The greater proportion of cars here in Qatar are large or very large. The Toyota Landcruiser is the preferred mode of transport for many Qataris, that is if they’re not driving the large Lexus, Porsche Cayenne or the Nissan Patrol. There are also large numbers of Hummers.

The slightly more compact SUVs and large saloons make up the bulk of the rest of the non commercial traffic. My 2 litre sized engine is fairly modest by local standards. Even the smaller hatchbacks in Qatar have 1.8 litre engines.

A person in the west driving a V8 with a 5.7 litre engine would be considered on par with a child killer, but here it’s normal. I have seen no evidence of hybrid cars on the roads in Doha… I guess that with petrol at 17p per litre, even driving a Hummer which gets only 10 miles per gallon is still going to cheaper to run than driving a Prius most anywhere in the west.