My life with my KIA Picanto

K&N Drop-In filter for the KIA Picanto

2010-07-11T13:45:00.002+08:00

When we usually bring our beloved cars to the service center, one of the things that gets replaced regularly is the air filter and is considered a supply that needs to be regularly maintained and replaced with a clean one during the life of the car. However, this costs money and the service centers usually place a premium price tag on such parts. One of the easiest upgrades that you can do to your Picanto is replace the air filter with a permanent drop-in replacement that can be cleaned anytime and could last a lifetime.

I've tried the K&N replacement filter for the Picanto and I've noticed improvements in fuel consumption not to mention a noticeable acceleration improvement. The cost of the K&N filter actually pays of when you bring back your car to the service center.

The exact part number of the K&N Drop-in filter for the Kia Picanto that I used is 33-2930 and you can find more details at the K&N website.

Nigerian Marathon gives out Kia cars for prizes

2008-07-29T16:41:00.004+08:00

The Nigerian Sunday Tribune has an article about the recent MTN People Police Marathon held in Abuja last July 26, 2008. The winner of the 10km class, 17 year old Emmanuel Gyang, won a Kia Rio, while in the 21km category, Pvt. Stephen Jurbe, a solider from the 1st division won a Kia Picanto. The female police category winner, Bunmi Odejobi got herself a nice Kia Rio as well. You can check out the full

Congratulations to the winners! I'm sure they are definitely happy with their prizes, not to mention the joy they will have in the years to come using their Kia cars!

[via The Nigerian Sunday Tribune]

Kia Motors' Profit Jumps 40% on Minicar Sales

2008-07-28T22:22:00.004+08:00

There is a report on Bloomberg talking about how the Kia Picanto (Morning in South Korea) has increased the profit of Kia Motors by 40%. Here's an excerpt:

Record gasoline prices helped Kia more than triple domestic sales of Morning minicars in the period and boost total vehicle sales in the slumping U.S. market by 11 percent. The won has also plunged 9 percent against the dollar in the past year, raising the repatriated value of Kia's overseas sales.

I guess even with a global slump in the economy along with the rising costs of fuel and oil-based products, the initial investment of the Kia Picanto (Morning) years ago was very much a wise one.

You can check out the full story here.

DUI Laws in the Philippines

2007-01-04T22:56:00.000+08:00

Not so much about the Picanto, but about driving in general. While I am aware that driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is prohibited all throughout the world, I am still unsure of the laws governing DUI here in the Philippines. Is it a national law? Does it depend on the area or city? Is it a city or municipal ordinance? It's just one of those things that we probably take for granted, regarding laws but as responsible drivers, we should really do it at all. I would be interested on the take of the lawyers regarding this concern. Comments greatly appreciated!

2 years of driving pleasure

2006-12-03T14:26:00.000+08:00

Well my picanto just turned 2 years old and did not experience anything unpleasant at all. Support is definitely awesome and the vehicle is very strurdy and well built. Before I thought of selling the cr when it reaches the 3rd year but by the looks of it, I'll be keeping it indefinitely. Cheers for the next 2 years with the Picanto!

[ Sent from my mobile phone using the Blogger widget from www.bluepulse.com ]

Securing the hatch

2005-11-26T01:22:00.000+08:00

I broke my thread mill and verifying the damage, I decided to bring it back to Park Square I in Makati to get it fixed. It was still under warranty.

Look at that smile!

So I converted Rufus back seat into a trunk space and loaded the thread mill. Unfortunately, at least a feet of the thing still stuck out of the car and I can't close the door.

Rufu's plate number

So what I did was take two 36" bungie cords with hooks on both end (you can buy these from Ace Hardware) then hooked them on the two bars just beside the backdoor latch as diplayed in the above picture.

Tick-tock-tick-tock

I then proceeded on hooking the other end of the bungie cords to the towing bar just under the rear bumpers.

Apple Logo

Since I used a 36" bungie cords, there was just enough slack to hold down properly the door but not get rope burns on the car paint.

Left side

I was afraid that the door might bounce if I hit a pot hole so I drove carefully through the Coastal Road with the windows down. I felt that turning on the aircon is just a waste of fuel since it would just escape through the rear door. There was no noticeable change in the car performance with the added weight of the treadmill and the open window flowing through the rear doors.

Isometric view

I did get my thread mill fixed the same day and transported it back home. I am really satisfied with Rufus and allowing me to do my stuff that day just reinforces it.

