Bonus: Steve and Matt have your letters

Hello, and welcome to a bonus episode of the AutoCar Podcast. It's not my week in cars,

it's not AutoCar Meets, it's Steve and I answering your questions and your letters and your correspondence.

We've had really great bumper-loader letters, haven't we?

I think probably since setting up this second pod where we do this, people have felt inspired to

write in, so thanks for that. AutoCar at haymarket.com is the way to do it. A couple of quick things to

say to you is that our sponsor is Anderson, the sort of premium design-led EV charging company.

If you visit Anderson-EV.com, search Anderson, they've got a concierge service that will look

after you all the way through. They'll send you a swatch, they'll have ties in with some manufacturers

where they will match the charger to the color of your car, they can match it to the color of your

house. It's excellent stuff, so do see them, and also they're doing six months free charging,

4,000 miles with intelligent OctopusGo tariff that Steve Cropley is not on. Steve, let's start with

I don't know how much someone talk about the Chinese car industry versus the European car

industry, because people have written about it quite a lot, haven't they? Mark writes in to say,

after choosing my last and current company car, should I feel guilty, I feel a sense of betrayal.

The latest addition, my BYD ticks all the tax boxes. In the past, I've ensured the quirkiness

and charm of Peugeot's, the honesty of Ford's, the reliability of Skoda's, and then he sends us

a rather big list of things that he's owned such as, or run his company car history, such as a

Metro Peugeot 205, Peugeot 305, Vauxhall Cavalier, Ford Sierra, Peugeot 307, Ford C-Max, a couple of

Skoda's, and is now on a BYD Seal U DMI. He says, I still feel ashamed for letting down the European

car industry. What are your thoughts? Well, I think that you can

take heart in a way, because you and I recently have met quite a few big wigs from the European

industry. And the thing they do not say is that people who desert them for a Chinese car are a

bunch of sort of disloyal people to be discredited. They say our job is to compete, don't they?

And we didn't feel too bad when it was the Japanese and the Koreans and the Americans and

all the rest of them. So I think it's perfectly reasonable if you're a person doing the paying

that you do what's best for you. And in any case, your Peugeot or your Ford has got a very healthy

indeed of Chinese components. So it is down to the local manufacturers to find a way to compete.

And furthermore for the governments to find a way, if they think it's necessary, to even the

playing field at least. Yeah, if they think it is unfair, then they should find a way to make it

less so. So it's really hard to say how much the consumer is responsible for products that are

offered to them validly and eagerly. And if you don't love the European car industry, if you don't

care about cars very much, and somebody says, well, here's a car that's 200 pounds a month,

and it's made in China, here's another car that's 400 pounds a month, and it's made in Europe.

All right, probably not twice as much, but you know, there could be a significant difference

to your quality of life if you buy a cheaper car because you don't care. And I was speaking to

a friend of mine online last night, and he said, I hope he don't mind me quoting you on this,

by the way, I didn't say I was going to, but he said, I think in general getting too political

about what you buy from where is a rabbit hole. It's impossibly consistent. You don't have

perfect knowledge of the full implications, and it often ends up being performative,

and probably hypocritical. And it's, and as he said about,

there's a quote from the West Wing, apparently, free trade stops wars, and we figure out a way to

fix the rest. That's good, isn't it? Yeah. Those, the people that wrote those scripts are geniuses,

aren't they? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Salking, Aaron Salking. And as he, and I got, I made a friend

who lives in China, a colleague of ours who lives in China, and he said, I noticed your article

about the JMEV SC01. I don't remember what that was, but anyway, it's a guy. He said,

you asked about the possibility of driving around Nanjing with Lotus fans, because online, I follow

a bloke who lives in Japan, and he's part of a little British car club, British beat, and they

head up into the hills. Oh, you're talking about this fella? Yeah. He drives around in a Lotus 6,

and he keeps it in this beautiful little garage. It is, it is down. Anyway, Ash writes to say,

if you're here, I'll make it happen. I am in the China Lotus Club, and there are quite a few

Exige, Elise, and Devoras, and a guy who has an Esprit in China. So car people are car people

everywhere. They are. That's the other thing, which I'm sort of quite encouraged by.

