first look

We generally don’t dish out verdicts in the title of a preview article, but there is a first time for everything. The Ford Focus ST is the most brilliant new car we’ve driven in years!

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We drove several variations of the 2013 Honda Accord at an event last month, but we wanted more personal time with the car that accounts for 70% of all Honda sales in the GCC. We asked for the 2.4-litre version, especially since it will the model that most buyers will go for.

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I drove five new cars in the last two weeks. One of them is the all-new Nissan Sentra, handed to us before it’s even gone on sale in the UAE. It is always exciting to be among the first to test any new model, but this is simply an indirect replacement for the lowly Tiida sedan, so we had the lowest expectations from this one. We don’t like economy cars much. And we especially didn’t feel like driving anything built in Thailand. But the Sentra turned out to be the biggest surprise of this month, and quite possibly, the best car in its segment for the price.

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We held off on testing the latest Volkswagen Tiguan because nothing much had changed in the big refresh of 2012. Aside from a new face and tail lamps, there’s absolutely no difference from the older model. However, while the old tester we drove was an “R-Line” model, this new one is a slightly different version.

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There was the 205 that ran from 1983 all the way till 1996. Then there was the 206 in 1998 that was so popular that they kept building it for almost a decade. After that, there was the 207 that no one really noticed. And now for 2013, there is the 208. It was only a matter of time before Peugeot ran out of numbers, so we hear that the 208 name will stay constant from now on. And this new model is a great way to start off the 208 bloodline.

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It’s weird that, aside from a brief look at our scribe Vivek Menon’s Mazda 6, we’ve never had a go with any Mazda models before. All we kept hearing about was how Mazdas handled well and all that, but we never took it seriously, especially since the local dealers did not have a media test-drive programme in place. So when we got the call offering us the fresh Mazda CX-5 for a proper test, we were actually sort of excited.

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This here is the latest Lexus LS 460L, that last “L” meaning it’s a long-wheelbase version. The carmaker claims it is an “all-new” model, and we sort of agreed with that when we drove it at the launch event for an hour or so. However, after bringing it home, we feel it still drives very similarly to the old one.

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The Volkswagen Scirocco R is exactly like the regular Scirocco 2.0TSI, only with different bumpers, different wheels, two exhaust tips and a whole lot of “R” badges. And also a whole lot more power.

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Truth be told, we weren’t fans of the Lexus GS 350 we drove earlier this year. It’s a solid luxury car and all, but it lacked a certain yaarrrrgghhh in its character, which made it look as dull as the BMWs and Mercs it’s trying to compete with. But then we got this one, a Lexus GS 450h, the hybrid version of that same car. Only this time, it has the F-Sport kit.

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Ah, the Fisker Karma, quite possibly the most interesting car we’ll ever drive, until electric cars become commonplace here. We snagged a second round with the Fisker Karma for about half a day. While we’d already driven the car in a controlled event, this time we got to really drive it.

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