It's our Japan special! James Wong joins Sean and Scott to talk everything exciting from the Tokyo Motor Show, take a look at Toyota's claims that used EV's are worth less, and the brand new Honda CR-V is in the spotlight! PLUS Alborz and Paul make a special visit LIVE from Tokyo.
Welcome to the CarExpert Podcast – now in video! Host Sean Lander is joined by resident CarExperts Scott Collie and James Wong to chat the latest in automotive news and reviews.
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Toyota vs EV's 01:25
Tokyo Motor Show 10:36
Honda CR-V Review 35:44
Picks of the week 46:48
Outro 51:26
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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Paul Maric:
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Welcome to the CarExpert Podcast – now in video! Host Sean Lander is joined by resident CarExperts Scott Collie and James Wong to chat the latest in automotive news and reviews.
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Toyota vs EV's 01:25
Tokyo Motor Show 10:36
Honda CR-V Review 35:44
Picks of the week 46:48
Outro 51:26
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
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day and welcome to the Car Expert Podcast.
00:02 I'm Sean, your host, and today we are doing
00:04 a massive Tokyo Motor Show special.
00:06 Now, before we get into it,
00:07 I just have a quick message for our audio listeners.
00:09 If you are listening on one of the audio platforms,
00:12 I strongly recommend heading over to YouTube
00:13 and watching this.
00:14 This is a very visually heavy episode.
00:16 We're gonna have, we can talk about a lot of different cars,
00:18 have a lot of different pictures.
00:19 So yeah, if you're listening, by all means, keep listening,
00:22 and then duck over to YouTube and watch it again.
00:24 Give us a couple of extra views, we'll appreciate that.
00:26 - I thought that was a reference
00:27 to the fact James is on this week.
00:27 - Well, that leads me right into it.
00:30 We've got James Wong joining us.
00:31 James, how are you, mate?
00:32 - Good, thank you, how are you?
00:33 - Yeah, good, welcome back to the podcast.
00:34 - Thank you for having me back.
00:35 Yes, it has been a little bit.
00:37 - I figured I wanted to be the shortest person in the room,
00:39 so I've brought James along.
00:40 And to help really solidify that,
00:43 Scott Colley is here, as always.
00:45 How are you, mate?
00:46 - Look, you know how tall I am,
00:47 and you put me on this seat, which is so low every week.
00:49 I'm starting to think it's punishment.
00:50 - Well, the problem is I sit on this seat,
00:52 and I can't actually, if I sit on it properly,
00:53 I can't reach.
00:54 If you're watching on YouTube,
00:55 I've got the wire show up now on my feet.
00:56 - Don't hit the ground.
00:57 - Don't reach, that's a little.
00:58 - We need a shoe cam.
00:59 - Yes, it's punishment for all of us.
01:01 If you do make seat cushions,
01:03 please write to us, podcast@carexpert.com.au.
01:06 I would appreciate one.
01:07 But let's get straight into it.
01:08 It's been a huge week in Tokyo this week.
01:11 The Tokyo Motor Show is back,
01:13 and unlike the Munich, what do they call it?
01:15 The IAA--
01:16 - It was a mobility show in Munich.
01:19 - There's actually been some really interesting cars,
01:21 so we're gonna get into those shortly.
01:22 But first of all, we're gonna talk about some news
01:25 that's come out of it.
01:26 Toyota, you may have heard of them.
01:28 They are a company who doesn't actually sell
01:30 an electric vehicle in Australia,
01:31 but they have some very strong thoughts on them.
01:33 And they say the residual values of EVs are garbage.
01:37 Basically, an overseas study found
01:38 that battery electric vehicles lost about 51%
01:41 of their value over three years,
01:42 as opposed to internal combustion vehicles,
01:44 which lost about 37%.
01:46 So guys, I'll open this straight up to the floor.
01:49 Who wants to start the discussion on this one?
01:51 - Look, I think it's interesting
01:53 that Toyota is targeting this
01:54 because at this stage, it's not a problem
01:56 for that brand in Australia,
01:57 given they don't sell the BZ4X here.
01:59 But also, one of the big challenges with electric cars
02:02 and getting them more widespread is,
02:04 although you can sell plenty of new ones,
02:07 a huge part of the car market in Australia
02:09 and around the world is used.
02:11 And there are no used electric cars out there at the moment,
02:13 and the ones that are there are still very expensive.
02:15 So I know Toyota's pitching this as bad news,
02:18 and maybe it is if you are a Polestar or a Tesla
02:21 or someone trying to build your brand in Australia.
02:23 But if you're a punter looking for a used electric car
02:25 to run around town in, this is awesome news
02:28 'cause you can get an 80 or a $60,000 car
02:30 for half the price after three years
02:31 with battery that still works well
02:33 and still fairly up-to-date technology.
