088 - The Cadillac Lyriq premium SUV

This is Two Blokes talking electric cars with Trevor Long and Steven Fennig thanks to NRMA Insurance and UNIDEN.

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Steven, a month or so ago, I feel like you were overseas or we were about to go overseas and so you didn't take this car off me, but I got the delightful opportunity to drive the Cadillac Lyric.

Now, a Cadillac feels like it's a Seinfeld episode of me, you know?

They bought his dad by.

Australians know Cadillac as a brand because of American television, right? This thing's beautiful. It's an SUV, but it's kind of got this kind of stouched look.

It's kind of a low-sitting SUV, but it's big and bold at the front.

Unmistakably a Cadillac.

Unmistakably a Cadillac on the outside because it's unique. There's nothing like it in Australia.

It is a $120,000 car, but it competes against a bunch of Audi, Mercedes and BMW cars because it's a luxury car.

Cadillac is a premium luxury brand.

And I think it competes quite well against them because it's a beautiful fit and finish.

I don't have any gripes about the overall fit and finish of the thing.

It's definitely affordable is where it actually comes in. Weirdly speaking, this Cadillac is affordable.

It's not affordable if you try and put it against, I don't know, BYDs and Piers and things like that, but that's not where this plays.

But mate, I felt like an absolute baller driver in this thing because it was a beautiful drive, not at all American.

American cars, when you go to America, you know, everyone gets big escalades, you know, on TV.

You hire one of those, you know what?

Which you do.

They're very floaty. They're very plasticky on the inside.

So I actually didn't expect a great driving experience from this car, but it was lovely.

An all-wheel drive, I'm assuming.

Yeah, I would say it's all-wheel drive.

It's got a really refined drive to it, which like really appealed to me because, you know, I don't want...

For a car like this size, I don't want a sporty car.

I want something that just feels nice. It feels nice to drive.

I want a car that feels like it's luxury.

And this thing has these huge wheels.

I think the wheels make it look somewhat obscure in some way, but they're big wheels for a big car.

It's got a 530 kilometre range.

That's decent.

It'll charge at...

DC fast charging too.

It will charge, but I don't remember if I can... It'll charge at 22 kilowatts, funnily enough.

Okay, at home, nice.

Which is a conversation we'll have another time.

So that's a good thing.

And it's got the one-pedal drive too, I understand.

The regenerative braking.

One-pedal drive, decent boot space.

And just, yeah, a lovely luxury feel.

My thinking about this car is if you are in that kind of a one-inch UV and I'm in a luxury space,

but you're not, let's be honest, you're kind of wedded to a brand.

You're a Mercedes man in a way. You've owned many of them.

So it would probably take a lot to draw you over to Cadillac,

but if you're someone that's getting into the premium space for the first time,

or you're very agnostic about brands,

I think people will love this car.

This is the first of many EVs coming to Australia from Cadillac.

They're really coming back...

Well, they're coming to Australia for the first time properly as a factory,

properly as a brand.

There's been Cadillac sold in Australia, but they're essentially grey imports if you look at it that way.

And you've got to remember, this is General Motors.

So this is the company that was holding, now bringing in new brands,

a new approach to things.

They've got the Silverado, they've got the Big Ute.

This is their premium level.

I think they could do well.

I don't know how well they want to do here.

I'm worried that they have expectations of something that's probably a bit too lofty.

Well, we're both tech men. What's the technology like in here?

It's a nice big screen, so a central console.

It's a strangely obscure size, shaped screen,

and that's only annoying to me because when you do Apple CarPlay, it's kind of a square inside.

There's space around it because Apple CarPlay doesn't adjust to an obscure shape.

But yeah, lovely tech.

Really easy to use.

A great fitness finish.

And I'm assuming this is built as an EV.

There's no...

Yeah, this is a ground-up EV for them.

So there's no transmission tunnel.

It's factory right-hand drive.

So it's not something...

A lot of American cars are converted in Australia.

Are they?

This is factory...

Yeah, it's all the Big Utes, even the Ford F-150 and those things.

They're sent to Australia as left-hand drive,

and then there's factories that reconfigure them.

Isn't it strange how Tesla's an American brand, but they don't do this.

They don't put...

They're not making right-hand viruses like models.

Well, I think about it from our experience going to Spartanburg with BMW,

and you look at...

That's advanced manufacturing where it doesn't matter what the next car is, they can handle it.

So if the next car is a hybrid, they're ready to put a petrol engine in with a battery at the back.

If the next car is electric with right-hand drive, it's ready.

It just happens.

That's efficient, isn't it?

Whereas Tesla's going, here's a factory that does left-hand drive cars.

Ah, he does that.

One thing and one thing only.

Right, I understand.

So yeah, dual-motor electric, 102 kilowatt-hour battery.

You know, not 200, it's like 5.3 seconds.

