To give our lumbering Infiniti QX56 some company this Eid, we also got a brand new GMC Acadia as a little brother. Except that the “little one” is also pretty big and likes to park in the adult parking lot. It’s a good thing and a bad thing that parking is free during the holidays. Good because I don’t have to shell out more money to the RTA. Bad because every cheap nincompoop will now come out of the woodwork and fill up the limited spaces.
We were supposed to pick up an Infiniti FX for this Eid-Al-Fitr, so it was a surprise when we were handed the keys to the QX56. Confusing letters aside, we never drove it before, and it is going to be an interesting exercise driving what it possibly the largest passenger vehicle that isn’t a bus. Less obnoxious than the Hummer H2, but still quite a bit longer, it is at least easy to drive.
Shelby Supercars (SSC), manufacturer of the exotic Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo which recently blazed its way into the Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘World’s Fastest Production Car’, will be present at the 2007 Dubai Motor Show.
Subaru has unveiled the new STI version of the redesigned Impreza WRX. It is powered by a 2.0-litre boxer-four with a twin-scroll turbo mated to a 6-speed manual. SI-DRIVE, multi-mode Drivers Control Center Differential (DCCD) and Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) are also standard.
Whoever handles the marketing for Peugeot in this country is doing a really good job of keeping secrets. We went about town to look at a used 206 GTI (for use as a benchmark car), and the owner told us he had already ordered a 207 RC last month. So we go to Peugeot’s UAE dealer website and, amazingly enough, the whole 207 model range and prices are posted.
Lexus has released the high-performance 2008 IS F in Japan. The IS F’s 5.0-litre V8 engine is derived from the Lexus LS600h engine, and makes 417 hp at 6600 rpm and 504 Nm of torque at 5200 rpm. It also has the 8-speed automatic transmission from the LS, but programmed to shift quicker, taking as little as 100 ms to shift gears using the paddle shifters.
Already revealed as a coupe, the BMW M3 was known to have a sedan and convertible bodystyle in the works too. And now, the 414 hp M3 sedan has just been unveiled.
Mitsubishi has officially launched the Lancer Evolution X in Japan. The trims announced are the standard GSR model and the stripped-down RS model.
This has to be one of the most daring TV commercial that any car company has ever come up with. Renault is showing off the safety of their cars in the ballet of crushed sheetmetal and twisted frames. It’s an ad for the European market of course.
A soft-top convertible version of the 2008 BMW 1-Series has been unveiled in Europe, even before the coupe version has gone on worldwide sale. Like the coupe, the convertible will also be available in a top-of-the-range 135i variant, among others.