A live Q&A on Motoring Podcast - News Show covers everything from Ferrari’s tight media access and “no leaks” approach to why over-controlled PR can backfire. Listeners ask about what would improve the industry, car buying transparency, and whether ADAS is actually working. The discussion then shifts to EV road trips around the UK, including charging limits, hypermiling, and real-world efficiency benchmarks from the early Hyundai Ioniq Electric. The hosts also debate seat materials, power-seat needs, and design trends toward “fortresses on wheels.”
We held our second Live Question and Answer session on YouTube, where you the listener supplied the topics you wanted to hear us discuss. We enjoyed it so much and so it seems did you that we wanted to do it again. Do remember, this is the audio of that conversation, as a result the audio has not been edited for content in order for our real reactions to be heard.
We hope you enjoy it and do let us know your feedback, what can we do to improve it, do you want this to be a regular thing, all respectful comments will be considered.
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"...hear how there is confusion over reactions to the luce. You will tremble in fear if we were ever given a..."
The Ferrari Luce is a Ferrari model that the podcast says people are reacting to in different ways. The host mentions confusion about how it’s received, which means not everyone agrees on what they think of it. The discussion is mainly about public reaction and expectations.
The Ferrari Luce is referenced in the podcast in connection with confusion over reactions to the car, suggesting it’s a new or newly discussed model. The mention of “given a…” implies the conversation is about how people respond to it and what expectations are around its design or concept. In a news show, that kind of mention typically signals a model that’s generating debate or attention.
"Close brackets. For example, mine 1997 M3 flows down the road on 17 inch rims, which was si..."
The BMW M3 is a sporty BMW that’s made for fast driving and better handling than a regular 3 Series. The podcast mentions an older M3 (from 1997) to illustrate how that specific generation drives and feels. It’s brought up because people often compare how different years of the M3 perform and age.
The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the 3 Series, built by BMW’s M division for drivers who want a sporty, track-capable sedan/coupe experience. It often comes up in discussions because different model years (like the 1997 example mentioned) have distinct character, engineering, and ownership considerations. In a news-style podcast, it’s a common reference point for performance-car history and what makes certain generations stand out.
"But yeah, I don't need electric seats with memories.
That gets rid of a whole load more weight and everything."
This means the seat can move using a motor, and it can remember a couple of saved positions. So you can press a button and the seat goes back to your preferred setting.
“Electric seats with memories” refers to power-adjustable seats that can store preset positions (for example, driver A vs driver B). The “memory” feature saves you from manually adjusting the seat each time.
"But I agree with the grossly oversized alloys with no tires and all that kind
of thing as well."
Here “alloys” means alloy wheels. They’re the metal wheels you see on many cars, and their weight and how the tire is set up can change how the car feels and handles.
In this context, “alloys” means alloy wheels—wheels made from metal alloys (commonly aluminum). Enthusiasts often discuss them because wheel weight and tire fitment affect ride quality, grip, and unsprung mass.
"I think for me, I'd put the brake on ADAS, no pun intended, sorry.
God, I'd put the brake on ADAS.
It took me a while there."
ADAS means “driver-assistance tech.” It’s the stuff in modern cars that tries to help you drive—like warning you or even braking if it thinks you’re about to crash.
ADAS stands for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems. It’s the umbrella term for driver aids like automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping, and adaptive cruise control that use sensors and software to help with safety and convenience.
"And now to the point where you've got Thatchum and Euro NCAP saying, oh,
it's not fit for road use."
Euro NCAP is a safety testing group for new cars in Europe. They run tests and give safety ratings, and they also evaluate how well safety features like driver-assistance systems work.
Euro NCAP is the European New Car Assessment Programme, an independent organization that tests new cars for crash safety and publishes star ratings. When it comments on ADAS, it’s typically referring to whether the systems perform reliably in real-world-style test scenarios.
"The counter argument to that is actually you go back and you look at the first of the BMW Rolls-Royce Phantom's because that is not pretty, but it's imposing and beauty, I don't think was a priority there."
The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a very high-end luxury car. It’s known for being big, impressive, and comfortable, with a focus on how it looks and how it feels to ride in. The podcast mentions it to compare different ideas about what makes a luxury car stand out.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom is the brand’s flagship luxury sedan, built to deliver an extremely quiet, comfortable ride with a strong emphasis on presence and refinement. In the podcast context, it’s used as a comparison point when discussing what makes a car “imposing” and beautiful, even if some people debate design priorities. That’s why it comes up in a news conversation: it’s a benchmark for luxury styling and status.
"Because even before then stuff, stuff like Cadillac Escalade and some of these things
[1353.8s] that other people might point at."
The Cadillac Escalade is a big luxury SUV. The host is using it as an example of the trend toward vehicles that look tough and protective—almost like a "fortress" on wheels.
The Cadillac Escalade is a large, luxury SUV that became a symbol of status and "fortress"-like presence in the 2010s. In this segment, it’s used as an example of the broader trend toward big, imposing vehicles that imply safety and protection.
"The alternative is the root of it might be the Hummer H2.
[1360.6s] But even then, it's all about this."
The Hummer H2 is a huge, rugged SUV known for a very tough, off-road style. The host is saying it might have helped kick off the idea of making SUVs look like armored, protective machines.
The Hummer H2 is a large, body-on-frame SUV that became famous for its rugged, military-inspired look and size. Here, it’s suggested as a possible earlier starting point for the "fortress on wheels" design and marketing vibe.
"That original Ioniq electric was five kilowatt. We averaged 55 point two, whatever the post says."
The Hyundai Ioniq Electric is an electric car known for being efficient. Here, the hosts are saying their real-world fuel/energy use was so low that it’s hard to find other cars today that do as well.
