Asian Car News

2009 Toyota Crown Majesta upgraded in Japan

2009 Toyota Crown Majesta upgraded in Japan


Growing up in Dubai, my memory suggests that the Toyota Crown was cancelled in the UAE by the early ’90s with the arrival of Lexus. However, the Crown soldiered on in its Japanese home market, where it continues to be on sale, competing with their own Lexus LS for conservative fat-cat customers. The fifth-generation Crown Majesta happens to be Toyota’s flagship in Japan.

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Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota Land Cruiser 2010 replaces V8 engine

Toyota recently announced the 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser is going to get a new engine and transmission option, retiring the long-running 4.7-litre V8 to replace it with a Lexus-derived 4.6-litre V8. The upgrade is only for the Japanese-market model currently but may spread to GCC and other markets later.

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So we got a 2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe

So we got a 2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe


I first saw this exact red Infiniti G37 Coupe at its UAE launch in Dubai more than a year ago. Since then, magazine after magazine kept grabbing this press car from under us for their stupid comparison “tests” against the BMW 335i, until the red car became so “old” that we didn’t bother asking for it any more. Anyway, since my request for the Nissan GT-R was pushed even further away (as expected), I asked for a G37 Coupe to pass the time. It turns out that red car is still in press circulation, with 16,000 km on the clock,

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Comparo: 2009 Honda Accord V6 vs Nissan Altima V6 vs Toyota Aurion

Comparo: 2009 Honda Accord V6 vs Nissan Altima V6 vs Toyota Aurion

I get asked a bit too many times which is the best midsize sedan out of the three Japanese stalwarts – the Honda Accord, the Nissan Altima and the Toyota Aurion. Very few even care for oddities such as the Galant, the Passat or the Lumina, but it is not my job to promote those market-losers. Even fewer care that only one member of the A-grade trio is actually built in Japan. I have never driven the three cars back-to-back, and do not intend to, as none of them are exciting enough to warrant a second round. However, I have driven the V6 versions of each of the three four-door cars back in 2008,

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American IIHS says midsizers safer than small cars

American IIHS says midsizers safer than small cars


For years, sub-compact cars have been shunned by snooty people who chose to drive a big car, citing concerns over safety. While their reasons probably have more to do with image than safety, the Insurance institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent American agency that crash-tests hundreds of cars every year, say that the snooty people were actually right. While many sub-compact cars such as the Honda Jazz and the Toyota Yaris scored full marks in standardised crash tests against a stationary barrier, their downfalls became obvious when they were slammed against a midsize Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry.

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