Well, I've been talking, talking about buying a China, buying a,

an EV for a while, and there are four cars that appeal to me. VW ID3, because I just think it's

a better car than most people say it is. Tesla could be American, German, or Chinese.

Polestar, Swedish, or Chinese, and MG4, Chinese. In fact, Chinese government.

Yes, yeah. I just don't, I haven't got enough room in my brain to bother about those things,

so I'm just going to choose the one I like best. I think, I think from a consumer perspective,

what, I don't know what you expect, what should be expected otherwise. There are loads of car

companies who are owned by people you don't know, and you don't like, and various companies who,

you know, in the funds that you, that you won't like some of their ethics either. So what do you,

what can you, what can you do? Yeah. And what difference will it make if you, if you do it?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. No, I, I think you've got to, you've got to just be a consumer and, and you

know, nobody's going to make things better or worse for you. You just got to do it yourself.

There was a, there was a time, I reckon it was late 90s, early 2000s, when there was something

like this, where it's like, you can't buy stuff from this car company because they also make parts

that are fitted to, was it when British aerospace owned Honda, not Honda? Rover. Rover. Yeah, there

was, yeah, there was a veteran who, it's Honda, that's terrible. Yeah. Well, yeah, but also,

but also the company that, the company that owned them, you can't buy one of these because the

company that owns it makes Hawk Jets and they are used in bombing campaigns in

somewhere. Yeah, something like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But pretty, pretty hard to make a

moral case because some, some other company were part owned by somebody who was also part

owns a defense company, which also does. Yeah. It's just, well, so you are a lot of the, these

companies are, you know, to a company, they're, they're employing British people who, who,

who, whose families prosper because they're earning money that way. I mean, MG has a,

still has a base in the UK, still has, still does, still does work here, even though it's a,

as you say, entirely owned by the Chinese state. Yeah, they have this, but they's

fantastic. They employ engineers. Studio looking over madam to swords, don't they? Yeah. And

BYD is opening a factory in Europe. So you could buy a European built car that happens to be

owned by a Chinese company, or if you bought some Tesla, you would end up with a Chinese built car,

which is owned by an American company. And so where's the, where's the moral rightness? So Mark

who wrote to us, I think by the car you want. Yeah. Well done, Mark. Enjoy the car. Tell us

how it was. Tell us how it was. And would you, you know, when you're a year downstream, would you

buy another one? Yeah. Yeah. Paul Mason writes, sorry for the delay, I was just having trouble

finding his, finding his name at the bottom of the email. This week, I was drinking my

Costa and biting into a chunky Kit Kat, something I do every podcast. I found myself once again

laughing at Steve's failure to renegotiate his electricity tariff. And I thought to myself,

I thought to myself, his attitude towards this issue is the same as mine,

towards losing a bit of weight. Paul, don't be so harsh on yourself. You're looking, I think

you're looking fine. I think you're looking great, mate. Carry on. Maybe if Steve can sort

this tariff out, I will resort to a normal sized Kit Kat. On another note, I've noticed since moving

to Cornwall three years ago that there seemed to be a lot more older cars down here. I regularly

see something and think to myself, I haven't seen one of those for a while, such as Citroen BX,

Citroen CX Estate, a Mark II Cavalier. When did you last see a Mark II Cavalier today?

Of course, it'd be a while. A Mark III Escort, 80s Corolla, and many others. I regularly see a few

Austin 7s. I think there's a club which seemed to be around all year, as your Cornish Rose and

Austin 7 is probably the right size. Yeah. I've also noticed an Ibex. These are called, I like

Ibexes, I must say. You're aware of the Ibex. I can't put a face to it. It's a

slightly angular looking off-roader, but a proper agricultural style for my fault, really.

