Top 10 greatest DriveArabia stories of 2015

It’s that time of year again, when we look back at some of our greatest hits this year. After completing a decade of operation last year, our 11th year has been spectacular! We spent the year driving more dream cars than ever, went on overseas test-drives every other month, and somehow even managed to grow revenues by 50% this year without compromising on our ethics. Advertorials will always be labelled as such, and we will never do any under-the-table work for carmakers, the opposite of which seems to have become a trend in our industry nowadays. On a personal note, I also became a father about a year ago, so you might notice a bit more emphasis on practicality when it comes to my car reviews, with a pram ending up in photos of various car boots. We also have Tammam on board as our regular Arabic editor, helpful as we have a growing readership in Saudi Arabia. And best of all, we’ve managed to go an entire year without buying yet another car for our self-funded long-term fleet (aside from a free Alfa that a loyal reader gave us. No kidding!). We can’t be sure we can go another year without buying another car. Here’s some of the highlights of 2015.

We finally drove a Ferrari properly and it was amazing

Seriously. After all the bull we’ve heard over the years about how Ferraris aren’t exciting any more, we had our minds blown by how good a modern Ferrari actually is. About the only flaw we could find was the lack of a useable boot in this 488 GTB.

We tested a prototype Chinese car around Dubai and it wasn’t bad at all

Chinese cars get a bad rep, but they’ve been steadily improving over the years. While Geely itself didn’t have the best cars around, the prototype GC9 midsize sedan we had tested was actually quite good. It will take another generation to catch up to established brands, but they will surely do it.

We drove the new Mercedes-Benz AMG GT-S flat-out around an F1 racetrack

Mercedes-AMG models are great on the road, but rather boring on a track. The electronic nannies on regular AMG models are highly restrictive. Except for the AMG GT. That thing is a proper sports car, with a proper sport mode that allowed for a lot more fun.

We survived the Jeep Jamboree yet again and it added more hair on the chest

If you’re not well-versed in offroading, we’ll tell you right now not to sign up for the Jeep Jamboree. It’s not as easy as the cute name makes it sound, and there is no quick help if things go wrong. We made it back without a scratch by partly following a certain local motoring journalist who some may recognise.

We drove a limited-edition Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster around Dubai and caused a scene

We had this Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster for less than a day. We drove it. We loved it as an experience for the senses, kind of like going to Disneyland. What we didn’t tell you is that we got pulled over for those Italian plates, causing a public scene that was recorded on hundreds of camera phones. Random footage should show up on the internet any day now.

We drove a crossover in Iceland in the middle of winter

This was our first time driving on snow. You might assume it’s like driving on sand. It’s not, really. Sand is more predictable. Snow seems to do whatever it wants, including make wannabe rally-drivers fall flat on their faces.

We drove yet another limited-edition supercar, this time after it was sold out

We were surprised when we got the call to try out this McLaren 675LT. It was sold out months prior, so basically, even this last-of-its-kind test car was worth quite a lot of money, and we were putting more miles on it, depreciating it further.

We drove the future of automobiles in Germany, fresh out of the factory

This is how all cars will be soon. Regular-looking commuter cars missing an actual petrol engine under the bonnet. This VW e-Golf offered good performance and comfort, along with the company’s characteristic driving pleasure. Ironically, we drove it at VW’s homeland of Wolfsburg, on the day their current “troubles” started hitting the headlines.

We hammered a muscle-car on the track to see if they can handle corners nowadays

Muscle cars are still trying to shake off the stigma of not being able to handle corners. Modern ones are actually pretty decent on public roads, but what about on a racetrack? Well, we had more fun with these than we did with the aforementioned AMG sedans.

We compared the top mainstream fullsize 4x4s and reached the obvious conclusion

We pitched the three big guys to see if any of them are a worthy alternative to more premium fullsizers that are more popular among the well-heeled here. Even we didn’t expect to come to this conclusion.

So there you go. These are only a few of the things we’ve been up to this year, aside from our regular car reviews. We’ve sampled everything from the new Mazda 2 and the Toyota Camry all the way up to the new Nissan Patrol Desert Edition and the Rolls-Royce Ghost, so never say we don’t give any car a fair shot. There’s more on the way for 2016, but we’ll talk about those as they happen.