Click on by if this doesn't mean much to you, but it makes an interesting comparison for me when I read UK posters' views.
Living as I do in Asia I am always in awe of the respect for detail and doing things right which permeates the various regional cultures, and the auto industry is no exception.
Got something to crow about. As a result of new excise tax regs favoring locally built cars vs imports, tax on which is set to rise drastically, prices in the Land of Sun and Fun will come down about 3% next week .
Along with that and discount for cash I shall be driving away next week in a nice new Philippines built Ford Lynx 1.3 (Mazda-derived engine) fuel-injected with M/T, silver-gold metallic, proper full size car and the normal goodies for about GBP6,300 in recently appreciated Pounds against the Peso from the Growler Inc offshore slush fund my accountant doesn't know about and my ex-wife only suspects exists but can't prove.
That price includes comp insurance for one year at GBP314, 1 year's reg at GBP 28, 2 years' Ford Breakdown service, 2 years or 50,000 km warranty, a warning triangle, a birthday card annually and a first aid kit. Here the car is insured not the driver so the unexpired portion of a policy is saleable when it comes time to part.
Growlette my partner has had a trouble-free Lynx for nearly 2 years so I feel confident.
...and guess what? It has a proper cassette player......now where are my Willie and Waylon tapes...... and to top it all the delectable Gladys my saleslady threw in a bottle of Wynne's Bin 444, my favourite medication for all occasions whether it be to celebrate or to provide balm for the soul in times of adversity..
** all conversions at PHP89.00 = GBP1.00
www.ford.com.ph
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Growler,
Nice new car - Willie singing Georgia - cruisin' round the bay?
Paradise?
Matt35.
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Looks good to me, but can't work out what bits are shared on our models.
How affordable is the car, to the local 'man in the street', though, Growler?
VB
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Indeed, you can't make between-country comparisons on just one thing.
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Your average professional family man two kids will be buying this on 2 years' credit.
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Haven't a clue actually, but have to poke my oar in - are they just jealous G?
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Like I said HF, they could have DC'd.....
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Excuse ignorance please - what is DC? (feeling very apprehensive now at being butt of laughter)
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Beg pardon ma'am, I missed your question. DC=Don't Click.
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Hardly!
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Looks like a very nice car, especially the interior, I love the light colours.
Is that the replacement for the F150 Growler? I'm guessing it's a stop gap or something 'cos it's a pretty big change from the F150! :-)
Blue
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Ah, Blue Oval and self-confessed Ford-o-Phile, you have rumbled me. Please come forward to the front of the class.
Last month alas my F-150 was written off in an accident. Until the insurance comes through and I get my Hummer I am compelled to join Joe Six-Pack and shoehorn myself into a family sedan.. No I don't mean that, it's actually a neat little car and at current knock-down prices with the Peso going south even as we speak and the Nelson nudging record highs at the same time it's a bargain.
Added to which Gladys my saleslady has this disconcerting habit of leaning across to point out some feature of importance; said features of importance include a glimpse of her knickers as she attempts to explain the unique location of the cupholders and the little tray for the tollway money. Closing the deal after all that is a mere formality. Oh, what, a test drive? OK then.
Actually a very nice little car is the Lynx. I don't know how they do it for the money.
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Wow, sounds like you've got a good garage there. :-)
I reckon they really do seem good value for the package that you get. At least it's not too small, if you were in the UK and in a courtesy car you would be in a 1.0 Corsa right now!
Now, after this relaxed driving of older cars, it's time to start stressing about car theft and hi-jackings along with parking dings and poor quality oils and fuels again! ;-)
Enjoy it!
Blue
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It's actually gotten a bit better today as well. Gladys has texted me to say they have got the new excise figures from the Revenue today starting Oct 5th which will favor locally built cars over imported and the car has now gone down from P575,000 to P540,000. At the same time she has got a better insurance deal and meanwhile the Pound is nudging 92 Pesos. So £5,870 for the car, and £215 for the insurance. And...wait for it......I've gone for the Magic Dark Tint # 3, that's the one way stuff which lightens in the evenings and darkens in the day. That'll annoy a couple of posters who shall remain nameless (TIC only).
Now I have to pay grease money, er, sorry, I mean a facilitation fee, to the Land Transport Office so I can get a plate ending with a different number than the other car (we have a "bad number day" system here) so both vee-hickles are not off the road on the same day of the week. You used to get any number you wanted until someone realised they were missing out on a personal financial enhancement opportunity, but that's the way of the (third) world.
