The BYD C-Line 5 DMI is a car made by a Chinese company called BYD. It's recognized for being a good car overall, but some people find its ride a bit uncomfortable because the suspension is very firm.
The Tesla Model 3 is a popular electric car that is known for being fast and having a long battery life. It has a simple design inside and comes with many high-tech features.
A plug-in hybrid is a type of car that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. You can charge it by plugging it in, and it can drive on electricity for a short distance before switching to gas.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric van that looks like the old VW Microbus. It's designed to be eco-friendly and uses electricity instead of gas, making it a part of Volkswagen's new line of electric cars.
The Ford E-Transit is an electric version of the regular Transit van. It's made for businesses that need a van for deliveries but want to use electricity instead of gas, helping to reduce pollution.
A kilowatt hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can hold. In electric cars, it helps show how far you can drive before needing to recharge.
The Volkswagen ID.4 is an electric SUV made by VW. It's designed to be spacious and has modern technology, making it a good choice for people looking for an electric vehicle.
The Volkswagen Transporter is a type of van made by VW. It's very practical and can be used for work or family, with different styles to fit various needs.
The Volkswagen Amarok is a pickup truck made by VW. It's built for both work and fun, with a strong design and different engine choices for various needs.
The BMW iX3 is an electric SUV from BMW. It has a stylish interior and can travel up to 500 miles on a single charge, which is impressive for an electric vehicle.
The Renault 5 is a small car made by Renault that was popular in Europe. It was known for its unique look and was produced from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Reliability problems are when a car has issues that make it stop working or not perform well. This can happen for many reasons and can be frustrating for owners.
The Toyota Corolla is a small car that people often choose because it's dependable and doesn't cost a lot to drive. It's popular for being easy to use and is a great option for anyone looking for a reliable vehicle.
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people like because it's dependable and gets good gas mileage. It's been around for a long time and comes in different styles.
The Ford Grand C-Max is a roomy car that's great for families because it has lots of space for passengers and their stuff. It's designed to be easy to drive and practical for everyday use.
An ICE car is a car that runs on gasoline or diesel fuel, using an engine that burns fuel to make it go. This is the type of car most people are familiar with before electric cars became popular.
The Honda Prelude is a sporty two-door car that Honda made for many years. It's known for being fun to drive and has a loyal following among car fans.
Car
Nissan Duke
The Nissan Duke is a small SUV that is popular for city driving. It has a unique look and offers different engine choices, including some that use both gasoline and electricity.
The E-Force powertrain is a type of hybrid engine that uses electricity to power the car instead of just gasoline. It can feel different to drive because the engine doesn't directly move the wheels.
The Nissan X-Trail is a larger SUV compared to the Duke, making it suitable for families. It has more room and can handle different types of roads better.
A facelift is when a car gets a small update to improve its look or features, but it's not a completely new model. This can include changes to the headlights, bumpers, or interior.
The Audi A6 e-tron is an electric car that is part of Audi's A6 series. It's designed to be luxurious and high-tech, representing Audi's move towards electric vehicles.
The Genesis GV60 is a new electric SUV that offers a lot of luxury and modern technology. It's designed to be a comfortable and stylish choice for those looking for an electric vehicle.
The Genesis G90 is a big, fancy car that feels very luxurious inside. It's made for people who want a comfortable ride with lots of high-quality features.
The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that can go really fast and doesn't need gas. It has lots of cool tech features, like being able to drive itself a little bit, which makes it stand out from regular cars.
LIVE
I'm Alex, he's Jim, and this is the Charging Status EV podcast. How are you doing, Jim?
I'm good. How are you? I'm not too bad. Not too bad. I sounded dangerously kind of happy
and positive there, didn't I? Yeah. Don't let it fool you, Jim. It's not
I'm a miserable bastard. Angry at the world. By the way, sorry about all the rubble in the
background as has become the norm. If you can see that in this video, hopefully you can't,
hopefully it's been nicely cropped out by wonderful James. If you can see the rubble in
the background, sorry about that. You might be able to see, I've still got my Christmas tree up
because I'm a lazy bastard. Hopefully you can't see that, but I will take that down today. Is it
a Greg's Christmas tree? Have you got any Greg's ornaments? There's, there's an M&S Percy pig on
there. Oh yeah. There's a Costa bore ball, and there's a few other bits and pieces. There is some,
yeah, Costa coffee. You've gone off brand. Oh yeah, it's one from ages ago to be fair.
