YouTube Car Events - How They Work & The Fun That They Bring
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
58:06
Car
Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a small car that many people use for everyday driving, especially for families. It's known for being reliable and easy to drive.
Brand
Maserati
Maserati is a brand that makes fancy and fast cars. They are known for their stylish designs and powerful performance.
Brand
Vauxhall
Vauxhall is a car brand from the UK that makes everyday cars. They are popular for being reliable and affordable.
Car
Kia EV6
The Kia EV6 GT is a fast electric car made by Kia. It has a sporty design and is built for performance, making it exciting to drive.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is an electric SUV that looks like a Mustang but runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It's designed to be fun to drive while being environmentally friendly.
Car
Shelby GT500
The Shelby GT500 is a super-fast version of the Ford Mustang, designed for people who love speed and power. It's famous for its strong engine and sporty look, making it a favorite among car fans.
Car
Volkswagen Id7
The Volkswagen ID.7 is a new electric car from Volkswagen. It's designed to be roomy and has modern features, making it a good choice for those looking for an alternative to Tesla cars.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a sportier version of the Ioniq 5, which is an electric car. It is built for better performance and a more exciting driving experience.
Car
Polestar 2
The Polestar 2 is an electric car made by Polestar, which is a brand owned by Volvo. It's known for its modern design and high-tech features.
Brand
Renault
Renault is a car company from France that makes different types of vehicles, including small cars and vans.
Brand
Peugeot
Peugeot is also a French car company that makes a variety of cars, known for their design and technology.
Brand
Abarth
Abarth is a brand that makes fast and sporty versions of Fiat cars, making them more fun to drive.
Concept
hot hatch
A hot hatch is a type of small car that is designed to be fast and fun to drive, while still being practical for daily use.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini is a famous car brand that makes very fast and flashy sports cars. They are known for their unique shapes and powerful performance.
Car
Volkswagen Polo GTI
The Volkswagen Polo GTI is a sportier version of the regular Polo car. It has a more powerful engine and is designed to be more fun to drive, making it a favorite for people who enjoy a lively driving experience.
Car
Skoda Octavia
The Skoda Octavia VRS is a faster, sportier version of the regular Octavia car, designed for better performance and handling.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is a popular electric car that is known for being efficient and having high-tech features, like self-driving capabilities.
Car
Tesla Model
Car
Volkswagen Did Volkswagen
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric van that looks like the old VW buses but runs on electricity instead of gas. It's designed to be roomy and good for the environment, making it a cool choice for families or anyone who wants a fun ride.
Car
Volkswagen ID.3
The Volkswagen ID.3 is a fully electric car that is small and easy to drive. It's part of Volkswagen's new line of electric vehicles, which are made to be more environmentally friendly.
Car
Volkswagen ID.4
The Volkswagen ID.4 is a bigger electric SUV that can carry more people and stuff compared to the ID.3. It's designed for families and has lots of modern features.
Car
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 is a small car made by Fiat, known for its cute design and being easy to drive in cities. It's a great choice for people who need a compact vehicle.
Term
MPG
MPG means how many miles a car can go using one gallon of gas. It's a way to see how fuel-efficient a car is.
LIVE
Welcome to driving och hun, och hun, and I know we say this all the time, but this isn't going up until we've got at least four in the, done, that's it.
So we can hit the ground, we've seen about two years.
And in a month's time, we'll probably go, yeah, we're on that too.
But no, no, now we've got a few things settled down in your house, but you know, work, kids, all that sort of stuff.
Everything.
I think we're in a position now to give it a go.
Have this a little bit more.
Yeah.
So that's why we're doing it.
Driving.
Because we're driving.
Well, why not?
Well, we're not driving to the home.
No, we're driving somewhere.
Yes.
In fact, we're going to an event.
And that is essentially the topic of today's podcast, which is we're going to an event, but it's basically how events get organised, how you get invited.
Is it worth doing though?
Is it?
We'll come to that.
Location.
Yeah, location.
All that sort of stuff.
Costs involved, yeah.
And watch as a YouTube business, because that's what you've got to think of it as now, really.
It's not.
It's paid your money.
Time is money.
Is it worth it?
Oh, that's awesome.
So that's what we're going to do, concentrate on.
And I also think, should we have an intro for this thing?
I think we need to do, but I think I would kind of like you to be like...
Remember, it's got to be, you know, no copyrighting protection.
Shall we go on fiverr?
And say, do an intro for driving on YouTube and just leave them to it.
That's it.
Just the title.
Bangra.
Yeah.
If anybody's got any ideas out there, or use Fiverr for this sort of...
What, intro music?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Then Blutters Not.
If you've got something you'd like it to be like...
Because the cat here was obviously a copyright infringement, but it could be in that sort of...
Yeah, you see, I couldn't sing a jingle, can't you?
Yeah.
There's not much these days.
Bring you driving, oh, in a pickle.
Oh, what's that?
Is it First Choice or 2A?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Darling on my hand!
You still hear it everywhere, don't you?
We need to do fake adverts as well, don't we?
Oh, yeah, yeah, we should do fake adverts, don't we?
And if you're watching this on the Driving Ahum YouTube channel,
I'm going to include the ambient noise, because last time when they put it...
So we'll put this through a filter.
And everyone would just like it, it was like, yeah, league into it in the box.
Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?
It makes you sound like you're in a studio.
Yeah.
Which if you're listening to a podcast on Spotify, Apple, all that sort,
is what we're going to do.
But the rest of it will be just normal, or do you have nothing recording?
Well, maybe that bit's through the end.
And this next bit...
No, I have been recording, the batch has gone.
The batch has gone.
Right, so let's professionally change that.
Hopefully you can still hear what we're saying.
Tell you what, this will be an interesting thing.
So at the moment we're on the old backup GoPro,
because we'll need the main one for the concept,
for the event that we're going to.
So let's see if it makes a difference.
I'll switch between audio of these lapel mics and this GoPro.
If you're listening to this on the podcast,
I bet the AI filler means that you're probably barely tell.
But on YouTube, you're really going to hear it this year.
So, yeah.
I'm hoping it doesn't crash the SD card.
This is going to be fine.
It's one of those things which doesn't beep when the battery goes.
Of course it doesn't.
Right, so we're recording.
I'm going to do the usual.
There we go.
So now let's remember it.
Now we're going to go to proper audio.
Is that better?
Do we sound any different?
Hello, hello, hello.
And they might not even drive in.
If we were driving, the GoPro would have been the nightmare.
So, well, there you go.
That's the expectation set.
There we go.
It's a fail in the first five minutes.
It's effectively my life is that.
You lost five minutes?
Five times.
Oh, right.
So what we're going to do is tell you about the event.
So let's start with obviously how you get on these.
And that's pretty boring and straightforward
because you just get an email.
How do you get an email though?
I mean, do you have to?
How do you get in touch with your manufacturer?
Well, you do.
Because obviously these are all cars that aren't out yet.
So it's not like you can say, can I have this car?
So it's literally just an email out of nowhere saying,
hi, I got three invites at the end of last week.
They're like buses.
You don't get any.
Non-free ages.
Yeah, non-free ages.
Apart from this one, we're going to, and then three.
And thankfully, these are two or three months in advance.
I'll keep them anonymized so nobody knows what we're talking about
in terms of manufacturer or like that
or whether it was saying it's worth it.
Yeah.
But ultimately, it's just an email saying, hi, so-and-so.
This is the event.
It's usually through an agency.
Offered party.