And a 74-read old style Hilux, which seemed to be owned by farmers. I have a two-part question

regarding ADAS systems on cars nowadays. That is Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

ADU Driving Instructors teach new drivers with and without using lane departure,

front brake assist, etc. B, if you're involved in an accident, you have these features turned off,

are the insurance company likely to try to get out of playing? I think we've had another

letter, hasn't have we? Yeah, there is a follow-up from a reader whose name I don't have,

which says, on back, the Associated British Insurers told me this when I asked them something

similar last year. On background, there are a range of advanced systems available,

making UK road safer, says the ABI. It is best practice to keep these systems switched on,

promote safe driving habits. You should still be covered by your motor insurer if you decide to

switch it off, and are later involved in an accident. Policies can vary, so please be sure

to read your documents carefully to understand any terms, conditions, and exclusion.

Yeah, that's a good piece of advice, isn't it? Because I hadn't never entered my head

to stuff. No, I mean, my thoughts on it, if your car is in illegal and roadworthy condition,

your insurer should pay out. That's how I feel about it. I mean, if you would have removed

the fuse that turned off the ABS and then you crashed because you didn't brake properly,

that I could see why an insurer would go, well, I'm not paying for that, because you switched

off the ABS, mate, and you made your car illegal while doing so, or an MOT failure effectively

while doing so. But if lane keep assist is annoying and you turn it off, by my view,

that shouldn't make a difference. On to question one, then, do you know if driving

instructors teach drivers with and without lane departure? I've got no idea, but I certainly

hope they teach you about full control first. Because I think things like steering accuracy

and positioning the car and all the rest of it are crucial. But I imagine that it would be helpful

if they'd certainly demonstrated how these things can work. I would have thought it would be in some

of the theory test type stuff, because I think I've occasionally done a mock theory test online,

and you do sometimes get asked questions about that sort of thing, don't you? Understanding

what those things are. Driving instructor's right to us. AutoCart at amarket.com.

It doesn't get any easier, does it, being a driving instructor, I don't think, because

they seem to be under scrutiny to a degree that they use not to be, and also it's just

got that much more complicated. Yeah, in these upcoming changes to

some of the driving regulations, have you seen the stuff that says there may be a minimum

time you have to learn over? You can't do your test on your 17th birthday, for example, you have

to spend a certain amount of time learning? I don't know how I feel about that. I've seen

motorcycle thing where people go around on help plates for two years.

Yeah, surely it's just a matter of competence if you can demonstrate competence. Good luck.

Because if you do any kind of work training, you do it all day, every day, until you pass, don't

you? And that's, they don't go, oh, well, sorry, mate, you've got a, I mean, you have to do a

certain number of hours, say, but you don't have to spread it over a certain amount of time. No.

Do you? I mean, if you learn to fly, and you went and you did it all day, every day,

you could do it in a couple of weeks. They wouldn't say, sorry, mate, you've not done it for six

months, do they? No, I don't think so. No, I mean, you have to, after you qualify, you have to

regularly demonstrate competence, but that's just fair enough because it's easy to forget

things. But I did all of, there are six, six exams that you have to do for a pilot's license,

you know, paper exam or, you know, away from the airplane type exams. And I did them all in

a day and a half, just one after another. And that was the CAA thought that was all right,

and I think they still do. Yeah, I mean, it strikes me, you know, if they're teaching you to,

I don't know, drive a forklift at work, they don't teach you for 10 minutes every two weeks,

do they? They go, well, for the next three days, we're going to teach you how to drive a forklift,

and at the end of it, you'll be able to do it. Yeah. I mean, I assume, I don't know how long

they do take you to teach you to drive forklifts, but it doesn't strike me that. It's just another,

it's just another piece of red tape, isn't it? Yeah, and I don't know if there's, well,

sometimes it gets quoted like, oh, this country here does X amount of time before you can get a

driving license, and this country here does this, and this country here does that. We do have the

fourth safest roads in the world. Yep. So while you would take advice from places with worse

road safety than ours, I'm not entirely sure. No. But it is amazing how, given the, given the

congestion in this place and the, and the, the narrowness of streets and the potholes everywhere,

and, you know, it's, it's, it's pretty remarkable record, isn't it, that the safety here? Yeah,

okay. I think so. Yeah. Good luck to us. Well done. Well done us. Well done us. Another Mark writes,

I don't know if there is a question at the end of this, but it's, it's a letter, so I'm happy to

have it. Last month, you discussed the mostly forgotten Renault 14 that Steve had seen at