Yeah. So yeah, we're recording this on the 26th of Jan. We did meet up, this feels like possibly
two days ago, but it was actually nearly a week ago. We met up in the delightful town that has
all of the sights and sounds of Talford. And we drove the non electric BYD C-Line 5 DMI,
which was a pretty decent car really. So we spent the morning to go filming that for our
channels. What did you think of it? I generally thought it was pretty decent. The one downside of
it is that the suspension is really hard. And obviously we saw the same thing with the C-L6
was that it seemed to be a really quite a decent car with really high suspension.
Yeah, when I drove it after you went home, it was a bit stiff. I don't know.
But I actually, I'd say after about 15 minutes in it, I did feel a little bit sicky.
The ride was that choppy. So I'm not really sure why. I haven't driven the CLU, which is its
bigger cousin, I guess. It's the same sort of thing isn't just bigger, but I'd imagine,
hopefully that's not the same thing. But I don't know why they've chosen such
stiff suspension. I think it's probably just been set up for another market and they've just
delivered it here where what they need to do for the UK variants is change things up a bit,
particularly in Shropshire, where I found the roads to be absolutely atrocious.
Oh, they're awful. Oh, so many giant potholes on A roads. My poor old model three suspension
took an absolute battering a couple of times. So much so on one occasion when I stopped to charge,
I actually got out and checked to make sure the wheels were still pointing in the right
direction because it took such a bang. And it was one of those where there were so many
potholes I couldn't get out of the way and I had a split second really to work out which one I was
Yeah, that part of the world isn't they have never really had the best of my roads to be honest.
But yeah, it's a it's a bit out of the way for you. That was about four hours, I think from your
place. But yeah, a bit of a strange place to have a car launch. But yeah, it took me about five to
get home. Oh, geez. Yeah, the weather was pretty shocking though. And I'm not one of those people
when it when it's banging down and blowing a hoolly and you've got no visibility. I don't do
80 on the motorway when it's like that. Good. Unlike a lot of the other people using the road
that day. Yeah. And it was hideous. And then obviously there are accidents because people
do still drive low idiots in any weather. And I was just so knackered. I stopped about three times
with a quick charge and a coffee. McDonald's I got the coffee by the way. Again, don't hate me
for it. And yeah, it was just just felt like a slog going on from that one. Yeah. But it was a
typically understated event from BYD I thought. Yeah. It was it was pretty pretty much but I thought
the car really at the price point, you not get anything plug and hybrid of that size
for that price really. Well, mghs. Hmm. How much is up? That's less, I think, or very similar
money. Yeah, 75 miles of range on the plug in hybrid one as well. Oh, wow. So that's that. Well,
it starts at 31 and a half. And the top spec trophy is just under 35. So it's very similar money.
Very similar. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think it's really quite decent competition for it.
Yeah. The MG looks better. Yeah. And it also has a bigger battery as well. So yeah. But mghs typically
like a more of a BYD are trying to pitch themselves as like very mid market, aren't they,
where MG has always been pitched a bit more as kind of entry levels, the wrong word, but more
of a like a value brand, if you like. Yeah, whenever I get into BYD, I'm always shocked
to how good quality everything is. Yeah. But everything is really screwed together really
nicely. All the seat materials are nice. Yeah, it's they do seem really, really good quality
vehicles. Yeah. So yeah, that's good. Nice. Yeah, your views out on your channel right now. And
then my review probably probably be out by the time this podcast goes out. So I'll put some links
in the show notes for those. So all good. That one is a plug in hybrid is a plug in hybrid rather
than a fully V and obviously, yeah, we're on an EV podcast, but because we both cover
lots of different stuff, I think we have to include some plug in hybrids in this, don't we?
