Surfing, driving and riding with the Santa Fe

It is an experience many motoring journalists have been eagerly looking forward to have—“to surf and drive” in Siargao, the surfing capital of the Philippines, which according to top world-wide news channel, CNN, is one of the top 10 surfing destinations in the world, number 8, as of last reckoning.

HARI or Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. invited some 30 members of the motoring media for such a “wet and dry” adventure with the third generation 2013 Santa Fe, the mid-size SUV that is vaunted “to offer a ride tough enough to withstand everyday driving on or off-road yet soft enough to make you feel safe and at ease while behind the wheel or as a passenger.”

Siargao, which is a part of the province of Surigao del Norte, is about an hour and twenty minutes by plane. It is situated 800 kilometers from Manila in the eastern seaboard of the country and is bruited to have the largest mangrove forest reserves in Mindanao. With uninterrupted winds and current from the Pacific Ocean, which the island squarely faces, surfers find it a haven for adrenalin rush-inducing wave riding. 

HARI pulled all stops to see the successful staging of this event by chartering a SkyJet plane for the exclusive comfortable and convenient use by the motoring journalists and HARI executives to and from the tourist destination that’s beginning to titillate the imagination not only of world trotting surfers but also of adventurous tourists out to have rough fun in our pristine beaches and crystal clear waters. 

Wednesday morning’s NAIA domestic airport start of the 3-day trip was met by strong rains and the sorry realization that HARI’s lovely chief executive, Ms. Fe Agudo, though all set and ready the night before to be present during the much eagerly-awaited event, was feeling very much under the weather upon waking up and would not be able to join. Not much to worry about the foul weather in Manila as it has always been historically in reverse in our destination—“with bad weather in Manila, you can expect it to be sunny and bright in Siargao” said HARI’s very capable advertising and promotions top honcho, Paeng Batuigas. “But the presence of Ms. Fe in an important and exciting event like this would surely be missed,” he added. And I couldn’t agree with him more. Fe’s presence has always been known to add more luster to an already bright and exciting event. 

Dubbed “Live Brilliant Test Drive Santa Fe Edition”, the event was bursting with fun-filled activities. First was the surfing competition at the now world-famous surfing site Cloud 9, where the Siargao Cup surfing competition is annually held. The contest was among the motoring journalists, a lot of them first timers in riding the surf. It was a lot of fun for us fence-sitters including Star columnist Cito Beltran (a born “alaskador” who’s still cautiously treading through his daily chores after going an angioplasty medical process just a couple of weeks ago) watching our peers awkwardly fall almost every time they try to stand up on the surf board. But I’m sure our fun was not even half the fun for those having their maiden experience with the surf, though how small they were, being off-season. Eventually patience paid off for some as we saw them ecstatically balancing on top of their surfboards with close to an arrogant victorious stance—a welcome reward after a series of humiliating dives.

The first half of the next day was devoted to some CSR activity—mangrove planting, which was done almost at the backyard of the renowned resort hotel in Siargao, the Dedon Island Resort where we were all comfortably billeted. After the experience everybody felt nice having contributed in their own small way to the sustainability of our mangrove forest.

What came next was what all of us motoring journalists seriously came for—to test drive the 2013 Santa Fe and experience why various awards have been bestowed on this SUV for its outstanding performance and features.

The test drive was professionally supervised by the Roadwise gang of driving professionals lead by Vip “coach” Isada together with Mike Reyes, Bebot Reyes, Art Guevarra, et al. Being all veteran race and rally drivers, they know exactly what instructions to give the motoring journalists during the actual test drive in order to bring out the best of the Santa Fe for all of us to experience and appreciate.

Foremost of the many features that was demonstrated was the varied modes of steering that the Santa Fe offers to cater to the kind of driving condition that a driver is faced with, like highway driving with higher speeds, city driving with a lot of turns and parking and the normal driving mode for everyday travel. The array of features I recommend you experience yourself by actually test driving the Santa Fe in any of HARI’s dealerships all over the country.

Thanks to Ms. Fe Agudo for the invite. And for being well taken care of throughout the trip, we thank HARI’s Rich Manalad and of course Paeng Batuigas. Thank you, guys.

Not good enough?

In a recent Eco Fuel Run competition among motoring journalists organized by Eurobrands Distributor, Inc., (EDI) exclusive importers of Peugeot automobiles in the Philippines, the champion wining tandem of Manila Times motoring editor Brian Afuang and Sunshine TV (Motoring Today / Auto Focus / Business & Leisure) production manager Jenny Bleza registered an amazing average fuel performance of 26.9 km/L of diesel fuel driving the Peugeot 3008 1.6-liter e-HDi.

The eco-drive that was composed of 10 2-member teams was from the Total service station in Filinvest, Alabang to the end of the Star Tollway in Batangas and back. Each team was accompanied with a marshal to ensure that driving was done the everyday way with the aircon on all throughout the trip. 

But despite those astonishing figures and remarkable feat, EDI president and local auto industry icon Mr. Felix Mabilog surprisingly said during the awarding ceremonies. “I’m disappointed! I was expecting something better than what was achieved in Taiwan, which was 30 km/L. I know this car can perform better than this.”

No, my good friend Felix was in no way looking down at the remarkable eco-driving skills of the winners, he just has a lot more of confidence in Peugeot diesel-run automobiles.

His contention is that a car buyer has all the reasons in the world to buy Peugeot’s micro-hybrid vehicles—their fuel is cheaper than petrol, their fuel performance is unquestionably hard to match, they are environment friendly with 30% to 50% less CO2 emissions compared to any petrol cars and they are beautiful automobiles.

Now, how can one refute or contradict a well-respected, well-rounded industry veteran like Mr. Felix Mabilog? I dare not! 

Watch out for Volkswagen’s return

Our good friend Arnel Doria, who was one of the major movers behind the glory days of Honda Cars Philippines, is back on the saddle, this time handling the marketing reins of Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. (ACEI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayala Corporation that was recently appointed Volkswagen distributor in the Philippines.

The exclusive Importer Agreement was recently inked between Weiming Soh, president for commercial operations in Greater China/ASEAN representing Volkswagen and Fernando Zobel de Ayala president and coo of Ayala Corporation and John Philip S. Orbeta, president of Ayala Auto and managing director of Ayala Corporation.

For those who may be still too young to know, Volkswagen was very popular in the Philippines with the astronomical sales of the iconic VW Beetle in the 60s.

Volkswagen is on a comeback to the Philippines and likewise is Mr. Doria to the local automotive industry. Congratulations, my friend.

Volvo’s free horsepower tweak and body kit

No it’s not a misprint nor a misread. Volvo has actually officially announced that the S60, XC60 and the XC90 can now be had with “Polestar-tuned” engines as well as R-Design body kits at no additional cost to the buyer. What’s Polestar?

Polestar Racing is Volvo’s motorsports arm that’s also based in Sweden and founded in 1996. Polestar has competed in such series as the World Touring Car Championship and the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.

With Polestar engine-tuning, an S60 equipped with a T6 engine can have a power output boost from 304hp to a more muscular 329hp together with R-Design 18-inch alloy wheels, diffuser, rear spoiler, sport bumper, sport exhaust tips, sport gear knob and sport pedals and all these for free—absolutely nothing. And that goes for the other models previously mentioned.

Unbelievable? Check out the nearest Volvo showroom for details.

 Happy Motoring!!!

For comments email motoringtoday-star@stv.com.ph .