and obviously it must handle like awesome as well,
but like safety-wise, it's just funny
how like there is no car between the wheels.
So if you have the slightest ding in that,
surely like that's it,
steering damage, suspension damage, finish.
Like, yeah, and they're so small as well.
And I think a lot of manufacturers now
get hung up on producing cars from numbers
instead of emotion.
Yeah, of course, yeah.
If you're a proper driver,
if you're a proper enthusiast
and I would say some people just buy a car
just to go fast in
and they're not really so bothered
about what they actually do to you,
which is a shame really
because I would probably say there's more of them
actual enthusiasts.
We mentioned the E92 M3, perfect example.
The back-wearing cars were V8s,
you know, again, power-to-weight,
rear-wheel drive, driver's cars, you know.
Proper cars, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And as good, you know,
I love the M3s now with the power,
just all-round perfect really,
but they're not what they,
you know, that is the pinnacle,
I think of cars then, you know,
no emissions, you know,
they were pretty,
no fake pops and bangs from the peak.
Yeah, I would say they're natural,
just thoroughbreds really, weren't they?
Yeah.
Just a pure car, as I say.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, no BS.
No, absolutely, that's it.
I would say absolutely, absolutely.
I think that we've,
we always used to have like brand new cars now,
but we think that the sweet spot
is actually getting them a few years older.
Yeah, I think in a few years' time,
we're going to look back and think,
right, what was the sweet spot?
And I think it was up,
I think it's going to be up until
you have to turn the safety crap off.
Yes, yeah, you have to get in and go,
yeah, yeah, agreed.
I think pre, pre that,
are going to be sought after,
but I think also think pre-OPF cars,
pre-PPS, they sound better.
Yeah, totally agree, yeah, yeah.
So they've ruined so many good cars.
By the new AMGs as well,
like, oh, what have you done?
You're sort of talking there, 2018, aren't you?
Sort of back in the 2018s,
when the OPFs come in,
so that sort of borderline year there
might be, let's say, years to come will go by itself.
I think probably peaked in 2018-ish
in terms of actual getting a pure car,
where it was now, it's not the manufacturer's fault.
No, absolutely not.
No, it's not, it's just a regulation
I have to comply with.
If we did this podcast in Australia or America,
it'd be great, great times to be alive.
Yeah, absolutely, that's it, yeah, we can't wait.
They haven't got to wait till PPS until 2027 or 23.
I need to probably scrap that anyway.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Yeah, third term, here we go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't blame it.
Just go over there and just smell petrol.
That's it, yeah.
De-cut a car, yeah.
Have you got a dream car?
What's the dream car?
I change all the time.
Yeah. Yeah, it's really hard.
If you ask me tomorrow, it'd be someone else.
If you ask me the day after.
Yeah, I'd say like that.
One thing I'm not really so interested in.
That's a wicked job, by the way.
Look at that one.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, they're great cars.
In terms of dream cars, I don't really know.
I'll tell you one thing, it's not a super car.
Yeah, they don't really do it for me.
Oh yeah, no, I get that.
I'm not a Lambo fan.
I don't really...
I can't really relate to them.
I think because I've grown up around
kind of normal-ish cars, that kind of...
Sounds silly, almost like...
Yeah, yeah, that's ridiculous.
I mean, I really appreciate your super car
and all the engine haven't gone into it
and the engines and everything.
But for me, I quite like unique cars.
Like I really like Land Cruisers.
If you ask me a dream car garage, one of it,
one of those cars, probably two or three of those cars,
would be a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Yeah, 100 Series, 76 Series, maybe a 200 Series 2.
And I just think when people put their dream cars together,
like what was your dream garage,
it's full of super cars.
And you're like, it's not really relatable that.
Why?
You're not going to take a 296 to the shops.
I mean, it'd be cool, you know.
But till it's still a dinked.
Like a great YouTube video, wouldn't it?
Yeah, it would.
But a dream car, I think,
from being a BMW fan, there's two F90 M5 CS.
Yeah, that'll be a great daily.
Or, I'll say all, and the E92 GTS.
Yeah, oh wow.
Yeah, absolutely.
But I mean that there's loads.
The awesome tomorrow would be different.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm a sucker, to be fair,
talking about super cars,
at one point, like the ultimate dream car,
probably F12 TDF.
Yeah, okay.
That's special now.
Fair enough.
That's special.
The noise that we get out of there.
Just screaming V12 through a tonne of type five.
Yeah, yeah, wow.
I suppose the thing that is quite clear on your channel
is, as you just said, it's not all super cars,
it's not all hyper cars.
It's quite, literally, not day-to-day stuff,
but it's attainable, affordable cars
that people can have a lot of the time.
So there will be a 335D,
and there'll be a, why is that the better car over,
let's say, an M3 every day.
Or, yeah, there seems to be quite a lot on your channel,
which I think that's why a lot of people watch that,
is because it's your attainable cars
that you're reviewing,
as opposed to the super cars and stuff.
Yeah, I think a lot of channels
kind of just get a bit blinded
by, because they've got access
to these fantastic cars from manufacturers.
You know, I'm not gonna be wrong,
I'd love to be in that position one day,
but from my understanding, I can't relate to those cars,
I can relate to a 335D, I can relate to an M3,
because these are what the normal working man can,
actually, or woman, sorry, can afford.
So I think, well, if we keep it relatable,
then the person watching can also relate,
but it's also the way you approach it as an angle,
you just stood there for 10 minutes
and just talk a load of crap about the car,
you're gonna turn off,
you've gotta keep it interesting as well.
But relatable cars, attainable cars,
are definitely probably the,
there's not many people doing it.
Yeah, no.
In an interesting way.
I'd like to say interesting, I don't know.
Well, let's say, if you're looking at buying a car,
you sort of type in,
Lamborghini, Gallardo, or the Huracan review,
and you find your top channels,
your top gears there, your auto car, whatever,
but if you're looking at buying a 335D,
you type that in YouTube,
and you're more likely to find your video,
because, as you say, you've got a bit of a niche there,
where your bigger reviewing channels aren't doing that.
But the percentage of people
actually searching for a 335D,
I bet you, is bigger than people searching
for a Lamborghini Huracan or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Good point.
That's it.
So yeah, I think from that aspect, it's good.
Yeah, it is, it's a real nice niche.
And I'd prefer, honestly, if someone's asked me,
I've got a Lamborghini Rivalto there for you to review,
or you can go and review that BMW M340D.
I'd be like, okay, give me the keys of the BMW.
Or it might not be the BMW interesting,
because it's BMW, or if someone said to me,
there's an Audi S5 TDI.
Or give me the S5, I'll do the S5.
Yeah.
Because I can actually give a thorough review on that.
Yeah.
Whereas the Roberto is like, I'm in that.
Yeah, what do you want me to say, guys?
Yeah, it's a V12, 1,000 horsepower car.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, if you're looking to buy one anyway,
you know, I'm not going to tempt you, am I?
No, no, no, sure.
You're going to go ahead with it.
You've got the money to do it,
so you don't need to hear from me.
But it's quite interesting though,
when you watch reviews,
or you buy a car based on someone else's opinion.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're right.
Yeah, everyone goes and watches.
Like, when you go on, when you go and buy clothes,
if you try it on, you like it, you buy it.
Whereas with a car, you'll test drive it,
but you'll probably still go home
and watch the YouTube reviews.
Yeah.
And you're like, yeah, I did like it.
I agree with what you're saying,
but I don't, but I also agree that
that's not a good point about the car.
So I might go and get the other one too.
Yeah.
It's interesting.
It really is.
So if it was the car,
it's probably something you spend
maybe the second most time of the day
in or something.
Yeah.
You know, to inform work.
Yeah.
And you're buying it based on someone else's opinion.
Of course you are, yeah.
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
So you hold quite a bit of influence
when you think of it.
You know, I have people commenting
or thanks for the review, I've bought one.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
I hope I was right.
Yeah.
I hope so.
Yeah.
I hope you're enjoying it.
Yeah.
It was a crap car, I'm sure.
It's here, it's time.
Oh, I wish I wanted to listen to him.
Everybody talks about, like,
Mercedes-Benz interior is taking a bit of a dive.
And I've never really been a massive fan of me
if I'm being totally honest with you,
but black, shiny plastic just always comes to mind.
What do you think to Mercedes-Benz interiors nowadays?
Consider I've actually not drove one in age as well.
I think they look good.
Yeah.
I just think,
yeah, there's a combination of a few parts
which just make it feel a bit cheap.
Yeah, black, shiny plastic.
However, though, you go up in the range
and they are built quite well.
Yeah.
But yeah, but it's like black, shiny plastic,
I'm not a fan of.
Yeah.
Put some, like, aluminium or something else.
Yeah.
That's why I quite like BMWs,
because they do, okay, yeah,
a lot of people are saying like,
BMW interiors are boring,
but they are so well refined.
And to be fair, there's not a lot going on,
but what is going on, they've done it right.
Oh, yeah.
I think with BMW interiors
is the fact that they drive a focus too.
Yeah.
They're so simple.
Yeah.
So when you're driving,
you've got a load of screens to go
and you're like, well,
how do I turn this bloody fan off?
Oh, no.
You know, with a BMW, it's one click,
that's it, it's done.
Yeah.
It's the little things which go a long way.
Yeah, too.
Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, I totally agree.
I think the simplicity actually sometimes is better.
100%.
You know, you go back to 2007 BMWs,
I had an E-91 320D.
The interiors are so boring.
Yeah.
For someone else, but I loved it.
Yeah.
Because it was built well.
Everything was just so easy to locate.
And it was nice.
Yeah, timeless design, really.
Yeah, yeah.
Where did your last name come from?
I was actually thinking to be fair,
Haftavani, it sounds a bit like,
it does actually sound like Ferrari Haftavani,
Lamborghini Haftavani.
It does, doesn't it?
Start a clothing mission.
Yeah, good.
Yeah, good.
Fair.
Yeah.
Yeah, Giorgio Armani.
