My 300-km grocery trip in Subic with the 2024 Volkswagen T-Cross
One of the dreariest errands that my Mom and I do is going to the grocery store.
If we’re lucky, the traffic from our house to the supermarket would take just 10 minutes (if we’re unlucky, double that figure). And once armed with a shopping cart, we join the brigade of people milling between the aisles for rice, corned beef and dog food (at least 2 kilograms a month for my pair of peckish pooches).
Perhaps the last person who went wide-eyed with fascination at this endeavor was the late former Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1989.
After visiting the Johnson Space Center, the premier made an unannounced trip to a Texas grocery store and was astounded by how this small slice of American capitalism could offer so much, so quickly (no long queues like in Russia).
But the grocery store has stayed the same for me for the last three decades – consumers buying what they want or need, often without emotion. My Mom and I decided to shake that up with the help of the 2024 Volkswagen T-Cross.
Smooth expressway cruiser
At 9 a.m., we set off in our bright-orange steed.
Volkswagen Philippines calls it Tribu Yellow, although the tinge of orange in it gives the car a copper-like color. The theme is carried over inside, with the entire dashboard and the door cards color-matched to the exterior.
On the whole, the T-Cross is a handsome machine, bereft of odd slashes and wacky design cues that seem to dominate the subcompact crossover segment. Aside from the aforementioned Tribu Yellow, colorways like Syringa Violet, Romance Red and Makena Turquoise let you add a splash of fun to this “People’s Car.”
On the North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the T-Cross was reasonably refined – the 1.5-liter inline-4 engine cruises at 2,000 rpm in 6th gear at 100 km/h. Not only does this mean 17 to 20 km/l, but it also means the motor doesn’t overpower the hits of Patti Austin and Sergio Mendes, courtesy of the standard wireless Apple CarPlay,
The standard panoramic moonroof provided plenty of light in the T-Cross’ capacious and stylish cabin, which is easily larger than its rivals and fine for a family of five.
Hearty lunch
Two hours later, we arrive at the place that Mama has long been looking forward to visiting again.
The Ohnue Korean Restaurant lets you choose between a shabu-shabu meal (where you cook everything in a pot of boiling stock) or a la carte items. We went for the latter – happily digging into rice rolls with egg and bulgogi, some fried rice and a hearty beef stew after our relatively trouble-free journey.
Other diners joined us as noontime approached, many of whom were also Korean. The Subic area has long been a favorite for foreigners – the Americans famously used the area as a naval base from 1899 to 1942, after buying the Philippines from Spain, then again from 1945 to 1992.
Political pressure and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the latter setting off an evacuation of the base, contributed to its eventual closure 32 years ago. Nowadays, Subic is home to the Freeport zone that hosts various restaurants and, of course, duty-free shops.
Chips, bread, rugs
After lunch, we crossed the T-Cross to the next block.
You can certainly visit a Puregold supermarket in Manila, but there could be unexpected finds all the way out here. Shopping cart in hand, we browsed each aisle carefully, spotting some great rugs at great prices.
And before heading home, we bagged a few chips and a loaf of bread – call it souvenirs of what is actually a work day for me. The two-hour trip home was just as uneventful, with the wide roads and tree-lined expressways in Subic giving way to hustle and bustle as Metro Manila neared.
I may not have been as beady-eyed as former president Yeltsin, but this trip to the grocery store was the most memorable, all thanks to the 2024 Volkswagen T-Cross.
