The first numbers of 2025 are in and there is officially a new king in town!
Sean and James run through the winners and losers in the first VFACTS of 2025.
PLUS, more cars on the chopping block thanks to ADR changes AND James details what it's like going 280km/h down Mt Panorama.
Welcome to the CarExpert Podcast – now in video! Host Sean Lander is joined by resident CarExpert James Wong to chat the latest in automotive news and reviews.
Stolen Holden Commodore video: https://youtu.be/vxzFCm5gyak?si=S30TG24qBTGAMLZD
BYD Sea Lion 7 review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-byd-sealion-7-review
VFACTS January 2025: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/vfacts-january-2025-slow-start-to-slower-year
BMW M5 Review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-bmw-m5-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
VFACTS: 01:35
Latest victims of ADR 98/00: 25:09
BMW M5: 33:34
Outro: 39:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
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CarExpert:
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Paul Maric:
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#podcast #cars #toyota
Sean and James run through the winners and losers in the first VFACTS of 2025.
PLUS, more cars on the chopping block thanks to ADR changes AND James details what it's like going 280km/h down Mt Panorama.
Welcome to the CarExpert Podcast – now in video! Host Sean Lander is joined by resident CarExpert James Wong to chat the latest in automotive news and reviews.
Stolen Holden Commodore video: https://youtu.be/vxzFCm5gyak?si=S30TG24qBTGAMLZD
BYD Sea Lion 7 review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-byd-sealion-7-review
VFACTS January 2025: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/vfacts-january-2025-slow-start-to-slower-year
BMW M5 Review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-bmw-m5-review
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
VFACTS: 01:35
Latest victims of ADR 98/00: 25:09
BMW M5: 33:34
Outro: 39:13
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#podcast #cars #toyota
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00Today's episode of the Car Expert podcast is brought to you by the letter V for V-Facts.
00:04G'day, I'm Sean and welcome back to the Car Expert podcast.
00:07We've got James here. How are you doing, mate?
00:08I'm good, thank you. I'm excited to be joined by the newest member of Sesame Street.
00:12I have been called them up once or twice, so it does make sense.
00:16Today, yes, we are talking about V-Facts, all the numbers from January.
00:18We're going to dive into that.
00:19We're also talking about James' recent trip to drive the all-new BMW M5 around Mount Panorama
00:24and the latest cars on the chopping block thanks to ADR98-00.
00:29We'll get into that a bit later on, but let's get straight into V-Facts.
00:34Let's just say you were right. I think that's fair to say that you were right.
00:37It's not been a great start to the year.
00:38I mean, it's been a great start to the year if you look at the numbers,
00:40but technically it is down 2.4% year-on-year with only 87,625 deliveries.
00:47Yes. Finally, we're starting to see that sustained decline that you predicted maybe 12 months too early.
00:52But, you know, there's a couple of factors that are playing in there.
00:56So there's well-documented strikes at the docks, which I think have affected some brands
01:01that have cars coming into specific ports.
01:04And I think we're also just seeing, you know, the flow-on effect of cars just not being quite as popular.
01:13I mean, we've got cost of living pressures, fuel prices going up, all those kinds of things.
01:17A lot of new cars are sort of coming into the country in this first quarter,
01:21so people are perhaps waiting for some of those new models to come through and have orders waiting.
01:26But, yeah, it definitely is sort of going by the prophecy that was given to us maybe a little while ago.
01:33That's right. Better late than never, I always say, about a prophecy.
01:36Now, just to reiterate, for those who don't know,
01:38VFAX numbers are the number of new car registrations in a month,
01:43not necessarily sales. They're two different things.
01:44In Australia.
01:45In Australia.
01:46And they are an amalgamation of the numbers provided by the FCAI,
01:49which is the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries,
01:51and the EV Council because Polestar and Tesla got upset at the FCAI
01:55and no longer give their numbers to them.
01:57I digress.
01:58Let's get into it.
01:59So let's talk top brands.
02:00Toyota, still number one, as you would expect.
02:04And actually, if you look at the top models,
02:06they dominate the top five by having three of the top five models being Toyotas,
02:11including the Prado back and forth.
02:13I mean, that's, it's not a cheap car.
02:16That's impressive to be that high up the list, I think.
02:18No.
02:18And it's, you know,
02:18this is something that we tend to talk about quite a bit is that,
02:21you know, people like to talk about the cost of living pressures.
02:24And you look at the top five selling vehicles in our country and,
02:27you know, Ranger, Hilux, Prado,
02:29all probably have an average transaction price somewhere between the $60,000
02:32and $70,000 mark.
02:34Prado's probably even higher, actually.
02:35I'd say north of that because, I mean,
02:36if you want like a V6 XLT Ranger, that's about $72,000.
02:40Yeah, exactly.
02:41That's like mid-spec.
02:42Yeah.
02:42And so, you know,
02:43a lot of Australians are still going out there and spending a lot of money on a new vehicle.
02:48You know,
02:49the Outlander and the RAV4,
02:51even though they're probably the cheaper of the top five,
02:53they're all still probably high mix of higher grade variants,
02:57which is somewhere between the $50,000 and $60,000 mark.
03:00But yeah,
03:00really interesting to see Prado back in there.
03:02And Everest sort of fell off a little bit to $1,679,
03:05which is,
03:05I think,
03:06number 10 or number,
03:07I can't count.
03:08There's no numbers.
03:08There's no ranking numbers there.
03:11But, you know,
03:12Toyota was pretty confident that they had quite a few tens of thousands of Prado orders waiting
03:17that were banked up over time between the two generations.
03:20So, it'll be interesting to see if that is sustained for the next,
03:24you know,
03:24six to 12 months and beyond,
03:26because I know a lot of people have been waiting for that new Prado for a long time,
03:29in spite of some of the practicality issues that it's come out with,
03:32with that mild hybrid system having the battery under the rear floor.
03:36But, you know,
03:37yep,
03:37Toyota just continues to dominate.
03:39So,
03:39you know,
03:39you guys at home that keep on saying that Toyota is the next Kodak,
03:42we might be waiting for that for a while.
03:44Yeah.
03:44I mean,
03:45Kodak still exists.
03:46Just saying.
03:48Look,
03:48RAV4,
03:49I mean,
03:49RAV4,
03:50not just number one in Australia,
03:51number one in America.
03:53Now,
03:53that is a big thing.
03:54And I know we're talking VFX,
03:55which is Australian numbers,
03:56but it's,
03:57I think,
03:57the first time in 40 years that a car has outsold the F-150 in the United States.
04:03I mean,
04:03that is a huge,
04:04huge deal.
04:05So,
04:05well done,
04:05Toyota.
04:06Number one here,
04:075,076 deliveries in January.
04:09So,
04:10I think the backlog issues are all well and truly behind Toyota now,
04:13when it comes to the RAV4.
04:15Well,
04:15yeah,
04:15they've consistently been doing over 5,000 units per month in Australia alone for like the last,
04:20I don't even know how long,
04:21it's been a while,
04:21most of last year and into this year.
04:23So,
04:24we can see that,
04:25you know,
04:25it's sustained its form for quite some time.
04:28And I imagine that it will be,
04:30it could very well be Australia's favorite car for 2025.
