My Monthly Car Rant

Its that time of the month again when my thoughts turn to automobiles. Either what car I want, or what I want to do with a car. Or both. But usually every month my thoughts focus themselves upon automobiles. Curse all the car magazines. Hehe. Just kidding. I love car magazines and I love reading them for all the info they can give. Specially when I read car comparisons.

Anyway on to the rant. I've always said that I'd like to own a vehicle here, and I lately started requiring that the vehicle I own be either an AUV, SUV, mini-SUV or pick-up. Why? For the simple reason that with the road conditions in our contry today (specially at the base of the bridge from Tenement leading to FTI) nothing beats owning a vehicle with high ground clearance and lots of space.

However with the current prices in oil and the fact that my tastes seem to be turning towards your typical yuppie (not that there's anything wrong with being a yuppie, in fact i think some of my friends are yuppies) preferences. Not the typical boy racer with lowered height and super slim tires and loud bumper. No, I prefer the cute and functional vehicles. I'm talking about the compact cars (mini-compacts? i really don't know what to call them). Specifically, the Honda Jazz, Hyundai Gets, and Kia Picanto.

Yeah I've got a liking for them three. I've even seen some Jazzes set-up. And they look good. Side skirts, ground effects kit, mags, muffler. Cute. Racy. Practical? No. They're already pretty low and you'll even add more stuff to make the clearance smaller. So what happens at humps? A slow moving car moving sideways to avoid the inevitable crunch of the ground effects kit scraping the hump.

Anyway. Yeah I like those three cars. Two of them are really cheap but good. I read a comparison between the Getz and the Picanto on C! Magazine and I really liked what I read. And I woudn't mind owning either of them.

I mean think about it, if you've got money to buy, say, a Vios it would be nice to buy it. Its a Toyota for crying out loud. Best brand to own in this country. However the price of a Vios is enough to get you an automatic Getz or an automatic Picanto. Plus with the change you can use it to "pimp" your ride.

Let me digress for a while. I love automatic transmissions. Sure some of you may think that matics are for girls and stuff. Yeah right. I'd rather just use less brain power while driving. Technology was developed to make our lives easier. And that's why I like matics. They make life easier, so to you manly men out there who only have to use manuals, I congratulate you. But I'd rather drive a matic, thank you.

Anyway on with the rant. If I could choose among the three I'd pick the Honda Jazz with SRS and ABS. Why? Because it looks cute and fast and modern all at once. Plus it has a great safety package. It also has fog lamps and a rear windshield wiper already. And its a Honda. So you'll be almost guaranteed of quality.

But the Honda is way more expensive than the other two. With the price of the Jazz I mentioned above you can already get either of the other two cars plus pay for registration, insurance and everything else needed.

If it was a Picanto I got then I'd even have enough change to replace the wheels, add fog lights, get a new stereo system with CD changer, and add rear windshield wipers. Maybe even add a car alarm and stuff. Lotsa things to do a Picanto given the cash to buy a Jazz.

With the Getz I could probably pay for all the other things I mentioned, and even have enough for either a CD changer or better wheels. Did I mention that the Getz already has fog lamps and rear windshield wiper?

Okay, forget about the fog lamps, since even the Picanto has that option.

Anyway if I was to pick among the three, I'd go with the Getz. I can get more out of my money with it than with the Jazz, since it is cheaper, leaving me cash for buying other things for it. Plus it also has a good power plant, 1.3L like the Jazz. Sure the Picanto is preppy with its 1.1L engine, and I've heard guarantees that a Picanto will easily move me around despite my immense size.

But I like the Getz most. The look is simple, not like the Jazz or Picanto, yet its safe. The warranty is also second best (behind Kia). The performance will suit my driving style, since I'm not fast. And its in between the Jazz and Picanto in terms of cost. Its a solid number two among the three, and with cost as the major factor I'd go for it