Automotom Motoring

Automotive friend or foe?

I figure Dubai being that it is supposed to be a sort of 'halo' city of the World will be one of the first places to gain driver-less cars, at least in any large numbers. Since we always like to have the biggest, the longest, the tallest, the most explosive, the fastest, etc, etc.

I read a bunch of comments on Twitter about driver-less cars and that they're a bad thing, especially for Dubai. One persons mentioned that 'driving standards are bad now, without people in control imagine the chaos'. Okay, so it wasn't worded exactly like that but after a couple of tweets back and forth this was the gist of it.

But surely that's the whole point of these driver-less cars, to remove the driver. The Police are constantly telling us that speed is the main cause of accidents, well actually drivers are the main cause of accidents. If we had better drivers on the roads of UAE there would be less accidents, and not by any small margin, the difference in the number of accidents on the roads would be huge. The road network, for the most part, is pretty damn good and even the sign posts are good too. There really isn't any need for as many accidents as we have here.

So we remove the driver from the cockpit and leave everything up to technology. The closest thing to a driver-less car today is the new Mercedes S-Class, specifically with all the active assistance packages fitted. It has an array of sensors and radars that even the CIA would be jealous of, long range that, thermal sensing this, it's got everything. What this translates into is that the car has access to a lot more information than our feeble senses will ever get to enjoy and because of this, with the right programming, it can make better decisions than us. You activate the systems and the Mercedes will monitor the traffic around you and even behind you to keep your speed where it should be and also keep the distance between you and the car in front at a safe margin. It will "see" the lanes in the highway and keep itself perfectly on track and even take corners for you. If the traffic in front starts to slow down the Mercedes will also slow down, even stopping if required. At the moment the system only works if you have a hand on the steering wheel, as there is no way they could sell it if it was a total hands off system, very few governments would accept this. You can trick it into thinking you've got your hand on the wheel, just tape a small weight to one side of the wheel and the car will think it's your hand. But this just is the beginning on the technology. Here's a video of what it can really do but sadly isn't available to the public just yet, but without any doubt this is the future of motoring.

Apart from being safer there are other benefits to your everyday life. Can't find a parking spot in a busy part of town? No problem, just stop right outside where you want to be, exit the car and tell it to go away and find itself a space to wait. You can send a message from an application on your phone when you want it to pick you up again and it will be able to tell you that it will be with you in a few minutes. Or maybe one day you don't feel like dropping the kids off at school, let the friendly GoogleCar take them.

Driver-less taxis also appeal to me greatly, whilst I appreciate that the RTA Dubai Taxi drivers do the best they can. I am 100% certain that I'd be happier riding to my destination in an autonomous vehicle. It will actually know the way and will take me to the correct destination, not just the one that he happens to know that sounds vaguely like what I asked for. It would also be infinitely safer too, can you imagine the joy you'd feel taking a taxi journey and not being in tremendous peril every minute of the journey.

But what about car people?

I myself am a self confessed 'car guy', I like cars, and I like driving. I don't especially like driving to and from work on the same monotonous journey in traffic everyday through a concrete jungle but I like driving nonetheless. I believe in the future once these driver-less or autonomous cars are generally accepted as an everyday part of life you will still find the automotive fraternity going strong.

Car people will cruise to and from work five days a week in their bland electric self driving boxes and on the weekend they will have their special toy to play with. I can never see proper cars dying out because of the feeling it gives us, the thrill it gives us, the joy it gives us. I for one would be perfectly happy to ride safely to work in a blandbox if it meant having an old 911 to hoon about in and tinker with at the weekend. Insurance would probably be cheaper too as there's less accidents and less risk on the road, and you'd have more money for petrol too since your blandbox runs on hydrogen or electricity.

Naysayers 

A few decades ago every elevator used to have an operator to get you to your floor safely, I don't think there is anywhere in the world that still does. The car will be similar, right now the technology we've developed outweighs our own capability, so best leave it to the machines to do the operators job.

Tyres living in constant fear as Hellcat is coming to UAE

SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVEN HORSEPOWER.

