You may know by now that Mikaniki loves its V12 engines. Last month, we sang an ode to those 12 cylinders of epic proportions, and have even begun counting down our five greatest V12s of all time. But thanks to Maserati, we’ll dial it down a little and knock 6 of the 12 cylinders off with a return to the single piece of engine perfection: the V6. Small, but powerful Coming soon to a showroom near you Maserati are set to debut their new hot rod; the sleek mid-engine Maserati Corsa 2020, or MC20, in early September. And sitting pretty beneath its hood is a small-ish twin-turbo 3.0L V-6 engine with double overhead camshafts, set at 90 degree angles. They’ve called it Nettuno, or Neptune for you Anglophones who don’t want to make an effort with pronunciation. Don’t be fooled by Nettuno’s size. It’s powerful enough to compete with 621 ponies at 7500rpm, which is 500 revs short of the 8000-rpm redline, with 538 lb-ft of torque. As with most things Maserati, power isn't the most impressive feat of this compact engine. A closer look at the Nettuno Ain't she beautiful... The Nettuno has 3 features: The pre-chamber: a combustion…
The automotive world is changing. EVs, self-driving cars, ElectriCity, it’s all happening. And now you can add license plates to that list as Ohio becomes the 20th state to ditch the front plate. Oh, if you use your ride for commercial purposes, don’t get too excited, this one only applies for passenger vehicles. This is great news for car owners who want to show off those sexy grilles a la Bentayga, but not so much for law enforcement trying to maintain civility among the unplated anarchists. Less plates mo' problems Imagine someone commits a traffic violation, and it's caught on camera, how in the eff are they going to get a hold of the license plate number now? Elon, if you’re reading this, now’s a good time to have some sort of infrared scanner thingy to mitigate said risk... Elon when they ask him to invent something on the spot It’s also not ideal for Uber. And before you open dialogue on whether or not Ubers count as commercial vehicles, welcome to the epic mind maze. Jury’s on the fence with this one, so I’ll leave the technicalities aside and go on the assumption that they don’t count as commercial…
The Rolls Royce Phantom is to cars what Patek Philippe is to watches: pure luxury. And you know what they say about the Rolls; you don’t drive it yourself, you get Alfred to chauffeur you around in it. It is indeed, sir... With eight generations behind the modern second gen Phantom, it has a rich history of refinement, elegance and performance. It’s a name that has over time become a symbol of material success, a defining moment in a person’s journey through materialistic life, and will take its place in the upper echelons of the greatest V12-powered cars ever to be made. Silent, but deadly Just to be clear, we’re not talking about farts. You can’t even say fart near a Rolls Royce, that would be sacrilegious. Ever heard the rumour that the loudest sound you’ll hear sitting in a Rolls Royce is your ticking watch? It’s not as ludicrous as it sounds. Sitting back in the ample rear cabin, you'll barely here the 6.7L V12's 34dB as all 12 cylinders get to work, bringing you the combined power of 573 steeds. It's as quiet as a projector’s fan, which between crunching down on your popcorn and Hans Zimmer’s imperious…
UAE's fuel prices for July 2020 have been announced. Once again the fuel prices see no change. The prices are the same as they were for June and a few months before. The fuel prices had an average drop of about 10% in April. After that even with the volatility of the oil market, the prices have remained consistent from May. This marks the fourth month of same fuel prices. For those people who lived in UAE before August 2017 would remember a time when the fuel price was regulated and, to some extent, subsidized by the government. The fuel price before that time, the price was AED 1.73/litre for Special 95. Sure the astute observers amongst us will say, that is still lower than what we have now. Yes, you are right but thats not the point. This is just a coincidence that the fuel prices are constant, it doesn't mean they won't change in the upcoming months. So let's keep our hats on and enjoy the lower than usual prices, i.e. prices lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Here is a refresher on the prices: Super 98 price remains at AED 1.91/litreSpecial 95 price remains at AED…
Quite a lot’s happened in the automotive biz this week. Between new EVs and the battle of the best self driving technology, it seems as though we have become quite inundated with four wheels on asphalt. Which is why we want to switch it up and draw your attention to the Lamborghini 63, Lambo's new boat! Here’s the scoop. Like a Sian in water... Lambo have teamed up with the Italian Sea Group to bring you the Technomar for Lamborghini 63, or just 63. Wanna hear a series of ‘coincidences’? That’s the length of the boat, the year Lamborghini was founded AND the number of units that will be produced. Sssssslick. Does size matter? Like we said, it’s only, what, 63 feet long, not exactly a large yacht (apparently the benchmark for that’s 79 feet), but still big enough not be considered a cabin cruiser, which is the small willy of yachts at 39 feet and less. Either way, the twin 24.2L MAN V-12 diesel engine will need the combined power of 4000 horses (sea horses?) to keep up. You can make up to 60 knots on this little guy, which is around 110 km/h for you tarmacins and asphalites. …
