Disclosure: SMC Asia Car Distributors Corp., the official importer and distributor of BMW in the Philippines, very kindly lent me a 2022 BMW X5 xDrive30d M Sport for five days. The test car came with a half tank of diesel and loaded RFID cards. AutoFun Philippines paid for additional fuel and a car wash. The notion of “premium” has long been a source of contention in various industries and ideologies. It boils down to this – what’s the point of paying more for something that can be bought for a

The BMW 3 Series has long been the benchmark for compact luxury sedans, combining superb driving dynamics with German refinement and quality. But in the Philippines, one rival beat out the 3 Series in the sales stakes. And it comes from Japan. Lexus Philippines said in a February 2023 press statement that the Lexus IS was the country’s best-selling model in its class in 2022, according to data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI). “Since the debut of its f

When I say my life revolves around cars, I really mean it. My day job is here at AutoFun Philippines, putting into comprehensible (and sometimes amusing) words the latest and greatest in the motoring scene, from road closures to the coolest electric vehicles. But on weekends, you will usually find me at a race track or a parking lot because, over the last four years, I have been an active racing driver. This story is about my last race of the 2022 season – Round 10 of the Philippine Autocross Ch

Larger vehicles like sport-utility vehicles generally fare better in road crashes because of the sheer size of the things. In the case of the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport, these two have the numbers to back that theory up. Land Rover Philippines announced in a December 2022 press statement that the two ultra-luxury SUVs got five out of five stars in the European New Car Assessment Programme’s (Euro NCAP) latest crash tests. A five-star rating signifies that a vehicle possesses “overall

Audi launched on Nov. 9, 2022 a facelifted version of its flagship electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV). Following some rather mysterious teaser photos, the Q8 e-tron (and its Sportback sibling) is finally out in the open and sports a more aggressive face. The previous model's boomerang-style headlights and heptagonal grill are still there, but Audi added some piano-black or silver accents and larger lower bumper openings to give it a bigger scowl. The side profile also remains largely similar,

Isn't it quite ironic that many car companies nowadays are more focused on providing the latest touchscreen controls, comfort features, cameras, and even electronic nannies and engine efficiency innovations rather than making their cars more satisfying to drive? Fortunately, there are a number of brands that still think that the act of driving should be an art. For them, driving refinement is a continuous process for improvement. And despite some of them providing luxury-levels of comfort and co