Light Bulbs with Graeme Cobb

Hi, I'm Alex. He's Jim. And this is the Charging Status EV podcast. How are you doing, Jim?

I'm very well, Alex. We've got special guests with us again.

We have. An illustrious guest as the phrase has been coined by yourself. So we're joined

today by Graham Cobb. If you spend a lot of time on Twitter or X, as it's called,

EV circles on that platform, then you might be aware of Graham and his quite insightful post

about the EV market, what things are selling, Teslas and EV use deals as well. So how are you doing,

Graham? Yeah, good. Thanks. Probably on there a bit too much, but yeah. Yeah, thank you so much

for joining us. You're like the fifth beetle of this podcast, I think. She's done more to

promote this podcast than either myself or Alex, I think. So long as you're not comparing you on

to Ye Kawaino, I'll be all right with that. We're not going to ask you to sing, because I've seen

like Ye Kawaino as well. But yeah, your support of this show has been, it's greatly appreciated,

and thanks for sharing on all the different social media platforms. And that has been a

pleasure. Yeah, it's been a pleasure. Thanks very much. And Graham's actually

flirting with his own content now as well. So here's your chance to put a plug out there.

Yeah, I think flirting is quite an optimistic. I've done about eight, I think, and had a big

gap over Christmas. So I think my YouTube channel is called Rev-EV or something on YouTube.

Very hard to find. But yeah, I thought I'd give it a go, just a brain dump,

really, of stuff. So that's what that's about. It's really good. I'm massively impressed,

actually, because if I do a five minute talking head video, it's got about 185 cuts in and

2,000 uses of, and then I have to go off on several thousand different tangents that don't

make any sense to the actual thing I've started to talk about. But so yeah, I'm

I'm mightily impressed and you should continue onward. Thank you very much. I shall try and

keep it up this year and see where it takes me. Cool. Sounds good. I thought this episode,

we could have a chat with Graham a little bit about what he does and how he got into EVs potentially.

But also, as it is the new year, and as the start of a sort of a brand new release of vehicles,

we could have a look at what our favorite EV that was released in 2025 was. But also,

and probably more excitingly, what new models are due to be released in 2026.

Have a little little chat about yourself. So what sort of thing got you into electric

vehicles specifically? Because I think I think everyone's kind of entry into it is a little bit

different, isn't it? Yeah, light bulbs. That's how I got into EVs. Well, I should roll back

a little bit is when we bought this house, and it needed a lot of work doing to it. And

there were like chandeliers in every room with like 360 watt light bulbs on each. And they were

just like everywhere, all stairs landing every single room. And I think because we moved in in

like November 2009, I think it was our first electricity bill with something like one and a

half grand. So wow. And Alex has seen my house. It's not, you know, I don't live in a palace.

It's just a three bed semi. But but that kind of got me into looking at how to save money on energy.

And so then I started looking into these new funky LED light bulbs that that came along,

which were really expensive to start with. But gradually, I just put them in throughout the

whole house. I mean, the kitchen had like 2050 watt halogen bulbs in it. So it's like a

killer, what a lighting in the kitchen. So yeah, we started I think we started with half a kitchen

because the light bulbs are so expensive back then. And then we did the other half of the kitchen

and it just like our builders dropped overnight. And that got me into loads of other stuff around

the home to try and save energy. And of course, the natural thing from that was there were I

think in the feeding tariff for solar panels was ending in like 2015. So we got in there before

that ended. So I've got the solar panels on the roof. And I was trying to find an episode of

Red Dwarf on YouTube. And I stumbled across Robert Llewellyn on fully charged and talking

about these EVs. And I say like anti EV at the time as well, it was extraordinary because I was

with petrolhead. And he just started talking about these EVs. And I thought I like him.

So I'm going to watch it because it might be funny. And then it just blew my mind. And I did a bit

more research online and looked into it. And then a year later, I went and bought a BMW i3.

It's my first electric car. And so that was 2016. And that's kind of how I

segued into EVs. And I did that because at the time, I think I was doing around about

20,000 miles a year. And I preferred a petrol car over a diesel.

Yep. Because it didn't make my wife vomit. And which weirdly, the diesel car I had before did.

That lasted about I've never heard anything so romantic.

That was my excuse anyway.