Times to time. I think that's all good. Yeah. You drove there in the VW
electric van, didn't you, the transporter? Yeah, the e-transporter, yeah. It's weird,
because if you, that round is quite expensive. And if you look at, if you go on VW's website,
look at the IDBuzz cargo versus the e-transporter. In every single metric apart from one or two,
the transporter's worse. Like it's got a smaller battery, less range, less efficiency, but
for those who don't know, it's basically a rebadged e-transit and then VW and Ford have this
ongoing relationship where they share cars and van platforms. And the only real thing I can see
the difference is, is the towing capacity, because electric vans don't typically have
cargo vans specifically, don't typically have the best towing performance. And this one's pretty
decent. And that's really the only thing that seems to be going for it. You can get it as a
combi as well, can't you? You can get it as a combi van or you can get it as a shuttle van as well.
So there is a bit more flexibility in terms of the different sort of layouts you can get on it.
But it is really expensive. I think the one I had was a top spec version, it was about 55 grand
without the VAT knocked off. So once you knock those things off and maybe lease it,
it probably would make a bit more sense on paper. Is it not 55 plus fat or is it ink fat?
I think it's 55 including. Right, okay. Yeah. And the lease prices are like
30 quid a month more than the PV5 at the moment. Yeah. And if you need... I'd still get the PV5
over it, I think. But yeah, obviously it depends on your particular use case, etc.
Yeah, definitely. It's the PV5 doesn't have three seats in the front where this one does.
The PV5 is a little bit smaller and it also doesn't have the best towing performance on
the cargo version. So if you need those different bits and pieces, it makes a lot more sense.
Thankfully, the one I had was a 65 kilowatt hour battery and they've actually refreshed it since
I think in the last few months. So I've got a 70 kilowatt battery, a 7 kilowatt hour battery
and the charging performance is a bit better than it used to be. So they've improved it
in the last few months, which is good. But for a van that has the same size battery as the Kia,
and the Kia has got 40, 50 more miles range, it's... Yeah, it doesn't look quite so good on paper, but
with these sort of things, the companies would be leasing them, wouldn't they? On the fleet leases
and stuff, and I imagine they're quite good value. So yeah, yeah. Still though, when you look at it
against the PV5, even if they were the same price, you'd think, hmm, I know for some people,
it's going to be a more practical thing than the PV5, but probably that number is quite a small one.
Yeah. Yeah, it's a tough one. But I guess if it's... They've just repurposed an
existing platform, they might have done it with very low expectations for sales and stuff. I don't
know. I don't know. But yeah. Yeah. I think it's a weird one, isn't it? Because on the car side of
things, I think Ford have done very well from the tie up with VW, because you could argue that
some of the Fords are better than the equivalent VWs. And that's probably just because they've
released the Ford version two or three years after the VW one came out. You get in the Explorer,
it's not going to have some of the issues that, or some of the frustrations you might have had,
like with an ID for, for example. But on the van side of things, you think, actually, VW
haven't done that well. No. The tie in with Ford. No, I think all of, apart from the crafter,
all of VW's commercial vehicles now are Fords. So the Amarok is a Ford, the Caddy is, I believe.
And so is the, well, the new transporters. So yeah, it's weird. And it's surprising how long,
because usually commercial vehicles, it's all, they're all platform sharing. And it's for a
very, very long time. Only Ford and VW have done it on their own. So it's only, it's kind of only a
matter of time. But yeah, you're right. I think the, the, I think Ford have done possibly better
out of it than VW have. But yeah, yeah, there you go. Big news at the time we're recording this.
Actually, it's past the time we're recording this. But I put one of my news round up videos
out yesterday. And one of the things was that the BMW iX3 won car of the year at the Watcar
Awards. Oh, wow. And I said, you know, I can see why it's moving things forward, the interiors
very bold, like it's going to be quite an important car for BMW being the first one of their new
class, etc. And of course, it's, you could get 500 miles of range. And, you know, maybe this is an
to range anxiety. And people went mental in the comments saying, how can you make a car of the
year car that costs 56,000 pounds? And someone said, if that's the case, my car of the years,
I can't remember what they said, but like the RIMAC or something. And I thought it raised an
interesting point that I don't agree with. Because what, what are your thoughts on this? What should
car of a year of the year be? They were like, I think the last time I looked that comment had like
25 thumbs up on it or something. And and about five or six responses saying this, yes. But
does car of the year have to be an every man type vehicle? Or can it be the best thing for that money
or the best car in its class or the best overall? Or what do you think car of the year should be?
