This is one reason I love the reviews at ReDriven on used cars - number one way to judge new car reliability, by looking at used car performance. And it's scared me off ever buying Volkswagen.
Neighbor had a new beetle. I was trying to find the headlamp socket. I realized quickly that I was in for a few cuts while solving the puzzle. Also realized it had a 5 cylinder. The cost of being different.....
@@BubblesTheCat1 Can’t read a workshop manual, or just too lazy to learn? This is why I still maintain my own European cars. I can easily afford to have a mechanic do it, but finding one in Australia that isn’t an ignorant prejudiced spanner monkey that will just make a mess of it is hard… The cars are perfectly easy to work on if you know what you’re doing…
@@BubblesTheCat1 No, experience is not required. You just need to be able to read a book, and not have a “this is crap because I don’t understand it” mentality. I have little experience with Japanese cars and the way they are designed and assembled does my head in. Super weird stuff. But I can still do it and do a clean and neat job because I can read the instructions and can apply a little lateral thought to the task. And because it’s good to learn new things ;)
@@froggy0162 If Japanese cars does your head in it tells you that you're not as smart arse as you think. I don't work on modern Volkswagen or BMW because all the plastic crap breaks. Brittle plastic parts on the engine. If you didn't know German cars become endless money pit cars as they get older and they're all planned obsolescence and overpriced CRAP.
Another great video, with a aircraft technician background myself, I enjoy your engineering factual perspective. Facts, functionality, practical use and fit for purpose. You reviews of new vehicles without the fluffy frills is refreshing. Keep them coming.
Thank you for all you do John. As a 50 something widow who used to rely on my late husband to do 'car research', i greatly appreciate having a car expert I trust to tell me the truth in all things car related as I contemplate buying a new car on my own.
Be very careful, rather take a knowledgeable car guy with you, or at least if you're going it alone, get a Toyota. You have the best chance of not getting a lemon. Years ago an aunt of mine bought a Ford Sierra 2.0. This car was extremely extremely poorly built, and broke down constantly. She bought it new, and drove conservatively. Services on time, etc.
@@johnleyden3675 I'll second that. Take a few different vehicles that you might be interested in for a test drive, figure out which one you like and go straight to a buyer's advocate such as John's. Painless is an understatement, and the price that they were able to negotiate was almost too good to be true, in my case. On top of that, the delivery time was exceptional. It might be well worth your while to drop a polite e mail to John just to make sure that your choice of vehicle isn't on a "lemon" list before you commit to a purchase.
JC hates Tesla's but if you consider the reviews of truly great auto engineers like Sandy Munro he's a great admirer, + there's no dealer nonsense. My wife & l love ours for so many reasons.
John keep up your great work mate, it is so great to listen laugh and learn facts and figures from somebody who knows what there talking about without getting influenced by the major car industry operators! First time I came across one of your reviews about the Lexus LC500 V8, I became a believer in you factual reviews. I actually was encouraged enough to go and drive one for myself and found it was an amazing vehicle to drive, those Takumi engineers are unbelievable, and John I ended up buying one with your help through your vehicle buying group! It’s my bucket list car that I have waited 64 years to own and enjoy. Thanks you!
Thank you John for telling it as it really easy. We are so lucky to have you looking after our interests as car consumers. Please carry on as you do. Maintain the rage.
Back in the day, car magazines (and later, web sites) use to do “comparison” articles, where they would put several vehicles in the same category head-to-head, and you got to see the good and the bad of contenders. I can’t remember the last time I saw one. As you said, it’s all advertorials, and puff pieces now.
Couldn’t agree more. They spend ages going around the cars pointing out the “aggressive” grill or wheels, as if this is a good thing, when we can all see these things for ourselves. And I don’t need this. I watch lots of these tests and I find them entertaining, sometimes. Then I might visit a dealer myself and look closely at the car, and perhaps take it for a test. After lots of this I fumble my way to some informed understanding of the car and if I’m lucky boredom sets in and I move on. We get very emotional about cars and we need to keep reminding ourselves of this.
I’m not even that into cars, sure I’ve been driving them for decades but it’s hardly a hobby. What I am into is the fantastic honesty of independent media, all delivered with the darkest sarcasm. Keep up the great work John.
Love your style and reports, never change because it sure as hell helped me. I was considering a Colorado/Dmax in the second hand market around April or May this year, 2022. Hilux was a distant thought though never entertained. Also debated was the wagon option of Prado, prices in my area due to the NE NSW flooding were a little crazy. After hearing of some owners issues including the Toyota DPF saga, Isuzu customer service and front end cracking issues there was a decision made subconsciously of casting the net with facts in mind. I am now the proud owner of a 2019 MR Triton cab chassis with 1.2m tray. We needed a maximum 300kg payload, able to tow a maximum of 2 tonnes (closer to 1.8 now) and a vehicle that equaled that weight, or preferably bettered it, with 5 seats, manual along with a simple to use 4wd system. Cheers and keep it up . . . 😆
Great stuff, live in the UK so cannot use your car buying service, just love the no nonsense approach to everything. We do all have to thank those that e-mail you, they provide so much great material.
This is an excellent video John! Having been "in the market" recently, I can attest that I found nearly all of the car reviews to be of (very) limited value. They are full of opinions, and short of verifiable facts. As a Grumpy Old Man, I miss the days of car magazines that used to publish useful (verifiable!) data about the car (such as real measurements of interior space or in-gear acceleration or braking distances). From a "video" perspective, the Peter Wherrett (as he was once known!) used to demonstrate useful things like emergency braking stability, or handling when swerving. Almost nobody bothers to talk about reliability or real world costs of ownership, or the real risks associated with becoming a customer of certain companies. Thank you for providing such a valuable service!
Keep doing what you do John, I for one appreciate a non-biased, educational, shoot from the hip viewpoint from someone who KNOWS what they're talking about.
Before my wife bought a Crosstrek we found a dealer who arranged to rent one to us for a week and deduct the rental from the price if we bought one. The same dealer also gave us the lowest quote before we asked about the rental.