Spaces too.

Spaces, it feels like a good car.

So it could be a family car.

You'd fit five adults comfortably in this thing.

Five adults comfy.

Beautiful look.

Golf clubs in the back.

You'll stand out.

Yeah, golf clubs, maybe can't, might need the one seat down.

Okay.

Down just because of the angle.

It's kind of an obscure angle boot, but you'll stand out on the road in this car.

It's a beautiful car to drive.

So if you're in that market, that over $100,000 SUV market...

I like the look of it, the light sort of coming down the side.

It looks a little bit Kia-ish.

You know, the light's coming down.

It's got a bold style to it.

Front and back bold.

And unmistakable, that badge on the front, isn't it?

Unmistakably a Cadillac.

I was driving the red one, which is kind of a nice burgundy red, beautiful.

Nice, nice.

Check it out, folks.

Have a look at the Cadillac Lyric if you're in the market for something that big and expensive,

because $120,000 is a lot of money, but well worth a look in my mind.

So yeah, if you've got a Cadillac, you've driven it, or Penelope, if you've driven one, let us know.

Let us know.

I think we should get it back for me to drive.

Maybe this could be on the shortlist of my new, maybe potentially a shortlist.

Oi! Oi!

Give me a drive.

Alright, well...

Because only Trev drove this one, not me, so...

Well, that's your fault.

I'm confident it was your fault.

No, I was...

I think I went to Japan with...

I remember I went to Japan and I had a couple of trips that you weren't on.

Don't blame me.

I'm not blaming you.

I was just saying what happened.

Well, you said you didn't let me drive it.

I mean...

No, I didn't drive it.

I said not...

You let me drive it, like you own it.

Well, I do.

But I would like for the record, I do want to drive it.

Okay, fair enough.

So talk to your people.

It'll be a 2026 thing, because we're booked out for 2025.

Alright.

Did you know that?

I did notice that.

Yeah, you did well in December.

Yeah, I've seen it.

Right after my birthday and then we log off.

There you go.

Alright, two blokes talking electric cars.

We'd love to hear from you.

Let's get on with the calls.

Helps to unmute.

Two blokes talking electric cars.

Great.

Happy company.

Not that we're at all rusty.

We've been just...

We've been here every week.

Yeah.

Doing the same thing.

Just pumping out the shows.

It's all completely normal here, folks.

There was some dramas with the power before.

So, you know, we've been dealing with some issues.

It's been a day.

It's been a day here in the two blokes studio.

Yes, that's right.

That's okay.

Someone to lighten our day is on the line.

0447 657 657, if you want to talk to us.

Debbie's on the line.

Good day, Debbie.

Hello.

Debbie.

How are you both?

Oh, we're very, very well.

Tell us about your world of cars and your journey in the electric space.

Well, my husband works...

He's up in the mines, we're in the Maitland area.

And he's decided that it would be a much more economical way to go electric.

But I think we've decided to go fibrid.

All right.

Well, I think he's 90% over the line with his shark.

Oh, okay.

And I then looked at it and looked at the sea line six.

And I'm just...

I'm still a bit unsure of the hybrid story.

So hybrid, so in the case of the Sea Line Six, which is hybrid?

Yes, that's right.

You've got a battery.

What's about 100K?

Is it 100K range on the battery?

I got...

The one I was looking at is the new one they've bought out, the extended.

So it does that a little bit longer.

Okay.

So basically how we describe hybrids is that hybrid would...

For your daily driving, on average, people drive 35 to 50Ks a day.

It would handle your daily driving.

If you plug it in every night, then you'll be using the battery most of the time.

And then you've got your regular engine that'll then take you beyond that range.

So is that the reason why you're looking at hybrid?

Because you're thinking, well, I do...

You do travel a long way and you're worried you're not going to have enough range?

Yeah, that's probably it.

And I probably might not travel that distance, but I'm just so wary of...

Oh, what happens if I do?

You want that assurance if it comes.

So can I just understand here, you've been looking at the sea line.

Hubby's been looking at the shark.

Are we only buying one car?

Or Debbie is...

No.

BYD is about to get a jackpot, I think.

Wow.

But then with that in mind, is it not worth considering, given that the shark is a hybrid?

It's a plug-in hybrid.

Yeah, that's a hybrid.

There is no fully electric model.

Is it not worth considering that the shark is the vehicle that you might take on longer journeys if needed

and go fully electric with the sea line 7, for example?

Have one fully full energy and one hybrid.

And then mine is just for around work, which isn't that far.

No, but remember, it's not just around work.

You can use that thing.

That'll thing will go hundreds of kilometres.

You just need to learn how to charge on the highways.

That's the only thing.

And even at home, they usually come with what we call a granny charger,

which is just a little cable that you plug into your PowerPoint into the car.

It'll give you a very slow top-up.

