The truth about automotive reviews,...

[mazdamazda]

Ehem... ehem...

Trucks have Eco runs too

Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) has made February 22, Thursday as a "red letter" day for their Isuzu Eco Transport Seminar.

Using the Isuzu N-Series trucks, a fuel economy run complete with "technical training" is slated at the Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC) the whole day culminating in an Award’s Night for those registering the best fuel performance.

A Technical Overview shall made by Mr. Heinrich Lim, an IPC trainor to be followed by runs using normal driving habits and with fuel economy applications.

The Isuzu trucks have been bannered not only to have the best diesel engines but also as fuel misers. This is the best opportunity for IPC to prove their detractors wrong.

MOTORING TODAY By Ray Butch Gamboa, SPMJ
The Philippine STAR 02/14/2007

So... no articles about the "red letter" day of Honda or Ford or whatever? :rofl:

[mazdamazda]

As expected... Isuzu was included AGAIN for the nth time in RBG's weekly article:

Isuzu’s 1st Decade in the Philippines
To commemorate its 10 years of corporate existence in the country, Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) had a new logo designed by one of its employees through a contest. The IPC management decided to have the design come from within its "Isuzu Family" – "from someone who genuinely shares the ideals and aspirations of the company." Ms. Joan Lazaro, from IPC’s internal and quality audit came up with the winning design, which shall be unveiled in time for the anniversary celebration.

IPC has been "benchmark setters" when it comes to marking its yearly anniversary, which is marked July 31st.

In 2002, IPC staged a puppet show, which centers on the environment for the children Biñan, Laguna while at the same time provided two garbage traps for two Barangays in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, home of its manufacturing and assembly plant. The following year in 2003, 10,000 tilapia seedlings were introduced to the Laguna Lake to help boast the fish stock to the benefit of the local fishermen. In 2004, IPC donated a two-storey classroom building to the Binan National High School while in 2005 15,000 Narra seedlings were planted in the province of Quezon after typhoon devastation. Last year, it was Alaminos, Pangasinan that benefited from IPC’s anniversary celebration when it put up a 5-hectare protected mangrove in one of the fabled "Hundred Islands".

For its 10th anniversary, IPC president Mr. Yoshifumi Komura said, "For 2007, we will continue to give back to the community and to Mother Nature…by way of charity works and various socially relevant activities."

This will again be a challenge to IPC’s vice-president for corporate business division Art Balmadrid and his team of Timmy Naval and my "inaanak" Ronald "Isuzu Joe" Baladad to come up with such activities – meaningful and fun.

Advance congratulations to Isuzu Philippines Corporation for a decade of responsible corporate citizenship.

MOTORING TODAY By Ray Butch Gamboa, SPJ
The Philippine STAR 02/21/2007

[CarGuy]

Well,if he talks about articles being crappy,even if his articles also were,we could call him nuts

[flat_four_fan]

For the most objectives reviews just buy Consumer Reports. They actually purchase vehicles just for the sake of reviewing them. Most of the vehicles available here is there. Full details are included from acceleration times to decibel readings.

[drey]

For the most objectives reviews just buy Consumer Reports. They actually purchase vehicles just for the sake of reviewing them. Most of the vehicles available here is there. Full details are included from acceleration times to decibel readings.

I think that doesn't apply here in the Philippines.

[flat_four_fan]

I think that doesn't apply here in the Philippines.

Sir, Why not?...................

[niky]

It applies, but in a limited way.

Driving conditions are different here, for one... there can be cooling problems with cars in Philippine conditions that are not obvious in the US. And many "Japanese" cars sold in the US are partially or wholly assembled there, while many "American" cars in the Philippines are also partially or wholly assembled locally or somewhere else in Asia.

And there are many Japanese cars that are assembled in Asia outside Japan, too.

It serves as a good guide, though, but you have to be cognizant of the differences.

[daexecutioner66]

ang civic,lancer at sentra ay ilang generasyon na,kung mganda ang mr2 bkit inihinto ng produksyon ng toyota big boss.can u explain dis plzzz

[daexecutioner66]

oo nga pilosopo ang top gear nyan anyyabang.hndi ganyan ang reply ng mga pro publisher 0i4j[39itg them

[daexecutioner66]

npansin q s top gear,hindi cla pranka s car review.sbihin ang 22o n mbgal ang responde ng transmisyon ng sonata kumpara s civic(sorry poh).s europe,malaysia,ganun kpranka ang publisher

[niky]

No text-speak please!

ang civic,lancer at sentra ay ilang generasyon na,kung mganda ang mr2 bkit inihinto ng produksyon ng toyota big boss.can u explain dis plzzz

Because people don't buy cheap sportscars.

The Mazda Miata aside, most cheap sportscars introduced over the past twenty to thirty years have eventually died out due to flagging sales. The Fiat Barchetta, the MR2, the Nissan 200SX, the Solstice/Sky twins, etcetera.

People in this price market would rather get something more practical... ish... which is why the Celica and Integra held on in the market for so long.

People who do want sportscars are willing to spend more, and actually do buy more expensive and bigger cars, like the 350Z/370Z and the Mustang.

Sales are no indicator of how good a car is. Like I said, so long ago... if you went by sales numbers, the best bread would be either white bread or pandesal... which really isn't true. They're just the cheapest stuff that people want and buy.

[EVO-V]

I remember this article that Leo Magno, of the Philippine Daily Inquirer no less, who wrote about the 1996 BMW 316i. He was raving about how much room it had and how briskly the underpowered 1.6l engine performed. He rated it with a "pogi points" meter too.

