Continuing DriveArabia’s season of giveaways, we ramp up the prizes with this ultra-limited edition gift I received at a Porsche launch event. This is an expensive 1:43-scale heavyweight metal sculpture of the Porsche Panamera in full chrome, complete with gift box.
Update: The winner is Sarin Chandrasekharan.
The Toyota Fortuner, soulmate of the Toyota Hilux pickup on which it is based, has just received a facelift for 2012. It has already been revealed in Thailand, where it is built.
Continuing DriveArabia’s season of giveaways, we are giving away this goody bag made out of stuff I’ve received from carmakers as well as bought myself. This Mini bag contains a goofy hat, a 1:43-scale first-generation Mini Cooper toy model, and a dealer-branded 2GB USB keychain.
Update: The winner is Jaikesh Sudheer.
We’re not on good terms with Mercedes-Benz any more for personal reasons (theirs, not ours), so we were sitting on these photos for a while, pondering whether they’ll try to get back at us using archaic local laws for taking photos of their prototype cars. After consulting our lawyers, we’re told these cars were in public view and reveal nothing, so we’re going ahead and showing you our own spy shots of what is now comfirmed to be the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class.
In what will become a blessing for consumers, a new rule is going to come into effect in October that all cars in the UAE will have a mandatory 5-year warranty.
FastFit, the name of Al Futtaim Motors’ new Express Tyre & Battery fitting centre, is apparently the UAE’s first company to install the fastest wheel aligner in the world, the 4D Master Aligner.
We never even touched the 350Z. We didn’t drive the 370Z Coupe either. And we never asked for the 370Z Roadster. However, we never say no when we get offered a car, so we took this Nissan drop-top you see here for a spin. Trouble is, with 16,000 km on the clock, everybody and their mother has already test-abused this car, so we’re guessing it wasn’t the most ideal representation of what a “Z” car is supposed to be.
We’d heard rumblings that Honda had a batch of 2012 Honda Civic sedans shipped to the UAE, but backed off from properly launching the new model due to the supply shortage after the Japanese earthquake. These cars apparently went on sale quietly, and one of our readers snagged these photos of the Civic at one of Honda’s dealerships in Dubai.
Our 2008 Mitsubishi Galant GTS is now in full service, being used as a daily commuter for the Dubai-Abu Dhabi-Dubai slog every evening by my brother. So we racked up 3,000 km in less than a week.
This “Ironhide” GMC Topkick truck model from the Transformers movies has been sitting on my display shelf for a while now. The truck can actually transform into a robot. Now you can win it.
Update: The winner is Anete T. Thomas.