[1061] Wigo vs S-Presso

Once again in my fantasy car garage I'm torn between two different small, practical cars. The Toyota Wigo E CVT and the Suzuki S-Presso AGS. I chose these two cars because they're in the same price range. There is a more expensive, top-of-the-line Wigo but that's over PhP700k as of this blog.

Honestly at this moment I'm really leaning towards the S-Presso because the warranty is 5 years or 100,000 km plus one year free preventive maintenance service. There's also the fact that the Suzuki is about PhP24k cheaper.

Strong points of the Wigo though are the rear wiper and the fact that it's a Toyota. Parts may be more readily available, both in the dealers and aftermarket. There's also the reputation of "Toyota reliability" that's been around since maybe the 1990s here in the Philippines.

Either way both of these cars are hopefully both practical and useful for daily city driving here in Metro Manila.

Out.

[1060] Headlights

Yesterday I drove our 23-year old Rav4 in the evening and realized something. It needs new headlight assemblies.

No amount of headlight restoring will remove the yellowing, and the headlight was dim in the evening. I tried to drive without the fog lamps to test it out. I'm just glad we had street lights and it wasn't dark on the road, but I can imagine in the event I drive it in some dark are that the headlight won't be enough.

So yes, it might be time to get it some new headlight assemblies to replace the yellowed ones. We may rarely go out at night but I'd still rather have an extra level of safety just in case.

Out.

[1059] Random Bike Blog

I've recently started riding my bike again. While it may just be for a few kilometers inside the subdivision I still think it's a big deal that I've actually started to ride again.

Anyway my bike is seeing wear and tear, basically a "you get what you paid for" scenario. My saddle is cracking, but it's basically a budget padded saddle I got from an international "home and life improvement retailer" for less than USD10. It still works but there is cracking on the nose section of the saddle, and I think it's due for a replacement soon.

To be honest I still want to upgrade my bike. Nothing expensive or major, just upgrades that'll improve safety and quality of ride. The saddle is one of them, and to be honest I think I'd rather go to a bike shop and buy a saddle there than getting some budget saddle.

First things first though, I really want to upgrade my wheelset, cassette, and tires. I don't want carbon fiber rims but I do want tubeless ready rims. And a better brand 11-speed cassette. I don't even mind sticking to my current cassette configuration since based on how I've been riding I do need the really easy gears.

Tires, as I've written before, will be narrower but still for "gravel" even though I don't ride gravel. I don't want slicks, and I don't think the cyclocross tires I've seen online would be useful. I've thought about mountain bike tires but from what I've read they're all wide now and even now at 38mm my tire clearance is already pretty tight. 32 to 35 is what I think is the sweet spot.

I'm also seriously considering getting a bike computer with speed and cadence sensors. Maybe those would help me ride longer when I use the bike on the trainer.

Sadly all of these upgrades I want will just stay in my want list until some amazing things happen in life financially speaking. As it stands now I have more important things I can spend whatever small amount of money I can use for personal needs.

Out.

[1058] Thoughts

Yesterday, March 16, 2024, I gave an online presentation via Zoom a little past 8pm. The topic was an intro to Blender Video Editing.

I don't usually do this, probably never had done it before yesterday. I don't count teaching colleagues at work because that is with people I know. Yesterday was different since this was with people I don't know. Total strangers.

It was something a good friend of mine invited me to do. He was working with someone who has this goal of empowering Filipinos with skills they can use to do online freelance work. I thought it was a good idea so I volunteered my time.

I also chose Blender video editing because it was a) free and b) I don't think I can teach the basics of 3D in an hour. I think, and I hope, I was able to at least give the people who attended the call an idea of how to start out editing videos in Blender.

I do have my "issues" with Blender but I still think it is a very powerful tool that is also open source.

I do feel good about what I did. I guess sometimes I need to do things out of my comfort zone just so I can keep moving forward.

Out.

[1057] Two Car Garage

I've blogged about this countless times before but I need a filler blog post. Er, I mean I've made my decision now. As of this moment I'm choosing the Suzuki S-Presso AGS and the Toyota Veloz 1.5 V CVT Platinum White Pearl. Combined cost of both cars won't exceed PhP 2 million.

I initially compared the S-Presso with the similarly prized Toyota Wigo 1.0 E CVT Yellow SE (because I really, really like high vis colors). I decided on the former for the simple reason that it is smaller overall while having a slightly taller ground clearance than the latter. This gives the S-Presso the advantage in city driving and parking because hopefully you'll have more free space when you park. They may just be around 10 to 20 centimeters but that's still a big deal. At least for me.

As for the Veloz, I compared it to the Toyota Avanza 1.5 G CVT and the Suzuki Ertiga 1.5 GLX AT Hybrid. I originally liked (and still do) the Avanza but checking the comparison I think it's worth the additional cost for a few features the Avanza doesn't have. Like the lane departure warning sensor and the roof rack.

Again, I'm picking these two from a practical standpoint. The S-Presso would be the daily driver and the Veloz would be the weekend getaway car and alternate ride on the day the S-Presso is coding. Or the Veloz can be used when the folks are here and we need a more spacious car.

Out.