6 picanto in an hour

2005-11-23T00:36:00.000+08:00

I live in Bacoor, Cavite and I drive along Aguinaldo highway to coastal road through PICC to get to UN Avenue, Manila to drop my wife then back to Ayala Avenue in Makati where I work (whew!).

Whenever I'm on the road, I sort of keep a lookout for Picantos out of curiosity and, for some cases, envy. So the surprising thing today is that I saw 3 Picantos on the coastal road, 1 around PICC, 1 on UN Avenue and 1 on Quirino avenue.

So counting Rufus, I can verify from 7am to 8am today, there were 7 Picantos on the road.

Can anybody beat that? :P

Bargain Book Hunt and a Picanto

2005-10-14T18:31:00.000+08:00

Hello. My name is Alex and I'm a bargain book hunter.

Hahahaha. I was immitating Dory in the movie Nemo while she stands on a podium and says to a group of sharks and clown fish that she'd never eaten fish before. ;)

Seriously, I am a bargain book hunter. It's a challenge for me to dig into bargain books trying to look for a second hand novel that would finally complete a selection. I have successfully completed a number of sets and to name a few:

The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
The Wheel of Time
The Sword of Truth

This car is NOT yellow!

So during lunch break, me and Rufus went to Makati Cinema Square to look for books. So while parking, a picanto passed us by. Luckily, I had my phone with me when the it turned around in the parking lot and I was able to take a snap shot.

I will tell you that I don't like the color but I will tell you that the car looked elegant with it.

Oh, before I forgot, I found a really worn copy of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx which won the Pulitzer Prize. I got it for 60Php.

Some changes

2005-10-12T18:31:00.000+08:00

Ok so It's been a while since I actually posted something here and with the current blog comment spamming going on, I had to fix it, so I'm posting to inform you guys that comments will require some simple authentication from now on.

Other than that, my Picanto is still doing fine, going to be a year old next month. I'll make sure I post pictures soon and tweak the blog in the coming days.

Old pictures

2005-09-28T12:35:00.000+08:00

I was browsing old photographs on my laptop when I stumbled upon my family's summer trip to Ocean's Adventure last March 5th in Subic Bay Philippines.

Rufus getting a tan

I was with my wife, son, a nephew and our nanny and took along enough stuff to have a beach picnic. As you can see from the picture, we were able to pack a lot of stuff into Rufus trunk. What your not seeing there are the swimming equipment that we brought with us like the snorkeling equipment (for me and the wife) and the inflatable rafts and what-nots that you have to bring to the beach.

I remember that we left Bacoor, Cavite pretty early. Since it was Rufus first time on the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) so I pretty much let him run to 120kph whenever possible that morning.

The whale and dolphin show was pretty amazing. It different if your just watching it in television or video because when your there, the anticipation and joy of just watching the animals swim and jump is just exhilarating. It just want to make you go up and join Greenpeace. ;) Don't take my word for it, visit the place.

We had lunch in the adjacent Kamayan Restaurant and Beach resort. Suffice to say, it was really a test of will just to keep my son from running into the water before getting lunch. So me and my wife spent a lazy afternoon swimming around the beach and it was nice.

Dinner was at Gerry's grill which is also on a beach and beside a water-ski shop. Were able to watch the sunset while dining on grilled calamares and their famous sisig. We parked Rufus on the sand and my family strolled by the beach and everything in the world is as it should be.

March 5th 2005 was a great day in my life.

Picanto on 17" RIMS?

2005-09-19T12:28:00.000+08:00

This is NOT Rufus on 17" RIMS

Someone in the Picanto Yahoo! Group posted the above picture of a Picanto on 17" RIMS. It looks nice doesn't it. Btw, just to clarify, thats NOT Rufus. Although I would love getting mags for Rufus but most of vulcanizing shops along my route and normal provincial destinations (Samar and Romblon) are not equiped to properly change tires on mags ... leaving it scored, scratch and damaged.

There are more pictures of other vehicles with nice mags on Concept One's gallery site and there's this really nice picture of a gray picanto.

New kid on the block

2005-09-13T12:38:00.000+08:00

Parking Neighbor!

I passed by this vehicle parked in basement level 6 of the PBCom Tower here in Ayala. Technically, this is the first Picanto besides Rufus that I saw parked here.

Hmmm ... if not for my wife, Rufus would be sporting the same color ...

A Wedding

2005-08-31T00:44:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, August 28th, I drove Rufus to my friend's wedding held at the Barasoin Church in Malolos, Bulacan.

