Category: Automotive

I’ve had my Toyota FJ Cruiser for over 12 years which is why I recently started looking for a replacement. My requirements are really simple, a bit more comfort, something I can abuse and still survive 10 years with me, it has to be a 4×4, it has to have 4 doors, and finally, it has to have an automatic gearbox. I don’t like the way the 4-door Wrangler looks, the Ford Bronco is nice but being a Ford I’m not sure about the long-term reliability. The new Defender is great but impossible to get right now, costs over KD20,000, and it’s a Land Rover so can’t imagine it being very reliable. The new Land Cruiser is too big and expensive, the G-Class is crazy expensive, the Prado too boring, and the Jimny too small. I really wanted the Toyota LC76 and was so close to buying one last year but I really do need my main car to be automatic and they only come as manual.

I had kinda given up on finding a replacement until a couple of weeks ago when I spotted the new Toyota Hilux on the road. I had seen them when they first came out a few years ago, but last year they got a facelift and I hadn’t seen one until now. The new model looked pretty nice on the road and I couldn’t get it out of my head all day. So I got in touch with my contact at Toyota and managed to borrow the car for a few days to try out.

Two thoughts came into my head as I drove out of the Toyota dealership and headed to work. The first was my amazement at how comfortable and quiet the car was. The second thought was on how uncomfortable and noisy all my cars must be that I thought a Hilux pickup truck was quiet and comfortable. Seriously, it was very puzzling, I think it must be because the rear wheels are outside of the cabin which is how come it was very quiet. Whatever the reason, my first impression was great.

A lot of people might not know this but the Hilux is actually one of the most popular cars in the world. In Australia for example, it’s their #1 selling car and it’s also a best seller in a bunch of other countries. It’s a durable go-everywhere commercial vehicle and if my FJ could survive over 10 years with me, the Hilux should be able to survive even longer. My whole experience with the car over four days was very positive. Everything from the ride quality to the seating position impressed me. I’m going to start driving to Saudi once a month for work so I need a car that would be comfortable on long trips. That’s why I tried to spend as much time in the car over the weekend and at no point did I feel exhausted or tired. The Hilux ticked all the boxes for me, it pretty much has everything I’m looking for in a new car. Surprisingly the car didn’t feel that big. Since my FJ is wider the Hilux felt a bit more nimble and compact even though it’s a longer car.

It doesn’t have much tech so no features like lane change assist, autonomous emergency braking, or even digital gauges, but I don’t mind that. What I do wish it had was dynamic radar cruise control so it could slow down and speed up depending on traffic. That would be super helpful on my long road trips to Saudi but we don’t get it as an option in Kuwait. Another thing I wish it had was a better sound system, it has Apple CarPlay, but the speakers are pretty crap. In other countries, there is an option to upgrade to a better JBL system, but we don’t get that here either. But, it shouldn’t be too difficult to upgrade the sound system eventually since some manufacturers like FOCAL have made upgrade kits for it. One odd thing is the fact there is just a single USB port in the car and it’s the one I need to use to connect my iPhone so I can get CarPlay working. That means other passengers can’t charge their phones unless I get a USB adapter for the 12v socket. I guess I should be glad it at least has CarPlay.

The model I took out was the Hilux Adventure model which costs KD9,700 KD11,400. They also have cheaper models and a more expensive GR model. I think at this price point there really aren’t that many options and the fact it’s a Toyota is great. I’ve only had good experiences over the past 12 years with them and my FJ has been very reliable and the service costs very low. I actually think the price is a steal compared to the prices of other cars on the market. I was meant to drop off the car back to the dealer on Saturday but ended up keeping it for an extra day just because I really didn’t want to get back into my FJ. When I eventually did take it back I ended up putting my name down on the waiting list for the next shipment. I liked the car so much I’ve decided to get one.

The only issue is because I’m an expat I can’t own a pickup truck so I either need to put it under my friend’s name or the company I work for. They really need to update this law… If you want to find out more about the Hilux, there are a ton of videos on YouTube (I watched ALL of them) but here is a link to the Hilux page on the local Toyota website.

Update: Just a correction with the price. The Adventure model costs 11,400 a different model costs 9,700. I just found out while putting a deposit down on the car 😅

This is a random post in case someone ever googles looking for help. Last week the brakes on my 12-year-old Toyota FJ Cruiser started acting up. It was an electronic issue but basically when I turned on the car a bunch of dash lights lit up and a super annoying warning buzzer came on and wouldn’t go off. My brakes were also no longer working. So I called the Toyota roadside assist and took the car to the dealership.

