New car

[Old55]

Spent a fair amount of time in a Toyota Raize and Honda CR-V last month in Cebu. The Raize was the perfect size but a bit noisy/rattle a bit choppy ride wise. The Honda is a bit big but much more comfortable and quiet. If we ever were to move to Cebu the Raize would be on my short list.

[Peaceful John]

On 4/21/2024 at 8:08 PM, stevewool said:

Just wondering is there any members have or been looking at the MG range of cars over in the Philippines, over here in the UK they seem to be lots around and I must say they do look nice too , and for the price you seem to be getting a lot of motorcar .

Steve, We purchased the MG ZS Alpha model about a year ago and we love it.  So far there's been no issues, reasonable price, very comfortable, and a joy to drive.  The only "con" we have is the distance to the dealership for service if needed.  A 4 hour drive for us, but so far it's not an issue.  At this point we strongly recommend them.

John

 

[hk blues]

On the subject of cars - I bumped ours last night!  I hate driving at night here as lighting is so bad and tinting makes it soooo hard to see.  Anyhow, I collided with a metal bollard passenger-side just at the guard house in our community - I was being ultra-cautious about the driver's side as there were bollards on both sides but obviously not careful enough!  

Cost of repair including paint etc will be 8k from Toyota - not bad IMO.  We decided not to use the insurance as the participation fee plus the opportunity cost of running around to organise etc etc mounts up and I don't want to wait weeks for approval.  I'm also dubious that the premium will increase (or at least our ability to negotiate discount) although they deny this.  

[BrettGC]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:18 PM, hk blues said:

On the subject of cars - I bumped ours last night!  I hate driving at night here as lighting is so bad and tinting makes it soooo hard to see.  Anyhow, I collided with a metal bollard passenger-side just at the guard house in our community - I was being ultra-cautious about the driver's side as there were bollards on both sides but obviously not careful enough!  

Cost of repair including paint etc will be 8k from Toyota - not bad IMO.  We decided not to use the insurance as the participation fee plus the opportunity cost of running around to organise etc etc mounts up and I don't want to wait weeks for approval.  I'm also dubious that the premium will increase (or at least our ability to negotiate discount) although they deny this.  

I had an at fault little bingle not long after we bought our Toyota.  Misjudged the turning circle and scraped the front RH bumper on a wall close to our gate - the joys of unfamiliarity of a new vehicle.  35K to replace/match paint etc as it was unrepairable - plastic.  Made the insurance claim, approved that day.  The only wait was on parts for about 2 weeks, 5k deductable.  Actual repairs took a day and most of that was the paint job on the new part.  Insured through Toyota's in-house insurance.  Even with the raised annual premium for the next year due to the accident we came out in front and that's since corrected itself with this year's reduced premium.  

As to the dark tinting:  Not that I drive much at night but it's the exact reason we went with the reflective coating (ceramic) rather than the dark tint as there's no reduction in visibility.  Cost us 5k extra but well worth it.  

[Lee]

1 hour ago, BrettGC said:

we went with the reflective coating (ceramic) rather than the dark tint as there's no reduction in visibility.  Cost us 5k extra but well worth it.  

Never heard of this reflective coating before. Is it sprayed on or applied like normal tinting or something else? Please advise.

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, BrettGC said:

I had an at fault little bingle not long after we bought our Toyota.  Misjudged the turning circle and scraped the front RH bumper on a wall close to our gate - the joys of unfamiliarity of a new vehicle.  35K to replace/match paint etc as it was unrepairable - plastic.  Made the insurance claim, approved that day.  The only wait was on parts for about 2 weeks, 5k deductable.  Actual repairs took a day and most of that was the paint job on the new part.  Insured through Toyota's in-house insurance.  Even with the raised annual premium for the next year due to the accident we came out in front and that's since corrected itself with this year's reduced premium.  

As to the dark tinting:  Not that I drive much at night but it's the exact reason we went with the reflective coating (ceramic) rather than the dark tint as there's no reduction in visibility.  Cost us 5k extra but well worth it.  

My back of a cigarette pack calculation led me to the conclusion that anything under 10k +/- wouldn't be worth claiming taking into account about 4k deductible and another 1k for time off work etc to organise then I'm estimating at least 1 or 2k additional premium taking it to about 7k. Our repair will be 8k so probably not worth claiming.

Yep...the tint. The only thing I'm not happy with and had I known (never had a car tinted before) I'd have either done as you did or cheaped out on the lighter tint - we got medium. I can only imagine what dark would have been - probably Stevie Wonder would see about as much as I would!

Anyhow, another experience of life in the Philippines at a not-so high cost.  (Still pissed off though!)

 

[BrettGC]

7 hours ago, Lee said:

Never heard of this reflective coating before. Is it sprayed on or applied like normal tinting or something else? Please advise.

It's adhesive and comes in various colours and blocks more IR and general solar radiation than normal tinting as well as the visibility bonus.  Ours is 3M.  Just as an aside, it offers the same if not more privacy than the darkest tint varieties and can be applied at the same level on the windshield as the rest of the windows. 

Not sure of the cost.  Toyota offers free tinting on their vehicles, ceramic on our SUV was 5K extra on top of that.  

[Lee]

16 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

It's adhesive

So its an adhesive film that you simply stick to the glass. Correct?

[Jack Peterson]

18 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

It's adhesive

 Any chance that will mess up the glass at some time in the future? Adhesive  sometimes  drys out and you may have to renew it.  My door trims did and it was a Job to clean the Paintwork up  

[BrettGC]

7 minutes ago, Lee said:

So its an adhesive film that you simply stick to the glass. Correct?

I'd assume so, I didn't install it.  

1 minute ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Any chance that will mess up the glass at some time in the future? Adhesive  sometimes  drys out and you may have to renew it.  My door trims did and it was a Job to clean the Paintwork up  

As much as any other tinting I'd guess, but time will tell.  I doubt the adhesive itself is any different to that of standard tinting so it depends on the quality of material and how well it's installed I'd say.  In our case it's 3M and they're not exactly known as slouches in that particular industry but we'll see. 

By the time I sold my Holden Commodore (Berlina) in 2017 it was 17 years old and had the original tint with no visible flaws.  I only know this as my father was its original owner and I bought it off him when it was 12 years old and without vehicle when I returned from the US.  On the other hand I've also seen degradation on vehicles less that a year old as well.