After grabbing headlines for the world’s cheapest car, Tata has now introduced a new people carrier at the New Delhi Motor Show. Dubbed the Tata Magic Iris, it seats five, and is meant to compete with three-wheeled auto-rickshaws rather than minivans.
The Toyota Yaris has received a minor facelift for 2010, and can already be seen around the streets of the UAE. It is odd that the dealer is focusing on offloading leftover 2009 models before truly marketing the new version, but then again, the changes seem to be limited to new bumpers and not much else.
| The Good: – Retro-classic styling – Enough power to have fun – Improved cabin quality |
The Bad: – Hopping rear suspension – Hectic highway ride – Not so affordable any more |
Toyota is showing off the Etios “concept” at the New Delhi Motor Show, ready to become the company’s volume seller in the competitive Indian market.
Honda’s Indian division has unveiled the Honda New Small Concept, a concept version for what will become a new sub-compact hatchback model, at the Auto Expo 2010 in New Delhi.
Cadillac has released details of the 2011 CTS-V Coupe, which debuts at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show this month. It combines the new CTS Coupe’s body with the 556 hp supercharged V8 from the CTS-V sedan.
| The Good: – Unique front-end styling – Safe and economical – Good ride and handling |
The Bad: – Boring rear-end styling – Multimedia system needs work – Some weird ergonomics |
The new year is upon us. 2010 will be a critical year for DriveArabia.com that will decide whether this site continues to 2011 and beyond. While nothing special happened in 2009, there were a few key moments for us. We had our first offer to go abroad thanks to Nissan, to go to France. We lost our first chance to go abroad, because the French embassy wanted to process us like terrorists. We drove the GT-R, Camaro and Mustang. We got to keep a Volvo for a week. We held our first ever professional photo shoot. We started the MyRide community.
| The Good: – Very spacious interior – Comfortable ride quality – Decent off-road performer |
The Bad: – Some hard cabin plastics – Floaty handling – Full-size fuel economy |
The Mitsubishi Outlander underwent a full redesign only a couple of years ago, becoming a competitive compact crossover with an attractive new face. Then designers decided to plaster a Lancer Evo face onto the likeable 4×4’s front-end, and that facelifted version has been launched as a 2010 model in many countries. But the Japanese were not tired of the outgoing Outlander yet, and so Mitsubishi is still offering the older version, alongside an aggressive version of the new face.