My Dad sold fords for Klosters in Newcastle in the 50s. He had a great photo of a truck in the dealer showroom by the front window. The body was removed so you could see all the important stuff for yourself. Somewhat different to today's sales focus
I watch your videos entirely from beginning to end and understand, appreciate and actually enjoy your thorough explanation of all the BS from most car makers and the paid and pampered so called test pilots. I'm trying to get through to my 28 year old son that your videos are not just enjoyable sarcastic and funny but also very educational. But as I'm sure you've heard many parents say that their kids fπcking know everything so it's a never ending battle especially when I've taught him nearly everything he knows about car's etc.😁 Thanks John,👍
Practical info as always. I downloaded the specification from the manufactures web sites and done a line-by-line comparison of the four vehicles and then went to see and drive all four cars on the same route. This approach made the decision easy with no buyer regrets. There is no requirement or need to read road test from people that could not find a light switch in a fully lit room.
I love watching car test videos as they’re quite informative. How else would I get a sense of rear-seat space for example, if not from a reviewer of non-disclosed height sitting behind their own driving position? Anyway, my next purchase will be based on the design of the key fob.
That's one of the reasons why I watch the car reviews only to see a car and its details. I cannot care less about what the reviewer thinks about the "sporty handling", or the "soft comfort", or whatever. It's why I like the more detailed reviews, like Autogefühl, where the guys show the cars in all detail. I can see how the car looks, hear some technical specs, and then if I'm interested, I can go to the local dealer and try it myself.
John, great video highlighting the shortcomings of the magazine and online car review process, particularly the lack of information on reliability and dealer/manufacturer support. Other than watching your videos do you recommend any other sources for getting a sense of how the ownership experience is with each manufacturer - things like the JD Pwer surveys etc? I am not aware of anything Australian specific and am not even sure such a source could exist and be reliable.
Hey John, you got to do what you have been doing bcos honestly I don’t think anyone can possibly do what you do so well. Keep it up mate, we get you! You’ve blown their BS apart nicely.
You are spot on John. Before buying a Sahara back in 2020 we road tested quite a few vehicles and one of those vehicles was the Ranger because I had read a review where the author was raving about how well the Ford engineers had setup the suspension to give an excellent, smooth and quiet ride. We took it to our usual test road full of twists, turns and potholes and we almost burst out laughing. It was horrible, rode like a billy cart, the back end skittered and bounce around on sharp bends and was it noisy and rough. I said to my wife “the bloke that did the review on these must be on f*cking drugs”. Now I realise it was even worse, he was taking the money. I completely gave up on car reviews when the 300 series was about to be released. I watched the pre-release video put out by Toyota and they were going on about all the improvements they had made especially the reduction in weight. Then the reviewers started to get hold of them and they all made a big deal about how they had managed to get hold of a 300 before anyone had been able to buy one. Obviously Toyota had lent them one. What I noticed was that not only did they all follow the same script but that script was near identical to the Toyota pre-release video. Only one reviewer out of the dozen or so I watched mentioned the new one piece tailgate and he said that the Land Cruiser had finally moved into the 21st century. The rest didn’t mention it. Most, not all, but most LC owners prefer the two piece tailgate but as a lot of the development was done to save weight it would have been nice to explain the real reason for the change which I believe was weight. The two piece tailgate is quite heavy and I am betting the one piece is considerably lighter and cheaper to make. Saving 200kgs on a 2700kg vehicle seems almost pointless to me. Apparently because the car is now lighter Toyota can use a smaller, more efficient and more powerful V6 engine and because the engine is more efficient they can fit a smaller fuel tank but still get the same range as the 200. I’ve never heard such a load of bullshit and one reviewer slipped up and mentioned that with the claimed fuel consumption figures provided by Toyota the 300 series would be 90kms short of the 200 series. That’s a f*cking long walk if you run out. Now that people are buying the new Cruiser there are some reviews coming out, mainly overseas that are starting to point out some of the negative issues. Cheers
Ride comfort on utes is comparatively shit until you put about 150kg in the back because that's what they're designed to do. Carry stuff. The reason Toyota went for a one-piece tailgate is cost. It's cheaper to design and build for two gas struts, two hinges and one latch instead of four, four and two. Also cheaper is cutting out one door, not two. LC300 weighs 2.6 tonnes. Weight is not their concern. Toyota does things for cost.
@@ScottMurrayBestFamilyCars Hey Scott, I picked up a Hilux Workmate 3 weeks ago to bang around town in and 150kg makes no difference to the crap ride but I knew what I was getting. We do long trips in the Sahara but there is no way I would do the same trip in any dual cab. Agreed that Toyota is cost driven but the main feature they went on with was weight saving. Maybe they killed two birds, one stone. Cheers
On a slightly related subject, when car dealers state they are only insured for one or two test drive routes and also time limited, is this b/s or fact?
Testing the e-power Xtrail on a race track would be less educational and more pointless than testing the clothes drying ability of a Hills Hoist at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
I had a friend who worked for a company to was contracted by a LARGE manufacturer to pre test the the cars before the jurnos drove the cars, the cars were stocked with water and goodies to keep the specific junos happy...
People need to understand just because a model is out next mouth it doesn't follow it's going to be a better car, than the old model. Those run flats and expensive alloys are just cosmetic, A basic alloy and full wall Tyre is likely a more comfortable ride and protect your alloy better against Kerbs and potholes allowing you not to be broken down. Think sense people.
Hi John, I want to upgrade my 2012 Ford Focus around June 2023 and given the current wait times I have started looking now. I’m interested in a mid sized SUV with a full size spare. I moved to Bowral 9 months after buying the focus and I have been stuck in Sydney more than once thanks to the space saver. The three I’m considering are the Subaru outback, Hyundai Tucson and Kia sportage but the big problem I’m having is finding a demonstrator. My local Hyundai and Kia dealers don’t have the diesel that I’m interested in to test drive or even one to take a look at. They also haven’t been able to find one in Sydney or Wollongong or anywhere within a couple of hours drive. I can’t make a decision without seeing or driving the car so I’m not sure what to do next. I know a lot of people will order sight unseen but I’m purchasing for the long term and won’t buy a car I haven’t seen and driven. RUclips test drive videos are interesting but aren’t a substitute for a test drive IRL.
CarSales identifies a couple of dealer demos up for sale across Sydney for the Sportage Diesel - it might not be the grade you want, but at least you could test drive the powertrain.
