Marouf Hussain Chowdhury

First drive: 2018 Audi Q5 and SQ5 in Oman

First drive: 2018 Audi Q5 and SQ5 in Oman

The Audi Q5 isn’t particularly common in the GCC, but it is currently the VW-owned carmaker’s top-selling model worldwide. It still sold around a healthy 280,000 units in its final year, and 1.6 million in total since its inception in 2009. As it remains hugely popular, just like the A4, Audi has gone for evolution, rather than revolution, when it comes to the exterior. However, underneath the skin, everything has changed, with more technology, power and efficiency.

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First drive: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox in Oman

First drive: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox in Oman

Keeping in mind the current trend of crossovers becoming the most popular type of vehicle among car buyers, Chevrolet recently launched the all-new 2018 Equinox for the Middle East market. Chevrolet will be hoping the Equinox proves to be just as popular as it is in the United States, where it is their best-selling vehicle, only behind the Silverado. It will replace the Korean-built Captiva, which never quite gained a foothold here.

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First drive: 2018 Volkswagen Arteon in Germany

First drive: 2018 Volkswagen Arteon in Germany

When Volkswagen first debuted the Passat CC, it turned quite a few heads. Not only because it looked good, but also the question of “why?”, especially as the CC version was priced higher than an already-existing Passat. Lucky for us at that time, Volkswagen decided to help us understand the “why” question and offered us the VW Passat CC V6 for 5 months. If you had been following our reports back in 2011, you would probably know we bloody fell in love with that car. Power, handling, comfort and luxury in a more stylish package — it ticked all the right boxes and justified the price premium over the standard Passat.

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First drive: 2018 Kia Rio in the UAE

First drive: 2018 Kia Rio in the UAE

The Kia Rio is the South Korean carmaker’s sub-compact hatchback offering. It’s not exactly the first car that comes to mind in this category, primarily dominated by the Japanese, but it has some presence in the UAE market (and rocking it in the KSA market) due its decent price-tag. However, the all-new Rio seems to have upped its game, and we recently had a go in it at a media drive event in the UAE.

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