Last Saturday, someone from Hyundai called me up to remind me of the car's 5KM check. As soon as I got inside the car, I looked at the odometer and noticed that it was already at 4,920+ kilometers. The Hyundai guys have excellent timing!
So I sent the car to Hyundai on Monday morning. I had power locks installed so it took them longer to service the car. Mang Al left the car at the casa and Jojo, our service representative just promised to call him when the maintenance check and the installation were done. I also called up Jojo to check up on things and aside from giving a report (everything's fine) he also gave me the amount that I need to pay.
Mang Al said that everything was hassle-free.
I am so loving Hyundai!
And for those curious about the fuel consumption of the Accent - it's an average of 13.5 kilometers per liter. It hit 14 kilometers per liter before the rains and the flooding. Fuel consumption would probably be a lot better if I didn't have to pass through the bottle neck in Tandang Sora and the terrible traffic in EDSA from Kalayaan to Quezon Avenue 5 days in a week.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Rising fuel prices, 1,000km Preventive Maintenance Check and Mang Al's claim to Fame
There will be a P3 increase in the price of diesel at 6 AM this morning. CNN forecasts that fuel prices will continue to increase in the next 2 years.
My only comfort is that my Accent now has a fuel consumption of 14 kilometers/liter. Hay.
********
We sent the Accent to the dealer for the 1,000-km preventive maintenance check a couple of weeks ago (it didn't even take us a month to reach 1,000 km!!!) and it was hassle-free.
We called up the dealer a couple of days before our check and they already told us to prepare a specific amount (P2,630.55). Mang Al arrived at the service center at around 11:30am. He was able to leave by 2:30pm. Mang Al said that as soon as he arrived, Mang Juning (the car technician who was introduced to us by our agent on the day we bought the Accent) made an inventory of the things inside the Accent and drove it to the second floor where they service all the cars. Mang Al was instructed to pay for the fees, which he was able to do in several minutes. Afterwards, all Mang Al had to do was wait for them to finish the preventive maintenance check.
The 1,000km preventive maintenance check was uneventful but when it comes to cars, uneventful is perfect!
********
Mang Al tells me that he is now the star of every parking lot - it seems that a lot of people are curious about the Accent. He gets a lot of questions about fuel efficiency, the quality of the ride, the ease of driving the Accent and the efficiency of Hyundai service centers. He doesn't get bothered by all these questions and he says that he answers everyone in the same way - the car needs very little fuel but the torque is pretty strong, the ride is smooth (I never have problems sleeping or reading at the backseat during the 1-hour ride to the office,) the car is easy to drive and he didn't have problems during the 1,000km preventive maintenance check.
I guess he's happy with the car. I wish he's also happy with his employer.
My only comfort is that my Accent now has a fuel consumption of 14 kilometers/liter. Hay.
********
We sent the Accent to the dealer for the 1,000-km preventive maintenance check a couple of weeks ago (it didn't even take us a month to reach 1,000 km!!!) and it was hassle-free.
We called up the dealer a couple of days before our check and they already told us to prepare a specific amount (P2,630.55). Mang Al arrived at the service center at around 11:30am. He was able to leave by 2:30pm. Mang Al said that as soon as he arrived, Mang Juning (the car technician who was introduced to us by our agent on the day we bought the Accent) made an inventory of the things inside the Accent and drove it to the second floor where they service all the cars. Mang Al was instructed to pay for the fees, which he was able to do in several minutes. Afterwards, all Mang Al had to do was wait for them to finish the preventive maintenance check.
The 1,000km preventive maintenance check was uneventful but when it comes to cars, uneventful is perfect!
********
Mang Al tells me that he is now the star of every parking lot - it seems that a lot of people are curious about the Accent. He gets a lot of questions about fuel efficiency, the quality of the ride, the ease of driving the Accent and the efficiency of Hyundai service centers. He doesn't get bothered by all these questions and he says that he answers everyone in the same way - the car needs very little fuel but the torque is pretty strong, the ride is smooth (I never have problems sleeping or reading at the backseat during the 1-hour ride to the office,) the car is easy to drive and he didn't have problems during the 1,000km preventive maintenance check.