That'll be what you top up every night.

But we do overnight.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

And if you decide to get a wall charger, you might pay a couple thousand bucks.

You get a wall charger.

You can plug it in.

You'll get a slightly faster charge then.

Yeah.

And that'll be four or five hours instead of an overnight thing.

But there's options.

And of course, then there's all the public charge.

Have you yet driven the sea line 7, for example?

No, I haven't.

I've seen it.

It looks very, very, very smart.

I think you are talking yourself into a test drive here.

Oh, I think so.

Debbie, the thing is for me, look, I don't, I love the sea line 6.

It's a great car.

But I actually think the sea line 7 is leaps ahead in both design and obviously technology.

And range.

Yeah.

And of course, electric range.

And I think you'd be, I think you're right.

Stephen's right.

You need to test drive this car to get a sense of why test drive the 7 so that you can get

a sense for what it is to drive an electric car.

Because the quiet nature of them, the smooth acceleration, the general drive and feeling

might be, might be the thing that goes, oh, I don't mind this electric thing.

And then all you've got to learn is to charge every night.

And as Stephen said, you don't need to invest in a charger straight away.

You just use the normal PowerPoint at home to charge the car.

So what is the, do you know roughly what the range is for that 7?

Oh, good question.

I'll look it up for you.

And a 5, is it 5.50 or something like that?

It's a decent, it's a decent, you say you live up in Maitland.

Yeah.

So what's the drive to Sydney?

Is that like 250 cars?

Two hours.

Yeah.

About 250 Ks.

So imagine you'll be able to drive to Sydney and back on one charge.

Oh, right.

That's how you sort of quantify it.

Yeah.

I'm just looking at the company website we mentioned a few weeks ago, the Australian

EV Association and they have fact sheets about all the cars.

They say that the premium C-line 7 has WLTP range of 480 and the performance model is 450.

Now Debbie, there's a lot to learn about electric cars on the highway going down the M1 or on the old F3.

It's not going to get 480 Ks.

It's going to get 400, maybe even 380 depending how fast you go.

The faster you drive an electric car, the worse it is for battery economy.

So you might want to need to learn.

If you come to Sydney and back, you might stop at Newcastle or Gosford and have a little quick charge while you grab a coffee.

Ten minutes.

Ten minute charge is going to get you an extra 100 Ks that's going to get you home if you're at all worried about that kind of thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was.

It's just the unknown, isn't it?

But yeah.

Okay.

Once you find like a lot of our listeners are wary like yourself and a little bit hesitant.

But once you establish where you're going, okay, I know there's a charger here.

So it's like when you're with your old car, you've got to find a petrol station.

Petrol station.

You know where they are, right?

So in this instance, if you know where you're going and you're, okay, there's a charger right here.

I can use that charger.

Like Trev said, 10, 15 minutes is enough to get you home again.

Then once you do it once, it's pretty simple.

There's a lot of weird little things you learn, Debbie.

And, you know, listening to different callers on this show will help you understand this as well.

But people think about like how many times an 18 year old with a petrol car might put $10 with a petrol in.

But your average petrol car owner is filling the tank every time they go to the petrol station.

With an electric car, you don't need to fill it up every time.

You can just go, oh, I just need to get another, you know, 20 kilometers worth of range just to give me that peace of mind.

I just want to get to 50%.

So on my longest drive, Debbie, I might go, you know what, I'm just going to stop, get it to 50%.

And then I'll just feel completely comfortable about the drive home.

I don't need to charge it to 100 because when I get home, I'll charge my time on my money on my solar.

And the cost of ownership is ridiculously low because you can, you know, charge where and when you want based on price too.

Okay, sounds like I might be doing another test drive.

What's hubby going to think if you suggest you're going to buy an EV?

Because is he the one that kind of went away from EV into...

No, no, no, no, no.

He was fine.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was the one that sort of took us down this path in the first place.

And then I went along and had a look and saw how nice they were.

Yeah.

And thought, hmm.

Yeah.

Well, that's, you know what, I'm sure you know how expensive petrol is right now.

Yeah.

And you do, you live in Maitland, so you do, you do a bit of driving and you'd be paying a bit of much petrol.

So the savings just there is pretty solid.

Well, it sounds Debbie, like we need to book a date for another appointment to talk to us after you've driven the sea lions.

After you've driven the sea lions.

Okay, we want to know how it goes.

We want to know, I want to make sure hubby comes along for that drive as well.

Don't let him drive it first.

You drive it first.

And we want to know where you end up with these cars.

I also want to know, with the BYD, are you generous at all if you're walking and say we're going to buy two cars?

Like, are they doing any mates rates?

No.

No, no, no.

China doesn't give you anything.

She's already asked.

I've already asked.

Well, you know what, if you don't mind my life, if you don't ask, you don't get...

We did say, you know, two for one offer.

