In this line of work, we’ve gone on our fair share of long-haul road trips with car brands over the years. The most common destinations are, of course, the less-complicated parts of the north like Clark, Subic, La Union, or Bataan. Every so often, there are drives to Baguio City, too, because what better way to shake down a brand-new vehicle than to bring it up to the mountains of the Cordilleras?
We recently joined another road trip, this time with Mazda Philippines. From the outside looking in, it’s just your typical media drive—it’s an overnight trip to Baguio and back. The difference, however, was that this drive didn’t focus on any car in particular, nor was it done to answer the age-old question of “kaya ba umakyat sa Baguio niyan?” It was a gathering of like-minded people—of good friends across the industry, even—to enjoy Mazda’s cars on a relaxed yet spirited drive to the City of Pines.
Relaxed because we had no strict itinerary for our drive—just drive up to Baguio Country Club, stay for the night, and drive home. It was easy to bring us together, too, since our group consisted of young media personnel and KOLs, and we’ve all been good friends for a long time now. Charles and yours truly represented Top Gear Philippines, and we were joined by Justin Santos (Buzzhype), Alex Lim (Banaweboy), Macoy Averilla (Macoy Dubs), Chenee Jimenez (cheneehazel) and Albert Quiroz (Albert Drive Therapy), Reph Bangsil (Reph Motors), Ikey Atienza of Go Flat Out, and Julian Panlilio and Sam Surla of The AutoPH. Mazda Philippines president Steven Tan, unfortunately, couldn’t join us, but the brand was repped by Ira Jornada and Bryan Aaron Rivera who took care of us for the weekend.
Okay, it’s a big group, but at least compared to the usual drives, this is much smaller. And besides, for all we care, you could stuff all of us into one place and we wouldn’t have any complaints. Which was actually the case here, because most of us stayed in one whole villa.
As I mentioned, we drove different Mazdas here. Charles and I had the 3, the same unit I recently reviewed (and loved). Julian joined Sam in his personal 3, while Macoy and Ikey had their respective personal 6 Wagons. There were two BT-50s in the convoy, one with Alex and Justin and the other with Chenee and Albert. We also had an MX-5, because it would be a travesty if we didn’t, and it was with Reph. Mazda Philippines also brought out a CX-60—the petrol hybrid one—as our support vehicle and convoy sweep.
We started off our drive at the newly opened Shell Mexico Pampanga on the North Luzon Expressway. It’s a nice and chill stopover (at least for now) with a lot of establishments underway. We regrouped with everyone there and lined up to head further north.
From here, it was a laid-back drive going to Asin Road. There was moderate traffic on the northern tollways which was expected of a Saturday morning, but we had more than enough time and space to take our B-rolls and photos on the highway.
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I’ve always found the 3 a comfortable car, but it was on the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) that I really appreciated how nice it rides for such an agile hatchback. See, during my last drive here with a different brand, I realized how bad the road noise on TPLEX can get. The 3 insulated that noise pretty well and kept it nice and quiet inside the cabin. We could still hear much of the pavement underneath, but it didn’t feel like we were inside of an aircraft mid-flight throughout the expressway, which was exactly the case the last time I was there.
We proceeded to Shell TPLEX Rosario for a quick bio break before our uphill drive. There’s a Recharge Station available here for the EV owners who didn’t know, but since we all had internal combustion engines under our respective vehicles’ hoods (with a mild-hybrid on the CX-60), we didn’t actually need it.
It wasn’t long until we reached the foot of Asin Road. I’ve been here before, but that time we were going downhill and I was just a backseat passenger. Like the many others in my group, it was my first time driving here, and uphill at that. And by golly did we pick the right car for the job.
I’ve driven the 3 before, yes, but never on a road like this. It was here that I really saw Mazda’s Jinba-ittai philosophy come to life. The hatchback just ate up every corner with ease, and even when we took some hairpins at speed, we were never thrown around the cabin. There’s some wheel spin at times when I power out of a corner, but it never felt like the car was losing traction. More important, I never felt unsafe with the car.