I love the dealership but sometimes things don’t make much sense. In this case, I was quoted just shy over 1,000KD to fix the issue which was a failed “Brake Booster Assembly, W/Master Cylinder”. The part alone was 838KD and then the labor cost was 200 something. For a 12-year-old car that probably costs like 4,000KD in the second-hand market, probably less, it just didn’t make financial sense to pay that much.

I started trying to figure out how to get this problem sorted at a more reasonable price. Randomly, the day I got the quote from Toyota I had to go to Aleppo, the nuts and bolts store in Shuwaikh. As I pull up outside the Aleppo store I notice the shop next door had a large sign outside with the Toyota and Lexus logo and a large ABS brakes logo in the middle. So before heading into Aleppo I go up to one of the guys in that garage and show him a video of the errors I was getting on my dash, he quoted me 220KD to fix my problem and told me it was a 30 min job.

So I got a tow truck and had the car picked up from the dealership and dropped off at this garage. Turns out this garage does just one thing, which is to repair this one specific part on Toyotas and Lexuses. They have used ones in stock and swap out your non-working assembly with a new one and then give you a three-month warranty which they actually honor. I got mine swapped out but then felt the pedal feel was a bit off so came back to them a week later and they swapped it out again with another model and now it’s perfect. And the best part is it cost me just 1/5th the dealership price and they fixed it while I was waiting.

If you ever run into a similar brakes issue with your Toyota or Lexus and want to get it repaired outside the dealership, here is the location of this garage on Google Maps.

The local racing season is over now because it’s gotten really hot but here is a video of the fastest recorded lap around KMT. The record was broken back in January with the British-made Radical SR3 RSX sports car that managed to lap the circuit in 1:36.27. In comparison, regular sports cars take over 2 minutes, in my Lotus the fastest I’ve managed is 1:56, and better drivers with faster cars generally will be somewhere between 1:45-1:55, so yeah 1:36 is really fast.

Every couple of years I post an update on the easiest way to watch Formula 1 and this year has gotten a tad bit easier because there is now an F1 TV app for the Apple TV. F1 TV is the best way to watch Formula 1 since it’s their official streaming app and has a lots of great features and F1 content. The only issue is that it doesn’t work in Kuwait, but there is a way to get around that.

Firstly, you need to get an F1 TV Pro subscription. You can’t use your credit card because it won’t accept Kuwait based cards so you’re going to need an Apple device and have a US Apple Store account. If you have those two then can subscribe to F1 TV from inside the F1 TV app and pay for the subscription using your Apple Store account.

The biggest change over my previous post is the F1 TV app for Apple TV. You don’t even need a VPN if you already use SmartDNS to access streaming services like HBO, Hulu, Disney etc. If you don’t have SmartDNS then you need to get one, I use Smart DNS Proxy (affiliate link) and it’s around $5 a month.

Once you have your SmartDNS set up, it’s just a matter of launching the app whenever there is a race and you’re set. Easy.

اليوم وفي رالي الكويت حصل حادث لأبني @Azizsaadon ولله الحمد لم يصب بأذى لكن خسر المركز الثاني بسبب دخول احد المتفرحين الذين تفاداه عبدالعزيز مما ادى الى حصول الحادث
اقول الحمدالله على سلامته والله يوفقه في الجايات pic.twitter.com/eFVHZaMbMB

— سعدون الكواري (@saadon_alkuwari) March 19, 2022

Qatari rally driver Abdulaziz Saadon Alkuwari got into an accident yesterday during the FIA Middle East Rally Championship when a quad bike got across the race track. Abdulaziz narrowly missed hitting the quad bike but then lost control of the car and hit a rock causing the car to flip and crash.

You can watch footage of the crash in the tweet on top but he also has more photos and clips in his instagram story @alkuwari_rally. Luckily both he and his co-pilot escaped unharmed.

Thanks Mohamed

If you’ve driven on the 5th Ring Road recently you might have noticed all the construction work and diversions taking place near Qurtoba and Siddiq. The reason behind it is they’re currently working on a major traffic reducing project that will be composed of tunnels, underpasses and bridges on two levels. The new project will remove a bunch of traffic lights at the current intersections to help eliminate the traffic they cause as well as create a traffic-free ride from the 5th Ring Road to the new Sheikh Jaber Hospital.