Yeah, it's changed to Max Haftavani.
Yeah.
We've started something there.
Of course, I've thought about it before.
Yeah, it's nice.
Yeah, yeah.
So the actual name,
so I use Haftavani,
it's actually double-barreled.
Oh, is it?
I've got a review saying,
hi, I'm Max Techian Haftavani.
Yeah.
It's going to add another four seconds on, isn't it?
Yeah.
Well, I've got a double-barre first name
and a double-barre second name,
so I hear you.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
We won't go there.
Yeah.
We're not going off time.
Yeah.
So yeah, the full name is Techian Haftavani.
Yeah.
So it originates from kind of,
it's Armenian slash Iranian.
Okay, yeah.
So if there's an Armenian watching,
they'll probably ask me,
well, why don't I use Techian?
Because you look at anyone,
not anyone, most people who has an Armenian name,
their surname mostly ends in either I-A-M or Y-A-N.
Kim Kardashian.
Mm, okay.
Yeah.
I-A-N.
Yeah.
She's Armenian.
Yeah.
Do you watch football, any of you?
Yes.
Yeah.
Henrik Mkhitaryan.
Yeah.
Did you play for United?
Yeah.
Y-A-N.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, that was a great move.
I mean, I'm a fan.
Yeah.
I'll say, you know.
There you go.
Wow.
Yeah.
It was just meant to be that.
Yeah, it was, yeah.
It was meant to be.
So yeah, it's from that area of the world
because my dad was actually born in Iran.
Yeah.
In Tehran, but of Armenian parents.
So he was born in an Armenian family.
He brought up in Armenian school
because there was a big settlement,
big community of Armenians in Iran
because of the Armenian genocide.
But yeah, his dad, well, my granddad and my grandmother,
they were Armenian.
So yeah, I've, I'm Armenian really hard for Armenian.
My mum's English.
Yeah.
So when I go in Kaurau sometimes,
I wear an Armenian t-shirt.
Yeah.
Non-political.
It's nothing to do with politics.
Yeah.
But it's just the fact that I want to resonate
with the Armenian community.
Yeah, sure.
It's because I want them to be,
I want them to feel proud.
Yeah.
It's just the fact that, you know, I've got Armenian in me.
Yeah.
And it has had a bit of reaction actually
because when I first worn an Armenian hoodie,
I got a load of Armenian comments
and actually a few Armenian followers
actually reach out to me saying,
oh, we love you.
Thank you.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Because Armenian culture is like very family focused.
If you're Armenian, I'm Armenian.
That means we're brothers.
Yeah.
Yeah, sure.
We have a lot of vibe, really.
Yeah.
That sort of culture.
And Armenian was actually the first ever country
to adopt Christianity.
Oh, really, was it?
Yeah.
Oh, there you go.
And I've been to both countries,
been to Armenia and Iran.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pre-2012, if the US is watching.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, God.
Yeah.
Have you been to any of these countries
before you come over?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have, but before 2012.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did a trip.
We saw a couple of Lardas, didn't we?
And you sort of seemed quite interested in that.
And obviously, I suppose, does that align
with maybe history then?
So, yeah, Lardas, right.
So, my dad really liked cars from the Middle East.
Because every time we went to Iran,
they had something called a Pekon.
So, that's the Iranian version of a Hillman Hunter.
Oh, wow.
Okay, yeah.
Okay.
So, a British car.
Yeah.
So, in Iran, there's loads of them.
They're all users of taxis.
And how they lock them is with a padlock.
Brilliant.
Yeah.
That's central lock.
Yeah.
When you go to Armenia, it's full of Lardas
because they're ex-Soviet.
Mm-hmm.
You know, Soviet era.
Yeah.
Obviously, Lardas is Russian.
Yeah.
So, we've always said, we've always wanted
to bring a Larda, Neva, four by four
to the UK.
Yeah.
So, next year, I'm going to, me and my dad,
we're going to go to Armenia.
I'm going to document all this.
We're going to buy a Larda Neva
and drive it back to the UK.
Oh, nice.
I like it.
Great idea.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's something that's not been done before.
No.
And I just think it would be cool
to have a Larda Neva in the UK.
Yeah.
You've never seen them.
No, I was going to say, I don't think
I've ever even seen one in person.
And they've got a massive cult following.
Yeah.
Massive.
Yeah.
They're everywhere.
Yeah.
They're probably a crap car.
Yeah.
They're so cheaply made.
Yeah.
But they're normally the best cars.
Yeah, it's good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Character.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't think I've actually kind of let the fact
that I'm going to drive a Larda Neva
back from Armenia to the UK.
Yeah.
Let it sink in yet,
because that's going to be quite a crap journey.
Yeah.
When you're broken down in Turkey,
you're probably there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not quite the M140i, is it?
Yeah.
I said to my dad, I said,
have we got air conditioning?
Yeah.
He said, no.
I said, that's not going to be fun.
He said, oh, it's okay.
I'm driving down the road,
and they can fit it there and then.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think I...
Yeah.
Imagine buying a car,
driving down the road,
said, okay,
fit air conditioning.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
So that's the plan for next year.
Oh, fair place.
Yeah.
So I think that'll be a cool video
when it comes out.
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
I know.
No one looking for it.
Yeah, look at that.
I love that.
We talked about it before, didn't we?
Just like buying a thousand-pound banger
and just going on a road trip
and seeing how long we can last.
Yeah.
They bought a car for...
You could buy a car for 100 quid
back in the day.
Yeah.
You know, buy a car for 100 quid,
go on a road trip with it,
see what you can do with it,
have a challenge along the way.
And yeah,
and that's, I guess,
probably where now
we want to do that.
We want to relive those top gear days.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Likewise for yourself.
And I think that's why now,
road trips are so popular.
Right, okay.
I think.
Well, it's always been the case,
like, top gear's best driving road.
Mm-hmm.
You know,
you're driving in Italy,
weren't you on the...
You've gone beyond the Stelvio Pass.
Yeah.
And you've been on,
you know,
all these Swiss roads and stuff.
And that's where,
I suppose,
the inspired people
like yourself to...
I think there was that,
but also I think technology's made it easy.
Yeah.
You know,
you just go on Google,
type in the best roads to drive,
Google Maps,
and you're off.
Yeah.
Whereas back then,
you had to go actively searching
for the good roads
and they were probably less.
Get your maps out.
That was one of my questions,
actually.
How on Earth?
Like little gems of roads.
And how on Earth do you
cross them?
You know,
is it literally a case of
sitting on Google,
scouting the area around?
Yeah.
Or is it local knowledge?
Probably a mix of both.
Obviously I've got...
Are we on about European or UK?
European, to be honest, yeah.
Yeah.
So I don't have the luxury
of going out and scouting the roads
because that increases cost.
Mm-hmm.
You know,
going out,
hiring a car,
staying in hotels.
You want to keep your costs low,
of course.
But that goes so...
In the future,
that's...
That might happen.
Yeah.
Because you want to show
you're providing the great,
the best experience
for the people booking
on your road trips.
At the minute,
it's probably a mixture
of Google Street View,
hours and hours of looking
through that.
Mm-hmm.
Also forums.
Mm-hmm.
You know,
speaking to people,
what do you think
the best road in
the Pamplona area
or something like that.
Mm-hmm.
And you always kind of get...
After you look on a few websites,
you kind of get
like a common road,
which a lot of people say.
And you kind of know,
right, they're obviously saying it's good.
You can't really go
much wrong with that.
Yeah.
So that'll be fine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was the thing
you don't mind.
What I noticed was
the drive to and from
boring.
Like, you know,
you just sat on motorways,
aren't you?
But the whole trip we were on,
we never one-point got
copies on so much driving today.
We did like
six, seven, eight hours
driving every day.
Didn't feel it
because you're enjoying it,
you know,
on twisty roads,
driving the cars to what
they're supposed to be driven at.
And,
yeah,
you just notice the difference
between
driving the motorway
and
literally what the tour is
and find all these roads.
It's just...
You just couldn't get
enough of it,
to be honest with you.
Oh, for sure.
When you're going from
location to location,
it's not about getting there
the fast way possible.
It's about getting there
in the best way possible,
isn't it?
Yeah.
Or if you're in France
playing for a toll road,
or in Italy,
to be fair,
that's mad as well.
To have a toll road
is in Italy.
In fact,
the Italians are mad
to be fair,
driving in Italy.
Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah.
Well, we've experienced
that first
anniversary.
Yeah.
It's a different lifestyle.
Let's put it that way.
Yeah.
Although it was
the Englishman who knocked
to blow off his bike
and then crashed into
a woman.
Yeah,
what we were saying
earlier about
we were on our way back
and I was like,
oh, yeah, this car
being great.
We've not had one issue.
I pulled out the hotel.
It turned left
on a right only.
But I was impatient.
And then got even more impatient
when somebody went
to go on a green light.
So I went to go around them,
knocked the bike over,
and then corrected.
And then the car
was in the middle of it.
Oh, God.
It's lovely.
M235I.
I had scrapped
both sides.
Yeah.
I quickly got rid of that.
I got back,
got it all sorted,
got it like ceramic coated,
and I went, nah,
get rid of it.
Yeah.
You can't see
what it's been for.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I thought I was bought that car.
I do apologise,
but you don't know what it is.
No, no, no.
Then we were saying this.
The company bought it
and then just went full Birmingham
spec on it anyway.
Yeah.
Black wheels.
No regrets.
Splitters.
I'm not going to tell.
Tipped windows.
Yeah.
So whoever's bought it,
I don't think they're going
to be worried about
its previous history.
That's going to be driven
harder than.
So you've offended
Birmingham.
I don't know.
There's a Birmingham spec.
I personally am not,
but there'd be loads of people
out there, you know,
Birmingham spec car,
Bradford spec.
Oh, dear, dear.
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Thanks Eclipse
and back to the podcast.
We talked about this a little bit,
but have you got any idea
what videos will do better than others
when you're filming them?