The Hyundai Ioniq Electric is an early-generation EV focused on efficiency rather than performance. In this segment, the hosts cite its very low energy use ("five kilowatt" and an average efficiency figure), using it as a benchmark for how hard it is to find newer cars that match that real-world economy.
"There's a few people out there who have feather feet and there's the hypermiling chap who's on the YEV podcast, whose first name I've forgotten."
Hypermiling is when someone drives extra gently to get the most miles out of a tank of fuel or the most range out of an electric car. The goal is to waste as little energy as possible.
Hypermiling is a driving style aimed at maximizing fuel economy (or EV range) by minimizing energy use. It typically involves gentle acceleration, careful speed control, and anticipating traffic so you brake less and waste less energy.
"But, but I am a sucker for a Hyundai EV and I do like them and an Ioniq five or something would, would get in there. ... just in case anyone doesn't understand that I love the five, I think the five is beautifully executed, although there are some gaps in day-to-day usability."
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an all-electric Hyundai. The speaker says it looks great and they like it, but they think it’s not as practical for everyday life as they’d want.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a battery-electric crossover/hatch-style EV built around Hyundai’s modern EV platform. In this segment, the host compares it to the Ioniq 6 and argues it’s beautifully executed, but not as strong for day-to-day usability.
"I mean, a Renault five EV, exactly. Exactly. A Renault five EV is a strong contender, but it's a little bit small."
The Renault 5 EV is Renault’s electric version of the Renault 5. The speaker thinks it’s a good option, but they feel it’s too small compared with what they want.
The Renault 5 EV is Renault’s modern all-electric take on the classic Renault 5 name. The speaker calls it a strong contender but says it’s a little bit small, implying packaging/space is a deciding factor versus the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
"Probably an Ioniq five, probably not, not an Ioniq six, because I've now driven an Ioniq six and you see, they're like that a lot. Six is better than the five in terms of everyday use as well. ... And the Ioniq six is misunderstood and will be a future design classic no doubt"
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is another Hyundai electric car, but shaped more like a sleek sedan. The speaker has driven it and says it works better day to day, even though they don’t personally like how it looks.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a battery-electric sedan/coupe-style EV positioned as a more streamlined, efficiency-focused alternative to the Ioniq 5. Here, the speaker says they’ve driven an Ioniq 6 and that it’s better for everyday use than the Ioniq 5, but they personally don’t find it as attractive and think it’s misunderstood.
"Not quite as wide because the time I drove a five on the public road, it was a left-hand drive Norwegian spec one at the original UK launch."
“Norwegian spec” means the car was set up for Norway’s market. That can change things like included features or settings, so the speaker is explaining why their experience might differ from what you’d get elsewhere.
“Norwegian spec” means the vehicle was configured and homologated for the Norwegian market, which can affect equipment levels, software settings, and sometimes how features are tuned or packaged. The speaker mentions it to clarify that their Ioniq 5 experience was from a specific regional configuration at the UK launch period.
"Not quite as wide because the time I drove a five on the public road, it was a left-hand drive Norwegian spec one at the original UK launch."
Left-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. The speaker is pointing out the exact layout of the car they tested.
Left-hand drive (LHD) describes a vehicle layout where the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. This matters for how the car feels and functions in countries that drive on the right, and the speaker uses it to describe the specific Ioniq 5 they drove.
Term
cone EV
"I love the fact, by the way, that lots of, of, of motoring journalists, when they leave motoring journalism and they no longer have a hot and cold running press cars, they go by a cone EV."
“Cone EV” sounds like a nickname the hosts are using for a particular kind of EV. It doesn’t appear to be a standard technical term, so it’s likely an inside joke about what some journalists buy next.
“Cone EV” appears to be a playful nickname or in-joke for an EV that’s associated with a particular style or category of ownership, rather than a standard, widely defined automotive term. In this context, the speaker is saying that some motoring journalists move on to a different kind of EV after leaving press cars.
"...buy a 20 year old Cayman, not Cayman, 20 year old Cayenne or something, which is going to be hilariously un..."
The Porsche Cayenne is a Porsche SUV, meaning it’s higher off the ground and more practical than a sports car. The podcast is talking about buying an older one (around 20 years old) and how that choice can be different from buying an older sports car. It comes up because people weigh comfort and usability versus driving feel.
The Porsche Cayenne is Porsche’s performance-focused SUV, known for combining everyday practicality with strong power and handling. It’s mentioned in the context of buying an older Porsche—specifically contrasting a 20-year-old Cayenne with a 20-year-old Cayman—because the Cayenne’s appeal and ownership experience can be very different from a low-slung sports car. That makes it a frequent topic when discussing what’s a smart used buy for the money.
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome to the Motion Podcast, live question and answer session on Thursday, the 4th of
June, 2026.
Hello, I'm Alan.
Hello, I'm Andrew.
And this time, you'll hear how there is confusion over reactions to the luce.
You will tremble in fear if we were ever given a magic wand, maybe.
And why July is important?
But Alan, would you like to explain to people?
I genuinely thought that was a hangover.
I did not think you were going to read that.
I just thought you were going to go, Hello, I'm Alan.
Andrew.
No, no, no.
I deliberately wrote it and everything.
I thought I'd try and keep us in line with our corporate standards.
Yeah, don't go there with me at the minute.
Yeah, so the plan, everyone, is to basically run for about an hour and get through as many
questions as we can.
We've got loads of questions.
If you think of questions or you have responses on the way through, hit the chat and add them
in there and we'll cover as much as we can on the way through.
Did I say the hour bit?
I did, didn't I?
