I’ve had a few friends ask me about places to store their cars and I didn’t have any I could recommend until I found out about The Vault, a hidden underground parking that provides vehicle management and storage solutions.
Parking in Kuwait is a mess, majority of homes and apartment buildings have outdoor streetside parking that’s usually overcrowded and messy. Unless you live in a pretty fancy area, you usually don’t want to park your nice car out on the streets. Kuwait’s weather is also pretty harsh so you also don’t want to leave your car parked outside all summer long especially if its an older classic car. That’s when a service like The Vault comes handy.
Accessing The Vault is an experience by itself since to get down to the basement you’ll have to take your car via one of the two car lifts. When I arrived at the complex someone was waiting for me outside and helped me take my car down. Once the doors of the lift opened up in the basement, I drove into The Vault to find a bunch of interesting looking Porsches parked on one side, and then a line of Ferraris parked on the other. I instantly knew I was in for a treat. I love cars so it’s always exciting to check out other peoples special cars, no matter what they are. Special cars don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be interesting or unique. Since The Vault can only hold 45 cars, the owner is being choosy with what cars he accepts, think of it as being a boutique parking lot. And like I said, it isn’t about how expensive the cars are. Inside The Vault I spotted the super cute Nissan Figaro and a 1975 Land Rover Defender, both of which aren’t that expensive. But then you also had a like-new-condition classic Ferrari 348 and Zaid Ashkanani’s championship-winning Porsche GT3 Cup car parked nearby.
The Vault stores both cars and bikes and their “promotional” prices right now are as follows:
They offer trickle charging for your car so the battery doesn’t die, they also offer car washes and they’ll check your car routinely and notify you in case your car develops a leak or something. Anytime you want to take your car out you can come to the facility, park your current car and drive off with the stored one. Really practical especially since The Vault is located near three major roads, the 6th Ring Road, Highway 30 and Gulf Road. If this is a service you’re interested in you can contact them on 94083166 or send them a DM @vmskw
Update: Their promotion is over and the prices have now changed.
There is a new inflatable water park on the Gulf Road next to the Swimming Pool Complex and Corniche Club. You might have spotted it when driving by since the setup is pretty big and uses brightly colored yellow and green inflatables. They’re open from 10AM to 6PM on weekdays and 8AM to 6PM on weekends (not sure about their Ramadan timing). They’re charging KD2 for an hour of fun or KD5 for a full day. There is a lifeguard, but if the children are under 8 then they require an adult with them. If this looks like something you’d be interested in, here is their location on [Google Maps]
When the all-new Lincoln Navigator concept car was previewed two years ago with its butterfly doors and futuristic looking seats, Lincoln brought the Navigator back into the spotlight. The Navigator was a pretty popular car for Lincoln when it had originally been released, but over time, it started looking dull and outdated (along with the rest of the Lincoln line up). The concept car was a way for Lincoln to show the market they were still relevant and it worked. A year later they released the all-new Lincoln Navigator and although it didn’t have the butterfly doors or the cool looking 3 piece fold out steps of the concept car, it pretty much retained everything else including the cool looking seats.
I’m generally not into large sized family SUV’s, but when I was asked if I was interested in reviewing the new Navigator I had two questions, did the test drive car have the cool seats and, did it have the cool car unlock light show? When I was told it did, I decided to borrow the car for the weekend.
First impressions, I was extremely impressed with the interior. The dashboard was pretty sleek with a large digital display that had super minimal but premium looking graphics. The buttons were all nicely laid out in the center console along with another large information screen. Even the gear change buttons were beautifully laid out in the center console. The interior oozed luxury and I wasn’t even in their top of the line “Presidential” model that used a more premium quality leather.
One of the things I was looking forward to were the seats because of how customizable and comfortable they supposedly were and I wasn’t disappointed. The seats had 11 different parts I could individually adjust as well as a built in massage feature and cold air ventilation. It had 30-way seat positioning so finding the most comfortable setup was super easy to achieve. Shorter people are also going to love the fact that the foot pedals are electronically adjustable and so can be brought in closer to the driver. The car I drove had a large panoramic roof which brought in daylight that lit up the incredibly large interior. Large is an understatement actually, the car is huge! The second row passengers have more legroom than most people do in the front seats of their cars, and then you have the third row seats to hold more people and you still had room behind those seats for your luggage. There is loads of storage space all over the car for your stuff as well as a huge storage compartment under the armrest and below the center console. The car also had multiple USB ports everywhere and even a wireless charging area.
The model I drove had a bunch of driver assist technologies including a lane keeping system, parking assist, brake assist, 360-degree cameras and adaptive cruise control. The combination of all these technologies made driving the humongous Navigator a lot easier and made driving, in general, a lot more comfortable. The adaptive cruise control works like cruise control on regular cars where you set a speed and the car would stick to it, with the Lincoln it also applied the brakes and slowed down for you when the car ahead would slow down or stop. Combined with a lane keeping system that can control the cars steering to keep you in your lane, you basically end up with a fairly autonomous vehicle when on the highway. The parking assist also made parking super easy. The car can perpendicular or parallel park for you and based on my short experience with the car, it worked pretty well all although it still scares the crap out of me everytime I let a car park for me. As you can see in the video above which I shot, the car takes full control of the steering and acceleration and all you need to do is apply the brakes to stop.
