The untouchable North Expressway?

Most motorists were aghast with the decision of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to rollback only the toll fees of the South Luzon Expressway without touching that of the North Luzon Expressway, where most complaints have been aired on its toll increase, not to mention the greater or more telling negative domino effect that they can cause.

To begin with, the rehab of the North Expressway is still incomplete and motorists are still presently reeling from all the inconveniences that come with it and all the suffering that went with its snail’s pace of refurbishment.

Now considering that there are more inhabitants and more trade coming from north of the metro, the effect of a toll increase in the North Expressway has impact on more people and more goods and services.

What gives? What more when the North Expressway’s rehab is completed? The toll rates may just turn out to be unaffordable for the motorists and for those in commerce.

New Camry Has 55 Horses More

Double shots of XO kept on coming. There was no stopping the flow of this high-grade Cognac with Toyota Motor Philippines first vice president for marketing, Danny Isla, whose marketing savvy is greatly responsible for Toyota’s sustained soar in the sales charts, being around at the Westin Philippine Plaza for the glittering launch of the 2004 Camry.

What’s New In Toyota’s Flagship Model?

Let me start with a sensor that automatically operates the windshield wipers at the first sign of rain. There’s also a small button that releases an automatic sunshade, to protect the rear passengers from harmful sunrays. A clearance and back sonar sensor makes for safe and easy parking as it displays obstacles. There are also HID or High Intensity Discharge headlamps for brighter illumination with an auto-leveling function that ensure better road visibility by automatically adjusting the headlight’s position in response to the car’s movement. The seats are leather with the front equipped with power reclining, sliding and cushion vertical adjust while the rear seats are powered with the 8-way adjustment feature located at the center armrest. For added passenger safety, the 2004 Camry has dual front and side Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) airbags that are designed to deploy, cushion and reduce impact for passengers during accidents while the seats are engineered with the Whiplash Injury Lessening (WIL) concept — especially designed seat backs to reduce neck injuries arising from collisions from the rear.

In the heels of TMP president Nobuharu Tabata’s very confident speech, which included in part, "With the introduction of the 2004 Camry, we are making the best even better", are technical features that are bannered to spell nothing but top-level power performance.

The 3.0V variant has a 3-liter V6 24 valve VVT-I DOHC engine with a maximum output of 212 hp @ 5,800 rpm (55 hp more than its predecessor) and comes with a 5-speed automatic transmission with Super ECT.

The 2.4V and 2.4E variants are equipped with 2.4-liter 4-cylinder In-line 16 valve VVT-I DOHC with top output of 157 hp @ 5,600 rpm and come with 4-speed automatic transmission and also with Super ECT.

The Camry is vaunted to be the consistent leader in its class since its introduction in 2002 and has remained as the best selling model in the midsize luxury sedan segment so far this year with a 52 percent market share.

So what about prices?

The Camry 3.0V sells for P1,680,000 while the 2.4V for P1,480,000 and the 2.4E has a price tag of P1,295,000.

It is beginning to appear that power performance is the marketing focus of the midsize luxury sedan segment, what with the newly launched Nissan Cefiro and the soon to be released Honda Accord also having their focus on engine power performance.

New Folks — Different Strokes

In the late evening of the party that marked the "changing of the guard" of a carmaker’s representative company in the country, the new country manager wandered into a group of veteran motoring journalists, some of the last guests who lingered on but who were in their "last rounds" for the night. And after the usual introductions and light banter the journalists threw a "probing" question to the new top honcho, "So can we also go straight to you if we encounter any problems regarding your vehicles that would involve the media?"

The curt answer was, "No, you go straight to my media man. That’s what he’s there for, to take care of matters that involve the media. You only go straight to me when you want us to drink!"

Beeeep. Wrong answer! Trying to sound smart, but very wrong!

Well, I used to go straight to the former president for complaints that I receive in this column from owners and buyers of their vehicles, who, to his credit, acted positively on all of them and always in haste.

Being a hater of bureaucratic red tape, henceforth, I’ll just ventilate all complaints about their vehicles in this column and just hope the new president reads it.

It really takes all kinds.

Pit Lane Notes

The Hockenheim Grandstand was a sea of scarlet as fans trooped to the stadium to cheer on their hometown hero Michael Schumacher. It was indeed a sight to behold as the understandably predominantly Tifosi crowd joined forces to make the most massive human wave I have ever seen. As usual, Schumi did not disappoint. It was a phenomenal day for the World Champ, as not only did he equal his own record of 11 wins in a season, he did it AT HOME.

How unstoppable are Schumi and Ferrari? His magnificent driving instincts paired with Ferrari’s unfailing reliability is probably the scariest formula in sports today. His win at Hockenheim marked the 50th straight race wherein he did not encounter a technical failure.

Kimi Raikkonen actually looked like he was on his way to another podium finish, even setting the fastest lap early on in the race. However, practically right after his first pit stop, he encountered a left rear wing failure that cost him the race. He was visibly frustrated over the fact that he was so close to actually putting up a challenge for Ferrari only to be sidelined by something that could have been avoided.

Michael did not hog all the spotlight however, as equal billing was given to Jenson Button who, despite starting 13th on the grid, managed to finish 2nd, and he even went as far as saying that it was the best performance of his career. Rounding up the podium was third placer Fernando Alonso.

David Coulthard narrowly missed being part of that prestigious circle as he wound up in 4th place. No complaints from him however, because that’s the best he has done so far in the season.

Juan Pablo Montoya charged his 5th place finish on his bad start, blaming it on the clutch of his Williams-BMW. His stand-in teammate Antonio Pizzonia, who is subbing for the injured Ralf Schumacher, came in 7th place with Mark Webber squeezing by him to finish at 6th. Takuma Sato salvaged the remaining championship point by finishing 8th.

I’m going to get flak again for what I’m going to say, especially from the countless Schumi fans. There are just a few more records left for him to break. One is Ayrton Sena’s most number of pole starts, which he still has to top. But when all have been surpassed, for the sake of the sport, I think it’s time for Formula One’s undisputed wonder boy to retire. It’s really getting to be boring. He should quit while he’s ahead rather than when the young ones start to ripe. That way his mystique shall stay and so would Formula One’s.

Motoring Tip Of The Week

Putting on your signal lights or making hand signals are just manifestations of your intention to make a turn or move your vehicle to the direction you are specifying and not a declaration of your right to do so, as what many drivers, especially those in public transport think.

After you have manifested your intention to move and at what direction, it is still your responsibility to make sure that the other drivers have given way for you to make the move before you do so, instead of having a mind-set that you can move or turn as you desire because you have made a hand signal or you have put on your signal lights.

Happy Motoring!!!

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