I just got better from there. Anyway, so yeah, I bought an EV back in 2016 and you didn't have

like EV tariffs back then. So we just had the standard like over energy tariff. And it was like,

I don't know, 14, 15 per kilowatt hour. But it just cut my fuel bill by about 90%

overnight. And that was like the big wake up call really. And that's that's how I got

into EVs. And it's just been, you know, happy days over since I did have a plug-in hybrid in between.

But but that that was at a time when my my father who lives in or lived in Litchfield,

north of Birmingham, fell ill. And my little i3 wouldn't get up there yet on a charge quickly

from work. And I work at Heathrow. So it's quite a track. So when that went back,

it was on a lease. So when that went back, I bought a plug-in hybrid, because I was hoping that the

Model 3 would be out by then. And it wasn't quite ready in time. So that was 2018, I think it was.

Yeah, I bought a plug-in hybrid for three years and then got into the Tesla after that.

I must say that's a very impressive first EV though, an i3. I still think the i3 is a

brilliant car. Yeah, I've still got a real soft spot for the i3. I really have. I mean,

there's some things that were a bit quirky. We did consider buying it for Nicky, my wife.

But we just had all the work done on the house and we just couldn't quite stretch to it.

Otherwise, we would have probably bought that. Yeah. And that was just the light bulb budget.

Yeah.

When you ride that car, that car came out in 2013 and it looks like it was released last year.

So yeah, I think it came out in 2013. Is it 22 kilowatt hour? And I bought the 33 kilowatt hour

when it launched. And that was really efficient actually. I was getting like in the depths of

winter, 120 miles of range from that. It was incredible. And then 170 miles of range in the

summer months. And I specced up with like the pro navigation as well. So I had the big screen.

Yeah. It was such a nice car. Such a nice car. But it had a few bits that annoyed us,

like the rear doors, because we got dogs and they sit on the back seat and get buckled in.

And it's like you have to open all the doors to get the dogs in the rear. That was annoying.

And parents as well, they couldn't work that one out. And what was the other thing? There's

only little like niggly little niggles that really kind of weren't major issue, but we're just

slightly irritating. I think the other one was like that particular one. It was before the

i3s. It had really skinny wheels on it. And on the motor, I'd get blown about if the lorry

went past or something or a large van or something I'd get blown about. That was it. I think that

resolved that with the i3s with the bigger bigger wheels on it, or the wider wheels.

But yeah, it was a brilliant car. Really loved it. Yeah. Yeah, great, great things. I've

still got a hankering for one now. Hankering is a new word for the podcast. I think I used it

three times in a recent episode. So I'm going to go with that. It's going to become a catchphrase,

but yeah, I think like the i3s definitely still appeals. I love the fact that it's,

you know, one of the quirkiest things you could possibly get. And it's from BMW.

Yeah, it is. Yeah. It's so far ahead of its time, like Alex said, you know,

and it still looks fresh now. You know, it's such a great car. It's a shame they didn't

kind of do a mark two of it and call it an i1 or something. Yeah. And because it is brilliant,

it's a really, yeah, really good car. So add a little frunk on it as well.

Yeah, really? Yeah. That's quite cool. Yeah. Nice. Nice.

Yeah, so we have a look at sort of our favorite EVs. I mean, me and Jim drive a lot of EVs

every year, but so it's probably a little bit difficult to sort of gauge which ones are

are going to be the best, the best ones, if you know what I mean. But what about you, Jim? What was

the, I think, I think what we look at is what they like to drive also, but also I think

I guess how they're sort of being received and the design, I guess. Maybe just how it

makes you feel. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that's a good idea. We probably, we might all

have a different definition of what the best one is. I think the best all-round EV you can get

at the moment is Tesla Model 3. But my favorite EV from 2025 was the Hyundai Insta, which and part

of that will be, I think, possibly because I went to the launch event thinking, I don't

particularly like the look of this that much. And I wasn't that interested in it. And I saw it in

the flesh and thought, actually, that looks cool. It's different and weird and quirky. And it was

just so much fun to drive and all that quirkiness. I think because probably because we do drive so

many cars, it's so rare that something feels like night and day different to everything else

you've been driving. But the actual driving experience as well, I mean, they had a brilliant

route for us on that launch and time to do the route and still make a video, which is

unbelievable on the launch event. And it was lots of twisty A roads and B roads. And it was

glorious. I had as much fun in that Hyundai Insta as I would have in a BMW Z4.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Although I probably would have looked more like someone with a midlife crisis in

the Z4 versus the Insta where I probably looked like someone in their child's car.

Honestly, such a good thing. It impressed me that much that I'd say that's probably my favorite.