2 hours early

It was a pretty long drive since I was coming from Bacoor via Coastal Road, passing by Edsa, Guadalupe for 3 passengers and continuing to the North Luzon Expressway and exiting through Tabang and straight to Malolos. Whew! BTW, NLEX is charging 75Php from Balintawak to Malolos.

Better shade from the nearby tree

Although me and my wife alternatively use the car everyday, it was seldom that I use Rufus for almost 200Km at one stretch. The ride was pleasurable with the vehicle weight:engine ratio, I was able to weave in and out of the EDSA traffic. While on the NLEX, with the judicious use of the Overdrive, overtaking slow vehicles was a breeze. No complaints from the passengers too!

Rushing after the bridal car

The wedding was a big success! My friend and his wife was really happy. My only regret was that I forgot to set the Odometer to measure the actual distance Rufus traveled. ;)

Goodbye P5-45

2005-08-21T21:12:00.000+08:00

P5-45 has been Rufus home away from home whenever he accompanies me to work.

Rufus commiserating with P5-45

There are actually four of us in the office assigned to that parking spot so I park there a week per month. It was a good deal since besides getting free parking, the security guards who usually frisk me whenever I get in the front door of the office would suddenly salute me whenever I drive to and from the my parking spot.

Rufus and P5-45 giving each other a goodbye hug

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Our office, in its bid to lower costs, has decided to let go of nine out of ten parking slots and one of them was P5-45.

Goodbye P5-45, may your new parker be as happy with you as Rufus was.

How would Rufus look with a top load?

2005-08-17T18:00:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, while driving along Aguinaldo highway, we stumbled upon a Red Picanto driven by a woman. That by itself is not surprising but if you would look closely, her Picanto has a top load!

Rear isometric view

Long have I considered putting such an addition to Rufus, unfortunately I am worried by the following items:

Would it look good?
How will it be installed?
How much load can be carried?
Will Rufus be damaged if its overloaded?

Side view

I was lucky since I was with my wife when we saw this car and she seems to like the idea too. Actually, she was the one who was taking pictures. I actually had to race with this car just to get good pictures of her. :)

Rear view

Here are pictures of Rufus and the other car as a before and after shots. Comparing with and without so that we can decide to either go utilitarian or simple beauty.

Joshua with Rufus

Hmmm. I miss my son ... time to go home. :)

I'm having one of "those" days

2005-07-22T12:30:00.000+08:00

Oh well, things are not going my way today.

Apple Logo

First off, I woke up late with a cold and a headache with my wife still asleep (she's pregnant so I can't blame her). I had to scramble out of bed, get some water heated for the wife and leave the house without breakfast cause were going to be late.

Then since were already late ... we have to face the normal morning traffic. It became intolerable because my stomach kept reminding me that the only breakfast that I had that morning was the toothpaste I accidentally swallowed.

OK, I've dropped off my wife in Manila who immediately left me for Deli France. She loves me but its not advisable to be in between a pregnant woman and breakfast.

So while driving along Buendia Avenue, I was directly behind a car who accidentally hit a bicycled messenger. Unfortunately, I was hemmed in and the MMDA who responded to the accident flagged me down to actually asked me what I saw of the accident. OK, nobody was really hurt but the bicycle was damaged, the messenger was angry and the woman driver looked terrified and close to tears.

Basement Parking

OK, I'm now in the office building to find out that there are NO more available parking slots. I was driving around for 15 minutes from basement 4 to basement 7 (with a few other lost souls) hoping to be lucky enough to spot a vehicle exiting the parking area. In the end, I decided to just park the car beside a wall.

The funny thing is, after parking besides the wall, some of the drivers who were cruising the basement parking also copied my parking style. :D

Oh well ... I hope Murphy's on vacation today otherwise I'm fracked!

Color coding blues

2005-06-08T20:00:00.000+08:00

The license plate for my picanto ends with the number 6. Which means (in the Philippines) that Rufus cannot be on the road every Wednesday at 7am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm. Thats how the government is managing rush hour traffic.

Normally, I have a parking spot in the PBCom Tower on Ayala Avenue. Sometimes, for one reason or another, I would be late in getting up on a Wednesday morning and I have a choice of going to work without Rufus or waiting for the 10am to 3pm window period. Unfortunately, this window does not exist for the areas of Makati and Pasig ...

Creatively parking in Harrison Plaza

This would mean I would have to park in my wifes office in U.N. Avenue in Manila or be really creative and find a nearer parking space to Makati.

Anybody knows a good parking area just outside of Makati?

Its the rainy season ... again!

