Getting our Picanto

Last year, my wife and I usually walk to work. We live in a nice condominium across the street from our office. If were in a hurry, we can get to our desk in less than 10 minutes and that already included the elevator rides. That was nice and dandy but we've been doing it for more than 3 years and were getting cabin fever from living in the city ... Makati City to be exact. Hmmm, if youre a bit curious, we both felt constrained living in the urban jungle since I grew up in Bulacan and my wife in Cavite.

We both selected a very nice place in Bacoor, Cavite. Far enough to have roosters waking you up in the morning but near enough that you can get to the office in 45 minutes (if your very very lucky or its 3am). The house is the largest one we've rented (2 masters bedrooms and a chapel-like sala) and we have a Pastor for a neighbor (... I'm not kidding).

Of course there is the other side of the coin. The thing is living in the city spoiled us because everything was accessible by walking or a 10 minute taxi ride. This meant we have to buy a car.

We went through everything. We talked to friends. Asked advice from god fathers, uncles and aunts, kumpare, ate at kuya ... we mean the works. Lunch breaks was spent inside car showrooms or drive throughs with taxis. Have had to endure irritating and makulit car salesmen who tend to call while your with a client or cramming to finish your weekly status report that was supposed to be sent to Hongkong 3 hours ago. So after 2 months of looking we were both tired and frustrated with everything ... more so with arguing with well wishers who doesn't understand the reason why we dont want to buy a 2nd hand Revo for less than 300,000 pesos over an 800,000 pesos brand new car (If you don't know why ... I won't tell you).

In the end all it took was an off-hand comment from an old friend of mine. He said, 'Why not look at KIA's website? I've been driving my KIA CD5 for 8 years now and it just work for me.'. Well, when we got back to the office, I opened up the KIA website and saw the Picanto. My wife instantly loved it. I was sceptical at first but I have to admit that it was (still is) attrative. We both then started each own investigation (technical info like gasoline consumption, warranty, etc), compared notes and made an appointment with KIA Pasong Tamo to look at their showroom model.

That meeting was a bit funny. You see, me and my wife have been around the block and we've talked to a lot of car salesman who would promise you just about everything to get sales. What we got was an honest man. He wouldn't promise us anything. He can't even get us discounts or freebies and stuff. He even admitted to things that he didn't know about the car. He wouldn't even start the car for us since the showroom model already has an owner. Most people would have walked away (my wife was already giving the guy the dagger looks) unfortunately for us ... we fell in love with car as soon as we stepped-in the showroom. It was the right car for our lifestyle.

We got our car 3rd week of November 2004. There were some birthing pains with it since its my first time to drive an automatic transmission. So now, our car has 5,000+ kilometers under its belt and my wife is looking forward to driving it on her own. :)

By the way, we named it Rufus ... after that very famous naked mole rat. ;)

Redefining Simplicity

Extravagance is not a luxury and simplicity has its pleasures. The Kia Picanto is all about letting you enjoy the basic pleasures in life without compromising its quality. And as soon as you turn the ignition on, the Kia Picanto begins to add colours to your life. Perhaps then you'll start to wonder, are there more virtues in simplicity?

Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. But it's for people like you who make sense of simple pleasures, the Kia Picanto complements every step you take.

Life is more colourful with Picanto

You may want to look for the colour that is your own, to express and exude you own self. Kia Picanto is concerned about thoughts, views and colours that are your very own. Because something that is but only yours is your "value."

What color do you have?

-Taken from Kia Motors corp. website