Truth be told, I like this car. I’ve liked it ever since I saw photos of it a year ago. Yes, it’s been around that long in South-East Asia while we were still seeing that generic Japanese-built one around here. This new one’s built in Thailand, but from what we saw, that hasn’t made an ounce of difference in quality — it feels just as cheap as the Japanese one.
Ramadan Kareem to everyone. As the oldest automotive consumer website in the region (you can still read our reviews from 2004!) as well as the most popular among real car shoppers (our advertising budget is peanuts compared to the imitators that have popped up), we are in a good position to see exactly what people here are interested in buying, simply by looking at our stats. Here’s a rundown of the top ten cars being researched the most on DriveArabia.com this Ramadan across the GCC, with a bit of a bias towards the UAE.
Al-Futtaim Motors, Toyota dealer for the UAE, has launched the 2014 Toyota Corolla Limited Platinum Edition as part of several Ramadan promotional offers.
It’s here! The car you’ve been waiting for! You people keep complaining about everything. “It’s too expensive, there’s no third-row seat, it doesn’t have Bluetooth, it doesn’t have USB ports, it’s not fuel-efficient, it doesn’t have alloys, it’s not rear-wheel-drive, it’s not as reliable as a Toyota, blah, blah.” Well, here’s the car for you — the all-new 2015 Toyota Avanza. For only Dhs 54,900. Now stop whining.
The outgoing Japanese-built Toyota Yaris has had a rather short life-cycle in the GCC. Launched here in 2012, it’s already been replaced by an all-new Thai-built Yaris hatchback that’s been on sale in South Asia since late last year, and is a direct cousin to the current Yaris sedan. If the global politics confuses you, don’t worry about it — the 2015 Yaris is a nicer car than the one it replaces.
The first time I drove the Toyota FJ Cruiser, it was late 2007, I was only 6 months out of college, I owned a 1990 junker, this site was still growing, and I was barely getting any invites to automotive media events. Fast-forward to 2014, and I’m married, I own three cars, the site is a successful behemoth…and I’m still barely getting any invites to automotive media events. That’s how long the FJ has been around. But I digress. The Missus just got her driving licence after a month of lessons, and a manual one at that. As with any noob driver,
From what we’ve gathered, there’s a new Toyota Yaris hatchback debuting this month in the GCC, and it won’t be the facelifted one that Europe got. It’ll likely be this one.
Toyota has revealed the 2015 Yaris hatchback recently. It gets a mild facelift, featuring updated styling for the front and rear exterior design.
The last time we drove a Toyota FJ Cruiser, it was 2007 and the recession hadn’t hit yet. Fast-forward to 2014, and that recession has become a footnote in history, but the FJ Cruiser is still around, not looking any different than when it first started out. Now, depending on which rumours you believe, the FJ is on its last legs, and the UAE dealer has created some special models to keep interest alive. One of those models is the FJ Street, a pre-pimped offroader that’s intentionally more about style than about offroading.
An all-new 2015 Toyota Camry debuted at the 2014 New York Auto Show.