[Steeroid]

The new Suzuki Vitara/Grand Vitara is A MUCH BETTER LOOKING VEHICLE THAN THAN THE FORTUNER. Its also much better looking vehicle inside, spacious and with some really smart black trim. Excellent!



Duboy liked the bike




while the person who calls herself TBHP member Paranoid (Steeroid's wife, and the name was her idea, not mine - allegedly has something to do with sitting on the passenger's seat while I drive) seems very happy with the Hyundai Azera.........we're looking to sell both the Mondeo and the Smart and go in for another vehicle, but while I had my eyes on the Renault Laguna 2.0 Turbo, she's fallen for the 3.3 litre Azera. Now the top end Laguna is Dhs 79,000 while the top end Azera is Dhs 85,000.....watch this space!






Another 'thing' that Paranoid liked....




This Ferrari is NOT an exbit - its part of an AD for a shop selling souveniers....



while this F2003 is a Bridgestone ad

[Steeroid]

This one's for the sound-freaks....so you thought the Palio eyeballer had it all covered???? Check out this exhibit from Fusion Audio:

[Steeroid]

Just so that our resident noise vendor doesnt felt left out by the previous post.....this one had Duboy dancing to (thankfully not WITH, at least not yet) 'Hollaback Girl'

[Steeroid]

Yes there were the usual cars and the Toyota, Suzuki and Nissan lookalikes. There were also some very serious looking heavy duty trucks....but what really took my breath away was the number of chinese components manufacturers, offering everything from Camry and Passat headlamp units for a fraction of the cost, to crankshafts, cams, turbochargers, wheels, struts and shocks, hydraulic engine mounts, THE WORKS....those alloys are DIRT cheap. I mean probably cheaper than steel wheels back home!

Before you guys laugh them off as cheap imitations, note that there was NOT A SINGLE INDIAN COMPONENT MANUFACTURER PRESENT. Mpower, you seeing this dude???

[Steeroid]

Goodnight from Dubai! This thread is now open for comments!

[karthik247]

AWESOME MAN!! What elz can i say, some people have all the luck by just to even check out these machines.

The concepts kinds look good too, but the SLR is at the top of my list..

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

away was the number of chinese components manufacturers, offering everything from Camry and Passat headlamp units for a fraction of the cost, to crankshafts, cams, turbocharger!

Excellent report Steeroid! The Chinese are indeed very agressive in the non-OE spares parts. Even in the states, their strategy has been to start with non-OE spares. This market dosent demand strict quality and warranty requirement and its easier to get your foot through the door. But I wonder what the crankshaft guy is doing there...I mean nobody replaces the crank in their car! An Indian contingent from A.C.M.A Indiawas in Detroit for the SAE show last year.

[idnani]

Excellent thread! Those are some mean machines! The wheels on the merc SLR dont suit the car, but the rotors behind the wheels, mmm ... make my extra large pizza look small!

[revtech]

hey steeroid

dude.you got amazing detailed pics of all the cars.my favourite is the SLR And ofcourse the veyron.


Rev

[Max]

hey steeriod. wonderful pics man. Also,is it Harley Davidson in the pic. bike looks awesome man.

[Dippy]

Nice pictures Steeroid. Wasnt there a Ferrari stall though?

[ajmat]

Steeroid

Great pics and thanks for sharing

Stay away from the Laguna - known in the UK for electronic problems, like your Mondeo, is something for Europe okay for the hot gulf. Very safe car though!

[Rudra Sen]

Great stuff steer. I can see the new Nikon in full action.

[v12]

Nice pics Steeroid. Any pics of the DC stall?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by v12

Nice pics Steeroid. Any pics of the DC stall?

v12 - as mentioned in the "Duboy Auto Show Pictures (Part 1)" thread, the DC stall was a tiny little affair hidden away in the last corner of the last hall. You cant get a shot at the profile of the cars because of this, and in any case the Porsche is hidden behind the Cayenne so you cant get a shot of it at all. The only visitors to the stall were a lot of arab boys crawling in and out of the Cayenne....the Merc wasnt different from the other limos on the outside though it was up there with the best in terms of interior appointments.

@ Max - no that wasnt a Harley. It was a Yamaha.

@ Dippy - Ferrari had a stall, but the snooty *******s had restricted entry into their display - Bugatti allowed a 6 year old next to their million dollar car but Ferrari wouldnt allow photographers inside. Besides, they had just a Modena and what looked like an Enzo (I didnt go near their stall after hearing from another chap who tried to get in and snap pictures) on display, blue and grey. Who wants pictures of Ferraris that arent red?????

@ ajmat - There are questions as to how relevent european cars are in the gulf, and VW & Peuguot are probably the only regular European manufacturer to have any worthwhile presence in this market. My Mondy's engine takes on a very different and 'tapetty' tone during summer, and you know that the panel gaps have widened because you get much more wind and even traffic noise in summer. That said, the new Laguna is quite nice looking - it fits into my idea of what a car should look like, the engine seems quite smooth and the interiors are very well done. I havent made up my mind yet, so we'll wait and see. The Azera is VERY tempting at those prices, though - BMW quality is the right word.

@ Rudra - thanks for all the tips, because the snaps came out reasonably well. I've burned the full set of snaps (about 200 of them) onto a CD, so the higher resolution was called for.