RetroMobile. The 14 was my first car, 350 pounds in 1989. And while I remember it did roll a bit

and rusted terribly, it was very reliable and supremely comfortable. Like most first cars,

it provided some great motoring memories. I hadn't seen one for years until three years ago when I

saw one for sale at RetroMobile, the same color as my first car and made in 1979, although it was

the slightly sportier and inverted commas. TS was mine, whereas mine would be a TL. I bought it on

the spot and spent six months transporting it to the UK and getting it registered. The DVLA kindly

gave me a registration number similar to the plate I had on my old car. I'm enjoying driving a 14

again, but nostalgia is a dangerous thing. The ride still feels good if a bit choppy,

but otherwise the car feels exactly how you would think a near 50 year old Renault built to a price

would feel. I've got a lot of time for the Renault 14. I just, I just remember those cornering shots

with the door handles on the floor. But I think my memory is that it had this

fantastically supple ride. I mean, it didn't ride very flat and bounced a bit, but the combination

of these ultra deep armchair seats that Renault's had in those days and the very low rates,

low spring rates just made it hilarious really. It just sort of strolled everywhere. That was the

thing. It had this kind of strolling, but a bit of understeer, I must say. If you arrive at a corner

too fast and turn the wheel, it tended not to respond immediately to the steering. But I like

the way they look. I'm glad, I'm glad to hear that you, our man, what was it now? I forgot.

It was Mark. Mark. Well done, Mark. You're a hero. Yeah. Shall I do a letter from the mag?

If you go to themagazineshop.com,

Rita, you can find subscription offers to the magazine. In fact, at the moment, I've got,

I've got a note from the office which says, can you put this little link in the show notes,

which I will do? And it is an offer for magazine subscriptions and your internet's just not working.

Is it? Yeah. Well, maybe it's just my laptop. Got it.

Seems all right to me. It was yours all right. Oh, maybe it's just me. Anyway, the short of it is,

if you go to the show notes and click on the link, it will take to themagazineshop.com,

which gives you access to new magazines, plus the 131 year Auto Car Archive. And I think you get

six issues for six quid. Wow. It's good, isn't it? Very good. Introductory offer. Very good. Yeah.

That is for podcast listeners. Fantastic. Yeah. So don't tell anyone else but podcast.

Yeah. All right, let's do this from the magazine the other day,

who says, a Georgia 25th of February roundup of bargain used performance cars,

fun for all wages. I think that's a good headline. It is a good one. Who was that? Is that Sammy?

It's got, it's got, well, I wonder if it's got Mr. J. Atwood written all over it.

Maybe, maybe. Anyway, I'm considering a punt in the market says Robert Blanchard.

The model that makes the most, that takes my fancy the most is the 3.3 liter V6 KIA Stinger GTS.

Frighteningly fast, remarkably composed, beautifully built and famously reliable.

Well, later examples are still covered by KIA's seven year warranty. Yeah. Does Robert Blanchard

a KIA salesman? Because that was a, that is the, he sold me on it. I've got to say. However,

the article doesn't mention it at all. Is that because you think it doesn't measure up to those

that made the cut or had you just forgotten about it? I think we might have forgotten about it.

I wonder if we had, yes. Because they were, they were around for a remarkably short time,

weren't they? Yeah, they were. It didn't sort of, it didn't seem to live the full span. No.

And because KIA got seized by the EV thing and also the, do you remember the design

changed a lot. The, you know, they changed from the old tiger nose shape that was,

was around with Peter Schreer. Yes, they did. And, and they changed it at much more architectural

shapes. And the Stinger didn't, didn't sort of fit somehow. Yeah. They still make it slash sell it

in some places. Do they? Wonder. Certainly did for a longer than, for longer than we got it.

Okay. I didn't know that. And I suppose it, because, I mean, being a 3.3 litre V6 or a 2

litre turbo, it was high on the CO2 emissions here, wasn't it? And I think they were good.

I ran one for, did I have a long term? Did you? I didn't know. I certainly ran one for a while.

