Category: Kuwait

I was in Marina Mall yesterday when I noticed that Mac&More surprisingly have the Apple TV in stock. They are selling it for KD129 which is around $140 more expensive then on Amazon.

I was driving the E-Class all day today and so far I have mixed feelings about it. First let me get the negatives out of the way.

The E-Class I am driving is the E200 which is the lowest spec’d E-Class at the moment. The engine is a small 4-cylinder pumping out 183hp which means the car isn’t fast at all. In fact I found it frustratingly slow when driving off from a stand still. When you first slam the gas nothing happens until the RPM passes the 2000RPM mark and only then the car moves so it feels very laggy, you have this 1 or 2 second pause before the car reacts. The 0-100 acceleration is around 11 seconds! The second thing is, the car doesn’t have any special options, no navigation system, no rear view camera, no seat warmers, the steering wheel and chair don’t retract when you come in and even the passenger side chair isn’t electrically adjustable.

Now that we got that negatives out of the way here are the positives. The car is extremely comfortable and its very relaxing to drive. The mood inside the car with the plush leather seats creates a very cozy atmosphere. The sound proofing is also great, even at high speeds there is barely any wind or engine noise, although the later might be attributed to the small 4-cylinder engine. The legroom in the back is really roomy and the car does have a large sunroof which is always appreciated. The AC and stereo controls are very simple to operate which is a godsend for people who don’t want to fidget around with a complicated control system.

Really though I am really curious to know why Mercedes has the lowest spec’d E-Class as a test drive vehicle. If I wanted to buy the car I would have been put off with the lack of power and features in this test drive vehicle. Its a Mercedes which is expected to last a long time so if I was going to buy it I would personally invest more money and get a higher spec’d model like the E280 or even the E350. But for those who are budget conscious or for people who don’t want to pollute the planet with a gas guzzling 6-cylinder car, the Mercedes E200 costs around KD12,000.

You can get more information on this car and a full price list on the local dealers website. [Link]

Q80Boy sent me an email telling me that last night at 9:30PM, Virgin in Marina Mall was shutdown because they were caught selling inappropriate movies. Can anyone confirm this? It’s confirmed!

update: I just got back from Marina Mall and Virgin is closed. There are red stickers all around the place and two A4 photocopies of the closing order which you can view [Here] and [Here]

I am going to be test driving the Mercedes E-Class for the next few days. I was hoping to get the brand new redesigned C-Class but that won’t be possible until next week. The E-Class series is positioned between the smaller C-Class and the larger S-Class Mercedes. So far, judging by the ride from the dealership to my house it looks like its going to be a very comfortable weekend.

Zaydoun just posted two pictures of a Monster Burger taken at The Burger Hub here in Kuwait. Its cool a place finally decided to create a monster burger, I haven’t been to The Burger Hub yet but now I have a reason to because I NEED TO TRY THIS BURGER! [Link]

note: I called up The Burger Hub and it seems this Monster Burger will launch on the 29th of April which is on their anniversary. The price isn’t final yet but it should cost over KD15.

So I passed by the BMW dealer today and they tell me that I have a leak in the car which is causing it to overheat. They then give me the list of parts required to fix the leak, here are the items:

SP: KD30
Mount. plate: KD13.850
Exp. Tank: KD18.950
Thermostat: KD14.200
Radiator Cap: KD4.650
Switch: KD4.400
Housing: KD24.600
Fan Clutch: KD45.850
RMFD. Pump: KD21.950
Hose: KD9.050
Hose: KD7.700
Hose: KD7.500

Parts = KD202.700
Labor = KD98.750
Mis. = KD20.000
———————-
Total = KD321.450

Is it me or does that seem like overkill just to fix a leak? I am not a mechanic but why would I have to replace the radiator cap to fix a leak? Why change the thermostat, a switch and fan clutch also?? Wouldn’t the leak be from just one place? So why not just replace that one item why do I have to replace everything else also? I had my car towed out of the dealers garage and its now going to get fixed elsewhere. Once I find out how much its going to cost me to fix it outside I am going to post it here.

…nothing beats Badar Al Badoor.

