Category: Automotive

This picture of the Maserati was taken in the UAE. If I was Maserati I would take the car back and give the owner back his money. [Link]

Thanks A&B

Back in May I posted about the new digital signs that are popping up all over the place and a local blogger now has a picture of whats looks like a sign undergoing testing. The question still remains what are they going to be used for?

When I was in Munich traveling on the highway they had similar signs with the speed limit on it. The speed limit changed depending on the amount of traffic, when the sign was off I think it meant you had no limit but when the sign was on it meant follow whatever speed limit is displayed until the next sign. I doubt its going to be used like this here but to just display the speed limit like in the picture above which everyone already knows anyway is a waste. Anyone know what these signs are going to be used for or anyone have a theory?

Thanks DLC

Update: I replaced the original picture I posted with a better one I took myself on the Gulf Road.

The other day I posted a picture of the first Nissan Skyline GT-R in Kuwait filling up at a gas station. Turns out the Nissan dealership Al-Babtain got their first shipment of Skylines which consisted of 3 cars, 2 being red and 1 a dark grey. The picture I posted the other day was of the grey one and my friend just sent me the picture above of the two red ones. The cars from this shipment and the next two shipments have already all been sold. Each car went for KD30,000.

Awhile back I wanted to sell my car and decided I would do a little experiment by listing my car on Q8car and also on Q8showroom and see which site ends up getting me a buyer. Well I just sold my car today but I didn’t get to try my Q8car vs Q8showroom experiment.

Thursday my car went up on Q8car and by Friday I had two people call me and pass by to check it out. By Saturday I got two more people call and one more person passed by. Sunday I got a call and the guy told me to meet up with him at Al Reemal Al Dahabi in Shuwaikh which is this huge ass place that checks cars. I think all the tests took around two hours and in the end the potential buyer got a printout with all the positives and negatives in the car. After that it was a done deal and we shook on it.

So as you can see I didn’t even have time to list my car on Q8showroom. Even today while doing the car paperwork with the guy I had a guy call me asking me about the car. Before I placed the car on their website I had read somewhere that if the car isn’t anything too weird it usually sells within three days and I guess thats true.

I paid KD10 to list my car on Q8car and that includes four pictures and the duration is “until its sold”. For KD5 you can list the car for one month and you get to post just one picture.

My friend just snapped a picture of the new Nissan GT-R filling up petrol at the Mansoriya gas station. The GT-R is a US import and I am assuming its the first one in Kuwait. Pretty cool.

My Wrangler’s battery died today while trying to leave the Avenues. Its not the first time this has happened, the first time was two years ago when I was trying to leave Souk Sharq. That same day I posted about it on my blog on how Jeep’s Road Assist was amazing, that was on June 4, 2006. Thats nearly exactly two years later (off by just two days) except this time Jeep’s Road Assist wasn’t there to save me. The Road Assist number wouldn’t connect me to anyone, I would call and it would ring twice then I would get a beep and the line would die. I tried over and over and it wouldn’t work.

I didn’t even have jumper cables so I just walked back into Avenues and headed to Carrefour and bought some cheap ass cables for like KD1.300 (they sucked, need to get a better pair). When I got back to the car I asked the parking security if they had a plan for a situation like this, I figured they might have a tow truck number or maybe an emergency jump starter kit but turned out they didn’t have anything of that sort. Instead the security guard was kind enough to help me find a car that was willing to help me jump start my Jeep.

After jump starting the car it turned out if I removed my foot from the gas pedal the car would die on me instantly so after restarting the car again I had to drive with two feet, one on the brakes and the other constantly holding down the throttle. Luckily I didn’t have to drive too far, I was planning on taking my Jeep to service it at the dealer tomorrow so I just drove the car to the garage which was just 5 minutes away. Once I parked the Jeep outside and removed my foot of the gas pedal the car died again, perfect timing. I found a cab passing by and just took it back home. Tomorrow will pass by the dealer and have them replaced my battery. I am kinda glad I purchased the extended warranty back then. What I now regret is not actually going ahead and purchasing the Emergency Jumper Starter which I posted about in March!