Yeah, it's not often, sometimes it is,
but it's not often from the PR people themselves
because they'll pay a company to put these events on, will they?
Yeah, it's easier for them to do.
It's a little bit logistical.
Yeah, essentially.
And sometimes I think they also ask them to go and find people
potentially for this as well.
So it's a bit about networking?
Yeah.
And sometimes it's good for that.
But yeah, essentially, it's an email saying,
do you want to come to this?
Do you want to come to this?
Here's the date.
Somebody else has dropped out.
Would you like to come?
Well, that said, that was a few interesting things
because the events that came in email last week were,
let's say two or three months in advance.
Yeah, yeah.
As we're filming this today.
So that effectively is a proper invite, I call that.
And these are first European times of these particular cars.
Oh, that's it.
So it's quite high.
Yeah, it's an actual invite, yes.
But this channel is still tiny compared to the big boys.
And as EVs are just cars now,
everyone is doing a review of their single car.
It's not special anymore.
There's no specialisation.
I used to get invited to everything because
the way I'm doing EVs.
Yeah, there's only like fully charged and this channel.
Now it's just, you know, what car, car, wow,
they always get thirsty.
Well, you've got to look at the size of them channels.
They're huge out there.
Yeah.
So yeah, sometimes, I mean, no, no, I need to turn her off.
I'll do that.
So I'm quite good at turning them off.
Go on, Harry.
There we go.
A bit of finger work.
There we go.
Jesus.
You do always, I don't edit these things.
And I said nothing.
That is a good point.
I don't know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, back on topic, the, where was I?
I was talking about the, I've lost train of thought now.
This is going well.
It's going well.
No, it's, we were talking about the invite.
Yeah.
And how big channels get there first.
So yeah, that was it.
My favourite was I got an email on a Friday.
You probably remember this.
It's about a year ago now.
And he said, hi, we've got an event.
It's this car.
Yeah.
It's in Düsseldorf.
There's just a cuss, you know, the road.
Yeah.
It's in Düsseldorf.
Yeah.
We arranged the flights for you and everything, which is common when it's abroad.
And this was the Friday.
I got the email and I'd have had to fly out on Saturday.
Wow.
What does that tell you?
That tells me that somebody's dropped out.
In Yard of the Backup.
I'm down the list.
Yeah.
It's like getting a wedding invite, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Near the other wedding.
It's like getting asked to prom like in America, isn't it?
And realising that you're like, well, fifth down the list.
Oh, yeah.
The actual prom.
Hmm.
So no, yeah.
Sometimes you get that where you clear that someone's dropped out because it's literally
last minute.
There's no way that people are working to that time scale, are there?
No, no.
And usually, I'm really sorry it's last minute, but we've got a slot.
So again, somebody who said they were going to come and could just pull it out and therefore,
would you like it?
But they're always, and I understand why I would do the same in their position.
They're always, if they're in the UK, at least down south.
Well, that's where most people are.
Which is, yeah, most of the journalists, I guess, around the London area.
Yeah.
They're always in the cockswolds.
And that's, I mean, for reals, that's always the difficult place to get to, isn't it?
Five to six hours.
Yeah.
So long drive.
So let's move on to this particular event.
Again, without saying who it is or what it is.
More 90% of the stuff we get are what you call run-of-the-mill stuff, like the Ford Focus level.
Yeah.
It's just your daily family.
It's not what you call a special car, is it?
The Maserati event, that was worth taking the day off.
Oh, yeah.
Even if we didn't get a video for it.
I mean, if it's in driving EV.
Yeah.
It was just a...
It's Maserati.
It was a day off, wasn't it?
Yeah.
There was a lot of fun.
Driving stuff you wouldn't normally come to contact with.
So most of the stuff is, again, what you call run-of-the-mill stuff, you know.
There to be.
The Vauxhalls and Fords of this world, if you will.
The Mockers and the folks, if that's our thing.
So this event, in particular, it's, let's say, end of the year.
And it's for a run-of-the-mill car that's down sour.
I think it's near Reddick.
It's a long way.
It's a good five to six hours in it, yeah.
Good new charging and...
Yeah, not.
This is from, obviously, from North York.
So I'm going, okay, so what we would have to do, because let's say it's on a Thursday.
It's during the week, because they usually are, but they're never on a weekend.
I think there's two options, isn't there?
Yeah.
We either drive down the night before.
Yeah, which would mean after work.
Yeah.
You finish work, you throw stuff in the car, and you get that off.
And you get down there at 11 o'clock at night.
Have a lunch somewhere.
Yeah.
Or sometimes it's an event hotel.
Sometimes they do, actually.
You know, say, do you need accommodation?
That varies, depending on the type of event.
Okay.
Because if the PR people stay, you know, have a typical...
They'll be somewhere.
Take over the whole place, though.
Excuse me.
Or, like you say, you set off in the morning.
So we'd have to set off half-four in the morning?
Yeah, that's not...
We've done that before.
They usually start at, like, nine to...
Between nine and ten.
Yeah.
You usually got a breakfast they've been chatting for a bit, and then a presentation,
having your...
And then the keys.
So it's like, well, given the six-hour drive, and that's there, and then back again yet.
That's an overnight one for me.
I think there is a combination of it, as in, they've got the...
They've got some way to go.
Which is great, because I would say 9% of the UK reviews, anyway, are events, car launches.
There's no claiming expenses back.
So there is a monetary cost involved to some of them.
And of course, charging and fuel as well.
This one would be, would finish what?
Let's say it's a Thursday.
So we'd finish Wednesday at work.
We'd set off at five o'clock.
We'd get down there at eleven-ish.
You're just literally going to bed, are you?
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
You're not really doing much.
And then you're waking up, breakfast with the team, if it's in their hotel, or just a travel lodge.
And then you go to the event.
About what, an hour's worth of presentation at most?
You've just got to sit for an hour, haven't you?
Yeah, and they'll tell you about the car and what they want.
The ethos, where the company's going, that sort of thing.
Usually, like, the head of the designer.
There's some interesting people there.
Yeah, it's good to meet these people.
I do enjoy the social...
You'll get a lot of things where you didn't really...
You might not have looked at something.
Professionalism again?
I'll put one on eBay, have you?
No, a little bit.
I know it's a...
Salt something on eBay.
Just eat.
I've used it once.
So, yeah, so the event would be, let's say, 10 to 11.
And then it's like, well, here's the keys.
And sometimes you get an hour.
Sometimes you get three or four.
Well, typically what they do is they'll give you a driving route, won't they?
Yes.
Which you completely ignore.
Because there's no way you can do the driving route, review the car and do the outside of the car
in the time that they've given you.
Some are doing that now.
They're saying, you know, I knock here with the EV6 GT.
I didn't do this, petrol-ped did.
Anyway, they said, right, here's the route.
It's two hours, but you've got four to get to.
Yeah, which is...
Usually you've got to get to the hotel, he's staying at.
Yeah.
That's abroad as well.
So, yeah, you've got a number of hours.
Sometimes, again, it's one.
Sometimes it's four.
But what we do is what you drive out.
Well, yeah, we write down what we're going to say.
We'll get the feel of the car.
You've obviously got the details and the brochure specs, if you will, from them.
And you've sat through an hour worth of stuff, so usually some of that sticks.
Yeah, and there's well over 110 reviews on the channel there.
Wow.
We're pretty good at summing things up.
Yeah, you can get a feel pretty quickly for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, essentially, it depends on how long you've got.
Sometimes, if you've only got a car for an hour, you've got half an hour of driving,
and then half an hour of, we've got to bang out this with the...