In the Australian there is a review headed “A sexier, family-friendly version of a tank”, by James Jennings, about the Hyundai Palisade. Hyundai marketing could not have written a better puff piece. Whether an article in the paper, or a RUclips video, we need to have our BS antennae turned up to the max. Genuine comments are invaluable, but beware of the sycophants’ contributions. Keep up the good work, and would appreciate less blasphemy, thank you.
Another good video John. One of the few channels I watch with any regularity! Facts & figures seem to be overlooked these days, especially on TubeYou. It's even better that you cover them with some suitably scathing humour, too. Only point of criticism from me... you accidentally described London as an exotic location in this video! 😃
Howdy John. Just walked in after a day out with a mate in his truck. Haven’t been out and about recently, as climbing in and out of a cab using three points of contact is difficult when I lack the forth limb to move. Makes me slower than a Sloth on Valium. Anyhoo, the point is the amazing numbers of under construction or newly opened Servos out there. (Gas Stations for Americans) This means to me that ain’t nobody taking this whole EV thing seriously. Investors seem to be reading the market differently than all the folks in The Government, The Lobbyists, The Greens, or the hop on the decarbonisation wagon crowd.
Yes! I’ve been saying this for ages. Big Oil ain’t stupid … what do they know that we don’t about the future of EVs vs ICE ? PS: No offence but is Stubbs really the surname of someone with only 3 limbs?
A better test for the X Trail to prove to Maxfromsydney1 would be to hook it up to the caravan it's allowed to tow and take the climb out of Sydney over the range to Bathurst then you could rip around the actual Bathurst track for a while and see how it goes up and down the mountain with the van in tow. Two birds with one stone.
I bought a 50k car based on journalist reviews so I guess they work. You don't make a decision based on one or two reviews but you need to seek out as many as possible, amalgamate all of the data together and make an informed decision.
An especially fun time for me on this episode. To teach, is far more fun than it is to lie. I do not know with any certainty that you actually got through to certain folk, but, well. Oh, (by the way) the companies who need to reconstruct physics experiments along the Newtonian line, for gravity, do exist. Sometimes I have had the misfortune to stumble across a device or two which were clearly designed and built for the moon's gravity. (Undesirable for car stands and jacks) Equally, bearing pullers which are overly malleable with rubbery arms, which is not a matter of gravity, unless you need to us them.
Only road tests I watch are used cars. They night not be quite the same as current models but at least you can get an idea of how different makers products age.
bZ4X and Solterra update, please! Pretty please! (This always reminds me of that "The front fell off" spoof video) There seems to be a fix with new bolts and wheels, with an 'explanation' that the car was too fast for its own good! But I'm sceptical. I drove an old dunnie of an Austin Mini like an idiot when I was 17, and any days I didn't spin or lock the wheels a few times were rare. For all its faults, the alloy wheels never came loose. Since tyre grip limits torque, surely that torque could have been predicted at the design stage when specifying wheel bolt torque and wheel material. I'm thinking it could be something simple, such as wheel centres made of cheese, or something subtle, such as the bolts over-specified and not stretching enough to maintain clamping when it all cools down.
We were in the market for a new twin cab ute. We found most comparison videos quite good, however one “large well known Australian car magazine channel” compared a whole bunch of twin cabs in two videos, both on and off road. The off road was sort of ok, but the on road section? They did braking tests in the wet, and were shocked…shocked I tells ya!!…to find that these large heavy twin cab 4x4 utes didn’t pull up like a BMW M5. They were also puzzled and amazed that they wouldn’t handle high speed twisting courses with the same aplomb as a Ferrari. I feel that many car reviewers are far too used to driving high end performance cars and when they find themselves subjected to the horror of driving a pleb-mobile, they cannot understand why it doesn’t perform as well as the exotica they have become used to. A stern injection of realism is needed.
Spot on, John. Regarding E-Power, i've had an interest in the Nissan Note E-Power for some time, just as its an interesting alternative to something like a Toyota Yaris or Corolla Hybrid. Having sat in the previous gen version in Japan in 2019, I took a liking to it. However, Nissan refuses to bring it here and listening to what your thoughts are on E-Power and running some numbers myself, it just wouldn't be worth it, not new anyway. Besides, as a grey import, it becomes a serious risk if something breaks and second hand, its a bit of an orphan. Also, the CVT drones on like an annoyed partner at the shops, the engine cuts in abruptly and is quite loud. The regular ICE version is much better. As for new car reviews, I believe you're entirely right. I went back and had a look at Wheels a few months ago after stopping reading it - I had been reading the magazine since I was 14, i'm 47 now, so that tells you enough. Once you learn to see through the marketing fluff and spin that publications like Wheels dress up as reviews, well.... its not good.
John I wouldn’t be too concerned about said ‘rock throwing’ comment as it’s provided you with the perfect platform to launch a devastating response to said rock 🪨 thrower. There’s a lot of bling with road tests like in depth analysis of the grill,shape of headlights etc. What I look for are alerts about tiny batteries to power an overweight energy system that’s a bit of a wank anyway. I’ve owned an ‘85 Subaru wagon, worked for the Australian importer as a detailer for four years so I had a pretty good idea about the XVs good/ bad points before I bought it. The general public have to look beyond the grill , work out what they want to do with the car and which car best suits their needs. Credible print /RUclips videos will at least raise alerts about design problems,faults,limitations. My battle with Mazda Australia over a diesel particulant filter was an ordeal I will never put myself through the wringer on again. Subaru notified me in writing with an issue with the parking brake. Booked the car in with the dealer, dealt with efficiently as were two other recall items-reasonable for a 2018 mass production car. NB Two days after I bought the car it was hit from a rock throwing cement mixer driver with a sick sense of humour on the Ring Road I allege . Brand new red cars attract that sort of demographic.
They should drive them in the peak hour to let us knows how they handle in the stop & go routine… keep chucking those facts around, it happens to prove your point.
On the road, you simply can't demand 100KW continuously, that isn't a mismatch that matters. The VAST majority of the time, your car will be using less than 30KW giving plenty of excess power from the engine to handle road use, and simultaneously charge the small battery. The real issue with epower is indeed the poorer efficiency compared to a hybrid that has a physical connection from the gas engine to wheels.
