I updated the Future Car Preview page, seeing as how a lot has changed over the last few months. Release dates have been added to some of the confirmed cars. For example, the Nissan GT-R will come to the GCC in the beginning of 2009 at the earliest. Other new vehicles include the Ford Flex and the Volvo C50.
I’d like to think I single-handedly created the best new car buyer guide in the Middle East, even with all its little inaccuracies. It’s so good, I’ve even caught local car magazines lifting details from it without giving me credit. But maintaining it is a long-term job, especially since eleventy-billion new cars were launched during the recent Dubai Motor Show. I managed to integrate the more popular new models into the guide over the last few weeks, and figured I’d unveil them in time for our third anniversary on the net. Oh, and happy UAE national day,
The highlight of my day today was watching a tiny woman in a Toyota Prado ram into the side of some guy’s Chevy Optra for no apparent reason, reinforcing the unfortunate stereotype that most women are poor drivers, as much as I hate to mention this. Maybe she couldn’t see over the steering wheel. Of course this region has its share of men with poor driving skills too. And oh yeah, and I picked up a 2008 Toyota Corolla. A 1.6-litre version no less. It’s been a while since I drove a car this slow. But I’d like to thank Toyota’s PR-lady-of-the-year Marwa for keeping us at the top of the test-drive list.
Yep, I suddenly remembered the trio of 4WDs that Nissan unveiled here, and figured I should try out some of them. So I just picked up this Xterra (having waited for an hour for it at the showroom after some potential “customer” stole the test car for longer than he was supposed to have it). It is a very basic truck that does exactly what it advertises — off-road prowess with none of the fluff.
I was invited to share and pilot a 2008 Honda Accord with another journo on a press drive from Dubai to Fujeirah and back. Considering we didn’t have enough time with the cars other than straightforward driving, I’ll save a full review for when I get one in front of my building. What I can talk about are my first impressions of the 2008 Honda Accord, in both 2.4 and 3.5 trims.
Marwa, the new Toyota/Honda PR lady, has been doing a great job keeping us in the loop for test drives of their latest cars. No one else actually calls us first to fix us up with their most recent models. Thanks to her, we were probably the first ones to publicly post the review for the GCC-spec FJ Cruiser. We are a bit late with the Legend, considering others have reviewed it a month ago, but the timing is still good. The return of the Legend has been a long time coming.
The international PrivatDrive Supercar show will be held in Abu Dhabi for the first time from the 2nd till the 4th of February 2008. To be held at the Emirates Palace hotel, it is only open to VIPs and industry people. And we are one of their media partners.
I took the BMW X5 off-road because BMW kept pounding the public with evidence that it could, showing it as doing dunes and climbing man-made hills. I got it stuck and had to tow it out. On the other hand, the GMC Acadia was never advertised as being anything more than a road-going vehicle. But Diego, our not-so-bright PR guy, took it off-road anyway when I wasn’t looking.
To give our lumbering Infiniti QX56 some company this Eid, we also got a brand new GMC Acadia as a little brother. Except that the “little one” is also pretty big and likes to park in the adult parking lot. It’s a good thing and a bad thing that parking is free during the holidays. Good because I don’t have to shell out more money to the RTA. Bad because every cheap nincompoop will now come out of the woodwork and fill up the limited spaces.
We were supposed to pick up an Infiniti FX for this Eid-Al-Fitr, so it was a surprise when we were handed the keys to the QX56. Confusing letters aside, we never drove it before, and it is going to be an interesting exercise driving what it possibly the largest passenger vehicle that isn’t a bus. Less obnoxious than the Hummer H2, but still quite a bit longer, it is at least easy to drive.