Yes.
Yes.
You can tell the difference between me having a script and me not having a script.
It's that obvious.
Well, do we want to start with the first question then?
I'll read it out and then you can take a little stab at it.
It's from Finley Leeske, sorry, via Blue Sky and it is, I will read it verbatim.
It says, here's one, aside from enjoying the privileges, brackets and bragging rights,
closed brackets, that presumably go along with an invitation to a Ferrari launch event
and a fear of those perks being swiftly removed.
Why were all the journalists being so polite about the loot chain?
Go on, what do you think, Helen?
Well, Finley asked this pretty much immediately as soon as all the videos came out and since
then, there's been a load of other stuff has come out since.
So essentially, they were so polite because everything was being managed by Ferrari.
It was Ferrari's film crews, it was Ferrari, Ferrari were then keeping the footage until
almost the last minute so that people had very short time to edit stuff and put it out.
So there were no leaks.
So nobody found it in advance.
The other thing is that people didn't see the car for very long before actually filming
stuff.
So they'd had a press release.
This is all mostly from the Schmi 150 video I watched it, so you don't have to.
And it had all the stats, all the facts and figures.
So they'd written the scripts, of course, all the stats and figures.
And then they went into the room and it was like, what the heck is this?
So there's a certain amount of, well, you know, corporately, we can't incur these massive
fines or anything like that.
I can't be the one that gets us struck off Ferrari's visiting list for people from some
of the big corporations, the biggest publishers and groups.
And also the fact that there was a lot of shock and surprise at what it looked like and
they hadn't had time to come to terms with what it looked like.
So as a result, they gave us the slightly dry facts, facts, facts approach.
And I'm sure that there will be in the future, there will be more response ones.
But goodness me, everybody's got a take on it.
I think I've had about four takes as a seven this week's podcast.
You want some really bad takes?
Go look at LinkedIn.
It's some of the worst of the people having takes on the takes.
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, sorry.
I've just done that, haven't I?
Oh, no, no, no, no.
But you know what I mean, one of the things that came out from this that I've found a
bit unsettling, I must say, because we've experienced much lower key, much lower levels
of this, the fact that how controlled it was, which I understand to a greater degree.
But how the whole checking before we give you permission to release information.
We ourselves have been approached by a brand or two to do things that we didn't feel
melds with the way we look to do things.
So we politely turn them down.
But I'm seeing that more and more coming in.
And the way that Chris Harris described being vetted as well on his podcast.
It makes me worry because I've seen this in other industries.
This allows those who say, oh, but journals are just on the take, then they're not, you
know, they're not being straight up and down and all this.
And this gives more weight to those people who want to say those things.
And I don't think that's healthy for the industry.
I hope the car manufacturers pay attention and don't just go, oh, look, we control the message.
I hope they pay attention to how much damage it potentially can do.
I think there's a bit of a backlash towards it.
And I think a lot of people who wouldn't necessarily
do that as a result.
I think it's there is a pushback on that kind of thing where possible.
And I think that I hope so.
I don't think other PRs like it.
And I think that there was a whole thing I was I was thinking about.
I don't think other PRs like it.
And I don't think they like working that way.
But, you know, some of the some of what am I trying to say here?
Well, you either trust your product or you don't.
Well, that's it.
And I think that that was it.
I think that they were they were so scared about it, they actually made it worse.
Yeah, there's a good feedback here from from one more.
It says, I think the luxury launch was so controlled that people who went
didn't have the chance to say what they really thought about it, unlike us
common folks and keyboard warriors with opinions.
And I think you pretty much nailed it.
Yeah, yeah.
I would say that that that's that's pretty much it because people couldn't
because the larger names just couldn't give their opinions.
We're just unable to do it or hadn't had time to form an opinion.
Yeah, I think that's that then it actually backfired quite badly.
And I hope that there will be a lesson learned from that by by other brands as well.
Yeah.
Shall we shift on?
So the next one that came in, well, actually, these aren't in order, sorry.
The next one came in was from Mr.
Jalco from Jimmy Cooper on Blue Sky.
And it says you can change one thing and only one thing to improve the car industry.
What do you think would have the maximum impact?
I'll leave you guys to define improve and impact.
It is about perspective.
Thank you, Mr. Jalco, for a very easy one to answer there.
It is about perspective.
The perspective of the those making cars is very different to perhaps
or really very much my perspective.
Let alone to somebody who just wants to walk into a showroom by a car
and walk back out again.
Thank you very much.
That's all the thinking I want to do about it.
So from my position.
And to pick one thing is very difficult, because as I think I made it clear in the
JLR comments last time we did this, I feel there are many issues out there
that are very, very important.
But one for me that really, really scares me at the minute is software.
And I think the one way to improve one thing I want them to improve is not that you
remove all software because that's totally unrealistic.
And it's ridiculous to suggest that.
But I to somehow get every executive board of every brand and every senior manager
to understand just how dangerous what they are pushing is because they just do not
understand software.
And from speaking to enough security researchers that I have and enough people
in the background of things, the car industry software is a house of cards
built on shifting sand.
And we're lucky more things don't go wrong more often.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I've joked before in coming to the whole security through obscurity and then
stuff's not as obscure as it was and how that has had a lot to do with it in sort
of automotive software and all that kind of thing.
So how about you?
What is the one out stand?
Well, the problem is it's so difficult.
Like we talk about so many things every week.
You go, that's wrong, wrong.
Why are you doing it like that?
And we know this from our professional lives.
Let alone from as a consumer who goes, well, hang on, that's made a worse
experience for me.
Why are you doing that?
So I have one and that's that I think that I don't understand why when we go
off to buy a car, we try to bar, we have to try to barter about it.