Do you ever film them and go
yeah this one's going to do alright,
this one?
Or is it the ones that you least expect
to do well that do well?
You know what I mean,
I think if I knew that,
it'd be a lot more successful
than what it is.
You shoot a video and you think
I'll do well that.
And you're posting,
you're like it does mediocre.
And then you put,
I always put as much effort
as into a video as possible
in terms of like the quality
of what I'm saying.
But maybe like the quality
of the video
I might not have enough time
to get that extra bit.
So I'll say to myself,
that's not going to do as well
because they didn't manage
to get the rolling bits
or they managed to get
those flybys.
And then you're posting like,
I've got 50,000 views that.
How's that done that?
Because it hasn't met
my quality standards
and what I want.
But yet it succeeded a video
which I filmed last week
which had a better quality
video.
So I think
there seems to be a good recipe
though.
Any diesel BMW.
That's it.
They seem to do well.
They seem to do well.
Obviously BMW has got
a big cut following.
Audi RS cars do well.
People like Audi RS cars,
RS3s, RS5s,
the V8 ones,
the RS4s,
they're great,
they're great to film.
Supercars don't do well
on my channel.
I just think because they're a bit
unrelatable.
If it was a new car,
if it was a new supercar,
then yes,
it probably will do well
because people want to know
the latest technology.
What's the pound this?
What's the colour?
What does it look like?
How fast is it?
SUVs always do well as well.
People love SUVs.
Yeah, they're everywhere.
Everyone's got one.
Yeah, I suppose that's
that thing coming back to it
again.
If you're going to buy one,
you certainly don't.
Yes.
And how many other people have
done,
as you say,
reviewing the diesel
BMWs and stuff.
It's a nice niche you've got
there, so it's,
yes,
why probably you find it
does pretty well.
Well,
I reviewed,
I went through a time
where I reviewed,
I had quite a lot of performance
cars on the channel.
And luckily,
I have a friend called Nathan.
Hello, Nathan.
He has a car dealership
and he sells
all sorts of cars.
Oh, brilliant.
So I rang him up,
said,
have you got anything in?
I'd like to review
it.
Not normal,
but non-performance.
Yeah.
And he said,
well,
have a look on our website,
see which one you want to take
away.
So I had a look
and there was this
2020
Range Rover Evoque.
Okay.
And I thought,
you know what,
I think that makes a great
second hand buy.
A lot of people will be
looking at that.
Yeah.
So if you,
if I do that video
and just kind of title it,
should you buy a second
hand Range Rover Evoque?
Yeah.
Surely that's got to be
good.
I did it.
I did it.
And the thing,
what you'll find when I post
non-performance cars,
they do really bad at first.
First 24 hours,
they just,
they don't perform
well at all.
But I always,
I've learnt
to deal with this now.
I know they won't do well
in the first part of the video,
part of the kind of
24 hours,
48 hours.
But I know,
I said,
right,
I'll revisit that video
in a week.
Yeah.
And that car,
so I did a Range Rover Evoque,
posted the review
before that review,
at the new M4 CS.
The Range Rover Evoque has
got double the reviews
of the M4 CS.
And you're like,
you know,
that just shows
just all about
what you review
and it's how you review it
and how you portray
that video.
Yeah.
And I had a few comments
on the new Evoque saying,
what are you doing with
this?
It's a normal car,
I'm not interested in this.
Yeah.
And to be fair,
other people comment saying,
well,
although I'm a car enthusiast,
I'm quite interested
in all cars.
Yeah.
And people still
can't get over the fact
that you reviewed it.
No,
that I review
that I don't have
a pick and choice of,
I can't pick and choose
what car review.
Literally,
I get cars
from people who reach out to me.
So I don't go to manufacturers
and say,
can I review that?
Oh, I'm thinking of reviewing
Ford Mustang today.
I'll go and do one.
No, it's,
I don't have
options.
Yeah.
It's what,
you know,
Louie,
you reach out to me,
what car have you got?
Oh,
Mechanis.
So I've got a Mechanis.
Okay.
Go on.
There's a date.
We'll go and review it.
You,
you reach out to me.
You got the M3.
And that's it.
It's all private cars.
There's only,
now there's a few more
press cars coming on,
which is great to see.
Yeah.
But yeah,
all,
it's all,
all the channels have been
built on,
on private individuals
and many views on that
Range Rover evoke.
Cause every young girl
that wants to graduate
from a Fiat 500
or a Mercedes A-Class
goes up to a Range Rover.
So the next only
fans model.
Yeah.
Basically.
Yeah.
So they've upgraded.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So how you know
an only fans model
is doing well.
Yeah.
That's it.
They evoke.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well,
it's not wrong.
It's not wrong.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Up here.
Up here.
I just can't afford that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you prefer to do the
reviews or the road trips?
Cause I,
I imagine actually though,
actually might be,
is it a stupid question?
Cause when you're on the road
trips, I'm sure it's
actually sweet,
but then planning the road
trips would not be for me
to be fair.
There's always a hard
balance.
Yeah.
When you're on a road
trip,
because you've got to
remember when,
so,
there's only nine cars
and that wasn't it?
Yeah.
Eight or nine cars.
What was it?
Whereas last week,
I was in the Dolomites
with 23 cars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Both of those
events,
I got,
I only got one video
of Spain
and I got two videos
on the Dolomites.
So I'm there.
I've got,
I've got a video
to do.
I don't have to do
the video.
I just do it for
the subscribers.
So I've got a video to
make
and I've also got
near enough 50 people
to make sure you don't make
a,
the wrong turn
because you've got
other people following you
whilst also saying
something about a car.
Yeah.
So there's a lot going on
and you're like,
did I get that bit on the car?
And to be fair,
my girlfriend Hannah
helps me out a lot
with,
with video on the road trip
because there's only
something that you can
physically do.
They're like,
just film that landscape
for a minute.
Can you film me?
She's always,
she's probably on the
go more than me.
Yeah.
That was apparent to be
honest.
Yeah.
So I think with,
yeah,
literally just doing the
things you can't physically do
when you're driving
and concentrating what's
behind you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I always make sure
the,
the navigations turned on
because sometimes you just
press mute.
That's how you,
that's how you miss a turn
or you've got to be on.
Yeah.
But yeah,
it's hard,
it's hard balance,
but it's fun.
Yeah.
But the road trips though
in the videos,
I don't,
none of it's really scripted.
It's just kind of
whereas the reviews,
they're not scripted.
I've just got bits of information
written down because
when you look at a car,
right?
I'm reviewing,
like tomorrow I'm reviewing
with racing driver Sam
Karawa,
not with Karawa,
but racing driver Sam
on the Dream Plus channel.
I'm reviewing a,
we're doing a track battle
with a GI RS,
M140i
and you've got to know
your stuff
because it's hard to remember
everything about
one car.
So you've got to have
some sort of
sheet to reference.
Yeah.
That guy is,
I like,
the stuff he spits out,
he went to,
is it quail?
Have you seen that video?
Yeah.
Oh my God.
The stuff he spits out
about cars,
I'm like,
where do you,
where do you store all this?
Yeah.
Like the information he's
got is insane,
like the detail
that he knows
off the top of his head
and he'll just do it all,
just like,
spin it all,
yeah,
unreal to be fair,
fair play to him.
Well,
I did a video recently
at BMW headquarters
at BMW's on the top floor.
Saw that.
Yeah.
That was off the top of your head.
Yeah.
Of course.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, yeah.
BMW.
Well, when you're passionate
about something,
it's easy to talk about
something when you're
passionate about it.
Exactly.
Correct.
Yeah.
It's actually interesting
that you said to be fair
because you've got
all these hypercars
at Quail,
I was watching this video
and it was actually quite
boring video
because I'm not
overly interested
in a lot of the cars
because they do seem
interesting.
Yeah.
Well, as you said earlier,
it's attainable stuff
like for us,
your M4s,
your M3s,
your Porsches,
your 911s,
it's stuff that we can
look at and go,
yeah,
you know,
that's stuff that
I could,
I could,
I could.
Yeah.
And you can actually drive it
without worried about
no,
rain drop going on it
or sand ship or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Generally.
Yeah,
I'm listening to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A nice headache at times,
but yeah,
I can imagine there's
a hell of a lot of planning
that goes into it.
Yeah,
they're cool.
I mean,
when you're driving roads
like that,
it's all worth it
in the end.
100%.
What's the worst thing
that's happened
on a road trip so far?
Probably,
probably our first
European road trip.
We had,
we had people,
some people caught
speeding.
Yeah.
So we were on the
German Autobahn.
Yeah.
And there's about
26 cars
all stickered up,
driven plus.
And there were two
individuals that were racing
on an Autobahn.
Oh.
So they were holding
the traffic back.
Yeah.
And then racing,
which is a big no-no
in Germany.
All right.
Yeah, big no-no.
So the police was coming
and we were all,
it was busy.
Too slow,
too slow,
nine.
Yeah.
So it was,
it was a busy
Autobahn,
right.
So some individuals,
some locals
had a dash cam
footage of this happening.
Oh, nice.
Sent it to the police.
So the police came
and for some reason,
they stopped
every one of us,
26 cars
in a busy
Autobahn
on the side of the road.
Oh, God.
Oh, but it's like,
it's just not safe, is it?
Well, yeah.
Hats off to the German police.
Yeah.
How they'd managed to do that,
that was great.
Yeah.
The logistics there
to stop 26 cars.
Yeah.
And we weren't all together.
Really?
Yeah, exactly.
The thing that made us stand out
was the stickers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah,
might change that going forward
in the future.
Guilty by-save situation.
Yeah.
But, yeah, anyway,
so they stopped us over.
They asked for our V5
insurance documents,
the general kind of
what they do.
And they managed to find
these two individuals
who were doing this.
And they were,
the first thing was
3,000 euros on the spot fine.
Oh.
They had to pay it there
and then,
or
they have the car taken off
and then,
yeah.
I feel as if
the police just made that up
on the spot.
Yeah, a bit extreme.