Because it usually depends on, because there's a couple of ones, isn't it? So this one has been a,
it's a, an outlets decision. So they've, what I've decided to make that car of the year. There's
also the European one, isn't there? Like a everyone load of journalists come up and vote and whatever.
Yeah. So I don't change one as well now. Is there? Yeah. Yeah. So I don't really know what
criteria they set themselves internally. They'd be quite interesting to see what they decide.
But maybe it's maybe it was a combination of like social reaction or like cultural reaction to the
car. The Renault five probably deserved what it got last year, the year before, because it sort of
captured everyone's imagination, didn't it? I think. And so that makes sense. But
I don't know. It's probably, it's probably, as I said, it's probably down to what,
to what, what kind of, what kind of side internally of what, what their most impressive thing
that was released in 2025 was and probably based on the range that was achieved and the
design decision that BMW's made, it probably probably made sense. But I don't know.
My biggest problem with it getting car of the year for 2025 is that it hasn't been released yet
and we're in 2026. Yeah. That's weird. Yeah. And that happens a lot, doesn't it? Like something
wins car of the year before anyone's bought one or had the opportunity to buy one.
Yeah. Cause someone might buy that based on that. Yeah. And then it might have,
it might have reliability problems. You never know. Yeah. Yeah. Fall off after week one. So.
Yeah. And that's obviously that's something that we never know, do we? If I mean, we've driven
that BYD the other day, that might be the car in 10 years that everyone's saying,
if you want a car that just doesn't ever break down, just get one of those that might,
instead of saying get Toyota Corolla, we might start saying, get one, get one of those. Yeah.
Or it could be an absolute bag of nails. We don't know.
And that's, that's really, someone gave me a load of grief the other day in one of my reviews,
saying like, why, why are you recommending this car? Because like cars they've made in the past
have been really unreliable and it was an MG or something. Right. I don't know if this one's going
to be or not. I've spent two hours with it and I've made a first impressions video.
Yeah. I've got no idea. And in the video, I think I even say they've had a
checkered reliability history, but this is a new platform, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah. No. So we'll see how it goes. Yeah. That's why it's really important for them,
those type of videos to be sort of labeled as such, rather than just review, which is a bit.
Yeah. On what car's website, it says factors including how good a car is to drive and how
comfortable it is, as well as interior quality, usability, practicality, reliability, safety
value and running costs. So it isn't just, we like this one, it is a bit, sounds like a bit more
that goes into it. So, yeah. I mean, I know 56 grand sounds like a lot of money and it is,
but it's not. I was just going to make the exact same point. Yeah. It's a BMW with 500 miles of
range. I don't know if the 56 grand one's got 500 miles of range, by the way. I don't know. I don't
know if there's a couple of battery options or, but like, when you think about it, it's 10 grand
more than a Tesla Model Y. Yeah. Because when I saw that car, I thought, oh, I'll be 70 grand.
Like, easy. Yeah. Yeah. Same here. Yeah. In fact, I think we saw it in Munich, didn't we? And I
think we both said, it's really nice, but it's going to be like 70 grand or something. Yeah.
Yeah. Very, very possible. I don't think it's a shocking price. But by, I think probably a lot
of people that make those kind of comments don't realize how much cars cost now.
No, like cars are expensive. Really average cars cost sometimes. Yeah.
But yeah, it's, yeah, car of the year anyway. Yeah. So, yeah, it's from 58 grand. I mean,
obviously, BMWs go up really, really high in terms of, yeah, that will get you 500 miles of range.
That's got the 100, yeah, for 58 grand, you get 108.7 kilowatt hour battery with 500 miles of range.
So there you go. Right. Yeah. So it's, yeah. And 400 kilowatt charging, 11 kilowatt ACs.
It's at the cost of that battery as well. Like then, oh my God. Yeah. A lot of money's gone into
that battery. Yeah. Nowhere near as it probably was five years ago. It's probably come down a heck of
a lot. But it's still, I didn't, I didn't actually expect it to have this battery at that price to
be fair to it. So, yeah, I think, I think I had a comment on a Honda Civic video the other day.