After spending a long weekend with the car I had to give it back and I was fine with that. The car was just too big for me and is clearly meant for large families. For a single guy like me the car felt overwhelming although I do miss the comfort and the serene interior. I had the car on the first day of Ramadan and even with all the traffic, I wasn’t bothered with the chaos that was taking place outside the car. It felt like I was sitting in my living room which is anice feeling to have while stuck in traffic. I do have some issues with the new Navigator though, none major but still worth mentioning. I really dislike the rear of the car, although I think the front of the car looked good, the back just looked super boxy and not in a cool way boxy, but more like the 90s outdated way. Then the stereo, even though the sound system in the car was pretty good, my issue with it was how the dashboard and doors rattled with the bass, and I’m not talking about rattles when I’m blasting the music really loud, I was hearing rattles at low volume as well. Not something I would expect from a premium car. Finally, I thought the suspension was too soft, it made the ride comfier obviously, but the car also tended to bounce a lot after going over a speed bump or hitting a pothole.
The price of the all-new Navigator starts at KD27,000 but the model I drove was the “Reserve” edition and that retails for KD29,000. For more information you can check out the Lincoln Alghanim webiste [Here] or their instagram account @lincolnalghanim
In my last post on accessing F1 TV in Kuwait, I wrote about how you can access it if you used a VPN and that it would probably start working with SmartDNS soon. Well two weeks later and my prediction came true, F1 TV now works in Kuwait using Smart DNS!
You no longer need to use a VPN which in my case improved streaming speed considerably. I’ve only tried it with my smartdnsproxy.com service (the same one I use for Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc..) so not sure if it works with another provider. [Link]
Dylan’s Candy Bar is a chain of boutique candy shops around the US and they’re now coming to Kuwait. They’re opening their first location at The Avenues and I believe this will also be their first location outside the States.
I’ve only been to their LA location at The Grove and I remember it being pretty huge. Chalhoub Group is bringing the brand to the region and they’re expected to open six to eight stores in UAE, Kuwait and Qatar. They’ve got a few job positions open if you’re interested including a marketing position [Here]
I passed by a few dealerships last week to check out some cars with a friend of mine and below are some of the ones that interested me. These are approximate prices since they will vary depends on the options fitted, but it should give you a general idea of what the cars cost.
The best deal? Has to be the Alfa 4C pictured above. Used to be priced at KD24,000 but now selling for KD18,000. The most disappointing car, on the other hand, had to be the Volvo XC40. The local dealer got the most boring color combos and basically turned whats supposed to be a fun car for young people, into a boring looking car for my parents.
Kuwaisiana is a New Orleans-based band led by Kuwaiti singer-songwriter +Aziz. The 7-piece group is an indie rock band and they recently launched their debut album titled “Chapter 1”. The album is in Arabic and English and you can stream it below or by going directly to [SoundCloud]
For more information on the band, check out their [Website]
If you grew up watching WWF (now WWE) and have access to HBO NOW, then you have to watch this new film by HBO. André the Giant is a documentary on the life of the professional wrestler, André Roussimoff starting from when he was young until his death in 1993.
I grew up in the 80s watching WWF, and André the Giant was one of my favourite wrestlers along with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and a bunch of other legends. My favourite part of this documentary was when Hulk Hogan talks about the lead up to Wrestlemania III where he was meant to fight André the Giant, I laughed out loud throughout the whole interview. The whole documentary was really entertaining to watch and made me miss the old WWF.
If you want to watch this documentary you need to have HBO NOW. If you don’t know how to access HBO in Kuwait, check out my previous post on how to access Netflix [Here]
360 Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8:00PM to 1AM Al Kout Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM Avenues Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM Gate Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM Marina Mall: 11AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1AM Salhiya: 10:30AM to 2:30PM and 8:30PM to 12:30AM
Carrefour: 10AM to 2AM LuLu: 9AM to 2AM Saveco: 24 hours Sultan Center: 24 hours
IKEA: 11AM to 4PM and 6PM to 12:30AM
Al Shaheed Park: 6AM to 1AM Al Shaheed Park Museums: 4PM to 6PM and 8:30PM to 12AM (Closed on Sundays) Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre: 8PM to 12AM (Closed on Sundays)
Around six years ago, Ferrari launched the Ferrari FF model. It was a hatchback Ferrari with rear seats that could comfortably carry two large adults, but could also be folded down creating a ton of storage space for those ever important trips to IKEA. It was a very practical Ferrari and quickly became the daily driver for a lot of serious car guys including Chris Harris and YouTube car blogger Shmee. Then two years ago, Ferrari released an updated FF and called it the GTC4Lusso. The car pretty much looked the same with just a minor exterior facelift and the biggest changes coming under the hood and the interior.
People either loved or hated the way the FF looked like and it’s the same with the GTC4Lusso. Personally, I think its a great looking car and it reminds me a lot of the now classic BMW Z3 Coupe which was also controversial in the looks department.