Just think about that for a moment, and rethink the cars you've driven and the power they had. 

To give an idea of scale, here's something I made earlier.

Once you exceed 900bhp space time as we know it dissolves.

Can you think back to the first time you drove a car that you actually thought 'wow, this is quick'?

I can, it was a 2002 Skoda Octavia vRS, a Czech car based on the VW Golf with the humble 1800cc 20v engine.

Octavia vRS

180bhp turbocharged engine with five speed manual gearbox, I remember hitting full throttle in second and third and genuinely feeling that this was the fastest thing on the planet.

Fast forward to today and I don't get that same feeling I had back in 2002 very often, I had it in an SLS GT whilst on the Yas Marina circuit and remember thinking that an X5M I had a go in was oddly fast. 

Obviously I haven't driven a LaFerrari, P1 or any of the hypercars or even supercars.

That's why I'm so excited about the Hellcat, Surely 707bhp must be able to prompt some kind of emotion from me. The performance figures are in some serious territory.

Performance

Did I mention it has 707bhp? A good measurement of any muscle car is of course the 1/4 mile time, and this factory standard, fully road legal car can do it in 10.8 seconds.

Things that are slower than the Hellcat -

• Ferrari 599 GTO
• McLaren MP4-12C
• Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
• Mercedes CLK GTR
• Audi R8 V10
• Porsche 918 Spyder
• Jaguar XJ220

Top speed whilst I feel it's sort of irrelevant is estimated to be approaching the 320kph mark, which I don't doubt at all. As for the handling I don't think anyone will care if it handles like a shopping cart missing a wheel, nobody expects it to climb Jebel Hafeet like a BMW M3, if you do want to have fun with it on a twisty road I'm pretty sure you will spend most of your time admiring the view from the side window and being deafened by the awesome sound.

Coming soon to Beach Road.

The best bit

In the States you can buy a brand new Hellcat for less than $60,000 which translates into 220,000 dirhams, I'm sure it will be more than that in reality, because, just because.

But let's say it ends up being 240,000. I am struggling to think of anything else I'd rather buy that would give me that feeling of 'wow, this is quick' that I mentioned earlier, and it's usable, it has space for shopping and space for passengers. You can even have passengers in the rear that actually have lower limbs.

The noise

There are countries that would declare a state of emergency upon hearing the Hellcat.

See what I mean? It's the sound I imagine two planets make when they collide.

Conclusion

I'm really looking forward to this car coming to UAE, and I just love the fact that it even exists. I'm certain regardless of the premium in price over what folks in the States will pay whatever allocation we do get here it will be sold out very quickly and residuals will be excellent.

Oh and it has 707BHP...

Arriving and driving

Having a car in the UAE isn't essential, especially if you're lording it up in a nice hotel in the Marina and work in JLT. But if like myself you're a car guy and life doesn't feel quite right without some wheels, you're going to need to do something about it pretty soon after touching down.

When you first arrive you can't actually own a car as in order to register a car here you need :-

• Residency visa in passport
• UAE driving license, or at least a GCC license
• Emirates ID

So the first option for most people is to rent something, you can rent a Yaris for about 1,600 per month or something larger like a Kia Sonata will run to about 2,600 per month, and a Pajero will be between 4,200 and 5,500 depending on where you go. A lot of people seem to get caught up in an endless rental cycle and it just doesn't make sense financially, many expats have a fear of buying and owning a car in a strange country.

          "I'm scared of being shafted " - British Expat exiting Al Awir.

Renting just doesn't make sense, if you're willing to fork out 5k a month to smoke about in a Pajero why don't you just buy one or better yet use that money to get something you really like. Lets say you rent a Pajero for a year and a half which is extremely common, I've met people who've been renting for 3 years or more.

You pay 5k per month that's 90,000 dirhams over the course of the 18 months. Excessive.

Financing

UAE Central Bank stipulates a minimum 20% down payment when financing a vehicle, and whilst there are a couple of ways to avoid this I don't advise doing so as it generally keeps you out of negative equity so you can always get out of the car quickly if you find yourself in a 'shit just got real' situation and want to exit quickly.