Drinking game. Take a drink every time he picks the papers up and take a drink every time he puts them down.See how long you last. You'll need a rather large bottle
The cynic in me says that systems like E-Power were never there for real-world benefits, they exist purely because the manufacturer needed "something" to meet an emissions target. The tiny battery is because someone calculated that was all they needed to do well, in a test with very specific parameters. Pretty safe bet that battery is likely on electron fumes at that point, but by that stage it's done its job.
My guess is that most people buy into a dream or lifestyle statement and don't necessarily want the shitbox truth. If you are a truthful car company and only selling half the quantity of your bs rival because most people are stupid..at some point if you can't beat them join em is going to kick in.
Too easy John, Love the use of basic science and physics to prove your points. The grammar and punctuation digs work well too. You must really wind up some of your viewers ;-) My father in law is car shopping and mentioned self charging hybrid. Really annoys me.
A recent 1,000 page alternative energy investigation undertaken for a Finnish Government agency by Associate Professor Simon Micheaux concluded that the world does not have enough lithium and cobalt to replace batteries with only a ten years battery life.
That's why there are many people looking at alternatives. Lithium is plentiful & cobalt is completely unnecessary in EV batteries, which is why leading manufacturers are not using it, IE LFP batteries.
@@guringai LFP batteries still use Lithium. And there is nothing new coming any time soon in alternate battery tech, at least nothing that can be made at a viable cost and sufficient quantity.
I watch a lot of car reviews for enjoyment and actually use it to get info on a vehicle I may be considering purchasing. However, I take them all with a grain of salt acknowledging that the tester is either biased, paid off by the manufacturer or just filling in the time frame of the video. 'Look at the flowing grill' he says "I really like it" while i am thinking I don't like it. Subjective! When looking at a purchase, I search all the spec sheets to see which suits me and then look at owner sites to see if there are any problems being reported.
Road tests absolutely do not suck. In fact they should be the gold standard for car reviews. Journalists who lack any semblance of ethics or impartiality to present unbiased findings to their audience, they are pretty sucky.
I don't have anything new to add, so here's a comment to drive up the comment engagement metric part of The Algorithm. You've earned it! Well, now that I'm here, I'll mention that UK English treats corporations as plural whereas in the Land of the Free they're singular. I thought you guys hanging off the bottom of the planet would side with the UK.
One of the things that I really dislike about new car reviews is the way that each and every car - regardless of application - is judged severely by its handling ability when driven quickly along a twisty road. That's really relevant if discussing a Focus ST or an i30 N. But a Sportage, a Yaris or a CX-3? It's probably all of 1 in every 1000 trips that involves driving on a twisty road in a fun manner. 90% of the driving is going to be done in urban locations, in traffic, on the rat run, and the rest on a freeway. So, what matters more in a car like that? Interior comfort, control lightness, quietness, load space, maneuverability, fuel consumption, and safety. Not engine performance, not grip and handling.
I watched a Vid the other day stating there'll be a PHEV varient of X-Trail - basically same running gear as in the Mitsubishi Outlander (a relatively small battery EV with ICE to generate power when needed but most importantly drive the front wheels for long trips). If this is true for Aus, Nissan have opted for Hybrid and PHEV, while Mitsubishi seem to be targetting only PHEV - and a smart Aussie suited PHEV at that. PHEVs are clearly the only way to go if affordable, Hybrids are mostly pointless in that buying a smaller car gets you similar fuel savings and there poor value generally, especially if you live in the suburbes travelling average aussie kms.
Fair points your making John 👏 What do you think about the channel Savsgegease and about the way they do reviews? Thank you for your knowledge. What would be the best way to get your opinion on a subject for you to do a video on please? P.s punctuation is crap my schooling wasn't very good.
I am curious John, the other youtuers I watch are all very adverse to the language you use (not that I mind that language) how do you (honest guy) not get thrown off youtube (thankfully you don't) just wondering
This is one reason I love the reviews at ReDriven on used cars - number one way to judge new car reliability, by looking at used car performance. And it's scared me off ever buying Volkswagen.
Those guys are idiots. Poorly researched and just regurgitates dumb ignorant rumours.
Neighbor had a new beetle. I was trying to find the headlamp socket. I realized quickly that I was in for a few cuts while solving the puzzle. Also realized it had a 5 cylinder. The cost of being different.....
@@BubblesTheCat1 Can’t read a workshop manual, or just too lazy to learn?
This is why I still maintain my own European cars. I can easily afford to have a mechanic do it, but finding one in Australia that isn’t an ignorant prejudiced spanner monkey that will just make a mess of it is hard…
The cars are perfectly easy to work on if you know what you’re doing…
@@BubblesTheCat1 No, experience is not required. You just need to be able to read a book, and not have a “this is crap because I don’t understand it” mentality.
I have little experience with Japanese cars and the way they are designed and assembled does my head in. Super weird stuff. But I can still do it and do a clean and neat job because I can read the instructions and can apply a little lateral thought to the task. And because it’s good to learn new things ;)
@@froggy0162 If Japanese cars does your head in it tells you that you're not as smart arse as you think.
I don't work on modern Volkswagen or BMW because all the plastic crap breaks. Brittle plastic parts on the engine.
If you didn't know German cars become endless money pit cars as they get older and they're all planned obsolescence and overpriced CRAP.
Another great video, with a aircraft technician background myself, I enjoy your engineering factual perspective. Facts, functionality, practical use and fit for purpose. You reviews of new vehicles without the fluffy frills is refreshing. Keep them coming.
Sales guizzaaaahs would learn so much more by taking some pages from Johns books they’d at least gain respect
@@janstafford1490 But not from those who pay for their lifestyles.
Thank you for all you do John. As a 50 something widow who used to rely on my late husband to do 'car research', i greatly appreciate having a car expert I trust to tell me the truth in all things car related as I contemplate buying a new car on my own.
Be very careful, rather take a knowledgeable car guy with you, or at least if you're going it alone, get a Toyota. You have the best chance of not getting a lemon.
Years ago an aunt of mine bought a Ford Sierra 2.0. This car was extremely extremely poorly built, and broke down constantly. She bought it new, and drove conservatively. Services on time, etc.