Yeah, it was a bit extreme.
And maybe they tried
to make an example
of them
for the rest.
But that wasn't it.
So, they had all this
information
on these two individuals.
When they got home,
I think a couple of weeks later
or a few months later,
they had another fine
through the post
for another 3,000 euros.
Joke it.
Oh, my.
Did they pay that one?
Personally,
I wouldn't have
what I believe they did.
Just don't take that car
back to Germany.
Yeah.
I wouldn't have paid it, but
yeah.
Sorry, you can get
a 3,000 pound fine
on the spot
and then another 3,000 pound
fine.
Yeah, almost like,
I'm not saying this did often,
but it's almost like
the 3,000,
there you go.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Who's to say that's gone?
Well, it's the proof.
Yeah.
Who's got that
in the car?
3,000 euros
in cash.
Wow.
That's the same thing.
Unless they've got some
card machine,
they're going to their own
bank account.
Credit card.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean,
I'm surprised that with
Germany.
You know, if you were in
Switzerland,
I thought that's where you
were going to say if I'm
being honest with you,
but I'm surprised with it
being Germany and on the
Autobahn,
but that's what you don't
realise.
If you've not been on the
Autobahn,
you don't,
it's not this road where
it's all just
no speed limit.
It's actually
crap to drive on a lot
of the time.
We did it
just before we went on
your trip.
And yeah,
generalised,
you know,
you can go as fast as you
like on these Autobahns,
but actually,
in practice,
if you just want to
just chill out
and just do
78 mile an hour,
you can't.
Yeah.
No.
There'll be some
little family hatchback.
Well, there's an X5
with your ass.
Yeah.
You can't just
put it into efficient
and go,
right,
you've got to be honest.
You've just got to go.
Yeah.
It's either
90 miles an hour
or 50 miles an hour.
Yeah.
That's the annoying thing
of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nice.
Yeah.
Couple of years ago
in my old M4 competition.
Yeah.
You don't have,
actually have,
it's a good job as well
because you don't
actually get a long time
to do it.
I don't know what
the longest stretch of
like unrestricted is,
but there's actually
not that.
So you can see for miles.
Yeah.
So I've got one seven seven.
Wow.
So yeah.
Wow.
That's,
you're not looking here, right?
You're looking right down there.
Yeah.
You're looking down there
on the white lines
almost become one thick,
like one straight line.
Yeah.
But I do want to
break the 200 mile an hour.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
One day.
Yeah.
You've got to do it.
Yeah.
It's like,
it's a tip box, isn't it?
Yeah.
I've been 200 mile an hour.
It's getting easier
and easier
Yeah.
It's mind-bending.
I mean,
Well, I bet your M3,
if you,
there's a standard or tuned.
It's had this CS
software on.
So it's been lifted to like
180,
whatever, 186.
Could you tell me this?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like your M3,
if you,
you could easily give
that 700 horsepower.
Yeah.
That would easily
200 miles an hour.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I doubt it.
Easy.
Yeah.
But then you're restricted
by tyres.
So that's,
that's where it obviously
ups it to the factory.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's been done since
you've been in it, by the way.
What's that, sorry?
The CS.
How is it?
It's even faster.
Up to about 530 brake now.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yes.
Animal.
Yeah.
You don't realize how
different a competition
on the CS is.
Well,
you obviously appreciate that
with your M4.
Yeah.
But they are
noticeably different
in terms of software.
Massively.
And I don't think
a lot of people actually realize
how different
a competition car is
from the CS
because they just see it
and think, well,
why would I pay
that much
when I can just get
a competition for cheaper?
Okay.
Fair enough.
If you're going to buy
the two cars
and you're going to
end up tuning it,
putting the suspension on it,
then yeah,
just buy the competition
and then do it.
But regardless
of whatever
modifications you're
going to put on that
competition car,
next to a CS,
what's everyone going to look at?
Yeah.
Regardless of how much
you spend on it,
you're going to look at the CS
because it's
come from BMW like that.
That's it.
And therefore,
it's cooler.
Yeah.
They've spent millions of pounds
making it.
Well, not millions of pounds,
but they've spent that
sort of money
refining that car
to what it is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
I totally get that.
Have you still got your CS?
I've still got my CS.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
you're playing with moving arm,
won't you,
at some point?
Yes,
I am in the next couple of months
when I sell that car.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because I just feel
as if I've had that car
three years this month now
and it's been
the best car I've ever owned.
Yeah.
Best car.
But you guys
probably experienced this.
When you've had a car
and you love it,
you say,
I'm not going to sell this.
And I never said,
I did say I was never going
to sell it,
but you just come to a point
where you say it's
itself.
Yeah.
I've took it on track days.
I've took it to the Nürburgring.
I've took it around Europe.
I've made a lot of memories
in that car.
Do I need to keep it anymore?
Mm-hmm.
Because it's at a point where,
you know,
it's like a,
it's like a sitting ornament
which you're paying this
big money for.
Yeah.
And you're like,
well,
do I have to keep it?
I've got the M140i there,
which is only three seconds slower
than the M4 on track.
It's scary.
You know,
when you think,
and of course,
the M4 is a much better car.
Yeah.
But, you know,
it's been on,
I've done everything I wanted
with it.
It's been on car wow.
Yeah.
It's,
yeah,
that's going to move on.
I wish these performance cars
were like,
affordable enough
so you'd never have to sell
your car.
Wouldn't it be great if,
you know,
it's like a pair of trainers
or something.
You buy it,
you keep it.
And,
okay,
if one day,
they're absolutely
knackered and shagged,
then that's it.
But I just wish you could,
you know,
have every car
set and you are conscious.
But surely they forget that.
Yeah.
Forget that it depreciates.
Yeah.
Keep it.
How good would that be?
I mean,
I'll be amazed.
Big garage,
I mean.
Yeah.
I know in a couple of years time.
Yeah.
I'm not a couple in a few years time.
I'm going to regret selling that.
Yeah.
But,
yeah,
it's the here and now,
isn't it?
Yeah.
You know,
you can put that money
into something else
that you're going to enjoy
more,
you know.
We want to,
a nice luxury car
without having to spend
ridiculous amounts of money.
It's got good power
without having to be a GTS.
It does everything really well
other than corner.
It's body roll galore.
But,
What with the Porsche?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's obviously an SUV as well, isn't it?
So,
I,
I,
even in sport plus.
Yeah.
Sport,
when it's in sport plus,
it's,
it's,
it's pretty good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or,
if you mate in a hatchback
in front of you,
or a 911,
and he's going around a corner,
then it's a little bit different.
Then you do feel it,
because you feel like
you could go in the corner
at the same speed as them.
And you're like,
now it's an SUV.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
100%.
But with that,
would be like a car where,
like,
I just feel like it doesn't age.
I'd want to keep it forever.
If I can get to a point where
I don't need to say that
and just say,
we'll just use that as a daily,
like a pop to the shops
and just keep it forever,
like a mega.
Yeah, be great.
Yeah.
If only.
If only.
Yeah, I know,
I know how to tell you about it.
But I know with me
I'd get bored anyway.
Yeah.
I'd get bored.
But,
you mentioned Carwell,
I mean,
you've been working them
for a while,
so how did that all come
around originally?
Not that working with
Carwell,
it's just
probably helping them out
and they help me out
in a way too.
Yeah.
It all started with Troy.
So he,
he had probably
one of the,
the Clown 750S
delivered to a customer.
Is that what we've just seen,
by the way,
the Troy number plate?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the car.
Yeah.
So he's had it wrapped.
So he had that car delivered
on 23rd of December,
2023.
Well,
it must be,
yeah, it was an early car.
A very early car.
Yeah.
What was it,
seven,
what plate would that be?
70.
End of 20,
sorry, 23,
70.
So it'd be a 73 plate.
Yeah.
Yeah,
750, which is quite rare.
Yeah.
Now,
before he had that car delivered,
he messaged Matt Watson
on LinkedIn,
I'm getting this car.
Do you want to do anything with it?
And then
Matt and Troy were back in two.
And they're like,
yeah, yeah, sure,
we will.
So then Matt
put Troy in contact
with the producer,
Rory.
And then
Troy was going to let
Carwell know
when he had delivery
of the McLaren,
which was in January,
no, sorry, December.
So,
January,
we went down to Carwell,
did the drag race
with the 750S,
Hurricane Perfumante,
296 GTB,
and a 911 Turbo S.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was the first
drag race
that I attended.
I don't know,
I didn't appear in the race
because it was the first time
we ever met.
And it was
an experience.
It was great.
Great to meet new people,
great to meet Matt
and great to meet Sam too.
It was
the first time we ever met Sam
there.
And a few of the
Tommy too.
And everyone was just
great to get along with
because you're there
and you're like,
I've watched Carwell for years.
Yeah.
And now
I'm there
seeing how an actual
drag race has performed.
And then since then,
Troy got a delivery
of the Ranger
of a Sport SV.
So that
was the first,
so I'll tell you
sorry about the Ranger
of a Sport SV.
So I think,
can I say this?
So I think
JLR might actually
be the first Sport SV.
I think,
just disclaimer there,
I think.
I've got to say any facts.
Did you cause maybe
a few customers to
think twice about that?
Lovely precious new vehicle.
Well,
I'll comment on that in a minute.
So,
yes.
Yeah.
So January
2024,
Troy had
a delivery of the
Ranger of a Sport SV.
First customer car
again.
So
it was that early.
We,
I had the channel
at the time
and
reviews and I thought,
right, let's get a review
on the Sport SV.
First one ever.
I got my review out
on the Sport SV
before the embargo lifted
for worldwide
media.
Wow.
So you could imagine,
right?
Wow.
I had JLR on me
saying,
what are you going to be saying?
How are you going to
portray this?
At the time,
only like 3,000 subscribers.
Yeah.
So it was still a
relatively small channel
for,
you know,
automotive and I had this
kind of big thing
when you're on YouTube,
you kind of need something.
You'd kind of need a break.
Yeah.