I did feel at times that the transmission wasn’t behaving the way I wanted it to. See, the 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine in the 3 is nice and all, but you’d still need to shift all the way down to first if you want to properly exit a corner uphill. Initially, I’d stay in second gear and lose power climbing the turn, so I’d flick the paddle shifters to go down to first. Normally, you’d step on the gas to power out, but in this case, I found the gearbox getting all jerky on me, telling me as if I’ve downshifted too far. I deciphered a workaround which was to brake and downshift early and ride it out a bit before flooring it—it resulted in smoother exits from there.
Fortunately for me, it wasn’t just a mere skill issue. Sam told me he had the same experience with his Mazda 3. But in hindsight, I also figured the tranny was working overtime during the uphill climb, so temps surely shot up and contributed to this. And in all fairness, this was the only time I ever ran into this type of issue with the 3. ‘Issue’ might even be too strong of a word, but I digress.
The others were having as much fun as we were. I could see Reph in front of me making quick work of every corner with the Miata as Ikey and Macoy led the convoy with ease in their wagons. The 6 has a bigger and more powerful engine than the 3, and I could feel it each time the two wagons would pull away along with the roadster after a steep turn.
As for the two pickups in the back, they surprisingly were able to keep up with us through the winding roads. As we were told afterwards, the ride wasn’t as pleasant, of course, but it was a good showcase of how well the BT-50 handles for its size. The 3.0-liter turbodiesel engines powering those trucks could easily pick up the pace as well, which was why I could see Justin and Chenee easily tailing Sam behind me each time the road stretched even for just a bit.
Admittedly, fatigue caught up with me throughout this hill climb. I knew it was a long drive up, but I didn’t realize until we pinned BenCab Museum on Waze and we were told it was still 30 minutes away. If I recall correctly, we had already been zipping through the seemingly never-ending twisties for a good half hour at that point. Frankly, I didn’t expect the spirited drive was going to last for a good hour.
We didn’t slow down, but I was a bit more gentle through corners since I had to manage myself. Not the car, the tires, the tranny, or the brakes. Myself. We maintained a steady pace and the next thing we knew, we were already entering the Baguio Country Club. Once we reached the city roads, I started to feel more relaxed, as the Mazda 3 is a proper city car, after all.
From here, it was nice and easy. We stayed at BCC for the rest of the weekend, although we did step out a few times for the usual shopping within the city proper. I’ll spare you the details, but the TL;DR is that we drove out twice, and both times, parking was a huge hassle. We ended up having the designated driver go around to wait for us instead of trying (and eventually failing) to look for parking near Session Road.
We went home the following day, leaving BCC at around lunchtime en route to Clark. We took Marcos Highway this time, and we were treated to some scenic views throughout our descent. Thankfully, the weather cooperated as well, so we didn’t have any worries whatsoever as we drove down from the mountains.
Our not-so-official itinerary ended with a late lunch at Porch Coffee in Clark—a popular stopover for those who look for longer-than-usual drives on weekend mornings. We concluded our drive over good food, and we were all in agreement that this ‘chill’ drive was one-of-a-kind and was probably the most fun outing any of us has ever had in our automotive careers. Not only because of the company or the route, but most especially because of the cars we drove.
We’ve all known this for a while, but this was a reminder of something about Mazda—the storied Japanese brand has arguably some of the most fun-to-drive vehicles in the entire market. Never mind the sleek designs, the efficient Skyactiv engines, the plush interiors, or the advanced technologies. If we’re talking purely about driving dynamics and driving dynamics alone, Mazda simply shines. Whether it’s a small roadster, a compact hatchback, a midsize wagon, or heck, a big-ass pickup—as long as it’s wearing that Mazda badge, it’ll probably put a smile on your face once you get behind the wheel.
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