Not a bad week's work really.
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Well the indomitable spirit of Henry lives on despite the $3b his descendents recently took out of the business.
By which I mean Gladys has texted me to tell me the price is now P525,000 provided I take the black. I'm saying isn't this great while Growlette who has a far more pragmatic approach says you didn't negotiate enough you could have got it lower and I saw you looking at Gladys's legs nag nag...
I shall post (again DC if no interest) on my upcoming experiences with what I feel to be a very nicely presented little car at a very fair price.
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Bin 444 + Gladys' legs + tinted glass, sounds a steal to me G. I think you should pay more!!!
Happy Motoring Phil I
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Tell you what mate Bin 444 goes for about 3 quid a bottle here and after a few of those served up in the fake Italian crystal the world begins to look a better place even to us exiled pensioners in the abandoned colonies. Maybe I should send a case to IDS this week via DHL to cheer up Her Majesty's Opposition in its ceaseless and diligent quest to scale new peaks of , er, new peaks of what..?.
But to the Lynx: I am impressed with Ford Philippines' attention to detail and customer satisfaction -- Gladys' taste in Victoria's Secret aside. They could have said hey these gov't regs in flux due to new regs mean we could pocket a few bucks, the customer will never know, he signed up for "x" anyway on the purchase contract and that's what he's expecting to pay. But they didn't do that, they factored all the tax changes into the final price I will pay next Saturday and they texted me 3 times with the updated invoice bottom line, each time it was less than before.
I call that an admirable way of doing business. This is the 3rd vehicle I have similarly bought from Ford locally and I like their style.
...actually Gladys I think the red looks better on you than the black, especially for evening wear. Can we talk about that after you finish work.....
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Yesterday it all came together and I now have this little baby, in metallic black. The assiduous Gladys having been on my back for a week (professionally speaking) to hold off buying the gold-y one because she was expecting a new batch of Lynxes from the plant in Laguna (nothing to do with voitures des grenouilles, but a place name) which would benefit not only from the gov't's excise tax reduction, but also Ford's Hallowe'en promo (I kid you not).
Provided I liked black. At first I thought she might have meant a seasonal shade of orange, but black it was in Henry's finest traditions. If it's cheaper so what?
So this meant a further reduction on the price of about 2%. And a krooklok and first aid kit thrown in + a year's Ford roadside assistance. Next thing was the money. Nobody changes money at a bank here, they take it out of the bank then go to a moneychanger.
HSBC must have it in for me since the Ben Franklins they dished out had a lot of the 1996 issue of US$100 bills. Now these are not popular because the market is supplied with a steady stream of look-alikes from neighboring Indonesia and Thailand from enterprising chaps who are dab hands with a scanner and an ink-jet printer. So much so that their enterprising spirit has caused the US Treasury to redesign their C notes.
So there is me on a Monday a.m. in stifling humidity and 36 C riding around from money changer to money changer on my Honda with several years' income for the average family poking out of my hip pocket and glad of my foresight in bringing my Mace canister with me just in case with a load of US currency regarded as worthless.
Eventually a trip back to HSBC and they exchanged the offending bills with 2000 year ones. Meanwhile the Peso had dropped in the market against the US in the preceding few hours by a few points, so the original problem was now an actual benefit. Then a very large envelope of local currency stuffed under the t-shirt and off to Ford. All in all a sweaty morning's work had netted a "profit" of $85 along with about another $200 reduction on the car since the original order.
Definitely different from buying a car off one those advertised on the BR! Sterling wise I have come in just under 6k at the present ex rate. This is 15% less than I paid for Growlette's Lynx 18 months ago.
The joy is I am now on the waiting list for my registration plates (can take up to 3 months) so am immune from bad number days and traffic enforcers for a honeymoon period.
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Sounds too much like hard work to me Growler, give me a BACS transfer anyday! ;-)
Pleased you got the car safe and sound though, when we gonna see some pictures of your fleet then? Including the battered old Honda :-)
Blue
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I will post a pic of da Lynx. I will ensure Catrina is in the frame to make it worth looking at, I mean it's only a car anyway.
The battered old Honda goes in tomorrow for some fancy work to make it saleable. I don't know who if anyone here follows Asia-Pacific history but the days of martial law in the Philippines are surely well known (some would say that was the best era) but there is a Swiss guy who used to do all the work on Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos' fleet and still does for Imee and Bong-Bong, their wealthy and to-this-day contentious progeny.
Anyway he lives down the road from me, we drink at the same German pub, and he says he'll fix it up.
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