Dubai

The Nissan Pathfinder has never had a consistent heritage. The first one arrived in 1986 as a 3-door compact 4×4 on a body-on-frame pickup chassis. The 5-door version only arrived in 1990, still a compact. The second-generation model in 1996 moved up to the midsize category with a unibody frame as well as independent suspension, and people complained that it lost its heritage. In 2006, the third-generation moved back to a body-on-frame construction, retained its independent suspension and grew in size to accommodate a cramped 3rd-row seat, and people complained again that it lost its heritage. Now the 2013 model has gone back to a unibody,

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The Toyota Avalon never really did well in the UAE. Conservative design, woolly handling and a price-tag that slowly crept up to Lexus-like levels, it was never destined to do well here. I never though much of it either, until I sat in the back seat of a 2008 model when hanging with my chauffeur buddy. With its cushy voluminous interior, it suddenly dawned on me that it’s a darn good comfort cruiser, and would’ve done well were it not for its sky-high price tag. But now there’s an all-new model for 2013, and apparently it’s going after “younger”

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Bridgestone Middle East and Africa officially opened Bridgestone Park, their new 21,678 metre-square facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone, recently.

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Two new Salik toll gates will be installed in Dubai soon this year, according to the RTA. They’re set to go live by April 15.

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The Porsche World Roadshow is an event held around the world almost every year by the German carmaker’s dealers, to showcase their latest models to potential customers in the comfort of, well, a racetrack. We’ve attended the UAE event in years past, but for whatever reason, we did not get an invite from Porsche this year. But then an invitation came in from the most unlikely of places — Emirates NBD Bank!

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DM Cube, a UAE-based event management company, has announced that they’re launching “THE AGELESS Mythical Cars Tour UAE 2013”, a regularity race scheduled to take place across the UAE from December 9 to 13, 2013.

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Ford Middle East, in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Road & Transport Authority, is conducting the Ford Driving Skills for Life programme in the UAE. It is the first time that it is being held in the GCC.

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We snagged an invite to the 2013 edition of Jeep Jamboree Dubai in early January, a dealer-organised event open to all Jeep owners in the country. We went to the Jamboree a year go as well, all of it a desert drive with a dealer-provided five-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, so we figured this year would be the same. But they threw a few surprises at us in the form of a mixed wadi-desert combination, that too with a smaller three-door Jeep Wrangler.

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The Big Boys Toys 2013 luxury lifestyle exhibition has kicked off in the UAE, being hosted at the Atlantis Hotel in Palm Jumeirah. At this year’s show, they are offering the “Supercar Test Drive Pit”, where visitors get the chance to drive 15 different supercars, ranging from brands such as the Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce and Ferrari.

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Some people think Alfa Romeo isn’t sold in the GCC. But it is, and has been for decades now. They just seem to keep a low profile, even lower than Saab or Opel. But all that is set to change, as the global game of musical-chairs means that Fiat now owns Chrysler, and since Fiat already owns Alfa Romeo, Chrysler’s Middle East office will help support Alfa Romeo in our region. Which brings us to the day-long media event for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and the Alfa Romeo MiTo that we took for a drive across the UAE, flanked by Chrysler,

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