Land Rover, in association with Al Tayer Motors, launched the all-new 2013 Range Rover Sport, at an invite-only event at Meydan Hotel in Dubai earlier this month. We received a formal invitation directly from the dealer, and on hearing about this, the editor of this site asked us to write about our impressions as he didn’t want to attend the event himself to “avoid the crowds,” even as he got an invite himself for being a Range Rover customer.
The previous-generation Lexus IS 300 was a compromised but attractive sedan, easily the carmaker’s sportiest offering for the better part of a decade, if we were to overlook the overpriced (and overrated?) LFA. It was going to be a tough act to follow in terms of styling, although it was a given that the replacement also needed to address the issue of interior space. After the rather good GS sedan, every model in the Lexus range got a “spindle” grille and now looks like clones of each other, so their designers had to do something drastic to make the new IS be more than just a GS-lite.
The sub-compact market is a lucrative segment that’s dominated by a select few. With the Toyota Yaris and the Nissan Tiida laying waste to competition by everyone from Chevrolet to Volkswagen, the latest entrant to try their luck is Peugeot. They already had the little 208, but needed more of an edge in terms of space versus price. And so, we have the Peugeot 301, a car designed for “emerging markets” that concentrates on cabin space above all else.
The new Mazda 3 has officially been revealed by the Japanese outfit. It is going to be 61 mm longer in length and 50 mm shorter in height than the previous generation.
A never-mentioned fact about us is that, back in early 2005, a month or two after we started this website, the first test car we officially got offered was an Aston Martin DB9. What’s even worse is that, just as I sat in that car to drive off, we found out that none of us in the crew were eligible to drive it, since we were all under 25 at the time and insurance wouldn’t cover us. In the end, all I got to see was the fancy door handles and the cool interior with the button-operated gearbox, both giving a sense that the Aston was way ahead of its time.
How often is it that cars enter the GCC market, get stereotyped, and go unnoticed? A classic example of that has to be the brand we call MG, a simple abbreviation for Morris Garages.
Aston Martin has revealed the new Vanquish Volante convertible. It boasts the same engine as the hardtop coupe, which is the 6.0-litre V12 producing 565 hp and 619 Nm of torque.
What you see here are “spy shots” of the upcoming new sports car by Mercedes-Benz, these posed photos being handed out by the German carmaker themselves.
There’s nothing much to report on the Honda. It is a Honda after all. The only niggling thing was that, a few months ago, it was taking a few seconds too many to start, which was the sign of a weak battery. This was confirmed by the dealer workshop during its last service. But we chose to get our battery replaced via A&F Auto Parts’ battery delivery service.
Porsche recently offered us a day with their sportiest SUV, and we took it. It’s a lemon-green 2013 Cayenne GTS, slotting in between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo. According to the specs, it’s not quite as fast as a Turbo, but apparently it’s quicker around the corners.