Found this while waiting for the tow truck to pick up my car. Its a new pizza place thats opening soon. The logo looks very familiar…

You won’t believe what happened to me today! Yesterday I picked up my BMW from the dealer and as I mentioned before, the car overheated just before I reached my home. Today morning I was supposed to pass by the dealer to give them a piece of my mind when on the way while driving on the Gulf Road my car overheats again! I parked the car in the Green Island parking lot and called a friend who got a tow truck to come pick up my car. We took my car to the BMW dealer and I go up to the guy who had taken care of my car and told him that after I left the dealership yesterday the car over heated and today on my way over it also over heated. He was very cold and didn’t apologize or anything, he took my car keys and told me to wait and then left.

Fifteen minutes later the guy comes back and tells me your car needs to stay here you can leave now. I was like what do you mean I can leave?? What about my car, how long does it need, whats wrong with it? He was like they are checking on that now. I was like ok but I need another car, I have work and things to do. He was like you can talk to the manager so I do.

I explain my situation to the manager, I tell him I brought my car in because of some strange vibrations and after paying a shit load of money I take the car back and suddenly its over heating. I tell him its a fault from their side and they should give me a car to use until they fix their mistake. He tells me its not their mistake and its not their responsibility. He tells me its very normal for a car to over heat and it can happen to any car at any time. I stood there in shock, other then the fact that no one apologized to me but now the guy is telling me that the problem is my fault no theirs! What car built in this century still over heats?!? Maybe if it was 1985 and I was stuck in traffic I could imagine a car over heating but this is a 2001 BMW and its over heating without any traffic!

I end up leaving the place thinking about how much I hate BMW and the dealership. When I was thinking of selling my car I was thinking of maybe getting a BMW Z4 or a Land Rover LR3 but now I am thinking about how I never want to buy a BMW ever again yet alone anything from this dealership.

A few minutes ago I get a phone call from BMW, they tell me they found some leak and it will cost KD320 to fix. I was like excuse me? No thank you, please don’t touch my car I will pick it up tomorrow and go fix it somewhere else.

I passed by the MV Agusta dealer today for the first time. My friend is looking to buy a naked bike and he wanted to check out the MV Agusta Brutale. The dealership is pretty cool and like TriStar very friendly and passionate about bikes. They have a limited edition Brutale, number 222 out of 300 called the Brutale America. They also had a limited edition F4-1000 Senna on display, again limited to just 300 pieces worldwide. The coolest bike there though was the pearl white and black F4 R312. The 312 is the max speed the bike can hit and it just looks amazing and its not to expensive either at around KD7,600. The Brutale 750s (not the limited edition one) costs around KD4,950 before discount. Pretty cool prices for such beautiful bikes.

I think I spent around 2 hours there with my friend, even Marzouq ended up joining near the end and I think he will end up posting a bunch of pictures since he had his camera with him. The picture above is of the pearl white and black F4 R312 which I took off the MV Agusta website.

Here is a link to the local dealers website. [Link]

Here is also a video of an MV Agusta owner in Kuwait trying to reach the max speed of his bike but only managed to hit 295KM. He had a tank mounted camera which is pretty cool.

[YouTube]

So I finally pick up my car today from the dealer and I am on my home and guess what? The car overheats! I had to park the car, wait till the engine cooled and then had to fill it up with at least 2 liters of water! I mean what the hell! I just paid a load of cash to have my car fixed and I get it without water in the radiator?!!? I am sooo pissed I am going back to the dealer tomorrow morning to give them a piece of my mind!!!

Just got back from the dentist, I had to get some scaling done. The dentist tells me I need to pass by every 3 months but I keep telling him its such an awful experience that I need at least a year to forget about it before I could come back. He is a cool dentist and has a sense of humor which is why I keep going back to him. For anyone who’s interested I go to the Bayan Dental Center in Salmiya opposite Sultan Center. I forgot which blogger recommended I visit them, maybe it was Zaydoun. They are really great.

I changed my plans and am now going to the boat show tomorrow, but a friend of mine Stallion, passed by yesterday and has posted about his experience. He also took a ton of pictures, day and night shots which you can check out also on his blog. [Link]

I found this on Ma6aba’s blog who found it on Thekrayat’s blog. Now if only someone can upload the Pizza Italia commercial and some Kids R Us footage!

[YouTube]

Yesterday was the launch of the Lamborghini IMSA which I posted about earlier in the week. Marzouq was there and took pictures and posted them on his blog along with a ton of pictures. [Link]