The getaway

My good friend Albert Arcilla, president and CEO of Viking Cars, once told me that when the pressure really heats up, he plays Christmas carols, no matter the time of the year.

Albs probably realized it was a good time for me to play Christmas carols in the summer, so to speak. So he invited me and my husband Ed to test drive the Volvo C30, the “Car of the Year,” to a weekend getaway at The Boutique Bed and Breakfast in Tagaytay. Hmmm, after almost 23 years of marriage, Ed and I were going to sneak off for a night out of town in a room overlooking the lake called, “I Desire.”

We’ve taken trips out of the country together, but of course he didn’t fly the plane to our rendezvous, the way he took the controls of the Volvo to our Tagaytay getaway. And it was the first time we were going to be booked in a room that, instead of having a number, had a name.

That’s why I’m letting Ed describe our getaway and am not the least bit surprised that he chose to write only about the car. The rest, I suppose, will have to remain strictly off the record.

He says:

Think Volvo and what comes to mind? A refined luxury sedan that cruises with grace and quiet elegance? A car that is almost legendary for its uncompromising safety standards?

Well, think again.

Yes, Volvo is all that. But now it’s even got muscle.

We were given the privilege to test-drive Volvo’s new muscle car: the C30 Sports Coupe. One look at it and we knew this was a Volvo with more adrenaline pumping its 2.4 litre, 5-cylinder engine. The sleek, undisturbed lines were unmistakably Volvo’s. But the 3-door, swooped-down profile told us that this was going to be a drive away from the beaten path.

On a clear Saturday afternoon, we were off to Tagaytay for an overnight stay at The Boutique — a bed and breakfast hotel that was as avant-garde as the Volvo C30. Making our way through the construction maze of SLEX, we finally reached the Sta. Rosa exit. What better way to push this car than on the uphill climb to the cool summit of Tagaytay, we thought. What we did not expect was it was the festive month of May. And what do people love to do at this time? Why, close the streets for hour-long parades and processions; park their jeeps by the streets and clog up the lanes. And of course, they fiesta with hordes of neighbors, friends, and out-of-town relatives criss-crossing the streets; and bringing vehicular traffic to a standstill.

There we were, about 30 kilometers short of the summit. Crawling at 2 kph/hr. and with 10-minute standstills in-between. Traffic had backed up 20 kilometers long down the road. We could feel the car’s power growling and raring to race. But it was not going to be on that afternoon. That day, we instead discovered the gentler side of the Volvo C30 Coupe. In a three-hour traffic like hell, we felt like we were in heaven.

On another kind of car, try getting stuck for three hours in traffic and you would feel your body being turned inside out. The lower back begins to ache; the legs start to cramp, the pins and needles start to numb your feet; the neck and shoulders twist and twitch; and the fingers feel like you are arthritic.

The interiors of the Volvo C30 Coupe were probably designed for bad-hair days like this. The well-contoured seats would hug your body comfortably. With push-button ease, you could reconfigure your posture in the most comfortable position. At no time, did our lower backs ache. No sense of irritability whatsoever. Not even the seatbelts felt tight.

I could even watch the clouds form funny faces through the car’s sunroof. And with Volvo being virtually sound-proof, we enjoyed the full spectrum of its Premium Sound system (with MP3 compatibility) while oblivious to the chaos outside. The dashboard features of the Volvo were enough to keep us entertained: real-time information on gas consumption (we were doing 8 km/l), distance to travel before the car runs on empty and the temperature outside (it was a sweltering 37 degrees centigrade). The Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) that features rear-facing cameras help you detect cars moving in to your blind spot and alert you of their presence. I would think these are the next-generation side mirrors. Speaking of mirrors, there is an LCD digital compass at the corner of the rearview mirror that tells you at what direction you are headed. Of course, there’s my wife’s favorite: the vanity mirror tucked away behind the sun visor.

The Volvo C30 Sports Coupe has sensors to help you keep your distance from objects or from a vehicle in front or back of you. But what I really like about these sensors is the way they assist you in parking the car or making a turn.

The next day looked promising. It had rained hard so we assumed the parades were either cancelled or postponed to a later time. After a hearty breakfast and a good pep talk from the parish priest during Sunday Mass, we loaded our bags and headed for home. What a sight to see: the roads were virtually empty. It was going to be a great day for racing.

It was time to see what kind of muscle the Volvo had to show.

The car’s cat-quick response was absolutely exhilarating. We would overtake 10 cars in one go (mind you, they were going fast, too). And swerving, decelerating or stopping abruptly was effortless without slamming on the brakes or experiencing those annoying G- forces. Every minute was a temptation to take it to the next level. It was as if the car was begging to be pushed to its unexplored limit. If there was one adrenaline rush that I ever experienced, it was riding this Volvo with a blur of trees swishing by.

Midway on SLEX, it looked like we were putting the Volvo through every test possible. The rains began to pour so hard that visibility was almost zero. Yet, the coupe hugged the road with precision and confidence despite the flooded streets and treacherous construction barriers and detours. Through it all, we even got a free car wash.

The ride back was faster by 30 minutes from our usual trip from Tagaytay. It was good to be home. Safe and sound.

“Of course,” my wife said. “We drove a Volvo.”

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She says:

We return our Volvo today and I’m headed for the nearest lotto outlet.

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(You may e-mail me at [email protected])