If you are interested in taking dynamic photos and videos of your moving car while on the move, instead of having your buddy hang out the window of another car, the better option is to invest in a car camera mount. Car camera mounts are not available at all locally, and have to be ordered from abroad through the internet. Prices range from US$ 50 (Dhs 184) to thousands of dollars for the big ones used in movies, plus shipping. But after extensive searching, we found this unbranded possibly-homemade one on Ebay.com for US$ 25 (Dhs 92), plus shipping from America for US$ 32, for a total of around Dhs 200. And it works fine in most cases. Read more… »

The latest batch of e-letters over the last two weeks are largely asking for advice on which car is best. Of course it depends on what you need rather than what the marketing people say you need. As usual, I also personally reply to all emails privately. Read more… »

I usually don’t bother responding to racist jerks who send me insulting comments while assuming that I am “Indian.” I am a Muslim first, but I am also a Bangladeshi, and I won’t deny my heritage if asked. The forward-thinking nation of Bahrain has banned issuing work visas to all 90,000 Bangladeshis in the country, because one of them murdered a Bahraini a few weeks ago, and another killed a woman last year. Since we are such serial killers, this probably means I will not be able to go to the Bahrain F1, or any manufacturer events that might be held there, even if I wanted to. Read more… »

I’m not too familiar with Peugeot’s various engine offerings any more, especially since Peugeot’s local reps have always been unenthusiastic in dealing with us specifically. However, we recently gave them a call and asked for a 407 Coupe again. The last time we asked for it, it was in 2006, and it got postponed 4 times, so we moved on. Looks like it went missing again. We got a 308 instead, but we’re not complaining. Read more… »

Okay, so it is impossible to compare a Honda Accord V6 with a Jaguar XF V8. But both are midsize sedans, both are redefining their genres and both happened to be parked under my place at the same time. So why not? Read more… »

The rumours of a baby Phantom are true. Rolls Royce just sent us this preliminary design sketch of a new model, dubbed the RR4, to be slotted in under the Phantom. Read more… »

This week is turning out to be hectic. After returning the CSV CR8, we drove to a GM/RTA press conference halfway across Dubai in evening traffic in my manual BMW, only to find out it was cancelled and no one told us. Wasting the whole of yesterday night, we had to wake up early today and run around town to pick up two cars. One is the long-awaited Honda Accord V6, and the other is the exquisite Jaguar XF. Read more… »

TAG Heuer just signed up local hero Mohammed Bin Sulayem to endorse their watches in print ads. The interesting bit is that Sulayem said he will donate all the money he makes from the deal to charity.

Around town, unregulated diesel prices have gone up to Dhs 17 per gallon in Dubai, and expected to go higher. Meanwhile, ADNOC in Abu Dhabi continues to sell diesel at Dhs 8.6 per gallon.

In other news, in an attempt to appear commuter-friendly, Dubai’s RTA has announced that they will “allow” people to carry passengers to work or wherever, provided they apply on the RTA website for a certificate registering the names of a maximum of four people that they want to carry in their cars. If you are caught without such a certificate, and the passengers are not your frigging relatives, you’ll be fined Dhs 5000.

And now, some more entertainment, courtesy of Dubai taxi drivers. A taxi driver became so angry when his female passenger asked him to go in a different direction during the journey that he stopped, dragged her from his cab, hit her and stole her mobile phone. Apparently he was going the long way round and the Filipina asked him to take a certain shorter route. When she tried to call the police, he took her phone and drove off. The loser cabbie is now in court, but many say this is becoming a common occurence in Dubai. Read more… »

We never get any invites to Mercedes-Benz car launches, and haven’t had any test-drive cars made available to us in years. However, their commercial vehicles division operates independently, and they invited us out-of-the-blue to the local launch of the Sprinter workvan. What caught our attention was the venue — Dubai Autodrome. We just had to go to this one. Read more… »

