First Drive

As I’m flying over Dubai and Sharjah towards Ras Al Khaimah in a Bell 412 crammed in with 13 other people, I am thinking that helicopter travel isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The flight is noisy, tight and industrial, completely at odds with the “luxury” experience we were supposed to be having. But damn is it quick. We reached our destination in only 20 minutes, landing at the Banyan Tree resort at the northern tip of the Emirates, having enjoyed a great view and not feeling fatigued at all for the 2013 Lexus LS launch event.

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In a move that no one expected, the Fisker Karma just became the first plug-in electric car to officially go on sale in the Middle East. Mitsubishi briefly thought about making an entry here with the i-MiEV, while Chevrolet has a couple of Volts running around Dubai since last year for so-called tests that never seem to end. But the upstart brand Fisker managed to come to market first, with a launch event held in the UAE.

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The most anticipated cars in this region are always the cars that are near the top of the sales charts, and the Nissan Altima happens to be one of those. As the second-best-selling midsize sedan in the Gulf, the 2013 Nissan Altima is going to be all over the streets of Dubai by the end of this year, and with good reason. The new car has improved in all the right ways.

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When we got the call to come drive the “new” Rolls-Royce Phantom models in Dubai, I had to think hard to remember why they were calling them new models. Then it hit me that Rolls-Royce did launch “new” models of their Phantoms, if only with minor changes. The Phantom Series II may just be a facelift, but the new tech added brings the flagship up to modern standards.

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For a little recap, the Audi TT in its current guise has been around in the GCC since 2007. The first generation was produced from 1999 to 2006, which impressed with its controversial shape, which while certainly different, was not to everyone’s taste. Still, several thousands were sold all over the world for the way it looked, if not for its notorious handling.

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The latest 2012 Porsche 911 is the first all-new design for this long-running sports car since 1998, when it first went water-cooled. Every model before that was simply an update on the original design that debuted in 1963! With cars like the Nissan GT-R proving that the Germans can be beaten at their own game, engineering stagnation is something Porsche cannot take for granted any more, and with the new 911, they have moved their star model further upscale. The only job left now, as per tradition, is to churn out a million variants, the first of which is the 911 Cabriolet.

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Michael Bay pitched his idea about transformers to the legendary producer/director Stephen Spielberg by starting with the line “It’s about a boy”. Why should this article be any different? I was told that “she” was the last model for the year 2008 left for sale in the entire UAE when I walked into the showroom late September that year. I was told that “she” was customised for the director of Dodge in Abu Dhabi. I was also told, if not “her”, then I would have to wait for another 6 months. The “boy” in me couldn’t wait, wouldn’t wait.

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The Infiniti JX35 is one car that nobody was actually anticipating. Unlike the next Toyota Prado or the latest Lexus LX, this all-new Infiniti is going with an all-new nameplate and will have an uphill task establishing the “JX” moniker. Just launched in the GCC, it might be yet another crossover in a line-up that already has the FX and the EX, but this is an important model. The mechanicals for the JX will be the basis for the next-generation Nissan Pathfinder. Interested yet?

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The all-new Passat is a big car for Volkswagen. And by ‘big’, we mean both importance as well as size. The larger 2012 Passat is now shipped in from their new United States factory, and we were shipped to Jordan for a test-drive as well as a mini-vacation at a Dead Sea resort.

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