Features

Perhaps the most defining model among Mercedes-Benz’ various model lines across the years, the E-Class sums up the brand’s luxurious yet unostentatious, sensibly practical yet established premium brand and elegant yet conservative appeal.

Possibly the most important of Mercedes models, the E-Class is probably the most popularly aspirational car in Jordan, and especially so in E200 guise, where it represents one of the safest investments in a premium car.

Launched last year, the latest incarnation is one of the most technologically advanced cars rolled out by the Stuttgart manufacturer.

Flowing and fluent

Designated the W213 according to Mercedes-Benz model codes, the latest E-Class is a curvier and more flowing design and succeeds the more overt, chunkier and edgier W212, circa 2009-2016. Styled according to Stuttgart’s currently prevailing Sensual Purity design ethos, the new executive segment E-Class sits between and bears a strong familial resemblance to the brand’s flagship S-Class and junior executive C-Class saloons.

With a snouty grille with pronounced frame and bonnet surfacing, bullet-like LED headlamp clusters, flowing ridge along its flank, arcing roofline and waistline trailing off to a tapered boot, the new E-Class strikes a distinctly elegant, smooth and fluent aesthetic.

Smooth and flowing, its design generates low aerodynamic drag for refinement and efficiency. Meanwhile, mixed material construction including greater use of high strength steel in the frame and lightweight aluminium for many body panels allows for a significant weight reduction of up to 100kg, depending on model, and which helps improve efficiency, performance, handling and comfort.

Slightly longer than its predecessor by 65mm, including 43mm at the wheelbase, the new E-Class, however, features a shorter front overhang, and is slightly narrower and lower. Driven in more assertive AMG Line styling specification, it features larger 48cm alloy wheels and bumper details.

Efficient and versatile

Powered by a turbocharged direct injection four-cylinder engine carried over from its predecessor — and employed in more powerful states of tune in E250 and E300 variants — the entry-level petrol E200 version develops 181BHP at 5500rpm and 221lb/ft torque 1200-4000rpm. Weighing in 1605kg and driven through Mercedes much improved new 9-speed automatic gearbox, the E200 accelerates through 0-100km/h in 7.7-seconds, tops out at 240km/h and returns frugal in-class 5.9l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency. 

Slick and smooth, its new 9-speed automatic is an improvement on the previous 7-speed, with better shift responses and a wider range of ratios for improved acceleration, on-the-move flexibility, refinement and fuel efficiency.

Smooth and refined but with a faint four-cylinder chatter at idle, the E200 is responsive off-the-line with little by way of turbo lag. Spooling up swiftly, it settles into it generous and broad peak torque rev range, on-the-move progress and flexibility is responsive and confident.

At its best when exploiting its versatile mid-range in town and on highway, the E200 is also happy to be revved hard and high into its rev range through snaking switchbacks or winding hill claims, which it dispatches with confident consistency, if not the same muscularity as 208BHP and 242BHP e250 and E300 versions of the same engine would.

Reassuring comfort

Highly stable and reassuring at speed as such that premium German executive saloon is expected to be, the E200 is smooth, refined and comfortable. Riding on multi-link suspension with adaptive Agility Control system to loosen its dampers for suppleness or to make them tauter for greater body control through corners, the E200 manages to mostly keep one unruffled and comfortable, despite its sticky optional low profile tyres. Aesthetically appealing and lending the E200 a more grounded, assertive and sporting flavour, it optional tyres would seem to be a preference for many customers. On rougher Jordanian they can feel slightly and occasionally feel firmer than idea for such a large comfortable car.

With quick and clinically precise steering that nevertheless retains good directional stability at speed, the E200 is eager and tidy into corners, with its optional 245/40R19 front tyres gripping well. With well-controlled weight shift through corners for a large and luxurious car, balanced and predictable chassis and handling, the E200’s relatively long wheelbase and wide low profile 275/35R19 rear tyres provide reassuring road-holding through corners when leaned on. 

However, and like other Mercedes saloons in recent years, suspension tuning seems to favour agile turn-in, while mechanical rear grip is looser at lower speeds, with permanently active electric stability control intervening sometimes subtly, and other times more noticeably to sort things out.

Advanced and luxurious

Smooth and settled, the E200 felt buttoned down on rebound, while comfort levels are generally high, one feels that more forgiving non-AMG Line wheels and tyres with a slimmer tread and taller provide would add fluency and suppleness over some of Jordan’s rougher road surfaces. Highly comfortable inside with terrific driving position adjustability and control layouts, the E-class also benefits from good visibility, tight turning circle and rear view monitor for agile manoeuvrability in tight confines, belying its large size. Seating and luggage room are accommodatingly generous in all directions, but based on anecdotal evidence, one felt that the previous E-Class, with its taller and less sloping roof provided better headroom.

A satisfyingly refined, comfortable, quiet spacious and indulgent car to drive, the new E-Class’ cabin is a more luxuriously appointed, aesthetically pleasing and elegant environment than its predecessors. Kitted in classy Avantegard spec with brown leather and wood trim as driven, the E200 features a horizontal emphasis with a wide centre console, four round centre air vents and a wide and cowled single instrument display and infotainment housing, able to accommodate two optional 12.3-inch screens. 

