The Review JLR Didn’t Want + €6,000 Speeding Fines | Driven+

I got my review out on the Sport SV before the embargo lifted for worldwide media.

Wow.

So, you could imagine, right, I had JLR on me saying, what are you going to be saying, how

are you going to portray this?

So, I think JLR might actually hate me because of the Range Rover Sport SV, I think, just

disclaimer there.

Yeah.

I think.

I've got to stay any faster.

Did you cause maybe a few customers to think twice about their lovely precious new

vehicle?

So, yes.

Hello, I'm Max Davani and you might know my face from the Driven Plus YouTube channel and

I'm here to tell my story on Talking Shop Podcast.

Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe and let us know who you are on Talking Shop

next.

Tell us about you.

Tell everyone else about you, I guess.

Me?

Well, I'm 25.

Yeah.

Although I don't look it.

I've got some grey hairs coming through now, I'm sure they won't come.

But yeah, no, I've been doing.

Oh, yeah, I can see them in that, like, bloody, yeah, that's a really rad nose.

These are new, aren't they?

And they reflect it off.

Yeah.

I'm going home now, I've not done it.

I'm glad we haven't got one above me because you might see a few gaps between

them.

Yeah.

But yeah, I'm Max Davani and I'm from Wrexham and I've been doing automotive

content, UK and European roadtrips for content three years, roadtrips about four

years now.

Time's gone.

Time's gone quick.

Mm-hmm.

Certainly, you know, it's something you seem to enjoy and sort of love what you

do, really.

I mean, why wouldn't you?

You get to travel the world documenting the travel, really.

In nice cars.

Yeah, in nice cars.

Yeah, I suppose from the outside in.

I suppose that's easier for me to say, I mean, you're not going to deal

with everything else that comes with it, really.

And we were talking about your M140i because, yeah, I mean, we went in one, didn't we?

And that was, to be honest with you, just because it was driven like an

Amazon traffic.

That's the fastest car I've ever been in.

Jesus Christ.

It was pedalling.

It was pedalling, yeah.

Oh my God.

It was just for standard.

And then M140i, they're so loose, they're so unpredictable, they feel so unsafe.

So when you're going fast, they feel really scary, but when you address that

problem, as you might have noticed in Spain, they're actually a hell of a weapon.

When you've got them set up right, there's still a few things which I need

to iron out on the one foot, which I'm not particularly too happy with.

Just just a bit on the suspension and I want the brakes to be really good.

They're OK now, but I want them to be even better.

And then it's it's pretty much good to go.

It's not far off.

I won't incriminate anyone, but that M140 was leaving even supercars

for dead, some of those hills.

It was it was up to the speed limit to the speed limit.

Yeah, I mean, it was incredible.

You know, it's just just just just the way it just sort of handled,

put its power down, you know, the way we're in the corners and stuff.

It just, yeah, left us.

So yeah, it's done a decent job on that, I think.

I think it's with any car, though, you throw a bit of quid.

And yeah, you fine tune, you put some good performance parts on.

And you're then keeping up with with supercars and and it goes to show

you don't really need a supercar to go fast and have a good time.

It's it's more about the lower the lower horsepower.

So you can get every inch of that horsepower, say, you know,

power of the M140. It's still quick.

It's got 450 horsepower.

You don't need six, seven, eight hundred horsepower to have fun.

Of course you don't.

Have you always loved the end?

Always. Yeah. Yeah.

For some reason, probably largely thanks to my dad.

Yeah.

So when I grew up, always been into cars.

You know, started, you just play with the model cars.

And yeah, yeah.

When you're young, I think every every young child does that.

Crash two together. Yeah, you crash two together.

Though he still does it.

Road cars and toy cars.

Right, I won't ask anymore.

And then, yeah, my interest kind of developed from like toy cars into that.

I was a big, not big.

I had a PlayStation one, PlayStation two, three, four.

I didn't go far. I went Xbox, OK, Trader.

But in the early days, I went from playing

like Gran Turismo, yeah, getting into cars that way.

And then at the time I started getting to cars, five, six, seven,

when you start to realize what you're into in a way,

you're like, well, yeah, I like cars.

And my dad had BMWs at that time.

And every time you used to go to the BMW,

what they call the main dealers, they used to go around the pre-used

the approved use because they always have some like older M cars in there.

I remember sitting in an E92 M3 and would just be wowed.

