I’ve been to several MIAS in Manila before but the one here in Bangkok is much bigger and grander with each car manufacturer trying to out-do each other with big, showy booths.

See this video of the photos I got. These are just the cars and the show girls. I have a separate one for the motorcycles.

P.S. Ford APAC hosted our 4-day stay here which included the Asian unveiling of the Ford Ranger yesterday.

Sampaguita TV organized the event inviting all car manufacturers and dealers for an auto rally. It’s not really a race for speed but more of race for accuracy.

We were invited by Honda to be one of their 5 teams and drove a Honda Jazz 1.5.

The rules seemed simple at first but it becomes confusing and complicated when you’re already running the race. We were given a series of directional instructions together with the distance (in 0.1km intervals), landmark and suggested speed. We then have to compute how much time (in seconds) we need to get there and have to drive accurately so we get to the checkpoints on time.

If we arrived late, we get penalty points and at the same time, if we were early, we also get penalty. So this is like a precision driving competition.

Unfortunately, because of some confusion with the maps, we got lost and got off-roads into the forest. Worst part is we (somewhat) crashed our vehicle which rendered it un-usable (this is like part of a series of unlucky incidents happening to me in the past several weeks now).

We had to switch and use another car (a Honda City) just to finish the rest of the leg of our race. We still don’t know which team won but it will be a miracle if our team average will even get us some good over-all ranking.

A low floor and low center of gravity for next-generation hybrid packaging

The packaging of the Skydeck features a low floor, a low center of gravity and a compact, lightweight and efficient hybrid system positioned within the center tunnel. Thanks to these elements and a layout featuring independent seats in the second row, the interior of the Skydeck is exceptionally roomy and comfortable.

An aerodynamic exterior for sporty styling and environmental performance

Unifying form and function with a sporty and clean design concept, the Skydeck’s exterior styling appeals to every generation of driver and helps provide the outstanding fuel economy expected of a hybrid. Underneath, the body features a low and wide stance with an aerodynamic form; on top, its one-motion flow complements the expansive windows and sweeping roof. The overall impression is fresh, open and advanced.

An interior offering the finest in both exhilaration and utility

While providing exceptional comfort, the six seats of the Skydeck are slender and sporty, contributing to the open, roomy feel of the interior. The second-row seats are motorized, enabling them to slide under the seats in front of them, making it easy to get in and out of the 3rd-row seating. In addition, the slender design of the third row seats allows them to lie flat against the floor. When the four rear seats are stowed, the Skydeck offers a large, flat area for convenient, high-utility cargo transport. The Skydeck features scissor doors in front and offset sliding doors in the rear.

Advanced features—fun plus functionality

The next-generation instrument panel features an easy-touse, visually intuitive interface for more enjoyable driving.

The objective was to drive any of the Honda cars — Civic, Jazz, Accord and CRV — and use the least amount of gas along the way. Of course, there were tips given to us on how to achieve this.

Each team has two members, a driver and a navigator. I took the driver’s seat with the Honda CRV 2.0 MT. There were two legs of the race — one is city driving (The Fort to Makati to Petron NLEX) and the other is highway driving (Petron NLEX to Angeles City and back). Each stop is measured with the distance traveled as well as amount of gas consumed.

For the city drive, we logged 10 kilometers per liter while for the highway driving, we bumped it up to 14km/liter. Our overall average was 13km/liter. We won in our category by 1km/liter and also manage to land 3rd place over-all (the two Honda Civics won the 1st and 2nd overall).

Good thing the Honda CRV has a digital meter that shows you a rough average of your fuel consumption. I merely adjusted my driving speed based on the meter (which gave me an average 17.8km/liter).

The biggest lesson — driving at 60km/hour on a highway gets you the best results in fuel efficiency (others claim it’s supposed to be 80kmph). To make sure the highway patrol doesn’t flag me for driving below minimum speed, I always tail the slowest 10-wheeler truck in the rightmost lane.