I guess he's happy with the car. I wish he's also happy with his employer.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sound Trip
When we were looking at cars, hubby would alwas check out the stereo system. His favorite was the stereo installed at Mitsubishi Adventures - it can play music from our MP3 players as it had a USB port. He also liked the touch-screen DVD player installed in Nissan Sentras.
Unfortunately, the stereo system in the Accent GL that we got didn't have these features. When we asked Hyundai if we can upgrade our stereo system, the person in charge of accessories explained that the only available upgrade that they had was the Pioneer model which was worth P20,000.00! We just decided to get an adaptor for our car stereo which I remembered cost only P500 at CD-R King.
The good thing was that the Accent's stereo could play MP3 music on CDs. During the first few days, we would burn MP3s on CDs. And the stereo played them - even the ones burned on old CD-RWs! We were happy using just CDs but when we went to Greenhills, hubby thought of getting the USB or MP3 adaptor. While I was in Concorde choosing rubber mats, he went to the CD-R King branch at V-Mall. While he was looking at the MP3 car adaptor (worth a little over P500.00), he realized that all we needed was an aux cable. When I met with him, he showed me the MP3 car adaptor and explained that if we got it, we would get a remote control with the aux cable. We then visited Ace Hardware a floor below CD-R King. We found an aux cable being sold at P60. We decided to get one. We figured that we didn't need an exta remote control as the car stereo already had one.
The next day, we tried using hubby's MP3 player on the car stereo using the aux cable. It worked!
As I went to bed that night, I was just so happy that we didn't get the P20,000-upgrade.
Unfortunately, the stereo system in the Accent GL that we got didn't have these features. When we asked Hyundai if we can upgrade our stereo system, the person in charge of accessories explained that the only available upgrade that they had was the Pioneer model which was worth P20,000.00! We just decided to get an adaptor for our car stereo which I remembered cost only P500 at CD-R King.
The good thing was that the Accent's stereo could play MP3 music on CDs. During the first few days, we would burn MP3s on CDs. And the stereo played them - even the ones burned on old CD-RWs! We were happy using just CDs but when we went to Greenhills, hubby thought of getting the USB or MP3 adaptor. While I was in Concorde choosing rubber mats, he went to the CD-R King branch at V-Mall. While he was looking at the MP3 car adaptor (worth a little over P500.00), he realized that all we needed was an aux cable. When I met with him, he showed me the MP3 car adaptor and explained that if we got it, we would get a remote control with the aux cable. We then visited Ace Hardware a floor below CD-R King. We found an aux cable being sold at P60. We decided to get one. We figured that we didn't need an exta remote control as the car stereo already had one.
The next day, we tried using hubby's MP3 player on the car stereo using the aux cable. It worked!
As I went to bed that night, I was just so happy that we didn't get the P20,000-upgrade.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Powerless Locks and Langgonisa-looking seats
The Accent came in 2 models - the Accent GL and the Accent GLS.
They have the same body and the same engine. The difference was in the accessories - for P88,000 more, you get bigger tires (15" instead of 14"), 6 speakers instead of 4, power locks, power windows, power side mirrors, leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped shift knob and keyless entry with alarm. Plus, you get to choose the color of your car. The GL only came in white.
Since I wanted a white car (while surfing on the net for information on fuel efficiency, I came across a study concluding that the accident-risk is lower for white cars than colored ones,) and the only accessory we were interested in was the power locks, we got the Accent GL. Hubby wanted a silver Accent but when he learned of the additional P88,000, he suddenly discovered the beauty of white on cars and became a supporter of lowering accident-risks.
Since I really wanted power locks, I asked our sales agent if the 5-year warranty would be affected if we had power locks installed. He said that the warranty would not be affected if we had it installed at their service center. When asked about the cost of installation, he said that it would probably be around P800.00.
He was wrong.
On 05 June, I dropped by Banawe to buy a power lock mechanism from hubby's friend. It was less than P1000.00! When I got to the office, I instructed Mang Al to take the car to the Hyundai service center in front of our office building to have the power locks installed. The service center refused to install them - they said that they need to be installed by the service center of the dealer where we purchased the car. They were afraid that we would lose the warranty on our electrical connections if they installed the power locks for us. I didn't mind - we got the Accent from a dealer which was located 5 minutes away from our house.
