Dinah’s dynamic drive

Dinah Dominguez is a dynamic, multi-talented person. She is a singer and an actress (she last played Priscilla Almeda’s young mother in the movie Sutla). She is a sharp businesswoman, being the president and CEO of Skiva Trading, Inc., which is engaged in the marketing and trading of construction materials, bunker oil, turboprop aircraft and solid waste management. She also manages Dynamic DD International Productions, a company that produces concerts and theater shows. She is a super mom to her three children – Diamond, 19, Champagne, 18, and Bobson, 10. On top of these, she is also a certified car enthusiast, being one of the few female members of the Mercedes-Benz Club of the Philippines.

Dinah’s car is as equally dynamic. Her Mercedes-Benz 230 CE is one of the nicest examples of the 124-bodies in the M-B Club. She acquired the 1990 two-door hardtop coupé last year from its first owner, a well-known male showbiz personality who converted the car to look like a 1995 model. During the updating and modification, the car also shed its factory two-tone paint for a monochromatic silver green metallic paint that is a forerunner of today’s chameleon paint, changing from silver to light green mist when viewed from different angles.

The paint complements the profile of this Mercedes-Benz, the lines of which are strongly angular yet elegant. The rakish shape is emphasized even more by the two-door coupé variant with the absence of the B-pillar and the increased grit of its C-pillars. Dinah views her car as both sporty and elegant, and many tend to agree with her. Even with the car parked, the Bruno Sacco-designed coupé appears as if it is moving elegantly swift, with only the rounded crevices of the alloy 15-inch M-B Type 3 wheels, covered with 195/65-15 Dunlops, breaking the angled look of the whole package.

The sporty elegance theme continues inside the car. The black interior is lavished with elegant zebrano wood panels. A Silberpfeil four-spoke wood and leather steering wheel adorns the dashboard and works together with a similarly finished shift knob, while black factory M-B Tex covers the typically firm but supportive seats. The interior has retained the Teutonic attention to design and function, which attracts the business side of Dinah, while the accessories speak of her femininity.

Choosing an M-B coupé powered by a fuel-injected 2.3-liter SOHC 4-cylinder engine is a testament to Dinah’s practicality. The 230 CE is frugal with gasoline, yet powerful enough to run away from the pack when Dinah stomps the accelerator pedal. When pressed, an uncharacteristic sporty growl emanates from the exhaust, giving the impression that this elegant middle-aged coupé is raring to race. An executive committee member of the M-B Club once drove the car and commented that the four-cylinder Benz runs like a six-cylinder, and his observations were confirmed by this writer after a brief drive around the Alabang area. The same M-B enthusiast also said that since the coupés are limited production automobiles, these cars have been given a higher performance specification and thus, a higher state of tune. The engine may have sporty pretensions but the dual-mode four-speed automatic assures smooth and elegant shifting, reminding the driver that this car was built for comfortable cruising and not for an impromptu stoplight grand prix.

Having owned and sold a string of two-seat sports cars (a pearl white 1980 Chevrolet Corvette and a red Mercedes-Benz 280SL) as well as a sporty car with a vestigial rear seat (a red Nissan 280ZX 2+2), Dinah appreciates the room inside her M-B 230 CE. She also appreciates the design dynamics that were incorporated into the car to give it a distinct personality.

"To me, it is the quintessential personal car. It is an elegant car that I would drive to my business meetings, as well as drive my clients around in. It can accommodate four adults in reasonable comfort while swallowing all my work and personal stuff," Dinah said. "At the same time, it is also a sporty two-door which jives with my sport-minded side and it gives me the power I need when I want to pick up the pace. And no matter how hurried I rush, I arrive composed, safe and confident. It is the car I want to drive with my family in it, especially on Sundays when my kids and I go to church. I just love this car, which I feel is the extension of my personality."

To paraphrase a line from the movie Forrest Gump, dynamic is what dynamic does. Dinah Dominguez may have found her match in her Mercedes-Benz 230 CE.