Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury

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 as low as 15.5 litres/100 km, all without any change in driving style. One could attribute this to many other things, like winter weather or a dying trip computer, but neither can be proven definitively. This wasn’t my first winter with the Jeep, and the trip computer seems to be otherwise working fine.

Read More …

The street-legal Lexus LFA never made it to the UAE, and its limited run is already sold out, despite being overpriced. So this final commercial is designed simply to boost brand perception, with the engine’s soundtrack as the main feature.

Read More …

While the boring 2010 Volkswagen Polo hasn’t been launched in the UAE yet, to our limited knowledge, the People’s Car manufacturer has unveiled a sedan variant of the Polo. The resulting design mess is so unflattering that they quietly launched it in Russia in front of 200 guests.

Read More …

This image of what looks like the next-generation Ford Explorer is doing the rounds of the internet. While many believe it is the real deal, we believe it is simply a manipulation of an existing spy shot. Even then, based on the spy shots, this is likely identical to how the new SUV will look like. Said to be debuting in early 2011, it could either be badged as a 2011 or a 2012 model.

Read More …

The U.S. NHTSA safety agency is looking into complaints that the floor mats on the 2010 Ford Fusion, and its deadbeat Mercury Milan twin, are jamming the accelerator pedal. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. This is the same paranoid issue as the Toyota floor-mat recall that blew up into a worldwide fiasco.

Read More …

Ford’s overcrowded stable of brands just got smaller, with an announcement that the Mercury brand will be killed off by the end of 2010. The signs were already there, considering how there is almost zero advertising for Mercury in this region, and that we’ve never driven one.

Read More …

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 Z4 in 2009. So for a few days in 2010, we had in our possession a BMW Z4 sDrive30i. Ironically, the new mid-range Z4 now costs as much as the M Roadster used to cost a decade ago. So is a regular Z4 really at the same level as an M-tuned Z3 of the past?

Read More …

Citroën has just released first details of their new 2011 C4 hatchback. While a real step back into anonymity in terms of design, the toned-down new model will get an audience in the UAE, thanks to a change in the official monopoly dealer in the UAE.

Read More …

Targeting “young discerning drivers,” Renault Middle East has launched their Sandero hatchback in the UAE. Essentially a rebadged version of the Romanian-built Dacia Sandero that has been trundling around Europe since 2007, the hatchback is based on the same platform as the Renault Logan that debuted in Dubai recently.

Read More …

The 10th Sharjah International Auto Show will kick off in October with a more varied range of activities this year, such as a tuner car section, offroad driving track, and a “Middle East Car Of The Year” awards event in which I will be one of the judges.

Read More …