I highly recommend when you decide on the car want, you use the car buying service JC promotes
I did and it was painless.
@@johnleyden3675 I'll second that. Take a few different vehicles that you might be interested in for a test drive, figure out which one you like and go straight to a buyer's advocate such as John's.
Painless is an understatement, and the price that they were able to negotiate was almost too good to be true, in my case. On top of that, the delivery time was exceptional. It might be well worth your while to drop a polite e mail to John just to make sure that your choice of vehicle isn't on a "lemon" list before you commit to a purchase.
JC hates Tesla's but if you consider the reviews of truly great auto engineers like Sandy Munro he's a great admirer, + there's no dealer nonsense.
My wife & l love ours for so many reasons.
I've just checked. $ 30,000 US for a new battery after 8 years.
Keep doing what you're doing dude, it's a breathe of fresh air in this world when someone can talk without being influenced by big corporations, dude!
Ok, we’ve gone from engineering talk to philosophy. That’s pretty wild but it’s why I like this channel.
JC, this episode is genuinely fantastic: educational, philosophical and hilarious. One of my favourites. Thank you!
John keep up your great work mate, it is so great to listen laugh and learn facts and figures from somebody who knows what there talking about without getting influenced by the major car industry operators!
First time I came across one of your reviews about the Lexus LC500 V8, I became a believer in you factual reviews. I actually was encouraged enough to go and drive one for myself and found it was an amazing vehicle to drive, those Takumi engineers are unbelievable, and John I ended up buying one with your help through your vehicle buying group! It’s my bucket list car that I have waited 64 years to own and enjoy. Thanks you!
Thank you John for telling it as it really easy. We are so lucky to have you looking after our interests as car consumers.
Please carry on as you do. Maintain the rage.
John, you’re the best. Thanks for all that you do.
Bravo John, entertaining and informative. I just love it when you lay the facts out.
Back in the day, car magazines (and later, web sites) use to do “comparison” articles, where they would put several vehicles in the same category head-to-head, and you got to see the good and the bad of contenders. I can’t remember the last time I saw one. As you said, it’s all advertorials, and puff pieces now.
Check out the South African website. There's comparison tests.
RUclips is now riddled by opinionated reviews. After watching ten you start to piece it together
Couldn’t agree more. They spend ages going around the cars pointing out the “aggressive” grill or wheels, as if this is a good thing, when we can all see these things for ourselves. And I don’t need this. I watch lots of these tests and I find them entertaining, sometimes. Then I might visit a dealer myself and look closely at the car, and perhaps take it for a test. After lots of this I fumble my way to some informed understanding of the car and if I’m lucky boredom sets in and I move on. We get very emotional about cars and we need to keep reminding ourselves of this.
I’m not even that into cars, sure I’ve been driving them for decades but it’s hardly a hobby. What I am into is the fantastic honesty of independent media, all delivered with the darkest sarcasm. Keep up the great work John.
Please keep doing what you are doing.
Good to hear a youtuber to actually give an open breakdown of the effort/reward of running a channel
Love your style and reports, never change because it sure as hell helped me. I was considering a Colorado/Dmax in the second hand market around April or May this year, 2022. Hilux was a distant thought though never entertained. Also debated was the wagon option of Prado, prices in my area due to the NE NSW flooding were a little crazy. After hearing of some owners issues including the Toyota DPF saga, Isuzu customer service and front end cracking issues there was a decision made subconsciously of casting the net with facts in mind.
I am now the proud owner of a 2019 MR Triton cab chassis with 1.2m tray. We needed a maximum 300kg payload, able to tow a maximum of 2 tonnes (closer to 1.8 now) and a vehicle that equaled that weight, or preferably bettered it, with 5 seats, manual along with a simple to use 4wd system.
Cheers and keep it up . . . 😆
Great stuff, live in the UK so cannot use your car buying service, just love the no nonsense approach to everything. We do all have to thank those that e-mail you, they provide so much great material.
Thank you. Sincerely, thankyou. I really appreciate that you've taken the time create your channel.
This is an excellent video John! Having been "in the market" recently, I can attest that I found nearly all of the car reviews to be of (very) limited value. They are full of opinions, and short of verifiable facts. As a Grumpy Old Man, I miss the days of car magazines that used to publish useful (verifiable!) data about the car (such as real measurements of interior space or in-gear acceleration or braking distances). From a "video" perspective, the Peter Wherrett (as he was once known!) used to demonstrate useful things like emergency braking stability, or handling when swerving.
Almost nobody bothers to talk about reliability or real world costs of ownership, or the real risks associated with becoming a customer of certain companies. Thank you for providing such a valuable service!
Keep doing what you do John, I for one appreciate a non-biased, educational, shoot from the hip viewpoint from someone who KNOWS what they're talking about.
Before my wife bought a Crosstrek we found a dealer who arranged to rent one to us for a week and deduct the rental from the price if we bought one. The same dealer also gave us the lowest quote before we asked about the rental.
My Dad sold fords for Klosters in Newcastle in the 50s. He had a great photo of a truck in the dealer showroom by the front window. The body was removed so you could see all the important stuff for yourself.
Somewhat different to today's sales focus
I watch your videos entirely from beginning to end and understand, appreciate and actually enjoy your thorough explanation of all the BS from most car makers and the paid and pampered so called test pilots. I'm trying to get through to my 28 year old son that your videos are not just enjoyable sarcastic and funny but also very educational. But as I'm sure you've heard many parents say that their kids fπcking know everything so it's a never ending battle especially when I've taught him nearly everything he knows about car's etc.😁 Thanks John,👍
Practical info as always.
I downloaded the specification from the manufactures web sites and done a line-by-line comparison of the four vehicles and then went to see and drive all four cars on the same route.
This approach made the decision easy with no buyer regrets.
There is no requirement or need to read road test from people that could not find a light switch in a fully lit room.
Your going to carry on doing exactly what you are doing John…. A freakin(g) fine job. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌👌👌
So refreshing to see real journalism - such a rare experience these days,
I love watching car test videos as they’re quite informative. How else would I get a sense of rear-seat space for example, if not from a reviewer of non-disclosed height sitting behind their own driving position? Anyway, my next purchase will be based on the design of the key fob.
Some have buttons AND a badge on the back.
