One of our readers in Dubai, Afaq Soomro, caught what he says could be the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class or more likely a B-Class. And we’d say he guessed right, considering camouflaged Mercedes-Benz cars in the UAE are a common sight and these test cars seem to be escorted by other Mercedes-Benz cars.
The 2010 BMW 535i Gran Turismo left us many months ago, after less than three weeks with us. We figured we should do a wrap-up article before closing the book on this car, especially since BMW themselves are considering ending production of this car for obvious reasons.
No one gives a damn about the next Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG or the latest Bugatti Veyron, except for kids who love posters and rich people who don’t drive much. This is the first shoddy photo of the 2012 Toyota Camry, quite possibly the most anticipated car in the world, made a worldwide best-seller by regular folks.
| The Good: – Aggressive styling – Pure uninterrupted power – Great handling |
The Bad: – Useless rear seating – Hard cabin plastics – Noisy even with the top up |
This is our third VW test-drive in a row. This time we have the 2011 VW Golf R, a stronger version of the Golf GTI and replacement for the previous R32. Since we’ve tested neither of those cars before, thanks to VW’s previous PR agency, we have nothing to compare the Golf R to. All we know is that it is a proper ass-kicker of a car.
Bridgestone Middle East has just launched the ECOPIA EP100A tyre for the Middle East and Africa markets, at an event in Dubai, UAE. Bridgestone “rises up to the challenge in helping our planet” with this tyre, which apparently saves fuel thanks to lower rolling resistance.
As part of our Hyundai dealer-sponsored trip to Korea, we were given a quick tour of the Research and Development centre in Namyang, mostly to see the wind tunnel facility. The place was so secretive that cameras and phones were confiscated before entry, and even inside, all we saw were prototype cars in camouflage. Lots and lots of prototype cars in camo, all playing around their testing grounds.
“Real” journalists with Western passports fly to foreign destinations every other week, fully paid for by carmakers, with 5-star hotel stays and business-class flights. For that, all they have to do is “review” a car. Of course, third-world jerks like me don’t get foreign invites all that often, especially since I reveal more than just the test-drive itself. The couple of invites that I did get, I couldn’t go mostly due to visa hassles. So when Hyundai’s UAE dealer invited me for a three-day trip to South Korea to test-drive the all-new 2012 Hyundai Elantra, I agreed of course.
The Renault Koleos, a rebadged compact crossover built in Korea, has never really sold well in the GCC since its launch a couple of years ago. So the carmaker is going at it a second time with a facelifted model for 2012.
Some of you may have noticed that my brother Marouf does not write news articles for us any more. That’s because he is now a web editor at a sports newspaper in Abu Dhabi. And that means he has to drive from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and back everyday, a distance of 270 km daily. We’d already sold our Peugeot 307 2.0 last year, I wasn’t going to have him rack up miles on my fuel-hog Jeep or my exotic BMW, and our Renault Safrane is in use by the Old Man of the house. So he was doing the daily road-trip in our trusty old 1997 Toyota Corolla,