Well, the thing is, as well, the ticking is that you've got to set up.
You know, I'm using the car.
The audio.
You put your mics on, that sort of stuff.
So there's a bit of time taken up with that, isn't there?
Yeah, but usually, it's minimum of two or three hours.
So you can drive it and all that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You can get that done.
And then you film it, then you check to make sure the footage, if you have time, has worked.
Yeah.
That's why sometimes...
And your audio.
Yeah, the audio has that worked.
And you can't go through...
If you've got an hour's worth of footage...
You can't go through all of it, can you?
Oh, so there's always that...
If I get across to you, if I get home and this has a work...
It's a wasted day.
It is, yeah, and you feel bad because you've done all that driving.
You might have been flown to another country.
Yeah, imagine that.
So that event, that I never talk about, the Ford one in LA.
What did you do to LA?
I did, yeah, yeah.
It's first class white, never made one before.
And that...
Talk about that more.
So we were three...
It was two nights, three days in LA.
And it was Ford Europe, the Fluorzaal.
But it was Ford America that was in charge of it.
And there were Ford South America.
Every one day there.
That was massive.
And basically, because somebody leaked the specs.
We had a few, like, we met the engineers, we saw the car.
Yeah.
We talked to the people that designed every part of that car.
Like, is the interior guy here?
Is that...
There was a small team.
Here's the guy that made the steering shakey when you...
Essentially, yeah.
But someone leaked that.
That was on the...
As in someone that they invited.
But how?
On the website, so that it was like a day...
Do you know like Tesla do a big launch in a hangar?
Yeah.
That's what Ford were copying effectively.
And there was Bill Ford there.
And Idris Elba was hosting it.
But the day before the actual event.
So one leaked the stuff.
And then they just clamped down on everything.
So they went right, nobody's doing anything.
Because, you know, they knew where we were.
Because it was on their website.
Yeah.
So they booted them out.
And they got nervous.
So basically, it said to Ford Europe, no one's allowed to film.
And they're going, we've...
We've...
We've...
We've been seen out.
Yeah.
We've filmed for a living.
There was probably half a dozen of us there.
And some were in America.
But this is Europe.
Yeah.
We've flown all these people.
First class flights.
Yeah.
I think like six grand or something.
Flights a lot.
Let alone the...
You know, hotels and blah, blah, blah.
And just the sheer logistics of having 100 people from all over the world.
And they went, no, you're not filming.
That eventually.
So this is...
We're now in the...
On the day of the event.
We're in the aircraft hangar next door to the actual aircraft hangar where the event's been held.
Wow.
And you can hear the dancers and all that.
They were rehearsing.
So we're next door kind of waiting.
Yeah, yeah.
Don't do much.
Geoleno came in.
So we had to put his phones away.
He wanted to look at the car.
Oh, my God.
I sat there.
So he disappeared.
And then they went, guys, we've managed to get some time to film.
They're relented because I guess to them is so close to the...
It doesn't matter.
To the event if someone literally eats it an hour early.
It's not too much.
Right.
You've got the six of you.
The three cars were packed up at the event space.
Yeah.
Which is what you can see on YouTube still if you go online on the Ford channel.
You've got 15 minutes.
Really?
And that's everybody.
Wow.
Wow.
So effectively what happened was, and if you watch the Ford Mustang Mach-E, a sneak peek
or whatever.
I can't remember what I called it.
Again, this is before COVID.
You can see other people in the background would best get holding a camera, filming
themselves.
That's brilliant.
And then you have to wait like a couple of minutes for the guy to get out of the car.
So you could then get in the car and do your bit.
And that was it.
15 minutes.
Everything that you needed to film.
And in my head, that was the first ever thing I've done.
The first class flights.
I mean, LA.
Here's a Mustang GT500 driver.
Yeah.
I want to pay them back.
Yeah.
I've got 15 minutes.
Yeah.
To give them a bit of a...
To do something.
And then it was in the aircraft hangar for about two hours after that time before the event
started.
The six of us, like that, with the laptops on his knees.
Editing what we've just filmed in an aircraft hangar, hoping those batteries last long enough.
Thank God I took my laptop with me.
Did you find European plug?
Yeah.
So you could then get something out for the Embargo, or Embargo, which was the event.
So the thing is, it's a level of expectation you put on yourself, isn't there?
Well, yeah, because...
If you do this, like, while I'm on it, if they're spending all this money to send me here,
I need to produce something for them.
Otherwise, I'm never gonna...
It's a trade, isn't it?
I'm never getting invited again, am I?
Yeah.
If you do it.
So, I remember, to this second, putting the memory card, because I was using a camera
and I had the...
Did I have an...
I think I had a separate mic at that time.
And I remember putting the memory cards in the laptop going, for the love of God, please,
yeah, don't have corrupted.
Don't be blurry.
Have the audio format your drive.
Yeah.
Because then all of a sudden, a 12 and a half hour flight there, and then back again,
and two or three days in LA is wasted because of a memory card failure.
So, sometimes that's what happens.
The Michelin event I went to recently was brilliant, and I got everything I needed,
apart from the fact that the digger was time to fill, which is why I had to...
Any logistics of you getting that?
Well, yeah, and you want to, again, pay them back, so to speak, don't you?
So, sometimes these events don't...
They want to give you a good...
They want to give you a good experience.
Yeah, that's about it.
They want to rub your back as it was.
Yeah, and especially, I was like, sometimes, you know, especially if it's abroad,
you've got a day or two, it's like, oh, we're going here, we're going here.
Michelin took us to, like, a chocolate table in Switzerland, in Geneva,
to make some of our own chocolate, and a watchmaker, which I missed because of the flight delay.
But, yeah, it basically tells you how the mid-tropper Swiss watches,
you know, I soon as spent 40 years on apprenticeship, like...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because they want to give you a good experience,
and the ethos of, effectively, what the brand, what Michelin...
What they want to, yeah.
Yeah, so it's late, but they've also got to give you time.
So, some events don't build that end, do they?
And, again, we've had that before, where we were rushing to film.
Well, I remember one of them we did.
It was local.
And we did several in one day, and we had one car, and they went,
you've got it for, I think it was 15, 20 minutes, and it didn't leave the ground.
We just had to do a quick look around the outside.
Yeah, yeah.
Bit inside, which, and then that was it.
Drove up to the hotel, sort of, right?
Yeah, that was it, that's all you have.
Yeah.
And it's a car review.
Yeah.
And although, quite often, you can prepare, and sometimes you can even look at other reviews.
You can get the specs.
To get an idea.
What to watch.
So, you can skip ahead a bit by knowing what other people have said.
Whether you agree with them, not obviously, is another matter.
But, yeah, it's man to think that this is how the automotive industry works.
I always thought I might, when, you know, the days of, like, 15 years ago,
and you used to buy Evo magazine.
Yep.
And you'd be reading reviews in there.
A lot of expressions.
A lot of expressions, yeah.
And you're going, you know, in your mind, do you think they've had them for the week?
Sometimes they have.
But a lot of the time, they've had it for an hour.
It's kind of ruined the automotive journalistic industry for me,
in some ways, I was doing this, because...
It's like the magic of film, apart from when you're working it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's exactly that.
Because I've seen, I guess it's different if you're writing,
because you don't have to record anything.
But I've seen journalists take a car and go,
right, you're next after he comes back, so I'm thinking,
right, I've got a good hour or so.
And 12 minutes of time, won't it?
Yeah.
He'd driven the, he'd driven out.
