Michelin is celebrating their 125th anniversary this year, and as part of that, they held a media event at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit. Aside from a massive amount of information about company history, tyre safety and manufacture, as well as a chaperoned stint with some supercars around the race-track, the highlight of the day was the thrashing of Toyota Camry sedans in a tyre-safety demo.
About a decade ago, when we first saw the soft-closing door mechanisms on luxury cars, it blew our minds. Doors just closing on their own meant no more question on whether the door was fully closed or not, something that could happen when passengers are climbing in without paying attention as you wait by the road to pick them up. But then again, with warning systems nowadays, it’s less of a concern, although the main idea behind this feature is to close a door in a stately manner, without slamming it like an uncouth monkey. Now there’s a company in Dubai that offers this feature as an aftermarket add-on for any car.
| The Good: – Fast for a “base” engine – Cabin comforts and features – Ride and handling |
The Bad: – Expensive for a “base” model – Fun while parallel-parking – Softer than its coupe sibling |
The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG have just announced a joint venture in the form of a pickup truck. Together, Nissan and Daimler will develop a 1-ton pickup truck for Mercedes-Benz.
The Flying Spur is Bentley’s idea of a sporting sedan — big, elegant, powerful and able to outhandle all sorts of smaller cars. And this here is the V8 version, slotting in below the W12 models.
“I. Am. Invincible!!!!!” That’s what I was shouting when, yet again, we accepted an invitation to the annual Jeep Jamboree back in December, and came out of it alive and in one piece. This year’s event was murder, to the point where about 99% of the participants came in with just Wranglers, whereas previous events have had a mix of Cherokees and Grand Cherokees as well. The course was that tough. And we were provided with a bone-stock 2015 Jeep Wrangler Sahara by the local dealer in Dubai.
The Cadillac ATS sedan that was launched a couple of years ago was the General’s answer to the BMW 3-Series. And at least in terms of chassis dynamics, it had succeeded. Now there’s a coupe version. We briefly took one for a spin recently.
We’ve driven several cookie-cutter BMWs. We’ve tested many Bentleys. But we never brought home a Rolls-Royce. We were saving it for a very special occasion, whatever it might be. However, that special occasion never quite seemed to require actually borrowing a Rolls. So when they themselves called us up and offered us a second-gen Ghost, we simply took it. At least mini-Mash would get to ride in one, even if he won’t remember it when he grows up.
Al Futtaim Motors just celebrated their 60th anniversary this week. That’s right, the UAE’s sole Toyota distributor has been at it for more than half a century, so it’s a bit of a surprise that they’re doing anything TRD-related only now. TRD is Toyota’s performance arm, and UAE dealerships now offer add-on TRD parts for various models. We picked the TRD Aurion to take for a spin, skipping more intriguing models such as the TRD FJ Cruiser and the TRD 86.
It’s not easy to drift. No, doing doughnuts in a parking lot or sliding out your tail in a left turn is not drifting. My skills are limited to initially mild slides and catching them, hence why I’ve never run a car into a tree in a decade of driving. But drifting requires a precise level of control over the steering, the throttle and occasionally the handbrake, continuously. It’s something that I’ve tried my hand at, in closed parking lots mind you, and mostly failed, except with that one car back in 2007 which had balance so perfect that I was able to hold a few drifts for a few seconds at a time.