First Drive

Flying to the United States is a test of patience, but there was a compelling reason for us to do so last week. We attended the global media-drive event of the 2015 Ford F-150 in San Antonio, Texas. Quite possibly the American carmaker’s most important model, the new one is touted to be the most advanced truck in its class, and from what we saw, we’d have to agree, especially since they had the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500 available for comparison, that too for a trial-by-fire by drag-racing!

Read More …

How fast do you need your sports car to be? Porsche seems to sell one for every level of speed. If your threshold for velocity is over-the-top on the sanity meter, the 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo is for you.

Read More …

The “new” Nissan Patrol has been around for a while now, receiving its first facelift in 2014 since its launch in 2010. You may be familiar with the new look, having seen it up close on your rear-view mirror.

Read More …

There are very few cars that generate the kind of hype that the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has. The hype is warranted, judging by its initial photos and specs-sheet alone. But what is it like in real life?

Read More …

Salalah really is an eye-opener. Having spent an entire day there driving around in the all-new 2015 Nissan X-Trail, apparently we were witnessing the tail-end of rainy “khareef” season, which is when the desert sprouts enough greenery to rival European forests.

Read More …

Jeep is an absolutely amazing brand that earned its heritage the hard way. It wasn’t by becoming popular as the ride of choice for dictators or royalty. It wasn’t by taking part in racing events that entertained a niche crowd. And it wasn’t by building cheap reliable transportation. Oh no, the “hard way” meant winning World War 2. Times have changed though, but current-owners Fiat-Chrysler seem to have strived hard to make sure some of that legendary heritage has rubbed off on the all-new Jeep Renegade.

Read More …

One little-known fact about us is that our first officially-provided test car was the 2005 Cadillac CTS 3.6. It was a very nice car, but after the initial euphoria died down, we realised it wasn’t particularly well-built and nowhere near as good as the BMW 3-Series we drove after that. Two generations later, the 2014 edition is quite something else.

Read More …

It’s easy to criticize a carmaker for creating niche after niche, even though nobody asked for them. But the difference is how they go about it. There’s BMW with their 5-Series GT, an absolute disaster. And then there is the Audi A7, an interesting take on the ubiquitous sedan. To top it off, there’s the hotted-up RS7 version, which is on another plane altogether.

Read More …

The Tahoe is a major bread-and-butter model for General Motors. Starting life in the 1990s, it forms the basis for a few other similar models from GMC and Cadillac, although the original bowtie version remains the best-seller in the GCC region. And the new 2015 model is on track to continue the nameplate’s local legacy, as an alternative for those who can’t afford a Toyota Land Cruiser.

Read More …

There was a time when the Mercedes-Benz S-Class was the gold standard for luxury cars, by which every other was measured. It held that distinction for decades, until about the turn of the millenium, when rivals stepped up their game at the same time that Mercedes quality took a dump. The kind of flagships peddled by everyone from Audi to Hyundai nowadays are nothing short of outstanding, each in their own way, so much so that we couldn’t imagine how luxury cars could evolve further. So it’s amazing that Mercedes-Benz has actually managed to step it up further with the newly-redesigned S-Class.

Read More …