It was like, oh, well, yeah, of course it's good. It's 30 grand. Will you be surprised how many cars
are crap at 30 grand? Exactly. Yeah. Or just very basic for 30 grand. Yeah. I mean, go and look at
a 30 grand Ford and tell me that feels like a 30 grand car. You know, yeah. And then compare it to
the Honda Civic. Yeah. And the Honda Civic feels like it's in a different league to something
like a 30 grand, I don't know, Ford Cougar or Puma. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't feel remotely
like a fair fight. No, actually, I've got one of those arriving tomorrow. The new updated version,
so be quite nice. Of the Civic? The Civic. Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. This was a new one.
Well, it's a very light tickle. Oh, right. One of those facelifts that when nothing's changed.
It's like a moustache trim. That's about it. Yeah. But I do like the Civic.
Is it the, is it 1.8 hybrid? No, two litre, isn't it?
Yes. I haven't even looked at the spec sheet, so not really sure.
Yeah. That's one new ICE car that I would still buy. Oh, yeah, 100%. I think it's an amazing car
and an amazing chassis. And I love it. And that's why I really want to try the prelude as soon as possible.
Me too. That's going to make my special place feel funny. I know.
So there's the episode title right there.
Dear me. Jim's special place. Yeah. Yeah.
What have you got? What have you got coming up?
So I, today I've got a cash cow being delivered. Oh, cool. Yeah. I just, I don't know how I've got
this far along with the cash cow having had a refresh and I haven't done it because obviously
for my audience, that's going to be a car that lots of people are potentially interested in,
especially with like the lease deals and obviously they always get loads of them on
motability, et cetera. And people buying a new car, you know, cash guys do really,
really well just with private buyers. So it's definitely time I had to look at that.
It's the E-Force, I think, which I've tested the E-Force powertrain in the Duke before and I
wasn't a fan of how it works at all. It's one of those hybrid systems, much like the Honda,
I think. I'll have to revisit when I'm doing my research, but I think it's one of those where
the engine never actually drives the wheels. It's, you know, putting energy into the battery
and the electric motors are driving the wheels. But I remember it being a bit agricultural and
feeling like a car with a petrol generator attached. I mean, it's a long time ago since I
did that. But it seems to remember I much preferred the... God.
What's the other Nissan SUV? The X-Trail. X-Trail. There we go. Yeah, I quite like the X-Trail.
So, I mean, I don't know. We'll see if I like it or not.
I tested the 70-E cash car last year. It was good.
So, yeah, it was good. That was the E-Force, was it?
Yes, I think it was, yeah. Oh, okay.
Yeah, I tested the pre- facelift the year before, I think one month after the new one got announced,
and then tested the new one last year. So, yeah. Right.
Watch out the way around it was. But yeah, that's decent car, so...
Cool. Cool, yeah. And then, what was it, the week after I've got the Audi A6 e-tron coming?
With the estate? Yeah. Yeah, nice. I said that confidently. I'm pretty sure it's the estate,
but I'm not 100%. I'm really looking forward to that because that's a car that I should love
because I always loved big Audi saloons in the States. But like thus far,
I've been a little bit underwhelmed by the EVs I've had from Audi.
Yeah. So, we'll see. I'm really looking forward to it though, and I'm going to try and do a couple
of really decent long trips in it because I want to test it, test it. Nice.
Yeah, I've not heard amazing things about Audi's EVs, but I haven't driven any to be
first. No, but I mean, I was talking to Batch a while ago, and he said that's the one.
He said, like, that really impressed him, and he'd been a bit mere with some of the others. So,
yeah, we'll see. Sounds good. What about you? What have you got?
Well, as I said, I've got the Civic tomorrow, which is Tuesday, and then after that, I've
got the new Model Y performance, which I'm not a massive fan of how the standard Model Y looks.
I just think it looks a bit odd, but this one looks really good. Oh, what? The standard that is in
the cheap one, the new one? Oh, sorry, what I mean is... Or the regular Model Y. So,
so I'm not a fan of how the normal Model Y looks like, you know, the premium trims.