You need that something
to get you out there.
How did they find out?
Do you,
just,
I can't remember.
I think,
I think they got wind of it.
I think through like
the,
the main dealer.
Yeah.
The main dealer told
head office
and they got wind of it
like that.
So there was,
I never actually
spoke to JLR,
but I only heard
through Troy
what they were saying.
So the first time
I did a review on it,
I was,
it was a great car.
It was fantastic.
And at the time,
I don't know if you can remember,
JLR had a big problem
with the insurance.
Yeah.
You know,
so I made a point
in that video
of showing how much
it cost Troy to insure him.
And it's like
something like 900 pounds
for the year.
They loved that
because it was cheap.
Yeah.
But the actual reality
was different,
but I was just trying
to figure out
how much it was to insure.
They loved the review.
It went out a week before
Top Gear released theirs
and everything.
And if you have a look,
Carow actually reviewed
that particular
sports fee,
Troy's sports fee
and Troy was actually
in that video.
So we had a great
relationship from the start
with Carow.
Things changed
with the sports fee.
So this was never
our fault.
Things happened.
It was the car's fault.
The transfer case
or the transfer box,
I don't know what it was,
something to do with
how the power was delivered
failed.
And it was only
sending power to
two out of the four wheels.
There was some traction control issue.
And it happened quite early on
in our ownership.
And by the time
our review had already
been out on the car.
So they got wind of it.
They knew what happened.
And
just trying to think,
best way to say this,
you have to be careful.
Yeah, you do.
You do.
And they were making a thing
of letting us come down.
They're going to get us in
press cars.
We're going to build a relationship.
And it all went very quiet.
And it was like,
it feels if it's just
like a dangling sweet.
Please don't post it.
Yeah.
I thought, well,
I've got an opportunity here.
The fact that
I'm not thinking about
what views and subscribers
are going to generate.
My channel,
I'm very honest.
I don't like to
not tell the truth
because that's how you
gain your credibility.
I think they knew
they made a bad car.
Well, I don't know maybe.
It was a great car.
It was because it used
the same M5 engine,
M5 CS.
It was great.
The suspension,
the engineering of it.
It was great
because it had something
from a BMW.
Smoking like a true
BMW man.
It was the carbon fiber bonnet
that did it for me.
Yeah, of course.
Yes.
They're cool.
That really cool car.
I think they're really cool.
Yeah.
It was just a shame.
It gained the reputation it did.
Which was probably
good meat.
Good meat.
Yeah.
Probably thanks to us.
Yeah.
Probably.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Who knows.
So yeah,
we I decided
me and Troy decided
to document
the problem with the car
and that went
that went viral.
Yeah.
How well did it do?
How viral?
I think it like 200,000 views.
Oh nice.
Yeah.
And they only created,
they only made 500 of these models.
Yeah.
Wow.
So I,
we both think
every 500,
every one
of those 500 people
who had their order for an SV
must have definitely seen it.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
You know,
but that wasn't the only thing that went wrong.
We had a couple of suspension issues.
We think
and we took it back
and Troy decided it's
it's unreliable.
It's his daily car.
He needs trust in the car.
So he said,
just letting Max
I'm going to reject the car
and ask for a refund.
He said,
would you like to do a video on it?
I said,
yeah, okay.
Let's do it.
Wow.
So we did the,
we did that video.
And I believe
I think
it caused a lot of other
people to do that too.
And the keys back
get a refund.
I don't know if that's
Yeah.
But if you see other people
with the same issues,
you know,
naturally think,
this is a problem.
And if these people
know a little bit about cars
and they're handing that back,
maybe I should be too.
Yeah.
And you can't blame people for that.
No.
No, you can't.
And
it is what it is a shame.
I don't think
I'd love to build a relationship with JLR.
For sure.
Because their products are great.
You know,
and that they are fantastic,
but I'm not the only
media.
We can all get it wrong.
You know,
you don't have to.
Yeah.
But there is that.
I'd best get it wrong.
I just think
they could have a better
relationship with
channels.
Yeah.
You know,
to help their brand out.
Yeah.
At times.
Yeah.
I think they could have,
they could
because it was just the fact that we had that car.
Yeah.
And things were going wrong.
We had no choice but to document it because
it's
it's truthful, isn't it?
Yeah.
Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing your job properly.
No.
No, I'm very positive about JLR.
I love the products.
Yeah.
My dad had a
he's been a massive Range Rover fan
since I was
11.
Yeah.
12.
He's always had Range Rovers.
I've got a Range Rover self.
L322.
Have you really?
Yeah.
I don't know that.
Yeah.
I've got Range Rovers.
Yeah.
My dad's included.
He loves it.
He's out
three now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's got a
Range Rover Defender.
Yeah.
90.
The one that came before the
TDI engine.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like a 1989 or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sure.
So he's got one of them.
Talking about JLR.
There they are.
That's the pinnacle.
That's the pinnacle.
They nailed it with that.
Yeah.
They nailed it.
You always remember that.
Jeremy Clarkson.
2014.
V6 one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That video.
Everyone went,
oh, Jaggy was cool again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was awesome.
The pinnacle, the last of the
best, I think.
I've missed that.
I wish I was,
I wish it was,
I was this age,
five years,
six years ago,
because I probably would have
got one.
But I think I've missed that.
Yeah.
I think,
obviously,
everyone's seen the commercial,
the latest Jaggy one.
And I've seen, like,
a TikTok the other day,
Jaggy were commercial 2024
versus 2014 or something.
And it was just such a
massive difference that,
you know, they're all about
VA engines and the actual
cat.
Yeah.
Whereas now, yeah.
No explanation needed
with these.
No, that's it.
Everyone's seen it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean,
what can you say to that?
But,
yeah,
that starts with JLR.
That's it.
So,
yeah,
it could have been
very different.
But,
it could have been,
but you were speaking the truth
at the time.
Correct.
And what happened?
That's that.
You weren't out to get them.
No.
You weren't out to tarnish
anybody's.
No, no.
Definitely not.
You were just speaking about
what was happening on that car.
Yeah.
Speaking about our experiences
on that car.
That's all.
We weren't making any remarks
up.
We were truthful at the end
of the day.
And buyers have a right
to know what that is.
For sure.
Yeah.
For sure.
Right.
I believe
that because of our videos
online,
there was an internal memo
sent out to all
Land Rover dealers
on how to deal
with the response
from a Driven Plus video.
I believe that happened.
I can't confirm
whether it did or not.
Yeah.
But I got told.
Yeah.
Pretty cool.
Your name's been
on the memo somewhere.
Yeah.
There was an internal memo.
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah.
Let's talk about, you know,
advertising channel, Max.
Yeah.
You know,
strengths you go to.
Yeah.
It's a case of some confused.
I mean,
go on.
Yeah.
You've done pretty well there.
I asked somebody
who has worked
for Jag for a long time.
I sort of asked him
a few questions
the other day about
where they are now
and this,
you know,
advert that they came out
with or this rebrand
or whatever it is
they're going through
at the minute.
Like a sex change.
It really is.
It's like this weird thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It might change again.
Yeah.
There you go.
There you go.
I heard that.
The person that bought all in
this agenda in,
if you like,
is moved.
Brilliant.
So they changed
advertising agencies
and they've also changed
CEO.
So the brand now
might take a completely
different route.
Yeah.
Well,
he was saying
it's quite an interesting
viewpoint on it,
but where did they,
where could we go
as a brand?
People that love
us as a brand,
generally the older
generations,
they love our older cars.
They love the heritage.
Brilliant.
But they're not buying
new Jags anymore.
And,
you know,
they're the ones who
are complaining about
the brand and the direction
and the cars
that we're bringing out
nowadays,
but they're not
buying the cars.
So they were sort of like
damned if they do,
damned if they don't really
because we're not selling
cars,
but if we don't do
that,
they chased after BMW sales
and they,
Mercedes and Audi,
they went after that kind of,
you know.
The company car.
Saloon company car.
And they did well at doing
that, to be fair,
for a short time,
but then it dropped off.
The E-Type or whatever it was.
No.
What was it called?
XE.
XE.
But yeah,
I think when you look at
the F-Type,
I think they should have
gone down more
of the Aston Martin
route.
I think they could have done
well doing that.
Yes.
Agreed.
Agreed.
100%
It's still,
I mean what,
it still hasn't,
if you look at 2014,
2015,
one of the first generation,
it still looks like a new car.
Do you know one thing
I can't get?
F-Pace SVR as well.
Yeah, they're great cars.
F-Type.
Yeah.
F-Pace SVR,
like there you go,
you've got something there.
If they could have nailed
like an M3 type,
M5 type competition.
If they nailed that,
if they had that line up.
I think so.
Yeah.
I think one thing
that annoys me about
when they don't produce a car
because of emissions
and you're like,
well,
how?
Because
people are still putting
V10s in their cars
and all that sort of stuff.
Yeah.
And like,
all V8s are dying than not.
It's just,
yeah.
BMW have just made their next
M5 V8 Euro 7 compliant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
They can do it,
you can do it.
What does that mean,
isn't it?
Yeah,
so the next set of regulations,
2026 I think,
2026, isn't it?
Yeah.
So for the manufactured seller car,
it's got a Euro 7 compliant.
Yeah.
You think how quiet
Euro 6, you know,
OPF car is going to get worse.
Can you imagine?
Oh, no.
Because people,
you know,
like your mod stocks
and stuff of the world,
they'll do,
I mean,
amazing,
because obviously,
the OPF's coding,
that'll all be sorted,
you know,
within a few hours
you can have your car
sounding like a pre-OPF,
you know,
18 plate car.
They're probably doing
that on purpose though.
Why do they love
it?
They love it
because of the noise.
Make them crap
and then they'll buy
an electric car
because they've got,
then they'll literally get.
Probably the way you're putting
in that.
Make the internal combustion
cars sound
like an electric car
and they'll soon buy
an electric car.
Probably, yeah.
Probably the idea.