2 days later, I sent Mang Al to Hyundai Commonwealth. He was told that the warranty on the electrical connections would be voided since we didn't buy the locks from them (their power locks cost P4,500!!!). When we explained what our sales agent told us, they backtracked and said that the warranty on electrical connections would not become void but the warranty wouldn't cover the power locks (duh!) But, we needed to pay them P2,100. They explained that power locks were difficult to install.
My eyebrows went up the roof! Their installation fee was excessive!!! It was almost 3x the cost of the mechanism that they were supposed to install. I also knew that power locks were easy to install. When I complained to our sales agent, he said that he'll try to get us a discount. I just instructed Mang Al to go home. I would probably have them installed when we bring the Accent to the service center for its 1,000km-check.
While I was talking to our sales agent, he mentioned that he'd have our car seats installed so that Mang Al's trip to the service center would not be wasted. And so, when Mang Al arrived, I immediately looked at the seats and saw that the seatcovers were so tight that they made the seats looked like a 180-pound penguin wearing skinny jeans! Oh well, I couldn't complain as I didn't have to pay for the seat covers.
I guess the seats would just have to go on a diet.
They have the same body and the same engine. The difference was in the accessories - for P88,000 more, you get bigger tires (15" instead of 14"), 6 speakers instead of 4, power locks, power windows, power side mirrors, leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped shift knob and keyless entry with alarm. Plus, you get to choose the color of your car. The GL only came in white.
Since I wanted a white car (while surfing on the net for information on fuel efficiency, I came across a study concluding that the accident-risk is lower for white cars than colored ones,) and the only accessory we were interested in was the power locks, we got the Accent GL. Hubby wanted a silver Accent but when he learned of the additional P88,000, he suddenly discovered the beauty of white on cars and became a supporter of lowering accident-risks.
Since I really wanted power locks, I asked our sales agent if the 5-year warranty would be affected if we had power locks installed. He said that the warranty would not be affected if we had it installed at their service center. When asked about the cost of installation, he said that it would probably be around P800.00.
He was wrong.
On 05 June, I dropped by Banawe to buy a power lock mechanism from hubby's friend. It was less than P1000.00! When I got to the office, I instructed Mang Al to take the car to the Hyundai service center in front of our office building to have the power locks installed. The service center refused to install them - they said that they need to be installed by the service center of the dealer where we purchased the car. They were afraid that we would lose the warranty on our electrical connections if they installed the power locks for us. I didn't mind - we got the Accent from a dealer which was located 5 minutes away from our house.
2 days later, I sent Mang Al to Hyundai Commonwealth. He was told that the warranty on the electrical connections would be voided since we didn't buy the locks from them (their power locks cost P4,500!!!). When we explained what our sales agent told us, they backtracked and said that the warranty on electrical connections would not become void but the warranty wouldn't cover the power locks (duh!) But, we needed to pay them P2,100. They explained that power locks were difficult to install.
My eyebrows went up the roof! Their installation fee was excessive!!! It was almost 3x the cost of the mechanism that they were supposed to install. I also knew that power locks were easy to install. When I complained to our sales agent, he said that he'll try to get us a discount. I just instructed Mang Al to go home. I would probably have them installed when we bring the Accent to the service center for its 1,000km-check.
While I was talking to our sales agent, he mentioned that he'd have our car seats installed so that Mang Al's trip to the service center would not be wasted. And so, when Mang Al arrived, I immediately looked at the seats and saw that the seatcovers were so tight that they made the seats looked like a 180-pound penguin wearing skinny jeans! Oh well, I couldn't complain as I didn't have to pay for the seat covers.
I guess the seats would just have to go on a diet.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Getting an Accent
Th next day, we got our Accent.
I was a bit peeved at our sales agent when he charged us nearly 20T for insurance. I thought that the Accent came with a free comprehensive insurance if we got their in-house financing. It turns out that it was the Getz that came with a free comprehensive insurance. We only got a free TPL with the Accent, which of course, we didn't need because the loan we took for the Accent required a comprehensive insurance. The sales agent just subtracted the cost of the TPL from the comprehensive insurance.
