This Friday, BMW Middle East held the Mini “Drive Out Loud” festival at the Dubai Autodrome. The event hosted Mini owners from around the Middle East. Entry was open to the public, though ticket prices were pegged at Dhs 100.
A couple of pages from the the Japanese brochure of the production-version Toyota FT-86 has been leaked onto the net. Considering the absolutely random nature of the pages, we think this “leak” might even have been deliberate. Update: More leaked images added.
As part of our re-acquaintance with the Mercedes-Benz brand, we were invited to the UAE leg of the 2011 AMG Performance Tour, held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The deal was that we get to stay overnight at the fancy Yas Hotel, but before that, we were subjected to a brutal assault of the senses by a variety of Mercedes-Benz AMG models.
Transparency is a word that is uttered with caution in this region. The lack of information on many aspects of the automotive industry is obvious. Some aspects will change soon, however. We’ve had the pleasure of talking to Satish Singh, an automotive-industry veteran who started Tetrahedron Consulting to build up information on the GCC car market, one step at a time.
Mitsubishi’s and Honda’s UAE dealers have opened used car divisions, BMW’s Qatar dealer has restarted their bespoke programme, while Mini is hosting a public event.
| The Good: – Powerful and economical – Great ride and handling – Spacious well-appointed cabin |
The Bad: – A tad pricey – Doesn’t look pricey – Doesn’t like low speeds |
There is only so many ways that we can make a Toyota Yaris review interesting. The hottest new car of this year that will sell in droves no matter what we say, we were given the option to pick a colour, and we picked red. You know, like a Ferrari.
Driving while sitting two inches away from a raspy high-revving engine is rather uncommon for most people. It’d mean you’re either driving a Ferrari 458 or a Toyota Hiace. But somewhere in between is the Porsche Cayman, supposedly the most balanced sports car in the world. We can now confirm that, after our stint with the Cayman R.
Our freebie Volkswagen Passat CC has now completed its break-in period, so we’re finally getting to open up the throttle and listen to that 3.6-litre V6. The same engine powers the new VW Touareg as well as the pricey Porsche Cayenne V6, and we loved the motor in those SUVs.
The new generation of Hino 300 Series light-duty truck has been launched in the UAE. Apparently it took 12 years of continuous development to roll out this version, and it can now be had with an automatic transmission.