Motoring Soapbox

The 2018 CR-V was launched in the Philippines recently. This version was quite special because it marks the first time that the diesel version appears in the country. This however, was not the first time that a diesel engine was put in the CR-V. The second generation CR-V was the very first one that had a turbo diesel engine, so it took quite a while for the Honda brass to decide to bring this type of powerplant to our shores. I drive a 1st generation CR-V, the ubiquitous RD1 which is my car of choice in the Metro. But whenever it was time to gas up, I find myself thinking about how much more practical this car would be if it had a diesel powerplant. In fact, I was looking at the availability of the diesel engine in the surplus market but I had not found one yet. So I looked forward to the new CR-V diesel with much anticipation but when it was finally announced, I had mixed feelings. Prior to hearing  about the impending arrival of the diesel CR-V, I was looking at the ...

1965 Volkswagen Beetle The car looked exactly like this, down to the whitewall tires. The interior was also that bare. I do love that Wolfsburg emblem on the steering wheel. I was not going to feature this car yet because I thought it should be in another section, but I figured that given the big part that this VW played in my life, it deserves more than one post. This was the very first car my Dad bought and while I remember Dad driving it occassionally, its my Mom driving that is etched in my mind forever. For the longest time, this was the car Mom drove to bring me to school in Ateneo. Except for the color, and the wheels, this was how the car looked like when it was relatively new. Since we lived in Cubao that time, our route was to bring my sisters to Holy Spirit School in Lantana then on to Ateneo. I entered Ateneo in 1969 and road conditions then were totally different. Because our house was on E. Rodriguez (which was Espana Extension then), we could ...