Drive Arabia : Dubai / Abu Dhabi [UAE, Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman & GCC] » Behind The Scenes

So we got a Hyundai Genesis finally

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:36:42 +0000

Debuting in late 2008, the Hyundai Genesis was the car that’s supposed to highlight what the Korean manufacturer is capable of, in terms of competing head-on with luxury brands. There was a lot of hype surrounding this car when it was launched. We’ve finally made contact with Hyundai’s UAE dealer and managed to acquire one [...]

So we got a 2010 Range Rover Supercharged

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:03:32 +0000

The updated Range Rover was launched sometime in the second half of last year, complete with new engines, a new interior and, externally, a new grille. We finally got a 2010 Supercharged for a road test, although ironically, not before the 2011 model has already been announced, with further changes. We also had to sign [...]

So we got a 2010 BMW 535i GT

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:26:25 +0000

The 2010 BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo has apparently been out for a while now, but this test vehicle is the first one I’ve ever seen on UAE roads. At a price point that competes directly with the handsome BMW X5, while looking like it does, it isn’t hard to see why it will remain rare. [...]

Long-term update: 2010 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ stereo

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:27:23 +0000

Being the fully-optioned version of the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu, our long-term LTZ tester also comes with the best stereo available in the range. It is seemingly unbranded and doesn’t look like much, but for the first time ever, we had the time to delve deep into the entertainment system of a test car, and were [...]

Long-term update: 2010 Chevrolet Malibu interior

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:41:40 +0000

Our long-term 2010 Chevrolet Malibu had been taken away for more than a week for an agency photo shoot, during which time we cruised around in a courtesy Cruze. Our Malibu is back now, with about 500 additional kilos on the clock. As interesting as the Cruze is, upgrading to a Malibu again is like [...]

So we got a 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:00:28 +0000

We’re one of the first people to test the all-new 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour in the GCC. So fresh it is that this is the same opal-green car that was displayed at the Atlantis launch event less than a week ago, and it still has less than 400 km on the clock. We’ll have to [...]

First drive: 2010 Fiat Bravo in Abu Dhabi

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:48:40 +0000

Few companies offer media drives of their all-new models in the UAE itself before they become available to consumers. And we don’t get invited to most of them because they are afraid of us. However, Fiat is making a comeback in the region, and they did invite us to their 2010 Bravo unveiling in Abu [...]

Highway test: Chevrolet Malibu 2010 from Dubai to RAK

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:12:51 +0000

We took our first ever 2010 long-term car on a trip from Dubai to Ras-Al-Khaimah, partly as an excuse to test the highway behaviour of the Chevrolet Malibu LTZ on a long drive, and partly to meet our resident desert-safari-driving friend, who happens to live in that rocky city.

Stepping into a car on a [...]

Long-term update: 2010 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:44:08 +0000

The Chevy Malibu LTZ has now become my main mode of transportation, as my Jeep and BMW start gathering even more dust than usual. The Mallu is proving to be a rather comfortable ride, while also keeping up appearances. It looks like a luxury car after all, and behaves like one too.

My usual “CEO” [...]

So we got a long-term 2010 Chevy Malibu LTZ

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:13:56 +0000

I first asked General Motors’ old PR agency for a long-term test car back in 2005. At the time, they couldn’t comprehend why anyone would need a test car for more than 2 days, let alone some start-up website. Since then, we’ve asked others, and they all rejected us, mumbling something about the “quality” of [...]

Long-term update: 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:45:50 +0000

Something rather weird happened with my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. After the starter motor blew out late last year, I got a brand new one fitted from the dealer. Then over the winter, my fuel consumption started dropping dramatically. As stated by the trip computer, it went from hovering above 17 litres/100 km down to [...]

Comparo: 2010 BMW Z4 vs 2000 BMW Z3 M Roadster

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:04:25 +0000

We’ve had in our possession a 2000 BMW Z3 M Roadster since the beginning of 2008. It is as close as limited-income people like us can get to owning an exotic car without selling off kidneys and limbs. But in the past decade, the Z3 was replaced by the Z4, and then came a second-generation [...]

Economy Test: Chevrolet Camaro SS LS3 in Dubai

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:12:48 +0000

You know that all those years of being a good boy is paying off when people suddenly call up to offer you a black 2010 Chevy Camaro SS for the weekend. With an LS3 V8. And a manual transmission. For a second round. The manual SS is initially hard to drive, but having just about [...]

Long-term update: 2005 Peugeot 307 XSI

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Fri, 28 May 2010 07:38:17 +0000

After selling our 2005 Peugeot 307 XSI to my buddy, I had made a deal with him to fix the non-working windshield washers and replace the lost remote key. That turned out to be a bit of a hassle.

The washers were easy enough to get fixed at the dealer, costing us Dhs 145 to [...]

So we got a 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:37:50 +0000

As part of the “Tahoe Adventure Weekend,” where we hung out at the Le Meridien Al Aqah till last Sunday morning, we were each sent home to Dubai with a 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe to try out. I had picked the LTZ 4×4 model, and ended up keeping it right till this Thursday.

Launched in 2007, [...]

First drive: Chevrolet Tahoe 2010 in Fujairah

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:16:13 +0000

The General organised a little two-day trip for journalists to the Le Meridien Al Aqah, with some scuba diving, private rooms and Chevy Tahoes thrown in for good measure. I was a bit perplexed as to why they were promoting the unchanged-for-2010 Tahoe, but heck, who are we to argue.

I picked an LTZ from [...]

So we got a 2010 Toyota Sequoia 4×4

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:02:44 +0000

The Toyota Sequoia caused a riot among faithful followers of the Japanese brand when they released this behemoth in two-wheel-drive “city SUV” trim last year. The big guy had been on sale for years before that in the United States, being built there too. But once the recession hit, America’s new-found focus on “green” cars [...]

So we got a 2010 Chrysler 300 Limited

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:58:19 +0000

The Chrysler 300 is a remnant of the firm’s brief glory days, just half a decade ago, when the first real fruit of the DaimlerChrysler merger allowed the American company to create a balanced rear-wheel-drive exotic sedan using Mercedes-Benz underpinnings. It sold well, right up till the recession, at which point the focus shifted to [...]

So we got a manual 2010 Chevy Camaro SS

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:45:56 +0000

The General’s good men sprung a surprise on me this weekend when they offered me a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS for a test-drive, after a last-minute cancellation by some other hack. The bigger surprise came when the car was home-delivered, because when I stepped in, it had three pedals. Indeed it was the manual Camaro [...]

So we got a 2010 Jeep Cherokee

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:49:47 +0000

The general media is rather cliched when it comes to reporting cars. “VW makes reliable cars.” “Audi has the best interiors.” “Chrysler has the worst interiors.” “Jeeps are unreliable.” None of those statements are true. That’s why I get pissed off anytime some car company executive refers to me as a “journalist.” I didn’t earn [...]