2005-06-06T20:00:00.000+08:00

Hello people of the Philippines! The summer is over and the rainy season is here.

I am particularly aware because I live in Bacoor, Cavite. The water is salty and flooding is expected. This, coupled with the start of classes, means Rufus (our picanto) is going to be stuck in traffic on a puddle of salty water.

A week ago, I was actually caught in a flood after a nasty storm in Pasong Tamo, Makati. If you've never driven in Makati, please stay away from the area of Pasong Tamo near Makati Cinema Square when its raining. Me, I had no choice. I was parked on the street during the storm since I was waiting for my wife's OB appointment. So, while waiting, I was getting a bit nervous because the flood is now past the tires and about half the radius of the steel rim. What actually worries me more is that everytime another vehicle passes by, a wave is formed and rocks Rufus.

Rufus getting an underwash then an undercoat

So, as soon as I got time, I took Rufus to a Petron gasoline station for an undercoat. First off, the attendant underwashed my car, cleaned the engine, air-dried the car and then sprayed the 3M undercoat. He then lowered the car to wipe clean the vehicle again. It seems that since the undercoat is sprayed, some of the oils that was in the undercoat floated and stucked itself all over the car. Helping in wiping down the car was fun and I guaranteed myself that all of the oils have been properly removed particularly on the windshields and head lights.

All in all, the operation took an hour and cost me PHP1,800 (around $34USD) and a bit of security against normal Cavite rusting. :)

NOTE:
While wiping down the car, I found out that the lower right side part of the our front bumper was dislodged from its mounting. I believe it was dislodge while parking on areas that have that square stone which prevent your car from parking too near the wall. You should check your's. :)

A weekend at Concepcion, Tarlac

2005-03-13T22:48:00.000+08:00

We went to Sitio Tabon, situated in Baranggay Santa Monica, Concepcion, Tarlac to visit some of my wife's relatives. The road to Tabon was rough and dusty, although some parts already have roads good for single passage. At some point, I feared that the dust and lahar would trap the tyres of the car, but fortunately, the road was still passable even for a small car like the Picanto.

The town of Concepcion, Tarlac is just 106km north of Quezon City. With the new North Luzon Expressway, the trip took roughly an hour on a Sunday morning. The sight was refreshing - after all you don't get to see this scenery in the city.

Upon arriving at our relative's place, we were greeted by some turkeys that do not seem to mind the imposing red car that was moving at less than 20km/h due to the bad road conditions; but we were able to arrive at our destination without any problems. The locals were also looking at the car with gusto. I heard some kids at the next door saying "tingnan mo o, ang liit ng kotse" ("look, the car is small").

Turkeys are a smart lot; they are proud animals and don't mind being watched at all. They were willing participants in a flash photo shoot I made for my daughter. The trip to Tabon was long and rough, but our KIA Picanto was able to get us through and enjoy a good weekend in the province. We will defintely come back again.

Twin Spotted!

2005-03-07T14:59:00.000+08:00

I found a carbon copy of my baby Pica at Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall Parking lot. I made a little peeking inside and I noticed we have different head units.

The Capacity to Carry

2005-03-02T09:30:00.000+08:00

One of the things that really make me proud of owning a KIA Picanto is whenever people underestimate its carrying capacity. I actually heard someone say that the car looked good but it has a small trunk space. They couldn't be more wrong!

I recently ordered 170 kilos of ube and 30 kilos of processed peanuts from my hometown in Samar as part of my family business. The whole order was packed in 3 sacks and 5 biscuit cans.

rear view
My relatives shipped my order on an Eagle Star Bus which arrived 4:45am in their Edsa terminal in Pasay City. Unfortunately, the bus would just stop over for a few minutes (just enough to unload passengers) then continue to it terminal in Cubao. So I had to work fast and transfer the stuff from the bus to the car.

rear view unzoomed
The funny thing was, the first thing that the bus helper said was, "Magkakasya ba yung tatlong sako? (Will the 3 sacks fit?)". I happily said yes and proceeded into converting the rear seats into a large trunk space.

side view
So, how was the performance? I was able to accelerate to 120kph while driving on Coastal Road back to Cavite. Vehicle handling was still the same as if you have a 5 people inside the car (including the driver).

The wife
As a closing remark, a lot of people doesn't know that a hatchback can actually carry bigger and longer items than normal car. Why? Because you can let the extra items stick out of the back of the car!

Getting our Picanto

2005-02-22T11:45:00.000+08:00

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

2005-02-21T15:05:00.000+08:00

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

2005-02-21T10:38:00.000+08:00

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