04:33It didn't make it for 2024,
04:34did it?
04:35No.
04:35It was just kept at the finish line by the Rangers.
04:37So,
04:37I reckon they're on track to maybe regain that sales leadership status again.
04:42So,
04:42you know,
04:42maybe Ford will have to get busy with some strategies for marketing the Ranger or bringing some new models in.
04:47Who knows?
04:48Yeah,
04:48strong start.
04:48I mean,
04:49Ford do have a new model coming.
04:51Interesting thing,
04:51Rangers still second.
04:52Ford,
04:53however,
04:53dropped to third.
04:54Mazda have jumped up into second place,
04:56which is,
04:57I'd say,
04:57a bit of a coup for the Japanese market,
04:59getting one up over Ford because they've been chasing them for a while now.
05:02Yeah,
05:03Ford did,
05:04had a really great year last year with Ranger in Everest.
05:06And perhaps that was driven by the fact that no one could get a Prado.
05:08So,
05:09Everest sales spiked immensely and Ranger sustained really good form for the rest of the year.
05:15I think with Mazda,
05:16they've also been dealing with some,
05:18you know,
05:18stock and supply issues.
05:19There's been some model year changes towards the end of last year into the beginning of this year,
05:24which has perhaps meant that a lot of cars are on the water coming here rather than being registered and given to customers.
05:31So it'll be interesting to see what Mazda does because this year they're still not super clear on what their,
05:37you know,
05:38launch rollout looks like.
05:39The CX-5 is still in the top 10 and sells very well,
05:42despite the fact it doesn't have any electrification options,
05:45unlike the other two of its competitors that are in the top 10.
05:49And,
05:49you know,
05:49the CX-3 still manages to be a really,
05:51really strong seller,
05:52despite the fact it's getting on quite a bit.
05:54But it just plays on value,
05:56I guess.
05:56It still starts under 30 grand and it's,
05:58you know,
05:59a stylish thing that people like to drive.
06:01So it's interesting to see Mazda back in the,
06:03in the top two,
06:04no,
06:05the second,
06:05in top two.
06:06Yeah,
06:06very much in the top two.
06:07Yeah,
06:07yeah,
06:07yeah.
06:08So it is interesting.
06:09Typically with the VFX numbers,
06:10we look at a year on year comparison.
06:12But I think given the way that the economy is going and the way that car purchasing decisions are going,
06:17it is interesting to see Mazda actually delivered more vehicles in January than they did in December.
06:22However,
06:23Toyota,
06:24Ford,
06:24Kia and Mitsubishi,
06:25who make up the rest of the top five,
06:26they're all actually down on their December numbers.
06:28So a lot of people must have bought themselves a little Christmas present and that's it.
06:33Now they're,
06:34yeah,
06:34they didn't go for the Boxing Day sales.
06:36Look,
06:36a couple of other notable ones in the top.
06:38So yeah,
06:39Ford,
06:39third,
06:40Kia,
06:41fourth,
06:42Mitsubishi,
06:43fifth,
06:43which means Hyundai has been knocked down.
06:45I think Mitsubishi's come and surpassed them.
06:47That's,
06:47that's interesting given Mitsubishi's recent announcement where they've had to act
06:51half of their lineup.
06:53Yeah,
06:53that'll be interesting to see how that affects them for the rest of the year.
06:56They're not going to be able to get the ASX replaced with the new Renault Capta based one for a little while.
07:03I think it's probably still a few months away.
07:05So you'd think that they perhaps stocked up on existing models in the lead up to the announcement that happened a couple of weeks ago.
07:14But yeah,
07:15I think it'll be really interesting to see below the top five,
07:18how that six to 10 ranking changes over the next 12 months,
07:22because,
07:23you know,
07:23NBS is coming in.
07:24So mission stands are coming in.
07:26A lot of brands are really scrambling to try and increase their share of electrified products.
07:31You've got odd oddities like Hyundai that seems to have a sprawling range,
07:35but aren't really finding that much success at the moment and continue to play second fiddle to Kia,
07:40despite the fact that Hyundai is the parent company overarching.
07:45And then,
07:46yeah,
07:46Nissan,
07:47it has bumped down to ninth from seventh.
07:50And I think they're perhaps waiting for a couple of their new models to come online.
07:55Look,
07:56what I wanted to point out was Subaru jumped into 10th place,
07:59which is impressive because if you actually look at the top 20 models,
08:02there's no Subarus in there.
08:04So they're just plugging along.
08:05They're just doing their thing,
08:07delivering a bunch of Outbacks,
08:08Crosstreks,
08:09Outback and Crosstrek,
08:10and you're probably the last of the Foresters.
08:12They just revealed the new Forester,
08:13which is going to be coming here around mid-year.
08:15And it's also confirmed the new hybrid option,
08:18which I think teams Toyota hybrid tech with a boxer engine.
08:23So not like what we thought it might get the RAV4 engine with a hybrid system.
08:27I'm pretty sure it's a boxer engine with Toyota's latest fifth generation hybrid tech,
08:32which means it gets a lithium battery instead of the nickel metal hydride ones that the current RAV4s have here.
08:37Well,
08:37look,
08:38that can't be a bad thing because Subaru's hybrid system is not great.
08:41It's just a mild hybrid system.
08:42Very mild.
08:43Yeah.
08:43So that can't be a bad thing for Subaru.
08:45I do have to say Tesla,
08:47who was in 10th place,
08:48has dropped to 21st.
08:51I'm not going to get political about it,
08:53but there is definitely a lack of interest in Tesla models.
08:57Now,
08:57to be fair,
08:57there is a Model Y that's just been announced and maybe people are just holding out for that.
09:00One part would be the fact that Model Y registration or Model Y orders opened last month for that new model.
09:05I imagine anyone that's been hanging out for the new one has probably waited long enough and put a order down for that one.
09:12And then it just means that whatever's coming into the country of new stock probably isn't being sold off.
09:18But yes,
09:19I think due to a number of factors,
09:22one big one,
09:23which we don't necessarily need to go and dive into the details of,
09:26it seems like Tesla's stronghold on the market is starting to slip a little bit in recent months,
09:30not just in Australia,
09:31but around the world.
09:32It's been fairly well reported that a lot of particularly European nations are sort of,
09:35coming off that a little bit.
09:37So it'd be interesting to see if the new Model Y can address that a little bit,
09:40because while there's a Cybertruck overseas and there is talks of that Roadster one day coming to fruition,
09:48they're still relying on two models to get them those numbers.
09:53And,
09:54you know,
09:54given that the Model 3 was updated substantially last year and hasn't really had any massive sales boom since,
10:00it'll be interesting to see if the Model Y can maybe turn it around for them.
10:03Hmm.
10:03Well,
10:04we shall wait and see.
10:05Have you ordered a Model Y?
10:06Leave a comment,
10:06let us know.
10:06Um,
10:07I do want to talk about BYD for a second now.
10:10Making a splash.
10:11Oh,
10:12they are,
10:12yeah,
10:12yeah.
10:13So,
10:13right before that number plate fell off it,
10:15but anyway,
10:16it was a great shot.
