long-term update

When you’re asking people for their opinions on a car they do not own, you have to keep in mind that there are three kinds of people you are likely to encounter. First, there would be the car enthusiasts, who prefer cars with a sporting edge to them, and actually own cars with a sporting edge, such as a Dodge Charger or a Honda S2000. Second are the kind of people who you’d find on the street, who spend more time on sports and news websites than on car websites, and they drive regular cars such as a Toyota Prado or a Honda Civic.

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The Volkswagen Passat CC V6 long-termer is no more with us, having gone back to VW Middle East. Unlike any of our previous borrowed long-term cars, this one will actually be missed. It was easily among the best all-round midsize sedans we’ve ever driven, if not the best.

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You might remember this car. It is the white 2012 Lexus IS 300 C convertible we picked up for testing last year on Eid Al-Adha. Back then it only had 20 km on the clock. Now it has 4640 km, properly run in, and it is our new long-termer for the next two months.

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As a last hurrah before our 2012 Volkswagen Passat CC rides off into the sunset, we decided to properly check out what sort of fuel economy numbers it was capable of getting. Being a 300 hp all-wheel-drive midsize sedan had to be a fuel hog, right?

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We’ve had our V6-powered 2012 Volkswagen Passat CC for more than four months now. But it’s only today that we finally decided to take it out for a 0-100 kph flog. Truth be told, we always thought the CC was quick, but not that quick. But we were totally flabbergasted when the timings came in, so much so that we couldn’t wait to share it.

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It’s been more than two months now since we bought our 2007 Honda S2000. I’d like to reiterate that I hate soft-top sports cars, but Honda chose to make one of their best cars ever as a convertible, and we have to live with it. We did hear that they offered a hard-top in Western markets when the car was new, so we went to look for one.

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The last few weeks were pretty awful in terms of weather. Daily sandstorms took a toll on cars in Dubai. It was even worse when, you think the worst of the dusty weather is over so you wash your car, and then there is yet another dust-storm the next day. Frustrating indeed. And it took a toll on a car’s performance too.

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Our two-year-old Renault Safrane just had its first proper problem. The driver-side power window, which had been acting hesitant for more than a year, finally decided to crap out. The window glass went down and never came back up. Naturally, my father was pissed, as he had to go to work on a Friday, driving at 120 kph with a face-full of wind, and then having to leave the car overnight, open to the elements. He kept comparing it to his “reliable” 1997 Toyota Corolla, which didn’t even have power steering, let alone power windows.

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Our Volkswagen Passat CC had taken a back seat for the last month as we fiddled around with, what else, other Volkswagens. We drove the VW Phaeton and the VW Passat Ecofuel recently, and we have become quite familiar with Volkswagen DNA by now. Of course, we’ve come to realise that the Passat CC is indeed tuned to be sportier than other sedans in their fleet, as our car rides a wee bit firmer than either of those cars, while taking corners with much more confidence. But does it make a good highway cruiser?

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So the Mitsubishi Pajero has been with us for over 3 months now, racking up over 12,000 kms on the clock. A vast chunk of the mileage was amassed from a series of long drives and off-road excursions we had with the vehicle. We even had a cross-country trip to Oman, only a few couple of weeks after we bought it. Besides, it fulfills our requirement of daily office commutes too.

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