That's what I mean. Yeah. It's with the light bar. It just looks a little bit odd, I think,
whereas the Y performance, I think the added design things have added to it. It makes it look
awesome. Yeah. So, I'd be quite impressed with that. And I was gobsmacked at how good the
three performance was last year. Yeah. Really something. Yeah, really something, really. So,
be quite good fun. I haven't driven the three performance. Maybe not. No, I've got the Y
performance next month, I think. So, I'm looking forward to that. But yeah, I see, obviously,
there's a Tesla dealership at the end of my road. So, I see the performance version all the time,
and it does look so much better, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. It looks really good. I probably still
never buy one simply because of the price difference. And I think the standard one is quick enough.
Yeah. But yeah, I'm cute. I'd love, as a car, I'd love to take around a track, by the way,
just see if it's a proper performance car or if it just goes really fast in a straight line.
Yeah. I was, I want to take the three performance out last year that I was,
took it around some nice roads, wherever I was. I was with James from BV actually,
and we were doing some film with the car and then took it on some nice lanes. And
it really came alive. It was so much, it was just that little bit better than the standard threes.
It was really agile. That chassis looks so good, though. Like, in the standard ones,
the chassis is brilliant. And it's very good. I can imagine the performance version would be
wonderful. Yeah, it was really good. Yeah. So, yeah. And then after that, I've got a
handful of Genesis EVs, which is nice. Nice to be back in Genesis cars. So,
they'd be quite nice. What have you got coming up? Is this all the new updated
lineup? Yeah. Yeah. The new GV70 and then the new G80 as well. They're sometime in February
though, so a little bit later on, but we'll probably get onto those in the next few episodes.
But yeah, all good. Cool. And then the new GV60 is around the corner, or is it already with us?
The new GV60 came out in September, I believe. I think I reviewed that one.
Oh, you mean the Magma version? That's the one I mean, is the Magma. Oh, that one's pretty soon,
I think. Not sure when. Yeah. But, oh, yeah, that's bonkers, that thing. I can't believe they've
actually made that. No. I don't know if we spoke about the pseudo gears into all the Kia GT stuff
as well, even though it's not super super fast. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's an
interesting time. It is. I don't know if we've spoken about it, but do you see that concept
that Genesis released a few months ago? The G90 state, whatever it was, I think? Oh, yeah.
It just looks like a baddies car. It does. Yeah, bon filler. Yeah, looks brilliant. Yeah. I don't
think it parked in a garage. I think it has to be like a lair in the side of a mountain
for a bolder shift and you drive into the darkness. Yeah, I really wish they made that. It looks so
good. Yeah, it does look like an absolute beast, that thing. Did you see our Chum Jonathan who's
over in Spain at the moment spotted the Jag EVs being tested out in the wild?
Yeah, or camo up. They must have driven those from the UK down to Spain, which is great, but yeah.
Yeah, but there seems to be loads of testing going on, where he is, like south of Spain.
I wonder if they do some of the maybe WLTP stuff or I'm not sure. I've got absolutely no idea of
how that's done. I'd love to actually learn a bit about that and do a video about it at some point.
But I wonder if they do that because it's warm climate and I don't know.
Well, they probably want to test it in the warm. Nice straight roads. Yeah.
I mean, well, they probably just decided, we need to go and do some testing. We'll go and do it in
Spain. Yeah, let's do it in Spain rather than Barnsley.
Oh, actually, I saw an interesting job posting on LinkedIn this morning.
It was for a brand manager for Rivian in the UK. Oh, wow. They're gearing up very soon to launch,
I think. So, yeah. God, I'd be quite up for that.
Wow. Yeah, that's a brand I'm very interested by. I mean, I've sat in all their stuff
over the years and it's just, I don't know, it just appeals to me in quite a big way.
Yeah, that's good. I love the pickup where you've got that sort of utility space behind the
second row of seats and you can have a pullout kitchen or, I don't know, like any number of
any things in there really. I've seen a workbench for tools and stuff and it's just so well designed,
I think. I'm not in love with the front end of the Rivian stuff, like the headlight,
the face, if you like, but everything else about that brand excites me.