10:18Um,
10:18interestingly,
10:19in December,
10:20they delivered 1,993 vehicles.
10:22However,
10:22in January,
10:23they only delivered 675.
10:24And I would say a lot of that is to do with this shark right here,
10:28because no one has been able to get their hands on it,
10:31or very few people have been able to get their hands on it by the sound.
10:33Yeah,
10:33it sounds like they were beached at port and not actually able to get into customer hands.
10:38So,
10:39um,
10:39something that we covered,
10:40I think on the last episode is that,
10:42um,
10:42BYD has had some supply issues or at least some delivery issues due to the fact that there are,
10:46um,
10:47pain points at the docks where the sharks are being delivered to.
10:51So they weren't able to actually able to get the cars off the ship and into the hands of customers.
10:54They are working on it,
10:55um,
10:56including allocating new units to people that have had their orders in for a long time,
10:59but the registrations were down across their range.
11:02Um,
11:02I do all,
11:03we also have to acknowledge the fact that they announced updated pricing across their range late last year.
11:08And there's probably been some,
11:09you know,
11:10reordering or reallocations for people who perhaps waited for,
11:14you know,
11:14model year 25 updates and,
11:16you know,
11:16cashing in on those really new cheap entry models.
11:18And maybe we'll see fleets picking them up and everything.
11:20So I imagine they're not probably not too worried.
11:23They're about to launch the sea lion seven as well,
11:25which is their model Y competitor.
11:26It's actually being launched this,
11:27this week as we're recording,
11:28but last week,
11:29if you're watching it now,
11:30uh,
11:30yeah,
11:31look,
11:31I'll insert,
11:31um,
11:32I'll flash it up on the screen and insert a weird voice over here for the audio listeners of how much the sea light seven is.
11:36Cause,
11:37uh,
11:37they're announcing it at midday and it's currently 11,
11:3918 AM when we're recording this.
11:40So we don't actually have those numbers yet,
11:42but,
11:42uh,
11:42I will slide it in there.
11:43So people do know.
11:44Hi everyone.
11:45Just interrupting this podcast episode to let you know,
11:48we've just gotten pricing for the BYDC line seven.
11:50It starts from $54,990 before on-road costs.
11:53You can head to the link in the description for the review and the price and specs article.
11:57Um,
11:58let's talk about the bottom of the list.
11:59Normally we don't go down that far.
12:01It's a little scary at that end.
12:02Uh,
12:02but today we're going to talk about it.
12:04Um,
12:05uh,
12:05normally down the bottom of the list,
12:07you're seeing your Lamborghinis,
12:08your Maseratis,
12:09your Aston Martins,
12:10because they're low volume cars,
12:12but it's just the way that lists work,
12:14I suppose.
12:15Um,
12:15the interesting thing is also,
12:17I guess the higher volume or the more mainstream cars that you're seeing down the bottom of the list.
12:21Uh,
12:21and we're going to start with Alfa Romeo.
12:23They actually improved January over December,
12:25but,
12:26um,
12:27uh,
12:27they sold,
12:28they delivered 34 cars,
12:29which is,
12:30uh,
12:3136% decrease year on year.
12:33So the January is better.
12:34The 2025 is looking better.
12:35However,
12:36overall it does seem to be down.
12:37And is that because they're trying to sell a car called the toenail or is it because,
12:41uh,
12:42the junior is coming,
12:43like,
12:43what is it that they're waiting for without,
12:45with Alfa Romeo?
12:46It's a,
12:46it's a really interesting question that I don't think anyone really has the answer to.
12:51It's not,
12:51you know,
12:52the,
12:52they have the Tenale,
12:54they have the Giulia,
12:55they have the Stelvio,
12:56all three of them in their own way,
12:58uh,
12:58you know,
12:59nicely designed.
13:00They,
13:00they're decent vehicles all relative to their segments.
13:03I think part of the issue is that,
13:06you know,
13:06they're not necessarily super well known for what they have currently.
13:10The,
13:10the Stelvio and the Giulia are getting on quite a bit and haven't really changed in design
13:13for quite some time.
13:15And I think the Tenale,
13:16unfortunately is up against some really,
13:18really strong competition that perhaps beat it for value or,
13:21you know,
13:21people just maybe feel safer in theory going with a German brand or,
13:26you know,
13:26something Japanese like Alexis.
13:28So it's a shame because,
13:29you know,
13:30you look at this car here,
13:31it's a really lovely color.
13:32It looks kind of cool.
13:33You see a few of them out on the road.
13:34Um,
13:35I think they might need to work on their positioning and,
13:37and establishing,
13:38you know,
13:39what sets them apart and,
13:40and really talking about it because some of some brands like Alfa Romeo,
13:44and I guess,
13:45um,
13:45you know,
13:45there's a couple more that we'll touch on in a sec,
13:48you know,
13:48in such a saturated market like Australia,
13:50where we have,
13:50you know,
13:51more brands and models than most other markets in the world,
13:53despite our size,
13:54it's really hard to stand out.
13:56And,
13:57and people love to follow trends here.
13:58So if you're not on trend,
14:00you've got to do something to,
14:01to get people's attention.
14:02Well,
14:02speaking of not on trend,
14:04Polestar's year has not started off well.
14:06Uh,
14:06with only 82 deliveries in January,
14:08that's less than half of what they delivered in December.
14:10The worst part is they just put two new models on the market.
14:13You can actually buy in showrooms now.
14:14So,
14:15um,
14:16are things looking a little bit,
14:17uh,
14:17bleak for Volvo's sister brand there?
14:19Cause they've got the Polestar,
14:21the Volvo,
14:21and now Zika has come online as well.
14:24Yeah.
14:24I think,
14:25you know,
14:25from what we have heard from their team,
14:28I think the MD told me at the launch of the Polestar four,
14:32that they reckon that they will have a better year than they internally
14:36project.
14:37Um,
14:38they're working,
14:38well,
14:39this is,
14:39I don't know.
14:40They've,
14:40they've got new dealers opening there.
14:42They're redoing their,
14:43their distribution strategy.
14:44So they're sort of doing a tie up of,
14:46you know,
14:47their agency,
14:48you know,
14:48Polestar spaces,
14:49as well as doing some traditional,
14:51um,
14:52dealer distribution,
14:52which maybe will have a better footprint in terms of people being able to
14:56access their cars.
14:57Um,
14:58you know,
14:58the Polestar four has only just released the people only were saying in
15:02their cars,
15:02November,
15:02December Polestar three.
15:04I think people just need to know about it as well.
15:08Um,
15:08we just actually had a couple of Polestar threes through the office and
15:11there's a review coming soon.
15:12Looks cool.
15:13It's very different,
15:14but I guess,
15:15you know,
15:15again,
15:15so in some of these segments,
15:16people are really loyal to the brands and the models that they,
15:20you know,
15:20aspire to own.
15:22And for a new,
15:23a newish brand like Polestar that,
15:25you know,
15:25is a very,
15:26you know,
15:26they have really cool philosophies around sustainability and,
15:28and their design and engineering and things like that,
15:30but perhaps haven't quite made their mark with the Australian public about
15:34why you should go Polestar other than,
15:36you know,
15:36the fact that they have a lot of Hertz vehicles and yeah,
15:41it's great as a,
15:42as a rental car.