I mean, I don't get to drive these cars, but I do go and see them at the car shaves and stuff.

And I sat in that Insta and I was in the back of it and I was just astonished by the leg room in

there. It was enormous. Yeah. Absolutely enormous. And it's like a seven series in the back.

Literally stretch your legs right out. So on a long journey, if you don't have loads of

baggage, that's going to be pretty comfortable to be in the back of that. And the fact that you can

pop that passenger seat completely flat, you could use it as a desk if need be. I mean,

at the launch event, they had a surfboard in there going all the way through the car.

Yeah, it's quite a versatile thing. I think it's a nice platform as well. And I

felt slightly disappointed that I know that one of them slightly dressed up, but

they could have done something akin to like the Ford Bronco, where you can get different flavors of it.

So you can get your pootle around town version. You can get one that looks a bit more rugged and

then it's sporty looking one. Then I felt like it's the kind of car that's quirky enough to pull

that off. But it's a brilliant thing. Yeah, I agree. And the practicality of it as well,

I think when I borrowed one, I used, I took it to IKEA and put like a massive bookcase.

In the left hand side, so you can just put massive stuff in that car. And also the dashboard has

got a cutout so you can store stuff in there too. So the weirdest thing about it is the windscreen

position because the driving position almost feels like you're in a van. Yep. Okay. And you're in

an insta because there seems to be like a, you seem to be a long way away from the windscreen.

And even that, I liked. Yep. Yeah, very cool.

What about you, Alex? What's your favorite car of 2025?

It's probably, I think a sensible car for 2025, probably the Renault 5. I know on the podcast

we've spoken a few times about, you weren't overly impressed with how it drove. But I

spent like a whole week with that car, did a thousand miles. And just this combination of efficiency,

range, design, I was blown away with how, and also the software, I was, I don't know,

software sounds boring in cars, but unfortunately it makes up a massive part of

whether or not a car is going to be a good thing to live with now. And

yeah, just very good in terms of, I think, I think new EV drivers will be very happy with

that because of how easy it is to plan where you're going. And that is a massive part of

any road trip now. And then after that, I don't need third-party apps or something,

they can just use Google Maps on it. I'm sure I've said it before, but I've driven it for 10 minutes

and that's all. And from a design point of view, I think it's head, like head and tails,

like just the coolest looking thing. That's amazing. I'm disappointed that it's as cramped

as it is in the back. For you, it probably feels cavernous. Just huge, yeah. Yeah.

And just in the 10 minutes I drove it, I didn't get the same feeling I did with the Insta,

but I drove it for 10 minutes. Yeah, I could definitely see that. It's unfair. Yeah. And I

drove it on the Alpine course at Milbrook. So yeah, it makes some cars, yeah, it's not the

most ideal situation to gauge a car's true sort of, yeah, it's very fun. But yeah, and you can

make yourself sick on that bit of road, but yeah, not the most ideal place to sort of gauge what

a car's like. But no, I was stunned with that and the price point, another, it's all right

having a car that looks like that and it's like 35 grand. The fact it starts at, what is it,

like 22 grand now. It's, yeah, just outstanding. Yeah. What about you, Graham?

Yeah, so I can't really pick because I've written three down or possibly four.

So I've got to say the Tesla Model Y because it's such a step change from the previous version

to the new version. And it, to me, it just, it looks so good. And I've seen, I've been in wheels

and it's a lovely car. He's got the stada range one. And it's just so quiet in there. It's so,

so quiet and just so cavernous compared to my Model 3. I mean, I love how my Model 3 drives.

Don't get me wrong, but that's just a, so it's an all round winner really. But for me, I think that

what I was really looking forward to in 2025 was the Renault 5 and the Renault 4.

But also the Alpine A290, which is the kind of sporty Renault 5. And I think I first saw one

one of the everything electric shows before it was launched. And it was all locked up and you

couldn't get in it, but I peered through the glass and everything. But oh God, it looks so good.

And then someone at work bought one in that lovely blue. And it just stands out in the car park from

anything else. Such a great little car that. And I think like, I think the EV world needs

cars like this. You know, it needs these kind of fun focused cars and completely. Yeah. And the small

hot hatches and the small hatchbacks and whatever to say. I think Renault just absolutely hit the

nail on the head lately. And what a revelation EV has been for Renault because they were a brand

that had been producing some fairly average cars. And the design team seemed to have

like a two decade holiday. Yeah. And they're now producing really interesting cars that are

kind of pushing things forward a bit. And I don't think that would have happened had they not have

had to look at EV and think, Oh God, what do we do now? Yeah, I think probably the state's

quote would have just led to kind of more Euro boxes. And I think that, you know, they they

made a brave step forward, didn't they? By launching the McGannas in an electric car only. Yeah.