I certainly got, I certainly got punctures in one because I got a pothole puncture when it was

unfashionable to do so, or less fashionable than that. So that would have been five,

maybe five years ago, maybe more. Yeah. But anyway, I thought they were great. I thought

really good cars. Yeah, really, I think they were really good cars. So, so good, good decision.

I think we forgot it. I think we just, yeah, maybe we did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think

John Evans wrote that feature who replies the Stinger GTS is indeed a fine car check. They

all has been changed every 6,000 miles and be sure that the few recalls have been attended to.

The engine can suffer carbon buildup, but the occasional dose of fuel injector cleaner should

control this. There you go. Good intel. Well done, John. Well done, John. Well done, John.

With 503 horsepower, 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and a 177 mile an hour top speed, so Stuart Gray,

four-wheel drive, room for five adults and gorgeous Italian styling from just 30,000 pounds,

maybe the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio should have been in your 25 performance car bargains,

although I may be biased as I've had my 2019 QV for four months and every journey is an experience

and adventure and memorable. People are very nice about those longer term owners and they don't,

you don't hear people complaining about the reliability the way I used to in Alphas. So,

I mean, we've had a few kicking around the office, haven't we, that both the, you know,

saloons and Stelvios and that being good. Yeah. Yeah. So, you're right. I mean,

what we're proving is that there are more than 25. There's more than 25 performance bargains. If you

had a proper job and room for one car and you wanted a performance bargain to get you round from

place to place and do everything that you needed it to do, what would it be? Me. Yep. Oh, tough one,

isn't it? Tough one. I think it would, in my case, it would probably be something BMW.

I'm still taken with the M cars. Oh, really? Not too aggressive? Not too aggressive? Well,

an M5, isn't it? Oh, okay. Yeah. Right. An M5, it's a bit bulky, but yeah. I think it, I think you,

I see myself stroking one of those around the place. You'd have the latest one, do you think?

I might, I don't know how old they are, but I've always been a little bit obsessed with the V10.

Have you? Kind of mad. I know it's, you know, sort of 18 miles per gallon or whatever it is, but

yeah, I think that's the least of the problems, isn't it? Yeah. We know, I think we both know

a couple of people who have them. Have they had some trouble? I think they're a little bit. A lot.

I think they can be a little bit of trouble. Yeah. I think we should, we should tap, I think.

As long as I can keep my duster and the, you know, the X-Prior Raptor. No, no, no, make one car.

One car, that's it. One car. Well, in that case, I think I would, I might go for a later M5,

because I think that would do the job. I would lean towards, oh dear, it is a bit big, but yeah,

but I do, I just like the, the do everything aspect and the fact that it, such imperious

performance and the, I like their ethos and I like their driving positions and I like their

instrumentation and yeah. Yeah. M5. Good shout. Good shout, I think. Well, about you, come on.

I think smaller sized, I think. M3. M3 or probably an Alpina B3, rather than an M3,

because I prefer this sort of slightly more rolling resistance. Not, the 2007, 2008 RS4 was

terrific, wasn't it? That was really mega, was it the B7? Is that what they call that?

That phase? Yeah. I'm, I like Mercedes C63s of that sort of era. Actually, it was an E63,

I think that was pretty good from the age as well, but starting to get a bit big, but maybe an

Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio. Well, I tell you what I was thinking the other day,

I don't know, this is probably ridiculous, but you know, come back Porsche, Taycan, all is forgiven,

you know, get hold of one that somebody's paid 110 for and pay 50 and 140 or less. Yeah. And, and

because I'll bet that's a, well, I mean, they still drive beautifully, don't they?

They do. So, so maybe I might even, because I am a bit smitten by EVs, I'm going to have to,

even though I haven't got one on my strength, I just, I can't help thinking that that might be a

pretty good weapon, as long as you were confident that you could charge it enough.

Yeah. And I can't remember the last time I had trouble charging a car. So,

well, funnily enough, mate, you know, the head-to-head feature in the magazine that we got an email

about earlier from Sam Phillips, who runs that little section. His question was,

find a car that can do 40 plus miles to the gallon, 0 to 60 in under seven seconds and has

space for a dog. Yeah. I mean, a Taycan Sport Turismo would do the job, wouldn't it? Would do

all of those three. I did see that. And I was thinking, you know, this even Dopeier, I was thinking

MG4 X-Power. Oh, wow. Yeah. Because that'll do 0 to 60 in under four. Yeah. And it will,

I think you can buy them for 20. They're quite good fun, aren't they? Yeah.

