Confession time: I was mildly sceptical (and I’m certainly not alone here) of the Lamborghini Huracan Performante’s claimed 6min 52.01sec lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife when it was announced a couple of months ago.
The Nissan Pathfinder has had a long and varied life. In its first generation, it was a five-seater body-on-frame compact offroader back in 1985. Since then, it switched to a unibody, body-on-frame, and then again to a unibody in its current generation, this time fully becoming a crossover with seating for seven in 2013. The model has now received a makeover for 2018, and we drove it at the media launch event in Fujairah.
Honda is adding to their portfolio of redesigned models with the introduction of the all-new 2017 CR-V in the UAE and GCC. Completely different, yet familiar as a CR-V, the compact crossover has some new tricks up its sleeve.
Remember that time when Chinese cars were considered to be at the same level as week-old sushi. And speaking of sushi, believe it or not, even Japanese cars had just as bad a reputation about half a century ago. The Koreans were on the same boat just a decade ago, and now they are among the top sellers in most developed car markets thanks to their world-class quality at affordable prices. So how far are the Chinese is reaching the level of established brands in terms of design, quality and image. Not far, as we’re seeing, and leading the charge is Geely.
The current Ford Mustang GT is quite possibly the best all-rounder sports coupe to come out of America ever. And while it’s still pretty fresh, having hit the GCC only in 2015, there is a facelift on the way for 2018. However, the 2017 iteration has a few upgrades of its own that are worthy of attention.
When you’re shopping for luxury sedans, Lincoln isn’t exactly the first name on your list. It probably isn’t even the tenth car on your list, and you probably only remembered the brand when you went to the showroom looking at the three other luxury brands that the UAE dealer forces the Lincoln to share showroom space with. Truth be told, they do have some competitive products, such as the Lincoln MKZ that one of our writers owns. And their new Continental flagship sedan sets the bar higher still for American luxury, as you’ll see in this first real review of the car on UAE roads.
Audi recently revealed the all-new Q2 in the Middle East with a media drive event in Bahrain. The smallest SUV in their crossover line-up, it has been designed to appeal to a younger audience.
This is a case where it would be all too easy to write a paint-by-numbers story. Every single measure and statistic relating to the Chiron is so plain absurd that the numerals in themselves make interesting reading. Fifteen hundred horsepower, 1600 Nm, 0-200 kph in 6.5 seconds, 420 kph (electronically limited for safety!), 16 cylinders, four turbochargers… and even that’s barely scratching the surface.
Ram — Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles’ truck brand — extended their Middle East line-up for 2017 with the addition of the new Ram 1200 metric-ton pickup truck as well as several new trim levels of the existing Ram 1500 full-sizer. We got a taste of these new trucks at a recent event in Dubai, with a bit of offroading around the Bab Al Shams area.
Nissan invited us to a “surprise” launch event in Dubai, only telling us that it will be a crossover of some sort. That crossover turned out to be the 2018 Nissan Kicks. The more surprising news was that it will replace the Juke crossover and the Tiida hatchback in the carmaker’s GCC line-up, even though these cars will continue to be on sale in other markets such as Lebanon and Jordan.