If I go off to buy most things new, right?
That's the price that it is.
Even up to a house, this is a new build house.
This is how much a new build house costs.
These are the options you take it or you leave it.
And occasionally you get off, you know, money off for this one.
And occasionally there's a money off offer and that's fine.
That's different.
But I don't have a chat with the Tesco cashier and go,
oh, you've just told me it's 80 quid.
How about 70? Come on.
Yeah, how about 75 quid?
And, you know, so I hate that about the car industry, about buying cars, buying
new cars and even buying used cars to be perfectly honest.
I really dislike that.
I think getting rid of that kind of thing would have a positive
effect on people and how people buy cars and all that kind of thing.
It being able to know the price and know how much something's going to cost
would be the one that I would go for.
I definitely found that in the U.S.
buying my first car out there was horrible buying the second one, which was
my fixed price place was significantly easier.
And I knew how much I was going to pay.
I paid that much.
I walked away a happy customer.
Does that answer the question you think?
I think so.
I think so.
Do you want me to go on the next one?
Yeah, if you...
Down you go.
Okay.
From Watchman Vimes, Paul again from Blue Sky.
Thank you very much for sending the question in.
Again, another really easy one.
What features or trend would you remove slash reintroduce or reverse to create
best car for now?
Brackets, family, city, GT or whatever.
Close brackets.
For example, mine 1997 M3 flows down the road on 17 inch rims, which was
size to go over the brakes, not instead because marketing demanded 20 inch wheels.
Low, unsprung weight, adequate 40 sections for over.
I'm sorry, Paul, you're just showing off here.
Increasing mass drives, huge pillars for roll over protection necessitating
blind spot and auto braking systems because you can no longer see out of the thing.
Some of the things you've described, though, are for betterment.
They are, yes, I guess they are.
The structural integrity, yes, I think that's...
That is important.
I don't like leather seats.
There we go.
I would...
I have this whole thing about leather seats, I much prefer cloth seats, especially now
days are all going to use leather.
But if you get rid of leather on seats, you get rid of so many other problems.
So if you take it off, for example, then your seats are automatically warmer in the
winter because you're not getting in and still on this cold, hard, shiny surface.
They're also cool, so you can get rid of seats.
They're also...
Which are heavy.
Which are heavy.
They're also cooler in the summer, so you don't need air blown up your bum.
We've managed that for a long, long, long time.
But now some of us have cars that do that kind of thing.
And then after that, well, I tend to most pretty much always be the only driver
of my car, so to be honest, I don't need electric seats.
And I don't need electric seats with memories.
And I know that many of you will probably disagree with that, especially those of
you who share cars with somebody who's a different size.
But yeah, I don't need electric seats with memories.
That gets rid of a whole load more weight and everything.
So I'm big on taking out some of that useless junk.
The flip side of that, of course, is, well, no, even with an EV, if you've got
electric, if you've got...
If you've got cross seats, then you don't need as much of that kit either, do you?
No.
So that's something, it's just a little thing that really bugs me.
But I agree with the grossly oversized alloys with no tires and all that kind
of thing as well.
But my one is I have a real thing about leather seats these days.
I found this one very hard to answer.
I think for me, I'd put the brake on ADAS, no pun intended, sorry.
God, I'd put the brake on ADAS.
It took me a while there.
Because it's clearly not working.
It's not working so much so that the, which will probably be in next week's show,
but I've seen this preliminary road incident figures are out for last year.
And there's plenty of safety organisations that are saying, look, we've plateaued,
we're not getting any better, we need to, we need to talk about this.
And they're the same organisations that have demanded and ghosted me when I've
said ADAS does not work as it is.
And now to the point where you've got Thatchum and Euro NCAP saying, oh,
it's not fit for road use.
Bear in mind, only a few months ago, they slagged off every journalist and every
social media platform by saying, that's why people are switching it off.
That's why we aren't bringing down the figures.
And now they're changing their tests in line with that.
And I would, we need to go back and we need to have a different development
process and standard.
Okay.
I, so, so last weekend, I took my mom's car to wash it.
In fact, I couldn't find a decent jet wash.
So I actually got some other people to wash it.
And don't worry about the paintwork, everyone, because it's absolutely trashed
anyway, but the, but then I went and I parked, I went to, to buy some stuff.
I came back to the car, a lady came out of another elderly lady came out to that
shop and she came over and said, excuse me, is this your car?
Is this your Toyota?
I said, well, yeah, kind of.
And, um, and she wanted to know, well, first of all, she had this funny light
had just come on the dashboard and it was on all the time.
And she didn't know what it, what it meant and what it should do about it.
I turned out it was the low tire pressure.
That, that, by the way, is something else that can just get in the ruddy bit.
Sorry, tire pressure monitoring systems are just awful.
Um, I, as you, as you saw when you were in my car a couple of weeks ago,
I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Yours is being very special at the minute, but mine, neither of mine have it.
I managed to avoid it.
And, uh, and, and, and yeah, it was that.
And then she said, Oh, this car, I really like it, but it makes so many noises.
And I don't know what any of them are or anything.
And it's all part of that.
This is, you shouldn't need a reeducation.
That was really my, my feeling.
I tried to, I don't have a problem, go off and it won't ping at you.
I don't have a problem with that, but as long as they are actually
giving a reeducation, but most places who sell the car on, don't do that
because they don't understand it themselves.
Or it's a, you know, it's an extra faff for them.
Um, but yeah, that, that's, that would be my 11 thing is let's start again.
I don't object to the idea of what is being proposed.
The problem is it is like with autonomous vehicles.
It has been developed in a way that means it will never work.