To get a better idea of how the project will look like, you can watch the 3D presentation below taken from the project website RA257.

Thanks hussamaboud

Last year I posted about how to get custom car covers but they weren’t cheap costing upwards of 40KD per cover. But what if you wanted a much cheaper alternative?

I was looking for a cheap option for myself and found a local Instagram account that sells plastic car covers for cheap:

5 covers for 10 KD
10 covers for 15 KD
15 covers for 20 KD
20 covers for 25 KD

These prices include delivery.

Most people won’t need more than 5 covers but you could buy more covers and just give them to friends. The covers are basically oversized shower caps and are one size fits all. They won’t provide any protection from the sun and would probably fly off with a strong gust of wind, but they do work really well indoors to stop your car from getting covered in dust. I’ve even seen some people who use these covers over their factory covers (like the ones that come with Ferraris) so those covers don’t get so dirty. They’re cheap and so if they get damaged, ripped, or dirty you can always just throw it away and use another one.

If you want to order these the Instagram account is @car_cover_kw and their WhatsApp number is 55356645. They also have smaller versions for motorbikes.

Does anyone know the process of replacing an old/damaged license plate? I’m currently in the process of restoring a car and I need to replace the front license plate with a new one since the one on the car currently is bent and worn out. I’ve only ever gone through the process of swapping a square plate to a Euro-style license plate so not sure what the process is for replacing a worn-out plate (if thats possible even).

Last month I had to replace three windshields on my cars, two of them were cracked and one had gotten sandblasted over the years from all the desert driving. I hadn’t swapped a windshield in years so decided to get in touch with Glass Clinic since they were the last guys I used around 6 years back. I wasn’t even sure if the business was still around so was glad when they responded to my WhatsApp message.

As I mentioned in my original review of this place back in 2016, there are lots of places on Canada Dry street that can swap your windshield but like everything else, you have good and bad quality products and good and bad quality service. One reason I like using Glass Clinic is because of the overall experience which is usually positive because of different little things. They use the best available window sealant firstly and it’s great not just because it’s stronger than regular sealant, but because it doesn’t leave a horrible smell in the car that I have to deal with for the rest of the week. Another thing I like is the fact that once they’re done installing the windshield they tape it with easy to remove none marking plastic tape. On Canada Dry street they use regular masking tape which leaves residue and markings which you need to clean off after removing the tape. I also like Glass Clinic because I can just WhatsApp them and get an appointment to drop in at a specific time. Finally, another thing I like about them is their location, they’re walking distance from Ace Hardware, Shawarma Shakir, and Avenues, so I just drop the car and then kill time at either of these places till they call me.

From the 3 cars, I ended up replacing 2 out of 3 of my windshields with them. One of the cars they quoted me 40KD for the windshield swap but on Canada Dry it was 25KD. I ended up just changing it on Canada Dry street because it’s an old 1991 Suburban and doesn’t require any sealant to install the windshield. It’s one of those old-style windshields which pop into place by hand and doesn’t require to be glued or taped up when done. My back-to-back experience with Canada Dry and Glass Clinic allowed me to clearly see the benefit of paying a premium. When I swapped my windshield on Canada Dry I couldn’t book an appointment obviously, that meant I had to wait for my turn because they were working on another car before me, I also had to wait for them to go get my windshield from their warehouse which alone took 30 minutes. Then the installation process was all over the place and in the end, they didn’t even bother to clean the windshield after they were done.

On the other hand, my experience with Glass Clinic was much more pleasant. One of the cars I took to them was a BMW which I had gotten the new windshield for already from the dealer and just required them to install it, they charged me 45KD for that. The other car was my Toyota FJ and they quoted me 45KD including the windshield cost. I got an appointment to pass by and when I did, the new windshield was already there waiting for me. With my FJ I even ran into a problem with them and they managed to solve it for me without a problem. They swapped my windshield with one that had the blue sun tint strip on the top which I really don’t like, at least on my FJ because the height of the windshield is so low. They didn’t tell me the new windshield had it and I only saw it after they had finished installing it so I had them swap it out for one without it. Generally, you can tell if the customer service is good or bad by how they handle things when a problem pops up, they handled this situation well.