02:36 - I think that's great in theory.
02:37 We're not actually seeing that reduction in price yet
02:39 'cause the used car market is still quite high.
02:41 But one of the things that I think has been cited
02:44 is that consumers are a bit concerned
02:46 about the longevity of battery life.
02:47 And I know that we as a species
02:49 have sort of been trained to not trust batteries
02:51 after a couple of years
02:52 'cause I don't know about you guys,
02:53 I wouldn't buy an iPhone that's three years old.
02:55 And I think the electric car thing's sort of a similar thing
02:58 where we don't quite trust it.
02:59 What do you think, James?
03:00 - Yeah, I think it's something that needs to be discussed
03:02 or investigated more and communicated to people
03:04 because a lot of, right now, the EV market's fairly young.
03:08 Most of the cars that we buy that are electric
03:09 or hybrid are new.
03:11 And other than really looking at old Toyotas,
03:14 what battery longevity looks like,
03:16 we don't have a really clear picture of that.
03:17 And then also the environmental aspect
03:20 is such a big part of electrified vehicles,
03:23 but we don't talk about the holistic cycle
03:25 of what happens to batteries when they are discarded
03:28 or how they're built and what goes into all that.
03:30 - We're gonna talk about that a bit later in the podcast,
03:32 so stick around.
03:33 - I'm not trying to jump ahead.
03:34 But Sean Hanley, who made a lot of these comments,
03:36 he's very vocal about this stuff.
03:38 He goes on monologues all the time.
03:39 And it's quite interesting because I think,
03:41 because Toyota doesn't have a battery electric vehicle
03:44 on sale here yet,
03:45 I think that's why these views are so polarizing
03:47 because a lot of people who follow the industry
03:49 will go like, "Well, what do you know?
03:50 "You haven't even selling them yet."
03:52 But I think that there are some really important
03:53 considerations that Toyota and Sean Hanley
03:56 have brought up in some of these stories
03:58 that people perhaps don't really consider.
04:00 - I think, yeah, one of the points he made was,
04:02 oh, well, let's say Toyota,
04:03 the Toyota spokesperson said,
04:06 as an opinion of Toyota,
04:07 is that the EV, like fleet buyers
04:09 are not really considering EVs
04:10 because one of the big things is
04:12 the potential financial loss from that residual loss.
04:15 And also just downtime is a huge problem.
04:17 Fleets can't afford downtime.
04:19 And they can't afford maintenance issues.
04:21 And the problem with electric cars
04:22 is you have to take them to a dealer to be worked on.
04:24 And most fleets generally have their own internal mechanics.
04:27 So I guess that's kind of an issue
04:29 that would hold back a lot of those buyers.
04:30 - And fleet buyers are a big chunk of Toyota buyers.
04:33 I mean, you look at the high lux sales in Australia
04:35 and where the Ranger is generally four by four,
04:37 which are generally private buyers,
04:38 a lot of high lux sales are four by two models
04:40 that go to mining fleets,
04:42 traffic controllers, that sort of thing.
04:43 So it does make sense that Toyota
04:45 is thinking of those people.
04:47 But I think that in a lot of these comments from Toyota,
04:50 they're jumping two or three steps ahead
04:53 because at the moment,
04:54 we're not trying to sell EVs
04:56 to every single fleet in Australia.
04:57 There's still plenty of petrol, diesel
04:59 and hybrid options out there.
05:00 And bringing in electric cars
05:02 doesn't mean you have to get rid of them.
05:03 You can sell them side by side.
05:05 So I do think they're very reasonable concerns
05:07 and they're probably more relevant to Toyota
05:09 than they are to most other brands,
05:11 given Toyota's overall volume and its fleet volume.
05:14 But just because they don't work
05:16 for a certain set of people
05:17 doesn't mean they don't have a place in Australia.
05:19 And I think what we're seeing
05:20 with the uptake of Tesla and other electric cars is,
05:23 yes, not everyone can drive one,
05:24 but for a lot of Australians
05:25 who have the facilities to charge it,
05:27 these cars work and they're making their lives easier
05:30 by plugging in at night
05:31 instead of having to stand at a petrol station.
05:34 - So on the flip side of all of this,
05:36 EV Director is a company
05:37 who actually deals in electric vehicles.
05:39 - Exclusively.
05:40 - Yes, they import BYDs to Australia
05:42 and they sell them mostly to the Eagers dealership network.
05:45 - Yes, so a chunk of the EV Direct business
05:47 was bought by Eagers,
05:48 which is one of the big dealer groups in Australia.
05:51 They're distributed through a few different places,
05:53 Eagers being one of them,
05:54 and then they're maintained
05:55 through what used to be Kmart Tyre and Auto.
05:57 - It's my car.