Yeah.
Okay.
Uh, should we take one from the, should we take one from the, the chat now?
Should we take, should we take Ian's?
So he in here.
Hi Ian.
Let me try and get rid of that ban.
And I, oh boy, I've been too clever by half.
There we are.
Uh, he said, Ian says, even James, what's your view on the new Bentley
Superstalk rear wheel drive sub two tonne weapon they're releasing.
Now Ian, we know where you work.
Okay.
But also we have a show next week to go out, which this may or may not be
featuring in, in the new car news.
Oh, okay.
Well, I haven't looked that far ahead.
You see, so, um, we're not ignoring you.
We will answer, um, but we'll answer it next week's new show.
Yeah.
Do you want to, do you want to take the one at the bottom then now?
I was going to.
Yeah.
Um, so AKLC 4090, um, I'm sorry, I don't recognize your username.
Um, at what point do you think car designers decided that beauty wasn't a priority?
Oh, well, I think it depends which design that's really doesn't it?
Um, I would, are you counting back the years now?
Uh, yeah, because this is this whole society, reflecting in cars, cars,
reflecting society conversation that we need to have, um, with Dr.
Jonathan Kershaw.
Yeah.
Um, we need him on the show.
Actually, we need to do a special edition about that.
Um, and some other designers because it's a really interesting question.
Um, especially when you walk around the, everywhere with a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.
So I always try and bring everything back to car industry.
That's my family will tell you.
Uh, yes, I, I, I guess I'm aware of this.
Um, I think it's around a 20, just after 20.
Well, around 2016 because if you remember everybody was shouting at each other across
the globe, we had Brexit things.
There was stuff happening in America with elections, with a new president.
Um, there was a, an anger everywhere.
There was a, and, and because of 2008 and the way governments reacted to that,
everyone suddenly went, well, I've got to look after myself and screw everyone else.
Yeah.
You're, you're going a bit later than me because I, I would say that started a bit earlier.
For me, and you know, we, this, this has turned into a painfully social,
so, um, more sort of sociological question here.
Yeah.
Uh, in the, for me, everyone was still happy in 2012.
2012 was a happy year.
And I think it's sometime between 2012 and you're,
that was the Olympics, wasn't it?
That was the Olympics.
And for me, that was the last time the UK was actually together and positive.
But I think we're possibly overthinking this one.
I think it started, but I think it started about then.
There was some stuff that was aggressive already and that was all right.
Aggressive is also, but there was still lots of happy stuff, you see.
Hmm.
And then, and then I think that being imposing,
that was around the point where being imposing.
Because that implied safety and protection and, you know, all this sort of stuff.
The counter argument to that is actually you go back and you look at the first of the
BMW Rolls-Royce Phantom's because that is not pretty, but it's imposing and beauty,
I don't think was a priority there.
But it was a one-off.
That's one brand.
I know that's one brand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
But yeah.
I feel that sometimes between 2012 and 2016.
The cars actually being sold to us, it's somewhere in the 20 teens,
we suddenly started getting basically fortresses on wheels or the implication of that.
Because even before then stuff like, I'm trying to, I'm trying to then, of course,
try and take that and be more global.
But even before then stuff, stuff like Cadillac Escalade and some of these things
that other people might point at.
The alternative is the root of it might be the Hummer H2.
But even then, it's all about this.
It's not that.
Again, that was a one-off.
That's a snapshot of that thing.
That thing at that time.
But I do wonder if there's a sort of knock on effect as marbles or whatever.
Stake is down effect.
But I also think when we started moving towards SUVs as well, that made it more.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He says with an SUV outside looks like predator chewing a wasp.
So the hypocrisy is hardly here.
That was a cracking question.
Thank you.
I don't know if we've really answered it very well, but it's a great question.
It's no slur on the quality of the question.
I could point here about people internally who probably shouldn't necessarily have a view
or an opinion or an entry point into it.
But management should always have opinions.
I think it's always been the case.
I think General Motors and stuff for certainly the last three decades.
If not longer, probably longer, but back into the 80s and into the 70s.
I think that this has already been there.
I don't know that management and too many people is really the challenge.
No.
Alan, I've got a question for you.
I've got a question.
Oh, you've got a question for me, have you?
Yeah.
Are you doing anything on the week commencing the 13th of July?
Well, funnily enough that you should say that, I was intending on taking an electric car and
trying to drive around the outside of the UK, which some people, you know, because we've done it
before and I figure that almost 10 years later, it's probably time we should do it again and
see what's changed.
That sounds like a cracking idea.
Well, let me just check my diary, but I think I'm free.
So yeah, I think that sounds like a road trip.
So is that a road trip of probably daily YouTube videos, if not podcasts,
much like last time and trying to see if we can lap this island more or less
and not get stranded in the middle of nowhere in a small Korean EV?
Yes, I think we should give that a go.
Good.
Was that an announcement?
That was an announcement, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Charging the return.
Part two.
The return.
Yeah, so some of you may well know and goodness me, we have more listeners and more reach
in everything than we ever did back then, that we went and we took one of the first
Hyundai Ioniq EVs, the electric ones, and we like written about nine bit years ago.
We 10 years in the first or second week of September.
September, yeah.
So we're doing a bit earlier in the year this time, just because it falls in with dates,
holiday dates and stuff.
And yeah, we wanted to see back then if you could do it and if you could,
if the charging infrastructure was up to it and we managed it just.
There were a lot of long, long 14-hour days and very short nights in budget hotels all over the
country.
And we did it in a car with just about 100 miles of range per charge.
And hundreds of what?
A hundred and thirty by the end.
Yeah, we were getting good by the end.