15:42The problem is,
15:43I think with a lot of them and especially the new ones is the price.
15:46They're very expensive.
15:47A lot of money.
15:48Yeah.
15:48And I think that,
15:49yeah,
15:49the price positioning plays into that as well.
15:51You do end up spending the same,
15:53if not more for a Polestar as an equivalent German vehicle,
15:56even if it's made in Germany,
15:57whereas all the Polestars that we get are made in China at the moment.
16:00So it does make you,
16:01it does make you wonder what,
16:02what they can do to,
16:04to fix that.
16:05But what's your,
16:06and it shares a platform with the,
16:08the new Zika X shares a platform with one of the Polestars.
16:13I can't remember which one,
16:14but the Zika is 50 grand and it's a lot cheaper than the Polestar.
16:16Yeah.
16:16So Polestar hasn't actually released their version of the,
16:19of the Zika X and Volvo EX30 platform,
16:22but the Polestar 2,
16:23for example,
16:24is based on the same platform as the Volvo XC40.
16:27Think of it as like the reborn S40,
16:29which is basically what this design was.
16:31And then the Polestar 3 is sort of like a sporty EX90 alternative.
16:35And the Polestar 4 is on a new Geely platform that will underpin,
16:39I think the,
16:40the electric XC60 called the EX60 that's coming this year or next.
16:47So,
16:48you know,
16:48there's quite a lot of things going on there and I,
16:50yeah,
16:50they've got a little bit of work to do.
16:52Yeah.
16:53Well,
16:54look at it.
16:54Is it all confusing you?
16:56If it is,
16:56let us know.
16:57And maybe we can do a bit of a deep dive on how the Polestar Volvo Zika Geely
17:03smart Alliance works.
17:05Hey,
17:06cause it's a little convoluted.
17:07Um,
17:08let's talk about leak motor,
17:09bad name.
17:10Uh,
17:10I can't say the same about the car cause I haven't driven it.
17:12So I don't really know,
17:13but,
17:13uh,
17:14they've not had the impact they were hoping for.
17:16Cause 22 deliveries in January down from 64 in December.
17:19Um,
17:20I mean,
17:20maybe it's the,
17:21how it looks.
17:22I don't know.
17:22It looks like a squished Porsche.
17:24Yeah.
17:24The numbers are more of a hop than a leap.
17:26Um,
17:27but I guess the media launch only happened in January.
17:30So perhaps people that were really keen to get their hands on one were the
17:33first lot of deliveries that were in December,
17:35January.
17:35And then depending on what the perception is,
17:38once people start seeing them in showrooms and things like that,
17:40that might change.
17:41It's,
17:42it's quite an affordable car.
17:43Like it's a model size model Y sized vehicle for like,
17:46you know,
17:47at least 10 grand less.
17:48Even if it's a little bit generic,
17:50it's obviously got the backing of the Stellantis group,
17:52which might be a good or bad thing depending on who you talk to,
17:54but at least you've got like a big dealer network that it's coming from,
17:57not just pop-up shops and,
17:58you know,
17:58shopping center,
17:59um,
18:00displays and things like that.
18:02And you've got some,
18:03you know,
18:03cool colors and specs and things like that.
18:05But yeah,
18:06I guess again,
18:07like I've,
18:08I think I've said this in a couple of,
18:09um,
18:09written articles that I find it really hard to distinguish a lot of these new
18:12Chinese brands and models from each other because they've all got
18:15random logos,
18:17you know,
18:17fairly generic designs that incorporate various elements of lots of
18:20different cars and all of their names are different amalgamations of
18:24letters and numbers that I don't know which one I'm talking about.
18:27Sometimes I get them all mixed up.
18:29So,
18:30and I imagine if,
18:31if I feel that way as someone who works in the industry,
18:33I can only imagine it's quite confusing for an average Australian consumer that
18:37perhaps doesn't have that much of an interest in cars and just want something
18:39that's electric and just works.
18:41Um,
18:41but yeah,
18:42it'd be interesting to see what happens,
18:43um,
18:43in the,
18:44in the months ahead.
18:45Well,
18:45where I come from,
18:46if it doesn't start with toy and end in odor,
18:48they're probably not going to be interested in it.
18:50So we'll see.
18:51BZ4X then.
18:51Yes,
18:52exactly.
18:52Another,
18:53you know,
18:53code style name that doesn't make a lot of sense.
18:56No,
18:56it doesn't.
18:57Um,
18:57look,
18:57a couple of other things.
18:59So let's just rattle off all the ones that are down year on year.
19:01So mini Skoda,
19:02KGM Sasangyong,
19:04uh,
19:04which is Sasangyong's new name.
19:06KGM Sasangyong.
19:07Sasangyong,
19:07yeah.
19:08Ram,
19:08Peugeot,
19:09Jeep,
19:10Genesis,
19:10and Jag all down year on year.
19:12So,
19:12um,
19:13some of them,
19:13not a huge surprise.
19:14Jag are just selling off whatever stock they've got left before they reveal their,
19:18sell their refrigerator on wheels.
19:19Um,
19:20yeah,
19:21Peugeot seem to be down.
19:22There's less interest in that.
19:23I think just in French cars in general.
19:25They're also waiting on a number of new models to come onto the market.
19:27So I think they're going really hard on hybrid for,
19:29for this year.
19:30So,
19:30um,
19:31you know,
19:31it's,
19:31they'll still probably be fairly low volume,
19:34but I think we'll see,
19:35um,
19:35how the effects of that,
19:37um,
19:37go in the months ahead.
19:39Yeah.
19:39So Skoda is a big one.
19:40I think that's a,
19:41that's a kind of a surprise that's down because I thought they've got a bunch of new models
19:44that are just sort of in the process of coming online,
19:46a lot of electrification,
19:47um,
19:48but doesn't seem to be quite grabbing the public as well.
19:51They're waiting on,
19:52um,
19:52the Kodiak,
19:53which I will be seeing for the first time shortly after this airs.
19:56Um,
19:57and we'll have a pricing and spec announcement shortly after that,
19:59as well as the Octavia RS.
20:00So two models that are fairly important for them that are in the process of being updated
20:03and haven't quite hit the road yet.
20:05So that could also be a factor playing into their,
20:08their decline for,
20:09for January.
20:10But yes,
20:11you're right.
20:12It is after years and years of increase in records,
20:14it is a shame to say that they're sort of dropping off a little bit,
20:17but you know,
20:18this year could mean a lot of things relative from brands.
20:20So we'll see what happens.
20:21Absolutely.
20:21Last one I want to mention is Jack,
20:24J-A-C,
20:25uh,
20:26however you want to say it,
20:27uh,
20:27delivered 204 T9 Utes in,
20:31uh,
20:32January,
20:32although I suspect quite a number of those may have just been the ones that were
20:35stolen from that holding yard in,
20:37uh,
20:37West Melbourne.
20:38I don't know whether they count them as deliveries or not.
20:40I don't know why you would register them if you stole them,
20:42because then that sort of gives them all your details.
20:44All right.
20:44Mate,
20:44who knows these guys that steal these cars are a little bit loopy.