Outstanding work there JC!
23:56 In this episode we learn about things that bug John. 😉
That's one of the reasons why I watch the car reviews only to see a car and its details. I cannot care less about what the reviewer thinks about the "sporty handling", or the "soft comfort", or whatever. It's why I like the more detailed reviews, like Autogefühl, where the guys show the cars in all detail. I can see how the car looks, hear some technical specs, and then if I'm interested, I can go to the local dealer and try it myself.
Thanks John, I've got a handful of bookmarked reviewers who I've determined to be honest and unbiased and you're up there at the top.
Yes please John. Keep doing what you're doing. We need your objective opinions to overcome the bullshit.
John, great video highlighting the shortcomings of the magazine and online car review process, particularly the lack of information on reliability and dealer/manufacturer support. Other than watching your videos do you recommend any other sources for getting a sense of how the ownership experience is with each manufacturer - things like the JD Pwer surveys etc? I am not aware of anything Australian specific and am not even sure such a source could exist and be reliable.
Nailed it, dude!
Hey John, you got to do what you have been doing bcos honestly I don’t think anyone can possibly do what you do so well. Keep it up mate, we get you! You’ve blown their BS apart nicely.
Yep. Well said John.
Well done and well said
You are spot on John. Before buying a Sahara back in 2020 we road tested quite a few vehicles and one of those vehicles was the Ranger because I had read a review where the author was raving about how well the Ford engineers had setup the suspension to give an excellent, smooth and quiet ride. We took it to our usual test road full of twists, turns and potholes and we almost burst out laughing. It was horrible, rode like a billy cart, the back end skittered and bounce around on sharp bends and was it noisy and rough. I said to my wife “the bloke that did the review on these must be on f*cking drugs”. Now I realise it was even worse, he was taking the money. I completely gave up on car reviews when the 300 series was about to be released. I watched the pre-release video put out by Toyota and they were going on about all the improvements they had made especially the reduction in weight. Then the reviewers started to get hold of them and they all made a big deal about how they had managed to get hold of a 300 before anyone had been able to buy one. Obviously Toyota had lent them one. What I noticed was that not only did they all follow the same script but that script was near identical to the Toyota pre-release video. Only one reviewer out of the dozen or so I watched mentioned the new one piece tailgate and he said that the Land Cruiser had finally moved into the 21st century. The rest didn’t mention it. Most, not all, but most LC owners prefer the two piece tailgate but as a lot of the development was done to save weight it would have been nice to explain the real reason for the change which I believe was weight. The two piece tailgate is quite heavy and I am betting the one piece is considerably lighter and cheaper to make. Saving 200kgs on a 2700kg vehicle seems almost pointless to me. Apparently because the car is now lighter Toyota can use a smaller, more efficient and more powerful V6 engine and because the engine is more efficient they can fit a smaller fuel tank but still get the same range as the 200. I’ve never heard such a load of bullshit and one reviewer slipped up and mentioned that with the claimed fuel consumption figures provided by Toyota the 300 series would be 90kms short of the 200 series. That’s a f*cking long walk if you run out. Now that people are buying the new Cruiser there are some reviews coming out, mainly overseas that are starting to point out some of the negative issues. Cheers
Ride comfort on utes is comparatively shit until you put about 150kg in the back because that's what they're designed to do. Carry stuff.
The reason Toyota went for a one-piece tailgate is cost. It's cheaper to design and build for two gas struts, two hinges and one latch instead of four, four and two. Also cheaper is cutting out one door, not two. LC300 weighs 2.6 tonnes. Weight is not their concern. Toyota does things for cost.
@@ScottMurrayBestFamilyCars Hey Scott, I picked up a Hilux Workmate 3 weeks ago to bang around town in and 150kg makes no difference to the crap ride but I knew what I was getting. We do long trips in the Sahara but there is no way I would do the same trip in any dual cab. Agreed that Toyota is cost driven but the main feature they went on with was weight saving. Maybe they killed two birds, one stone. Cheers
On a slightly related subject, when car dealers state they are only insured for one or two test drive routes and also time limited, is this b/s or fact?
Testing the e-power Xtrail on a race track would be less educational and more pointless than testing the clothes drying ability of a Hills Hoist at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
You are so wrong. It would be as funny as walking into a closed glass door. (Would depend on if doing or watching)
Strongly disagree.
Would be an excellent exercise for the local fire department.
Great video JC ! Thanks
Thank you John for your knowledge and honesty.
I had a friend who worked for a company to was contracted by a LARGE manufacturer to pre test the the cars before the jurnos drove the cars, the cars were stocked with water and goodies to keep the specific junos happy...
did not wake up this morning excepting John to explain the difference between ontology and epistemology today, but I'm glad it happened
People need to understand just because a model is out next mouth it doesn't follow it's going to be a better car, than the old model. Those run flats and expensive alloys are just cosmetic, A basic alloy and full wall Tyre is likely a more comfortable ride and protect your alloy better against Kerbs and potholes allowing you not to be broken down. Think sense people.
OK, I'll ask. What are those vise grip clamp things for?
Love the way you express yourself with the adjectives and bluntness of a ball pane hammer . Great video as always.
That would be a pein.....a real ball pein....
@@JohnSmith-yv6eq They tend to have a long handle that some users choke up on, hence the ball pain hammer...😄
The bluntness of your “Tools, Kenetic, Varied Volosity, Hand Held, Engineers Ball Pein” would depend entirely if the thing was circumcised or not.
Thanks John another great video on real life.
Hi John, I want to upgrade my 2012 Ford Focus around June 2023 and given the current wait times I have started looking now. I’m interested in a mid sized SUV with a full size spare. I moved to Bowral 9 months after buying the focus and I have been stuck in Sydney more than once thanks to the space saver. The three I’m considering are the Subaru outback, Hyundai Tucson and Kia sportage but the big problem I’m having is finding a demonstrator. My local Hyundai and Kia dealers don’t have the diesel that I’m interested in to test drive or even one to take a look at. They also haven’t been able to find one in Sydney or Wollongong or anywhere within a couple of hours drive. I can’t make a decision without seeing or driving the car so I’m not sure what to do next. I know a lot of people will order sight unseen but I’m purchasing for the long term and won’t buy a car I haven’t seen and driven. RUclips test drive videos are interesting but aren’t a substitute for a test drive IRL.
CarSales identifies a couple of dealer demos up for sale across Sydney for the Sportage Diesel - it might not be the grade you want, but at least you could test drive the powertrain.
In the Australian there is a review headed “A sexier, family-friendly version of a tank”, by James Jennings, about the Hyundai Palisade.
Hyundai marketing could not have written a better puff piece.
Whether an article in the paper, or a RUclips video, we need to have our BS antennae turned up to the max.
Genuine comments are invaluable, but beware of the sycophants’ contributions.
Keep up the good work, and would appreciate less blasphemy, thank you.
John Tacticaldogan Dude. Great videos lately mate. Keeping these keyboard warriors honest
Another good video John. One of the few channels I watch with any regularity! Facts & figures seem to be overlooked these days, especially on TubeYou. It's even better that you cover them with some suitably scathing humour, too.
Only point of criticism from me... you accidentally described London as an exotic location in this video! 😃
When I choose a new car I always make sure the large water bottle fits in the door pocket, otherwise I walk.
Never a truer word spoken.
Facts, you just have to love them. Another great video, John.
The only way to know if you will like a car longer term is to rent it before buying and do the things with it you expect.
Howdy John. Just walked in after a day out with a mate in his truck. Haven’t been out and about recently, as climbing in and out of a cab using three points of contact is difficult when I lack the forth limb to move. Makes me slower than a Sloth on Valium.
Anyhoo, the point is the amazing numbers of under construction or newly opened Servos out there. (Gas Stations for Americans)
This means to me that ain’t nobody taking this whole EV thing seriously. Investors seem to be reading the market differently than all the folks in The Government, The Lobbyists, The Greens, or the hop on the decarbonisation wagon crowd.
Yes! I’ve been saying this for ages. Big Oil ain’t stupid … what do they know that we don’t about the future of EVs vs ICE ?
PS: No offence but is Stubbs really the surname of someone with only 3 limbs?
Where is that clip on how to use the steering wheel properly please, I can't blasted well find it again.................................
John, you didn't tell me what the grille on the Nissan e-power X trail looks like. 😂
Where's Sydneyone? I've heard of Sydney of course. I even lived there back when it was not as ugly as it is today.
A better test for the X Trail to prove to Maxfromsydney1 would be to hook it up to the caravan it's allowed to tow and take the climb out of Sydney over the range to Bathurst then you could rip around the actual Bathurst track for a while and see how it goes up and down the mountain with the van in tow. Two birds with one stone.
I bought a 50k car based on journalist reviews so I guess they work. You don't make a decision based on one or two reviews but you need to seek out as many as possible, amalgamate all of the data together and make an informed decision.
Thanks DJ Kharldogan.
An especially fun time for me on this episode. To teach, is far more fun than it is to lie. I do not know with any certainty that you actually got through to certain folk, but, well.
Oh, (by the way) the companies who need to reconstruct physics experiments along the Newtonian line, for gravity, do exist. Sometimes I have had the misfortune to stumble across a device or two which were clearly designed and built for the moon's gravity. (Undesirable for car stands and jacks) Equally, bearing pullers which are overly malleable with rubbery arms, which is not a matter of gravity, unless you need to us them.
Go John. Love it!
I just live the straight way you speak about cars av and the car sale indersty ty John
You are the best. Just love your videos.
Only road tests I watch are used cars. They night not be quite the same as current models but at least you can get an idea of how different makers products age.
bZ4X and Solterra update, please! Pretty please!
(This always reminds me of that "The front fell off" spoof video)
There seems to be a fix with new bolts and wheels, with an 'explanation' that the car was too fast for its own good!
But I'm sceptical. I drove an old dunnie of an Austin Mini like an idiot when I was 17, and any days I didn't spin or lock the wheels a few times were rare. For all its faults, the alloy wheels never came loose.
Since tyre grip limits torque, surely that torque could have been predicted at the design stage when specifying wheel bolt torque and wheel material.
I'm thinking it could be something simple, such as wheel centres made of cheese, or something subtle, such as the bolts over-specified and not stretching enough to maintain clamping when it all cools down.
how much does it cost to get rid of battery
We were in the market for a new twin cab ute. We found most comparison videos quite good, however one “large well known Australian car magazine channel” compared a whole bunch of twin cabs in two videos, both on and off road.
The off road was sort of ok, but the on road section? They did braking tests in the wet, and were shocked…shocked I tells ya!!…to find that these large heavy twin cab 4x4 utes didn’t pull up like a BMW M5. They were also puzzled and amazed that they wouldn’t handle high speed twisting courses with the same aplomb as a Ferrari.
I feel that many car reviewers are far too used to driving high end performance cars and when they find themselves subjected to the horror of driving a pleb-mobile, they cannot understand why it doesn’t perform as well as the exotica they have become used to. A stern injection of realism is needed.
Spot on, John.
Regarding E-Power, i've had an interest in the Nissan Note E-Power for some time, just as its an interesting alternative to something like a Toyota Yaris or Corolla Hybrid. Having sat in the previous gen version in Japan in 2019, I took a liking to it. However, Nissan refuses to bring it here and listening to what your thoughts are on E-Power and running some numbers myself, it just wouldn't be worth it, not new anyway. Besides, as a grey import, it becomes a serious risk if something breaks and second hand, its a bit of an orphan. Also, the CVT drones on like an annoyed partner at the shops, the engine cuts in abruptly and is quite loud. The regular ICE version is much better.
As for new car reviews, I believe you're entirely right. I went back and had a look at Wheels a few months ago after stopping reading it - I had been reading the magazine since I was 14, i'm 47 now, so that tells you enough. Once you learn to see through the marketing fluff and spin that publications like Wheels dress up as reviews, well.... its not good.
John I wouldn’t be too concerned about said ‘rock throwing’ comment as it’s provided you with the perfect platform to launch a devastating response to said rock 🪨 thrower.
There’s a lot of bling with road tests like in depth analysis of the grill,shape of headlights etc. What I look for are alerts about tiny batteries to power an overweight energy system that’s a bit of a wank anyway. I’ve owned an ‘85 Subaru wagon, worked for the Australian importer as a detailer for four years so I had a pretty good idea about the XVs good/ bad points before I bought it. The general public have to look beyond the grill , work out what they want to do with the car and which car best suits their needs.