5car5 just posted photos of a new Ford Mustang thats being prepped to join the local police department soon. The Mustang is supercharged and will have 500HP so it should be able to keep up with all the super cars out there. Who doesn’t want to be a cop now? Check out the 5car5 website for more pictures. [Link]

Back in December I posted about a user on YouTube called paradise1man who had just received his Bugatti Veyron and shot a video of it and uploaded it online. Well I just checked his account now and he has a ton of more videos the latest is of Paul Dalton, “The worlds best car cleaner” who came in all the way from the UK to clean his car. You can check out all his videos by following this [Link]

The video above is of Paul Dalton waxing the car which alone costs $10,000. [YouTube] If it was me I would have probably gotten bored of the car a month later and just started taking it to the Bayan car wash…

Q8car have a beta version of their new site online now and although it seems better than their previous one it still needs a lot of work. For one thing the site seems a bit sluggish probably because of the amount of flash on the site but at least they’re still testing it out so thats a good thing. Here is a link to the beta site. [Link]

While walking back to my hotel today in Munich I spotted a weird Z4. At first I thought it was very tacky customized Z4 but then I realized it was actually the new unreleased 2010 model. The car was camouflaged pretty well with black body work and tape but as soon as I figured out what the car was I quickly took out my camera and turned it on. By then the traffic light had turned green so I was only able to take two shots.

It was pretty cool seeing an unreleased test car but sadly only a few car freaks will appreciate this! For me this was an amazing experience, I spend soo much time checking car blogs and magazines and seeing “spy shots” just like this all the time. Now that I was able to take these same kind of shots feels pretty great. Below are the two pictures which I managed to shoot, they are in full resolution.

2010 BWW Z4 Rear
2010 BMW Z4 Side

update: This post made Jalopnik, yay!

Interesting Kuwaiti site where you can upload your car and have people rate it for you. [Link]

via zDistrict

I’ve been spotting this huge ass truck every now and then but I never had my camera with me to take a picture until today. This isn’t an ordinary Ford F650 which is already huge and super expensive, this is an extreme version which is even bigger and taller. The picture below although not a good one at least gives you an idea of the height of this beast and I was in my Wrangler when I took the picture.

Update: Here is a link with more information and pictures on the F650. [Link]

And here is another picture which better shows the size of this thing

Soon I think we will be getting live traffic updates while on the road via these digital signs as pictured above. I also think the camera’s (pictured below and taken from Marzouqs blog) are somehow related to the new traffic monitoring network. Both the cameras and the digital signs use the same style of metal frame and they’ve both appeared at nearly the same time so I am guessing they must be connected somehow. The digital sign above was taken on the istiqlal highway but I’ve seen the same frame being built in a few more locations including the beginning of the 4th ring road in Salmiya, on the Gulf Road heading towards scientific center before Marina Mall and I’ve also seen it across from KFC on the Gulf Road heading towards Salmiya and the beginning of the Istiqlal Highway in Kuwait City.

I got a chance to check out G-FORCE Auto Worx in the Free Trade Zone yesterday; as they were having a photo-shoot to get ready for their launch in July. The owners have gone all out putting together an unbelievable garage (4wheel dyno, Ferrari-approved prep/paint booth) that is levels above the current offerings in Shuwaikh. In addition to the garage, there is a showroom on the first floor that is going to have some very interesting sports cars for sale and a store carrying racing memorabilia (sadly, the signed Schumacher racing suit is not for sale), gear (shoes, racing suits, helmets) and aftermarket parts (rims, exhausts, etc).

One of the biggest issues with modifying cars in Kuwait is the lack of a capable garage; and GForce is looking to fill that void. They are setting up to be a car-lovers haven and I will be getting more info on the garage, showroom and shop as they get closer to launch.

More pictures below.

Posted by K.

I found this very fascinating. Its pictures taken of people with their car decades ago compared with pictures of the same people with the same car today. Unbelievably cool. [Link]

via kottke