Specified with plenty of convenience, luxury and safety systems including steering mounted touch pad controllers and blind spot and braking assistance, the E-Class can also optionally be had with Mercedes’ most advanced semi-automated driver assistance systems.  

Such optional systems include Intelligent Pilot, which can negotiate bends on highways while maintaining distance from the car ahead, and Steering Pilot, which maintains lane discipline even in the absence of lane markings. Other systems include car-to-car communication, Evasive Steering assistance and numerous other features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm

Compression ratio: 9.8:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection

Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 5.35; 2nd 3.24; 3rd 2.25; 4th 1.64; 5th 1.21; 6th 1; 7th 0.86; 8th 0.72; 9th 0.6

Reverse/final drive ratios: 4.8/3.07

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 181 (184) [135] @5500rpm

Specific power: 90.9BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 112.7BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 221 (300) @1200-4000rpm

Specific torque: 150.6Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 186.9Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 7.7-seconds

Top speed: 240km/h

Fuel economy, urban/extra-urban/combined:

7.6-/4.9-/5.9-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 132g/km

Fuel capacity: 66-litres

Length: 4923mm

Width: 1852mm

Height: 1468mm

Wheelbase: 2939mm

Track: 1619mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.26

Headroom, F/R: 1051/971mm

Boot capacity: 540-litres

Unladen weight: 1605kg

Suspension: Multi-link

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.6-metres

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres, F/R: 245/40R19/275/35R19 (optional)

The Queue

Basma Abdel Aziz

Translated by Elisabeth Jaquette

Brooklyn-London: Melville House, 2016

Pp. 217

First published in Arabic (Cairo, 2013), this novel is both charming and horrifying. Charming because it centres on a triangle of friends who are so pure in their intentions and so loyal to each other. Though the author, Basma Abdel Aziz, describes them in a minimal way, they somehow come alive and make the reader care about them. Yet, in equal degree, the novel is horrifying because it describes a faceless dictatorship which seeps into and controls literally every aspect of citizens’ lives, always to their detriment.

Yehya was wounded in a protest demonstration. The bullet is still lodged in his stomach, causing internal bleeding and sapping his strength. Without an operation to remove it, he is doomed. His close friends, Nagy and Amani, will do anything to help him but at every attempt, they discover how powerless they are. Between them and the faceless authority is Tarek, a doctor of good conscience, who initially treated Yehya’s wounds: “Yehya had come straight to him, the first of the arrivals, his body a map of the battle”. (p. 25)

Then Yehya was inexplicably taken to the state hospital and released without further treatment.

Tarek is haunted by Yehya’s case, studying his file daily, knowing he will die unless operated on. He wants to do the operation, but is afraid as Yehya’s file is stamped with the words: “Suspended Pending Approval by the Gate”. Entries in the file are changed regularly without Dr Tarek knowing who is altering it. In fact, medical records are being falsified en masse, removing any reference to bullets to pretend that no protesters were shot by the police. Yehya has no choice but to wait in the queue that leads to the Gate. 

The background for this situation is a popular uprising which would have overthrown a hated ruler, had it not split, with various factions turning against each other. Soon after, the Gate appeared. “As the ruler faded from the public eye, it was the Gate that increasingly began to regulate procedures… soon it was the singular source of all regulations and decrees… it controlled absolutely everything”. (p. 31)

New security forces appeared. Citizens had to obtain permission for the most commonplace things. Anyone suspected of dissent must stand in the queue to apply for a Certificate of True Citizenship if they wanted to keep their job. 

The trick is that the Gate never opens, though the queue keeps getting longer until it becomes a world of its own. Needy persons sell tea and coffee to fellow waiters. So many people are required to wait that normal life grinds to a halt; shops close, people stay away from work, students do not attend school regularly, clinics are closed. The only official largesse is the free phones being given away — all from the same company — tools for surveillance and mind control. The sole newspaper available is ironically titled “The Truth”. 

Doublespeak is rampant, claiming that all the inconveniences and injustices being perpetrated are for the citizens’ own good. People begin to argue with each other in the queue; rumours are spread to divide them against each other. Some disappear mysteriously and never come back.

Nagy, the most analytical of the three friends, wonders “what made people so attached to their new lives of spinning in orbit around the queue, unable to venture beyond it. People hadn’t been idiots before they came to the Gate with their paperwork.” Yet, here they are, all sorts of people, with “the same look about them, the same lethargy. Now they were all starting to think the same way.” (p. 90)

The big question posed by the novel is who will muster the courage to challenge the Gate, and whether they can succeed.

Abdel Aziz is an Egyptian journalist and psychiatrist who has treated many torture victims. Here, she describes a system of mass torture by remote control — the victims never see their torturers but nonetheless suffer horribly. While the events in “The Queue” are imaginary, the themes are not. Rather, they reflect the author’s perceptions of the world around her: the murder of protesters during the Arab uprisings, regimes that wield unlimited power without accountability and the Israeli system of permits, closures, walls, checkpoints and border crossings where Palestinians wait for hours, even days, to do whatever. The passages on “The Truth” newspaper and the alteration of records predict the “alternative facts” being propagated recently across the Atlantic. 

