Honda Jazz 1.3S AT 2nd Generation Review (First Impressions)
Friday
Jan 28, 2011
I haven’t even had the chance to sit down and finish my review for the Nissan Sentra 200 CVT, and another car has honked its horn on the driveway asking for a write-up: the Honda City 1.3S AT. Well, I actually had to take a cab to pick it up from the Honda marketing office, but that’s another story.
The second-generation Honda City 1.3S AT was actually released in 2009, and so this review might come in a bit late. But as they say, better late than never. These are actually just first impressions, as I still have to make a verdict much later, after I take this little pocket rocket out for a spin in these next few days.
Nissan Sentra 200 2.0 CVT Review (First Thoughts)
Friday
Jan 21, 2011
Today, I’ve had the pleasure of driving the 2010 Nissan Sentra 200, courtesy of Nissan Motor Philippines, Inc. I get to keep the Sentra 200 for a weekend (and more)–something that was supposed to have happened last December, but delayed due to scheduling conflicts. Nissan delivered the car at my driveway this afternoon, and boy was I greeted with a spacious surprise.
The Nissan Sentra 200 is a rarity in Philippine roads these days, which is a huge disparity from how numerous its older brethren are, ranging from the so-called B13 LEC or ECCS models, the B14 “Series 3,” and the more recent B15 and N16. In fact, Nissan is still selling the N16 alongside the B16 “200″ model, as a lower-cost variant.
Review: Toyota Vios 1.3E (2nd Generation)
Wednesday
Sep 16, 2009
In this day and age of economic difficulty, you can’t help but be practical with just about everything. You try to minimize costs, and you try to stretch each and every Peso as much as you can. The same idea trickles down to just about anything from grocery shopping, eating out, buying clothes, and even buying cars.
If you’re on a tight budget, going for a second hand auto might be one option, with a lot of five to ten year old cars going for PhP 200 thousand to PhP 350 thousand and so forth. But when you think of maintenance costs, nothing beats a brand new car. You might be better off putting that money into the down payment. Paying the monthly dues would probably be better (and sometimes cheaper) than monthly repair and maintenance expenses you would be shelling out regularly with an older car.
In terms of practicality, there are three things you would usually look for: utility, ease of maintenance and fuel consumption. In the local market, there are usually two main competitors, which are the Honda City and the Toyota Vios. They are in the same price range (although the City retails a bit higher), have similar fuel consumption ranges, and similar carrying capacity. Both are offered in 1.3 and 1.5 liter displacement engines: VTEC engine for the City and VVT-i engine for the Vios. What’s great is that both brands carry high resale value in the local market.
The past few weeks, I’ve been able to review the E variant Toyota Vios. Featured in review photos is the “Azure” Blue variant. The E variant in the Philippine market is basically similar to the entry-level J variant in that they both run on a 2NZ-FE 1.3 liter engine, but unlike its spartan sibling, the E variant has the following features:
- power windows,
- central door locks,
- 14″ alloy wheels,
- Anti-lock braking system,
- protective side mouldings,
- driver’s-side airbag,
- Toyota Vehicle Security System,
- a different stereo head-unit.
The higher-end G variant gives you 15″ alloy wheels, foglamps, side-mirror turn signal lamps, rear disc brakes, and leather-bound steering-wheel with stereo remote-control. And of course, the G variant comes in manual and automatic transmission. You also have a choice of leather vs. fabric seats in the A/T variant. The Vios also comes in the S variant, which comes stock with sporty body kits ducktail spoilers, ten-spoke 17″ wheels and HID headlamps.
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