And that's a that's a great car really. But you know, if you if you put a Renault five on

Alpine 1890 next to the new Renault Clio with that slightly unusual looking front end

question of looking I mean, it's like the differences night and day, isn't it?

I don't understand how they get it so wrong with the petrol cars and they get it so right

with the electric ones. So yeah, for me, it's it's like the Renault five or the Alpine 1890.

That was that was what I was really looking forward to launching. And and because we'd seen

all the concepts of that and no one knew what the Model Y was going to be like until it was

actually revealed. So that was that was what I was mostly looking forward to in 2025.

The Renault four, I think, is a really interesting looking car as well.

And I mean, it's not as obviously sexy as the Renault five. But I think that's quite cool.

I think that cracking car, I said about the everything electric show and I was really

impressed. And that had all the space in the back that you need. And I had a size boot.

And actually, in the metal, I think it looked a lot better than than photographs.

Do it justice for say, I think a hundred percent. Yeah, I think it looks much better up close.

And I think it's a it's a great looking car. You know, and I think I'm hoping to see a lot

of those on the road. I've seen a few already. So I'm hoping to see a lot more of those on

the road. Because I think that that'd be a cracking car for most people.

I've always thought that especially, yeah, cars always look slightly strange

in photographs. Or they look that there's something missing, especially interiors, they

like a black interior could look exceptionally bland and exceptionally boring. But it's not until

you sit in the car. Yeah. Oh, wow, actually, this is quite nice. Yeah. I think I think sometimes

people pull their immediate gut reaction on what a car looks like on on social media and think

so it's impossible to get that tactile thing as well. Yeah. I mean, you could look at a

photo of the inside of, I don't know, and other Genesis. Yeah. And oh, yes, not bad looking

interior. And then you get inside and you start touching and feeling and and using the switches

and things and everything feels like, yeah, deliberate. And, you know, like some design has

gone into it and some R&D has gone into it rather than is this switch from the Lucas parts

bin? Let's, you know, glue that to the dashboard or remove it and put it on the screen. You know,

I think the touchy feeling bit is something not enough people do. I'm always amazed when I do my

releasing videos, how many people order a car without ever having not let alone drive one.

Yeah. I haven't actually seen one in the flesh. I'll get like, I was the first one I've ever seen

and it's on my drive. I hope you like it. Yeah, sometimes on the car review videos as well. It's

like I've ordered it on the strength of this and I haven't even seen one yet. I liked it. You

might hate it. Yeah. Just there's one there's one thing I don't like about some cars and I

think it was only when I sat in it that I just felt claustrophobic and it's like a really high

center console. Oh, yeah. Some of them got space underneath but some of them like in the Polestar

too. So you got like Polestar. Yeah. And I don't like that. I don't like feeling like cramped

in the driver's seat. I just see and I do enjoy that because I feel like a fighter pilot

then and I can talk to me Goose. That's the similarities end.

And I like that in the MG Sybuster as well. It's like sort of a wraparound feel. Yeah.

And I do. I mean, I just like cars so I like everything to a degree.

Yeah. Nice. Well, good. And then looking forward to the rest of this year.

There's a whole lot of different models that are due to be released this year,

including stuff from Alpine. As we mentioned, there's a massive waft of other vehicles.

Have you guys got any specific, specific, specific EVs that are you two are looking

forward to that are going to be released this year? This won't go out this week, will it?

It will probably go out next week. Okay. We need to make sure it goes out next week.

Yeah. Because on Friday, I'm going to see the Kia EV2, the Kia EV3 GT, the Kia EV4 GT

and the Kia EV5 GT. But it's embargoed until 9.40 on Friday morning, I think.

Next week? This week. This week. Yeah. Because it's Brussels at the,

at the moat show and they're unveiling them all.

