The Unlawyer

Stand on any street corner in Metro Manila and you will immediately notice that hatchbacks are a rare sight. The overwhelming majority of Philippine motorists prefer sedan-style cars.

Yet hatchbacks do have a charm all of their own – ask the Europeans who like them so – and Mazda in the Philippines recently launched the third-generation Mazda 2 subcompact hatchback in this country for the 2010 model year. Philippine motorists once again have the opportunity to take the first crack at a car that drivers in the United States won’t have the chance to buy until later this year, where the Mazda 2 will be slotted for the 2011 model year.

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It’s model refresh time once again, this time at Honda as it revamps its CR-V crossover sport-utility vehicle (SUV), now on its third generation, for the 2010 model year.

Honda Cars Philippines originally planned to introduce this improved CR-V at Honda showrooms this month but apparently they were released a bit earlier than anticipated. Anyway, I immediately compared the 2010 Honda CR-V with the model I first blogged about, and quite extensively at that, in 2007, and I noted some changes.

What you are seeing here is the 2.0 V version of the 2010 Honda CR-V in Urban Titanium.

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For many motorists, crossover sport-utility vehicles (SUV) hold a special appeal because, as a Wall Street Journal article puts it, they “look like sport utility vehicles but ride like cars.” If you want the answer in more detail, here it is:

“The crossover combines, in highly variable degrees, the design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high ground-clearance, or all-wheel-drive capability of the SUV—with design features from an automobile such as independent rear suspension, car-like handling, interior roominess and fuel economy.”

In other words, a crossover SUV performs the function of hauling people and their goods from point A to point B in a sexier package than say an ordinary sedan, MPV, or a station wagon would. Whatever the reason, motorists have been rushing pell-mell to buy these vehicles, and manufacturers the world over like the German automaker BMW have responded to fill this demand, of which the all-new, five-seater X1 is its latest entry in this contest.

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I think it’s very unfortunate that only a very few concept cars get to be displayed on home soil for the benefit of Philippine car fans:

“Car makers use auto-show concept cars, usually one-of-a-kind prototypes built by hand, to capture the imaginations of the press and public with flashy visions of what might come tomorrow. Some show cars are pure whimsy, confections dreamed up by young designers at play.”

One such concept car exhibited in this country some time ago, and one that I was lucky enough to see with my own eyes, was Toyota’s A-BAT hybrid concept pickup truck.

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The 2010 crossover sport-utility vehicle (SUV) sweepstakes in the Philippines actually started late last year, in December to be precise, when Hyundai Motors’ distributor in the country officially introduced the second-generation, 2010-model year Hyundai Tucson to what I presume was an appreciative audience of company executives, press representatives, and other important guests.

The Hyundai Tucson was first launched in 2006 and, like its competitors, is based on a car platform, in this case that of Hyundai’s Elantra. It was the Korean company’s first time to venture in the crossover SUV market. In 2009 the second-generation Tucson was introduced. The fruit of the company’s German design studio, this significantly revamped vehicle now embodies what the Korean automaker calls “fluidic sculpture” in its styling. If you ask me, what this has achieved is to make this SUV look even more closely like its Japanese cousins.

On to the pictures of the 2010 Hyundai Tucson then!

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When I was still in university I was the lucky recipient of a first-generation gray Toyota Celica LT coupe fitted with a 2T inline-four cylinder engine and a three-speed automatic gearbox. By the time I laid my hands on its steering wheel it was already getting long in the tooth – it came with an AM-only car radio and an eight-track cassette player – but it was a welcome alternative to my usual ride, a taxi-yellow Ford Laser. That Celica was sluggish yes, but it gave me my first taste of automotive style.

Alas, that Celica’s various faults meant that I wasn’t destined to keep it for long. I haven’t driven a car that stylish since those days and nowadays, my cars tend to be more family-friendly than sporty.

Since that time, I have admired many sports cars, but only two have really caught my eye: the early, boxy Toyota MR2 and the Mazda MX-5 coupe. First introduced 21 years ago, this coupe is now on its third generation, and was facelifted for the 2009 model year.

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