Feature Stories

Italian carmaker Maserati is eager to take a bigger share of the luxury car market, especially with the addition of several new models in just the last two years. Recently Maserati held a media drive event in Dubai to highlight their latest addition, the midsize Ghibli sedan. But they also brought along some of their other models as well, so we got our first look at the Maserati GranCabrio MC and the Quattroporte GTS as well.

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Mercedes-Benz built its reputation on luxury cars over the course of a century. Then there was that one time in the early 70s when they dabbled with a 4×4 for a military contract. That was the G-Wagen, which quickly went civilian later, but it wasn’t until the 90s that it evolved into the form it is today. Mercedes-Benz got the hint that the world is ready for a mainstream three-pointed-star SUV, and came up with the M-Class by the late 90s. And the rest, as they say, is history. Today, aside from the patriarch G-Class, the midsize M-Class and the compact GLK-Class,

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Privately-owned midsize pickups are a legitimate market segment in several Asian and even Western countries. Here, they are almost exclusively used as commercial vehicles, driven by sweaty hard-working men who quietly laugh at moisturiser-toting management types trundling to office in oversized American pickup trucks. However, Isuzu feels there is a gap in the market for a good-sized “lifestyle” pickup, and hence, we have the Isuzu D-Max GT.

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If you remember, we had gone to Italy last month to drive a couple of cars, including the Fiat 500L and the Alfa Romeo 4C. We also drove the latest version of the Fiat 500 Cult, a new trim level with a new engine and a manual gearbox, before it was even revealed at the Geneva Motor Show last week. We’d never driven a 500 before that, but damn is it good with the Euro-spec hardware.

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Don’t get too excited. If you were pining for a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry, you’re still not going to be able to buy one. The brand’s UAE dealer has just sold less than 50 of these hybrid sedans for service as Dubai taxis, and being a passenger in one of these rarities will be as close as you can come to experiencing it. But we got a chance to take the 2014 Toyota Camry Hybrid for a spin.

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Overseas media trips usually follow a strict regimen — you eat, sleep and drive whatever’s on “The Plan” and you do not deviate from it. So while the original plan was to drive a couple of Fiats, a Wheels scribe from our little Middle Eastern group requested to drive an Alfa Romeo 4C in the free time before we flew back to Dubai. And our Italian handlers obliged. What came next was a drive that shattered expectations.

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The awkwardly-styled BMW 1-Series has always been an acquired taste ever since it launched in 2004. But I’ve always been a fan of the top-spec 1-Series which have combined arguably BMW’s best inline-6 engines with an entertaining chassis and probably most closely evoke the spirit of past BMWs than most of the other current models. Having owned (and loved) a 2007 130i M Sport back in London, as soon as I saw the M135i I knew I had to have it as it promised to be even better than the old car.

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This was one overseas media event that kept throwing us surprises by the bucketful. I was invited for a trip to Milan by Fiat to drive something or the other. What we got was a romp in a manual 500 with a new turbo engine as well as a brief run in an insane Alfa Romeo 4C, but more on all that later. The car in focus during the event was the Fiat 500L Trekking, a recently-released crossover that’s tentatively headed to UAE shores by the end of summer this year.

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What started off as a last-minute call to a few of our fans to hang with us while we took photos of an Audi A5 Sportback ended up turning into a mini-meet of sorts last Saturday, as several of our regulars from previous meets showed up. As the sun set, a few people still kept coming in, and eventually reader Saifur Rahman from Mama Tani restaurant brought with him loads of complimentary Emirati cuisine and tea, for an impromptu food party around the boot of our Jaguar. We even handed out USB flash sticks to everyone who showed up.

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