Came back down.
12 minutes.
Cheers, guys, thanks.
And then he drove up.
I'm thinking, but he works for, I won't say which.
He works for a major magazine.
I bet, though, that they're more interesting,
lead to capacity of the boot.
They're just really good.
You take the brush.
You get the brochure.
This'll do this many MPG.
Yeah.
And then the rest of it is just, you know,
it feels okay to drive.
Superlity.
Again, I use this example all the time.
Quite dynamic chassis.
Meaningless thing, isn't it?
Well, I was on a plane going to,
I think it was France.
Again, I won't say which one.
And you obviously, you kind of typically travel together
because you meet up in the airport and then, yeah.
You're on the same flight.
We are guys there and it's everyone together.
And I was sat next to what I would call a traditional journalist.
Yeah, not an influencer or anyone that was filming.
And he was writing the review for the car on the plane.
We were flying to, they haven't even seen the car yet.
And he was writing the review for it.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Inflate word here.
It literally had blanks for certain parts.
You know, like the steering is a little blank, blank, blank.
And I bet nowadays it's just chat GPT.
But yeah, that's what I mean.
That's kind of made me think some are very good at what they do.
Yeah.
Some clearly they've had it for a week or two.
But a lot of the stuff, all those years when you're like,
you know, 12 year old and you're getting in magazine,
like you said, and you're thinking,
well, he, he don't, he don't like this car.
Hmm.
Wonder why they, oh, and that must be a bad car that you believe them.
And for all I know, there's about 10 minutes in the car.
I think that's the thing, isn't it?
Is that a review from, from a journalist
who's had the car for a short amount of time
could actually ruin, ruin the car for a lot of people.
For some journalist, definitely.
I mean, we've had cars before.
I can't, I can't think that this has been to mind immediately.
Well, maybe the ID7 that grew on me.
Yes.
I was like, it's a nice car.
It's big.
It's different.
It's a nice alternative to a Tesla.
But I didn't go, I'd have one of these.
But after everything through a while, I was like,
oh, I really like it.
It's really good on it.
You know, excuse the pun.
It just felt like a golf.
It didn't feel as big as it should have been.
It was quite a narrow car.
You could, you know, it was, it was a nice car to play.
But initially when I got in it, I didn't have any,
you know, I didn't have any of that.
Big bland.
Yeah.
And, and I think that's the same for a lot of cars, isn't it?
That's, that's why now.
You got to work at something, some of them reward you for it.
A lot of, you know, you could get in the car sometimes
and it gives you everything at once.
Like the Ionic 5N.
You go, wow, amazing.
You know, and the longer you have that,
obviously the more you're going to gel with it.
But some cars like the ID7,
they don't give you anything straight away.
You got to work a little bit for it to get something out.
The original Polestar 2 review?
Yeah.
Everybody, including some very good, you know,
or what I call automotive journalists,
said this is a brilliant car.
Yeah.
And you could tell that we're all at the same event
because they were filming in the same place.
So that was what you called the first looks of.
First draws.
First draws.
What was it?
I think so, yeah.
On different roads.
And we, we were lucky enough to get one of the early press cars.
But what happens is if you go to the first drives,
you won't get the press car until everybody who wasn't at the end
gets it.
You're at the back of that particular sort of list
because you've already seen the car.
And you remember, it worked in reverse, didn't it?
Everybody said the Polestar 2 was good,
who got it for an hour or so.
Yeah.
But then we had it for a week.
And we're like...
All the shortcomings.
Oh, the efficiency is awful.
Yeah.
The ride is in that performance spec.
The bones would shatter it.
Yeah.
But the efficiency was a big one
because you wouldn't really,
you wouldn't know that from an hours driving on an event.
And especially if you're driving a pace,
you know, on a track or a spot on a road,
because they want you to feel the ban of the links.
Yeah, the dynamics.
Which it does have.
Absolutely.
And that was like,
are we driving the same car here?
If you remember, we had that discussion where we were like,
so it'd be it.
We did, yeah.
We talked about the fact, you know, off camera.
Have we got this wrong?
Because everybody said it's good.
Yeah, yeah, right.
Are we in a different car?
We stuck to his guns with it.
Yeah.
And you're driving?
Yeah, we should.
Because it left and right and swapped.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What brilliant work.
No, I said tapered in a little.
Yeah.
We're having tapered in the other way,
which we've all done in European models.
So it's one of those where you think...
I wish growing up here.
But no, like you say, it's like,
no, no, this is what we thought.
And then when other reviews started to trickle out
from people who clearly had a press card.
It was like, oh, right.
Yeah.
You kind of trickle people.
Yeah, it is a car I would look at buying in the future.
There wasn't another.
Yeah, hook me up buying one.
It was dated, wasn't it?
Yeah.
It was just the reviews that were coming out,
didn't sort of...
They were glowing.
Everything was brilliant.
And it wasn't?
No.
It didn't get a lot of vacancy.
It was horrible.
It was really powerful.
It was 1.9 miles per kilowatt.
That was somewhat ridiculous.
Yeah.
So it does work both ways.
Sometimes you think a car's really good at an event.
And then when you live with it, you're like,
I didn't spot that.
I didn't realise that or whatever.
Yeah.
The range of the Polestar 2 was probably from the...
If you went to the event,
was probably from what the manufacturer told you.
Whereas if you got a press guy, you go, well...
I'm looking at the...
I've reset when I got it.
This is what I'm getting out of it.
Pardon me.
So ultimately, I do like an event,
but my go-to now is if you do an event,
there are several issues.
So I would prefer a press car for a week,
even if it's six months after the car's been launched,
because you get a better feel of it,
you get it for longer.
It's not relevant.
It is.
I think as well, if you're going out to a press day,
when there's lots of you there,
usually you've got...
You can't put anything live until this day.
And then you look on YouTube
and everyone's dropped that review.
That's the problem with them battles.
It just gets drowned, isn't it?
Any umbongo basically means that, like you say,
it's done to make things fair,
because sometimes they do like...
For three or four days.
Or it could be over two or three weeks
moving around the event.
So it's to stop the person that looked out
and got it first,
getting the review out first.
I get it why they do it,
but it does mean that everybody
literally releases the video at the stage high
and it dilutes everybody's views.
How many are you going to watch?
I just want to watch.
Maybe one or two people.
Yeah, if you're interested in the car.
So being first, I found, is often not beneficial.
I mean, don't get me wrong,
if there's only like two people
doing a first look or something.
Then it's the end, don't you?
But for the most part,
even Shmi, when I was talking to him,
ages ago, at some event,
he said that he has said no to several cars
and often does now.
Or he sends the other person.
Do you know the other person that did the reviews?
Because he said that it just dilutes.
He knows what he's doing, social pages.
He knows what he's doing.
He's like, it just...
Most people just saw a lot of it.
The kind of ruined the whole point.
So he said he hangs on to some even first looks
for three months or so.
Until they release the video.
Because by then, everyone else has died down.
So for me, I'd rather wait,
even if the car's already out
and people are driving it.
Yeah, I think it's worth...
I guess it's one of them as well.
A lot of people are going to be watching it
if you're going to be buying it from you
or buying it secondhand.
I don't know how many people are interested
just to have a look.
If it's just a normal car.
If it's something fancy, maybe.
Well, this is the whole thing.
So let's go back to that...
event that's coming up in a few months.
I'm thinking, OK, what do I...
What's the cost?
Let's assume we're setting up...
Let's use that specific thing.
So we're setting off Wednesday night.
You have to work.