At the moment you can pick up a 6 months old Pajero GLS 5Dr with less than 10,000km for about 110,000 AED or even a little less if you're willing to settle for the 3.5 engine, but don't as it's under powered especially if you want to take it onto the sand.

So down payment will be 22,000 and the  payment works out to about 2,000 a month (based on a 2.5% bank rate) run the car for 18 months and you will owe circa 57,000 and the vehicle is approximately worth 80,000. The residual value does depend heavily on how you've treated it and how many times a moron in an ancient Camry has tried to reshape it for you. 

Combining 18 monthly payments and the initial down payment it has cost you 58,000 and you've got 22,000 worth of equity too. Which in this example is the same as your initial deposit, so no reason why you can't sell the car and go out and replace it with another 6 month old one and your monthly payment wouldn't change but you keep yourself in a new car all the time.

Maintenance

Keeping a car on the road here is relatively low cost compared to Western countries, quality of service is rather hit and miss though, some are good and some are pretty shabby. Japanese cars for some reason apparently require servicing every 5,000km which is frankly ridiculous but best to do what they say. American cars are generally every 10,000km, the Germans are usually every 15,000km or 20,000km, and the others? Well if you've got an Italian or French car just take it to a workshop every week to play it safe.

Most main dealer workshops are actually pretty good these days, the front of house i.e the reception and service advisers are often poor but what you don't see behind the scenes is usually very good. There are many excellent independent workshops here that will do a fantastic job for less money. Just make sure they use genuine parts.

A basic oil change on a Prado will be about 800 dirhams, a full service on a Camaro will be about 1,600 and a major service on a Mercedes C200 is about 2,500. That's dealer prices you can find cheaper by going elsewhere. 

The small workshop areas at petrol stations have their uses too, good for checking your oil, washer fluid, or reattaching the vehicle under tray as you inevitably smash it off after daring to go over an enormous speed bump at any speed greater than glacial.

Buying/Selling

The easiest way to find cars for sale is Dubizzle.com or visit the numerous showrooms dotted around the place, or slow cruise through Al Awir obviously you can't stop moving for fear of being accosted by sales guys. Buying a car on finance is a lot easier if you do it through a dealer, it can be done through a private seller but as I found out from my personal experience it is additional headache and does help if the seller is patient, hence you will find many adverts on Dubizzle asking for cash only buyers.

The same goes for selling. Selling to a dealer is the easiest but you do pay for the convenience, selling privately can be well worthwhile as you will get more sometimes significantly more than going direct to a dealer. Selling a car with finance outstanding is a hassle, it is much better if you can clear the finance yourself and then find a buyer as you will have to wait for the bank to let RTA know that the car is no longer any interest to them. Although I was lucky recently and sold a car that I had financed through Emirates Islamic Bank and managed to convince the man in their head office to print me out a letter for RTA there and then.

Fines

Yep, you'll get them.

Driving in UAE

Carmageddon. 80% of the time it's just a free for all with seemingly the only rule being that there are no rules. On a typical 60 minute commute on a weekday morning I can expect to be treated to three totally avoidable smashes each of which the traffic must become stationary to allow everyone to have a good look as the population it seems, has never seen a cop car before or an accident. Seeing a car shiny side down next to an arrow straight 5 lane super highway no longer surprises me.

Karama on a Thursday afternoon

Then other times it does seem to work, I drove back from Abu Dhabi a few days ago at 5pm and it's just a stream of cars driving at 160kph, slowing to 140kph for the cameras and then back to to 160kph. All adhering to lane discipline and indicating correctly. I couldn't believe how quickly I got back to Dubai, once I got as far as Jebel Ali that all changed, as an ancient Camry wobbled and dithered its way from the slip road to the fourth lane without reason or indication at about 90kph causing all manner of rage.

The best advice for driving here is just to pay attention and treat everyone like they've come from a village in the 19th century, and don't let the red mist set in too much.