If you drown
the emotion out of a petrol
car,
then you might as well
just buy an electric car.
Yeah,
I've never looked at it
like that.
And you own one?
Electric car.
Yeah,
no,
I've never looked at it
in the past.
But there's another reason
why,
partly reason why I love BMW.
Yeah.
Because they're still sticking
with inline 6
and VA engines.
Yeah,
that's it.
And even from the start
when I was building my YouTube
channel,
I said,
right,
the one goal here
is I want to work
at BMW.
Yeah.
That was the main thing.
Cool.
Yeah.
And yeah,
established a good
relationship with BMW now.
Just took the M3
touring across Europe.
Yeah.
And yeah,
I think,
I think me and BMW
are going to have
a good future.
I think,
you know,
things go well
and I think they will.
And it's not just also
about BMW.
I've got to also look
after the channel.
Sure.
You've got to bring a variety.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm developing a new
relationship with Kia,
which is really good.
And another one who's
recently reached out,
which is a super cool
manufacturer is Morgan.
Oh,
yeah.
Yeah,
that's cool.
Yeah.
I saw the connection.
There we go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's something about that.
The British design,
British,
sort of like heritage
with the
with the German engineer.
Yeah.
That's it.
Reliability plus
handmade.
The styling.
Really cool.
And the grunt.
Yeah.
I know.
I didn't realize that recently
they were using like
the B58 and stuff.
Yeah.
I'm thinking,
what a perfect combination.
Yeah.
It's really funny, right?
And when they use the
B58 engine,
they only use it as an automatic.
Yeah.
So when you look at the gear
shifter,
it's,
you've got this traditional looking
car.
Yeah.
And you look at the gear shifter.
Yeah.
And it's out of a
140i or something.
Yeah.
It's like a BMW shifter.
It just does a look right.
No, no, no, sure.
Yeah.
That's it.
No, but,
oh, yeah.
I mean,
what a combination.
That was cool.
Yeah.
But you say,
it's like,
if you didn't matter
you're on that.
Yeah.
You have the Zenfone.
Yeah.
What dormers are on that car?
The dormers of a sea at Leon.
Are they?
Yeah.
I promise you that's true.
A three million pound car
has got the sea at Leon
dormers.
Really?
Yeah.
I've seen another one.
Is it,
is there a car called the Invictus
or the Invictor
or something?
Yeah.
Sounds familiar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can't remember.
Anyway, it's got
Passat rear lights.
Brilliant.
What is it?
Mark II blinker lights.
Yeah.
That's it.
You're right.
They're sort of,
you can just imagine,
if we just turn the month
side down,
people will never know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My arm strength
latest video,
didn't Lamborghini
send him a
a tool
that was seven hundred
pounds
and
he got the tool
and they never even
repackaged
this tool.
Yeah.
So we just
Google the manufacturer
turns out it was the
vintage manufacturer
and they charged 70 quid
for this tool.
It was a quick release
of bonnet catches
on the bonnets.
How lazy can you get?
Oh, sod it.
You put it in a
You put it in an
Lamborghini sucks.
Yeah.
It literally is.
The box,
But they never even,
that's the point.
They never even did.
Did they?
No.
We've touched this
so it's worth that much more.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you obviously
with the road trips,
you must have done a
favorite part of the world
to drive in,
but I think
just round the corner
from BMW factory,
there's
I don't like Munich.
No.
No.
No.
Well, we went to Munich
and experience there.
We, we, we.
Move on.
Move on.
Yeah.
Okay, boys.
Yeah.
No.
No.
No.
Cut this bit.
Cut this bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Munich.
Yeah.
We went there
for two nights.
Originally it was
and I didn't really enjoy Munich.
No.
No.
I didn't think it was there.
Yeah.
So we didn't,
we did the BMW Museum of course.
Yeah.
There's nothing why we went there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We scrapped the second night
and then we went up to Strasbourg
which is lovely.
Yeah.
But in terms of actually driving
Europe,
every country has
the strong points.
It's like you drive through France
and it's got these great
long,
yeah,
country roads
which is great
for just,
they're so quiet.
But by the scenery,
every time you go there,
the expectation
just meets the reality.
And then it's,
reality meets the expectation.
That's it.
Yeah.
Read out what you're writing.
That's it.
That's it.
That's it.
Yeah.
You could have got that one up.
Yeah.
Italy's just mad.
I think,
I don't know,
the south of France is cool,
you know.
Yeah.
Like,
what are you going to do,
route Napoleon?
Was that the one we were going to do?
We looked at it and
We stayed a bit too long
in Monaco
and sort of had to
sort of fly home.
Right.
So yeah,
have we done it again?
Yeah.
Shall we?
Yeah.
Fantastic.
Yeah.
So each country,
I probably don't have a favourite.
I think,
I don't know
because when you're in Switzerland,
you've always got that kind of
thing in the back of your head.
I need to be careful
of what speed I'm doing here.
Whereas,
unless you're in Italy,
there's no speed cameras in Italy.
Yeah.
Probably the favourite are more
as Italy, I think.
Okay.
Because I love the food,
I love the people.
The cities.
Yeah.
The road surface isn't as good
as the other countries.
And the driving,
when you get into a city,
I took me on 4CS
through Turin.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
You're like this.
Yeah.
You've got scooters coming,
you've got little feet of
500s
that's coming at you from
everywhere.
London on steroids.
We drove into Central Florence.
That was an experience.
Florence.
Stressful experience.
How was that last year as well?
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
It is.
But not designed for a car.
No.
Oh, that was made long
before.
To be fair,
my worst driving experience
in Europe
wasn't in Italy.
It was in France.
Oh, well, yeah.
Yeah.
So we were in Paris.
It's a toll road.
France is a toll road.
No, no.
This is in Paris.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
That makes a lot of sense.
We came at the end
of a road trip
a couple of years ago
or something.
And I said,
oh, where's it taking me?
So I joked with her.
She said,
nobody doesn't take me on
that bloody Champs Elysees
roundabout.
And at the time
I was in an F9M5.
Yeah.
Quite a big car.
Yeah.
So there's this long road.
I thought, okay,
we're coming up to a roundabout.
It's telling us to take
the second exit.
Great.
Okay.
Fine.
So I'm coming up to it.
I thought,
oh, look at that.
And she said,
oh, yeah,
that's a Champs Elysees.
So I'm looking
on my navigation.
I thought,
oh, no.
I'm just in the middle
of this roundabout,
which has no lanes.
Yeah.
Like you're talking
minimum eight.
And you're like,
how do people operate like this?
So.
How does it work?
Do you give way?
No, you just got to go for it.
Yeah.
That's it.
Just go.
Yeah.
There's any ounce of you
showing that you're weak.
Yeah.
They're going to take,
yeah.
They'll take advantage of you.
Yeah.
Driving in London, isn't it?
If you don't push out
somebody else.
Yeah.
There are many battered cars
in France.
It's just how it is.
Yeah.
Oh, that's it.
A bit of paint shared there.
Yeah.
And they're all Peugeot drivers,
apparently.
Oh, what an episode.
Yeah.
Oh, what an episode.
What a favourite.
Yeah.
Oh, brilliant.
Really, really good.
It's just highlighted,
you know,
that it was just,
what we all think
was put into reality,
wasn't it?
Those three class,
they properly take
the piss off the French,
don't they?
Yeah.
They do.
It's funny.
You know how it works.
I mean,
is Andy Willman the producer,
isn't he?
He must,
I mean,
he must have some say,
but those three is a trio.
Yeah.
You don't care what anyone says.
They just bounce off each other.
So the reason
you'll never be able to replace
them three,
it's just,
they could talk about
this mug
and you'd watch.
Yeah.
Not just about the cars.
It's about their chemistry.
That's why
you'll never be able to replace
them.
That's true.
Agreed.
Yeah,
absolutely.
Absolutely.
I mean,
I don't think they can ever
just stop doing it.
You know,
I think they've always,
they'll always
will do something.
They've released a new
Grand Tour host,
don't they?
Subconsciously.
Yeah.
Not officially, sorry.
They're doing something,
aren't they?
Yeah.
Thought of House.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the name
I was looking for.
Yeah.
Two people from
Thought of House
and the
what's his name?
The Francis
Train Guy.
Train Guy.
Francis has his
quirks.
I'm telling you.
I think he's great.
You know,
when things come out
and they love to like
destroy it,
like we love doing that
as a nation,
you know,
you look at celebrities
or even like,
you look at sports,
like Anthony Joshua.
Everyone was like,
loved him when he was up here.
As soon as he lost it,
we love to bring
people down.
I can just imagine
when that releases,
people are going to
destroy it
because the people
who are watching it
are going to be the ones
who watched you,
Jeremy Clarkson's
love jumping all over it
and destroying it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, you're absolutely right.
We'll see how that gets
interesting.
Yeah, it will be.
It sure will be.
It sure will be.
Just,
taking it back to the road
trips just briefly,
actually,
obviously you've
touched on
what happens,
you know,
the worst speeding
fine,
but has there been
a point where
you've sort of had to say
to someone,
it's time to leave.
You know,
you've done,
you've been a bit
on the edge,
or they've said something
to somebody
and you've sort of had to
kick them off the tour.
Has that ever had to happen?
Have you had to have
that conversation
with somebody else?
I've never had to
kick someone off the tour.
Yeah.
Because we're quite lucky
in the type of people
we attract.
Sure.
You do have
difficult conversations
with people because
you throw
100 people in the room,
not everyone's going to
get on,
regardless.
Yeah.
But out of that
100 people,
you will find someone
which you resonate with.
If you throw 10 people in a room,
you've got a smaller chance.
That's it.
A lot of different personalities.
Different personalities
and they've got less chance
of finding someone they'll get on with.
Yeah.
So sometimes you'll have clashes,
but that's not my fault.
No.
You've just got to deal with them.
Yeah.
You know,
sometimes you'll have people
who comes to me and said,
Max,
I don't like the way
that guy's driving behind me.
Okay.
I'll go and speak to him.