Well, those GT cars are all going to have the gear shifting thing, sort of

Alla Hyundai and the EV6 GT. And I think the EV3 and the EV5 will very much be like the

family versions. But the EV4 from, we haven't seen any pictures or anything yet. But

I think that's going to be the one where they're trying to make it a bit more aggressive looking

and more driver focused. And they want that to be sort of the shining start of

their sort of performance range. But this, by the way, comes off like, I don't know,

week or 10 days since I filmed something saying performance EVs need to be

better, like more driver focused. Because I still think there's a massive part of

the car buying public that's, that are led by the petrol head in the office that he or we

loves his cars and they're just not turned on by them. And I think when more petrol heads

start to get turned on by EVs, I think they'll just be so much, so much more kind of widely

accepted. And almost like the cool factor needs to come in a bit more rather than

is sort of a broader cool factor, I guess I'm trying to say really, really badly.

Yeah, I think, I think, I think you're right there because I mean, I grew up

in the kind of, well, I was a bit older in the 1980s, looking at all the hot hatches

I was going to buy when I passed my test in 1990. And my second car was actually a

Fiesta XR2 Mark II. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I was 18, I think.

My brother had a pretend one. Okay, well, okay. I think the 1.1 popular.

Yeah. But had an XR2 body kit on it. Yeah. Yeah, probably an XR2 badge from

Halfords or something. Yeah, there's a few of those going around, actually.

But they did look the part. But they had like at that time, they had like the Renault 5 Turbo,

the XR2, the Novot SR and GTE. They had the Astra, GTE. And, you know, it was kind of

exciting. And like, it seemed every manufacturer is bringing out hot hatches like the Polo, was it the

Polo G40, little supercharged thing. Yeah. And, you know, they were, they were, they were really

fun cars, really fun cars. And, you know, when you got like a TV presenter like Vicky

Butler-Henderson squealing as she's lifting a rear corner going around the bend. Yeah.

You were 17, 18 years of age. You know, these are the sort of things that really kind of tug on the

heartstrings, both the car and Vicky.

She knew her audience. I've met her several times now, Graeme. And I still can't

put together anything like her sentence in front of her.

I think, I think you had her poster on my wall at one point. Wow. Really, my parents.

Anyway.

But yeah, I think, I think these, these kind of cars really did

inspire a lot of, a lot of petrolheads that couldn't afford to buy the sports cars. And

they could afford to buy an XR3R and XR2 or a Peugeot 106 GTI or the 205 GTI, you know.

And, you know, those kind of like hung around, they became sought after. And now,

you know, they're kind of like treasured cars with like a massive, massive asking price on them.

And I, and it inspired me to go and see like the World Rally Car when it was in the UK.

I go like yomping through a forest, you know, in the snow minus, I don't know what the

temperature was to go and look at these, these cars like flying around the track and

crashing out and stuff. But yeah, we need cars like that. We need convertible, we need coupes,

we need hot hatches, we need everything really in an electric format to appeal to the

broader spectrum of tastes. Yeah. I think, I think it's always such a tiny segment of

the market that could influence so much of it. Yeah. And, you know, back in those days where you

had like the, you know, the special divisions, didn't you, in these companies, right, make this

handle well and go a bit quicker and someone else make it look really sporty. And, and they're

going, it's like skunkworks or something, they go and work on these things and produce these

like amazing little cars really. And you kind of want some of that back. You want some, something

where they've got a, you know, a little skunkworks division that's really focusing on one particular

project like that. Take a, you know, like the Renault 5 with the Alpine A290 and, and so on and so

forth. It just needs that attention, I think. And you were saying, like with the Insta earlier,

they needed to do different funky versions. And I think you're right. You know, they're missing,

missing, missing out there because you could, you know, you said Alex had a surfboard,

Jim had a surfboard in the middle of it. And they could have had like a surf edition,

couldn't they? Yeah. A beach going one, you know, that was kind of funky looking.

And that would appeal to a few people as well that want that kind of like,

was it like the Rover 25 streetcar or something? You remember those from street

lights? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Street lights. That was it. Yeah. Those kind of things, you know,

it's just, just, you know, enjoy the cars a bit more. I think that's what manufacturers need to

do is just have a little breakout groups and enjoy, enjoy designing features on cars like that.

I just think we've been through this period where it's all been about, let's try and get,

you know, a better range. Let's try and bring the price down. Let's do all this stuff. And we're

now at the point where, you know, for pretty much price parity, you can get, when you don't read the

some of the daily press, and you've actually got some experience with an EV,

you can get an EV that will do 99% of your journeys with absolutely no drama whatsoever.

