Mobile Cruise

I have unboxed quite a number of gadgets and techtoys but not 'toys for the big boys'(in other words, cars), but have been driving fairly well in the past, and admittedly enough have driven more time on jeeps than sedans, or than I could even count. True enough, the driving experience that it brought on me is quite exhilarating, and not because most of the jeeps that I have driven rallied through open air with dust, foreign pollutants, and radioactive elements of the sun are promiscuous visitors of your exposed body.

Lately, a friend of mine from the other side of a non-Mitusbishi universe that I am always involved with invited me over to grace his pleasure driving as his 'navigator' at the Honda Cup Challenge 2009 held at the NLEX straight. But because of my tight schedule and a series of events that I am brewing with, I turned down the invitation.

What rings to my ear is the term "pleasure driving" which is obviously an antithesis of what I am expecting in a motor cup. It mustn't be as easy as a walk in the park, or a drive to the diorama. Afterall, with our restrained need for speed and unrealized Formula One affinity, what comes to mind when talking about car challenge is the speed and prevailing the race. This isn't the case, he said.

Honda Cup Challenge is not about torque and horsepower. It is about fuel-efficiency, comfort, and overall driving convenience. Simply dubbed as a drive to go green, this competition is composed of several fleets of Honda cars driving to every drop.

Until I have driven one myself, I can attest that it does have a very economical and functional design philosophy.

While not really my type of car design(sorry I am not into ultra-compact cars), this is by far the most practical option if you want to save fuel costs while zipping through the squeaking space of Manila traffic. With the use of

If you look at it at the outside, some impressions ebb and flow like driving a space-arresting MiniCooper. But hell not. You'd be surprised it even has a spacious interior than an Altis. Usability is indeed the Jazz´s strongest Ace card by a mile - the interior solution is rather ingenious: The Jazz is actually more compact than an already compact sedan, an inch shorter than a Volkswagen Polo, but you you will be amazed until you're in the inside. The interior space is closely linked to the height of the car- the slightly more upright seating position enhances the space available in the cabin significantly.

The wide visibility allows one to have a full controle at maneuverability in swirling even small radius. Iconic design, sharp-handling, and sprightly and spacious interiors, this is a fusion of practicality and personality.

Among the rafts of features it boasts is not just the lofty road performance but the commendable flagship i-DSI technology(stands for intelligent Dual and Sequential Ignition) which is just a renamed and refined DOHC(dual over-head cam) that consisted of two spark plugs per engine. Armed with an iVTEC engine and an always dependable petrol guage, one can more or less estimate his fuel consumption via FCR(fuel consumptipn rate) monitor while on the road. Nice, edgy, and definitely state of the art even for those shoe-stringed-budget-driven individuals.

And like what I said, I have driven jeeps more than I can count drinking frap in Starbucks, so the engine noise has been a common audible commodity for me. But not this car. when I turned the radio on, I can even barely hear the engine running. Or maybe it is because of the fresh-from-the casa factor.

The verdict: For a car that is obviously aimed at mobile professionals and city-dwellers like me, it is one practical choice on almost all aspects.