And from that moment, I always remember just sitting in an E92 M3

and the fact that the speedometer went to 200 miles per hour,

not the fact that the car could do it,

but the fact you could see the work, you know, the numbers 200

was just a massive moment for me.

So, yeah, Gran Turismo, I'm pretty sure everyone can

relate to top gear being, yeah, up and coming.

Need for speed at the time.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And what was the Fast and Furious, of course?

Yeah, yeah.

So I think how old are you, Alan?

I'm 28.

Yeah, so I'm only three years old and I knew the wee.

Yeah, I'm 30 now.

So you're not kind of same generation.

I think it was good growing up.

Being around this age and, you know, it was quite easy to be a car

fan, whereas now it's different.

Yeah, yeah, they're trying to kill it, aren't they, really?

Well, you have to search for stuff.

Yeah.

Whereas back then you were like, this is it.

It's in your face.

If you want to play games, Gran Turismo, whereas now you've got

10, 50, 10, 50 games all on the PlayStation

catalogue or App Store or whatever.

Now, top gear's gone, whereas back in the day, BBC One,

Sunday night, it was eight o'clock.

It's caught every Sunday.

You knew where to be.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, we sat down as a family.

I remember sitting at my mum's church.

Yeah, yeah, mum watching as well.

We used to enjoy it as a family watching it.

So it was a show to be enjoyed by all, I think.

So kind of everyone had no choice but to watch it.

Yeah, whereas now you've got so much choice, haven't you?

Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, exactly.

But, you know, back in the days of I suppose you've got like

Neons and Max Power just coming up from that era there.

And, you know, you say massive thing, really.

But now it's all a bit safe.

And, you know, it's ever changing, I suppose.

But there's more speed cameras now.

Yeah, I think it's still changing now.

Yeah, I think we're in a bit of a lull

until we've got some main channels, I think.

Yeah, yeah.

Being trusty, what happens?

Did you watch Mark McCann's latest video

on the whole electric car thing?

No, I am subscribed to Mark.

I've met Mark before and I've not watched it yet,

but it's on my watch list.

It's pretty good watch to be honest with you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's usual Mark McCann's sort of layout, really.

It pulls you in, it gives you the facts and figures.

Yeah, the worst stuff.

Don't get me wrong.

Oh, yeah, but, yeah.

I read every one down, just to tell everyone.

Yeah, there's a lot of important information there

that people probably don't realise.

I'll give you a watch.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, well worth it.

Dialing the clock right back for you then,

I suppose the start of this automotive journey,

what sort of made you go,

take a look, I'm going to start a YouTube channel.

I'm going to start road trips.

Was it something that you've always wanted to do

somewhere or?

Do you know what?

If someone said to me five years ago and I was 20,

five years, you'll be sat down on a podcast,

celebrating 50,000 subscribers.

Yeah, well done, congratulations by the way.

And I'll have this community of enthusiasts,

you know, I'll say to them,

that guy's got a bit of a screw loose, isn't he?

What's he on about?

Because back then, when I was 20,

going through COVID, I was into football,

still I'm into football,

but I never imagined this

and I think probably the best things come

unannounced, you know, what you don't expect.

So it started in a pub.

So my dad said to me, said,

I think Max, we should do,

then the pub was called The King's Ed, right?

In Bulkwin, still there, still part of the family,

family pub.

Mum and dad own a pub in Wales in Wrexham.

And my dad said,

I think you should do something called Supercar Sunday.

I said, okay, that'll be interesting.

So I did something called The King's Ed,

Supercar Sunday.

And I said, I shared it to my mates.

I said, come on, let's go for a bit of a drive out,

ask your mates and ask mates.

And this was 2021.

And at the time, Mark Drakeford,

he was the first minister of Wales.

I'm not gonna call him any names.

Anyway, he said, you can go anywhere within Wales

if you stay within your car, COVID restrictions.

Oh yeah, of course, yeah.

So I thought, perfect.

We've got the green ticket,

the green light to go ahead and do this drive out

from the pub.

Now, bear in mind, the pub at the time

still can only fit 20 cars in the car park.

And I didn't expect, I didn't know what to expect.

So we put out there,

we shared it on the pub's Facebook page

and it got like something like 100 shares.

Wow.

And I got a load of people in me saying,

yeah, we're coming, we're coming.

Great, great.

So I counted about 30 cars that was coming.

