long-term update

Some time ago, our time-share 2003 Alfa Romeo found the strength to get its behind moving and meet up with its relatives, both new and old.

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Having let go of our Range Rover, we were on the look-out for a three-row SUV that could fit up to 7 people. Requirements change, and now that my second child was born a month ago, I’d have run out of space once my parents come to stay with us for babysitting duties. Car-shopping is easily one of the most awful processes you can go through, especially when it comes to used cars. However, the bigger story is why we bought this 2014 Nissan Patrol LE — with zero mileage and a full dealer warranty!

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We’re done with the Range Rover. It’s been almost 4 years since we bought it, and we were supposed to sell it years ago, but we kept it for this long because it was just so darn satisfying to drive around in. But we finally made up our minds and put it up for sale on just our genuinely-popular Facebook page, and sold it in less than a week.

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It has been quite a long time since we posted an update about our Renault Megane. Nine months, three dealer services, and 37,000 km later, the odometer in our Megane now ticked over at 67,246 km, thanks to my other business that requires a lot of driving. Contrary to popular belief, the Megane seems to be easy on running costs even with dealer maintenance, so its Nissan underpinnings are a blessing.

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It’s been possibly a year since I’ve personally driven my own Honda S2000. My brother, sub-editor Marouf, gets to enjoy it more as a runabout on occassion, keeping the mechanicals greased. It’s the cost of being busy building a business and owning three other more practical child-friendly cars and having a string of test cars that we have to drive as part of our jobs. But the other day, I finally found time to go for a round. Damn, I had forgotten how this thing drives.

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I was a little nervous about ordering a car I’d never seen in person especially since I had seen the meek-looking normal 1-Series at the dealership and it didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. Any doubts I had were dispelled as soon as I laid eyes on my car at the dealership upon its arrival. With the M Sport kit, the M135i looks far more aggressive and purposeful than the vanilla 1 series. The M Sport front bumper especially adds a lot of presence (and a bit of menace) to the car. I really love the stance of the 1-Series with its long hood giving a laid back stance courtesy of the longitudinal engine,

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We always knew our Toyota FJ Cruiser would become sought-after one day, just like the original FJ40 it gets its name from. What we didn’t know was that it’d happen so soon.

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Our Jaguar XK went in for its annual service the other day. We generally take our car in only once a year because we do maybe 4,000 km per year with this car, and modern synthetic oils can last that long without any ill effects, despite what your dealer or your great-granddad told you. Here’s an idea of what the regular cost of running a Jaguar XK looks like.

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Everyone in the DriveArabia family likes Alfa Romeos until sarcasm kicks in. So, when our buddy was planning to leave the country for good, all we cared about was his car — a 2003 Alfa Romeo 156 V6 with 250,000 km on the clock. As mentioned by him, we knew the car had some “minor” ongoing issues and our plan was to keep the car for a while before we sell it off. It was registered under the Editor-in-Chief’s name, as he wanted a taste of Alfa ownership as well. On the day he was leaving, I dropped him off at the airport and took over this car.

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The rainy season is finally upon us in Dubai, if you can call it a season. It hardly rains around here, but when it does, it pours and brings parts of the city to a standstill. With mini-floods building up on dipped roads and certain underpasses, it’s one of those times when we really appreciate our Range Rover.

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