Two for one, that's something.

Yeah.

Well, great to talk to Debbie.

Great experience.

And just remember, any question you've got that might put you off buying the sea lion 7.

We'd love to help you answer.

Yes.

Because I'm not saying you have to buy the sea lion 7.

I'm saying, I just don't want you to not buy it because you have some unanswered questions in your life.

Yeah, we want you to be at peace with your decision.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

No worries.

Thanks for getting in touch, Debbie.

Cheers, Debbie.

Thanks very much.

There you go, Debbie.

And a likely two new energy cars.

They call them, don't they?

New energy.

New energy vehicle households.

Hubby and Debbie both buying a BYD.

And well, I think we've, we've may have tipped Debbie into a full EV.

Oh, yeah.

It just feels like the right...

Yeah.

That slight hesitation though.

She's about the hybrid.

I think she wants a little bit of that safety net.

But I think we've explained to her that...

You're buying the safety net with the shark.

Absolutely, yeah.

Like, true.

You think about so many of our callers.

Have a second car which is petrol or diesel for the road trips

or for whatever it might be.

Yeah, absolutely.

Don't rule yourself out of just having that second car

being the electric car.

Yeah, you know, Hubby might be thinking,

actually, the full EV is not bad.

But he wants a shark.

He's probably...

He's got his heart set on the pay line.

And that's only a hybrid.

That's only a hybrid.

So he'll be happy.

He's probably going to be happy

that we've convinced Debbie to go for electric.

Hey, mate, what's the saying?

Happy wife, happy life.

Done deal.

Two blokes starting electric cars.

We'd love to hear from you.

0-4-double-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

Two blokes starting electric cars.

Stephen Frennic dancing every time there's music playing.

It's just how he rolls, isn't it?

If I'm not moving, I'm dancing on the inside as well.

Oh, really?

Wow.

That's great to know.

0-4-double-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

We'd love to hear from you

if you have a question about electric cars.

Daniel's on the line.

So Daniel, we know too.

G'day, Daniel.

G'day.

How are you guys doing?

Really good, mate.

Really good.

You're a longtime friend of ours.

Yes.

What year would it have been?

Like mid-year of 2000s or something.

You were doing tech blogging

and we were doing tech work.

Yeah.

We all crossed paths here.

But you're now in the UK.

Yeah.

I'm assuming we're talking

because you've got the idea

of getting electric car made.

Well, I had the idea

when I first met Steve

about being on the show

but now I've actually got one.

Oh, so you bought one

or is this a loan car?

No, no.

So it's not a loan car.

I actually got the Ionic 5.

Wow.

That's a great car.

So you've gone from thinking,

hmm, should I get an EV

to buying an EV?

Boom.

Yeah.

I mean, well, it's a used EV

to be fair.

But it's in great condition.

It's only a couple of years old.

Yep.

You know, I only had about 20K on it.

One previous owner.

So yeah, I came from a Yaris,

a Yaris hybrid,

which was quite small

and we needed an upgrade

to a bigger car.

So this was it.

Okay.

So family man,

you want a bigger car?

How old did you door down?

Two?

Three?

How old did you door down?

Yeah, she's two

and one on the way.

That's why we got to fit

two cars in.

Congratulations.

Wow.

So yeah, you do have

a bigger car.

So, and it was no doubt

listening to two blokes talking

about your cars that inspired you

about going down the EV path.

Am I right?

Of course.

And, you know,

I don't have anything with a screen

and, you know, buttons

and just any gadgets, basically.

So this was like a no brainer.

Did you consider many other cars?

Because obviously you were

in the secondhand market.

What's that like in the UK?

Is it a strong market?

Is there a lot of options?

I'm assuming there's a lot of

Teslas, but are there other

options out there?

Definitely.

So from what I noticed

was that hybrids are selling

quite high at the moment

and EVs are selling quite low.

So it was the perfect time

to sell my hybrid for quite high

and buy an EV which is a bit lower.

I don't know what it's like

in Australia.

OK.

So you had a hybrid already.

So you sort of had

like one foot in the EV camp,

but now fully EV,

how have you adjusted

to the change?

So, I mean, it's only been a week

to the day, basically,

that I've had this car.

So we're loving it so far.

I think my wife likes it even more

than I do, to be honest.

That's good.

Happy life, mate.

So tell us, mate,

what's the charging situation,

first of all?

So are you able to charge at home?

Can you charge at work?

What's the deal?

Yes.

No, I can't charge at work.

But at home,

we basically, on Sunday,

we got an electrician to come

and install a charger

just because my neighbour got one

installed.

So I said I'd use the same

electrician and he recommended,

I think it was like a 7.4 watt

charger.

Yeah, nice.

And yeah, that's what we have.

Yeah, nice.

Excellent.

So what sort of driving do you do,

Daniel?

Who drives the car most?

