News

If you haven’t heard yet, there is now a federal law in the United Arab Emirates to actually enforce the black points system, whereby drivers get black points for various offences. Once a guy collects 24 black points, the licence will be suspended for three months. If he collects 24 points for the second time, the license will be suspended for six months. If it happens for the third time, the licence will be taken away for one year and will not be returned after that until the guy passes a training course from an officially-recognised driving institute.

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So my PR guy called up Porsche and asked if we could get any Porsche model for our usual test-drive period, which is typically over several days. The Porsche people fired back that their test drive policy is the same for the media as it is for the public. So if you have some kind of undying love for these cars and want to abuse one, read on.

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The Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG will be used as the official safety car for the 2008 season of Formula 1 racing. The SL63 is one of those Black Edition models, with lightened panels and a fixed roof. In addition, the official medical car will be a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG station wagon.

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This is from an event at Awafi in Ras Al Khaimah, involving the locally-popular hill-climb activities. It is a good argument on why ghetto-tuning is not a good idea.

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So I had this Bentley Continental GT Speed at hand, and I was wondering what to do with it, besides the usual battery of tests. I’ve been in the United Arab Emirates my whole life, and I hadn’t seen that popular Jebel Hafeet road yet. I also heard that at the top of the mountain road is a flat piece of pavement, so I grabbed two buddies, threw a barbeque kit into the luggage trunk and set off to Al Ain and see this road for myself.

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Lexus unveiled their 2008 LX570 luxury 4WD in Dubai yesterday. The vehicle is largely based on a Toyota Land Cruiser, but includes a unique front end, a detuned 362 hp 5.7-litre V8, special trim and a totally different interior design. Interesting features include front, rear and right-side parking cameras, as well as active cruise control, variable suspension and a pricetag of Dhs 325,000.

Meanwhile, at a recent press conference in Dubai for the Gulf Air-sponsored Bahrain F1, it was mentioned that flights are getting full for the April 4-5-6 racing days, and it is advisable to book right now.

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Debuting at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show, the 2009 Infiniti FX has been redesigned, with a new pair of engines to choose from.

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The 2008 Geneva Auto Show is on, and one of the big debuts at the show is the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4.

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Back in January 28th, we were invited to try out the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe at the Dubai Autodrome, although we had to keep this quiet until the March 1 local release date of the car. We got 3 laps each with a 271 hp 3.5-litre V6 and a 190 hp 2.4-litre 4-cylinder model, both automatics since that’s the only way they’ll be sold in the GCC region. The awesome photography for our drive was provided by Honda themselves.

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That’s right. While parent company VW/Audi thinks we are a second-degree publication, their luxury arm Bentley thankfully works independently of them. So while we are not worthy of the holy VW Beetle, we are still good for a lowly Continental GT. And not just any GT. It’s the Continental GT Speed.

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