Yeah.
It's as simple as that.
At first,
you're like,
how can I deal with this?
Yeah.
You know,
if you've had it,
you've just got to put yourself out there.
Yeah.
Just go and tell them.
Tell them straight.
Yeah.
Because at the end of the day,
you know,
although he's there
ruining his own reputation,
he's there because of Driven Plus.
You know,
it's Driven Plus's reputation too.
So,
how someone behaves
affects the Driven Plus name.
Yeah.
So obviously I can't have that.
It's something you've built up
and worked hard on.
Yeah.
I don't want tarnishing.
No.
So, yeah,
that's it.
That's it.
Because you,
and that's where you can,
it can be quite nice and controlled
with the size that you do.
When you look at your,
your gumballs,
don't you?
And you think,
you can't really vet these people.
You've got so many people,
all different backgrounds,
and how on earth do you control
or these people?
I will say that.
It's actually easier to control a big group.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because you've got more chance
of getting almost for more.
Okay.
When you've got a smaller group of people,
you kind of at a point where
if we split off into two groups,
it's too small.
But if you,
you know,
you've got to kind of all keep one.
The Spanish that we had,
15, 16 people.
Yeah.
Everyone stayed together once.
That was it.
You didn't really have subgroups.
Whereas on the Dolomites tour,
we had 44 people
and you had people in groups of 10.
Right.
You know,
all groups of four.
Yeah.
So that's the luxury of a,
of a bigger tour.
It's absolutely less.
Okay.
To worry about.
Yeah.
That's why I suppose you got your way points.
You're right.
You know, if we get split up,
we'll see you here in a bit.
Yeah.
100%.
Yeah.
We'll regroup and whatever.
Yeah.
I mean,
I'd like to think I make it quite simple
with the packs I give out.
100%.
You see the first hand?
Yeah.
We have some people driving you up
for the first time.
And I'm like,
don't worry, it'll be fine.
You know,
properly stressing about it.
And,
and you kind of have to put yourself
in their shoes and think,
well,
actually I remember when I first drove
aboard and I remember feeling like that.
Yeah.
But it's always like giving them
that first hand experience
and ringing them up saying,
look, you'll be fine.
You'll get the pack,
scan the QR code.
There's the address.
In case you get lost,
I'll see the hotel.
Yeah.
And just crack on.
I'll set you up.
There's no way you can keep
23 cars together.
No.
It's impossible.
Yeah.
It's impossible.
So no,
there's a couple of people on the tour
actually
that it was the first time
in Europe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
And by the end of it,
I mean,
we booked on for next year.
Yeah.
We've all booked on.
Yeah.
We enjoy it that much.
We've gone,
yeah.
We'll do it again.
And that's,
that's,
that's when you know,
actually it works.
It works.
You're coming in both cars,
aren't you?
I would coming in,
coming in mine next year.
The M3.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Give that a go.
Yeah.
You'll be even more excited
after my review of the road
trip.
BMW.
Yes.
Yes.
It's made me buy one
or want to buy one at least.
That's mech.
Yeah.
That's it.
You know what?
I love the saloon.
It's great.
But it's not till you start
now putting a push chair in
thinking,
it's not much room
for anything else.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
Yeah.
So actually touring
is the perfect car.
I mean,
that's the thing
I like about it so much.
You dial it right down.
It could be a 320i.
You know,
it's quiet,
it could be,
yeah,
near on Supercar.
And then people say to me,
well,
mind you just buy the M340i
and you're like,
oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can't argue against that.
You can't argue with that.
And they're wicked.
I know.
They're like,
well, that's a cheaper car.
It actually comes with a
summary for which the M3
doesn't.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A simple tune.
You're not far off
M34 anyway.
The headlights are awesome.
35i,
40i.
Underrated.
240i is amazing.
Yeah.
They're awesome.
Yeah.
And a 240i.
They're all this.
Yeah.
Oh, that is the perfect car.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're rapid,
but also,
you know,
they're all wheel driving.
Hopefully,
you won't bin it,
you know,
putting your foot down a bit too early.
Yeah.
That's it.
Let me.
Yeah.
I've not actually done that.
No, no, no, no.
Although I did have a
wobbly moment
to be fair.
I put my foot down.
And I managed to do that
in an all-wheel drive car.
That's only you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's sort of like I did a hop.
Like a what?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not a lot of people know this,
but obviously,
Driven Plus isn't
what you do full-time.
No.
You know,
you do have another life.
You have a job,
you know,
which is,
people would sort of go,
how on earth
has he got time then
to,
you know,
to do all this?
I mean,
I don't know where to start.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kind of bit off my 20s.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Honestly,
on the way here,
there's something going on.
It's like,
you'll either get,
your 20s,
you'll either become,
at 30,
you'll either become
an under,
an under-skilled
30-year-old
or an under-lived
30-year-old.
Yeah.
That's it.
Yeah,
you can either work
or your 20s become
an under-lived
30-year-old.
Yeah.
It makes sense.
It's harder
because
whilst I'm doing all this,
I'm travelling.
Yeah.
You're getting to do
what you wanted to do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Having your cake
and eating it too.
Yeah.
No,
but yeah,
no,
I've got a full-time job.
Yeah.
So I'm actually in
the aviation sector.
So I work for Airbus.
So I went to...
BMW's division.
The diesel there.
The diesel Airbus.
Airbus A335D.
Love that.
Yeah.
That one.
Yeah.
A320D.
Yeah.
That's it.
That actually works.
Yeah.
It's more efficient.
Yeah.
That's the one.
Yeah.
Fantastic.
That actually works,
that.
The light on the horsepower.
It does.
Tomorrow you're going in
going,
yeah,
but what we need to do
is...
That's a good idea.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
I'm impressed with that one.
There's a BMW driver
and there's a jet.
And it's a BMW behind,
flashing.
It's like,
it's done.
Yeah.
I've seen ones.
They filmed the famous
land speed record.
Yeah.
And they finished filming.
Yeah.
And then the film car was
an M5.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
Yeah.
It does cost.
They need to bring more
that back.
Yeah.
They do.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So I finished school at
16
and I went straight
and I was there
for apprenticeship for three years
and learning to become
a hands-on
aircraft fitter.
Qualified in
2019.
I was 19 years old
and then I was on the tools
for two years.
Sorry, three years
and then I went on
like a development course
and now I'm a
manager there.
So I look after a part
of tooling and calibration
and I've got a team
of eight people.
So I've been there
nine years.
The next month
and that will come
to an end soon.
Yeah.
Which is sort of a shame
but also I've got to
follow my passion.
Yeah.
Of course.
Because if I don't
give this 100%
and I just keep doing it
on the side,
it'll get to a point
where I'll have kids,
I'll have a mortgage
and like I've got time
to do this.
Yeah.
Now is the perfect time.
Build it all you can.
I've got anything.
So I don't
have a 10 years time
look back and say,
what if?
If it fails, it's fine.
If it fails,
I've answered my own question
and I can live with that
but I've got to give it a go.
You'd rather that
than by the way
with how what we experienced
it would go on to do amazing things
but you can live the fact
I've done it,
it didn't work
rather than what could it have been?
Exactly.
You miss every shot you don't take.
That would wind me up.
Yeah.
But if the fact that I'm going to do it,
it's a bit daunting knowing
that you're going to leave a really high-secure
well-paid job
for something which,
you know,
I'm doing all myself.
Yeah, yeah.
And like, oh God,
this is daunting.
You are literally in charge of
you've got a lot of passion.
That's the luxury.
Yeah.
You know,
it's the passion of cars
but it's also
one thing which is
massively driving it
is
I can do my own time.
If I want to,
if I want to have Monday off a car
but also
I know I'll be working much harder
than there would be now.
But it's just having the flexibility.
Yeah, of course.
Because the only thing which
I'm
limited by is holidays.
Okay, of course.
Yeah.
You know, when I'm meeting
new manufacturers,
I can't go on holidays,
can't go meeting.
Yeah.
So,
I'm not leaving
my job
for
essentially time.
I'm leaving it to build
new connections
for this.
Yeah.
What's the dream?
Being a
very successful
car reviewer,
YouTube channel
or being,
having a very
successful,
you know,
road trip business.
I probably
combine the two
and say community there.
Yeah.
Because
for me,
I want
a community
where everyone feels included.
Mm-hmm.
Because one of my pet hates
in the automotive sector
is
sometimes I feel as if the car scene
can be a bit pretentious
and a bit judgmental
on what people drive.
I hate that.
Mm-hmm.
Because why should you be
limited by money?
Yeah.
You know,
if someone can afford a Ferrari,
great.
That doesn't mean you're more
of an enthusiast
by someone who's got a
course of EXR.
Mm-hmm.
I understand that.
Mm-hmm.
You know,
and you've worked hard
for that.
Yeah.
Ferrari,
don't get me wrong.
Ferrari is going to be
in the same position.
Mm-hmm.
So why should you be
limited by
what you can afford?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
It's a really good way
to put it.
So the aim, really,
is to have a successful
community
in which they
enjoy watching
a variety of reviews
on cars
and also offering
road trips
in an affordable way.
Yeah.
That you know
you're getting value
for money.
Because there's a lot of road
trips out there
and you'll stay
at the top hotels,
which is great.
Don't get me wrong.
Nine times out of ten
when you turn up a hotel,
you turn up there six o'clock
at night
and you're leaving for
nine o'clock in the morning.
Yeah.
You haven't got time to
experience the spa facilities.
No.
It's very nice
staying in a nice hotel
and most of the times
we do.
We do stay
in nice hotels.
Absolutely, yeah.
And we stayed in
Pamplona for two nights
in a,
was it five stars?
Yeah, it was.
Beautiful hotel.
Yeah.
It's a very secure parking.
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah,
just also providing affordable
road trips.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then the aim
is to do it full-time.
Not good on you.
We'll see.
And it will,
you know,
if it's anything like
what we've experienced,
it will do good things.
So, yeah.
Thank you.
Best of luck on that.