Is it yours or your wife's car?

Or do you both share it?

What's the go?

Yeah, we share it.

So I drive to work,

she drives to work.

We take it like an alternate day

sometimes.

But we don't do a lot of driving.

So I actually found out that

when I was researching to buy

a new car,

we only do about 2,000 miles a year,

which is nothing.

Wow.

It's short, isn't it?

You might not need to charge twice.

Exactly.

That's one of the reasons I got it.

We probably have to charge it

once every 10 days, I guess.

So were there any other cars in

contention when you were looking

around for,

was it a Tesla?

Yes.

In contention?

What was on the shortest?

It's a Tesla, I think, out of the

budget.

But we did have,

we did test drive a few cars.

We test drove the Addo 3.

We test drove,

obviously the Ionic 5.

We test drove the

Nero EV.

And,

yeah,

this is what I want to

unpack.

It's a big car,

the Ionic,

compared to what you had.

That must be one of the great

things about it,

because it feels us.

It's weird because it looks like

a hatchback.

It looks like a little hatchback,

but it's actually an enormous car

in actual

stature, isn't it? Plenty of space.

Exactly.

Especially once you get in it,

you realise in the back,

see, it's like there's so much more room.

Compared to my Yaris,

it's like very roomy.

Yeah, right.

OK.

So,

your verdict on it,

mate,

is there things you don't like about it?

Tell us what you love.

Tell us what your changes are.

You might not have noticed.

Have you had a long enough

to tell us this?

Exactly.

It's only been a week.

I think just learning

about the whole EV charging system

in the UK seems to be quite

a bit of an issue.

But I'm getting there.

I've got all the apps.

I'm in the Facebook groups

with other ionic owners.

We're hopefully planning a trip

down to the south of England

in November,

so I'm hoping that there will be

a lot of charging points

that I can charge at.

It's just getting your mindset

around having to charge.

That's it.

Yeah.

Also, there's no rear wiper.

That's taken me by surprise.

Oh.

No rear wiper.

Yeah.

Yeah, which, you know,

probably should have looked into,

but it's not the end of the world.

I've seen a lot of cars without them.

It's funny thing.

I don't think about it

or notice it when I'm reviewing cars,

but Sarah Aubrey,

who runs that Electrify,

this Instagram,

it's when she does

a little walk around of her car.

She's an rear wiper,

big win,

and I'm thinking,

I used to think,

what does that matter?

But there you go.

Daniel would have picked up on that,

but it wouldn't have been a deal breaker,

surely,

even if you'd thought about it,

would it?

No,

I don't think so.

I mean,

I guess it rains a lot here in the UK,

so we do need all the wipers we can get.

Daniel, tell us,

you've been living in the UK

for a while now.

Tell us,

are you seeing a lot of EVs on the road?

Are you seeing a lot of charges?

is it obvious

that EVs are catching on over there?

Yeah,

I definitely think so.

I remember

when I first moved here,

I saw a lot more EVs

than when I'd come back home to Australia

and visit,

but now I think it's probably about the same.

There seems to be a lot more EVs around,

even like,

you know,

if you're going to the shops here on the road,

some of the spots

that the council would have marked out now,

it's only for EV cars,

and they have special EV charges on the street.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah, that's good,

because I'd imagine

there'd be a lot of people

living in the UK

that don't have off-street parking,

so there'd have to be arrangements for them

to be able to charge their cars on the street,

like have access to that sort of charge.

Yeah, and the other thing, Daniel,

I think it's probably really important,

given where you are,

and this would probably get discussed

in those Facebook groups,

and this will be,

this is something you'll notice

literally in the next couple of months,

but in the cold,

and it gets very cold there,

your range is depleted greatly.

You know,

you could lose 25-30% of your range,

just because it's a cold day.

Yeah, so it's probably really,

I mean, it's not going to affect you,

because you don't drive a lot,

but that trip in November,

you'll need to factor that in.

You know, thinking about,

don't look at the range today,

and think, well, that's how far we'll be able to drive.

It's definitely going to be a bit different for you,

I would think, in the UK.

Yeah, yeah, I am embracing myself for that,

but as you said, yeah, exactly.

I'm not driving very far.

It's a lot of city driving,

so hopefully it will be fine.

But just speaking again about,

like, what the,

I guess what's going on in the UK,

I was speaking to,

sorry, my electrician who installed my charger,

and he mentioned there's a new government rule

that if you're building a new house,

or I think even like a block of flats

that you legally mandated to install a EV charger,

even if you don't own an EV,

just because the next person that buys the house

could own an EV or something like that.

Really?

You've got to make that rule here, do they?

Definitely not.

Wow.

I think government buildings here

are starting to kind of,

not mandate,

but set aside spaces in the same way

that there's a certain number of disabled spaces

per hundred.

