Category: Automotive

Last week just before Eid I was able to get a hold of the new Audi A1 from the dealership to test drive over the holiday. I had been nagging them for a test drive since June but since I wanted the car for more than a day I wasn’t able to get my hands on it until now. I’ve always had a thing for hatchbacks but I also got interested in Audi’s recently and even more so after watching Truth in 24 which is a need to watch movie if you love cars.

The car a fuel efficient 2.0l engine pumping out 122hp which doesn’t sound like much on paper but in reality I found the car pretty zippy. That probably has a lot to do with the 7-speed automatic gearbox that comes standard with the car. The first day I drove the A1 I was actually pretty annoyed with the gearbox since whenever I stepped on the gas pedal for just a bit more power the car would dramatically drop down 3 or 4 gears which I thought was overkill. But, by the second day I had gotten used to it and started appreciating the gearbox a lot more. It’s very smooth and really does make the engine power more readily available which is why the car felt zippy. Still 8 gears is a lot of gears and if you use the paddle shift then you’ll be doing quite a lot of clicking.

I’m around 6 feet tall and found the car cozy with a very adjustable seat and steering column. It was actually pretty comfortable… that is as long as you’re sitting in the front. The car is a 2-door and I tried sitting in the backseat and found it too claustrophobic for my size. I wouldn’t mind sitting in the back for a 5 or 10 minute ride but I definitely wouldn’t want to sit there for a trip down to Bnaider. The trunk is also pretty small, you could fit one large travel bag but barely. But since it’s a hatchback the back seats fold down and you end up with a much larger carrying capacity.

Tech wise the car I drove came with LED lights which I think helps give the car an eye catching look. The car I drove didn’t have navigation (it’s an extra option) but it did have a popup screen and a pretty good sound system which comes with two SD card slots to use for MP3s. You could also purchase an iPod cable or even stream music from your iPhone to the car using Bluetooth which is what I was doing most of the time.

Overall I had a lot of fun with the car. I drove it all the way to the junkyards at the end of the 6th ring road and even through Bin Khaldoun Street traffic so I managed to experience a wide variety of environments. It’s easy to maneuver as a hatchback should be but the car also feels really well built with a nice thick steering wheel and great feeling buttons and nobs. Most importantly the car looks great which at the end of the days is probably the most important thing. The starting price of the Audi A1 is KD6,995 but the car I drove costs KD8,995. If you’re interested you can call them up for more information on 1811118.

I passed this scene earlier today but right after they had managed to put the jetski back on the pickup truck. I didn’t really know what had happened until I spotted this picture on the Al-Mubarkia blog. It fell off in a pretty dangerous location since it happened coming down a bridge so it’s not something you would have spotted ahead of time. [Link]

If for some reason I accidentally hit that bus from the rear I could easily imagine getting decapitated. Why are buses allowed to have their rear engine cover open like that? It’s not the first time I’ve seen that and I’m guessing they do it to keep their engine cool but that’s no excuse.

The partial opening of the 1st Ring Road got postponed because they forgot to put up signs so until the project fully opens here are shots of a 1st Ring Road model that will give you an idea of how it will look like once completed.

Thanks Cyril

Shouldn’t wearing sunglasses while driving be illegal as well?

Thanks Musaed

A reader emailed to tell me that the First Ring Road is going to open up tomorrow but I didn’t think it was true. I passed by the other day and it didn’t look like it was going to be finished but according to an article on Kuna the road and bridge should be open to the public tomorrow. Weird. [Link]

Thanks Q8 Mods

I could clearly make out the Durango’s license plate in the video above and it’s 8-60971. So this brought up an idea. Instead of stopping and impounding cars with lightly tinted windows, why doesn’t the Ministry of Interior assign one police officer to check YouTube for illegal and dangerous racing videos and impound those cars and arrest those reckless drivers instead? [YouTube]

A friend of mine had his car impounded last week because his car was tinted. Another person in the forum also posted about how his car also got impounded because it had tint… a colorless invisible tint. I am pro-tints since in our weather they play a very important role. But why are the authorities making such a big deal out of tints to the extent of impounding the cars?

The weather in the summer gets extremely hot and car tints help reduce the temperature of the interior considerably. My FJ is tinted and because of the tint I no longer have to worry about parking the car in the sun or about having my thighs burn from the sun while parked at a traffic light. The tint makes a HUGE difference and I really can’t imagine my car without one. Other than the major benefit of reducing the interior temperature, car tints also offer privacy.

If you’re a girl and you’ve ever been on the Gulf Road at night you obviously know how irritating it can be having guys hovering around you in their cars trying to hit on you. Car tints offers the girls privacy which keeps them safe. If a guy can’t see the girl inside clearly he’s very unlikely going to try and harass her.

Of course I am against those complete black out tints that degrades visibility but not everyone does that and those who do should probably have their car impounded. But what about us regular people who just want some protection from the blistering heat or a bit of privacy? Why are car tints illegal in Kuwait?

I previously heard that there were two DeLoreans in Kuwait and yesterday I found one of them. I know it doesn’t look like much in the picture above but if cleaned up the car it would look like the one below.

And with a little bit more work it can look like the one from Back to the Future.

Wayne Carini from the Discovery Channel show Chasing Classic Cars was in Kuwait last February for the Concours d’Elegance and since then I’ve been watching every episode hoping to catch the one on Kuwait. Well turns out Kuwait won’t be showing up until this fall according to a source of mine. Once it does get released I’ll link it on the blog but for now here is an interview Wayne did at Marina Crescent when he was in Kuwait. [YouTube]

According to the video this happened a few days ago. [YouTube]

I found out about this app from His&Hers and I think it’s pretty practical. We don’t have a lot of gas stations in Kuwait so they’re a lot harder to find when you really need one. Now the next time you’re hitting empty you just launch the app and look for the closest station to you. The app is called KNPC and it’s available in the App Store for free. [Link]

Thanks His&Hers

Nat’s getting a new car so I’m selling her Z4. I’m going to put it up on Q8car in a few days but figured would see if anyone of my readers would be interested first. Here are the specs:

2005 BMW Z4
3.0L V6 engine
128,000KM mileage
18″ ASA Wheels with Pirelli Zero runflats
Eisenmann exhaust system
SMG Gearbox (Auto/Manual)
M Sports Seats with 3 memory saves
Convertible with soft top as well as Hardtop
Navigation System
MP3 capable cd player as well as a 6-CD Changer
Bluetooth hands free phone system
Serviced only at dealer

Asking price is KD4,000 (non negotiable)
If you’re interested email me [Here]

Click the link below to see more pictures of the car.

This has to be one of the strangest parking lot accidents I have seen. BlogLaish has more pictures you can check them out over [Here]

[YouTube]

Brake Banzeen just posted a video showing a bunch of cars from the Gulf being ticketed in London. I spotted three cars with Kuwaiti plates but it’s not clear in the video why they were being stopped by the cops. At first glance it makes it seem that all the drivers in the video are guilty which is misleading.

According to the Small World news service, residents in the area having been complaining that some drivers are turning the streets into private race tracks. They also reported other problems with some cars not being insured properly as well as license plates that weren’t legible. In the video above the cops are probably just checking for these things and not necessarily fining the drivers (except for the Qatari Dodge Challenger).

You can read the Small World article by clicking [Here]