Thank you.
Ah, Ben.
We've done the telly.
He's done to me.
He's done to me.
Porsche fans.
Yes.
Porsche fans.
I'm not looking
at a spider at the minute.
Yeah, everyone says
that's a natural progression
from a BMW.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
We, well, that's what we did.
Mm-hmm.
We were...
Mm-hmm.
Promoted.
Well, I miss my BMW
for a lot of reasons.
100% you'll miss it.
Yeah.
Because the Porsche doesn't
do what a BMW does.
It doesn't.
And a BMW doesn't do
what a Porsche does.
Yeah.
No perfect car.
No.
No, there isn't.
There isn't.
No.
That is nearly
the perfect car.
Yeah.
No.
What was wrong?
Go on then.
What was the negatives
to a...
The roof.
OK.
Oh, the manual.
Yeah.
OK, having to put it on.
You need to invoice someone
to be in with you
so you can take off the roof
when you're on...
Have you seen that?
Why did they do that?
Why didn't they just
weight?
Oh, yeah, of course.
Eight kilograms.
Yeah.
Are you joking?
Yeah.
I believe so.
Yeah.
Just don't eat for a week.
Yeah.
I can do that.
I can lose eight kilograms.
Yeah.
It's cool.
It's cool.
Yeah.
The perfect car,
well, Porsche,
if you're talking Porsche,
probably for me,
a GT3 Touring.
Yeah.
Perfect price as well.
Really good price for you.
I think the...
Not quite.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
So People actually
properly
get you.
Will actually...
Like make them
break your relationship
with your car.
Yes.
Yeah.
You get to know your car
in a way you never will
in the UK.
No.
No.
Oh, no.
Not anywhere close with you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, it just takes you,
yeah,
that ownership experience
to the next level
when you take it board.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's a reason to
do road trips.
Yeah.
But we do two trips a
and worth every single penny was the whole,
you know, you turn up,
the nice possible way you turn up,
and it's done.
You're done.
You've barked, codes are there,
your meals are planned, your hotels are done.
You've not really, apart from putting fuel in your car,
you're not gonna do a thing.
No.
And that's where it's worth every penny,
rather than trying to do it yourself.
Of course, we do at once a year,
we try and do our own little boys' trip.
And Ben, I mean, bless him,
he does, he plans the whole thing out
and watching what you do,
but then what you do on a scale of 20 more people,
it's stressful.
It's stressful.
So, yeah, if there's ever a point of these trips,
is exactly that, you know, you get to do your spits.
Can you say that?
But, I know someone who went on quite some of the trip
to the Dolomites that we did last month.
Yeah.
And there was nothing.
Really?
Just a bit of an itinerary, there was no roots.
Yeah.
I heard that the guy was planning the route himself.
Oh, wow.
And he wasn't the organizer.
Oh, wow, okay.
So, you do have to be careful who you book with.
Oh, that's it.
Now, sort of pinpointing driven plus here.
Yeah.
Because it certainly is planned out.
It's like the little things you don't think of
is, you know, after an hour and a half,
most people are gonna need a wee.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
You gotta have plan stops.
People don't put plan stops in.
Okay, then people are gonna need a fuel.
Then people are gonna need coffee.
Yeah.
12 o'clock, two o'clock, a few time.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you've got to factor these things in.
You have.
Which was absolutely done.
There is a risk of, for you,
doing all these road checks full time
will take the novelty and the excitement away
from you doing it, if that makes sense.
Like, you're gonna do all these routes,
countless times.
Is there a danger of you actually
and might become, yeah, we're on this road again.
I've done this before.
Is there a danger that novelty wears off for you?
Well, I'm only 25.
Yeah.
If I do another 10 years of it, potentially so.
Boo-hoo.
Oh, Stelvio Pass.
Oh, God.
It's like the M25.
We've been doing the video.
Well, this is the Stelvio Pass.
Yeah.
Nice herping, Ben.
Yeah, that's it.
And you're at the top.
That's all right.
Yeah, that's it.
I know, I know.
No, I don't know.
No, I always appreciate things,
because I think when you've really,
when you started from the,
not necessarily the bottom,
when you start from zero to where you're going,
you've always got to keep that in mind
as to how you've got there
and what people appreciate,
because some channels,
they change their content a lot
from what actually made them what they are.
Yeah.
And you're like, you got to think, right,
I'm doing this thing now.
People are subscribing
because they like what I'm doing.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that doesn't mean I'm going to change it
because they're subscribing for what they like,
for what's on that channel.
Yeah.
Why change?
Mm-hmm.
Dabble with a few things.
Try, let's see our response, but...
Technically.
Yeah.
We had this conversation with Paul from Super,
Supercars London come on a couple of weeks ago,
and he has basically done exactly that.
He stayed in his own lane,
done exactly what he's done from the start
because that's what he wanted to do.
Yeah, what he wanted to do,
not going against the grain,
because that's what people subscribed to many moons ago,
not deviating and going, I'll try this instead.
You know, just literally sticking in your own lane.
And yeah, that's a mire for that, to be honest.
Absolutely.
One question we always ask towards the end
is what does success mean to you?
Driving a Spyder RS.
Yeah.
Well, everyone has their own different...
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
And it's a Spyder RS, or be it me.
Everyone has a different definition of success.
For me, it's probably...
I'm not far off success.
Probably a few months off doing this full time.
That's success for me.
Doing what you want to do.
Doing what I want to do.
Yeah.
For a living.
But the thing is, you make these little goals
yourself and little milestones, 50,000 subscribers.
As soon as it's gotten 50,000, it was cool.
It's like, okay, 75 next.
Yeah.
When I get to 75.
Yeah.
Not 500, let's go.
Yeah.
So I've got a couple of milestones.
I want to Porsche before I'm 30.
That's it.
GT3.
Yeah.
Turbo S.
Nice.
There we go.
Yeah.
But I think, yeah, success.
Do reviewing cars and go on road trips
for a job is a pretty cool thing to say.
Yeah, pretty cool.
Yeah, exactly.
But there's a lot of work that goes into it.
It's not just all what you see.
No.
You know, when I get in a car and do road trips,
the editing hours, the planning,
tiring.
And things do change as well.
You know, you could book a hotel and they, you know,
and one of the reasons it changes or, I don't know.
Well, it's not that.
It's road closed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, you've got traffic.
It's three hour delay, three hour diversion,
landslide on a mountain.
It can happen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then this road trip that people have paid for,
you know, it's out of your control.
100%.
Act of God, isn't it?
Yeah, of course it is.
Yeah.
No, I totally agree.
Yeah.
That's what happened when we went into LA in Maine.
We were going to go on part of the route
right on the coast, but we couldn't
because of a landslide.
But then, yeah, shit happens.
It does.
It does.
Can't control it.
Have you driven the new M5?
No, I won't.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm open to it.
I don't like the look of it,
but I'm like, I've seen a few people say,
do you know what?
Actually, if you actually driven one,
you wouldn't be whinging about it.
Yeah.
I mean, I actually don't mind hybrid cars.
Yeah.
I think they kind of make sense.
It's like electric cars too.
Everyone's very quick to, you know,
say negative things about them,
but they're quick for dailies.
Yeah.
You know, if you're going back and to work, fantastic.
You can plug them in.
Well, there's plates for them.
100%.
Yeah, 100 for plates.
I just don't think they should replace.
No, I don't.
No, I don't either.
But yeah, M5s, yeah, fun of them.
I like the Torrens.
I have an M5 myself.
I do quite like the luxury data ability of one.
They are, they're cool.
And I like the look of them,
but my favorite M5 is the E39 and the F90.
Yeah.
I'm actually not a massive fan of the E60.
No?
Oh, okay.
It's going against the grain a little bit.
Yeah.
I mean, they're cool cars.
Yes.
The V10 one.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sounds great.
I don't like the look of it.
Don't know why.
Yeah.
I think it was a great area for looks
on cars for me personally.
Weird, I think some of the older ones look newer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think some designs have timed or wired better than...
Yeah.
Than others.
No, I agree with that.
Yeah.
I can appreciate these.
Yeah.
That's it.
But I've got others which I...
Yeah.
Which I prefer.
Yeah.
V10 cinema.
I mean, that's it.
Yeah.
V10 in a practical car, that's it.
What else car?
It's cool.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
If you've enjoyed this episode with Max,
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About this episode
Max Davani shares his journey from a car enthusiast to a successful automotive content creator, discussing his experiences with the Range Rover Sport SV review that stirred controversy with JLR. He reflects on the evolution of car culture, the impact of social media on car buying decisions, and the importance of relatable content. The conversation also touches on road trips, the thrill of driving, and the challenges of maintaining authenticity in a rapidly changing automotive landscape. With insights into his future plans and the balance between passion and profession, this episode is a deep dive into the world of automotive media.
In this episode of Talkin' Shop, Louis and Aaron sit down with Max Haftavani from Driven+ to talk about his journey from hosting car meets at his family’s pub in Wales to building a 50,000-strong YouTube community.
Max opens up about the review that put him on JLR’s radar — releasing his take on the Range Rover Sport SV before the embargo lifted, and documenting the car’s shocking drivetrain failures. The fallout? Angry emails, viral videos, customers demanding refunds… and even rumours of an internal JLR memo warning dealerships about his content.
Beyond the drama, Max shares his passion for attainable performance cars, the chaos of 120 cars turning up to his parents’ pub, why relatable BMWs and Audis outperform supercars on YouTube, and the unforgettable moment German police fined his road trip convoy €3,000 each on the Autobahn.
Topics include: - The Range Rover SV review JLR didn’t want you to see - How Driven+ grew from a village pub to 50K subs - Supercar Sundays & community-driven content - Autobahn chaos: police stops & €3K fines - Why relatable cars beat supercars on YouTube - Dream cars that aren’t supercars (M5 CS, Land Cruisers, F12 TDF) - Future plans: buying a Lada in Armenia & driving it back to the UK
Thanks to Max for coming on the podcast! -
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