This is a protest novel against bureaucracy which claims to facilitate citizens’ lives but actually wastes their time, and strangles their potential and very humanity. It exposes the dangers of unchecked power, and the injustice and cruelty it engenders. It is also a warning to people not to let themselves be manipulated and divided. “The Queue” is available at Books@Cafe.

WASHINGTON — When you browse online for a new pair of shoes, pick a movie to stream on Netflix or apply for a car loan, an algorithm likely has its word to say on the outcome.

The complex mathematical formulas are playing a growing role in all walks of life: from detecting skin cancers to suggesting new Facebook friends, deciding who gets a job, how police resources are deployed, who gets insurance at what cost, or who is on a “no fly” list.

Algorithms are being used — experimentally — to write news articles from raw data, while Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was helped by behavioural marketers who used an algorithm to locate the highest concentrations of “persuadable voters”.

But while such automated tools can inject a measure of objectivity into erstwhile subjective decisions, fears are rising over the lack of transparency algorithms can entail, with pressure growing to apply standards of ethics or “accountability”.

Data scientist Cathy O’Neil cautions about “blindly trusting” formulas to determine a fair outcome.

“Algorithms are not inherently fair, because the person who builds the model defines success,” she said.

Amplifying disadvantages

O’Neil argues that while some algorithms may be helpful, others can be nefarious. In her 2016 book, “Weapons of Math Destruction”, she cites some troubling examples in the United States:

— Public schools in Washington DC in 2010 fired more than 200 teachers — including several well-respected instructors — based on scores in an algorithmic formula which evaluated performance.

— A man diagnosed with bipolar disorder was rejected for employment at seven major retailers after a third-party “personality” test deemed him a high risk based on its algorithmic classification.

— Many jurisdictions are using “predictive policing” to shift resources to likely “hot spots.” O’Neill says that depending on how data is fed into the system, this could lead to discovery of more minor crimes and a “feedback loop” which stigmatises poor communities.

— Some courts rely on computer-ranked formulas to determine jail sentences and parole, which may discriminate against minorities by taking into account “risk” factors such as their neighbourhoods and friend or family links to crime.

— In the world of finance, brokers “scrape” data from online and other sources in new ways to make decisions on credit or insurance. This too often amplifies prejudice against the disadvantaged, O’Neil argues.

Her findings were echoed in a White House report last year warning that algorithmic systems “are not infallible — they rely on the imperfect inputs, logic, probability, and people who design them”.

The report noted that data systems can ideally help weed out human bias but warned against algorithms “systematically disadvantaging certain groups”.

Digital crumbs

Zeynep Tufekci, a University of North Carolina professor, who studies technology and society, said automated decisions are often based on data collected about people, sometimes without their knowledge.

“These computational systems can infer all sorts of things about you from your digital crumbs,” Tufekci said in a recent TED lecture.

“They can infer your sexual orientation, your personality traits, your political leanings. They have predictive power with high levels of accuracy.”

Such insights may be useful in certain contexts — such as helping medical professionals diagnose postpartum depression — but unfair in others, she said.

Part of the problem, she said, stems from asking computers to answer questions that have no single right answer.

“They are subjective, open-ended and value-laden questions, asking who should the company hire, which update from which friend should you be shown, which convict is more likely to reoffend.”

The EU model?

Frank Pasquale, a University of Maryland law professor and author of “The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information”, shares the same concerns.

He suggests one way to remedy unfair effects may be to enforce existing laws on consumer protection or deceptive practices.

Pasquale points at the European Union’s data protection law, set from next year to create a “right of explanation” when consumers are impacted by an algorithmic decision, as a model that could be expanded.

This would “either force transparency or it will stop algorithms from being used in certain contexts”, he said.

Alethea Lange, a policy analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Technology, said the EU plan “sounds good” but “is really burdensome” and risked proving unworkable in practice.

She believes education and discussion may be more important than enforcement in developing fairer algorithms.

Lange said her organisation worked with Facebook, for example, to modify a much-criticised formula that allowed advertisers to use “ethnic affinity” in their targeting.

Scapegoat

Others meanwhile caution that algorithms should not be made a scapegoat for societal ills.

“People get angry and they are looking for something to blame,” said Daniel Castro, vice president at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

“We are concerned about bias, accountability and ethical decisions but those exist whether you are using algorithms or not.”

LOS ANGELES — Streaming has rapidly transformed the music industry and if there is to be a single moment to confirm the format’s arrival, it may be the Grammy Awards.

The music industry’s most prestigious awards, which take place Sunday in a star-studded gala in Los Angeles, this year for the first time considered releases that were only streamed online.

The biggest beneficiary has been Chance the Rapper, whose “Coloring Book” came out in May only by streaming — first through Apple Music and then on other services including the most popular one, Spotify.

The 23-year-old, known for incorporating gospel elements into hip-hop, is in the running for seven Grammys, including Best New Artist.

The Chicago artist insists he does not plan ever to sell his songs. His music giveaways have become part of a social media strategy, with touring his primary source of revenue.

“There’s so many ways that music moves around now. I feel like trying to fit it into a for-sale album is kind of obsolete now,” he told television host Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show”.

“It gives me more space to create and put out stuff,” he said.

Streaming has brought new optimism to executives of the music industry, which has witnessed its first healthy growth figures since the start of the Internet era.

In the United States, the world’s biggest music market, subscriptions to music streaming services more than doubled in 2016 alone, according to analytical firm BuzzAngle Music.

Larry Miller, director of the music business programme at New York University’s Steinhardt School, said the change by the Recording Academy, the tradition-bound institution that administers the Grammys, would likely lead to more streaming exclusives in the future.

“It’s certainly not the first and probably not the last, but it is perhaps one of the most important validating statements about the emergence, and maybe domination, of streaming as the way that many, if not most, people are finding and listening to music,” he said.

The three top-selling albums last year in the United States, which are all up for the prestigious Album of the Year Grammy, show the diversity of strategies on streaming.

Beyonce, who leads the Grammys with nine nominations, sprung her previously unannounced album “Lemonade” onto Tidal, the upstart streaming service led by her husband Jay Z.

Beyonce started selling “Lemonade” on iTunes a day later and within two weeks put it out on CD — but has not streamed it on Tidal’s rivals.

Toronto rapper Drake released “Views” through Apple for a two-week exclusive period — a triumph for the tech giant as it promotes its young streaming service — before sharing it with other platforms.

However, English balladeer Adele released “25” — the top-selling album in recent years — only through CDs, vinyl and digital downloads. It started streaming seven months later.

Miller said Adele’s move made commercial sense for a singer of her broad popularity.

“But that is not a release strategy that can be undertaken by more than a couple of artists who have enormous global, older and moneyed fan bases,” he said.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift, whose “1989” is the reigning Album of the Year, also resisted streaming initially and waged a campaign against Spotify.

She is not alone in her criticism. While the number of artists to boycott streaming has dwindled, many complain that the payback is paltry except for mega-stars.

Some artists have seen streaming’s possibilities and experienced its pitfalls. Acclaimed hip-hop artist Frank Ocean fulfilled a label contract when he streamed a loosely defined visual work on Apple Music — and a day later, independently, released his long-awaited second studio album, “Blonde”.

The audacious move reportedly outraged Lucian Grainge, head of the largest music label group Universal, who was said to ban future exclusives.

Kanye West, who is up for eight Grammys, declared “The Life of Pablo” to be a new type of release — a “living album” — which he fine-tuned even after its release on Tidal.

But Tidal did not report its data, meaning “The Life of Pablo” only entered the charts once the celebrity rapper released it more widely.

In a rather unexpected twist, people are looking again for music on audio cassette tapes. Yes, that rather flawed recording media that we thought was completely defunct since the early 1990s.

We already knew that analogue vinyl records were never really dead, that CDs and digital music never pushed them out completely. Indeed, there’s a special aura around vinyl records, for until today, some purists, this special breed of extremely refined audiophiles, whether right or wrong, consider that analogue records bring warmth of sound that digital simply cannot match.

But why audio cassettes? For everyone knows that their sound quality has always been poor, or average in the best case. That their shelf life is limited, that handling them is cumbersome, and so forth.

I could not believe it when last week I watched a documentary on a French TV channel showing the comeback of the audio cassette tape, albeit with a very limited part of the population, understandably.

So I immediately went on amazon.com and tried to look for audio cassettes to buy, very sceptical about the chance to find any there. I was in for a surprise. Amazon has in store blank tapes as well as recorded ones! It put me in a puzzled, wondering state of mind.

There’s something in the human mind that makes it uncomfortable with the virtual, the abstract, with all that is impalpable. It’s the same notion that makes most people fear advanced mathematics; it’s too much of a mind game, not a tangible one at all.

The fact is that digital data is part of this world that we cannot physically touch, and it makes us feel uneasy. It’s like talking about distant galaxies, black holes and time warp; it’s scary, too distant.

If for most of the digital world there’s little choice, music — on the other hand — still can find its way to the heart of the human race on analogue media like tapes and records. Call it weakness, call it sentimental, passé, retrograde or old — this is how some still feel. You cannot explain or argue with feelings.

They want to hold the media in their hands, to relate to it, to better feel it, not to click an MP3 file on a cold computer’s hard disk; it’s just too abstract for them.

Seeing a collection of tapes or vinyl records before your eyes is different from looking at a set of files on a hard disk, a smartphone or a tablet. It seems that we have a biological need to see and touch. 

It is the same notion that makes us enjoy a live concert — as opposed to recorded music. Despite the imperfections of any live performance (poor sound, musicians’ mistakes, noisy audience…), seeing the artists before your very eyes makes a huge difference and brings something unique, something that recorded media cannot bring, or replace.

The current crave for audio cassettes is probably touching an insignificant part of the population. It must be in the range of one per thousand and perhaps even much less. It is anything but a general trend, for the advantages of digital music files are overwhelming. I for one cannot imagine for a second inserting a cassette tape in a player ever again. Or inserting a pencil in the cassette reel’s hub and turning it manually so as to take up the slack!

I confess, however, that for sentimental reasons — yes, sentiments again — I have kept my good old three-head, three-motor, hi-fi Tascam cassette deck from 1992. 

It sits on a shelf in my living room. I look at it wistfully, but I definitely play music from my laptop; from pristine quality, high definition digital audio files. I am not going back. Besides, the software player I use always displays the cover and the photo of the album or music that is playing back,  which does bring some kind of warmth to the experience.

Launched in recent months and taking aim squarely at the Toyota Prius, the Hyundai Ioniq is the Korean giant’s first purpose-built, petrol-electric hybrid car, and builds on lessons learnt from previous hybrid versions of existing Hyundai models. 

Well-engineered, designed and executed for the most part, the Ioniq is also priced keenly and promises frugal fuel efficiency. 

Rightly expected to perform well in Jordan’s hybrid-friendly automotive market by the local importer, the Ioniq’s JD19,750 price is highly competitive with its main hybrid rival. 

However, this puts the Ioniq in competition with Hyundai’s own similarly-sized non-hybrid Elantra, which — starting at JD18,500 — is the brand’s highly popular and best-selling Jordanian model.

Purpose built

Seeming to share certain similarities with its more conventional Elantra sister, the Ioniq is however designed specifically as a hybrid and electric vehicle. 

As such, the Ioniq’s electric motors, batteries and hybrid components are well-integrated and positioned for better weight distribution than would be the case for a model converted for a hybrid driveline. 

Using light Lithium-ion batteries with efficient charge and discharge qualities, the Ioniq’s electric motor is also compact. 

Meanwhile, the Ioniq employs a greater use of lightweight aluminium to reduce fuel consumption and help improve ride and handling.

Employing aluminium bonnet and tailgate, and other weight-saving components, the Ioniq’s increased use of “advanced” high strength steel construction further improves weight reduction and increased body rigidity for improved efficiency, refinement, safety, dynamics and comfort. 

A more handsome and futuristic styling relation to the Elantra, the Ioniq’s black and broad hexagonal grille is better integrated with squinting headlights, while its smoothly arcing hatchback body style has a more fluent and aesthetic appearance. 

More importantly, its soft curvatures, sharper rear bumper surfacing, front wheel air curtains, side sills, closed wheel design, rear spoiler and diffuser, under-body covering and active grille shutters allow for low CD0.24 aerodynamic drag co-efficiency.

Big on torque

Powered by a relatively low-revving 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine with high thermal efficiency developing 103BHP and 108lb/ft, and an electric motor producing 43BHP and 125lb/ft, the Ioniq Hybrid’s combined system output is 139BHP at 5,700rpm and 195lb/ft at 4,000rpm. 

Driven by a combination of both petrol and electric motors or either one depending on conditions, throttle input and battery charge, the Ioniq is quicker and more responsive than its headline power figure suggests. 

Instead, it relies more on its electric motor’s generous torque output, available in healthy doses throughout the rev range. Flexible and responsive in urban driving, the Ioniq accelerates through 0-100km/h in 11.1 seconds — with 17-inch wheels as tested — and tops out at 185km/h. 

Best in the city or highway cruising, the Ioniq’s hybrid system integration is much smoother than previous Hyundai hybrids with improved throttle lift-off response. 

Mostly refined and quiet, the petrol engine sounds strained only at top end. Meanwhile, battery charge and discharge times are impressive, and allow for longer and higher speed electric-only driving than expected — up to 125km/h during test drive. 

Its hybrid system also allows for confident heavy throttle driving on sustained inclines for longer periods than similar systems.

Losing some of its verve when batteries are fully depleted and the petrol engine is driving solo on such inclines, the Ioniq however quickly recovers its charge on descent from the petrol engine and regenerative braking system.

Returning 3.4l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency with 15-inch wheels and 4l/100km with 17-inch wheels — as tested and available in Jordan — according to published Hyundai figures, the Ioniq’s real world efficiency was very impressively not far off from such ideal test condition values. 

Driven on demanding Jordanian roads and conditions several months after its global launch but soon after its local launch late last year, the Ioniq managed 4.6l/100km fuel efficiency (average calculated from trip computer and manual measurement figures) in real world conditions. 

Though not a scientific test and not within any particular set parameters, this figure was remarkably achieved over approximately 500km driving, with widely varying conditions and driving styles.

Firmly frugal

Riding on MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension and driven over demanding and imperfect local road conditions, the Ioniq’s rigid construction counted in its favour for ride and handling. 

Riding firm but smooth and comfortable in most conditions, the Ioniq’s Jordanian spec 225/45R17 tyres provided good grip, but on some rougher roads, including certain highway segments south of the airport, felt firmer than ideal. 

Fitted with 17-inch alloy wheels for prevailing customer aesthetic preferences, one feels the Ioniq’s ride quality would nevertheless have been more supple, with the base 15-inch alloy wheels’ more forgiving sidewalls and absorption, while the thinner tread would have further improved acceleration and already impressive fuel efficiency. 

With its relatively long wheelbase, the Ioniq is stable at speed and through sweeping corners, with good grip. 

Through winding roads, the Ioniq’s turn-in feels tidy, with positive and quick 2.66-turn steering and good self-centring that is precise, if not layered with texture and road feel. 

Pushed hard off the line, there is mild torque-steer at full throttle as to be expected for its generous twisting force and driven front wheels. 

However, when pushed hard into corners, under-steer was pleasantly adjustable with a light dab of mid-corner braking to tighten its line, while rearwards weight shifts were predictable. 

Hiding its hybrid system’s weighting well, the Ioniq leans slightly through corners but felt well controlled.

Refined and practical

A refined and smooth drive, the Ioniq’s rebound control is considerably improved over some other popular Hyundai models driven in recent years. 

Meanwhile, vertical pitch over crests and dips was slightly more pronounced, and one felt that slightly firmer dampers with slightly more supple tyres might have been an improvement. 

At its best performing at 80 per cent of its ability, the Ioniq is happy to be hustled through switchbacks, with good composure, comfort and handling, as well as flexible performance and battery charge recovery. 

Brakes felt somewhat imprecise at low speeds owing to their regenerative function, but as speed picks up, pedal feel improves, while on sustained descents felt consistent and reassuring. 

The Ioniq’s use of a quick and slick six-speed automated dual clutch gearbox allows for more driver involvement.

User friendly, logically laid out and well-equipped inside, the Ioniq’s cabin features pleasant designs and trendy materials. 

Featuring leatherette seats and steering with multi-function controls, driving position is comfortable, adjustable and supportive. 

Front visibility is good, but with its stylishly rakish roofline, hatchback and three rear headrests, rear and side-rear visibility — and rear headroom — is slightly obstructed, as is the case for many modern cars. 

The demo model driven, however, featured blind spot warning and rearview monitor, but this is not a standard feature on Jordanian models. 

Spacious in front and with good door swing angles for easy-access front and rear, the Ioniq’s rear legroom is commendable and boot space generous.

Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid 

Engine: petrol/electric hybrid, 1.6-litre, transverse, 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 72 x 97mm

Compression ratio: 13:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 6-speed automated dual clutch, front-wheel-drive

Power – petrol engine, BHP (PS) [kW]: 103.5 (105) [77.2] @5,700rpm

Power – electric motor, BHP (PS) [kW]: 42.9 (43.5) [32]

Power – combined, BHP (PS) [kW]: 139 (141) [104] @5,700rpm

Torque – petrol engine, lb/ft (Nm): 108 (147) @4,000rpm

Torque – electric motor, lb/ft (Nm): 125 (170)

Torque – combined, lb/ft (Nm): 195 (265) @4,000rpm

Battery type, capacity, voltage: Lithium-ion polymer, 1.56kwh, 240v

0-100km/h: 11.1 seconds

Top speed: 185km/h

Fuel consumption, city / highway / combined: 3.88/3.92/4 litres/100km

CO2 emissions: 92g/km

Fuel capacity: 45 litres

Length: 4,470mm

Width: 1,820mm

Height: 1,450mm

Wheelbase: 2,700mm

Track, F/R: 1,549/1,563mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.24

Headroom, F/R: 993/950mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,071/906mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,425/1,397mm

Cargo volume, min/max: 443/1,505 litres

Unladen weight: 1,370-1,477kg

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts / multi-link

Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion

Lock-to-lock: 2.66 turns

Turning circle: 10.6 metres

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs / discs, regenerative braking

Tyres: 225/45R17

Price, starting from: JD19,750 (on-the-road)

Nowadays, we have CCTV cameras to keep watch over buildings and offices, but long ago, a night watchman did this job. He was hired to guard a house, community or locality during nighttime and keep it safe from robbers, thieves and other unwanted intruders. 

In cricketing terms, a nightwatchman is an inferior batsman sent in to bat when a wicket falls just before the end of a day’s play, to avoid the dismissal of a better one in adverse conditions. 

Incidentally, the Urban Dictionary — an online collection of slang words and phrases along with their definitions — has a rather crude description of the phrase “night watchman”, the meaning of which my readers can discover at their own peril. 

The night watchmen that were employed by my father when I was small were all men in their mid to late fifties.

They came with little or no training, other than a willingness to stay awake at night, for a regular wage. 

The company that supplied them gave them a dark green uniform to wear, which was a kind of coat and trouser set. They did not provide shoes, so most of these men wore rubber slippers, but what they were all handed was one long bamboo rod, each. 

They used the wooden bar to strike the floor with a loud crashing sound and yelled out “stay alert” every 20 to 25 minutes throughout the night. Actually, what they shouted was “jaagtey raho” in Hindi, which literally meant “carry on being awake”. However I’m not sure whether that sharp cry was to scare the criminals away, or to prevent themselves from nodding off. 

And nod off they did — at the most precarious of times. But when confronted with the truth, they always denied it and insisted they were fully awake. 

My father felt sorry when one of them was found sleeping on a chair, and got a blanket to cover him up. He also rescued the bamboo baton, which had fallen to one side, and placed it in our living room. The next morning the poor chap pleaded with our mother to get his wooden stick back. 

Life came full circle when we moved to Tanzania and were assigned a night watchman. 

His name was Jumma and he had an uncanny resemblance to the security guard of my childhood. It was impossible to count the number of times he slept on the job. 

My husband would pick up his baton when he was snoring loudly, and bring it indoors. I had to return it the next day after listening to his lengthy justifications. I did not wish to get him fired, you see, because he was an excellent tailor. 

What I did not know, till it was time to leave the country, was that he was also an outstanding writer. The letter he handdelivered to me, in beautiful cursive, was an all time classic. 

“Bye Bye Malik family” was the subject of the missive. “I’m hereby saying goodbye as I have heard that you are on your way to somewhere. From today I’m on my annual leave and going to my village so it would be hard to meet with all of you again…” it went on. 

“On your way to somewhere?” our daughter laughed, reading aloud. 

“He’s never been out of Tanzania, bless him!” I exclaimed. 

“Who will do your tailoring? What will you do now?” she asked. 

“First, I will get his farewell note framed,” I stated. 

LONDON — Consuming e-cigarettes is far safer and less toxic than smoking conventional tobacco cigarettes, according to the findings of a recent study analysing levels of dangerous and cancer-causing substances in the body.

Researchers found that people who switched from smoking regular cigarettes to e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) such as gum or patches for at least six months had much lower levels of toxins in their saliva and urine than those who continued to smoke.

“Our study adds to existing evidence showing that e-cigarettes and NRT are far safer than smoking, and suggests that there is a very low risk associated with their long-term use,” said Lion Shahab, a specialist in epidemiology and public health at University College London who led the work.

E-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapour, have grown into an $8 billion-a-year market, according to Euromonitor International — more than three times that of NRT products. 

They are, however, still dwarfed by a tobacco market estimated by Euromonitor to be worth around $700 billion.

Many health experts think e-cigarettes, or vapes, which do not contain tobacco, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking and potentially a major public health tool.

But some question their long-term safety and worry that they may act as a “gateway” to taking up conventional cigarettes. The US surgeon general in December urged lawmakers to impose price and tax policies that would discourage their use.

The study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, analysed saliva and urine samples from long-term e-cigarette and NRT users as well as smokers, and compared levels of key chemicals found in their bodies.

It found that smokers who switched completely to e-cigarettes or NRT had significantly lower levels of toxic chemicals and carcinogens compared to people who continued to smoke tobacco cigarettes.

Those who used e-cigarettes or NRT but did not completely quit smoking did not show the same drop in toxin levels. This underlined that a complete switch was needed to get the long-term health benefits of quitting tobacco, the researchers said.

The World Health Organisation says tobacco is the world’s biggest preventable killer, with a predicted cumulative death toll of 1 billion by the end of this century if current trends continue. Tobacco smoking currently kills around 6 million people a year.

Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing at the government authority Public Health England, said the findings held a clear message for tobacco smokers.

“Switching to e-cigarettes can significantly reduce harm to smokers, with greatly reduced exposure to carcinogens and toxins,” he said in a statement. “The findings also make clear that the benefit is only realised if people stop smoking completely and make a total switch.

“The best thing a smoker can do, for themselves and those around them, is to quit now, completely and forever.” 

SHANGHAI — Unlock them with an app, drop them off anywhere, and nip past lanes of stationary car traffic: the humble bicycle is seeing a revival in China as a new generation of start-ups help tackle urban congestion and pollution with fleets of brightly coloured two wheelers.

The bike-share concept has attracted huge venture capital as fledgling firms wrestle for market share. 

Such has been the success of this made-in-China business model, which is using smartphones to reignite the nation’s passion for cycling, that companies are hatching plans to export the idea worldwide.

“We are focused on how to make the small bicycle have a big impact,” said Davis Wang, CEO of Mobike, which launched last April in Shanghai and already has several hundred thousand of its silver-and-orange “smart” bikes in 13 Chinese cities.

Key rivals Mobike, Ofo and others are tapping into the sharing economy ethic behind Airbnb and ride-hailing apps such as Uber, targeting China’s 700 million mobile phone users, who increasingly use their smartphone for transactions.

Customers use the firm’s app to release a bike’s lock for rides costing as little as 1 yuan (15 cents) an hour. Bikes can be left anywhere for the next user.

Mobike’s app also shows where idle bikes are, while both companies capture rider data they say can help in traffic planning.

“If we can persuade hundreds of thousands of people in every city to start to re-use bikes every day, then we can create a social impact for every city,” Wang told AFP.

Once emblematic of China’s masses, bikes lost ground as economic growth and urban sprawl fuelled consumer demand for cars — the nation is now the world’s largest automobile market.

Cities gridlocked by traffic and deteriorating air quality have prompted both government and consumers to search for greener solutions.

Industry evangelists say the new approach to bike sharing can help change that by solving the “first-mile/last-mile” problem that has long plagued urban planners: how to move commuters between their homes and public transit.

The inconvenience of travelling to a bus stop or metro station can be enough of a psychological barrier to push commuters towards taxis or car ownership.

“In places where the subway does not extend, where it’s difficult to change from one kind of transport to another, it’s so easy to get where you want to go with Mobike,” said Hu Hong, 29, who pedals to her Shanghai real-estate job.

Some Chinese cities started municipal bike-rental schemes years ago that allow users to pick up and drop off their wheels at designated stations, similar to hundreds of programmes around the world.

Today’s start-ups have removed that shackle, and the convenience of being able to drop off anywhere means a new generation of riders are now ubiquitous in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

Ofo, which launched in 2015 as a Peking University student project, claims 10 million users for its 1 million bright-yellow bikes in 33 cities. It plans to add 10-15 million bikes this year, Chief Operating Officer Zhang Yanqi told AFP

Mobike shares a time-lapse graphic that, using its GPS system, tracks customer rides over a recent day in Shanghai.

Eager to cash in, Chinese and foreign investors have handed Mobike and Ofo hundreds of millions of dollars.

The ramp-up recalls the battle between China ride-hailing leader Didi Chuxing and Uber, into which both poured billions of dollars before joining forces last year with Didi in command.

Didi is among Ofo’s biggest investors, while Mobike CEO Wang is a former Uber exec.

Mobike’s investors include Chinese Internet giant Tencent and Taiwan tech-manufacturing powerhouse Foxconn, a major Apple supplier.

Jeffrey Towson, a professor of investing at Peking University, said “economic reality is being suspended” as rivals burn cash to grab turf.

“I think they’re going to pull it off. A lot of businesses start this way: you have lightning in a bottle, a hot app, and you build a more sustainable business as you go,” he explained.

Weaker entrants will drop out or be absorbed, Towson added.

China’s government singled out Mobike and Ofo last month — praising bike-sharing as a means of cutting emissions and traffic.

Ofo launched in Singapore in recent weeks, and is now eyeing US and European markets. Mobike plans to enter Singapore within weeks.

Analysts said regulatory issues, logistics and lower use of mobile payments overseas could slow expansion.

Lower winter ridership and losses from damage and theft also will weigh on bottom lines, they add, but insist the future appears bright.

Both Mobike and Ofo loftily envision tens of millions of connected bikes worldwide.

“It has only just begun,” said Ofo’s Zhang.

“We hope to fulfil this vision in the next two to three years.”

Life without a Recipe

Diana Abu-Jaber

New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2016, 267 pp

In “Life without a Recipe”, Diana Abu-Jaber combines her memories as daughter, granddaughter, writer, cook, wife and mother. 

More than a chronicle of events, this memoir is a rollercoaster ride of feelings, an accumulation of the diverse influences that make her who she is, and an intimate diary of her interaction with people and places. 

While the when’s and how’s of happenings are often left vague, there are detailed accounts of particular moments of joy, sorrow or insight, rendered tangible by the author’s magical prose.

This is a memoir written by a person who loves life without thinking she must present it through rose-colored glasses. Irritation at her Jordanian father, Gus, for being so overbearing, is often mentioned. 

Long pages are devoted to the open antagonism between him and Grace, her maternal, German-American grandmother. (Their predominance is such that Diana’s mother hardly gets a voice till towards the end.)

Caught in the middle of their cultural wars, getting contradictory signals and advice, Diana found it hard to chart a clear path to what she wanted; she was relegated to living “life without a recipe”. 

Straddling the divide, plus witnessing Gus’ life-long yearning for Jordan, even as he preferred living in the US, is certainly what gave Diana her double-cultural identity. 

Yet, for all their arguments, Gus and Grace loved and respected each other, even if they only showed it grudgingly. So, Diana also learned that love does not preclude conflict, nor vice versa; one must embrace life passionately, and not be afraid of friction. 

Such understanding seems to have unleashed her creativity, enabling her to see things from unaccustomed angles and record them in original imagery. It also informs the honesty of her writing. It takes courage to write a memoir of this type, to reveal one’s doubts and mistakes, while one is still in the middle of life. 

The advantages of “life without a recipe” for writing are apparent: “You start out with one sort of plan for how this or that story will go; along the way, however, it forks, doubles back. If you’re easy about it, you learn to follow the tales instead of the other way around”. (p. 52) 

She is also able to weather the twists and turns of her personal life, narrating without rancour her two failed marriages that preceded meeting her third husband and soul mate, Scott. 

She candidly relates her uncertainty over whether to have a child — would it end her writing career? — and how challenging motherhood is, but again she is able “to be easy about it”, seeing little Grace as “our beautiful mystery, a storybook placed on our laps”. (p. 135)

With Diana’s whimsical touch, awkward situations are rendered hilarious, and everyday activities become high adventure. She expresses deep emotions and values without resorting to platitudes, and deftly colours her descriptions of places and nature with her mood. 

Not having a recipe does not, however, shield her from heavy, protracted grief at the death of her father. 

“So many ways to write the grief story, through tears or dreams or memories. Or houses or cakes. Losing my father is, for a while, like losing my home in the world… A hundred thousand ways to avoid grief — and each of these ways, it turns out, is a kind of grieving. Sorrow comes, transmuted or not, water through the barricades.” (p. 245) 

Food was the favourite battlefield of Grace and Gus — she specialising in sugary baked goods, and he preferring the salty, meaty flavours of Arabic food garnished with lots of vegetables. 

Food is a recurring motif in the book, the site of conflict but also of pleasure, love and sharing. 

Thus, it comes as a shock to Diana when her doctor, concerned about her blood pressure, warns her off sugar, sending her to hear a lecturer who proclaims: “Food is not entertainment or comfort or pleasure or love or distraction” — a reversal of all she thinks she has learned about life in the food field. (p. 252) 

Having followed her grandmother’s example of bonding with her daughter by baking together, Diana meets yet another fork in the road and must reinvent her cuisine. 

“Life without a Recipe” is about clinging to family and wanting to be free of family; it is about making a new family. 

It is about the writing process — what blocks it and what pushes it along. It is about how one is affected by one’s surroundings, and vice versa. 

Above all, it is about how a person’s memories affect them in the present tense, not dictating behaviour but pointing to possibilities — recipes yet to be written.