Yeah. For kind of petrol car money. Yeah. And I think the sensible side of things will only

continue to develop, you know, we've got some of the new BMW stuff is going to have crazy range,

solid state batteries around the corner, sodium, like you, you name it, range seems to no longer

be an issue is probably just the cost of it. And the kind of bringing that down economies

of scale and stuff will come into force and that will all sort itself out. But the, for me, it's

now like we've done, we've done all the grunt work. Now let's try and branch out. And I'm not saying

every car needs to be some monstrous. But the one that annoyed me was the Nissan Ari and Nismo,

because the Nismo badge, you know, I grew up when that that meant something. And, you know,

it was kind of a special thing. And it was that little skunk skunkworks division. And yeah.

And they just put it on the standard car and made it a bit quicker. I think I think it's like going

back 20 years when BMW had the X5 and they decided to have like the M 50 D or something. Yeah.

Everyone was up in arms because it's an SUV. Well, you know, how can you have an M division

SUV? And and it's I guess it's a little bit like that. And trading in on on that kind of past heritage

as well. And I don't I don't have a problem with that, to be honest, provided they make the cars

really good. I mean, I've never driven an area or Arab Nismo say, I can't really judge it on

that. But you know, I think this is it's almost like the the start of perhaps what we've

just been talking about where hopefully they will bring out. I'd love to see a micro Nismo,

for example. Yeah, I think that'd be a cool car. That would well, yeah. I mean,

we've seen the GR Yaris and it's oh, yeah, yeah, incredible. I mean, yeah, yeah, electric version

of that something akin to it. Exactly. Yeah, it would be mind blowing. Yeah.

You want, you know, you can then enjoy the the EV performance as well,

which is something that will I mean, people that have driven the ironic 5n in anger,

you know, it's a very, very unique experience. And that that is a car that can turn on a petrol

head. I've just got visions of your review when you drive in there on the on the Alpine course

at Millbrook, that one. Yeah, that's the one. Yeah. Yeah, Tom was you look like you're having fun.

I had a lot of fun, but Tom didn't know. No, he I actually got an email from Hyundai the next

day congratulating me for the illest passenger at Millbrook. So yeah, I was I was quite proud of that

and we encountered quite a lot of traffic. I drove I drove it again there this year, because the

the PR guy at Hyundai always reserves me a space because he knows that I'm not going to need to

have it. So then we're Jones in for another drive. They put sick bags in there now, do they?

I did wonder why it was lined with policy, but they heard about my bed wetting.

You guys are on about hatchbacks like cars with EVs with a bit more performance. Thankfully,

in 2026, there are a handful of new ones coming. So I think you guys mentioned Peugeot, I think.

And the race going to be a Peugeot E 208 GTI, which on design alone looks really, really cool.

And then there will be the ID 2 GTI, sorry, not ID 2, the ID Polo GTI as well, which is going to

have a very sensible amount of power. So thankfully, it does seem to be a bit more

sort of sort of personality coming a bit back a bit in terms of not this SUV stuff.

And VW absolutely have to cherish that GTI badge. So that car needs to be unbelievable.

I think generally they do, don't they? They don't put it on anything lightly. I think they

really do cherish that badge. And I expect checkered cloth seats. And I don't know,

they've got to try and figure out how to get a little golf ball knob in there.

Yeah, I think they are the concept. I think, yeah, I think the concept had that

or had some sort of mention of golf ball related things.

Cool. And the cassette player about here.

If it's got a cassette player, I'll be surprised.

Well, they are sort of, you know, coming back and putting buttons back in. See, you might be

lucky, Jim. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And judging by... That could be mind blowing though,

couldn't it? The Polo GTI. Yeah. Yeah. And judging by what some of the people have said

when they're driven the standard Polo with about 200 horsepower, everyone has said,

the journalists have driven it, said it does handle exceptionally well. So it seems like

the delays that they've had seem to have hopefully made some differences to the handling of that vehicle.

Seems like they're hopefully back at some point, which would be good.

And I've got a soft spot for GTIs because I had a Golf GTI 16 valve many years ago.

It broke down a lot, but I loved it. And, you know, and again, that's like heritage,

isn't it? And I think there's something more, to me, there's something more special about that

than the R. I know the R is like an awesome car, but GTI is the one that I think feels

the most prestigious in my mind that you want to aim for. Yeah, I'm in the same camp as you

there. Yeah. Very much so. And also the R badge has been put on SUVs and it hasn't been put on

GTI hasn't been put on anything other than hatches. Yeah. And then you get the R line with the

styling. Yeah. You don't get a GTI line. So I'm pleased about that. Yeah. But yeah, what

sort of cars are you guys looking forward to that are going to be released this year?