Credible print /RUclips videos will at least raise alerts about design problems,faults,limitations.
My battle with Mazda Australia over a diesel particulant filter was an ordeal I will never put myself through the wringer on again. Subaru notified me in writing with an issue with the parking brake. Booked the car in with the dealer, dealt with efficiently as were two other recall items-reasonable for a 2018 mass production car. NB Two days after I bought the car it was hit from a rock throwing cement mixer driver with a sick sense of humour on the Ring Road I allege . Brand new red cars attract that sort of demographic.
They should drive them in the peak hour to let us knows how they handle in the stop & go routine… keep chucking those facts around, it happens to prove your point.
On the road, you simply can't demand 100KW continuously, that isn't a mismatch that matters. The VAST majority of the time, your car will be using less than 30KW giving plenty of excess power from the engine to handle road use, and simultaneously charge the small battery.
The real issue with epower is indeed the poorer efficiency compared to a hybrid that has a physical connection from the gas engine to wheels.
I grew up loving Muppets. They were my favourite TV characters. Now they are much maligned.
Drinking game. Take a drink every time he picks the papers up and take a drink every time he puts them down.See how long you last. You'll need a rather large bottle
The cynic in me says that systems like E-Power were never there for real-world benefits, they exist purely because the manufacturer needed "something" to meet an emissions target. The tiny battery is because someone calculated that was all they needed to do well, in a test with very specific parameters. Pretty safe bet that battery is likely on electron fumes at that point, but by that stage it's done its job.
Another great video John cutting through the BS. Very curious about that interesting clamp on your bench, how does it work?
My guess is that most people buy into a dream or lifestyle statement and don't necessarily want the shitbox truth. If you are a truthful car company and only selling half the quantity of your bs rival because most people are stupid..at some point if you can't beat them join em is going to kick in.
John, if you don't print in Comic Sans MS, legibility can only go up.
Too easy John,
Love the use of basic science and physics to prove your points.
The grammar and punctuation digs work well too.
You must really wind up some of your viewers ;-)
My father in law is car shopping and mentioned self charging hybrid.
Really annoys me.
A recent 1,000 page alternative energy investigation undertaken for a Finnish Government agency by Associate Professor Simon Micheaux concluded that the world does not have enough lithium and cobalt to replace batteries with only a ten years battery life.
That's why there are many people looking at alternatives.
Lithium is plentiful & cobalt is completely unnecessary in EV batteries, which is why leading manufacturers are not using it, IE LFP batteries.
@@guringai LFP batteries still use Lithium. And there is nothing new coming any time soon in alternate battery tech, at least nothing that can be made at a viable cost and sufficient quantity.
Peter Wherrett did excellent road tests , back in the days when automobiles weren't so ugly .
I watch a lot of car reviews for enjoyment and actually use it to get info on a vehicle I may be considering purchasing. However, I take them all with a grain of salt acknowledging that the tester is either biased, paid off by the manufacturer or just filling in the time frame of the video. 'Look at the flowing grill' he says "I really like it" while i am thinking I don't like it. Subjective! When looking at a purchase, I search all the spec sheets to see which suits me and then look at owner sites to see if there are any problems being reported.
Bit hard for someone wanting to buy a new HCCI engine
I like reading user reviews if there's any available. Not as biased towards the manufacturers.
Road tests absolutely do not suck. In fact they should be the gold standard for car reviews. Journalists who lack any semblance of ethics or impartiality to present unbiased findings to their audience, they are pretty sucky.
Love the facts John, cut through BS keep it up and real
Hey John, please talk to the ACE EV guy. Win, lose or draw, would appreciate your insight.
I don't have anything new to add, so here's a comment to drive up the comment engagement metric part of The Algorithm. You've earned it! Well, now that I'm here, I'll mention that UK English treats corporations as plural whereas in the Land of the Free they're singular. I thought you guys hanging off the bottom of the planet would side with the UK.
Best new car review channel is savagegeese. Factual and technical (and amusing).
Even tho I’m a bolted on Toyota fan.. I do like the way you present the facts
“Show don’t tell” heard that somewhere.
One of the things that I really dislike about new car reviews is the way that each and every car - regardless of application - is judged severely by its handling ability when driven quickly along a twisty road.
That's really relevant if discussing a Focus ST or an i30 N.
But a Sportage, a Yaris or a CX-3? It's probably all of 1 in every 1000 trips that involves driving on a twisty road in a fun manner. 90% of the driving is going to be done in urban locations, in traffic, on the rat run, and the rest on a freeway.
So, what matters more in a car like that? Interior comfort, control lightness, quietness, load space, maneuverability, fuel consumption, and safety. Not engine performance, not grip and handling.
Has nissan turned over a new leaf have they sorted out the crappy heat issues and short life expectancy of battery's?
I watched a Vid the other day stating there'll be a PHEV varient of X-Trail - basically same running gear as in the Mitsubishi Outlander (a relatively small battery EV with ICE to generate power when needed but most importantly drive the front wheels for long trips). If this is true for Aus, Nissan have opted for Hybrid and PHEV, while Mitsubishi seem to be targetting only PHEV - and a smart Aussie suited PHEV at that. PHEVs are clearly the only way to go if affordable, Hybrids are mostly pointless in that buying a smaller car gets you similar fuel savings and there poor value generally, especially if you live in the suburbes travelling average aussie kms.
Fair points your making John 👏 What do you think about the channel Savsgegease and about the way they do reviews? Thank you for your knowledge. What would be the best way to get your opinion on a subject for you to do a video on please?
P.s punctuation is crap my schooling wasn't very good.
Doug Demuro says he pays for his own tickets, airports and food.
Likely a very rare diamond in the coal mine.
It's interesting to see how people take honest opinions or opinions based on verifiable facts and can call them rock-throwing
Tech package: AGM battery. Real copper wire. Working ECM. Manual windows for when none of that works.
I am curious John, the other youtuers I watch are all very adverse to the language you use (not that I mind that language) how do you (honest guy) not get thrown off youtube (thankfully you don't) just wondering