It took us more than an hour to sign the documents. I was still uneasy about our purchase as I kept on worrying about not being able to sleep at the backseat because of the vibrations.
I had no reason to worry. The car rode even smoother than the test drive - it was explained to us that cars in showrooms had more air in the wheels than necessary as this made the wheel look rounder.
That day, the Accent made its first trip to my office. It felt wonderful!
On my way home, I heard a sound of metal hitting against another metal. I started to worry again until I noticed that the sound was coming from the small bell attached to my phone. I then fell asleep knowing that there was nothing wrong with the Accent, the fault was with me - I was too paranoid.
I was a bit peeved at our sales agent when he charged us nearly 20T for insurance. I thought that the Accent came with a free comprehensive insurance if we got their in-house financing. It turns out that it was the Getz that came with a free comprehensive insurance. We only got a free TPL with the Accent, which of course, we didn't need because the loan we took for the Accent required a comprehensive insurance. The sales agent just subtracted the cost of the TPL from the comprehensive insurance.
It took us more than an hour to sign the documents. I was still uneasy about our purchase as I kept on worrying about not being able to sleep at the backseat because of the vibrations.
I had no reason to worry. The car rode even smoother than the test drive - it was explained to us that cars in showrooms had more air in the wheels than necessary as this made the wheel look rounder.
That day, the Accent made its first trip to my office. It felt wonderful!
On my way home, I heard a sound of metal hitting against another metal. I started to worry again until I noticed that the sound was coming from the small bell attached to my phone. I then fell asleep knowing that there was nothing wrong with the Accent, the fault was with me - I was too paranoid.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Goodbye Nissan, Hello Hyundai!
After 3 faithful years of service, we had to let go of our Nissan Sentra. It was truly reliable - it never failed to bring me to the office and back home. The repairs it required were expected and the ride was pretty smooth. It was just becoming gasoline-hungry through time. For a person who travels an average of 55 kilometers a day, a 6-7km/liter gasoline consumption was just not acceptable.
And so, we started window shopping for cars. We were looking for something inexpensive (not more than P750,000.00), with a 1.5-liter engine or stronger, spacious and fuel efficient. We looked at the Toyota Vios (felt a little bit claustrophobic at the backseat), Toyoat Avanza (only the 1.3-liter models were within our budget), the Adventure GLS Sport Diesel (I loved this one even if it looked like a public utility vehicle), the Hyundai Getz (not enough trunk space) and the Hyundai Accent.
Afeter a week of visiting car dealers, we were down to 2 choices - the Adventure and the Accent. Reviews of the Adventure were pretty good - most owners were happy with their purchase. There was very little information on the performance of the Accent in the Philippines. The car reviews I found were not from actual owners. I just had to be content with the reviews from other countries and the assurance that the Accent's enginge, CRDi is reliable.
We chose the Accent mainly because it was said to be fuel efficient. And so on 03 June 2008, we sold off our Nissan Sentra and signed a purchase order for the Accent. That night, I coudn't sleep. I dreamt of diesel engines with strong vibrations.
And so, we started window shopping for cars. We were looking for something inexpensive (not more than P750,000.00), with a 1.5-liter engine or stronger, spacious and fuel efficient. We looked at the Toyota Vios (felt a little bit claustrophobic at the backseat), Toyoat Avanza (only the 1.3-liter models were within our budget), the Adventure GLS Sport Diesel (I loved this one even if it looked like a public utility vehicle), the Hyundai Getz (not enough trunk space) and the Hyundai Accent.
Afeter a week of visiting car dealers, we were down to 2 choices - the Adventure and the Accent. Reviews of the Adventure were pretty good - most owners were happy with their purchase. There was very little information on the performance of the Accent in the Philippines. The car reviews I found were not from actual owners. I just had to be content with the reviews from other countries and the assurance that the Accent's enginge, CRDi is reliable.
We chose the Accent mainly because it was said to be fuel efficient. And so on 03 June 2008, we sold off our Nissan Sentra and signed a purchase order for the Accent. That night, I coudn't sleep. I dreamt of diesel engines with strong vibrations.
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