05:58 - It's now my car, yeah.
05:59 - So they're saying that,
06:01 well, they're sort of disagreeing with Toyota,
06:02 but they're sort of implying
06:03 that they're controlling the market
06:05 by saying this is the price of the car,
06:07 we won't discount the car,
06:08 and you wanna buy it, you buy it.
06:10 Even if you're gonna buy 1,000, this is the cost.
06:12 And they think that that's actually gonna help
06:14 control that used car market a little bit.
06:16 Do you think that's actually gonna work?
06:19 - I think it's a noble idea.
06:20 I don't know that it's actually gonna play out though.
06:22 And I think that's because at the moment,
06:24 the electric car market is still very young
06:26 and all of these brands with fixed price models
06:28 can get away with it
06:29 because there is more demand than there is supply.
06:31 So if you want an electric car,
06:32 you can't necessarily shop around that much.
06:35 You can't put people head to head.
06:36 You just walk in and say,
06:37 you've got one in stock, I'll take it.
06:39 But that's changing really quickly.
06:40 I mean, we're seeing more brands
06:41 bring more electric cars down under.
06:43 And as that happens, all of a sudden,
06:45 there is gonna be competition.
06:46 There's gonna be cars that are an old model year
06:48 sitting on dealer lots and that sort of thing.
06:50 And all of a sudden,
06:51 these fixed prices don't necessarily work.
06:53 I know the EV direct models are a bit different,
06:55 but there is gonna come a point where there's competition
06:57 and there's old stock, and that's when discounts happen.
07:00 - I'm curious on both of your thoughts on this one.
07:03 Most used car buyers are looking at a used car
07:05 because they can't afford a new car.
07:07 And one of the problems with purchasing an EV
07:09 is that there's an infrastructure cost that comes with it.
07:14 Even if you're buying a used one,
07:15 you have to fit a home wall charger
07:17 or have some sort of facility
07:19 to be able to charge the car at home.
07:21 Do you think that is probably causing the value
07:24 of the used prices to come down more than,
07:26 say, an internal combustion car?
07:29 - I don't know if that's the case right now.
07:30 I think when you look at what kind of used EVs
07:33 are on the market,
07:34 it's like that first generation technology,
07:36 like the first generation LEAF,
07:37 where even brand new, it couldn't even do 200 Ks.
07:39 And then now you'd barely be able to get
07:41 two shots of that. - 80 Ks or something
07:42 like that out of them.
07:43 - So I think that's the problem.
07:44 We're looking at purely on face value,
07:47 where what we're looking at now,
07:49 when you look at BYD's products,
07:50 when you look at Tesla's,
07:51 a lot of them haven't been around long enough
07:53 to really have a proper idea of what a three to five year
07:56 look on the market in terms of degradation
08:00 or what the vehicle's condition is like
08:01 and how people see it.
08:03 Because a lot of people just don't know how it works.
08:05 It's the same problem with plug-in hybrids, for example.
08:07 'Cause people think, oh, I can plug it in,
08:09 but I don't.
08:10 Or people just don't understand how it works.
08:11 And I think consumer education
08:13 has been such a big problem in Australia
08:16 because suddenly Tesla pops up
08:18 and the people that are willing to research
08:20 and find out how it works will figure it out,
08:22 whether it's worth it for them or not.
08:23 Some people that I know have bought Teslas
08:26 or electric vehicles and said,
08:27 I'm not sure if I can do that for the next one
08:29 because I get range anxiety,
08:30 or I don't have the means to charge it,
08:31 or I can't be bothered installing a wall box.
08:33 So many factors like that, where I think,
08:36 for me personally, I think that having multiple solutions
08:38 is the right thing.
08:39 And we're seeing that start to proliferate
08:41 more and more now, where in a year or so's time,
08:44 there'll be lots more EVs,
08:45 but there will be a lot more hybrids
08:46 and plug-in hybrids as well.
08:47 So that whole thing will just be a more,
08:50 and be a more open discussion where people can walk in
08:52 and be like, okay, this is what I need it for.
08:55 This is the amount of mileage I do.
08:57 And then it may not have things crash
09:00 and peak and trough and things like that,
09:02 because people will be able to have choice.
09:04 - I think the other thing that we need to get back
09:06 to talking about is the idea of fit for purpose.
09:09 So when you buy a new car,
09:11 you obviously have a clear goal in mind.
09:13 And it's the same with a used car.
09:14 Not everyone buying a used car
09:16 needs it to cross the Simpson Desert,
09:18 needs it to do huge distances.
09:19 And what we've seen with used Leafs, for example,
09:22 is there are plenty of people who have bought them
09:24 and have them at a holiday house
09:26 as they're running to the shop's car, for example.
09:28 And 80Ks is plenty of range for that.
