We got to test-drive something different last week. Something that is genuinely Japanese and not the Chinese-American-Australian Japanese. Something that is blisteringly fast, sounds awesome, and is a pure joy to drive. It is interesting on the tarmac, and only gets infinitely more interesting beyond it. It is the all-new 2015 Subaru WRX STI.
BMW was the pioneer in creating segments that nobody realised they wanted, with monstrosities such as the 5-Series GT, the 2-Series Active Tourer and the X4 actually doing decently on the worldwide sales charts. Mercedes-Benz took a page out of that same book and created more tasteful segments, such as the CLS-Class and the CLA-Class. At least they did a full reboot of their previously-horrendous A-Class city-car with a proper hatchback, and out of that spawned the GLA-Class. We’re still not quite sure how it differs from the A-Class, but we’ll give it a go.
What do iPhones, Nike Air Jordans and Honda Accords have in common? All three popular products are made in China. However, actual homegrown Chinese brands have built a reputation for their lack of build quality, let alone safety, especially when it comes to cars. So when a Geely executive contacted us, directly from China no less, to try out their latest still-to-be-formally-named midsize sedan, consider our interest piqued.
What would you buy for a million Dirhams? A McLaren 650S? A Bentley Continental GT? Two Porsche 911s? Fourteen Toyota Yaris TRDs? The truth is, assuming you’re not the spoilt son of a business tycoon, you’ll be middle-aged by the time you become a business tycoon yourself. By that time, you’re too busy for supercars and prefer to be chauffeured around so you can get some work done. That’s exactly why the 2015 Mercedes-Maybach seems to have been created.
The all-new Ford Fusion debuted almost a year ago, and just as it’s catching up with the local car-buying public, Ford suddenly decided to roll in the all-new 2015 Ford Fusion Ecoboost, albeit quietly. So quietly that no one knows it’s here in the UAE. The Fusion Ecoboost had been here two years ago in its prototype stage for some extensive hot-weather testing, when we were offered an exclusive media test-drive that left Editor-in-Chief Mashfique thoroughly impressed. And the final production model that we just drove has only become better.
The latest Toyota Yaris hatchback is a pretty good car. We’d even go as far as tell you to put it on your shopping list if you’re in the market for a new car in the Dhs 50,000 range, although we’d never buy one ourselves (because we’re one of those crazies who buy a decade-old BMW M Roadster for the same money). However, Toyota is now actively trying to spice up its model line-up for the “youths”, and the Yaris has been a beneficiary of that campaign. Therefore, here’s the 2015 Toyota Yaris TRD.
Japan has some quirky yet practical cars, a side-effect of the country’s unique culture as well as obsession with making life easier, be it with robots, gadgets or hugely-spacious cars with tiny wheelbases. Of course, we’re not getting 660cc “kei” cars on the streets of Dubai any time soon. What we have here is the 4-cylinder Honda Odyssey J, the slightly-smaller Japanese-built cousin of the full-size V6-powered American-built Odyssey minivan.
We usually don’t look at too many small cars simply because the cheapest offerings from all brands are now almost similar to each other. We end up looking at some when we have to rent one out though, like this all-new 2015 Ford Fiesta we had rented for a week.
Redesigned alongside the Chevrolet Silverado for 2014, the GMC Sierra is pretty much a clone of the aforementioned Chevy, save for the front end. The version we’re testing here is some sort of well-optioned trim, complete with body-coloured bumpers and shiny alloy wheels, but still stands one level below the chrome-grilled Sierra Denali model.
It seems like just the other day when Toyota launched the 2012 Camry to much fanfare. So it seems prudent that the “all-new” 2016 Camry isn’t exactly all-new. Just launched today in the UAE, we took one for a brief spin around the cluttered “New Dubai” area.