The other thing I'm curious about,

because you are a nerd,

I think you're okay with that being said.

The tech in the car.

Yeah, I know.

You would have done a lot of research.

I'm wondering about range.

It's a two-year-old car.

It's only got 20,000Ks on it.

Have you been able to understand

whether or not its range has been depleted

in those two years?

I'm guessing it's pretty much

almost as factory given those 20,000Ks.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just looking at it now.

I'm on about 90 something,

but late 90%.

And it's about 230 miles on the app.

So apparently it came with a clean bill of health.

That's what I was told by the dealer that sold to me.

Yeah, that's a win.

Well, that's great.

Congrats on the new car.

Congrats on the new bub too, mate.

Well done.

And I'll hopefully see you in Vegas in January.

Shall I, Daniel?

Oh, who will see?

Where's the baby due?

That's right.

Oh, no.

The baby's due in January, isn't it?

Probably a month and a bit after CES, I'd say.

Oh, OK, mate.

You'll be able to make it, brother.

Oh, he's doing the deal.

Good luck with that, Daniel.

Yeah, we're discussing as well.

All right, mate.

Great to hear from you, buddy.

Stay well.

Cheers.

Thank you.

There you go, Daniel in the UK.

Now the proud owner of a Hyundai Ioniq 5.

That is awesome.

Which is a cracking little car.

Yeah, and just for the record, we know Daniel.

We've known him for years in the tech blogger,

moved to the UK during COVID,

met and married his wife over there.

So I thought, oh, I'm going to stay in the UK.

Good reason.

But Daniel and I have been travelling to CES

for coming up to 10 years.

We've been covering CES together.

Daniel is an amazing videographer

and shoots all the videos for tech guide for CES.

So that's why I was hinting at January in Vegas.

That could be problematic with the...

Well, he's got a month, mate.

He's got a month.

Come on.

OK.

Well, I don't know how well his wife's going to tell me.

Yeah.

Come on, mate.

We need you.

We'll wait and see.

All right.

We'd love to hear from you if you want to talk EVs.

Get in touch.

Any time, folks.

Ah, Stephen.

It looks aggressive.

That look, that down the barrel, the scowled look.

It was a very angry aggressive look.

I was happy on the inside, mate.

We'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch.

Matt is on the line.

Good day.

Matt, how are you doing?

Good thanks.

How are you?

Mate, very, very well.

Now, we've spoken before.

Yes.

If I recall, you own a Model 3.

Model 3.

The wife has the cute little GWM aura.

Where are you at now?

What's happening?

Is there a move to get rid of one?

Yeah.

Look, I've recently changed jobs and I have a long tripod that I need to carry around with

me.

And I either have to have a seat folded down in the Model 3 or it has to go across the back

seat.

So I was looking around and I've seen this new D-POW mini truck.

And I thought, oh, I'll go for a quick look.

And you've done it.

It's a strange looking car, isn't it?

But this is the thing that looks, when it's all closed up, it kind of looks like it could

just be a wagon.

But it's actually kind of got a tray back and you can put seats down to make that tray

even bigger.

So if you had a look at it in the flesh, I saw it quickly at the Melbourne Motor Show.

What have you seen?

Yeah.

So as we discussed on text, I've looked at it, I've sat in it, but I didn't have time

to drive it.

And it definitely looks way better in the flesh than pictures.

But, you know, I will admit, I like a Nissan Juke.

I think they're a good looking vehicle.

So I'm a bit quirky that way, anyway.

I don't mind the D-POWs.

The D-POWs look OK.

What did you say?

Do you say Nissan Juke?

Did you say?

Yeah, Nissan Juke.

I reckon they're a great looking car.

You know, they're quirky.

The beauty is in the eye of the beholder, mate.

Do you know what a Nissan Juke looks like?

I have exactly what a Nissan Juke looks like.

That is a strange description of beauty in everyone's language.

So I love that you've led with that, frankly.

I love that you've led with that.

But I don't think, even if I was to bottle that opinion of the Nissan Juke, I don't mind

the look of the D-POW.

The D-POW looks like.

What's it called?

The E07.

And they've done some marketing on it.

What did you learn?

Did you talk to the sales rep or the dealer about it much?

Do you have an understanding of whether or not it might actually be kind of achievable?

Do they say much about the car?

Yeah, look, at the end of the day, he answered everything that he knew.

But again, you know, he's only had three weeks with it as well.

So it was more than happy to look anything up if I had questions.

And he sent the brochure, which I've had a quick look through.

And maybe it's a good thing.

Maybe it's a bad thing.

There's one version, and it either comes as all-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive.

But all the features are exactly the same.

Battery's the same.

Charging's the same.

Yep.

Everything's the same.

So, you know, the only difference is a $10,000 price tag for the front motor.

That's it.

Right.

Which rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive?

