Over the last 16 months, my family members have ditched their cars and have replaced them all with Toyota Corolla Cross crossovers. When I say all, I mean five of them—mom replaced her RAV4, dad his Innova, sister the Corolla Altis, and auntie her Yaris. Even my niece swapped her Fortuner for one.
All of them have the same variant, the base 1.8 G HEV, and they chose only between the silver or blue color (avoiding the White Pearl’s P15,000 premium). This has started to create confusion as to which car belongs to whom in the garage. Not helping here is the fact that the plate numbers look alike and the keys are all the same!
Why this happened was simply born out of one reason: fuel consumption. Over family dinners, discussions sometimes veer toward fuel consumption of their cars, and while figures may deviate from time to time, it usually hovers around 20km/L—about the same as what a BMW R1300 GS motorcycle would get. And while the Corolla Cross’ personality is nowhere near as exciting as that of a GS, Toyota’s hybrid has its own set of abilities that make it perfect for day-to-day city driving.
OTHER STORIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:
There’s now a free tool to track fuel prices around Metro Manila
Nissan China is getting ready to export; what does this mean for PH?
Sure, the interior is quite sparse, the engine gets rough at high rpm, and the driving experience can be as boring as my dishwasher, but for a car to use so little fuel and still seat five passengers while carrying up to three golf bags is quite an achievement. Getting this sort of efficiency shows what technological marvels man has achieved. We have somehow defied the laws of physics and have extracted more energy out of a liter of petrol. And yet the most amazing thing here is how accessible hybrids have now become.
Recall back in June 2009, Toyota Motor Philippines introduced the second-generation Prius with a retail price of P2.25 million. Today, the Corolla Cross or other hybrid cars from BYD, Chery, Ford, and Nissan are all under P1.5 million. Yes, you can argue that today, there are tax incentives for hybrids, but I am pretty sure the advantages have been offset by the increased costs in labor and materials, as well as the rising foreign exchange rates over the last 17 years.
This week’s sharp rise in fuel prices brought about by the conflicts in the Middle East has brought to light the need to save fuel, not just in the economic sense but also in the social spectrum. I was in a discussion with a group of car guys over the weekend on this topic, and they all felt that it would be very irresponsible to continue using gas-guzzling cars with large-displacement engines during these difficult times even if you can afford it. Smaller hybrids or electric cars are friendlier and more socially responsible—basically making you one of the good guys and saving you money in the process.
Personally, I’ve always admired cars that get good gas mileage even if I rarely paid for fuel during my corporate days. I’ve always felt some adversity toward cars that consumed a lot of fuel, much like the Range Rover Classic LWB that I was given custody of for about a year. I absolutely loved that car, it felt good and looked even better, but the fuel consumption of the 4.2-liter V8 was horrible. It gave me about 3-4km/L, leaving a sense of guilt every time I filled up.
On the flip side, I had a Lexus CT200h for almost two years. It’s a small hatchback, a bit tight inside with batteries that were a bit heavy, so it didn’t really drive too well. But it had a hybrid engine. Too bad this was damaged when I was rear-ended on SLEX, but it always felt good seeing how many kilometers I got from its tiny fuel tank.
Having a fuel-efficient car sort of warms the heart, making you feel like you did something good to save the earth and cure the ozone layer. It was taught to me early in life that waste of any kind is bad, and I have lived by this for most of my life. Over the years I have developed a sense of responsibility to only get what I can consume and to maximize what we have, so it follows that having a car that costs more than you to feed is clearly a sign that your resources have exceeded logic.
On my end, the wife’s Fortuner is now eight and a half years with 60,000km on the odometer. Although it has not been decided yet, it may soon be time for a change. So maybe she will join the family bandwagon and also get a Toyota Corolla Cross, or she may even consider an electric vehicle. But whatever she chooses, it must get at least 20km/L.
