Firstly, my genuine apology to readers out there who have been eager to hear further updates on my 86. Some have poked me a few times via comments on my previous articles and finally gave up, but work life and other commitments held me back from drafting an update.
The midsize sedan segment is a competitive one dominated by the Japanese. But Chevrolet has had a competent entry for a few years now that hasn’t gained traction, even with competitive pricing. The current Malibu garnered a decent review from us when it was launched in late 2016, but then the well-known Japanese trio all got redesigns as well, raising the bar for what a midsize sedan can offer. The Korean-built Malibu received a quiet facelift for 2019 though, along with a new engine that’s a huge improvement.
Our Jaguar XK never had a fair shot in this market. While the car is perceived to be a modern classic in the United States and Europe, it had a weird reputation here — a mix between expensively unreliable, driven only by old British men, and expensive enough to get a ton of road respect.
Kia is in the process of expanding its SUV lineup. With the Telluride pegged at the top, they have now globally launched a new quasi-SUV, the Kia Seltos, as their entry-level offering. It was first unveiled in India a few months ago and we hear an influencer-filled media launch event was quietly conducted in the UAE, which is probably why local reviews are sparse.
We drove the updated 2020 Nissan Patrol around the UAE and found out what has changed, and whether the positive traits of the old one has been retained.
Fiat-Chrysler has a notorious reputation when it comes to reliability and build quality. But right off the bat, we’ll be the first ones to say that we highly recommend the Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger twins, and everyone who bought one after reading our reviews are very content. We’ve had our Chrysler 300 SRT for almost 3 years now. The car has been mechanically and electrically reliable for the most part, except for one nagging issue that no amount of warranty work is solving — the same small bits of interior trim keep falling off, again and again, twice every summer.
As a part of expanding their lineup, Ferrari revealed a new model named after the capital of Italy. The Ferrari Roma, as it’s called, is a V8 two-seater coupe that flaunts styling which is a departure from the design of most modern Ferraris, yet ends up looking the most generic and derivative.
With the launch of the Taycan Turbo and Turbo S, it was clear that Porsche is adopting a top-down approach for the launch of its electric sedan. So the lower models were expected to pop up soon after the launch. And Porsche did not disappoint. Here is the 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S. And this may be the best model to get, because it is the cheapest and you don’t have to explain to your friends why your electric car has a Turbo badge on it.
The previous-generation Mercedes Benz GLA served as the initial stepping stone to the German giant’s overly-extensive SUV lineup that leads up to the G-Wagen (which is what you should really be saving up for, and skipping the rest). Even though it looked like a bloated hatchback than a full-on crossover and therefore never caught on here, this never deterred Euro-centric customers as the little crossover racked up more than a million sales worldwide throughout its lifetime. Now Mercedes Benz has taken the covers off the second-generation GLA, giving it more of that crossover flavour.
For the 2019 model year, Chevy launched an all-new Silverado truck. So it was just a matter of time that those changes trickled down to the big SUVs in their lineup. And here they are, the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban.