Stayed at the Jumeriah, did the typical tourist things like the desert ride with a pro driver and everybody loved it. The Sheik Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi was breath-taking!
That it was memorable is no surprise because the city tends to leave a pretty strong impression (that can be positive or negative but never neutral) for those who are first time visitors
The new luxury car market out here works bit different from back home.
Back home you decide on make and model, engine, wheels, packages etc. You can order a model with the smallest engine but loaded with as many options and extras as listed in the catalogue. Reverse, back home you can order the biggest engine but no further show or options.
Out here it works differently. The dealer orders a batch of, let’s say 20 Mercedes S Class. Likely 10 will be the 450 engine 5 the 500 and 5 with that 6.3 ltr engine Furthermore at least 10 will be white of which 6 will have red leather and 4 will have brown leather 5-6 will be black 4-5 will be grey.
Furthermore most dealers select a set of options matching the engine. The small engine typically is equipped with only few extras over basic. Medium engine gets medium specs big engine full specs.
As a buyer you can select one from tgat batch. That’s it.
And it leads to some weird combinations. For instance my wife bought a Mercedes GLE 400, medium engine thus medium specs. As a result the leather seats don’t have heating (not that you would need it here). But if the seat are ordered without heating, then Mercedes can’t deliver seats with cooling only
And to be fully correct; yes it is also possible out here to select model engine and options in the exact combination you prefer. I tried that when we bought the GLE. Was a bad idea: delivery time at least 10 months from order plus as a bonus the car became 60% more expensive.