Earlier today, we took a mini-road trip to Cuenca, Batangas to check out the Volkswagen Beetle advertised at the VWCP website. After a couple of mishaps (I woke up late, and there was that walkathon at Sucat highway which was purely my fault), we managed to get to Cuenca via the scenic route - Sta. Rosa exit from SLEX, Tagaytay, Lemery, Lipa then Cuenca.
We met the owner, a guy who's quite literally smitten with the Volkswagen but doesn't have enough space in his garage for a VTEC, a Kombi Bus and a Beetle.
We decided to test drive the car, and since I don't want to wreak the car before it's even paid for and Rem doesn't like driving manuals, that left us at the mercy of Mabie's driving skills.
After the initial "Oooh, let's try the second gear," we were cruising down the winding provincial road of Cuenca to Lipa City. A few kilometers later, it occurs to us that we didn't know where the a. windshield wipers switch (it was raining), and b. the reverse gear (which we needed to go back where we came) were. We decided to just wing it.
Bad idea. First, we didn't see that the incline we were on didn't extend to the sidewalk, and the front wheel fell a good foot. We barely felt it and only realized how deep the drop was until we were off it. The planned 180 turn stopped abruptly at 90, about 2 inches from a pole, no reverse and traffic starting to pile up on both sides. The car smelled of burnt clutch, and passersby thought we had stalled in the middle of the road. Rem and I got off the car and pushed. Yes, pushed. Literally reversing the car with the help of a four helpful Batanguenos. Needless to say, we hightailed out of there as fast as we could.
Nope, the adventure didn't stop there. The cosmos is merciless, as she usually is on first dates. While driving back, still dying from embarrassment, a bus decided to overtake on a curve, following a trajectory that can best be described as "right at us." Rem stiffened in her seat, I stared in horror, while Mabie stomped on the brakes, leaned on the car horn and let out the most profane line of expletives I have ever heard her say.
Reactions afterwards:
Rio: AH, POTANGINA NUN AH.
Rem: Oh my God.
Mabie: My mom doesn't know where the heck I am.
Test drive ends with us overshooting the owner's house and parking at the nearest available space. We were too, oh, I don't know, shocked to try and figure out where the damned reverse was.
Anyway, the car itself has a few dinks and kinks here and there, though it's a steal for 50kiao (I haggled down to 45. I'm sure I'll whine about one thing or another in the coming months). So there. That was how we spent our first date with Moe the Beetle.
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