The day of the event, it was a mess.

It wasn't good, it was a mess.

Like I didn't know how to prepare for this type of event.

We had, I counted about 120 cars.

Wow, God.

Just turn up in a small Welsh village pub.

And the villagers came to a stop

and it was actually quite frightening

how many cars came.

We had a GT2 RS.

Wow.

Yeah, GT2 RS, McLarens, everything.

I think that was because people just wanted to get out

and just see people and talk cars.

And we did a bit of a local drive out, two, three hours.

And that was that.

Left a couple of months.

People mess just saying,

when you're doing that again?

Oh, well, we'll do Supercar Sunday too then.

Let's do it again.

That time we had about 60 to 70 cars,

a little bit more organized, but still a mess.

Because there's still a lot to learn

from when you're doing events.

And then again, people said,

when you're doing the third one.

Because we did the first one in April,

second one like June, July,

and the last one was like September time.

But it was that third one where I thought,

right, let's hit it now.

Let's make it a bit more official,

provide a pack for people.

Let's get some sponsors involved.

Let's raise money for charity

and let's make it a proper thing.

And it turned then.

It started to begin a bit more of a following.

So for the third event,

it started on Instagram page.

I just called it Supercar Sunday.

And then I just posted a load of stuff on there.

And then I kept posting.

And people were like,

well, really like the events for your next one.

Because in North Wales and Northwest,

there wasn't many, let's say companies or events,

event planners that were doing these sort of drive outs.

And then it was from there really.

And then I met someone called Josh,

who was, he was only 17 at the time, maybe 16, 17.

And he lived in the village.

And he was a photographer and he came to me and said,

I'd like to get involved in a way.

I said, okay, great.

I said, what do you think?

What can you bring kind of to the table?

He said, well, I love videography.

I love photography.

And there's like, well,

why don't we start a YouTube channel?

Because we had a bit of a community by then.

Always going like local drives.

And then we just started by

reviewing a car at the end of the event

because it was easy for that person to be there.

So I just interviewed him.

Because the hard bit about starting a YouTube channel,

especially automotive,

is just how to get the cars in the first place.

Once you've kind of got the momentum, you're kind of okay.

I'm quite in a lucky position

because I get a lot of people asked,

how do you get such a variety on the channel?

It's because of the community there.

We've got loads of people in the community

with a variety of cars.

So yeah, we, going forward,

it was always known as the King's Head Supercar Sunday.

We did some Welsh tours

that like 20 people take around Wales

and an overnight thing.

And then we wanted to come away from the King's Head

because it was actually starting to become a bit of a thing,

this Supercar Sunday and a bit well known.

So we got rid of the King's Head

and we just called it Supercar Sunday

and we did events on the Sundays, of course.

But fast forward, we wanted to change that.

So after we were doing some reviews,

Supercar Sunday didn't really go.

It didn't, we thought there wasn't really,

we thought we could,

how far can we go with it before it's too late

to change the name?

So we thought, well, let's change

the word driven plus

because driven can mean anything

and then that plus is anything again.

You know, it's either driven plus YouTube channel

or driven plus tours.

And then after that, Josh left to Australia

and he went off traveling.

So I was left by myself,

so I had to learn all the editing,

all the videography, everything.

So I could easily quite just stand in front of the camera

and edit it just so you might not think

there's a camera on there.

I mean, on that video there,

luckily enough, I've got a videographer, Andy.

But nine times at 10, I'll be videoing it myself

and then editing myself.

So I do all the editing and...

Certainly, Tor, that we went on before.

Yeah, you were literally doing it yourself.

The whole thing, you know,

literally camera out the car doing all the video.

We saw that for ourselves

and thinking, well, the amount of effort

going into this here is just what you don't see

from the outside, from beyond that YouTube channel.

And fair play, because there's a lot of footage to cut in there.

Yeah, well, it's weird now

because from a consumer,

you don't really think of it, do you,

how it's produced.

But when you start producing, you think,

right, how can I get that angle?

It changes the way you watch things.

So when I watch all Top Gear now,

I don't necessarily take it in the way I used to.

I more think of it, well, that's a good camera angle.

Maybe I can try that, I like that idea.

Yeah, sure.

I don't like that.

You appreciate how good the show was

from actually production point of view

rather than just how good it was.