We'll get down there at midnight.
And then we'll go to bed, we'll wake up,
we'll do the review, we'll do the event.
And then four or five...
Let's say four o'clock, you'll finish
and then we'll get back home at ten o'clock at night,
eleven o'clock.
And then work the next day.
And then work the next day.
And it's a day off work.
Yeah.
You can go book a day's holiday to do it.
And there's only so many of them you've got.
So ultimately, you get to sit around.
That's two days out of my time.
One day off work.
Eleven, twelve hour driving.
Yeah, yeah.
You might...
When you're there as well.
You might have costs in terms of...
I mean, there's fuel costs.
In terms of, you know...
Yeah.
Doing what will be four or five hundred miles.
Wear and tear.
I guess, yeah.
Wear and tear.
And then sometimes on some events.
Accommodation as well.
Yeah.
All for a run of the mill.
You know, let's say a Ford Focus type thing.
Video which will get...
All my car reviews now get basic,
what I call basic views.
If I do a top ten, use DVs.
That will always get...
That will always be almost every car review.
And that's sat at home.
You get the odd exception.
But effectively, it's two days to create a video
that not that many people are watching.
And sometimes that's abroad.
Yeah.
Oh, and to Frankfurt.
Yeah.
And to be wheelie, that was one that did really, really well.
Because I guess not many people knew what it was.
About Genesis.
As the title, I would replace my Tesla with it.
Tesla in any title, it does better.
But it was true.
I would.
I would.
I would.
And we've always liked that car.
And that was, for me, an event that I would say is worth it.
I don't mean after the fact.
Because I've never been to Frankfurt before.
No.
No miss.
Yeah.
And you don't get to see the place.
That's the next thing, isn't it?
You drive through on the outskirts, don't you?
Yeah.
It's like a flight attendants where they go,
oh, you're going to New York.
Well, no.
I'm...
It's only the one.
Going to the airport hotel and flying back again.
You don't get to see where you're flying.
I mean, it's the same with an event.
You don't...
Yeah.
There's no tourist.
No.
Well, the thing is, like other now,
you don't go out in the Frankfurt.
We went into the hotel restaurant.
Yeah.
Because they always put events on, don't they?
Yeah.
You know, you had events and stuff.
And it was a great thing.
And the other events I've been on are very similar in terms of...
It's nice to say I've been there.
I've been here in the south of France,
near Marseille at this beautiful vineyard with...
What was that?
That was the Renault.
Peugeot.
Peugeot.
And little things like that.
But increasingly, I'm saying no to even stuff abroad.
Forget that Düsseldorf one,
because it was like the next day.
Because you're thinking,
that's three days out of my life,
assuming she's not working in childcare.
It's a whole lot of travel.
All for a 15-minute video that not many people...
May I not do?
Yeah.
...will probably watch.
Don't give me wrong.
If Porsche suddenly said,
oh, the new electric mechanical,
launching that in Iceland,
would you like to come?
I'd be like, yes, please.
Because I've never...
Tomorrow?
Yes, I'll still come.
But yeah, sometimes it's pure logistics.
The amount of events, you've got to say no to it,
because she works evenings nights.
There's no time, isn't it?
And who's going to be home?
Look after to Alice.
She's getting a bit older now,
so it's a bit easier.
Again, you've got to have that business mind, haven't you?
Is it worth it for the amount of effort
put in to what will get back?
I'd get away and get the car in six months' time,
have it for a week.
But then also, a part of me is thinking,
I don't want to say no repeatedly,
because...
Are you going to stop getting invites?
Who knows?
You think at some point,
it's like, you know,
if your mate's asked you to come out
and you never come out,
eventually they're going to go...
Yeah, he never comes out.
Let's bought them.
So no, it's a tough one.
And sometimes you have to just go, I think.
And sometimes it's like, you know what?
I'm really interested in that car.
So I, for my own benefit,
I want to...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Abarth event was right down south.
What?
It's in Abarth.
It's in Abarth, yeah.
It was the first hot hatch, really.
We've got the sands on.
And we've got Brawley each.
We've still got the Brawley.
I've got that in the boot.
Yeah, I've got it in my car here.
So for me, this one that we're going to now,
the Mazda event,
I think they're doing three different dates.
One was down south,
one was in Leeds,
and I think one in Scotland.
So they're scattering it around.
Which is perfect.
Which is easy, yeah.
And that, the last Mazda event they did,
the only Mazda event they did in EV World,
was the same sort of thing,
because I took the Twizy.
It was in Skipton.
Skipton, yeah, yeah.
It was literally down the road.
It's another from me.
So I'm like, you know,
this is an afternoon only.
So they're doing a morning and an afternoon event,
and then moving the event around.
Which I think is perfect.
And not hiring anything.
Yeah, the motorist.
Obviously, they have to get the fleet there.
They have to get the presentation.
Yeah, I guess.
But it's probably a lot cheaper for them to do that.
Invent.
Invent.
Hire a place where you can have cars.
Yeah.
And then just food,
and then move around the country.
But most manufacturers want the launch event,
the prestige.
Yeah, you get a lot of that, don't you?
Where was it,
where we went to the Cotswolds?
That's amazing.
They're all in the Cotswolds.
That's every review.
That would be a place of lakes.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Oh, and they said that they had to...
So imagine how much time was people there?
Live there, yeah, yeah.
Imagine how much that must have cost.
Just to hire that for a couple of days.
Well, but like it's the prestige, isn't it?
They want the good experience.
And the...
We just want to drive the car.
We see it a lot, don't we?
We'd see it.
I'll tell you what, Bradford.
Lamborghini.
Working in IT, how many times do people sit?
I just spent £5 million on my IT system.
It might be the worst system in the world.
What's the bragging right?
But it's the bragging rights of how much you've spent.
And maybe it's similar with a car launch.
We hired this haul and we did this.
Whereas, again, I won't say which won.
The head of the PR for this manufacturer said,
he will get way more.
Way, way more eyes on the prize, if you will.
Coverage, if you like, of the car.
By basically getting the press fleet in for a couple of days,
inviting loads of influencers or journalists,
and for the price of coffee and tea,
he will get...
That will...
Blit a £2 million launch of it.
I think I know which one you're referring to.
The entire fleet there, I didn't know for a day.
Yeah.
And then...
Went up, picked a key, went out.
Yep.
And he says that...
He said sometimes...
Less organised, more just...
Here they are.
Come out, have some fun.
Just come and get the car, guys.
Because we will create the content for them.
Yeah, yeah.
They don't have to put anything up.
They just need to give us the car.
Yeah.
And tell us about the car.
And that's the thing.
You know, he basically said the big weeks,
especially if it's...
You know...
I'm picking someone random.
This isn't the actual...
A South Korean brand.
So the people in South Korea will want to do a big European launch.
Again, I'm not saying they are.
I'm just saying...
So let's imagine it's them.
So they will want to do that rather than just not have a fuss
and invite people out.
Yeah, yeah.
But no, no, this is a big car.
We want to do this.
So it's not a UK thing.
It might be an American manufacturer
or a Chinese manufacturer that wants to...
Have done this for years.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's not how the modern world works.
Covid is the only thing that has...
He said Covid was good for him in some ways.
Music's just started randomly from...
Like who does that?
Yeah, mine does that.
Occasionally, let's just go...
You don't listen to any music.
Just...
There you go.
So Covid said to give him the ammunition
to do more of that type of thing because they had to.
Well, they're stripping the people's outies.
Yeah, they couldn't do anything other than...
