The last time we drove the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe was actually the first time we drove it. It was for our industry-best crossover comparo, and it was the 2.4-litre model. That lower-spec model won our comparo, partially because of the promise that you could get this fully-loaded V6 model for less than the price of all the other contenders. So it was time to actually check out the V6 model that won its lesser-engined brother the title in that bout.
The 2014 Kia Optima has been unveiled at the 2013 New York Auto Show. The facelift is minor, and it remains to be seen if this US-spec design applies to cars coming to the GCC from Korea.
The 2013 Honda Crosstour has just been launched in the UAE as well as the GCC. Aside from the obvious frontal facelift, the “Accord” name has been dropped from its badge.
As much success as Hyundai is experiencing nowadays, truth be told, they have a big gaping hole in their sales figures for models beyond a certain price-point. One of the those models is the Hyundai Centennial. As even Hyundai owners might not know, the Centennial is the flagship of the Korean brand, designed to tackle premium brands head-on. The car has been around for a couple of years now, but we finally took one for a spin at the launch of the mildly-facelifted 2014 model.
Mazda’s UAE dealer, Galadari Automobiles, has just inaugurated a brand new showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. It is their fanciest showroom to date, and also includes a large service centre. They also used the opportunity to launch the 2013 Mazda 6 sedan in the UAE.
The Fast & Furious movies nowadays have as much to do with street-racing as Titanic has to do with reality, but its remains the only movie series for car enthusiasts to anticipate at the moment. Here’s a look at some of the cars that have been specially-built for the latest sequel.
In a move that was a long time coming, the FX35 and its 3.5-litre V6 have finally been dropped from the line-up, replaced by the new FX37 model.
Infiniti recently invited us to try out the 2013 QX56 at a media event. We were more than familiar with the QX56’s capabilities on the road, thanks to the long-termer we had in 2011. We didn’t explore its off-roading credentials at the time beyond mountain-driving, but since it is a reskinned Nissan Patrol after all, Infiniti wanted us to do more with it this time around.
A comparo is the best way for an automotive publication to lose advertisers. That’s why you never see a clear winner in so-called comparos by local magazines, with lots of pretty photos to sell copies, no figures to back up any conclusions and three-way ties to make everybody happy. We’ve rarely picked a winner in our previous comparos either, but that’s because most of them were not proper straight-up comparos. We decided to do a serious comparison test this time though, if only to answer certain recurring questions once and for all. And the category we decided to tackle is the hotly-contested compact crossover segment.
Nissan Middle East debuted the 2013 Nissan GT-R “For Track Pack” in Dubai last week at the Dubai Autodrome. The new model isn’t a big change, aside from a retuned suspension and further weight loss, and we didn’t get to drive it either. But Nissan had two 2012 GT-R test cars lined up on the track, with pro instructors in the passenger seat. With Nissan GT-R creator Kazutoshi Mizuno and his team hanging around. And we were told to bring in a couple of our Facebook fans as well for a drive!