Yeah. But I think like I'm looking forward to I think 2026 is going to be the year of the small

EVs. So because you've got like the Renault Twingo coming out, hopefully. And then the Nissan version

of that, you know, they used to make a little pixel. I don't know whether it would be called a

Nissan Pixel EV or something different. And then you've got the VW ID Polo. So, you know,

and that kind of adds to the kind of choice that came out this year with the Renault 5 and the

Insta and probably a few others that I've forgotten. But I think this is what's needed really is

small cars and more affordable cars as well. Because there's a lot of people that just

run about towning them or commute and they don't really go any further than that.

Don't really need a big car. And they just they just want to get something in,

you know, buzz around town and it's really cheap to run. So those are the cars that I'm kind of

looking forward to coming out. Because I think this has been discussed for far too long. But

nothing I was really, you know, nothing has really hasn't really come to fruition yet.

So I think 2026 is like the year when that's coming to fruition. So that's

quite exciting, I think to look forward to those cars. You know, they'll be well priced as well.

Yeah, it makes sense. Because even even regardless of powertrain, bigger cars tend to have less

character and smaller cars are always there's always something unique with them.

No matter the amount of really what they're powered by, there's always they've always got

something either charming or quirky or it's a bit of character with them. So and that,

as Jim mentioned with the Insta and the Renault 5 and stuff, there's some

they've got a bit of character, which is good. So yeah, yeah. What about you, Jim?

Well, I mean, I'm really interested to see these Kia GT cars and the aforementioned

Polo GTI and any of the other new stuff we might see coming from VW. I also really

want to have a drive in the new BMW iX3. Oh, okay. I thought you were going to say the 6N then.

Oh, well, the 6N is just a given. I mean, I don't want to bore everyone more than I already do.

But that's yeah, that's an obvious one. But yeah, the iX3 looks amazing.

And obviously, we saw it at the launch and the interior, I think, so good. It's got loads of range.

And it's, you know, it's that new class BMW thing, which I'm really interested by. It's a

weird thing with BMW, isn't it? But when a new one comes out, I wouldn't say people

necessarily always dislike it, but there's always a lot of grumbling. Yes. And then over time,

they seem to mature like a fine wine and people sort of grow into them. But they're always quite

jarring at first. And I think most people, I think, have quite like the new class design. But

obviously, there are some purists that think it's all evil. But I'll be really interested to have

a drive in that. And then I'm really interested to see some of the stuff that might come from

China having been been over there a couple of months ago. I mean, some of the cars over there

are absolutely mind blowing. I will be seeing Zeke at Brussels this week. And I think they

might be coming to the UK. So hopefully, I can get someone to tell me that while I'm there.

But that's been talked about for a very, very long time, isn't it? But Zeke is going to

arrive in the UK. I mean, I'm going back last decade, I think. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it,

I think it might be. That's interesting. And yeah, just who knows what else might come. If I car

come here, I need to have one. I don't have I won't have the funds to get one. So I'll have to

try and either steal one or ask them for a long term. But I'm desperate for the I car V23.

Yeah, for those anyway, it's like a it's a sub brand of Cherry.

It's them or off roady sort of butch looking vehicles. Kind of a

It's like a Jeep, doesn't it? A little bit. Yeah, Suzuki Jimny cross with a

for Bronco, maybe. It's got those those kind of vibes. Yeah. In China, it's like 9,000 pounds.

Wow. It's got a very cool interior. But yeah, in China, it's like 9,000 pounds. And I worked out

that I would guess if it comes to the UK, it'll be about 30. Yeah. By the way, all these comparisons

people always do with the Chinese prices, myself included, the the cost to for homologation to the

UK is absolutely huge. And you know, a five star award somewhere like China is very different to a

five star Euro and cap. And we probably need to remember that. Yeah, I think in the show notes

but you did a video a few months ago about the Dolphin surf or the seagull and explaining how

that possibly could work based on some man maths. So I was hoping to show we were to be honest. I

started to make that video hoping to show that we're all being horrendously ripped off. And I

came to the end of it thinking, yeah, not really. Yeah, you know, maybe the tiny bit of extra

profit. But I think when you when you add on the 10% import tariff and the 20% VAT, you

price is pretty much and like the logistics and the shipping and when you when you consider the

supply chain network that needs to be set up enough to satisfy the insurers.