Here the car, have it for a bit.
And nothing changed.
They said if anything,
we've got more people seeing our product.
Yeah.
I think that's the thing though.
People nowadays,
I think if they want to read a review,
they'll generally go to YouTube
rather than picking up a publication.
Yep.
Or even go into a dealer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the hundred people are actually going to a dealer now
or people made their mind up before they get there
and then just go on something like Catwell.
Alternatives are available.
Well, that's the thing.
I would be...
I bought a car without driving it before.
Yeah.
The Polo GTI
and the Octavia VRS.
So we're going back a lot of years now,
but essentially,
that's it.
The reviews made my mind up.
Tesla Model 3, did you have a Netflix buy it?
No.
I'd sat in one.
Yeah.
They're a good one.
But not driven.
Well, not driven.
Yeah.
And it's one of those things anyway,
with TVs, laptops,
bulbs, smart bulbs, whatever.
Batteries.
Home batteries.
You're buying it based on somebody else's review or experience.
Yeah.
I'll look on Amazon and see who's got the most reviews
and how many stars I've got.
I think one most people do, don't they?
They'll probably say,
right, I've got 10 cars to choose from.
I've used car reviews to narrow it down to...
A couple of one.
Yeah, maybe two.
Yeah.
Is it?
I think that's the best one for me.
And I just want to confirm it with the test driver,
the local dealership.
Yeah.
The hand people buy from the local dealership, though.
There must be people still buy it there.
Well, that's why if I ever do anything like this
side of the footwear,
I haven't been for a long time,
but the family has bought a new car.
So, look, you already know you're buying that car.
Correct.
Right, okay.
Just say to them,
this will be the easiest sale in the world.
I've done that before, yeah.
This is what price I know I can get for.
Can you come anywhere close to that?
I don't mind paying a little bit extra.
I would rather buy it from you as a local place,
but you're not putting any effort into it.
No.
I've already decided.
I'll take it out for half an hour.
Yeah, just...
Don't have to come with me.
Just for a bit of foot.
Yeah.
You know, I don't even care for waiting
or what colour I get,
so it could be all the same thing.
Basically, just sell me at that price.
And most of the time,
they will go,
yeah, all right then,
because they're literally putting no effort into it.
This is a shift,
it's easy to say,
if they could just shift it.
But yeah, people,
I would say in general,
social media is probably responsible
for more purchasing decisions now.
Well, I think so.
Than anything else.
But the amount of people...
Oh, to be hot UK deals.
Oh, and everything.
That's the one thing.
Yeah, everything's on offer here.
But no,
the amount of people who came up to it
are fully charged recently.
To say,
I've spent like 20 grand,
because of you,
going to like,
saw all the panels and batteries
and the car or something like that.
Because,
you do,
I guess that's where the name
influencer comes from.
You do influence people's purchasing habits.
Yeah,
and we've kept doing an honest review.
Yeah, I mean,
we've got a car,
what's a which,
that we've reviewed,
what a week or two ago now.
That we think pound for pound is the best
EV we've ever reviewed in terms of...
Oh, by far.
In terms of value, yeah.
So we're not saying it's the best car,
I was saying,
for what you pay for.
That's not an amazing car.
And that definitely hasn't gone out
as we're filming this right now.
So it's not the BYD Dolphin Surf,
which was the last video that went out.
Nope.
But it is phenomenal.
It is,
and I doubt that I've done it before.
If you watch a channel,
that you,
you know,
on YouTube,
car channel,
and you,
you really like them,
you believe what they say,
you think,
you trust them.
And they say,
this is phenomenal.
You're at least going to test it out.
Yeah, you are.
And so,
yeah, follow them for a while.
Exactly.
And you know,
you know,
I guess the thing with us is
I like to think that we don't,
we say it as it is.
But we'll,
yeah,
because...
Which is why we don't get some manufacturers.
Potentially, yeah.
It could be.
And,
and I thought,
even those that do say that,
I think sometimes the fact that
you're part of a publishing house,
or that you just,
yeah,
you're a bigger channel,
or you're a,
you're a traditional
motory journalist,
moved over
to social media.
You just on a list automatically.
Yeah,
you've got that,
you've got those connections.
We've got to work for it, I guess.
But at the end of the day,
as well,
that's their job.
Whereas,
because we've,
you know,
we've both got to
drop a job if you will.
We could,
YouTube could stop tomorrow.
It won't.
So there's not that,
I don't,
I won't say I don't care,
but ultimately,
I'm not bothered about
upsetting somebody.
Whether it's a car manufacturer,
a solar home,
batteries, whatever,
because at the end of the day,
you've got to be truthful.
Otherwise,
you incredibly disappears overnight.
You know,
without naming names,
somebody gets paid for a review.
Yeah, that happens.
And that's happened recently.
And they've got slated for it.
Because it's like,
hang on a minute,
someone's bought your review.
And now it's like,
I might do the same in this situation.
If they've,
you know,
if someone says,
look at the,
you know,
if someone said,
I'll give you half of
whatever you got left on your mortgage
to do a positive review.
You know,
if you're that big a channel,
I'm not saying that happened.
I'm like,
you know what,
I'd rather,
I'd sell myself
because it's too much to ignore.
So I'm not saying it's a review.
Buzzle all over.
Yeah.
But that's the thing, isn't it?
Credibility is everything.
Yeah, hell yeah.
When you're not a big channel.
Credibility disappears,
that's it, isn't it?
Yeah.
There's like,
how many times are people going to watch this person
and go,
has he been paid?
Has he bought this?
Yeah.
And now every single person
that reviews that car.
We had this.
So the last video went out
with the BYD Dolphin Surf.
Oh, it's just another paid review.
Yeah.
What?
One?
We said it was good value
when we liked it,
but we weren't positive.
when the Chinese Communist Party
write as a check,
they don't do checks.
But you see what I mean?
It changes people's perception now.
So all of a sudden,
that brand is tainted,
that anyone that reviews it,
not BYD just to be clear,
this is the one that we're talking about,
anyone that taints it,
sorry, the reviews it is tainted,
because people might think
that you've also been bought out.
I mean,
as a way to market a vehicle
from the start, it's flawed,
because once people find out
that you're paying people to do
a review for it,
you can't take the review seriously.
And then the entire brand
collapses then.
Exactly.
Because then, you know,
they literally say
they have control over what you,
you know,
they have to review the video
and now they say,
check that out.
I have something here.
I mean, the thing is, we've done,
they've reviewed before where
we,
maybe in our minds afterwards,
it came across as quite harsh.
Remember you asking,
well,
if you are coming here,
you did Volkswagen.
And then actually,
they actually sat down
and watched it, didn't they?
The ID three or four, yeah.
Both of them.
Because we did the four
and then a few people went,
you're not going to get another one
from Volkswagen.
And then I started to get worried.
Yeah, thinking,
we're not going to get another one.
Have we, yeah,
have we gone too far yet?
Even though when I watch it back,
we weren't actually that negative.
We were just saying stuff that,
it was boring.
Well, the interior was
stepped down from the previous one,
which is not a lie, is it?
I don't know.
As long as you can back it up with.
But we actually liked the car.
We just thought the interior is bad.
So it wasn't actually
a massively negative review.
And I remember the message in the guy,
because he actually watched the channel
before he joined Volkswagen.
I said,
have we gone too far on this?
I'd hate to get blackballed or whatever.
Yeah.
He went, no, no, no, no, no, no.
We sit down and watched
many reviews from people like yourself.
And we did yours last week.
And we actually found it quite funny.
