Feature Stories

BMW’s little sub-brand Mini has been catching a lot of flak lately for, well, not being so mini any more. Having driven every “new” Mini for the past decade, we can attest to the fact that they’ve been growing, but it’s also become more refined and practical as time went on. Of course, there’s a limit to how much space you can get out of a 3-door hatchback, so a few years ago, BMW had the bright idea to turn Mini into an entire range of cars that aren’t so small any more. One of them is the Clubman you see here,

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There are a handful of cars out there that just feel right. Porsche’s Cayman is one of those, as it has the knack of shrink-wrapping itself around your limbs and feeling like an extension of them within a few kilometres of hustling down the road.

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Audi’s svelte A5 coupe has now been around for nine years, but it’s aged with the utmost of grace –- so much so that one could argue it’s still as visually appealing as the much newer BMW 4-Series and Mercedes C-Class Coupe it competes head-to-head with. But it’s clear an all-new model was due if the A5 was to remain competitive with Teutonic rivals in terms of performance, dynamics, cabin layout and mod-cons. Right on cue, here’s the new second-gen 2017 A5, which we had the opportunity to sample at its recent international launch in Portugal.

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Seven minutes 49 seconds. That’s how long it takes the Volkswagen Golf GTi Clubsport S to scoot around the daunting Nurburgring Nordschleife.

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Jaguar first rolled out the svelte F-Type roadster in mid-2013, and since then the leaping cat has steadily bolstered the line-up, adding a coupe derivative, all-wheel-drive versions and extra powertrain choices -– all in keeping with the company’s objective to offer an “F-Type for all tastes” (or, to put it another way, maximise the company’s return on investment in developing and building the car). The latest addition to the range is the hardcore F-Type SVR — allegedly lighter, faster and more agile than the F-Type R.

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The crossover segment has become a big deal in recent times, and Jeep had already thrown its hat in the ring with the Compass and Patriot models. Clearly they were left wanting, so Jeep utilised their ties with new parent-company Fiat to create the Renegade. It’s the first Jeep built in Italy, which would explain what we were doing in Sicily for this test drive on the fringes of an active volcano.

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Nissan made its debut in the pick-up segment way back in 1933 with its pint-sized Datsun 12, yet Toyota managed to comprehensively usurp it with the launch of its Hilux in 1968. The latter’s dominance in this region is especially emphatic, and the stats reflect this -– the Hilux has succeeded in cornering a huge 75% of the segment in the GCC, while the existing Navara and Pickup have been able to muster up just 12% between them. Nissan aims to at least partly redress this imbalance via its new “NP300” Navara line-up, which replaces not only the old Navara,

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One hundred years ago, before the independent country of Jordan was created, a certain British military officer called T.E. Lawrence led an army of the Arab Revolt on a grueling, two-month march through the desert that was believed to be impassable, and captured the Red Sea town of Aqaba on the other side. Immortalised in a 1962 movie, he was better known as Lawrence of Arabia, and because there’s footage of him piloting a Ford Model T in Wadi Rum, Ford invited us to Jordan to retrace Lawrence’s march in the comfort of modern Ford SUVs. The connection isn’t particularly tenuous,

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Porsche has finally done it. With the need to increase performance while also improving fuel economy numbers in line with upcoming worldwide legislations, Porsche has taken the turbocharged route with their new Boxster and 911 models. We got a chance to drive these two models at an event in Abu Dhabi recently.

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