So if you’re looking to replace or fix your windshield and want something a step up from Canada Dry street but cheaper than the dealer, Glass Clinic is your middle ground. They’re located near Avenues (Google Maps) but they also offer home service. If you want to check them out they’re on Instagram @glassclinic

There is this pothole in Qurtoba that I pass over when leaving my friend’s place and it’s been like that for three years, maybe longer. I usually tease my friend on it and ask them when they’re planning to fix it or that they should bring it up in the next town meeting ala Parks & Recreation. Then yesterday while I came across a post on @q8needsyou about the pothole because it turns out someone living on that street (not my friend) decided to finally fix the pothole themselves.

If a huge pothole on a prime street in a nice Kuwaiti neighborhood like Qurtoba isn’t getting fixed, you can imagine the state of the roads in other less nice areas like Salwa or Salmiya. This has got me thinking that maybe I should just fix the potholes that bother me myself as well. There are two construction sites on my street and I’m sure I can just pay a worker to go around filling up potholes in the neighborhood with concrete. But maybe someone needs to start a pothole-filling business. Customers would WhatsApp the location of the potholes, they then get a payment link and within 24hours of paying, someone will go fill up the pothole. Easy-peasy so please steal this idea and then get in touch with me!

Back in September, the Ford dealer brought in some demo Broncos to display in their new showroom but the actual cars are now finally being delivered to customers who pre-ordered. I’ve seen one on the road so far and two are currently up for sale at a used car dealership in Sharq. As expected, the prices are currently inflated due to high demand and not enough cars. The Sharq dealer was selling the 2-door ‘Big Bend’ model for 16,500KD and the 4-door for 17,500 while the actual dealership price is 12,400 and 14,400 respectively.

If you don’t want to pre-order a car and have money to splurge, here is the location of the used car dealership on Google Maps.

There is a very cool retro RV parked on the Gulf Road near Burj Hammam. It’s been there for a few days at least and looks super cool. No idea who its for but really curious to see if the inside is also retro-looking. The exterior makes a great backdrop for a 70s photoshoot.

Yesterday I was stuck in traffic on the First Ring Road due to an accident and I had to watch a fire truck struggle to get through on their way to the accident. Unlike some other highways, the First Ring Road still has an emergency lane on the left side with the rumble strips but people were on the lane preventing the emergency vehicles from getting to the scene of the accident.

I know most of the emergency lanes in Kuwait have been removed but I’m curious to know if hospitals, police and firefighters have voiced their concerns with this decision. They can’t be ok with this can they?

If you’ve ever looked at buying a cool used sports car, maybe a Porsche or a Lambo you’ve probably noticed that you’ve struggled to find a lot of options locally. It’s a fairly common problem, someone is looking to buy an old sports car but there aren’t any available for sale. There were always rumors about the cars being sold to Europe, that there were some German guys in Kuwait who pick up used cars for cheap and then export them to Germany where they get sold. It sounded like a myth but a quick look at the Instagram account of AlSarraf Motors, a used car dealer, and you’ll see a lot of his cars do get sold abroad, and mainly to Germany. According to the caption they posted on the picture above, the white Porsche was their 88th Porsche exported. That’s an insane number for one brand, at one used car dealer in a small market like Kuwait.

Last year there was a 2009 Porsche 911 for sale in the blogs classified section for 4,500KD (pictured above), and a few weeks ago I got the following email from the person who bought it:

Hello, I bought your car from Jaap in the Netherlands. I am very happy with it. I have a couple of questions.
1 do you still have the service history and instruction books
2 do you still have 1 key? I received the car with 1 key
Thank you for replying to My message.

So I emailed the guy who originally had the car listed the car for sale and supposedly car sellers in Europe search for cars on popular websites in Kuwait, and then use a local guy to purchase and export the cars where they end up selling it for double or quadruple the amount in Europe. This has caused a problem locally because previously you could buy a used Porsche, Lambo, Ferrari, Maserati, etc.. for a reasonable price, but now because so many are getting exported, it’s causing the prices of the cars to inflate locally due to less being available for sale.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal unless you’re into cars and are looking to pick up an affordable used sports car and realize there aren’t any available. Not sure how this issue can be solved, maybe an export tax? Maybe it isn’t even a problem that needs solving since the cars will most probably have a better life in Europe anyway. It’s an interesting situation.

Looks like cops are getting police buggies to use this winter in the desert. That’s not a bad idea considering how a lot more people have started hanging out in the desert but what I’d also like to see are garbage buggies.

The amount of garbage I came across in the desert last year was just so sad. Since people just like to litter everywhere we might as well have desert cleaners that go around picking up after everyone.