Five minutes after driving out of the dealership I felt right at home in the Lusso. The car didn’t feel intimidating at all and I right away understood why so many people chose it as their daily driver. This is going to sound strange but the last time I remember a car being this comfortable to drive was the Mercedes S-Class. The way the Lusso drove over potholes and road imperfections, the way it took speedbumps and ate up cobblestone roads was just incredible, beyond anything I would expect from a high-end sedan let alone a Ferrari. Then you have the interior cabin which is fairly spacious, quiet and really comfortable to be in. The model I drove also had the panoramic sunroof which beautifully lit up the interior space. The most visual change in the GTC4Lusso over the FF is the interior since the center console now has a very large and sleek looking screen.
Oh yeah and my favorite part of the interior is probably the small screen in front of the front passenger, right over the glovebox. The touchscreen allows the passenger to control the stereo but also allows the passenger access to information like the speedometer, RPM and other car related information. A gimmick of course, but a well-executed one.
I had the car pretty much the whole day to do what I wanted with it, and yet I spent most of the day looking for traffic to drive into or backroads that might prove to be too rough for the car. I wanted to see how good a daily driver the Lusso was, and it just ate whatever I threw at it. In traffic it was comfortable to drive and no backroad turned out to be too much to handle. I completely get it now why a lot of people previously chose the FF and now the GTC4Lusso as their daily and sometimes their only car.
After spending the day with the Lusso I fell in love it with, so much so that I want one now. I test drive a lot of cars and not a lot of them capture my heart the way the Lusso did. Even when I took out the Ferrari 488GTB in January, it was a great car but I didn’t really want one. The way the Lusso made me feel reminded me a lot of how the Lotus made me feel when I first test drove it, and I eventually ended up getting one. The only problem in this case is the GTC4Lusso costs around KD100,000. That’s a lot of money to spend on a car and it would only make sense if I was in a much higher income class. But there is hope! I was at the Ferrari dealer a few days back checking out their used cars and they actually have 2 Ferrari FF’s for sale including a gorgeous silver one. Sadly the interior was a really bright red and gave me a headache so that’s a big no. But I’m not in a rush, and four or five years from now they’ll hopefully have a reasonably priced second hand Lusso for sale.
If you’ve got the budget and are looking for a sports car that you can drive daily, you really can’t go wrong with the GTC4Lusso. At 100K it’s in the price range of the extremely fast Huracán Performante and the hottest looking sports car right now, the McLaren 720S. But, unlike the GTC4Lusso, you couldn’t really drive those every day nor could you have them as your only car. If you’d like to find out more about Ferraris in Kuwait then you should follow the dealer on instagram @ferrarialzayanikuwait.
If you grew up with Swatches in the 80s then you’ll most likely recognize the X-Rated Swatch that was released in 1987, the GB406. I never had one, instead around that time I had the more colorful Swatch Navigator, the GB707. A couple of days back I was on eBay looking for a clean, but well-priced GB707 when I noticed someone selling a boxed X-Rated watch for around $120 which seemed weird. Usually, the original black X-Rated watch sells for around $500, and one in this condition would be even more. I realized something was up and quickly googled the X-Rated Swatch to find out Swatch had re-released the model last month!
It was around 11PM but since its Ramadan, I knew shops were still open. I called up one of the Swatch stores and asked if they had the watch in stock and I was told that the black ones had been pulled from the stores, but the red one was still available. I knew I could order the watch online but figured I’d head over to the store and try the red one out to see how it looked on my wrist, but also to get clarification on the “pulled” aspect of the black ones. I’ve had situations similar in the past with Swatch where a highly desirable model is usually put aside for their good customers/collectors.
I get to the Swatch store and start talking to the salesperson who turned out knew their vintage Swatches. She actually pulled out the store’s copy of the highly desirable and difficult to find “Swatch-Clopedia” and we started going through it. After reminiscing over classic Swatches from the 80s and early 90s, and then showing me some stock of old Swatch Guards they still had in store, I was about to leave when she told me to hold on. She picked up the phone and called her brand manager and told him there was a customer in the store who wanted the black X-Rated Swatch. She hung up the phone, went away for a minute and came back with a black X-Rated watch. She told me her brand manager told her it was ok to sell me one and I ended up paying the KD21 price and leaving with it.
The watch is pretty great looking and practically resembles the original 1987 version with very minor differences. Old Swatches tend to have small diameters but the new X-Rated is 41mm which is similar to most modern watches, I think it looks really good when worn. If you’re interested in this watch and can’t get it in Kuwait, there are a ton of people on eBay selling it for around $120 which is still reasonable. But of course, nothing beats walking into a store and paying retail price for one.
If you’re not fasting during Ramadan and want to order food before Iftar, then below are some restaurants that will deliver early. It’s not a big list but it’s still better than nothing.
Starting tomorrow May 22nd, all Jazeera Airways flights will be departing and arriving from their new terminal. For more information on the terminal, check out my previous post [Here]
Update: Sorry I messed up thinking today was the 22nd. I’ve updated the post to reflect this!