Yeah, be very cool, hopefully at some point. Apart from their balance sheet.
Are they not doing too well financially? No. Oh, right. But VW have invested like
five or six billion into them, I think? Oh, yes. Yeah, the ID1 is going to have their software,
isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably a really good partnership for both brands.
So it'll help VW push on and obviously Rivian need money because it's so difficult. It's like with
the rival Vans. When you start a new car company, it must be so difficult already,
but then when you decide to R&D everything, I know Tesla did it, but even then they had some,
I think they bought in like the earlier ones, like Model S's and stuff had
some of the Switch gear was from Mercedes, was it? I noticed this. On the Model S that I
borrowed over Christmas, the gear select on the right hand side, it reminded me of,
I'd seen it in a Chinese car before, so I think it was a standard part that you just can buy.
It was oddly familiar to me. I couldn't remember what car it was from, but yeah.
So yeah. By the way, every Chinese car seems to have that same driver information display.
It's weird, isn't it? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, it's utterly bizarre. I wonder if it's like a government-issued
driver information display. I did ask one of the PRs at BYD about it, and he said to me that
BYD makes everything.
It might be that other people buy it from BYD.
I would totally convince that he knew what I was talking about, but yeah, it could be that
BYD produces everything and it just gets sold to every car company and they all chip in on the
R&D or something, or at the end of the day, the ultimate owner of all those companies is
probably the same. Yeah.
If you get my meaning, wink, wink. Yeah, I know what I mean.
Yeah. No, they do seem to be, yeah, so it's an odd one, but it makes sense if Y makes something
twice. Yeah. And all these other companies aren't quite as big as BYDs. If BYD is making them,
then why wouldn't you buy it from them if it's cheaper?
It's a shame, though, because on every one of those vehicles that have got it,
that's the worst part of the interior.
Yeah, because the color, what do you call it? The difference in colors, yeah.
Yeah. I mean, you can put it into night mode, which improves it, but still, it's not
super fantastic, is it? No.
There are better out there, but contrast, that's the words I'm talking for.
There you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, it's also a little bit messy in terms of all the icons on the screens as well.
It's a little bit confusing. It feels like we've spent loads of money on the interior,
and the fit and finish, and the seats feel really nice, and this, and this, and this,
and then we've bought a knock-off iPad from Teemu, and Fat Dave in IT has spent his lunch break
coming up with some software for it. Oh, dear. Yeah. Yeah. I did my infotainment review of that
BYD, but I couldn't do the app, because the cars hadn't been set up for the mobile phone
service on the car, so all the SIM cards felt a little bit annoying, but yeah.
Send me your link, by the way, when it's released. I will do.
And I'm supposed to get on the video description. This week. Cool. Thank you. Yeah.
I'll get you an extra three views. Yeah, it will be three views, probably. Yeah. Yeah.
I think everyone's stopped watching my video now, so it's weird with reviews, though, isn't it?
You get the initial views, and then it really slows down, and then sometimes, months later,
it suddenly starts to pick up again. The ones that do really well, I've noticed,
always seems to be the cherry brands. Yeah, they do. Yeah. So, the Tigo 9 I reviewed
whenever that was last year, sometime. It's still doing really, really well.
Yeah. And they have really good cars. I'm not really sure why they do so well.
My amazing ones done amazingly. I think it's my best ever car review.
That's my best ever car review video as well. Yeah. I think it's because the big channels
don't bother with them. Yeah, which I'm not sure why, because they're really good.
Because that mode denying, the only videos that came out sort of immediately, I think,
was me, you and Tish, and all of us got really good views. Yeah. Yeah. Which is weird, because
I see a lot of them around, because the mode iron is quite distinctive from the front end. I see a
load of them around on the road. They're obviously quite popular with people to buy. So, yeah.
I don't know. It's a weird one. It is odd, isn't it? I'm looking at my
top videos in the last 48 hours. And number, let's have a look, 10 on that list is the Emoda 9
review, which was ages ago. I mean, it must have been, I don't know, what was it? Like,
that's July. It was July, was it? Yeah, I think so. It's a long time. I mean, because I've put so
many videos out. Yeah. You know, it's very unusual for a video that old to be in my top 10.
