Ultra-luxury diesel This Audi A6 3.0L TDI diesel kept testers agog for most of the weekend, as it was the only Audi in the ultra-luxury category. --Jude Morte

THE Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi), an association of motoring journalists behind the annual Car of The Year-Philippines (Coty-P) awards, recently ate itself up in automobile avarice with its third luxury and ultra-luxury car testfest. Held at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club in Antipolo, Rizal on January 6 and 7, the testfest featured three vehicles introduced as 2006 models, with price tags worth five or six times a motoring journalist’s normal salary—the Audi A6 3.0L TDI, the Chrysler 300C V6 and the Mercedes-Benz E280.

As with the previous Coty-P testfest weekends, the third Coty-P luxury-car testfest featured an instrumented and a qualitative test. Number crunching was done via a zero to 60 kph acceleration test, followed by a test of 60 kph to zero braking ability, with each vehicle’s performance recorded on a current model GTech meter supplied by Speedlab and tabulated on a computer. Making sure that motoring journalists followed the rules of the testfest were Applied Leisure in Sales and Operations (Also) group members and former rally racers Raul Asuncion and Joey Lanuza as well as outdoorsman Ernie Reyes.

Once again, this writer was asked to quantitatively test (for both acceleration and braking) the vehicles present for a particular scheduled testfest weekend. With Lanuza as this writer’s test supervisor, he logged the following personal zero to 60 kph acceleration times:  4.452 seconds for the A6, 4.637 seconds for the E280 and 5.309 seconds for the 300C. He also logged the following personal 60 to zero braking distances: 14.5 meters for the A6, 13.5 meters for the E280 and 14.6 meters for the 300C V6.

E-Class excellence The E280 is Mercedes-Benz’s best shot for Coty-P’s best ultraluxury car award. --Ulysses Ang

The subjective test let journalists discern matters such as ergonomics, ride, handling, ventilation, safety, in-car entertainment performance and visibility along a predetermined route around Forest Hills. “The testfest course for Coty-P 2006 at Forest Hills has many steep uphill and downhill segments, twists, bends, S-shaped turns, curves and an occasional dip to test performance, handling and drivability. There is a flat straight of 400 meters where the acceleration and braking tests are done. The course is the moment of truth as it brings out the best—or worst—in every car that shows up for testing. Also, the testing area is isolated and distant from the golf course with no houses beside it, so no one is disturbed,” said 2006-2007 Cagi president Aida Sevilla-Mendoza.

The recently concluded high-end car testfest followed a price-based classification scheme implemented during the previous testfests. The Chrysler 300C V6 (P2.65 million) made it to the luxury-car segment (P2.6 million to P3.99 million), while the Audi A6 3.0L TDI (P5.35 million) and the Mercedes-Benz E280 (P4.88 million) duked it out in the ultra-luxury-car segment (P4 million to P6 million).

Now that’s gangsta The Chrysler 300C V6 that came to play in the luxury-car category also got the interest of many a tester. --Jude Morte

The next testfest scheduled on January 20 and 21 at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club will showcase the hypercompetitive entry level (P1.599 million and below) sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment, while the unveiling of the 2006 Philippine Car of the Year will be on March 7 at the Rockwell Tent, The Powerplant Mall, Makati City.

The 2006 Philippine Car of the Year is supported by Philippine Allied Corp. (Bridgestone), the Automobile Association of the Philippines, Petron, Rockwell Land, Sony Ericsson, the Manila International Auto Show, Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, eStandard Insurance, SGV and Co., and the Manila North Tollways Corp.

MAKING good on its vow to liven up the Philippine automobile market, Ford Group Philippines started the year with all guns blazing when it presented its full 2007 SUV lineup at a press presentation held on January 10 at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel.

AS you read this piece, this writer and his partner, Ira Panganiban of Metroactive and the Manila Times, will be in the final stage of the Petron Xtra Mile Challenge Media Edition sponsored by Petron and Honda Cars Philippines that began on Monday, January 8.

THE Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi), an association of motoring journalists behind the annual Car of The Year-Philippines (Coty-P) awards, recently ate itself up in automobile avarice with its third luxury and ultra-luxury car testfest. Held at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club in Antipolo, Rizal on January 6 and 7, the testfest featured three vehicles introduced as 2006 models, with price tags worth five or six times a motoring journalist’s normal salary—the Audi A6 3.0L TDI, the Chrysler 300C V6 and the Mercedes-Benz E280.