And I could.
I'm like, oh, shit.
And then I spoke to him since in person,
the refresh of the,
which was a lot better.
And when, no, no, no.
If we see a review that's not great
and that it's justified,
you backed it up with evidence or whatever.
You know, you're just saying it's bad for the sake
of saying it's bad.
Then that just means we have to work harder.
You know, sometimes they recognize that.
Not Volkswagen.
Some manufactured PR people recognize
that they're flogging a dead horse.
I think the thing is the Volkswagen
is when the Coupre-Born came out.
And yet, and yet came out.
And I know, I know Volkswagen produced a vehicle
and then these other two,
you said,
so it may as second,
just modified it,
but just showed what they could do for less as well.
I think less than the IRP.
And they've since said,
aren't there a few years later,
we're now reversing those decisions.
We recognize we made a mistake.
Yeah.
Like years and years ago when Mercedes,
when we're going to deliberately
knock a third of our profit margin
to get Mercedes back to that engineering level.
Because they went downhill for a while.
They did, yeah, years ago
and then that's before our time.
So it does happen.
And like I said,
anything you say for me has to be backed up or justified.
So if you go,
I just don't like the feeling of it.
That's an opinion.
If you're saying it's really inefficient,
you have to...
Well, I just don't like scores.
It's because of the reputation in the 80s.
Yeah.
It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Yeah, yeah.
You have to...
You can get away with some opinions.
I don't like this because of this, this and this.
Yeah, yeah.
Look at this material here.
It's awful or whatever.
If you just said something's rubbish
and nobody buy it and left it at that.
That I think...
I really have to, yeah.
It'd get flagged up.
And I've never spoken to anybody
that's been, you know,
black-balled as it were
by a manufacturer in terms of press cars.
For getting there, like,
Ferrari wouldn't give somebody one
because they said something bad.
You know, I'm not about noise harass, yeah.
And that's what he said here.
I'm not about normal manufacturers
and not running the mill cars.
Although, I did ask once, I said,
what could get somebody black-balled?
You know what, basically,
if you said you were going to an event
and they just didn't turn up.
Yeah.
And then didn't have a credible excuse,
like, you were in a car,
I can't see.
And then maybe another event
and you just didn't turn up.
Yeah.
See, that would annoy them.
Well, they've lost money after that.
Yeah, because there is a cost to inviting you.
Even if there's a cost to a press car.
Just going back to people giving bad reviews.
My friend works at a dealer network
and they get emails.
They go around of people who
there's a certain gentleman
who was taking cars out on a test drive
but reviewing them
and giving them really bad reviews.
Not based on, like, factual things,
just saying, you know.
So they went around
the description of what it looked like
and it just said just be really nice to him.
No, it didn't take the whole game.
He was kind of us.
Yeah.
Really nice to him, you know.
Because at the end of the day,
what else can you do?
Because if he changes his mind on a brand,
he'll become a pan for life.
Yeah, yeah.
You always say this, don't you?
If a company screws up
and you say something bad,
if they work their nuts off
to get you back and you go,
you know what, fair play.
Yeah.
You're then going to be probably
really appreciative of that.
A brand ambassador.
Maybe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it does,
it sometimes it can work out a favour.
Again, we heard that story
from a manufacturer of a journalist.
He used to take EVs out
and just take them down the auto barn
at 100 miles an hour.
And go, I can't believe it.
He said I could do 150 miles
and I've done 60.
Yeah.
I bet he's not doing it anymore,
is it?
No.
And he genuinely just
take a car out of an EV
just to slate it.
Well, he basically,
he got the Fiat 500
and then on it,
he had a website, didn't he?
Oh, with it?
Yeah.
Like a spreadsheet,
like a table of what you,
you know, what you,
what they say you get,
what you actually get.
And he said, oh,
this is a Fiat 500,
a small car that's designed
for urban environments.
Oh, well, I took it down the motorway
and I got like 110 miles.
They said 180 or whatever it was.
But you take a Fiat 500 petrol,
you put it down the motorway.
You're not going to get
the mileage out of it.
Oh, go away.
That's the thing, isn't it?
It's, you know,
MPGs, I've never bought a car
and looked at the real,
what they expect you to get
as an MPG and what I've got
and go, oh my God,
I can't believe I'm getting
10, 15 less.
That's the whole thing of
all winter EV range loss.
It's about,
it's comparable to a combustion engine.
Yeah.
In fact,
it beats a combustion engine
for doing short journeys.
Yeah.
You get a diesel
and you do a three, four,
five hour trip warmed up.
Yeah.
It's awful MPG, isn't it?
So this is nothing new.
It's just something to say,
to shout about.
It's something to be
a negative about.
But ultimately,
yeah, car events,
I often think,
if it's a really,
if it's car or really one,
or maybe sometimes just
because it's a broad
in a place, another bit.
Yeah.
Sometimes they can wow you
with the location gather.
You know,
I mean,
I won't say another YouTuber
I'm friendly with,
who is,
you know,
in terms of subscribers,
quite a bit smaller than I.
He's a good,
good channel.
He got invited to South Korea
by Kia.
Wow.
For an,
I don't know which one it was
and he couldn't go.
And then part of me is taking,
why did I get invited?
Why have I done wrong?
Because,
you know,
I've like,
you know what,
I did that just to go.
Even though it was like
fly out on the Friday,
fly back on the Sunday.
Even so,
you're spending more time
on the plane than in South Korea.
It's quite a cool thing,
isn't it?
It's somewhere that you're
never going to go
by yourself,
isn't it?
No.
My kids got a good holiday
this year.
We're off to South Korea.
Well,
that,
that little video I did about
the Michelin event in Geneva,
again,
I figured out that over
a 48 hour window,
Thursday Friday,
I think it was,
I spent 16 hours of 48.
Bear in mind that
you've got sleep
to add into all this.
16 hours in
either an airport
or a plane
in a 48 hour period.
Add,
add some sleep on to that
and it's like,
I've spent more time on a plane
or an airport
than I have
doing either than fun.
But that's how it is.
That's,
yeah.
And,
and that's what you've got
in a lot of airports.
Yeah.
That's what you sign up to
unfortunately.
And sometimes you've got to
put that effort in
to build a channel.
Yeah.
I mean,
if I stop getting press cars,
it's like,
what,
I've got to work for it again.
So I think at the start
of how difficult it was
to get the first ones.
Yeah.
And I will always have
a special place in my heart
for Kia
because they,
they were the first person
to ever give me a,
a press cat.
And what did we do with it?
Yeah,
there you go.
We just,
we just,
we just would not do that though.
Well,
we don't have the time.
No.
Then it was like,
we've got press car.
Let's go for a week.
Let's spend hundreds of pounds
on hotels.
Yeah.
Just take care of
Scotland and back.
Yeah.
And to be honest,
if we had the time
for some cars anyway,
I'd do it again.
Yeah.
But again,
it's the childcare
sort of days off.
Yeah.
Problem,
isn't it?
Which everybody has.
But yeah,
it's become work.
Yeah.
Yeah,
isn't it?
Again,
in the early days,
it was hot,
it's a rare thing.
It was like,
got a car for a week,
wish we go.
Win,
they'll work at Scotland.
Yeah,
go to Scotland again.
I'll sell them there.
Yeah,
Whitby to,
Yeah,
it's there for example.
So no,
I think
I've got,
you change your mind today,
don't you?
Again,
when you've done over a hundred,
it's now become a business.
It is.
It's a job.