As he lifts the shutters up on his workshop and rolls up his sleeves, ready to wrap some beauties, one of Dubai’s most talented and exciting car-wrapping designers, Ukrainian-born Dimitry Carbonov awaits his next supercar looking for an ultra-cool, ultra-exclusive makeover. Mikaniki went behind the scenes and caught up with the man himself. Hard at work, making your dreams come true It was all a dream... It all began quite unexpectedly for me in 2001, with a dream and a car magazine to borrow from Biggie Smalls. I was drawing designs on the cars in the pictures, a pattern here, few lines there, nothing major, just exploring my curiosity. Pencils, paper, and a dream... 3 years later, in 2004, I implemented my very first design on an actual car, and it was the first step in the thousand-mile journey. I first came to Dubai as a tourist, like most people would at least once in their lifetime. But I liked it enough to visit again and in 2015, after my second visit, I decided it was the place for me. I love the buildings, the architecture, and of course, the many, many nice cars. It was quite a slog. I…
Ever wondered what the Batmobile would be like irl? The closest we came to Bruce Wayne's heavily 'gadgeted' ride was the Maybach Exelero. And this one didn't need grapple hooks and missiles to take its place on our top 5 one of a kind list. The concept that pushed the envelope Back in 2003, Goodyear tires German division, Fulda, asked the peeps at Mercedes HQ for a crucible through which it would put its latest tires to see if they’d survive the extremities of a very fast, very heavy car. Sounds like one of those government experiments that created Captain America. Not to mix our DCs with Marvels, but the last time Goodyear made such a request, it was 1938 and Maybach offered them the 200 km/h SW38. Class is permanent All Mercedes had to do, really, was slap the tires onto an S55 AMG loaded with rocks, but I guess when you say going the extra mile, Maybach really did do that and then some. They pulled off all the stops, and in 2005 revealed the exuberant 2.6-tonne one-timer Exelero in Berlin. Kids, that’s called attention to detail. Never half ass your homework, you never know when Birdman needs…
Seriously, look at this thing – LOOK AT IT! This is art. This is aluminium and steel that have been bent into shape to form the industrial revolution’s equivalent of Michelangelo’s David. The Mercedes-Benz 300SL is among the most beautiful machines to have ever rolled down the asphalt. But it is not all about how beautiful this car is – no no no. The 300SL is probably the world’s first production supercar. You heard that right. Look at them doors! This is iconic. Track first, road later In 1952, Mercedes-Benz needed a track-star to go up against the Alfas and the Ferraris of the time. And Chief Race Engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, did just that. Rudolf and his team put together a light rigid tubular chassis, wrapped so high around the car that it would create a pair of doors, which would become synonymous with the 300SL: the roof hinged gullwing doors. The rest of the body work was made from aluminium to keep the weight down (‘cos race car). To power the light frame, the team borrowed a 3.0L inline-6 engine from the 300 sedan along with the 4-speed transmission and suspension bits. In an age of carburated engines, Mercedes-Benz…
The theme of the week so far has been self driving cars. Just yesterday, we heard that Waymo and Polestar had entered a level 4 tech partnership, and now car tech start up, Zoox, have entered the fray. They’re not the best-known in autonomous driving technology, but they’ve made some pretty bold promises to the public. According to their website, not only are they working towards complete car autonomy, they’re doing this with purpose-built “symmetrical, bidirectional, zero-emissions vehicles.” Sounds like a Gen Z kid with a hoverboard if you ask me. Whatever floats your bidirectional boat guys They want their cars to drive autonomously like no other. They’re taking it to cities, to highways, making unprotected lefts, hitting hard rights on red. They’re giving way to pedestrians and glossing over double-parked cars. Basically, all the things that make you SCREAM in anger. Maybe now you can all just chill the eff out. Who are Zoox? Founded in 2014, the auto tech startup promised to have self-driving taxis in San Francisco by 2020. Well, it’s 2020, and there are no self-driving taxis in sunny San Fran. Me when someone asks if I've used a self-driving taxi in San Fran But let’s…
If you’re filling out a form, and have been asked what your car’s VIN, or vehicle registration number, is, and you have no idea where to find it, or what it even is for that matter, don’t panic. The VIN, simply put, is your car’s 17-character version of a fingerprint. You know, no two cars have the same VIN and all that. A VIN can tell you a car’s unique features, specifications and the manufacturer. It can also be used to track recalls, registrations, warranty claims, thefts and insurance coverage. Here's a breakdown of those 17 all-important characters: An entire story in 17 characters Is the VIN always 17 characters long? Short answer: yes. If you’ve noted down a VIN that’s not 17 characters, chances are you’ve copied it down wrong, or you own a pre-1981 car. Not judging, we all like to collect classics, but you see before 1981, VINs were even more unique than they are today. They could be anywhere from 11 to 17 characters in length. Worth mentioning here that if you do have a golden oldie, some online VIN checkers may not be able to pull up a report on them. The downside of having…