That's got some cost. And then of course, you need a 20 million pound glass mega showroom

to put some people in some expensive suits in. So yeah, there's a hell of a lot of cost involved.

And also sometimes they actually make a whole new version of that car. So the Dolphin is completely

well, not completely different, but it's a it's a bigger car, the front end slightly different.

They've had to reengineer it for our market to meet safety standards. And then

and then yeah, they'd have to set a production line for that. I don't know how that would

work. And even with the Dolphin surf, there's that car is quite different really.

It looks the same, but they've had to add a few safety equipment bits and pieces,

change the design slightly. So sometimes, as you said, they're not they've got different safety

standards. They have to re-engineer it really. So I bet there'll be a long wheelbase version of

that in China at some point, because there seems to be a long wheelbase version of everything,

which would be quite hilarious. But yes, I mean, I dare say possibly this year or next,

the most exciting car we see may come from China for the first time. And I know people

have different thoughts on that. But yeah, I just think the more the merrier. Let's

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Personally, for me, the car I'm looking forward to this year

is a toss up between the Polo, because I still have I've got a soft spot for VW and I'm glad

they're sort of returning to form hopefully. But also that Honda Super M, the little tiny

car that was shown off at Goodwood. Yeah, that is going to come to the UK. No idea how much it'll

cost. But that looks mega. Like it looks really cool. So hopefully, Honda can claw back their

EV credentials. Because they sort of dropped the ball a little bit with the

SUV. I can't remember the name of it now. And the any NY one. So

in Cologne and yeah, one year past the password. Yeah.

Elon called one of his kids that I think.

But yeah, I'm looking forward to that. So as we've sort of

debated between between the three of us, it seems to be small cars are the hot topic for

this year. So which is good. Interesting times.

Yeah, definitely. I think that's about about it really. Yeah, what we're going to call this

episode I was thinking, we can't call it that but I was thinking, right said,

Fred meet Warwick Davis, but

yeah, yeah, I joined at last.

What I usually do actually is I download the transcript

and then run that transcript, transcript through chat tpt and say find something

that's relevant for a podcast type of two or three words long. I usually find something

stupid that you've said. So

Oh yeah, they're usually quite good though, aren't they?

Yeah, they are really good. Yeah. Yeah, I just I assumed Josie was picking them because

well, she doesn't watch it. She's funny.

No, I suppose that's about it really for this episode. Thank you so much,

Graham for giving up your evening to come and record a silly podcast with us too.

If people would like to find out more about you and what you do in your brand new YouTube

channel, where can people find you on the internet?

It's on X at what am I next at Graham underscore cob and then on YouTube at

REV dash. Right, what am I? I can't remember RS dash EV and no no rev rev EV.

I will put the links in the show notes and on the YouTube description as well for that.

So yeah, yeah, Graham's just started his own YouTube channel sort of discussing certain

topics in the EV industry in a very calm and level headed way. So it's really quite

quite good to watch. So sometimes slightly drunk.

Oh, well. And then what about you, Jim? Where can people find you on the internet?

I can go to my website, not a guru dot co dot UK where you'll find some articles that are

definitely not written by AI. And you can also go to my YouTube channel. Definitely not a guru.

That one's not AI either, is it? No, I don't know twice recently. I've been accused of being an AI,

which I actually took as a compliment. I'm not sure if if an AI designs something like that,

that they come out, they wouldn't make it look like me, would they? No, no, not really.

I look like I've been on holiday to Chernobyl or something, you know, Chris Carver or

something, you know, Superman, Superman Talks TV. Yeah, I mean, if I mean, if an actor were to

play me in a film, for example, if they made a movie about my life, which I'm sure they will one day,

I think Henry Cavill would be a good choice for someone to play me. I mean, the resemblance

will be incredible. But for the rock, one or the other, maybe, maybe.

That's all kind, Graham. I can't believe you mentioned his height. That's below the belt

is very low belt, which you got from mother care. And you can find my website at the interface.uk

for various bits and pieces like car news and other things like that. And then the main thing is the

car review YouTube channel, which is the interface cars. And then you can find this podcast on all

the usual platforms if you don't want to see our faces. But if you do for some reason, you can

watch this podcast on YouTube too. I'll put the links in the show notes as well.

Yeah, thank you so much for watching or listening, and we'll see you again next time. Bye bye.

Light Bulbs with Graeme Cobb

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