Fuel Drain

Some websites gives tips on how to save fuel while driving. Well I have my own set of ideas that might help you save some bucks out of your weekly refueling budget. These ideas are just plain out of my thoughts and I hope that they will be useful to some of you reading this most especially those driving in the Philippines.

Tip#1: Listen to Traffic Updates
Aside from listening to your favorite music from your favorite radio station you can also listen to traffic updates every hour or so. One good thing that happened to radio is the traffic updates. Although most reports are situations from major roads you can somehow make an intelligent guess on which roads might be congested. Like if you happen to be traveling near Ortigas Extension you can guess that a part of Manggahan, Rosario or Cainta will be congested if the report says that Ortigas Extension is heavily occupied. Then you can decide which roads to choose prior to entering these areas. So make it a habit of turn on the radio before leaving home.

Tip#2: Observe Proper Momentum
I used to live in Cebu and I enjoy riding in jeepneys to go to school. Most of the time the driver accelerates instantly upon picking up a passenger and then suddenly stops immediately when another passenger signals him to stop so that he/she can get off the jeepney. This high acceleration and deceleration rate loses a large amount of work exerted by your vehicle which in turn loses more fuel. So keep your foot light on the accelerator and friendly with the brakes.

Tip#3: Diesel is Power
Diesel engines has gained momentum in the market these days not only because that diesel is cheaper than gasoline but because engines are getting more efficient these days. Since the dawn of CRDI (Common-Rail Direct Injection) engines the emission rate of diesel decreased. You see lesser smoke and more fuel being utilized resulting to a happy driver.

Tip#4: Hang on to your brakes
During traffic, most especially during a bumper-to-bumper, most drivers are impatient by hitting the accelerator just to get about an inch of movement. Maybe the reason is the fear of being cut by another vehicle in the other lane. But to me it's another waste of energy and a price in the tank.

Baguio To Go (Part 1)

During the holy week of 2009 Me and my family went to Baguio together with my colleague and his family. We used my Father's 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero Exceed which was bought as a second hand imported from Japan. It was bought in Cebu and was already converted from right hand drive into a left hand drive vehicle. Because of fthis there are some things that's getting used to like the position of the hand break, the automatic transmission shift button, the signal light lever, the wiper lever, and the power windows. One bad thing about imported vehicles from Japan aside from being right hand drive is that the Users Manual is in Japanese that is why you have to press the unknown buttons and levers just to know what they are for. But eventually I was able to manage. We were supposed to leave around 4 in the morning but due to some difficulties waking up so early we left the rendezvous point around 5:00 already. That is why we have to endure the heavy traffic along North Avenue up to the North Express entry point. But the moment that we entered the Expressway the ride went smooth. A good thing when you're with your family and friends while traveling is that traffic time is shortened by a good conversation and a lot of laughs. It's not my first time in NLEX so I have no worries missing an exit. Besides, my friend is a very good navigator. He navigated our trips before when we went to unfamiliar places in Metro Manila and also when we went to Laguna and Tagaytay one time.

The road was wide in NLEX and was more wider in SCTEX. I never thought that I was already going 100km/hr in the expressway if it was not asked by my friend. This was the farthest trip that I drove and it was really a pain in the spine since you have to endure the long hours of paying attention to the road. I had the lives of two families at stake including mine so I said to myself that it would be better look at the road first than anything else. NLEX was not quite wide by that time since there were several vehicles that were traveling with us. Before, there was not much vehicles so you wouldn't notice that you are already doing more than a hundred so I would suggest you take a look at your speedometer most of the time especially when you are getting near the tollgate. The last time that we went here I had a hard time braking since I haven't noticed that I was so fast by the time I approached the Dau tollgate. Good thing that the brakes were doing fine and the tires were still new by that time. But this time this was not the situation due to that experience. My friend took care of the tollgate so I cannot remember how much we paid. We entered SCTEX via the Mabalacat exit. It was my first time to enter SCTEX so I was expecting a different situation since it was known to me that Subic/Clark were strict about speed limits. If NLEX is free flowing then you should consider SCTEX as a wormhole. When you get into SCTEX it's like its a different universe. The road is so calm and the vehicles are far apart from each other. I was cautioned by one of my friends that the place is swarmed by hidden speed cameras since he was caught red handed by the SCTEX authorities as overspeeding and believe me they actually take pictures as evidence so there is no alibi that you can think of when you get caught. Like the interstate highways in the US there is also a minimum speed limit aside from the maximum speed limit. It was really a bad thing that I can't find the cruise control of the Pajero since it was a very hard to keep pressing the accelerator with the proper pressure to maintain a constant speed. At many times I was tempted to go higher than a hundred but was afraid enough to get caught and spend more time processing to get my license back.

My Driving Experience

Hello everyone.
I am a concerned driver that is willing to share my driving experience here in the Philippines.
I've been driving since I was 18 years old and I enjoy driving.
My dream is to drive as many types of vehicles most especially the luxury types and the big ones.
If you ask me to grade my driving level from 1 to 10, I would say I belong to 6 or 7 since I only have a non-professional driver's license and am not able to drive those heavy utility vehicles like trucks and buses. But I am planning to upgrade it eventually at my next renewal of my driver's license.
The vehicles that I already driven were:
1. A stainless steel body jeep
2. Toyota Corona 1979
3. Mazda Familia 97 Edition
4. Ssangyong Korando (Forgot the year)
5. Kia Sportage (The old one)
6. Mitsubishi Pajero Exceed (1992)
7. Asia Rocsta R2
8. Nissan Frontier Pick-up truck
9. Chevrolet Venture

I'm gonna give you tips, tricks, and news all about driving in the Philippines.
Hope you stick around.