Dubai

The 5th DriveArabia Meet was held on Saturday, the 24th of December, at the tail-end of 2011. We kept it a low-key event at Dubai Festival City, sending direct invites to a few regulars at the last minute, while announcing the event only a couple of times publicly. Those who showed up were in for a treat, as the chief guest of this meet was the 2012 Nissan GT-R, the latest fresh-out-of-the-factory iteration of the Japanese supercar. Ironically, the largest number of people ever had showed up for our so-called low-key gathering, and we even decided to let everyone have a spin in the GT-R,

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The 2012 Toyota Camry is indeed the most anticipated midsize sedan to be launched this year. Between this, the Yaris, the Prado and the Land Cruiser, Toyota dominates a huge chunk of the GCC market. Does that make the new Toyota Camry the best family car in the market? Not by a long shot, although if you asked us, we wouldn’t be sure which one among the competition is better in every aspect.

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Bridgestone has officially launched their Potenza Driving Lesson course in the Middle East with former Formula One driver and Bridgestone ambassador, Stefano Modena. The course introduces drivers to “the key forms of proper sports driving and gives them a true driving experience” while using cars fitted with Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The first Potenza Driving Lesson was held in the Dubai Autodrome racetrack as a part of activities at the Potenza Performance Challenge held in the second week of December.

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The Jeep Jamboree is an annual event held in various parts of the world, where Jeep owners get together and go offroad over the course of a day. The UAE edition, of course, involves a whole lot of sand, and we were one of the few media peeps invited for the 2011 run, us being actual Jeep owners notwithstanding. While the general public had to bring their own Jeeps, we were given a factory-fresh 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, the one with the new “Pentastar” 3.6-litre V6. We were really looking forward to driving that one, and we were getting to do it straight where it belongs.

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Al Futtaim Motors, in collaboration with Arctic Trucks, officially introduced the expanded Xtreme product range during the recent 2011 Dubai Motor Show. Alongside the 2012 Land Cruiser Xtreme, there are now the FJ Cruiser Xtreme and the Hilux Xtreme.

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Take your car for a luxury detailing, including 6-step paint polishing, interior cleaning, engine detailing and headlight polishing, at Farba Guard, worth Dhs 950, for only Dhs 333. That’s a massive 65% discount! Update: Offer extended to 25th December.

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BMW’s Dubai dealer held this year’s “M Meets X” event a couple of weeks ago. Seemingly open to BMW owners, this free event is used as a platform to promote new models with various driving activities at the Dubai Autodrome.

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There I was, letting my Jeep collect dust as I tested various other cars. Then I hear from a friend of a friend about a new detailing shop that he’d opened in Dubai recently, and was looking to make his mark in the industry. The place is called Farba Guard, and after speaking to Mohsin, the owner, and seeing his passion for detailing cars, I figured I could give the new place a shot and hand over my stagnant Jeep for a complimentary full detail for this story.

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Gone are those days when your car battery gives up on you in some no man’s land at a very wrong time, leaving you stranded for good, thanks to Dial-A-Battery, a new mobile assistance service offering complete automobile battery solutions on the move 24/7.

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The V6-powered 2011 Volkswagen Touareg we drove some time ago was an impressive SUV. With upscale gadgets, a quiet ride and a luxurious interior, it was quite possibly the best road-going 4×4 in its class. But then we drove the recently-revealed V8-powered version, a model that VW took their time to release, and that too in only a few markets, as they pondered whether there was still a market for V8 models in a world where the latest fad is to go green. Considering we kept this rather-excellent SUV for the better part of a month, we decided to see if a V8 trucklet hurts or helps Volkswagen’s “green”

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