Of course I realized later on that the guy is like 5'4" or something, in serious need of *** appeal, affirmation, and I can likely speculate that his last German car experience was in a Trabant.

[ghosthunter]

I remember this article that Leo Magno, of the Philippine Daily Inquirer no less, who wrote about the 1996 BMW 316i. He was raving about how much room it had and how briskly the underpowered 1.6l engine performed. He rated it with a "pogi points" meter too.

Of course I realized later on that the guy is like 5'4" or something, in serious need of *** appeal, affirmation, and I can likely speculate that his last German car experience was in a Trabant.

Personally, we shouldn't blame the professional "motoring journalists" too much on the lack of "honestly" when it comes to reviewing cars.

If they publish a bad but honest review of a car, he will suddenly find he cannot anymore borrow cars from that car maker for future car reviews. He would also suddenly find he is not invited to any future events sponsored by that car maker as well (this would include car launches, out of town test drives, parties, etc).

As mentioned, professional motoring journalists have to play a game where they have to keep their sponsors happy. Unfortunately this would mean the truth might be falling through the cracks and kept away from the public.

[niky]

Or you could do it Tito Hermoso style... hide criticism behind double-speak.

Really hard. You can tell who the really sensitive guys are... they're the ones who aren't lending us vehicles.

And I say so many nice things about my XUV.

[isa1023]

I've been writing for the motoring section of a local business daily since college and I've been there, done that, seen it ... with 'perks' coming from invites to auto shows, ecoruns, out-of-town test drives etc.

Everybody gets fair special treatment, be they from TGP, C!, PDI, Star etc.

However, motoring journalists (especially editors) have to be gentle on the way they write to the point of overrating just to make good reviews.

Not that they lie, they just exagerrate. They have to make good reviews in the first place else next thing they know, the newspaper/magazine runs out of ads from Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc. And yes, newspapers (like TV and radio media) earn from printing advertisements in their papers.

I personally know some of the editors on TGP and C! and they're nice in person (not really arrogant at all).

[niky]

Yup. You've got to pay to play. Unfortunately, the real losers are the automakers. Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. If you're so afraid of bad reviews that you cut ties to anyone who does one, your product won't be out there for people to research either in print or online.

All publicity is good. Look here. Someone bashes the Crosswind. Or the Civic. Or the Fortuner. Suddenly, there are dozens of people speaking up in defense of their car... hundreds of new readers attracted to the ruckus, and even some new people coming on to have their say. Might be bad for Corolla sales if someone says something bad (but Toyota, thankfully, is actually receptive to criticism as long as it's voiced properly), but for, say, a car that nobody knows about and thus nobody thinks about when buying, a little bit of buzz is a good thing.

Like say... this:



The Outlander is a pretty awesome crossover. It handles well, rides well, it's got bling and a Rockford Fosgate sound system, it has a good sounding and powerful V6 with a six-speed automatic. Sure, it's got its foibles... I don't know anyone who hasn't complained about the door plastics... but if you're afraid of a few zingers about crappy plastic and don't push your car, you're not going to sell very many of them.

I personally know some of the editors on TGP and C! and they're nice in person (not really arrogant at all).

Oh, Tito's a nice guy. It's just that his writing vocabulary is twenty times larger than most people's reading vocabulary, sometimes.

[ghosthunter]

I've been writing for the motoring section of a local business daily since college and I've been there, done that, seen it ... with 'perks' coming from invites to auto shows, ecoruns, out-of-town test drives etc.

Everybody gets fair special treatment, be they from TGP, C!, PDI, Star etc.

However, motoring journalists (especially editors) have to be gentle on the way they write to the point of overrating just to make good reviews.

Not that they lie, they just exagerrate. They have to make good reviews in the first place else next thing they know, the newspaper/magazine runs out of ads from Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc. And yes, newspapers (like TV and radio media) earn from printing advertisements in their papers.

I personally know some of the editors on TGP and C! and they're nice in person (not really arrogant at all).

This is not a criticism against the person labeled as "motoring journalist". It is more against the kind of written work termed as "articles" that gets published in the local newspapers and magazines.

Exaggerating the good while still stating the bad gives for a balanced article but that is not the case. Typically all you get to read are the good sides of the vehicle being reviewed and all the bad items are totally ignored and forgotten.

It might be fine if those bad points would be considered minor items like a badly designed layout for the dashboard. But sometimes these would have very valid points like lack of leg-room/headroom in the back seats or the poor stability of the vehicle when driven around corners.

[Type 100]

...And so the quest for no-bullsh!t automotive journalism in the Philippines continues...

One thing I also noticed in motoring journalism here is the lack of test instrumentation. Yes, yes, it used to be a tough job when all people could use way back when was a fifth wheel. Nowadays though, with GPS making things easier for car journos, I'd expect some cold hard facts to back up at least the dynamic behavior of a car.

I can dream I guess.

[uls]

[ghosthunter]

...And so the quest for no-bullsh!t automotive journalism in the Philippines continues...

One thing I also noticed in motoring journalism here is the lack of test instrumentation. Yes, yes, it used to be a tough job when all people could use way back when was a fifth wheel. Nowadays though, with GPS making things easier for car journos, I'd expect some cold hard facts to back up at least the dynamic behavior of a car.

I can dream I guess.

Actually real world technical testing are being done with the locally available cars. A GPS enable V-BOX is used for this.

Unfortunately the results aren't published. The numbers are only used for the Car Of The Year (COTY) awards done every year.