Massively, so, yeah, I would say doing YouTube

and car content has changed the way I consume

not just car content, but anything,

because you kind of got that mind of an editor

and, well, filmmaker too.

Yeah, sure, yeah, absolutely, totally agree, totally agree.

Drinking cars are actually getting better now

because we were talking about this recently,

like they're bringing out these new cars now,

obviously everything's hybrid or electric.

And I'm not talking about that as a negative

because I do that enough,

but do we actually think we've sort of like

reached the peak already of like

actually experience in a nice, like a fast car

and they aren't getting better now?

Like can you really make them any better?

They always seem to, don't they?

In some aspects, but then in others it's like,

well, actually the last one was better.

Yeah, yeah, and people just buy the new one

because it's, you know,

you just buy a new item, don't you?

It's like that old technology upgrade,

okay, I'll go and get it.

Whereas with cars, I think

a lot of manufacturers are set on set

when they bring out a performance car,

like it's the fastest round the Nurburgring.

Okay, that doesn't really sell it to me.

I'm not really, I'm not bothered about that.

I'm bothered about what it does to me

because new cars, they're putting new technology

and they're making it,

they're making these cars stiffer

and they're great,

but they've got one thing to go against

and that's weight.

You know, for me,

the perfect recipe is just power to weight.

It's the perfect, like Mazda MX-5,

something like that, GIAs outside.

A lightweight, it's perfect, yeah.

Analog as well, you know,

it's not all digital dashes

and electric, this electric, that.

It's all quite analog

and how cars used to be, really.

Physical handbrake and whatever, you know.

Not sure, it's quite funny.

I'm sure because it's four-wheel drive

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.

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.

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.

Pre-2012, if the US is watching.

Yeah.

Yeah, God.

Yeah.

Have you been to any of these countries

before you come over?

Yeah.

I have, but before 2012.

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.

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.

Character.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Talking shop,

wouldn't it be possible

without our title sponsor,

Eclipse Diagnostics.

Eclipse are the leading

supplies of gel test,

the number one,

heavy duty vehicle,

vessel and machinery,

multi brand diagnostic tools.

If you're working

on cars, trucks,

boats or machinery,

be assured we have

the solution capable

of performing all of

them and dealer level functionality.

Whether you're looking

to force a regen,

trace a wiring fault

or want to program an ECU,

we've got you covered

with manufacturer repair manuals

and a dedicated technical

support team

to keep your fleet moving.

Enquire today

and quote code

Talking shop

to receive a free

cable saver

with your diagnostic order,

including product training

at your premises.

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.

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.

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.

So how you know

an only fans model

is doing well.

Yeah.

That's it.

They evoke.

Yeah.

Well,

it's not wrong.

It's not wrong.

Yeah.

Up here.

I just can't afford that.

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.

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.

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.

Yeah.

And you can actually drive it

without worried about

no,

rain drop going on it

or sand ship or whatever.

Yeah.

Generally.

Yeah,

I'm listening to me.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So,

I totally get that.

Have you still got your CS?

I've still got my CS.

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.

It's obviously an SUV as well, isn't it?

So,

I,

even in sport plus.

Yeah.

Sport,

when it's in sport plus,

it's,

it's pretty good.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He's got a

Range Rover Defender.

Yeah.

90.

The one that came before the

TDI engine.

I see.

Yeah.

Like a 1989 or something.

Yeah.

Sure.

So he's got one of them.

Talking about JLR.

There they are.

That's the pinnacle.

They nailed it with that.

Yeah.

They nailed it.

You always remember that.

Jeremy Clarkson.

2014.

V6 one.

Yeah.

That video.

Everyone went,

oh, Jaggy was cool again.

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.

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.

It might change again.

Yeah.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My arm strength

The Review JLR Didn’t Want + €6,000 Speeding Fines | Driven+

Land Rover Range Rover

BMW M140I

BMW E92

BMW M3

Mercury Villager

Mazda Mx5

Toyota Land Cruiser

BMW M5

Lamborghini Gallardo

Lamborghini Huracan

Lamborghini Rivalto

Audi S5

Alfa Romeo Stelvio

BMW M235I

Audi Rs

Audi Rs3S

Audi RS5

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque

Fiat 500

Mercedes-Benz Aclass

Porsche 911

BMW X5

Ford Ranger

Jaguar Etype

Jaguar Fpace

Volkswagen Passat

BMW E39

About this episode

Original notes