20:47If you haven't seen the video,
20:48uh,
20:48the videos that Paul has done on those,
20:50I'll put a link in the description.
20:51Do check them out.
20:52Um,
20:52especially if you own a late model Holden Commodore,
20:54it might help you protect your car.
20:56Uh,
20:56but yeah,
20:56J-A-C,
20:57they've come on strong.
20:58I think they've got a pretty good value proposition there.
21:00So we'll have to wait until we can actually get our hands on one.
21:03Yes.
21:03Please send us one because we really want to drive it.
21:06Okay.
21:06So a couple of other things I wanted to just run through,
21:09uh,
21:09before we move on to the other topics of the day,
21:12uh,
21:12the key one being fuel type sales.
21:14So I think that's really important.
21:16Um,
21:16hybrid and plug-in hybrid sales are way,
21:20way up.
21:21Hybrid's had a 51% increase,
21:23uh,
21:23and plug-in hybrid at 88% increase,
21:26whereas EVs are down 21%.
21:28Uh,
21:29is the,
21:30I don't want to say has the EV bubble burst,
21:32but is it just that there's more desire for people to have that sort of in between at the moment,
21:38do you think?
21:39Yeah.
21:39It's an interesting,
21:40um,
21:41thing that seems to keep on changing.
21:43You know,
21:43this time last year,
21:44you know,
21:44we had yourself and other presenters saying that Feb was never going to happen.
21:49I don't know.
21:50I've always defended plug-in hybrids.
21:52Yeah.
21:52But you know,
21:53the,
21:53the numbers showed that it wasn't really,
21:55um,
21:56getting much traction.
21:57EVs were booming at the time and that was largely off the back of Tesla sales.
22:00And I think,
22:01you know,
22:02most people who want a Tesla have probably already gotten one.
22:04And that's probably why we're seeing them drop off as well.
22:07Um,
22:07and you know,
22:08a lot of brands that have tried to cash in and,
22:10and,
22:10and rush vehicles to market and get electric vehicles on,
22:13have not necessarily been able to make the same sort of impact that,
22:16that Tesla has.
22:17So I don't know.
22:18Yeah.
22:18I don't know if it's been,
22:19if it's burst per se,
22:21but I think what it will do is that it will force manufacturers,
22:25particularly the legacy ones,
22:26because there's a lot of Chinese brands still coming onto market with affordable options.
22:29I think a lot of the early adopters that perhaps didn't want to go to a Tesla or a BYD or one of the other Chinese brands have been waiting for your Toyotas, Mazdas, Volkswagens, or whatever to bring out their alternatives and hopefully at better prices.
22:46And,
22:46you know,
22:46take the,
22:47the ID4,
22:48for example,
22:48that's been meant to be on market for the last six months.
22:50And we still don't even know what price it'll be at.
22:53And then I would say there's a lot of Tiguan owners or golf owners that have been waiting for,
22:57you know,
22:58they're electrified products or whatever,
22:59and just haven't been able to buy one.
23:01So I think with electric,
23:03it'll continue to plot along.
23:05I don't think it'll ever realize the,
23:08the projections that will be the only thing that we drive by 2030,
23:12especially not in Australia.
23:13And I think with this,
23:15with an upcoming federal election,
23:16and if we see an extension to the FBT exemptions on FEVs,
23:20which has been,
23:21you know,
23:21pretty easy to see that the increase in FEV uptake has been correlated with the fact that FBT exemptions exist for,
23:27them.
23:28Oh yeah.
23:29And it's like,
23:29if you're GWM right now,
23:30maybe you've missed that boat if they don't extend it,
23:32because they just announced the Canon plug-in hybrid,
23:35which is 68 grand,
23:36which is a pretty good deal,
23:37but that's going to miss the FBT.
23:39And I guess there,
23:40there will sort of be incentivized within VES and the change of definition for a fuel efficient vehicle moving forward.
23:46But still there's not,
23:48you know,
23:48if they take away that framework,
23:49you might see the same thing happen to FEVs.
23:51If people don't really have an incentive to,
23:53to buy them or to,
23:54you know,
23:54to,
23:54to bridge that gap in terms of the price,
23:57the price premium over an equivalent combustion vehicle.
24:00I think,
24:00you know,
24:01Toyota stuck to its guns was going on about hybrid.
24:04A lot of naysayers are saying,
24:05you know,
24:05they're going to go the way to Kodak or Blackberry or whatever,
24:08because,
24:09you know,
24:09they're sticking to an old formula,
24:10but,
24:11you know,
24:11I think hybrid will eventually is pretty much becoming the baseline.
24:15Now there's,
24:15there's still a lot of pure combustion engines coming into the country,
24:18but once we get to the point where we have emissions regulatory framework,
24:22I think you'll start seeing that people will start seeing hybrid as the baseline.
24:25And then you'll see the,
24:26the stepping stones of more electrification become,
24:29you know,
24:30the next thing for people to start looking at,
24:32depending on what they can afford to do,
24:35what their lifestyle allows them to do.
24:37And,
24:37you know,
24:37as charging infrastructure increases,
24:39because that's another thing that's still proving to be a problem is that our
24:41charging infrastructure doesn't really have what it takes to handle this
24:46massive influx of EVs that have come in the last couple of years.
24:49And unless you're willing to pay a premium for Tesla superchargers,
24:52there's not a whole lot of availability.
24:54So,
24:55so anyway,
24:56is there anything that we missed?
24:58Anything else you want to know?
24:59Leave a comment on YouTube or write to us,
25:00podcast at carexpert.com.au.
25:03And James will kindly get back to you with an answer.
25:05If we have missed anything from VFX this month,
25:08let's move on.
25:09We spoke last time about Mitsubishi,
25:12the Mitsubishi massacre,
25:14where,
25:15yes.
25:15So ADR 98 slash 00 and 98 slash 01 are AEB regulations or autonomous emergency braking regulations
25:25that are coming in.
25:26I believe the 01 is for enhanced pedestrian detection.
25:31Yes.
25:31And I think that comes online at a later date.
25:33Later date.
25:34So yes.
25:34But a lot of manufacturers are making moves to improve it.
25:37And look,
25:37I just want to preface this by saying,
25:39I think of all the nanny systems in a car,
25:42AEB is probably one of the good ones to have,
25:43especially the pedestrian stuff.
25:45Because the amount of people I see crossing the street,
25:47looking at their phones or with headphones on,
25:49to have that little bit of protection there,
25:50I think is a good thing.
25:51Or people driving with their phones.
25:52Or trying to end up rear-ending another car or hitting a pedestrian.
25:55Absolutely.
25:56So yeah,
25:56look,
25:56I think AEB,
25:57personally,
25:58I think AEB is really good.
25:59So I'm going to,
25:59I'll die on that hill.
26:01Driving and wandering,
26:02that's a different story altogether.
26:03But there is a raft of other vehicles that are on the chopping block,
26:06along with Mitsubishi.
26:07Suzuki has come out with a bunch of them.
26:10So Ignis,
26:10S-Cross Vitara,
26:11and Jimny three-door production has all stopped
26:13because their AEB regulations don't meet the requirements.