Yeah. And I spend most of the video, I think, saying, well, I've only got this for 50 minutes,
and I've got to make a video. And kind of saying, not take it with a pinch of salt, but
trying to tell people that whatever my thoughts on this car, I'm driving it for 50 minutes.
You know, so bear that in mind. It's not a car that I've spent a week with and done all kinds
of different driving with and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it's difficult sometimes. So,
because there's stuff in cars I noticed where I've probably noticed it on day three out of seven.
I was like, ah, cool. I'm glad I didn't film that yesterday because I've now noticed it today.
And stuff that happens once. Yep. And that happens to be, I mean, I've had it before where it's
happened the day after I filmed, because sometimes you have to look at the weather, don't you? And
think, yeah, but I'd like to, ideally, I'd always film the day before it goes back.
And I always try to do that. But if the weather's atrocious, sometimes you've got to do it like
the day after you get it or something. And if so, well, I'll go out on a really long drive that
morning and try and get as much as many different kind of roads, surfaces. I'll try and do dual
carriageway. I'll try and do B roads. I'll literally always, always take test cars into
Sainsbury's car park and that kind of stuff just because that's all the stuff people do every day
and how easy is it to get into a supermarket parking space and then get out of the car.
And all the boring stuff that people actually want to do because I would hate someone to go and buy
a car based on my review. And then they find out all that stuff like the week after it's delivered.
And, you know, I haven't told them because I've been too bloody lazy or something. Yeah.
Um, which is why I always try and make a point of saying like first drive when
like with the BYD, it was a launch event. We didn't have that long with a car.
It was one car between two of us. And you all you can really give is your initial impressions,
isn't it? Yeah, I think because of lack of time, I think I only drove that car for 20 minutes
the entire time I was filming. Yes. Yeah, it just just happens. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're up front
and you say it's my initial impressions. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's
about about that for this episode. People enough. Have we today? I think so. Again. Yeah.
Yeah. If you want to give people what they've what they used to so they keep coming back for it.
So yeah, if you're still alive and you want more of this come back next week. Yeah. If you
haven't fallen asleep at the wheel, um, yeah, come back next time. Yeah. Um, if people want to
find out more about you and what you do, where can they find you online, Jim? My website, which is
not a guru.co.uk and I'm putting a bit more effort into that at the moment, trying to update new
stories and stuff. Um, some of them are actually written by me and not by AI of some kind. Um,
but not by child labor. My daughter has a new part time job occasionally.
And yeah, that's not guru.co.uk. And of course my website and my YouTube channel is definitely
not a guru. Not about you, Alex. Where can people find you? You can find my website where there is
some news and review content on there, written stuff, um, the interface.uk and then all my car
review, um, EV charging guides, impertainment stuff, all on the interface cars on the YouTubes.
All good. Yeah. And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. We're trying to get it to above
three figures at some point in the next 10 years. So, um, uh, you can listen to this podcast on
YouTube and also in audio platforms too. So definitely go and give us a follow on whatever
platform you choose to use. Yeah. Thanks for the people that have joined us on YouTube, by the
way. We've seen the, I mean, the views are still low, even for our two lowly channels, but, um,
we have seen a quite big increase on YouTube, uh, subscriptions and views. So if you are one of
those new YouTube viewers, please do remember to subscribe on YouTube as well as following on your
podcast platform of choice. Nice. Uh, again, thanks. Thank you for listening and we'll see
you
About this episode
A lively discussion unfolds as Alex and Jim share their experiences with the BYD C-Line 5 DMI, highlighting its stiff suspension and overall decent quality. They also delve into the VW e-transporter, comparing it to the Kia and discussing its pricing and practicality. The conversation shifts to the recent Watcar Awards, sparking a debate on what defines 'Car of the Year.' With insights on various upcoming vehicles and their unique features, this episode is packed with automotive insights and humor.
This time, Alex and Jim are back to discuss a recent BYD Sealion 5 launch event they both attended, which involved some truly atrocious roads and giant potholes for Jim's Tesla. Other than a plug-in hybrid on an EV podcast, there is some conversation about what it takes to become Car of the Year and what cars they're both driving soon.
