GAC Philippines recently invited us on a quick media drive with the 2023 GAC Emkoo. We took the brand’s latest compact 5-seater SUV on a road trip from P to P (Pasay to Pampanga) within one day. It was a great opportunity for us to test out the vehicle to see if it was really Emcool enough for us as a long distance road trip car. 360 Cam: Parking made easy Before the road trip started, we had a quick activity with the Emkoo to test its 360-degree camera feature, wherein we had to park the vehicl

DIsclosure: Ford Philippines took us on a two-day media drive with the next-generation Ford Territory. The company paid for all our meals and accommodation. Ford Philippines recently allowed us to test all variants of the Ford Territory on a quick media drive from Pasig to Tagaytay and back. Instead of taking the typical highway route to Tagaytay, we took the long way around which brought us through Tanay's mountain roads through Pagsanjan and then up the back roads of Tagaytay to get to our fin

“In this business, you gotta have a tough skin.” This is what Visor.Ph Editor-in-Chief Vernon Sarne told me at last week's BMW M2 launch event. Chief, as I fondly call him to this day (he got me to join Top Gear Philippines magazine as a cover photographer and writer back in 2010), has seen it all and has been through wars ordinary people would have waived the white flag early on. The mental and physical stress this job entails can be too much for someone who cares about his craft. So when we he

At Clark International Speedway, Car #150 and Car #214 line up behind the starting tree of the National Drag Racing Championship Series (NDRC). Car #214 is much like many other drag cars in the Philippines – a ‘90s Honda Civic ESi with a ram-air intake. Its silver trumpet sticks out of the right headlight like a monocle. Car #150 is rather different – it has a bulky, gray hatchback body and a turbocharged inline-3 engine. The lights descend the tree. Yellow, yellow, yellow, green! The Civic take

When Toyota Philippines launched the Toyota Raize, the Japanese automaker knew it had a hit on its hands. The subcompact crossover ticks all the right boxes for an affordable yet frugal car with the right features. Toyota was wise to bring in two engine options for the Raize as it is available with either a 1.2-liter naturally aspirated inline-3 motor or a turbocharged 1.0-liter inline-3 engine. Now that the crossover has gotten some time to settle in, many buyers are curious to know how much it

The fastest-growing segment in the Philippines is arguably the one most confusing – the Subcompact Crossover SUV. What even is it? It’s a minuscule SUV based on an already tiny Hatchback. Think high-riding Toyota Yaris. So why is it in demand? Simple: It’s an SUV minus the size. It affords people the Adventurer lifestyle without sacrificing practicality, ease of drivability, and fuel consumption. No surprise, companies that cashed in on the trend mostly come from China, a country that’s effectiv