Is it just me, or is the Vitara slowly becoming the new “people’s car?”

I’ve noticed a lot of old-model Vitaras in Metro Manila since June 2005 when I bought a second-hand one.

In the UP Diliman campus alone, I know that a Math professor drives a black one, while an English professor’s color of choice for his Vitara is cream.

My wife and I have spotted numerous old-model Vitaras not only in Marikina where we live, but also in other areas like Rizal, Quezon City and Manila. I’ve actually seen blue ones, exactly the one we have, twice already – one exiting the Ateneo campus and the other parked along C-5.

A quick check at some websites shows that a second-hand 1996 Vitara (depending on, among others, the mileage and accessories) costs P255,000-P258,000 and P270,000.

I doubt if the prevalence of old-model Vitaras shows increased purchasing power among  poor Filipinos. In other words, the situation does not mean that most people can now afford to buy cars worth more than P200,000.

The perceived ubiquity, after all, does not in any way negate the reality of low wages and high cost of living. In the same way that Metro Manila is not the Philippines, the kind of cars that we see on roads does not reflect the social situation.

Even granting for the sake of argument that the Vitara is now the new “people’s car,” it should not be meant synonymous with the phrase “poor man’s car.”

The latter, as you know, is an oxymoron: The poor find it hard to buy a car due to the prohibitive cost of not just buying but maintaining one.

In my case, I was only fortunate to be offered an opportunity to buy one at a very, very, very low price. Why did this happen? The title of a June 2007 article for Pinoy Weekly already gives you an answer: Palibhasa, aktibista.