There’s an elephant in the room. No matter how hard I try to avoid it, it’s there and it refuses to go away. It can’t go away, it’s way too big for that. The mammal in question is the price tag for this Mini. Yes, it’s a John Cooper Works Paceman, to give it its proper name, but it costs a staggering Dh205,000. I could actually end this piece right here, because for that money, if you were to waltz into a Lexus showroom, you could possibly haggle your way into an IS350 F-Sport like the one that we tested last week.
When BMW started to enlarge the Mini “brand” with the Clubman estate in 2009, nobody could foresee what was to happen. Now, we have seven different body styles and the new Paceman is just the latest – a coupe version, if you will, of the Countryman, a four-wheel drive SUV-slash-crossover-slash-whatever term the industry will come up with next. BMW plugging gaps in the market nobody knew existed? Who’d have thought it?
When the original Mini was in production, its maker, Austin, also launched a model called the Maxi, which, as you might imagine, was the polar opposite when it came to dimensions. In comparison to a Mini, the Maxi looked so large that it seemed it would swallow the smaller car whole. The Maxi was 4,039mm long, 1,626mm wide, 1,384mm high and weighed 978kg. This Mini, then, should be called something else entirely, because it’s 4,115mm long, 1,786mm wide, 1,518mm high and weighs 1,330kg – bigger in every respect than the gigantic Maxi.
Be that as it may, these enormous Minis seem to be popular here, so perhaps the Paceman has a fighting chance in the UAE. Its maker claims that the JCW version offers “extreme sports performance” and “inimitable style” and I suppose that the latter is, at least, true. The charming purity of the base car has been lost, especially up front, where the round headlamps have been substituted for odd-looking square items, and the sheer height of the bonnet makes for some strange forms indeed. The rest looks pretty cool, actually, and that continues to the interior, where it’s standard Mini fare and none the worse for it.
In the dark, this thing looks like a nightclub on wheels when you’re inside it, with orange and blue neon lighting oozing out from every nook and cranny. It isn’t exactly cavernous, and in the rear, individually sculpted seats can make rear passengers feel hemmed in, but at least there’s plenty of headroom. The front seats are highly set, giving a strange driving position, and they’re not electrically adjustable, which is lunacy for a car costing what this one does.
On the road it’s not what you might term “quick”, with the extreme sports performance that BMW promised never materialising. BMW’s significantly more powerful M135i is ballistic in comparison (two seconds quicker to 100kph) and is similarly priced. I know where I’d rather spend my money. Other JCW models, with front- as opposed to four-wheel drive, suffer from torque steer, where the front wheels can’t cope with the amount of twist being generated by the turbocharged engine and they basically try to go in whatever direction they feel like. Not here, though, because the Paceman has a sophisticated power train that can send up to 100 per cent of the car’s oomph to the rear wheels, and this makes for much more assured handling.
But the ride height does rob you of some enjoyment behind the wheel. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Mini Cooper S and, if my wife hadn’t forbidden it on the grounds that it’s “a woman’s car” – something that I wholeheartedly disagree with – there’d be one outside my home right now, instead of a Scirocco. I adore it and it’s one of the most fun and finely balanced cars on the road, partly because it feels relatively small but still packs a powerful punch. The Paceman is, it would seem, just too big for its own good.
Having said all that, it’s still rapid and makes for an entertaining drive in almost any situation. Road noise is quite noticeable at speed, thanks to the 19-inch alloys and run-flat Pirellis, but the engine remains civilised and unstressed until you gun it, when it makes a satisfyingly grunty sound and, when in Sports mode, a cheeky-sounding “parp” from the exhausts when shifting between gears. Sports mode does, however, stiffen up the already quite heavy steering just a tad, making it a bit too twitchy.
Speaking of noises, my test car makes some alarming creaks from its roof while negotiating uneven surfaces and speed humps. But apart from that, it’s a fine example of how cars should be screwed together, with a wonderful feeling of inbuilt longevity.
Should you buy one? If the looks do it for you, and you really feel the need for four-wheel drive, and you’re not put off by the price, then sure, why not? But when a Scirocco R costs Dh40,000 less and offers better performance along with almost as much practicality and individuality, you’d be advised to think twice.
khackett@thenational.ae
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The%20specs
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 remaining schedule:
Wednesday April 24: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-6pm
Thursday April 25: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-5pm
Friday April 26: Finals, 3-6pm
Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 1
Mata 11'
Chelsea 1
Alonso 43'
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
The years Ramadan fell in May
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Dunki
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Indika
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SPECS
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Previous men's records
- 2:01:39: Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) on 16/9/19 in Berlin
- 2:02:57: Dennis Kimetto (KEN) on 28/09/2014 in Berlin
- 2:03:23: Wilson Kipsang (KEN) on 29/09/2013 in Berlin
- 2:03:38: Patrick Makau (KEN) on 25/09/2011 in Berlin
- 2:03:59: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 28/09/2008 in Berlin
- 2:04:26: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 30/09/2007 in Berlin
- 2:04:55: Paul Tergat (KEN) on 28/09/2003 in Berlin
- 2:05:38: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 14/04/2002 in London
- 2:05:42: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 24/10/1999 in Chicago
- 2:06:05: Ronaldo da Costa (BRA) 20/09/1998 in Berlin