We spent the entire morning today at the Dubai Autodrome, driving around in the most unusual vehicle, at a German manufacturer’s launch event. But we will talk about that drive later, because we came home to have a new unrelated test-drive car delivered to our doorstep. And that new tester is the CSV CR8, which belongs at the track, but just to clarify, it’s not the car we drove at the track. As tired as I am, I took the CR8 for a 2-minute spin before typing out this note. And I am already sold on it. It is the most pleasurable driver’s car I’ve had the opportunity of piloting in the past year. Notice that I skipped over the Corvette ZO6, the Continental GT and even over the new Mini. It is that much easy fun. Read more… »

I’m just guessing, but this is probably the first Middle East report you’ll see of the 2009 Infiniti EX35, considering all the rags seem busy with the G37 Coupe. Due to tight scheduling competition with all the magazines, we only managed to snag it for 2 random days, but this also happens to be a very busy week for me, so testing was done hurriedly. We’re going to try to get it again later, assuming my moronic PR guy (who probably won’t read this) doesn’t try to aim for a hard-to-get weekend date to show off this car to his weekend date. Read more… »

Saab has announced that the new upgraded version of the 9-3, dubbed the Turbo X, will go on sale in the Middle East this June, available in very limited numbers. Specialties of the Turbo X include a 280 hp 2.8-litre turbocharged V6 and all-wheel-drive. Read more… »

Having previewed our two Bluetooth handsfree kits, as provided and installed by Yellow Hat, we used the Nokia and Parrot systems over the course of a month. Read more… »

We are not sure if the name is correct, but these photos are of the real “baby” Ferrari that is due to be unveiled in the coming weeks. It is suggested that the car will most likely be called the Ferrari California, although earlier reports suggested an F149 model designation. Read more… »

Nissan has created a worldwide competitive driving test, called the GT Academy, for PS3-addicted GT5 gamers. The eight-month, pan-European competition sees “virtual and real-life racing merge to make the wildest dreams of two aspiring race drivers come true.” The prize is a four-month training programme to earn racing licences, followed by a real-life race driving a Nissan 350Z as part of the Nissan team at the 24H endurance race in Dubai in January 2009. Read more… »

At the latest “Code 5″ number-plate auction in Abu Dhabi, plate number 9 has become the third most expensive number plate in the world, at Dhs 15.4 million (US$ 4.2 million). Bought by a modest Abu Dhabi businessman who did not wish to be named, he purchased the number at the charity auction held on Saturday evening at the Emirates Palace. Read more… »

So we had two different Bluetooth Handsfree kits installed in our vehicles, provided by the Yellow Hat auto accssories superstore in Dubai. As previously announced, they are going to install various low-budget car-related gadgets for us to review over the course of the year. This here is a brief preview of the Bluetooth handsfree phone kits we’ve been driving around with and getting used to. Read more… »

Another rundown of the updates to the New Car Buyer Guide over the past two months. I continue to get some flak for incorrect prices, but then again, I make pocket-change for doing what little I do anyway. As usual, if you cannot see the updates in Internet Explorer, hold CTRL and click on REFRESH in your browser while cursing your internet provider.

Bentley - Arnage
BMW - X6
Chrysler - Grand Voyager
GMC - Terrain, Sierra 1500
Infiniti - G37 Coupe, EX35, M35
Jaguar - XF
Jeep - Cherokee, Grand Cherokee
Lexus - LX 570
Mercedes-Benz - M-class
Mini - Clubman
Porsche - GT2
Saab - 9-3

Read more… »

The updated 2009 Mercedes SL has been touched by Brabus. The upgraded cars get upgraded engines, a dressed-up exterior, new light-alloy wheels with diameters of up to 20 inches, suspension tuning and custom interior design. Read more… »

Starting this week, we’ll occasionally publish some the various emails we receive. They will be answered privately as well as on this blog. Read the first batch of letters up till the week of May 6, 2008. Read more… »