26:16I mean,
26:18I think that's almost all of Suzuki's cars at the moment,
26:21isn't it?
26:21Yeah,
26:22other than the new Swift and the five-door Jimny,
26:26I think that's it.
26:27The Ignis,
26:29we sort of saw that coming because I think these regulations have been public for a while.
26:34And I think one of the reasons why it's a bit confusing is that Australia is going live
26:38with these regulations ahead of Europe.
26:41So I think this actually comes down to a United Nations regulation that comes in in a couple of years,
26:46but Australia's decided to enforce it early.
26:49The Ignis didn't have AEB here anyway.
26:52So Suzuki would have had to significantly invest in bringing an updated model to market
26:57with the system that they had,
27:00which I think may not have even met the regulations anyway.
27:03And that would have greatly increased the cost
27:05and perhaps made it prohibitively expensive for them to bring it here.
27:08S-Cross and Vitara,
27:09while the production of the existing models coming out of Hungary has stopped,
27:13they've got updates coming soon,
27:14which should meet the requirements.
27:16And then the Jimi 3-door,
27:17given how popular that car is,
27:18even though it's stopped for now,
27:19I think Suzuki's committed to working on whatever it needs to do
27:22to try and make it fit the requirements
27:24so they can continue selling them.
27:26Because that car has been,
27:27you know,
27:27we say the waiting list for RAV4s were pretty bad.
27:30Jimi's were pretty bad too,
27:31where people were waiting,
27:32you know,
27:3218,
27:3224 months,
27:33not really knowing when their cars were coming.
27:35And the 3-door comes out of Japan as well,
27:38unlike the 5-door,
27:38which comes out of India.
27:39So there's a few different factors at play there.
27:42But there's,
27:42as we'll go into in a second,
27:44there are a few vehicles in trouble.
27:46Yeah.
27:46So it's not just Suzuki.
27:48So there's a reason there's a Fiat on the screen here,
27:51the Fiat 500 or Cinquecento,
27:54depending on where you're from.
27:54This one does meet the requirements
27:56because this is the electric.
27:57I just got the first picture I saw.
27:59This one doesn't though.
28:00This one doesn't.
28:01This is the Abarth 595
28:03and it does not meet the requirements
28:05because it doesn't have a little camera there to detect it.
28:07And if you just imagine that this one is not electric
28:10and that's actually just a moody looking car,
28:12it and this,
28:13they are,
28:14they're out.
28:14They're dead.
28:15They've got to go.
28:16LDV T60 and the G10 van,
28:20both currently don't meet the requirements.
28:23However,
28:24I believe that the LDV has said
28:25that they're not going to have an issue with that.
28:27So there must be a new model.
28:29Well,
28:29this one,
28:29this particular one here is the new one,
28:31which is called the Pro or the Pro Max.
28:33or something.
28:33And again,
28:34iPhone names,
28:35but there are some LDV T60s
28:37that do have AEB
28:38and probably meet the requirements.
28:39It might be the lower grade ones
28:41that suffer from that
28:41and perhaps need to be re-engineered
28:43to meet the new regulations.
28:45So yeah,
28:46LDV just said they won't suffer.
28:47So whatever that,
28:48whatever that means,
28:49you read it how you will.
28:50Yeah.
28:50This guy,
28:52the Mahindra pickup
28:53and the Mahindra Scorpio.
28:55Now,
28:55this has long been a point of contention
28:57for a lot of people
28:58after it's,
28:59let's just say,
29:00disastrous ANCAP rating.
29:02I think that they were surprised
29:03they got because it doesn't have AEB.
29:05And I drove one of these for three months.
29:07I didn't need the AEB.
29:09The Scorpio especially
29:11is a very,
29:12very good car fundamentally.
29:13Yeah.
29:13So it's a shame that
29:14it's been promised for a while
29:16that the Scorpio in particular
29:17would be getting an upgrade
29:18to the safety suite,
29:19which includes the kind of technologies
29:20that are being mandated.
29:22Whether Mahindra will actually
29:25end up bringing it to market
29:26after a brief hiatus,
29:28don't know,
29:28but there is meant to be
29:29an update coming
29:30with those technologies.
29:31So hopefully they can bring
29:32that back to market
29:33because as you experience,
29:34it's a really great car
29:36to road trip in,
29:37to go off road in
29:37and it's something
29:38a little bit different
29:39and it's,
29:40you know,
29:40being designed
29:41and developed
29:42for the Indian market.
29:43It's meant to be quite robust
29:44because they've got
29:44really harsh conditions there.
29:46Probably that in some places
29:47would probably be harsher
29:48than what Australians
29:48are used to.
29:49Having been there,
29:50some of the roads
29:51are definitely worse.
29:52Not as bad as Victoria's,
29:53but definitely worse
29:53than a lot of Australians.
29:54So, you know,
29:54it would be a shame
29:55for such a,
29:56you know,
29:57a robust and capable,
29:59affordable off-roader
30:00and six-seater,
30:01not seven-seater SUV
30:03to be pulled
30:05from market indefinitely.
30:06So hopefully Mahindra
30:07comes up with a solution
30:08to that soon.
30:09And I do believe
30:09we spied a ute version
30:11of this the other day.
30:13Which might be
30:13a new pickup
30:14based on this,
30:16but from B-pillar back,
30:17have a ute tray.
30:18So Indian Falcon,
30:20I guess you could call it.
30:21Yeah, maybe.
30:22So we'll see what happens.
30:23And then Mazda 2 and CX-3.
30:25Now, my understanding
30:26is that it didn't affect
30:27the whole lineup.
30:27It just affected
30:28a couple of the lower grades.
30:29Yeah, so Mazda
30:30technically brought in
30:31an update,
30:32which it announced,
30:32I think,
30:33late December
30:33or early January,
30:34where a revised 2025 range
30:37is being brought
30:38into Australia
30:39and coming in
30:39shortly after these regulations
30:41come into effect.
30:42Basically,
30:43the lower grades
30:43of the old CX-3
30:44and Mazda 2
30:45had a lesser AEB system
30:47that didn't meet
30:47the parameters
30:48that are being enforced now.
30:49And so by killing
30:51off the base models
30:52that probably were
30:53going to be too expensive
30:54to introduce that system to.
30:55Now, all Mazda 2s
30:57and CX-3s
30:58will now have
30:59the updated AEB system
31:01that was probably available
31:02higher up in the range
31:02previously,
31:04while also,
31:04I think,
31:05which also brings things
31:06like adaptive cruise controls
31:07as a bit of a safety
31:08and tech upgrade
31:09that will come to those cars,
31:10but they will remain
31:11on sale moving forward.
31:12But there has been
31:13a brief blip in that
31:14while the new models
31:15come in
31:16with the enhanced technology.
31:18I think that's important
31:19for Mazda to get the CX-3
31:20and keep it on sale
31:21given it's,
31:22you know,
31:22in the top models
31:24every month
31:24it is still super popular.
31:26I think that there's
31:26a lot of incentive
31:27for them to actually
31:28update that
31:29because it is
31:29almost as old
31:30as the Land Cruiser.
31:31It's as popular
31:32as it's ever been.
31:33Yeah.
