavor of the Month Vehicle

I don't know what got into me yesterday but I suddenly became very, very curious about the next generation Toyota Tamaraw Utility Van with the automatic transmission.

Right now it checks every box of what I consider a need for our family. It can haul people. In fact according to the website specs it can carry 14 passengers, so 12 in the rear and 2 up front. The rear container has its own air-conditioning unit. The biggest issue for me here is that there are no seat belts and there are two rows of bench seats meaning it will most likely be uncomfortable. Plus the leaf spring rear suspension won't help either.

It can also be used as a cargo hauler, because again, giant boxy rear container. Fold up the bench seats and you have all the space in the world to carry stuff that you can safely lie flat.

I do have some concerns about the Tamaraw (or Hilux Champ in other countries). Aside from safety of rear passengers and ride comfiness, it's also a relatively long vehicle so it will take getting used to driving it and parking it in mall parking areas. As for the width, I was surprised to find it was narrower than 1.8m so that's good. Maneuvering it will also take getting used to since because of the wheelbase and how far back the overhang in the rear is, but I think some modifications will help out in this.

Another concern is safety, because I don't think this has any airbags up front. And I'm not so sure how secure the rear sliding windows are in case someone tries to jimmy them open.

And finally, I'm not even sure if my wife or daughter would want to be seen riding this, let alone driving it. Personally I don't mind but of course people think differently.

Now let's talk about mods I would do should I suddenly have the money to buy and maintain a Tamaraw. First and foremost would be getting both a great quality dashcam with front, rear, and cabin cameras. The next would be getting a permanently on rear camera / reverse camera. I've seen the Tamaraw in Youtube videos and still images and I'm not so sure how great visibility is using the rear view mirror. Side mirrors aren't enough if you ask me, specially when maneuvering this vehicle. So we use cameras as additional support.

Next upgrade would be my new go-to favorite fog lamps, the PIAA S2000 LED flood light kit. This will help with visibility during the night, more so when it is raining hard. I'd even consider adding additional rear reverse lights and a third brake light in case there is none.

Another thing I'd consider adding is an OBD-II device. Some pictures of the dashboard of the Tamaraw show it only has speedo and fuel gauge, and I'd rather have additional information about the vehicle as I'm driving. Information like RPMs, engine temps, and fuel consumption.

I guess aside from those quality of life mods I will also be doing other modifications, like a better horn (if needed), better speakers for both the cab and the rear, some old school Toyota decals for the sides (those read, yellow, orange stripes), and rims. Nothing too fancy. Just making sure the Tamaraw would be a safe, decent vehicle to use.

And that's it. No idea why the Tamaraw suddenly struck my fancy but you can definitely see a pattern of what upgrades I would do to almost any vehicle I would own.

Out.

Edit: I saw this YT video of the GL Utility Van automatic and I just remembered another modification I would do would be to add insulation to the rear, specifically the roof and maybe the sides and the wheel well. This would hopefully help reduce heat and noise in the rear.

1263 - Days Off

The team I was working with recently had Friday and Monday off. Sort of an offset since a few members of the team worked lots of overtime to get the project finished.

We used Friday to meet up with our product manager, who had left work, to give him a proper send off. It was a nice, relaxing time catching up and just relaxing with the others.

I just spent yesterday at home. I did take an hour to walk to a nearby mall to buy some stuff my daughter needs for school. It was a quick, brisk walk which I thoroughly appreciated since I got to go out and see stuff. I didn't take full advantage of going out and just went back home after getting the errand done since I also felt like it would rain. It did not.

It was also good I got home because once I got home I felt really sick. I have no idea why, but thankfully a few hours later I was feeling normal again.

And that's how I spent my days off.

Out.

1262 - Slump

I'm in a slump at the moment. No desire to exercise, at least kettlebells, and no consistency either. I've been able to jog 3 km and my toe isn't as painful anymore so at least I still have that.

But lately the drive has been pretty low. I'm trying to figure out why, and I may have an idea already. So I guess the only solution to this is to power through whatever it is I am going through at the moment and survive.

Out. 

1261 - Toe Update

I tried doing my usual 3:1 intervals last Friday and I was able to do 2 km. Left pinky toe still felt sore after, so I guess it's still not fully healed.

THEN this morning I once again accidentally stubbed it on a chair leg. Good thing it was a chair so it also moved when I hit it, absorbing some of the force of the hit. It's still painful, not as bad as when I originally stubbed it. And no, I haven't gone to have it checked.

Out.