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Little diva, NJD with my Fortuner in Al Ain.

I’m having an emotional week of letting go of the one thing in my life that stays consistent and has been possibly the most reliable and useful thing I’ve ever bought – My 4×4 Fortuner. Most people would say its just a car but those who know me well know that I develop a special relationship with every car I drive. And despite regularly driving multi million dollar cars that most people can only dream of, I still came back to my trusted 4×4 and feel right at home.

I fondly remember days when I got up late and dune bashed from Sharjah into Dubai – starting the day with that kind of adrenaline injection first thing in the morning again is something most people see as a chore but to me, dune bashing was the norm and despite being an SUV, the 4×4 function in the Fortuner is awesome.

While I bought the car for its looks and the fact it was really higher than most SUV’s, the main decision maker was the fact that it had this perfect extra space between the boot and the back seat that was ideal to fit in a shoe rack. For a chick that lived in Sharjah for many years, i needed a wardrobe in my boot for after work events in Dubai. At one time, I had close to 80 pairs of shoes and still had space for all little pink tool box, magazines, gym bag +++ other stuff that women lug around for convenience.

I also believe like animals, cars have souls. I felt that with my first car which was a VW…then it was a CRV – also an awesome SUV. Both cars were in accidents and totally scrapped but I emerged without a scratch. In both incidents, my cars didn’t let me down and responded really well to the stupidity of some drivers one can find sometimes on the roads here.

I am certainly going to miss my Fortuner but am happy it is going to a really nice British family who I know will cherish it as much as I did. I am currently driving a really hot little red number in form of a 2014 Elantra Coupe – amazing car, looks fabulous and a lot more comfortable than most sports cars I drive. I guess I needed something hot and sexy to cheer me up until all the paperwork gets done for my next car which is a Porsche Cayenne.

The last time I drove a Porsche Cayenne was while racing on the YAS Marina Circuit and had a tough time with one of the Belgian International Porsche examiners who thought I was too hard to handle – i nearly failed the tests I had to go through on the tracks with 7 models of Porsche. I hardly remember the feel of the car now except that I enjoyed the Panamera the most – I hope that Panamera will be my next car – it would be awesome taming the beast of the tracks.

Saying goodbye is certainly hard and I can’t wait to start a new relationship with the Cayenne – I hope it brings me nice new memories of travels to other Emirates, Oman etc. Can’t wait!