I don't think it handles quite as well as, because four-wheel drive, and I don't think it's a car

you kind of slide round, roundabouts or anything. No, it's not an enthusiast's car, is it? No.

They're a bit of a rocket, aren't they? Yeah. They are fast. Yeah. That was going to be my answer

for that. Okay. That's not a bad answer, that. I don't know when that's going to be in the magazine,

by the way, that little cut out bit. Yeah. But it's on one of the buying cars, living with a car

sort of page, isn't it? That sort of thing. But actually, I think I've changed from the M5 to the

I'm thinking a top value Taycan. I'm going to find the best long range I can find,

and my budget is going to be under 50, so 45. I'm prepared. I know that you can see them for

20s and 30s, but I'm prepared to invest a little bit for the best for the right color and the right

car and the right wheels and the long range and all that. Yeah. So the long range is the

slightly lower powered rear drive one, isn't it? Is that right? Got a bigger battery.

Yeah. But there was one. The longest range one was lower powered and rear drive only.

Was it? Is that what you'd like? I think they're fine. I think they're quick enough.

Yeah. And that might, depends where the value is. I think I'd have to do some

investigating because you might find that. But I would lean towards longer range because

the original Taycans were not very good on range where they did get better. But I think

I'd look at them now and I think that the styling is living a really good life. I just think they're

in the right color. They're looking great. And I think we're going to be a bit

surprised at ourselves for being quite giving them such a hard time in midlife as it were.

Yeah. What about an Audi RS e-tron GT? Oh, mate, you hear about those for 20.

Yeah. A good looking car, I think. Good looking car and all the same gubbins.

Yeah. So yeah. I mean, I'm not as smitten by the Audi markers and Porsche, but

that's just silly. It is substantially the same car, isn't it? Yeah. So that's where I am.

That's where you are. That's what I would do. Yeah. So that, so our Stephen, Stephen,

Steve, my head-to-head will be in the mag at some point. We'll have more letters from you in the

inbox and in the magazine. AutoCart at haymarket.com is the way to write to us. And I've got to say

thanks very much for writing because there are some terrific letters and questions around at the

moment. Well, I feel so encouraged by this. You know, people just want to talk cars, don't they?

Yeah. It's lovely. Fantastic. Isn't it? It's really great. I mean,

ridiculous to get paid for this, isn't it? I just, surely at some point they'll turn around and go.

Some shiny bum. Some bean counter is going to say,

of course, you can't do that anymore. I can't do that anymore. What do you mean? You just get

together and talk about cars and we pay you for doing it? That's absurd. Ridiculous. Ridiculous

way to run a business. Thanks for listening. Keep listening. And you could support us by,

if you're going to buy an electric car charger, get it from Anderson, Anderson-EV.com, our sponsors.

They are sort of premium design led chargers, but they're designed, engineered, built in the UK.

Great customer service. Great customer service. Contrary to those service who will sort you out.

And also if you buy one now, there is a 4000 miles slash six month free electricity with

intelligent octopus go tariff. Makes you want to ring them up, don't it? Doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

You'd still have time before closing play today. Indeed. Thank you so much for listening. Steve

and I will be back Wednesday with a regular Mike and Car's Pod. We've got some interviews coming

up over the next few weeks as well to get us through a patch where we're both traveling a bit.

So thanks very much, Mike. Yeah, cheers. See you next time.

Bonus: Steve and Matt have your letters

About this episode

Anderson

Dodge Charger

Peugeot 205

Ford Sierra

Ford Cmax

Peugeot 307

Byd Seal

VW ID3

MG4

Austin 7

ADAS systems

ABS

minimum time you have to learn over

red tape

potholes

rusted terribly

DVLA

supple ride

understeer

3.3 liter V6

KIA's seven year warranty

3.3 litre V6

four-wheel drive

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio

V10

Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio

0 to 60 in under seven seconds

long range

electric car charger

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