Category: Automotive

There is a Hummer H3 Ride & Drive event on the 26th and 27th of this month. It’s an off-road event where people will be allowed to take the H3 out for a test drive on a professional course. The event is by invite only so I am once again trying to get myself an invite. The Mardi Gras event is tonight btw, hopefully I can take pictures. When I first saw the H3 last April at the showroom I thought it was ugly but now that I see it on the streets the design is growing on me. I think black is my favorite color on it.

Anyway I will try to get more info on this H3 event since I think its being organized by Alghanim Automotive who are my sponsors.

It kinda looks cool with the top down, like the H2 SUT. With the top on its a different story.. [Link]

The new redesigned Audi TT was released today. Looks pretty nice. [Link]

It looks like its going to be a kickass car.. [Link]

Last weekend (March 23) was the Ferrari road show. 35 Ferrari’s participated in the event and they drove 70KM from Sha’at en-Gifa’a on Bida’a Road to Kempinski Hotel Julai’a. Here are 3 pictures from that event.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Note: Pictures were not taken by me.

Another cool thing I found on flickr, the pictures above were taken on a beach in Kuwait by Psycho Milt. They are both pictures of the same car except the first one was taken back in September and the second one taken mid March. Pretty cool.

Also if you like shots of crashed cars, Psycho Milt has a whole bunch of them which he shot here in Kuwait. You can check those out by clicking the links below:

Crashed cars of Kuwait 2005
Crashed cars of Kuwait 2006

Lift your car up with new springs and then add 26inch rims and you will end up with a “Hi Riser”. [Link]

Here are two slightly graphic car videos. The first one is similar to the one I posted a while back about a stunt gone wrong in Saudi. The second looks like something out of a movie..

Big Hit [RealVideo 748kb]
Intersection [MPG 1.4MB]

Right click and save-as

Just saw some spy shots of the upcoming Mercedes CL. I think it looks weird from the back while the front end looks like shit. Mercedes is really playing it safe when it comes to their car designs. [Link]

[source autoblog]

Pictures of a Murcielago Roadster accident that occurred in Dubai. Scroll down a bit to see the full set of pictures. [Link]

So I was at Virgin earlier and the section in the back where Nissan used to be is now closed off and there is a Ferrari Formula 1 car on display there. If anyone is interested that is.

Today in Al-Qabas newspaper they had an article on the Al-Rifai car crash which I posted about yesterday. The difference is Al-Qabas is stating that the woman of the car was driving on the road normally when her brakes failed and she veered out of control into the Al-Rifai store. I find that hard to believe for a couple of reasons, first she was driving a new Toyota Prado, not a 10 year old Hyundai. When was the last time you heard the brakes on a new car failing? I doubt it ever happens anymore. Secondly the street is tiny, she would have had to make a 90 degree turn to be able to drive into the store. If she had lost control like the newspaper is stating then she would have veered off the road diagonally, not at a right-angle. This looks like a cover up!

I went to work today to finish up a couple of jobs before starting my 10 day vacation. I was on my way back home when I spotted this strange accident. According to eye witnesses at the scene, there was a woman parked in front of the store and instead of hitting reverse she put the gear on drive and ended up climbing up 3 steps into the store.

Here is another angle
Here is also another angle

Update: The location of this Al-Rifai branch is in Baghdad Street, Salmiya.

Japanoid. definition: Extremely compact cars from Japan.

I had never seen 80% of these Japanoid cars before and some like the Nissan Figaro pictured above look really cool and funky. [Link]

Update: seems the official name for these kind of cars is “Keicar”. Keicar is a Japanese category of small automobiles, including passenger cars and also vans and pick-up trucks for commercial use. They are mainly designed for sale in Japan, because there are some tax and insurance relaxations and an exemption from the usual requirement of certification of park space that one has adequate parking space at his or her home or has contract for a parking spot.

These relatively relaxed standards came from the post-World War II days when most Japanese were too poor to buy a full sized car, yet had more than enough money to buy a motorcycle. To promote the growth of car industry as well as to offer an alternative delivery method to small business and shop owners, Keicar standards were created.

More information here. [Link]

My mums car REALLY stinks and its stinking up the whole underground parking. We seem to think a cat must have died in the engine since we couldn’t find a dead body in her trunk. I would open the hood to see if the theory is true but I figured the sight of a chopped up kitten splattered all over the engine bay would be something that I wouldn’t ever want to see.

Update: We took the car to get washed today, turned out it was a large dead cat. First place refused to wash the car because of the small, second place charged double the price. It felt like a Seinfeld episode..