Disclosure: GWM Philippines kindly lent me a 2023 Haval Jolion Supreme HEV for eight days. It arrived with loaded RFID cards and a Shell fuel card. AutoFun Philippines paid for a carwash. When I was a kid, I swore by one specific brand of orange juice (which I shall not name, but it’s a brand that’s beloved by many). I simply could not have a meal without this overly sugary beverage that greatly contributed to my, shall we say, “portly” physique in grade school. And it had so many artificial ing

Mazda fans, rejoice! Mazda Philippines has given the 2024 Mazda3 a quiet update, giving the vehicle more human-centric technologies and promoting the brand’s Jinbai-Ittai philosophy while reinforcing the car as one of the most feature-packed in its segment. Enhanced connectivity Enhancements to the 2024 Mazda3 start with its bigger Mazda Connect infotainment system. From its original 8-inch configuration, the Japanese automaker has given the vehicle a much larger 10.25-inch display with better g

Hybrid vehicles are becoming popular in the Philippine market, with more and more automakers bringing their examples to the car-buying public. We have recent entries into the segment from the Chinese such as the Haval Jolion (Specs | News) and Haval H6, and even more from the Japanese, such as the Toyota Corolla, Corolla Cross, RAV4, Zenix, Yaris Cross, and Nissan Kicks, each trying to get a piece of the lucrative pie, especially with the ever-increasing fuel prices. While many are curious about

The hybrid crossover market in the Philippines is heating up, with more entries coming in, especially with the arrival of the Toyota Yaris Cross. It opens up the segment to more options for buyers, especially those who want a fuel-efficient vehicle. With that out, we will compare the Great Wall Motors Haval Jolion, a recent addition to the hybrid crossover segment, with the Toyota Yaris Cross to see which car will come out on top. As a side note, we are basing this comparison on the preliminary

New Zealand's drifting ace, Mad Mike Whiddett, tests out the new Mazda 3 Pikes Peak spec car at the Suzuka Twin circuit in preparation for the world-renowned hill climb event happening in June this year. The car is a Mazda 3 hatchback converted to rear-wheel drive and equipped with a twin-turbo quad-rotor engine and a six-speed manual transmission. Here's a video of the finished race car during its initial shakedown. Setting up the racecar The project for this particular race started in 2021, wi

Although the rear-wheel-drive Mazda CX-60 and Mazda CX-90 have been hogging the headlines recently, Mazda has another sharp-looking crossover. The Mazda CX-50 isn’t poised to take on the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz unlike its larger stablemates. Instead, it uses a larger version of the excellent-handling, front-wheel-drive Mazda3 platform and is a bit larger than the Mazda CX-5 crossover. But the mere fact that Mazda has just introduced the CX-50 in China and has assigned local assembly to th