Look, at the end of the day, I've got the all-wheel drive Tesla.

But for the extra range, I would probably go for the rear-wheel drive.

Because you get all the same features.

You know, with the Tesla, you had to upgrade for the bigger battery,

the better sound system, and all that sort of jazz.

It wasn't about the front motor.

It was more about the features of the car.

So, pardon the pun, mate.

But how far down the road are you with this steep hill?

Do you know if you've got an idea?

Obviously, you know the price.

But have you got an idea of how long it's going to take to arrive?

Oh, look, they said they've got plenty of stock coming.

There's three ships ready with stock to roll in.

So, I don't think that supply will be an issue.

They probably want to make a bit of a mark, I imagine.

And so, what would you do?

Is the Model 3 a trade-in mode?

Are you going to keep that as well, or what's the go?

Yeah, I would probably offload it, and that's for sure.

Because we've got the aura.

So, we definitely don't need to pass it along, that's for sure.

Would you sell that privately, or is there a trade-in offer?

What would be the best move there, you reckon?

Look, yeah, so they definitely said that they'll trade.

I didn't bother getting a price or anything like that,

because his explanation was they do the review of the car

while you're out doing the test drive of their top things.

Fair enough.

They claim, I'm looking at their website,

they say owning a DPAL E07 offers peace of mind

through its seven-year, 160,000 new car warranty,

eight-year, 240,000 kilometre battery warranty,

whichever comes first, plus a complimentary road service,

et cetera, et cetera.

Do you get the sense, because the problem is new brands,

like people are like, do I trust this brand?

Where's it going to go?

All that kind of stuff.

Just from kicking the tires, let alone driving it,

do you get the sense of, I don't know, quality in the vehicle?

Well, the warranty was the issue, but we'll get onto that.

So, the fit and finish of the car, you know,

for the 20 minutes I was there, you know, you can't look at everything.

We've driven the DPAL SUV.

Yeah, this is a very different vehicle.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

But it seemed very premium, you know, like it's got the nice napper

and the seats were heated, ventilated,

and they also have the, you know what,

they lay all the way back into a position

where they've got fire support,

so you can, you know, have a nap while you're charging.

Fantastic.

The problem is, though, is that warranty is,

it's seven years, 160, sorry, no, it was 100,

yeah, 160,000 Ks.

Yeah, whichever comes first.

However, if you use it as Uber or rideshare or a taxi,

or in my case, Tool of Trade,

that warranty drops to 12 months and 120,000 Ks.

What? Really?

In the fine print, yeah.

Is that right? We didn't know. That's cheeky.

That's wild.

Yeah, so it'd have to be clarified,

but on the brochure in the fine print.

Tool of Trade, now, are you a tradie?

Like, are we talking about using this as a tradie?

You're talking about having to carry a tripod.

A tripod, so are you like a quantity surveyor,

or what's your job, Matt?

Medical field service engineers,

so I'll carry around, you know,

test equipment to test x-ray systems, essentially.

Hardly a bloody brickie labourer.

Exactly, it's not like you're buying a ute

and you're going to put tools in it.

Oh, you know, for tax reasons,

or I class it as Tool of Trade, so...

Ah, okay.

I don't know. It'd have to be a...

Tool of Trade, that's...

Yeah, right, right.

But it's a strange thing.

You have this kind of singular Tool of Trade approach

when I think that your style Tool of Trade

is very different to, you know, a Sparky,

or someone that is literally turning up on job sites

with tools and that kind of thing.

Even so, this sort of vehicle

is kind of being marketed as like a vehicle

that can be used in that fashion.

So what should that affect the warranty?

I would argue they're not marketing it that way.

I would argue most of the photos and things are

this is a lifestyle vehicle,

so it's more about, you know,

having much more space for your luggage

if you're going on a Hunter Valley road trip

and, you know, that kind of thing, so...

Yeah, I'm not sure about that, yeah.

Wow, so what's the...

Accessories.

What's the option then, Matt?

Matt, if you don't...

Is there any other vehicles you're considering,

or, you know, apart from laying the Pride Tri-Prot

across the back seat of your Model 3,

are there other cars you're looking at potentially as well?

Oh, look, I'm in the very early stages

and I saw this thing and I thought,

oh, that'd be perfect.

But then, because the other kicker thing that, for me,

would be, you know, like a deal breaker.

There's no one pedal driver in it.

Oh, it's not an option.

It's a bit like a BYD,

where you still have to still use the brake.

So it doesn't have to be a general braking error.

Yeah, I mean, look,

not every EV has one pedal driving, okay?

My Cooper does not have one pedal driving.

It's just got a regenerative option.

You know, turn it up and that's the way it drives.

I don't...

I mean, you're used to it in a Tesla.

Yeah, you get spoiled in the Tesla with that.

But I guess it's a learned problem.

It's a learned change going back to a different style of driving.

