If you have read my previous article about my father, you would know that he was a true-blue petrolhead. He would endlessly pore over old American and British car magazines, and he would clog our dial-up phone lines joining old forums, trying to absorb as much info for the next car or the next aftermarket upgrade. He owned multiple project cars, including his two favorites: A Subaru Impreza WRX in world rally blue, and an Alfa Romeo 155 in Alfa Rosso.
I also wrote that dad died in a car accident in the year 2000. At the turn of the millenium, the car industry was a very different world back then. We had just survived the Asian financial crisis (barely). And while the Japanese economy had slowed to a crawl, it left behind a legacy of iconic automobiles hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun. Everything from the legendary Toyota Supra, the Nissan GT-R, the Subaru Impreza WRX, and even the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution were common household names. In essence, this was the golden age of JDM cars.
Things have changed since then. It has been 26 years since he died, and in that time technology has moved so fast. The Supra is now a BMW joint project, the GT-R has become one of the oldest new cars you can buy, the rally-bred WRX has been watered down, and the Lancer Evo has become extinct.
It is now the era of electrification, the term encompassing both hybrids and EVs. They have advanced so much in the past decades that it would seem the future of the automobile has been etched in the stars. But has it? What would my dad have felt about the advent of new technology, and what feels like the twilight of his beloved internal combustion engine?
You see, my dad was the ultimate ’90s techie. He loved all sorts of tech, from his Laserdisc collection, to his first digital camera (3.2 megapixels for the win), and even his Minidisc versus MP3 conundrum; he was absolutely fascinated by it all (thankfully he did not live to see the black hole that is Lazada).
How would he have reacted when his love of tech crashed headfirst into his love of cars? Would he have embraced the intersection of everything into one homogenous whole? Or does the combination reduce the purity of each individual component as to ruin the sum of its parts?That’s what I hope to understand in the process of writing this.
Hybrids had already existed in the ’90s, so it would seem impossible that my dad would not have been aware of the little project called the Prius that Toyota had been experimenting with. What he would not have realized would be just how fast this technology would evolve.
What started out as an exercise in producing a vehicle focused entirely on fuel efficiency has evolved into so many different applications. I feel that he would have been shocked at the news that F1 had moved to a new era of hybrid technology—using the tech for performance, rather than the more pedestrian application of saving fuel. He would have balked at the lack of competitive driving in the mid-2000s as teams struggled to get to grips with DRS, KERS, and all sorts of other acronyms.
He would have been amused at the dominance of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, a brand and a driver that he had never seen in F1 during his time. I feel that he would, like most of us, come to accept that racing has shown that electrification on the track would trickle down to road cars in a way that could maximize the fun factor.
He would be blown away by the current spate of EVs and PHEVs from brands that did not exist during his time. Tesla, BYD, VinFast, and a plethora of Chinese brands entering the market would have thrown his biases of what a car can or cannot do into a loop. I feel that had I brought home a modern EV, given him a ride, and launched it from a standstill, he would grin ear-to-ear.
The modern convenience of just charging an EV when you get home would have fascinated him as someone who purchased a Motorola DYNATac to use while driving (the very first mobile phone, it took half a day to charge and gave you about half an hour of talk time).
That being said, he may have found that there were too many gimmicks, too much tech in his driving experience. During his time there wasn’t much in the way of driving aids, so he might not have enjoyed something like ADAS getting in the way of the purity of his driving experience.
Given this, I do feel that his love of technology would have lit a fire under him, and he would grow to love modern day electrification. In fact, given his track record of purchasing tech, I do believe that he would be one of the earliest adopters of battery electric vehicle technology. I can imagine him enjoying the novelty and the cool factor of driving around in a vehicle that he can just plug in when he gets home.
I believe that he would see hybrids and EVs, and he would be first in line to try these out, mainly because I am confident that this would not be his only car.
Novelty aside, I think my dad would look at the current state of the market, and he would have bought a ‘pure’ fun car to accompany his choice of EV. Biases aside, this would in all likelihood be a Mazda Miata.
If his thought process was anything like mine, he would buy one because it would be the complete antithesis of his obsession with new tech, as the Miata is probably the most analog, most personal, and most petrol-pure experiences you can get on four wheels in 2026; not to mention, he loved the idea that my mom found the Miata so darn cute.
He would get one, if only to balance out what an EV would mean for his motoring experiences. Yes, there are sporty EVs and hybrids, and yes, they can drive extremely capably, but when you are already completely surrounded by technology in your life, sometimes all you need is a detox. Sometimes you just need each limb to be operating a part of a machine that has been honed for generations. A clutch pedal here, a gas pedal there, a shifter under one hand, with the wheel in the other. The Miata, especially with the top down, provides one of the most involved driving experiences you can possibly achieve for the price.
I feel this is what my dad would have alternated his EV with. Depending on his mood, and depending on what he wanted to feel that day, these would dictate which set of keys he would pick up on the way out of the house. He would have been fascinated by just how fast technology in the car world was moving, but this would not totally cleanse the petrol from his veins, and he would have had a way to balance his love of tech with his love of cars.
He would be an early adopter, but that does not mean he would choose one at the absolute exclusion of the other. There does not need to be exclusivity of choice. With all the news about EVs, one gets the impression that they are dominating ICE at every turn, but one must also keep in mind that the vast majority of cars being sold in the Philippines still run on gasoline and diesel.
There is still a future for the humble ICE car, but what would probably sadden my dad is how most car companies now focus on SUVs and large, practical EVs, and have stopped having as much fun as car companies should have.
Sure, there are outliers like Toyota with its GR lineup (who would have thought), Mazda with the Miata, and Nissan with the Z and the GT-R. But for the most part, other brands have been focusing a bit too much on models that appeal to most, but have resulted in cars that seem just a bit too safe, and a bit too boring.
There will always be something for everyone. For dad, that would be something at the cutting edge of early adoption, while retaining his car-guy roots. As of 2026, I feel that there are very few cars in the market that can do both equally well, so there would have to be a co-existence of one car to experience the bleeding edge of technology, and a pure petrol performance car to balance it out.
A Tesla Model Y and a Mazda Miata, a BYD Sealion 7 and a Toyota GR86, or even a BMW iX3 and a ’90s Subaru—car enthusiasts over the years have always paired a daily driver with a fun car. Whether that was an SUV and a two-door, or a van and a convertible, it has been done before, and this concept should readily apply in this age of electrification.
When we were growing up, my dad had a Mitsubishi Space Gear (a diesel van) to balance his Subaru WRX. The former was everything the latter was not, but that balance, that pairing, it worked then, and it can work now.
If only he were here to see the current automotive landscape, he would probably enjoy seeing just what kind of pairing he could come up with just to scratch both of his itches. Tech and cars go together in ways that can be mutually inclusive.
Happy Father’s Day, dad. I hope you look down and approve of the car choices that I have been making, and will be making in the future.