And well, at the start, we were like 80.
We were terrified.
So yeah, we want to do it again.
See how, we'll partly see how EVs have evolved.
We're actually allowed to talk about the car this time, which we were.
Yes, I believe so.
Yeah, go on then.
Shall we tell this?
I think it's long enough now that we can tell the story of why in the first
that the first charging around Britain, we weren't allowed to talk about the car.
And that was because you know, you had a couple of Ioniq electrics on there on the press fleet.
And they had used one to try to do a landsend to John and Grotes to raise money internally.
Yeah, raise money for charity internally and the car broke.
Now, they didn't tell us that.
They just politely requested that we don't talk about the car.
Just in case.
And they turned out the car was fine.
I was told at the time was we're not to talk about it because
they can't get enough in the country.
So please don't drum up more desire.
That's what we were told before we did it.
Afterwards, we were maybe told the full story.
I think it was a bit of both.
Yeah, because the other owners that we met loved them.
Absolutely adored them.
Yeah. So this time we're going to do it.
We're going to be trying to choose something affordable.
Something efficient as well because since then, it's very difficult to find something
that is as efficient as that car.
That original Ioniq electric was five kilowatt.
We averaged 55 point two, whatever the post says.
And so over the week, we averaged five and very, very few vehicles now or between
since then to now get anything close to that.
There's 20 little do's to fours, but they don't do better than that.
There's a few people out there who have feather feet and there's the hypermiling chap who's
on the YEV podcast, whose first name I've forgotten.
He's really good at eking out a range and running very, very efficiently.
He's more economical than that.
We're going to be driving it as normally as possible.
That's the point is it's just two blokes going around and just seeing what is it realistically
like and that's what we're aiming to do and that's what we did last time.
We found many pitfalls, things that opened our eyes that we would have had no idea
if we hadn't done that journey.
Yeah, absolutely. We learned an awful lot and hopefully we'll learn a whole lot more again.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It should be good.
I've just, for those of you who are watching along, if you want to know what we did last
time in the summary, then I've put the link to the blog post in the chat on YouTube.
No, we're not asking Porsche.
Ian, naughty Ian.
No, not even putting that one on screen.
No, we're not reading it out for the audio people.
I'm very sorry. We are trying to do this. This will again be released as an audio version
and we are trying to remember that there are people who cannot see the screen when it is
audio only, but we're not reading that one out. You're very mischievous.
Anyway, Alan, after that bombshell.
Well, the next one's kind of related actually. It's from the farmer Jamie and I'm just trying to
I'm having trouble with our new system as you might have heard on this week's podcast.
So Jamie has asked
only one of us can copy and paste Banders here.
No, no, no. This is slick, isn't it?
It's all part of the learning process.
Oh, everyone's all right.
Yes, apart from when you copy instead of pasting.
Right. Anyway, Jamie has asked what special edition podcast would you love to do,
car, person or place? And then you've got second or alternative question,
which is what was the first time you seriously regretted the podcast as a life choice?
I'm going to answer that second one.
Okay.
It was the end of day two of charging around Britain the first time when we had left the
hotel, which was meant to have a charge but didn't have a charger
before seven o'clock in the morning before we'd had any breakfast.
And we didn't get into the holiday and express at Folkestone
until was it gone midnight that night or was it just before?
No, Glasgow was five past 12.
Glasgow was five past midnight. I remember that.
I think this one was that one was very close to
but it was a been an absolutely horrible day.
We recorded the daily podcast in the car park of Brighton Football Club
because that was the charge between where we were and Folkestone.
That's true. I'd forgotten about that.
And then you had to do the you did the edit and upload before going to bed.
So it was after midnight when it got uploaded to release at seven o'clock the next morning.
Here's the summary that that was like the first really bad time.
There are some other times I mean
the other week going to SMMT and it was like, why the hell am I doing this?
Why am I getting the quarter to 11 Ryan air flight from Copenhagen
to stand still to then finally get into the hotel at one o'clock in the morning
so that I could go and drive some cars.
So it happens on occasion but that the first real sort of what the hell are we doing was
Folkestone. In fact, it was probably Brighton Football Club actually
because that was it was getting pretty grim and we still had a couple of hours worth of driving there.
Well, on that point for me, I've never seriously regretted it.
There's been times where I've had hissy fits privately and gone.
That's it. I'm done. I'm not doing it.
And there's never been anything to do with Alan.
It's never been anything to do with recording the show or
the other night when we were jokingly going through some of these submitted ones
just before recording the normal podcast.
But there's been external influences that there's been there's been
times when just life has been too much.
And it's like, I don't have the bandwidth. I don't have the capacity.
I mean, I went off the radar last year towards the back end of last year for personal reasons.
But with that one, I knew I'd be back.
It's just I couldn't cope with doing the show.
There was a phase of COVID that was
moving on.
COVID was probably the first time that it really hit me where
because we're all trying to cope with the newness of everything and how we were all
that I had the added bonus that my brother-in-law was trapped with us
instead of living back in New Zealand where he normally does.
So we already had a small house. We had now a new adult
and we're all trying to adjust to all this.
And you're seeing grown people losing their minds.
And then you're going, one, you think it feels gross to talk about buying a new car
while people are dying and all the rest of it and others are saving others lives and all this
and then you're going, but I'm struggling just with the whole situation.
And then you see comments from lovely comments.
There is no shade in what I'm saying here.
They were lovely comments and thank you for sending them in.
But people going, oh, thank God you guys are doing what you're doing.
We've got some normality at least.
And that's when you get a bit of a look, this is bigger than just you stop being selfish,
grow up a bit, think of others and it sort of shakes you out yourself.