31:33Doing 1,500 to 2,000
31:35units per month
31:36for a car
31:36that's quite old
31:37when you think about it,
31:38but I guess that formula
31:39has been really,
31:40really popular
31:41with Australians
31:42for some time.
31:42It's great size
31:43for the city
31:44if you don't want to,
31:45you know,
31:45be parallel parking
31:46something big
31:47in Melbourne
31:47or Sydney.
31:48You can imagine
31:48how tough it would be
31:49to park something larger.
31:51It still looks really fresh
31:52and that's a testament
31:53to Mazda's design team
31:54for making that
31:55look so good
31:56after so many years.
31:57And it's just an easy
31:59car to buy and live with.
32:00It runs on 91,
32:02it's fairly efficient
32:03and it just does its job.
32:04So, you know,
32:05good job Mazda
32:06and good job
32:07on engineering a solution
32:08to make sure
32:08that it meets
32:09the new requirements.
32:10Well, look,
32:11that is all the cars
32:12we currently have on the list
32:13that are on the chopping block.
32:15If more come to light
32:16we will tell you.
32:17But are there any
32:17any other safety systems
32:19that you think
32:20are going to get stricter
32:21over time
32:22or that you think
32:22should get stricter
32:23over time, James?
32:25That's a good question.
32:26I think, you know,
32:27the enhancements
32:28to AEB capabilities
32:29are an important one.
32:30I think, you know,
32:31the next one,
32:32I believe Europe
32:33is going to start
32:34looking into
32:35the effectiveness
32:37of other systems
32:38like driver attention
32:39monitoring
32:40and speed limit warnings
32:41given the feedback
32:43from customers
32:43that actually become
32:44more distracting
32:44and it's something
32:45that we've covered
32:45quite in depth.
32:46Very much.
32:46I know, you know,
32:47a lot of Paul's reviews
32:48when he experiences them
32:49on video
32:49when you watch them
32:50on the channel
32:50there's a lot of cars
32:51that have very annoying systems
32:53that just get in the way.
32:55So I think there needs
32:55to be some better enforcement
32:58of those kinds of things
32:59where, you know,
33:00we're not seeing systems added
33:02for the sake of them
33:03being added
33:03and rather being
33:06an effective
33:06and helpful feature
33:08that improves
33:09the safety
33:10of your driving experience
33:12rather than just
33:12giving you another thing
33:13to worry about.
33:15Absolutely.
33:15Well, do you like
33:16the safety features
33:17on cars?
33:17The modern safety features?
33:19Is AEB any good
33:20if you've had issues with it?
33:21Has it saved your bacon
33:22once or twice?
33:24Leave a comment,
33:24let us know.
33:25I do think seatbelts
33:26are good though
33:26so you should definitely
33:27be wearing those.
33:27Yes, those, yes.
33:28They're very important.
33:29All right,
33:30this is the thing
33:30I've been waiting for
33:31since the last podcast.
33:33We're going to talk
33:34about your M5
33:35around Bathurst.
33:35First and foremost,
33:36the most important question,
33:37did you meet
33:38Valentino Rossi?
33:39No, I didn't.
33:40Oh, that's so disappointing.
33:41I think he left
33:41just before I got there
33:42because we were there
33:43the day after the race
33:44and I wasn't invited
33:45to the race.
33:46Oh, fair enough.
33:47It must have been
33:47like a really good
33:48atmosphere there though
33:49because BMW had a
33:50ripper weekend
33:50on the mountain
33:51in the 12 hour.
33:52Yeah, well,
33:52our driving program
33:54was mixed in
33:55with a customer drive day
33:56so we were in the garages
33:57with the M5s
33:58and the instructors
33:59were going out
34:00in the M5 safety cars.
34:01That was a nice little touch
34:02where, you know,
34:03the new M5
34:03is the official safety car
34:04for the Bathurst 12 hour
34:05so the instructors
34:06were leading us
34:07in, you know,
34:08normal X5s,
34:10not X5s,
34:10M5s,
34:11very different cars.
34:12Very different.
34:13Normal M5s
34:14with a safety car leading
34:16but we were actually
34:16on track at the same time
34:17with some customers
34:18that were, you know,
34:19putting their supercars
34:20on Bathurst
34:21and that was very interesting
34:23because the M5,
34:24the new one,
34:24is very powerful
34:25and very fast
34:26but when you get on
34:27and you, you know,
34:28you suddenly accelerate
34:28and you get into
34:29180 Ks an hour
34:30and then, you know,
34:30a Porsche 911
34:31or a Lamborghini Revolta
34:33of all cars
34:34zooms past you
34:35on mountain straight,
34:36it does make you realise
34:38just even though
34:39some of the technologies
34:40and performance of
34:41an M5s not necessarily
34:43a normal car
34:43but, you know,
34:44that kind of thing
34:44have come a long way
34:46and then you see
34:46some of the other stuff
34:47that's coming out
34:47of other manufacturers
34:48and you're like,
34:48whoa!
34:49Now, okay,
34:50let's talk about it.
34:50I think there's some
34:51controversial aspects
34:52of the M5
34:53we do need to cover.
34:54We're going to keep this short.
34:56Let's,
34:57elephant in the room,
34:58it is basically
34:59an elephant now.
35:00It weighs about
35:017.8 metric tons
35:03and has a million
35:05Well, 2.4 something
35:06metric tons.
35:08By that point,
35:09it doesn't really matter
35:10but, yeah,
35:10I mean,
35:10it is heavy now,
35:12isn't it?
35:12It's just a big car.
35:14Like, it's over 5.1 metres long.
35:15It's pretty much
35:17the better part
35:18of 2.5 tonnes
35:19and for the first time
35:21in, I think,
35:22seven generations,
35:23it's electrified
35:24so a big part
35:25of that weight
35:26has come from the fact
35:26it's now a plug-in hybrid.
35:28It's got a big
35:28lithium-ion battery
35:29under the boot
35:30so you can do
35:31over 60 kilometres
35:32of EV driving
35:33which, you know,
35:34if your old M5
35:35is giving you
35:35a lot of stress
35:36with fuel bills,
35:37cost of living,
35:37all that kind of thing.
35:39If you're an M5
35:40and you're worried
35:40about fuel,
35:41your priorities
35:41are all wrong.
35:42There can be
35:43progressive executives
35:44that want to get to work
35:45quickly and comfortably
35:46and not have to worry
35:48about going to the fuel station
35:48so you can drive
35:49to and from work
35:50as an EV
35:51and then you find
35:52a great back road
35:53or you get to the racetrack
35:54and you can just
35:54absolutely send it
35:55with all of its power
35:56so it's got 535 kilowatts
35:58and 1,000 newton metres
35:59when everything's
36:00at full noise
36:00and to actually experience
36:01that with the,
36:03you know,
36:03no restrictions basically
36:05with such long straights
36:06on a track
36:06like Mount Panorama
36:07it's quite intimidating.
36:09It's a very,
36:10very quick car
36:10and it does a really good job
36:12at masking its weight.
36:13How does it go stopping?
36:14Because you come down Conrad
36:15and I think
36:15in your video
36:17that you put on socials
36:19you hit 250.
36:20I had 260 on that one
36:21and that was my first lap.
