[bathala]

I'm surprised na may reservation fee. I went to the KIA-Makati (Pason Tamo Extension) dealership at yung ahente never mentioned na may reservation fee. I was informed though na last week of Oct (2004) ang next delivery which means mga around November pa ma-deliver. I actually filed na my car loan with them last week and got calls already from 2 banks.

I actually saw an orange (color keyed) Picanto duon sa dealership and I was able to scrutinize it. Unfortunately, I drive a custom made owner-Jeep all my life so I actually don't know what to look for in a car and the reason I'm buying this is because my wife wants one.

Some first hand comments though. Consider muna na I'm 5'8" heavy built person (200lbs) and my wife is a 5'6" slim person so Picanto really looks nice for her while it looks too small for me. Well, I got into the drivers seat and adjusted everything to my (uhum) size. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my wifes knees still don't hit the backseat of the drivers seat. The car is very comfy and the thing that really made an impression on me is that the car is so well designed that I can "feel" where the edges of the car is located, particularly where the front and rear edges are.

Of couse, my jeep's sound system is better and the accessories are pretty basic (only power steering is the only powered feature). Still, comparing it to my owner-jeep, its an upgrade particularly in style (my wife is a Project Manager and she's embarassed to be seen driving my Jeep. Hehehehehehe). :lol:

r/Alex

 

[bathala]

Yes! I'm getting my Picanto by 4pm this aftenoon. As in 30 minutes.

As jgotangco said, I reserved a manual transmision but I got an A/T model. Good thing kasi wife ko naman palagi ang gagamit. Bale ung unit namin is a Blue Diamond na hindi color keyed. I'll be color keying it next year pag-sanay nang mag-drive si misis. I expect kasi na siguradong magagasgas nya ung bumper.

May wierd thing pala. Here are the list of things na hindi kasama sa unit namin pero kasama duon sa first batch (ung showroom model na tiningnan ko 2 monts ago):
1. Trunk cover
2. Hub caps

And I also had to pay 1,500 for the Tinting and Floor mats.

I'll be driving this baby home tonight.

r/Alex

 

[bathala]

Ok. Been driving our Picanto named RUFUS (by my wife after Kim Possible's Naked Mole Rat) for 5 days now and it has been a very satisfying ride. Its really more value for our money.

I only have the following complaints though. Since I have NEVER driven an Automatic before ... I'm having some trouble driving the car:
1. I have to sit on my right hand, otherwise it would drift toward the gear stick and try to shift.
2. Its a bit disconcerting to overtake another vehicle when your running around 40Kph. To illustrate, consider the following scenario. So kakabayad mo pa lang nang toll gate sa Coastal Road. So you step on the accelerator and getting up to 40Kph. Unfortunately, may slow na truck in-front of you. So you step on the breaks and try to coast to the left lane to accelerate. Then you step on the accelerator and then ... NOTHING happens. As in uugong muna yung makina mo for a few precious seconds bago ma-realize nang transmission na you want it to shift to a lower gear para maka-overtake ka. After that oks na sya. Unfortunately, delikado ito particularly if your trying to overtake in a two lane bidirectional road (like Mc Arthur Highway or Aguinaldo Highway). So medyo ingat-ingat.

As I've said, we really like the car. Oks pa sya kasi I bought a new computer table and I was able to put it inside the car by transforming the whole back seat as the trunk.

r/Alex

P.S.
Isa pa pala, I almost got into an accident last night. I was driving along the new Macapagal highway to Coastal Road around 3am. So I was coming up into the right lane of a Ford Expedition then it suddenly swerved into my lane when I was right up to its side-mirror. Laking gulat ko and I had to step on the break while swerving to the right too. I honestly believe na hindi nya ko nakita.

 

[bathala]

Hello beejay168.

Hehehe. I have never floored the accelerator kasi nakakatakot. Why? Kasi ang bilis nyang mag-accelerate ano!

Consider the following situation, your in McArthur Highway or Aguinaldo Highway ang its a two lane road. Tapos your running at around 40 to 50 KPH kasi may malaking track sa harap mo. So you slowly ease to the left lane to overtake. Then you step on the pedal (kasi AT ang PICANTO ko) and it will wait for 2 to 5 seconds then the car will suddenly accelerate. I've tried this and the car jump from 50 to 100 while trying to overtake a 40 foot trailer truck. Factoring in the cab of the trailer ... i guess it was able to accelerate from 50KPH to 100KPH in less then 50 feet! B)

Considering I didn't even floor the car. It actually scared me kasi parang ibinabato yung kotse. :blink:

Was that the amazing thing you were talking about?

EDIT: na-realize ko na medyo exagerating na ko. Pero you get my point.

 

[bathala]

Naku! Thanks sa heads up about the ECU and road flooding ha. Thats something I have to remember.

Hmmm. So you mean if something happened and I have to cross a river or something similar (I'm planning on a trip to Samar sa holy week) and it damaged the ECU ... does that mean I have to replace the whole transmission?

Isa palang wento para sa mga PICANTO users. If you've been reading my posts, you'd know that I work in Makati. The most notable thing in Makati is how difficult it is to park your car. Unfortunately, middle management lang ako so I have to share my parking space with 4 other people. So most of the time I have to park outside the building or kahit saan basta maka-park (lalu na kung late na ko). We'll, I'm so happy (as my wife is) na compact car ang PICANTO. As in ang bilis kong mag-park at ang daming possibilities kung saan ako pwedeng mag-park (worst case scenario ko ay nag-park ako sa gilid nang hagdan). Alam nyo yung feeling na 15 minutes na lang at ma-late ka na tapos hindi ka pa nakaka-park nang kotse mo? My car actually save me from a lot of memo's.

May nakikita akong isa pang PICANTO na nag-park sa VALERO Street at night. Color keyed sya na blue at naka-mags. Kung sino ka man ... hello! B)