That was probably the first time.
But I've never regretted it because I maybe thought, I can't do it.
I haven't got the capacity, but I've never regretted it.
How about the first half of you?
Thought anything up for that because I'm struggling.
I was really lucky because I did one.
I mean, visiting Port Sente in Atlanta having a morning driving
Porsches with a private test track with a team racing driver in the passenger seat.
He had to go faster and not crash it.
And then getting a whole tour of the facility from school friend was just fantastic.
That was such a good day.
It was the only special edition I really did from the U.S.
Just because in between work, I needed the break and I didn't and stuff.
But I actually, do you know what I'd like to do?
I've just realized it.
I would love to go back and do one around the Henry Ford Museum of American Heritage.
That would actually be cracking or some kind of
some kind of thing, some fantastic auto museums in the U.S.
And that is it's not really an auto museum.
It's an everything museum, but that is just so fantastic.
The whole story behind it, the whole some of the stuff I've got there.
And actually, I think that it's maybe not as well known outside the U.S.
as it should be, even amongst car folk, possibly because you see the Ford and that's it.
But it's not about that.
That would be kind of cool to go and a curator and talk about some of the exhibits there.
That would be pretty awesome.
I like talking about stuff.
I'm not very good at talking about people.
So hence, it's not really an interview to take one.
What about you?
You're much better at the interviews.
It's been a while since I've done them.
Please don't ask again.
Yes, I'd love to do them.
Yeah, we can.
No, I don't have a class to everybody.
We cling to the age.
And I am so thankful for how well
review was received at the time and how many people loved it and how many people tuned in
and how many people agreed to be on it as well.
It was really amazing.
But there's, you know, you can throw a headphone in the air and you'll hit an interview podcast
these days.
If I did it now, it would be different.
There would be so much more research done.
It would be so much more time intensive.
So it's just not possible.
Alan knows this.
I am very good at coming up with ideas and going, oh, that'd be really exciting to do.
And never executing on them because of time, life, the reality of my ability to execute on my idea.
I've learned over the last 11 years, you get this email, you get all this slack message,
which is like pages and pages long as he's just braindumped onto it.
And then you reach through it and you go, that's great.
That's fantastic.
That's wonderful.
When are we ever going to find the time to do that?
There have been so many things like that.
There's so much we'd love to do.
We've got a ton of special editions that we've talked about.
Well, we've got a backlog of stuff we want to, that we have to record.
But we've also got some other types of episodes that we really would love to be able to record
and produce.
I think really, for me, what would I love to do?
I'd love to have enough money that we could have an editor that could take that weight off.
Because if we had an editor that we were able to pay properly,
then we were producing so much more content.
We're back into the loop we have, which is we don't have time to do the content that would
mean we get the advertisers and without the monetary income to be able
to pay someone to take the weight off us to get the time.
We don't get, you know, it's a vicious circle.
It's always like that.
But now cracking one there, I hope that's been helpful.
There's a couple of ones aimed towards me, which I can ask quite quickly.
Shall I run through those?
The first one, actually, Matthew Lewis sent it via the website.
And he said, I don't think you've said much about this on the podcast,
but it sounds like you've moved to Scotland after coming back from a couple of years in the USA.
Just curious what brought you back to Scotland and how you find it there.
I guess it's the twisty roads and beautiful scenery are one good draw.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
So I was in Northamptonshire for 15 years, went away to the US for two and a half.
I was asked to buy work and then I came back.
And I'm now just outside Perth in Scotland.
And so I'm from around here.
Anyway, I have parents who are getting older in Celia.
And so being next to them is nice.
And also whilst I was away, lots of my nearby friends in Northamptonshire,
they all moved as well.
So they moved to other places too.
So it got to the stage where it was like, well,
do I go back from this really lovely apartment I'm renting in just outside Boston,
and I go back to my semi-detached relatively new build house
on a brownfield site, sort of in the middle of Corby,
and not have the ocean views and the yacht club?
Do I take this as an opportunity?
Do I take this as an opportunity to move?
And actually, I spoke to other friends when I was in the US
who were also over there working the stuff.
And they'd said the same when they moved back.
They didn't think they'd be able to move back to where they were before
because it would be a aggressive step.
So the next step really was move where friends are in that top here.
And it also happened to be roughly where family is.
So I'm a little bit closer should something happen to them.
So it was a whole load of stuff.
And yes, my favorite driving road is about 15 minutes away from here.
And it's really nice.
But I have been so busy since I got back
that I haven't had a lot of time to really enjoy it.
Great trip up to see Finley, who had mentioned really last year,
roughly this kind of time of year last year,
and blatting across from here via Braemar and up towards him.
And that was a wonderful, wonderful drive.
Don't say it on the internet because they'll start putting average speed cameras in.
Oh, yeah, it's part of the North Coast 500 or 80m.
It's just 50.
Everybody knows it.
Fantastic road up through Glen Shields.
So that was that.
So that's that question.
The other question, I hope you realize that you've just forfeited
the serious question by asking this one.
What is the GP in AGP?
It is not John Paul like yours.
It is John Patrick in my case.
So yes, it's Alan John Patrick.
Okay.
There we go.
So that's tick those ones off everyone.
Okay.
I'm going to then move us on to a question from a friend of the show.
Everybody on here is a friend of the show actually.
But Jim McGill, he sent this into Alan.
He said, and I will read this out fully,
okay, question for tonight.
You have to go buy a normal car, which must have made Jim shudder to type.
Oh, no, no, no.
This was only the first message.
The second one, he got more specific about it.
Okay.
And a far more Jim style car.
A normal car tomorrow.
So something under 40k or 500 quid a month.
