If a car guy answered the Miss U question

Atty. Jerome G. Neri
The Scrutineer

HERE are alternative answers to the question asked to Miss Philippines in this year’s Miss Universe pageant. Just to be clear this should not to be interpreted as bashing Maxine Medina. I just found the question interesting from a car guy’s perspective.

The question:

What is the most significant change you’ve seen in the world in the last 10 years?

Alternative Answer 1

The advent of the small displacement turbocharged direct injection engine. After the financial crisis in 2008, American car manufacturers went bankrupt and were bailed out. With their new lease on life, fuel economy was the buzzword. All car companies had one goal: better fuel efficiency without sacrificing horsepower. The solution of the automotive engineers was smaller displacement and more efficient fuel delivery by way of direct injection technology. To make up for the loss of power and torque, a turbocharger was added. This brilliant solution meant incredible fuel economy on normal driving and horsepower when the pedal is to the metal.

Alternative Answer 2

The transfer of hybrid technology from econo-cars to high performance cars. For over ten years now we have had the Toyota Prius, a car that operated on both electric and gasoline engines. In 2009, Formula One’s governing body the FIA, introduced a new set of regulations that would require the use of electric hybrid technology. which they called the Kinetic Energy Recovery System, whereby the energy wasted during braking will be used to charge a flywheel or a super capacitor to store electricity that will power an electric motor that works together with the gasoline engine, giving an additional 80 horsepower.

This technology has now allowed super car manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren to build the fastest road cars that we have ever seen, while producing very little pollutants to the atmosphere. A clean and green supercar was something that was thought to be impossible to do over 10 years ago. Today, we have the La Ferrari, the Porsche 918 and the McLaren P1 being the three fastest cars in the world, not necessarily in that order, thanks to electric hybrid technology.

Alternative Answer 3

Tesla automobiles. Tesla built and successfully marketed an all-electric car. They started with the Tesla Roadster, a sports car, then followed by the Model S, their luxury version.

The most significant thing that Tesla has achieved was their Auto Pilot technology, which makes it semi self driving. Although the car can drive by itself , Tesla still requires that the driver at all times should keep both hands on the steering wheel.

The technology is not perfect yet; in fact, there had been reports of mishaps that has led to one death, all of which did not follow instructions and let the car really drive itself. It seems to me that we are very close to a fully automated self-driving car within the next ten years.

Alternative Answer 4

Waze. The waze app is a must have for any car person who lives in traffic laden urban areas. It does not necessarily give you the shortest way from one point to another. More importantly, it gives the motorist the quickest way from origin to destination. It saves precious time.

So there you go, folks. If Miss Philippines was a car girl, maybe, just maybe she would have made it to the top three or even all the way.