Filling an appetite for fast cars

As editor of Bahrain’s Number One community newspaper I regularly receive emails from young people asking for information about journalism and annually receive an invitation from my son’s school to give career advice.

I feel blessed to have carved out a 40-year-old career in what some describe as ‘the fourth estate’.

The press has often played a significant role in shaping the course of opinion, and viewed as an important force in government, it has been referred to as the fourth estate in relation to the other three traditional estates of the faith, the nobility and the townsmen, or commoners (you and me!).

Back in 1841, Thomas Carlyle used the term to describe the reporters’ gallery in the English Parliament as a ‘Fourth Estate more important’ than the other three estates represented there.

The importance of the press in a representative democracy is twofold: it informs the people and also serves as a feedback loop between the government and voters, despite what a certain US president may feel about the power of the pen.

Politics aside, there are two elements that top my list of writing subjects, motoring and hospitality and it will come as little surprise to regular readers of GWeekly that I would be particularly delighted to combine both subjects in one appointment.

Imran Ali, marketing manager of Al Haddad Motors, came up with the cute concept of getting to meet members of the media over a hearty breakfast and at the same time allowing them to test drive one of the star turns of the magical Mercedes-Benz fleet.

Normally, you pick up a test vehicle from the dealership, sign your life away on the insurance form (one rival company on the island even billed me for a replacement tyre after one burst on the highway, I jest not) and you’re charged with bringing said vehicle back to the showroom before closing time.

Not so Al Haddad, who in the past have suggested I tried one of their new launches for the weekend to get a real feel if it for our readers and their potential customers, and this time the Tubli operation really excelled itself.

I’m a great believer in the saying ‘give credit where credit’s due’ and when Imran rolled up outside my Janabiya home in a majestic south sea blue metallic Mercedes-AMG A 45 4matic, the world’s most powerful compact performance car, to take me for breakfast, it was obvious he knew how to make an old hack happy.

Motoring mad Imran, 35, is Bahraini-born of Pakistani descent, with a family history in the kingdom dating back 101 years, no less.

The family is well known in Bahrain for its tailoring and electronics enterprises and it would have been simple for Imran to follow in their footsteps but he was determined to make his own way in the world and at the age of 18 headed to New York to tackle marketing and business studies at college.

Four years on, he was back home in Bahrain carving a career in the motoring industry, firstly as a marketing coordinator before management roles beckoned with a variety of American, British, Italian and German marques.

Obviously his early American adventure had made him acquire a taste for coffee so it came as little surprise that he chose one of the kingdom’s top cafés for our breakfast rendezvous.

Imran kindly opened the driver’s door for me, and I slipped behind the AMG performance steering wheel into the leather black red cut sporty seats, electrically-adjustable with memory function, of course.

I pressed the keyless GO starter and we headed out of my compound along the highway to Crust and Crema Café in Zinj’s Galleria Mall which received a glowing review on the EatingOut page and is famed for its in-house roasted coffee, breakfasts, bakery and gourmet desserts.

Although the car boasts paddles for the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed automatic transmission, I much prefer the easy life and a simple twist transports the driver into the age of a technological revolution.

The choice is individual for Comfort, Sport or Sport+ mode. How best to explain? Think of a lion waking up, stretching and making a mighty roar, that’s Comfort. Take the smell of a kill and a gleam in the eye and a bellowing roar, that’s Sport. Think, annoying young upstart sniffing around the missus and making your feelings known with an earth-shattering rumble, that’s Sport+.

I slipped the car into a space opposite the café. There were glances of admiration in my direction - understandable as the AMG body-styling cuts a handsome figure, boasting a wide arch for the 19-inch AMG multi-spoke light alloy wheels.

Imran explained why the café is such a favourite morning destination because the parking spaces outside are roomy and, of course, the food is fabulous and the upstairs trendy ambience hard to better.

In traditional fashion, Imran went for the scrambled egg breakfast whereas I chose the poached eggs, with the hot runny yoke pouring perfectly over the toast.

We talked cars and careers and children. Imran is married to Amna and they have two delightful daughters, Raiha, five, and Zariyah, four, and are settled in Seef close to family and friends.

Unbeknown prior to our breakfast chat, we have a mutual friend in the motoring sector, which brings me to one of my favourite personal car-buying stories.

When the good lady wife Kathryn and my two youngest children, Imogen and Stan, joined me in Bahrain a decade ago, we went in search of a family motor.

We had sold our two cars back in the UK and carried around a carrier bag full of ready cash converted into Bahraini dinars and went in a determined bid to buy a vehicle on the spot … it was simply a question of choosing which model.

The first showroom we visited the salesman showed us around whilst speaking to his buddy on his mobile phone the whole time. It didn’t really matter how good the car was, there was no way I was going to give this rude young man my money.

At the next showroom we fared little better. By this time my son, Stan Jnr, then just a few weeks past his fourth birthday, was getting hot and flustered. My mood had not been helped by the earlier encounter with the salesman who was more interested in meeting up with his pals that evening then helping me chose a car, and I was carrying little Stan and trying to find the entrance door into the glass-clad showroom number two.

A salesman spotted me struggling and nodded his head. I nodded back. He nodded again indicating the area of the entrance. He watched me struggle and nodded again and this time pointed at a door.

He made no attempt to open it for us.

I put my child down, pushed my way through the door and politely told him we would be taking our business elsewhere.

That took us to showroom number three were we met the most marvellous Bahraini in the world called Ali.

Ali, in his spotlessly clean white thobe, was the essence of charm and charisma, knowledge and good humour. He revealed that his English was self-taught after studying endless episodes of the UK TV sitcom Keeping Up Appearances starring actress Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket, pronounced Bouquet!

So delightful was the experience that we bought not one, but two cars from Ali and continued to call into the showroom for a chat and a coffee for many years before his retirement.

It came as little surprise to hear that Imran had befriended Ali and his positive influence had clearly rubbed off on the young man.

On the way out from our breakfast briefing, Imran showed me the engine of the mighty Merc which was inscribed with the name of the man who had put this particular model together.

I reluctantly handed over the key fob and Imran drove me back. I switched on the Harman Kardon Logic 7 surround sound system to rock on down the road to the latest Ed Sheeran hit. If only I’d known beforehand, I would have asked Imran to serenade me all the way home, as the Whisperer informs me that he has an angelic voice and used to sing lead vocals in Hysteria, one of the kingdom’s local rock bands.

I can live with being chauffeur driven but already missed the majestic feeling of being in control of this turbocharged 2.0-litre engine compact saloon which travels 100km/h in 4.2 seconds, 0.4 seconds faster than the preceding model.

This AMG A 45 4matic starts from BD26,046 and Al Haddad also has a special promotion and 6,500 reasons (save up to BD6,500) to buy the E-Class. For more details on both, call into the showroom or ring 17785454.