Yesterday brought the news of a massive fuel price hike this coming Tuesday, the 24th of June, 2025. I've started bracing myself for the increase in fuel costs, as well as basically deciding that we'll use the Wigo as often as possible and have the Grandia as the coding car / back up. This news also made me think about the ideal second car to own, assuming the Toyota Wigo G we have is the "first" car. So here are the cars in order of preference.
Before I start listing off the cars, let me first give some context why they are my chosen cars. We already have the Wigo G, which is a relatively small "5-seater" that we can use everyday as a city car/daily driver. It fits the need, except maybe when heavy rains happen and flash floods appear. So for a second car I've decided it would be ideal to have a 5-to-7 seater. This is in line with having a bigger car that we can use for out-of-town trips. I'm also confident my folks, wife, and daughter can all fit comfortably with no fear that the tires will rub on the wheel well, which I predict will happen if we all ride the Wigo. Plus the second car should have a bigger cargo space while accommodating all five of us, plus a few more passengers if needed.
- Toyota Zenix HEV Q CVT. This is the hybrid Zenix, priced at almost PhP 2.0M but I honestly feel is still my dream choice. Hybrids and EVs, as far as I know, are still coding exempt until 2028 in Metro Manila, meaning you can drive this vehicle everyday with no fear of violating number coding, or the impending odd-even scheme. Hybrid will also hopefully help improve fuel economy and help out with my fuel budget by giving me better fuel economy.
- Toyota Avanza 1.5 G CVT. This is my original choice as the second car. It's got a decent size, amazing bang for the buck, and is relatively fuel efficient. It also looks good both inside and outside. I've ridden a few of these when using Grab and they've all been very roomy and comfortable.
- BYD eMax 7 Standard. This is the first EV I've considered, and it's a 7-seater. It's the cheaper variant of the eMax 7 (with the more expensive variant being the Superior Captain), since this doesnt' have the captain's chairs for the second row. It seems to have decent range so hopefully we can still use this for out-of-town trips. Plus as far as I know the local distributor of BYD is Ayala so I do sort of trust them. It looks like ACMobility has a decent amount of charging stations not just in Metro Manila so hopefully charging won't be an issue. SM also has an EV charging station in SM Lucena as well as a couple of other SM malls outside of Metro Manila.
- Suzuki XL7 Hybrid. This is the hybrid that isn't. Meaning the local authorities didn't include this in the list of coding exempt hybrid vehicles. I'm choosing this over the Ertiga because this has a higher ground clearance. Though honestly I'd still rather get the Avanza since that's almost PhP 200k cheaper.
- Honda BR-V 1.5 V CVT. The last choice for a second car is the BR-V. Not the top-of-the-line spec, but the one below that. I'm not picking this over the Avanza because of the bang-for-the-buck.
Out.
