Feature Stories

For years, sub-compact cars have been shunned by snooty people who chose to drive a big car, citing concerns over safety. While their reasons probably have more to do with image than safety, the Insurance institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent American agency that crash-tests hundreds of cars every year, say that the snooty people were actually right. While many sub-compact cars such as the Honda Jazz and the Toyota Yaris scored full marks in standardised crash tests against a stationary barrier, their downfalls became obvious when they were slammed against a midsize Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry.

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The Porsche World Roadshow is a 10-day event that is held in various cities around the world, usually reserved for Porsche customers, and usually for a fee. The Dubai stopover was from February 4th to the 14th this year. Attending the event itself involves a single day of various activities held from 9 am to 4 pm, using the latest Porsche machinery at the Dubai Autodrome. One of these days was reserved for the media, and I was invited for the first time.

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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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Seeing Sheikh Mohammed zipping around Dubai in a Mercedes-Benz G-Class is a rolling tribute to the strength of the German manufacturer’s overengineered pre-1995 designs. The Geländewagen is the only Merc to survive the cost-cutting 1995-to-2005 era, when quality hit the crapper. Even the attempt to replace it with the characterless GL-Class flopped. It is hard to imagine that the vehicle that is a favourite with sheikh-copycats has been around since 1979.

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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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Al Habtoor Motors officially launched the 2009 versions of the Galant, the Eclipse and the Lancer Evolution X today, with a press track drive at the Dubai Autodrome.

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The 2009 Dodge Viper ACR is a lightweight track-ready version of the standard Dodge Viper, complete with adjustable suspension and a slew of aerodynamic add-ons. It is also street-legal, which makes it a fair enough competitor against the Nissan GT-R and the Corvette ZR-1 when it comes to track times at the famed Nurburgring. And the Viper ACR has beaten both of them with a time of 7 minutes 22 seconds.

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The new top-rung version of America’s favourite sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, has managed to a pull off a time of 7:26 minutes at Germany’s famed Nurburgring racetrack, driven by a GM development engineer. The ZR1 thereby beats the amazing 7:29 set by the “basic” Nissan GT-R recently (after setting 7:38 on a wet track earlier). However, the ZR1 has a tough battle ahead, as the prototype lightweight Nissan GT-R V-Spec has already been casually timed doing 7:25, while the pricey Lexus LF-A prototype has already pulled off a 7:24. Honda is already testing an NSX prototype,

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