36:23Right,
36:23then you were too scared
36:24to go that fast again.
36:25I managed to get to
36:25I think
36:26an indicator 272
36:27at some point
36:28and that was lifting off
36:30before the crest as well
36:31so that's between
36:32coming out of that hairpin
36:33and down that straight
36:35so technically
36:35we were going faster
36:36than the M4 GT3 race cars
36:38that were there
36:38the day before.
36:39That won the race.
36:40Yes,
36:40well that was my question
36:42was how early
36:43did you let off
36:43to make it through the chase
36:44because that's a lot of weight
36:45to be making that.
36:47Basically coming up the crest
36:48that's when we started
36:49lifting off
36:49just to wipe off
36:51a little bit of speed
36:51before doing that.
36:55There were a couple of times
37:09where we still went
37:09pretty fast through the chase
37:11and then you know
37:11braking
37:12the brake pedal feel
37:14is not too bad
37:14there is a few stages
37:16of regen
37:16then there's the mechanical brakes
37:18I was driving a car
37:19fitted with carbon ceramic
37:20brakes as well
37:20which I think are an
37:21$18,000 option
37:22if you're going on track a lot
37:23they might be useful
37:24because you probably
37:25never really have to
37:26replace them for the life
37:27of the time that you
37:28have the vehicle
37:28but yeah it was
37:30it was really really
37:30impressive
37:31I was quite
37:31a little bit sceptical
37:33at the beginning
37:34thinking you know
37:34this is a really big car
37:36Mount Panorama
37:36it was my first time
37:37at Mount Panorama
37:37it's a very very tight
37:39and technical track
37:40with a lot of concrete
37:41barriers
37:41which is very very
37:42intimidating
37:43when you're on a track
37:44like that for the first
37:45time and just going
37:45hell for the leather
37:46but you know
37:47with the
37:48it's got a really great
37:49all-wheel drive system
37:50that is constantly
37:51varying torque
37:51it's got
37:52plenty of grip
37:54from the tyres
37:55and it just
37:56does a really great job
37:57without any active
37:58anti-roll technology
37:59or anything like that
38:00just sticking to the road
38:01and going
38:01there's a couple of times
38:02in some of the really tight
38:03turns that you sort of
38:05feel the lateral weight
38:06shift a little bit
38:06and that's where you
38:07start feeling its size
38:08but you know
38:09in terms of how
38:10I'd never at one point
38:11during
38:12I had two track sessions
38:13about four to five laps
38:14and for two to three of them
38:16you're going pretty hard
38:17there was never any time
38:18that I felt really uneasy
38:19about whether I'd actually
38:20make the stop
38:21or whether I'd get around
38:22the corner
38:22or anything like that
38:23it just sort of grips up
38:24and goes
38:24and I think anyone
38:25who perhaps is a little bit
38:27sceptical of the weight figure
38:30and how that might go
38:31in a performance application
38:32I would really recommend
38:34if you're fortunate enough
38:34to drive one
38:35I think you'll probably
38:36come away a bit more convinced
38:37like I was thinking
38:38you know
38:38while it's not the classic
38:39M5 formula
38:40that a lot of people are used to
38:41you know
38:41the last one was all-wheel drive
38:43so that was already
38:43a big change to the formula
38:44now adding the electrification aspect
38:47it makes it go quicker
38:48in a lot of ways
38:50it may not be faster
38:500 to 100 than the old one
38:52but it's definitely much
38:53you know
38:53it's got really great
38:54in-gear acceleration
38:55it's got awesome instant response
38:56so I think you can still
38:58have a lot of fun with it
38:58and I guess it's just
38:59the modern interpretation
39:00of that formula
39:00otherwise this car
39:02would not survive
39:02yeah
39:03well look
39:03thankfully the thing
39:04that did survive
39:05that Mercedes
39:06were not so fortunate with
39:07was the twin turbo V8
39:08it does
39:09it's going to cost you
39:10over $250,000
39:11to get your hands
39:11on one of these
39:12and probably
39:12won't leave you much change
39:14for 300 grand
39:15by the time you get on the road
39:16with a set of carbon
39:16stramic brakes
39:17I imagine
39:18look you've got a full review
39:20live on the site now
39:21carexpert.com.au
39:22do check that out
39:23we'll put a link
39:23in the description for that
39:24before we wrap it up
39:26there's
39:26I'll ask you
39:27if there's anything
39:28that you want to share
39:28but I have one
39:29I want to quickly share
39:30if you haven't seen it already
39:31there is a 24 hour
39:33live Top Gear channel
39:34on YouTube
39:34go and check it out
39:35it's fantastic
39:36that's all I have to say
39:37right
39:38have you got anything
39:38you want to throw up
39:39no I've just
39:42I've come off
39:42that little bit of travel
39:43that I was telling you guys
39:45about probably last time
39:46so I've now
39:47I've got a Audi Q8
39:48and Q7 review
39:49going live on site
39:50probably by the time
39:50this goes live
39:51I've also just driven
39:52the Audi Q4 e-tron
39:53which is another car
39:54that I think a lot of Audi
39:55customers have been waiting for
39:56and I also drove
39:58what was the other thing I did
39:58I can't remember
39:59but we've got
40:00you're such a busy boy
40:01you know
40:01I know
40:01I know
40:02I'm also going to be going
40:03to a Skoda Brande
40:05so off the back
40:05of the fact
40:06that we were talking
40:06about their sales figures
40:07there'll be some
40:08we'll be able to see
40:09the new Kodiak in person
40:10and we'll be getting
40:11an announcement
40:12on their pricing inspect
40:13which will go live
40:13at some point
40:14and I'll also get to see
40:15the new Octavia RS
40:16in person too
40:16so hopefully
40:17there's some cool
40:17announcements there
40:18that you know
40:19Skoda's got some
40:20things in the pipeline
40:20for Australia
40:21that will hopefully
40:22get people
40:23looking at them again
40:24in greater numbers
40:25beyond that
40:26yeah I think
40:27that's pretty much
40:27it for the week
40:28alright well here's
40:28a bit of homework
40:29then when you go
40:30to that Kodiak
40:30because I quite like
40:31the Kodiak
40:31I think it's really good
40:32why don't you get
40:33a little walk around
40:34for the podcast
40:34so we can play
40:35for the good folks
40:36at home
40:38alright see how we
40:39go with that
40:40mate thanks for coming
40:41along as always
40:42thank you for having me
40:42and thank all of you
40:43for watching
40:44it is always a pleasure
40:45to do the podcast
40:45I'm sorry it's been
40:46a little bit sporadic
40:47at the start of the year
40:47but as James said
40:49we're all quite busy
40:50so we're working
40:51on a more regular format
40:53and that will be
40:54coming soon
40:54but in the meantime
40:55we will try and get
40:56one out sort of
40:58every couple of weeks
40:59where we can
40:59but if you haven't
41:00already subscribe
41:01to the YouTube channel
41:02or if you're listening
41:03on an audio streaming
41:04service be it Spotify
41:05Apple Podcasts
41:06hit that follow button
41:07and leave us a review
41:08we'd love to know
41:08what you think
41:09of the car expert podcast
41:10but until next time
41:11have a good one
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