And although sometimes you get cool things
and cool places and,
maybe even a,
you know,
a visit somewhere you've never been,
you have to think about it.
From a financial point of view,
you do all the time,
because let's face it,
you know,
if you,
if you worked in a
typical nine to five job,
you don't do that
for anything other than earning money.
No.
And that's what a business has to be,
as it has to justify its existence.
So sometimes it's nice
just to have a couple of days out in it,
but,
but sometimes you've got to think,
no, no,
it's sensible.
Two days,
I'll probably say no
to this event in two or three months,
because
it's another day out,
day off for you.
It's a day off for me in terms of work,
in terms of,
there's only so many holidays.
Can you imagine saying that to the misses?
And the thing is as well is,
if you find now,
I mean,
sometimes that is two months before,
if it's a couple of days before,
and you're going to your boss
and going,
can I have two days off?
Yeah.
It's only so many favors
you can ask, isn't it?
And saying to the misses,
or,
yeah,
we can't go for a job.
In the end,
I've used all the holidays,
used all my holidays up,
so we don't,
Yeah, oh yeah.
We can't go for that weekend away
or whatever it is,
you know,
because I ain't got any left.
That's also a factor.
You've got to life balance it,
haven't you?
So,
no,
that's a vent in a nutshell.
It's fun,
but I would say,
90% boring and hard work,
not hard work.
90% boring and travelling.
Well, you've got to drive there.
Drive when you're there.
Yeah, drive back.
Yeah.
Or,
drive to the airport,
stay overnight,
fly out,
do the thing,
fly back,
drive back from the airport.
I'd actually say it's, yeah.
Yeah.
I remember talking to
Sophia Kalach.
She's a German
YouTuber slash influence.
She's on Instagram.
Massive.
She's a really, really...
She's got a lot of stuff,
doesn't she?
She's a...
She's a...
Yeah,
she's a really good
performance driver.
And she's a really nice person.
She was in LA with us.
And she's saying,
oh, I'm going here,
I'm going here.
And I said to her,
by the night,
I was right at the beginning
of my journey.
I said,
oh, that sounds cool.
She said,
no,
I spent my life in airports.
It's boring.
No point of the home.
Yeah.
And now we understand
what she means.
Yes,
to a greater extent.
Although,
she's doing probably
two or three events a day,
a week.
Wow.
So she truly is spending
all the time.
Yeah.
So,
I guess that's the job again,
isn't it?
Yeah.
I don't have to do this.
No,
but yeah,
if anyone manufactures
listening,
regional events are great.
Oh, great.
Oh, please.
Like this one,
it's in Leeds.
A couple of...
I think the thing is,
a couple of hours
there and back.
Yeah.
I would go to that.
It's doable.
You can set off, you know,
half past, you know,
six, seven o'clock in the morning,
get there for, you know.
Yep.
Don't want to sun it out
for days, well,
needed.
Yeah.
So you can do twice as many
by using the same amount of holiday.
The little things.
Yeah.
Although,
I think the trouble is,
I think most people
probably do this
full time.
So this,
I haven't got a job
to fall back on.
This is your day job.
But no,
I mean,
they don't have to pull colleges.
No,
it's these edges
they're full time.
Yeah.
They have one, you know,
John,
Pete,
they're in Europe
and then they're in
South,
because they can.
South Korea
and then they went here
and then they went here.
And yeah,
if you're full time,
it's three things up
and you've got no kids.
Yeah.
Oh, that's true.
Also three things up.
So it's kids fault.
So what you're saying is
you need to be single
with no kids
and this is the real
time full time job.
Are you going to go
quite expensive divorce?
Right.
Well,
we've spent 51 minutes.
No,
we aren't because we weren't
recording on that fully.
Well,
it's like 55 minutes.
Nearly an hour.
So let's wrap it up then
by saying that you will see
this Master 6E event
video
and you'll be able to see
what we mean by
the background.
I don't know.
Maybe
for what it'll take us
to do the podcast,
this might come out after the event.
Who knows?
Who knows?
We'll keep an eye out
for it.
You'll see what we mean
and you'll spot little tells
in the background.
For example,
if we've got a sheet with us
with the car specs.
Yeah.
We're on an event, aren't we?
Yeah.
Because we've got time to
prepare as much as when
we've got the car for a week.
It goes right down the
book.
Yeah.
So there's little tells
in there
and obviously we usually
use the same places
when we're at all.
Yeah,
find somewhere that works
totally.
Yeah.
But no,
there we go.
Thanks for listening
or even watching
driving up.
Watching two
adults in a car
driving somewhere.
Yeah.
Can you imagine
explaining that to the
missies?
What are you
watching?
Those are the two guys
talking in the car.
Okay.
I get a lot of that as
well.
Yeah.
I see him
watching your channel on
the TV.
So I'm
familiar with your voice
but I've never seen
any of your video.
Yeah.
Where the missies
has come up.
Yeah.
But no,
no,
it's fun
and it's our choice.
And when it comes to a
podcast,
if you could subscribe,
that'd be great.
That'd be great.
Absolutely brilliant.
The driving home
channel.
Got the presser bell?
Is that a thing?
I think so.
Well,
I've had a few people
come up to me and say,
you haven't done a video
for a few weeks.
But
they went every week
as in the norm.
Yeah,
yeah.
Oh,
I haven't seen anything
come up on my feed.
Well,
in notification.
I didn't realize
that was a thing.
I just assumed
people would
go to the channel
or
you would tell you,
press the bell.
I don't think
everyone knows how to use
YouTube properly.
Like going to the
subscribe.
Yeah.
Subscribe.
Press the bell.
I've only recently found out
that my mum,
uh,
partially was a premium,
uh,
sorry,
a member.
Yeah.
Your 99p a month.
Yeah,
yeah.
And
you charge your month
membership.
Genuinely now.
If I looked
on the bank statement
and
there's a one pound a month
going into my bank
from my mum.
Are you giving it to you?
Oh,
bless.
And I like,
but I can't control it.
I can't give anyone a member.
I have no subscription.
YouTube controls it all.
Dex,
they're cool.
She's like a third
and then gives you
the membership.
I have no control.
I cannot dole them out
as hilarious.
So,
but I guess that's
something I never
realized that not everybody
knows how
YouTube operates.
So you need to go to
the
channel home page.
So click on the name
where it says driving home.
Oh,
electric vehicle, man.
And click where it says
there's a bell.
Next to subscribe.
Press that.
Click to get notifications
when you upload.
All.
Yeah.
I think it's been a while
since I've done it.
And then every time the
channel does something,
you'll get notified of it.
There you go.
We should really do this
on the main channel.
We should do.
Rather than at the end
of a podcast.
There was no one
listening to five people
listening to it.
And some of them aren't
listening to it.
We'll leave it there,
shall we?
We've forgotten one thing.
The word.
it's been that long
since we've done a podcast.
Yeah.
So,
yes,
what is the final word
that Harry always does
at the end of every podcast?
And that word today is
Conkers.
About this episode
Exploring the ins and outs of YouTube car events, this episode dives into how these events are organized, the logistics involved, and whether they are worth attending. The hosts share personal anecdotes about their experiences, from last-minute invites to the challenges of filming under time constraints. They discuss the balance between creating engaging content and managing personal commitments, all while navigating the evolving landscape of automotive journalism. Insights into the impact of social media on car buying decisions and the importance of credibility in reviews are also highlighted.
Original notes
YouTube car events sound cool and fun when you hear about them but are they like that in real life?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Driving Ohm
Andy R and Harry B
0:00
58:06