Popular Cars of Iloilo City

Fresh from my three day visit in this city, I could now share some observations with you on what our Illonggo brothers and sisters drive. Pardon if I do not have any pictures since my camera took a day off from its 2012 PIMS trip. From the Iloilo International Airport in Cabatuan, then passing through Santa Barbara and Pavia up to the city itself, I have seen what they buy and drive. In this case, I will be counting vehicles that have their license plates that starts with the letter "F".

Based on my count, pick-up trucks, AUV's, and mid-size sport utility vehicles from mainstream brands rule the street with the Nissan Frontier (from the earlier versions to the Navarra), Ford Everest, Mitsubishi Montero Sport, Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi L200 Strada, Mitsubishi Adventure, Toyota Innova, and Isuzu Crosswind dominating Iloilo streets. Since this is a province, it would be natural for some to purchase pick-up trucks since they might have their own farms or fish pens. While the vehicles mentioned that do not have beds are also popular among Filipino consumers.

If Manila streets are flooded with Vioses and Corolla Love Lifes, in Iloilo's mall taxi bays are the numerous Vios, Avanza,Sentra and Accent taxis. Yes, these three vehicles are the cabbies pick there and in fact, you'll see more current generation Accents and Avanzas performing their taxicab duties there than in Manila! The default Corolla Love Life are dwindling in numbers, same case with the Sentra B14. To quote my Taxicabs across the Philippines article, their taxi company name are styled with effort.

Among passenger cars, the Vios, Corolla (including the Altis), City, and Sentra are the Ilonggo buyer preferences. Older models of the Corolla and Sentra are still plying the streets up to now testifying to their reliability. I have also seen Fiesta hatchbacks than the Mazda equivalent, despite the presence of a Mazda dealer. Compact SUV's that had captured the hearts of the locals are the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Nissan X-Trail, and the Chevrolet Captiva. And I have seen more Nissan Grand Livinas than in Manila!

To conclude, the locals (compared to the Manila people) are adventurous when it comes to their car choices and what is limited in Manila it is like rice in Iloilo. And in fact, it is a halo-halo in vehicles in there.

Here are some Youtube videos of Iloilo street scenes.