First, do you buy new or second hand and what do you buy?
I can call on this first.
You, you got, no, I know what your answer is.
Yeah, you go first.
I'm refining my answer.
I know roughly what I want, but I can't go for it.
So my answer is second hand.
And I have a hard out on a year and I would go super out back.
Now, sorry, Jim, but I have been doing this sort of fantasy shopping for about the last
six months.
So I have had to, and Alan has been the poor, poor soul that has had to bear the brunt of
me coming back and going, oh, but maybe it might be this.
And then I keep wheeling back to this.
No, it comes it for years.
When he's been doing this, it has come back to, to the outback in some format.
Yeah, it's a very new car in it.
Yeah.
I just think it has sidewalls.
It's raised where there is getting worse in the winter, where I live.
Well, the roads are appalling.
The, the amount of flooding locally is increasing.
It's just, I, I can't, I don't want to go.
And, and I've had experience recently ish in some Alan hates them.
But so that'll give you a hint of what it is, but some very lovely cars are a very
lovely car.
And I had a miserable time because of the roads and people on the roads.
And it made me very sad.
That's why I'm happy.
It was nothing to do with the car.
It was to do with everything else that we in the UK have to deal with every time we
get in a car and go out on the roads.
It's just a grim, horrible experience.
So have you now?
Have I given you enough time to think?
Yeah, I haven't narrowed it to a, to a specific.
If I was going out to buy a car tomorrow, I would be coming home with something electric.
The under 40k of five to quarter month, I think that would get me a nearly new,
could I?
Or here?
500 quid a month to give you an awful lot.
500 quid a month.
Nearly now it's in you.
It's just which, which manufacturer do you, are you trusting?
Well, that, that's it.
I mean, it's, I'm being serious.
Okay, I've laughed, but I'm very serious about that.
I, and you know, I know we've just talked about charging around Britain and then charging
around Britain, Britain, the return.
But, but I am a sucker for a Hyundai EV and I do like them and an Ioniq five or something would,
would get in there.
I mean, a Renault five EV, exactly.
Exactly.
A Renault five EV is a strong contender, but it's a little bit small.
I think I prefer the Hyundai.
But that's, that's where I would be going.
Probably an Ioniq five, probably not, not an Ioniq six, because I've now driven an Ioniq
six and you see, they're like that a lot.
Six is better than the five in terms of everyday use as well.
Not quite as wide because the time I drove a five on the public road, it was a left-hand drive
Norwegian spec one at the original UK launch.
And I, but just to be clear, just in case anyone doesn't understand that I love the
five, I think the five is beautifully executed, although there are some gaps in day-to-day usability.
But I don't like, I don't like the six.
I don't find the six as attractive.
I love the fact, by the way, that lots of, of, of motoring journalists,
when they leave motoring journalism and they no longer have a hot and cold running press cars,
they go by a cone EV.
That would be, that would be a strong, as a strong contender as well.
But that's below the threshold and I might as well spend up towards the threshold.
Yeah, that's, that's where I'm going.
Oh, this is what happens when you get design people in the chat.
You see, they've got good opinions.
And the Ioniq six is misunderstood and will be a future design classic no doubt
when people start appreciating it.
The updated version that's out now looks much better.
I think so too.
Much better.
But I think they updated it knowing that the, no.
But I'm very confident they updated it knowing the six end was coming out.
So they could make it a bit torture in certain areas.
I just never, not that I never really liked the rear of the six.
That's what's kind of stopped, stopped me there.
And I like a decent hatchback and all of these kinds of things.
But no, if I was going out to buy something, it would be a case of walking around trying
to find something that's relatively reliable, has decent, has a decent range
and deal a network and, and covering it that way.
Sorry, it's not, not very exciting choices really.
I mean, it's not as if I'm saying, well, I'd buy a 20 year old Cayman, not Cayman, 20 year old
Cayenne or something, which is going to be hilariously unreliable.
I have a Lexus and a Toyota.
I don't really do unreliable cars.
I never really have drink everyone.
It's just, what the heck's the point?
It's my own money.
Why don't I spend it on a hair shirt?
I can enjoy other cars.
But you know, most cars are reliable these days.
It's not a big deal.
How are we doing anymore for anymore?
No, well, that's taken us pretty much up to the hour.
We're 15 minutes, people are taping furiously.
Well, thank you everyone for, for being here.
And thank you all for the, for the comments and for the questions.
That's greatly appreciated because this would be very, very difficult without you.
Yes.
Yeah, no, it's been great.
Thank you.
Thank you everyone and for all your comments all the way through and stuff as well.
Yeah.
And amazingly, there's time for more questions when Andrew hasn't, hasn't
prepared 25 minutes worth of monologue.
Thousand tiny knives.
Thousand tiny knives at you all the time.
And still, still he insists on doing it.
Yeah, let's run out of that then, folks.
So don't forget that between now and next week,
you can give us any feedback and share your thoughts with the show at motoringpodcast.com
on Blue Sky at Motoring Podcast on Instagram and Facebook.
And on the contact page of www.motoringpodcast.com, the hub of all our activities.
Remember, you can support us financially by Patreon and please leave a review and rating on
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Let's you do such a thing.
Andrew, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
Best way to get in touch with me is if you search for Crackwindscreen on Blue Sky
or I am also on LinkedIn under my name.
And Alan, if people would like to get in touch with you personally,
what's the best way for them to do that?
Best way is generally via Blue Sky.
I spent far too much of my time on there.
LinkedIn also works or as I say, contact page of the website.
I said we'll be back very soon.
But until then, I've been Alan Bradley.
I've been Andrew Clues.
And Safe Motoring.
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