Mazda has been on a roll lately, with their latest models appealing to everyone from commuters to enthusiasts, which no one else has been able to replicate. But there was one sore spot in their line-up which, oddly enough, is their flagship model — the midsize CX-9 crossover. It was a fairly competent vehicle, but it had been left unchanged for almost a decade. So we were really looking forward to driving their all-new 2017 CX-9.
The internet is going wild over news that a brand new Honda S2000 was sold in Australia last month. Before you get confused, it’s a 2008 model that a Honda dealer in Australia kept aside for display purposes (probably to make the brand look more sporting than it is currently), but they’ve finally sold it to an unknown customer.
The 2017 Dodge Challenger is now available in an all-wheel-drive version in North America. The unusual move (for a muscle car) is aimed at potential buyers from snowy climates.
Maserati, the brand best known for building cars that Ferrari didn’t want, has finally dipped their toes in the hugely-profitable SUV segment. While you may never see a Ferrari SUV, Maserati’s new Levante is as close to that as you may get, assuming you ignore the lack of a V8 option. We got our hands on one during a recent trip to Oman, as they seem oddly hard to come by in Dubai.
Honda has launched a base variant of the 2017 Civic with an all-new 1.6L engine. To be offered in the GCC, Lebanon and Jordan, the 1.6-litre Honda Civic comes in two grades, namely DX and LX, and clearly aims to grab some market share from significantly-cheaper rivals. The 2016 Civic which was launched in April this year in 2.0-litre n/a and 1.5-litre turbo forms, leading to an 86% increase in yearly Civic sales at a time when every other compact sedan has seen crashing sales due to the economic slowdown.
If you’ve read our previous reviews of Mercedes-Benz’s AMG cars, you’ll realise that we don’t particularly find them impressive, specifically anything that seats more than two. All of their beefed-up sedans and coupes are rocket-fast, but when it comes to corners, it’s either severe understeer with the ESP in ‘sport-plus’ mode, or complete oversteer with the ESP fully off. Their rear-wheel-drive four-seater models are rather unbalanced cars compared to BMWs, held in line only by electronic nannies, which is why many of them now come with all-wheel-drive. The only car they currently have that’s truly an engaging drive is the AMG GT sports car.
The reborn Fiat 500, which debuted in 2007 and has been hugely popular in Europe but has remained externally unchanged since then, is getting a new variant called the 500 Riva. And it’s coming to the UAE and other GCC countries.
The new Ecoboost-powered 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor is currently in the final stages of hot-weather testing, right here in the UAE. Everything is being thoroughly tested to see if it is suitable for our Middle East style of offroading, including ground clearance, approach and departure angles, cooling systems, tractive capability and passenger comfort.
The last Kia we drove was the latest Kia Sorento. It was an impressive crossover in every possible way, except one — it was pretty darn boring to drive. Still, it ended up on our recommended list because it at least handled decently. Every Kia we drove before that was even worse in terms of driving dynamics. Kia has been constantly improving over the past half-decade, and the latest Optima looks like it could finally be up there with its Japanese and American rivals. So it was with great anticipation that we got behind the wheel of a turbocharged 2017 Optima GT for a quick spin while we were in Oman as judges for the 2016 Oman Auto Excellence Awards,
If you’re a regular reader, you may have caught our Ferrari 488 GTB reviews which, if you read between the lines, would realise that it is probably the best supercar today, barring those ultra-expensive limited-production hypercars. However, we never drove it on a racetrack before, which is exactly why we decided to attend Ferrari’s Passione Rosso customer event at Yas Marina Circuit last weekend, which had a little corner reserved just for us media people.