Top 10 greatest DriveArabia stories of 2014
The end of the year is upon us again, and it’s time to look back at some of our greatest hits this year. But would you believe that we’ve just completed 10 whole years! For the past few seasons, we kept thinking of the big party we’d have when we hit the Big 10, but now that it’s here, we’re too busy to have any fun! Currently we’re working on adding more features to the website, catching up on numerous stories and even moving to a new office at the 48 Burj Gate tower. Revenues are up almost 30% this year, most of which we’ve invested back into a better experience for you. Over the past year, we’ve added a nicer car-comparison interface, a better mobile version, a much more powerful new server and even a new Toyota FJ Cruiser 6MT to our ever-growing long-term fleet that we’re running with our own money as we shy away from begging for free cars from manufacturers. And this is alongside having to go on numerous overseas media events as the invites have finally started coming in full-flow. It’s been a good year, and we continue to do it with a real readership and knowledgeable content, unlike some of the money-chasing nonsense that’ve cropped up recently in an attempt to copy our success. Maybe there’s still time for a party. But here’s some of the highlights of 2014.
We tried out a Nagawa XFR and ran away screaming
In this exclusive story, we drove a three-wheeled car…bike…err…something for the first time in our existence. It was also the first time we drove something that had only 16 hp. But damn, how can something so weak be so scary?
We drove the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and visited Obama’s house
Easily the most mind-blowingly powerful sedan to ever emerge in production form, and yet, so easy to drive on the track, on the road, and around trees! We went all the way to Washington D.C. to play with it.
We drove the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe at 240 kph in the rain
Some say that this car has too much power. They say that makes it bad. All we know is we drove it on a racetrack at 240 kph in heavy rain, and came out of it just fine.
We drove the Audi RS Q3 in Germany, but more importantly, it was an Audi trip
It’s not as much that we drove the speedy Audi RS Q3 in Germany on the autobahn, but rather the fact that this was the first Audi event we’d attended in a decade.
We bombed around the city in the Lamborghini Huracan
We were the first to do a local drive story on Lamborghini’s newest supercar, still wearing Italian plates no less.
We caused a ruckus around Dubai in, not one, but two Lotus Evora sports cars
Aside from the obvious fun, we were also the first ones to drive the manual version of the GCC-spec Evora.
We played cowboy with the Ford F-150 in Texas
Getting to drive this ground-breaking product long before it’s even hit showrooms, it was made more interesting by driving it in a state where there seemed to be more trucks than cars.
Driving an Italian-built Jeep Renegade in Italy isn’t as weird as we thought
The upcoming little crossover may be all European, but it’s still a very capable Jeep at heart. And we loved the fact that Italy is keeping the manual transmission alive.
We finally drove on the much-hyped Jebel Jais mountain road
And we did it in a Porsche Macan Turbo on a weekday morning with no traffic, led by a racing instructor. It was interesting.
We drove the most monstrous production car to ever grace our streets
It’s one of those cars that makes you wonder how it’s even legally allowed to be driven without a jet-fighter licence. It’s an absolute animal.
We did many other stories as well, such as the McLaren 650S we drove in the UAE, the Nissan X-Trail we drove in Salalah and the Fiat 500 we drove in Italy. We also had one of our legendary impromptu fan-meets in February. It’s always a good sign when people still show up for those. Here’s to 2015!
Comments
Aarav
It’s been awesome being a part of the readership of this website for 6/10 years! 🙂
Also that Huracan is the EXACT same one that’s featured in Top Gear’s The Perfect Road-Trip 2… 😀
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Haha, so we touched butts with Jeremy Clarkson. Or something like that.
Fouad
Awesome reviews Mash n team. Keep up the wonderful work. Have been a daily visitor to your website over the years and have never been disappointed
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Thanks for your readership, buddy.
royer
Great job Mash. Advance New Year Wishes.
Hasham
Good job, its been fun reading your news and reviews on a daily basis. Look forward to similar and more fun stuff in 2015!!!
Mitch
Good work
Ali Siddiqui
Happy new year mash and team…!!!!
keep up the good work
Sunil
Thanks Mash for all the reviews and articles. Wish all of you and families a very best 2015.
lucid
Congratulations to the DA team on the wonderful 10 years. Great job on keeping this site for the readers. I can say that this is the only local website I check or recommend to friends when researching cars or just trying to catch up on Auto News.
Wish you all the very best for 2015.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Thanks guys.
Anil
Congrats on 10 years!! Having followed the website for many years that I have lost count of, it would be great to include a motorcycle section for news, prices, updates and mayybee a few rides/test rides.
I do ride a motorbike namely Suzuki GSXR 600 and there would be many who would like to read articles on motorbikes in this region. Hopefully you can implement it and if you see the need be…I could lend a helping hand *wink*
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Hey there. There’s more motorcycle reviews coming up in partnership with another site. Stay tuned. 🙂
Shibu Daniel
Nice to see that DA is now a full-fledged car site offering the same unbiased reviews as they always have. I’ve been following DA for over 6 years now and have seen it evolve from a small site by an enthusiast to a professional site handled by a seasoned expert. Great work Mash! 🙂
Zohair
Wow, 10 years huh? Seems like only a few months ago back in uni when you were starting this. So, when’s the next meet?
Farhan
Mash, 2015 (should) will see the launch of the Drive Arabia mobile app !
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
ermm…
Presly
Hey MASH…
You’re doing an awesome job..!!
Been reading for a long time…
Just need to know whens Vivek Pajero Menon, getting an SUV for a long term….?
“He’d buy a Raptor if I didn’t pay him with coconuts and Pepsi only.”
“We also had one of our legendary impromptu fan-meets in February. It’s always a good sign when people still show up for those.”
Whens the next one…?
Regards to the entire team @ DA.
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
Thanks buddy. Let’s see when we have time again.