I’m going to see a 2016 Mini Cooper S this weekend that a private seller listed for a reasonable price, but the car has 120k km on it and the owner says “everything works great” with that casual confidence that sometimes hides problems. I’ve heard horror stories about Minis having timing chain issues, oil leaks from the valve cover, and even…

Read more

I was having nightmares with my 2016 Panamera where the PDK would occasionally refuse to engage reverse and sometimes felt like it was slipping in 2nd gear. The dealership quoted me a ridiculous amount just for a diagnostic, and a couple of independent shops in Dubai seemed clueless about the dual-clutch system. A friend eventually dragged me to a…

Read more

I’ve got a 2016 S400 and the air conditioning has become really inconsistent – sometimes it blows cold, other times it feels like ambient air, especially when I’m stuck in traffic. I already had the gas topped up at a random garage in Al Nahda but that didn’t fix it, so I’m guessing there’s a deeper issue like a faulty expansion valve or maybe t…

Read more

I’ve been driving around Dubai for years with a Japanese sedan and honestly I used to just go to whichever tyre shop was closest when the brake warning light came on. Big mistake – had one place fit pads that squealed like crazy after two weeks, and another time they forgot to tighten something properly which made the pedal feel mushy. So this t… Read more

I did a dyno run a few months ago just out of curiosity and everything seemed fine at the time, but recently after a minor service I’ve been wondering if those numbers are supposed to stay consistent or if they naturally shift a bit over time depending on driving habits and fuel quality, I was reading up on different setups and ended up on http://d…

Read more

Got a 2014 Chrysler 300C with the Hemi, love the car but lately the transmission has been shifting really hard between second and third gear. It’s fine when cold but once it warms up it starts clunking. I took it to a regular garage in Sharjah and they said they don’t have the right scan tool for Chrysler’s transmission control module. Now I’m…

Read more

I’ve had my Levante for about three years now and absolutely love it, but something’s been bothering me for the last month or so and I can’t seem to get to the bottom of it. There’s this intermittent knocking noise from the front end whenever I go over even slightly uneven surfaces, like those little dips near the traffic lights on SZR or the…

Read more