First Drive

The all-new Chevrolet Malibu has been on sale in the U.S. for a while now. The midsize sedan had finally become an equal competitor to its Japanese rivals in the States, but the GCC line-up was making do with a lopsided range consisting of the Korean Epica and the Australian Lumina, neither of which has a 4-cylinder engine that could compare with those in the Camry, the Accord and the Altima. So General Motors decided to bring the Malibu here again, after a gap of nearly a decade.

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It was one of those rare times when I actually looked forward to those long usually-boring press driving events. General Motors Middle East imported ten new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro models to Dubai for the UAE and GCC press launch, and we were among the second bunch of people to drive them, after the “big” magazine people had their fill the day before, but as I saw later, the cars still generated lots of interest on the roads.

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The 2009 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport was launched in Dubai at a quick media event where its off-road abilities were showcased. First shown at Moscow Auto Show last year, this new midsize model is really the replacement for the aging Nativa, and is based on the L200 pickup.

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The 2009 Volvo XC60 is a new crossover SUV that the Ford-owned Swedish company thinks will raise regional Volvo sells by an unrealistic 30%. The GCC version was launched in Dubai a few days ago, and Volvo gave the press a taste of the XC60’s capabilities at the Dubai Autodrome on January 28. They certainly had an impressive line-up of events planned.

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Mercedes-Benz launched the 2009 GLK-Class soft-roader at a 2-day all-expenses-paid press event in Oman.

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A couple of weeks ago, Ford Middle East invited us to a two-night all-expenses-paid stay at the Fujairah Rotana resort for the Ford “Ride & Drive” event. The event was designed to give the press some wheel-time with new models such as Ford’s Flex, Fusion and Focus as well as the Mercury Mariner.

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We never get any invites to Mercedes-Benz car launches, and haven’t had any test-drive cars made available to us in years. However, their commercial vehicles division operates independently, and they invited us out-of-the-blue to the local launch of the Sprinter workvan. What caught our attention was the venue — Dubai Autodrome. We just had to go to this one.

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Back in January 28th, we were invited to try out the 2008 Honda Accord Coupe at the Dubai Autodrome, although we had to keep this quiet until the March 1 local release date of the car. We got 3 laps each with a 271 hp 3.5-litre V6 and a 190 hp 2.4-litre 4-cylinder model, both automatics since that’s the only way they’ll be sold in the GCC region. The awesome photography for our drive was provided by Honda themselves.

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I was invited to share and pilot a 2008 Honda Accord with another journo on a press drive from Dubai to Fujeirah and back. Considering we didn’t have enough time with the cars other than straightforward driving, I’ll save a full review for when I get one in front of my building. What I can talk about are my first impressions of the 2008 Honda Accord, in both 2.4 and 3.5 trims.

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