Competition in the sub-compact segment is heating up, with entries such as the Hyundai Accent, the Honda Jazz and the Ford Fiesta pushing the boundaries of what is possible with small cars. And soon after we drove the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic for the first time, we were invited to the UAE launch of the all-new 2012 Toyota Yaris. Thus far, the Yaris has remained the segment leader, but we were eager to find out if it could maintain that lead.
It isn’t every day that we get to drive a Rolls-Royce. It isn’t every day that we get to drive an electric car either. But there we were, driving the Rolls-Royce Phantom 102EX, the British carmaker’s experiment with electric cars.
Let’s get it out of the way that, as much as Chevrolet would love to target a car like the Aveo at someone like me, I chose long ago to never own anything in this category of cars. And yet, I found myself at the GCC launch event for the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic anyway, lured in by the promise of a free overnight stay at the Atlantis hotel in Dubai.
We were offered a second round with the 2012 Ford Explorer to address some issues we had discovered with our previous abused grey-coloured test vehicle. So while we’ve already amended our original review to reflect that, we were now still left with a brand-new blue-coloured Explorer Limited for two days. So we did what we always do with extra time — conduct one of our legendary Economy Tests.
It seems like just yesterday when the world proclaimed the Cayenne as blasphemous to the Porsche cause. And yet, the Cayenne became Porsche’s best-selling model as soon as it was launched in late 2001. The formula continues with the new-generation model, redesigned from the ground up, and much more in tune with the Porsche philosophy.
We got a chance to briefly test-drive the 2011 Kia Cerato Koup at the Dubai dealership when we went in as potential customers. Oh my, from where to where the Kias have come – what a car the Cerato Koup is! For the first time ever, I found a vehicle that has its roots in Asia while having a pure European character – rivalling some of the European marques!
Here is the closest look you’ll get at the 2012 Ford Explorer without having to step into a showroom. This walkaround video will give you a quick visual tour of the all-new SUV inside and out. Video by Faisal Khatib.
The Porsche 911 is probably the longest-running sports-car nameplate ever. It has retained some semblance of familiarity since its debut in 1963, improving with every generation, eventually reaching a point where they cannot further optimise the shape any more. There are thousands of 911s running around the world right now. And yet, very few people have actually been behind the wheel of these so-called “iconic” cars. Are they really iconic? Well, we finally got behind the wheel of the 911 Carrera GTS to find out, if only for a day.
“Real” journalists with Western passports fly to foreign destinations every other week, fully paid for by carmakers, with 5-star hotel stays and business-class flights. For that, all they have to do is “review” a car. Of course, third-world jerks like me don’t get foreign invites all that often, especially since I reveal more than just the test-drive itself. The couple of invites that I did get, I couldn’t go mostly due to visa hassles. So when Hyundai’s UAE dealer invited me for a three-day trip to South Korea to test-drive the all-new 2012 Hyundai Elantra, I agreed of course.
The Honda Jazz, a sub-compact hatchback, is the kind of car that should be dominating its segment. And yet, it is the Toyota Yaris and the Nissan Tiida that have a stranglehold on sales, making the Jazz a niche product. For a while, we thought it was the price. Starting at a ridiculous Dhs 63,999 nowadays, and topping out at Dhs 71,999, you could buy a midsize sedan for that kind of dough, let alone a pint-sized runabout. But there was a time many years ago when the Jazz was actually cheap, and even then it wasn’t a familiar sight on Dubai roads.