But I wouldn't class it as a deal breaker, would you?

For me, yeah, for sure.

For me, it's like adaptive cruise control and cruise control.

When you go back to a car that doesn't have the adaptive,

I wouldn't buy one, that's for sure.

It's one of those features.

Once you have it, you don't go back, you know?

Mate, the other option is,

can you buy a smaller tripod, mate?

Can you get a smaller tripod?

Yeah, well, that's definitely the idea,

because there's definitely nothing wrong with the Tesla.

Apart from that phantom braking, which is...

That's an ongoing issue.

You're not the main ranger there, mate.

No, it happens, because I commute to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast

two to three times a week and it happens in the same spot

in every single drive.

Yeah, I've called him about and they said that it's...

Really?

Yeah, you just have to be ready for it, essentially.

Because it used to be where the roadworks were.

So their explanation was that their mapping data comes from Google

and they have no...

So the phantom braking problem is based on the mapping data,

not something it's detecting on the road.

Yeah, correct.

I can be in heavy traffic with 30 cars around me

and we're doing 90 to 100 and it'll drop to 80

in the exact same spot.

Or it can be four o'clock in the morning on the way to the airport,

no car on the road apart from me and it'll go from 110 to 80

in the same spot every single time.

So it's a speed sign style thing.

It thinks the speed there is 80.

It's not nothing to do with what it's...

I always thought of phantom braking as the problem that other cars have,

which is it thinks a parked car is part of traffic

and it kind of gives you this annoying braking or alerts.

So I didn't realise what the phantom braking problem was,

it was more about the speed that it's bringing you down to in its cruise control.

Has that happened to you and your Cooper?

The phantom braking, what I describe as,

a miscellaneous car that's right on the road.

I'm like, dude, that's a parked car, but it's on a bend.

So the car is parked on a bend and it happens.

I've had it nearly two and a half years.

It's happened twice to me.

Well, that's a fascinating one.

I'll be very fascinated to see where you end up with this

because that's a beautiful car.

The warranty is a deal breaker.

That's really a bit of a curveball right there, isn't it?

Yeah, that's definitely something that I'll be ringing the salesman to clarify,

but it's written in black and white on the brochure.

So maybe the brochure was incorrect,

because also on the brochure, when it talks about curb weight,

it's also in the fine prints.

This is assumed with 10 litres of fuel on board,

which is clearly a cut-and-taste from something else.

Absolutely.

Oh, that's funny.

Well, mate, good luck with the looking around.

Mate, go and take it for a drive.

You've got to take it for a drive, see how it goes.

You can go EV shopping or tripod shopping, mate,

whichever suits you best.

You might be locked in a particular tripod these days.

Yeah, that's it.

I think maybe I need to fix the tripod.

That's for sure.

Good on you, mate. Thanks for getting in touch, buddy.

Thanks, buddy.

No worries. Thanks, boys.

No worries at all.

There you go.

Interesting.

I wonder if any other car makers would have that same...

I wonder how many people are reading the fine print.

Yes, would have the same problem,

thinking that they're covered with a longer warranty.

They're using it as a work vehicle

and not realising that the warranty is actually a lot less.

Did you read the fine print of your warranty?

No.

No, I didn't.

But I knew it was going to be longer than my lease.

I didn't know that the warranty was covering the lease,

length of the lease.

Yeah, but in his case, the lease might be three years,

but the warranty expired after 12 months.

That is weird.

I'd be really interested to know whether...

because, again, if this happened to me,

like they said, your warranty is actually gone

because it was a business vehicle or whatever,

I'd be going back to the dealer and saying,

well, I registered it as a business vehicle.

Yes.

Like, the registration is business.

You should have told me.

Yeah.

I can't...

Put it back on them.

Yeah.

I can't...

I mean, well, I wonder...

I wonder whether the BYD Shark has any such...

I'm...

Exactly what I thought.

Yeah, because that...

And I was actually going to bring that up to Matt,

thinking, well, mate, you do need a full-blown ute,

get the BYD Shark.

Well, that's a hybrid, but...

He wouldn't, mate.

He couldn't.

He wouldn't go hybrid after a Tesla.

He's not going to go BYD Shark.

No.

All right, well, let us know.

All right, well, we'd love to hear from you.

Any time I'm here on Two Blacks talking electric cars,

0-4-double-7-6-5-7-6-5-7,

thanks to the great people at Uniden

and in our mindsurance.

We'll be back again next week with another episode.

See you then, mate.

Ciao.

088 - The Cadillac Lyriq premium SUV

Cadillac Lyric

Cadillac Escalade

Ford F150

Byd Shark 6

Dodge Charger

Sealion Cline 7

Hyundai Ioniq

Tesla Model 3

Nissan Juke

Rolls-Royce Phantom

Ford Ranger

About this episode

Original notes