09:30 I'm not saying this is a practical solution
09:32 for a full fleet of cars,
09:33 'cause if there comes a point
09:34 where there's a whole lot of Teslas out there
09:35 that can do 100Ks, well, they're not much use to anybody.
09:38 But even at the moment,
09:40 there are still people out there
09:42 who have a use for a used electric car.
09:44 And I do think in the next couple of years,
09:45 we're gonna get a better understanding
09:46 from the big brands like Tesla,
09:48 but also BYD on how,
09:51 when cars are within their eight year battery warranty
09:54 and something goes wrong, how that process looks.
09:57 And then even the end of life process,
09:58 what a battery's worth after eight years
10:00 and maybe how it can be recycled.
10:01 And whether there's an opportunity there
10:03 for people to buy used electric cars
10:05 and turn that into a business recycling batteries.
10:07 So it's gonna look very different to what it does now,
10:10 but already there are options out there
10:11 that suit some used car buyers
10:13 and maybe what you do with a used car and battery changes,
10:16 but there will still be a market of some kind.
10:18 - Well, make sure you subscribe
10:19 'cause we are gonna follow this up.
10:20 In 2026, we'll come back and revisit this one.
10:23 But we're gonna move on.
10:25 - So you'll be completely bored by then.
10:26 - Yes, that's what we've been about six weeks, I think.
10:29 We're sitting here with you every week.
10:31 Tokyo is a go-go.
10:33 It's been a few years, a few rough years
10:35 for the poor people of Japan
10:36 with the Olympics being canceled,
10:38 Tokyo Motor Show not running,
10:39 a whole bunch of events that they probably would have had on
10:41 just haven't come to fruition.
10:43 Really don't know why, nothing's really happened.
10:46 - Yeah, nothing happened in the last couple of years.
10:48 - But anyway, Tokyo Motor Show is back
10:50 and Paul and Alborz are actually there on the ground.
10:53 And we're gonna pass over to them now.
10:55 They're gonna tell us a little bit about what's going on.
10:56 Guys, take it away.
10:58 - Thank you, Sean.
10:59 I don't know how we keep ending up
11:01 at Motor Shows together.
11:02 - Hey, it's nice today.
11:03 - It is.
11:04 Actually, before we start talking about the cars,
11:05 I'm at the Nissan stand.
11:07 I'm being hosted by Nissan, you're--
11:09 - With Toyota. - Hosted by Toyota.
11:10 I wanna just talk about how absolutely
11:13 chock-a-block this Motor Show is.
11:14 - It is the complete opposite of the Munich Motor Show,
11:17 which looked like a year 12 assignment.
11:18 - Literally, and that no one wanted to go and look at.
11:21 Whereas this just feels like Motor Shows of old
11:24 where it was chock-a-block with people
11:25 and big reveals, it was really all just happening.
11:28 There aren't a huge amount of manufacturers here.
11:30 - No, it's quite small.
11:31 There's only two main halls,
11:33 but it's surprising to see they're launching
11:34 a lot of new cars here still.
11:35 So it's actually like a proper show.
11:37 - Yeah, and same theme as Munich,
11:40 they're all talking about Chinese brands.
11:41 I don't know if you had the same discussions
11:42 with your guys, but every exec we spoke to
11:46 talking about proliferation of Chinese brands
11:48 and how they're coming into the market.
11:50 - Oh, look, competition is good.
11:52 - Well, that's what I think.
11:53 So if you don't want competition,
11:55 price your cars better and away you go.
11:57 - It has been different from Munich
11:58 is that because I'm with Toyota,
12:00 they've spent the last two days talking
12:01 about how EVs don't work.
12:03 And they've got a couple of really--
12:04 - I wonder why.
12:05 - They've got a couple of really good lines around it.
12:07 For example, they say that for every EV that they make,
12:10 the amount of raw material that's required in a battery,
12:13 they can make 90 normal hybrids, 90, nine zero,
12:17 or six plug-in hybrids.
12:18 So for one EV or 90 hybrids,
12:20 and therefore they're saying that hybrids
12:22 are better for the environment.
12:23 - Just out of interest, did Toyota commission that study
12:26 about how good their hybrids are?
12:26 - No, no, this is from their own
12:28 battery production facility.
12:29 - Right. - The amount of raw material
12:30 that goes into it.
12:31 - Interesting, I wonder if that's skewed at all.
12:33 - Hey, it's what they claim.
12:34 - Yeah, okay, well, look,
12:35 I was excited by this thing behind us.
12:37 So this is, well, they're not calling it a GTR,
12:40 but this is the new GTR,
12:42 and it's going to be fully electric.
12:43 It's debuting solid state battery technology.
12:46 And today, the discussions we had with the execs,
12:48 they were saying that this,
12:50 or the solid state battery tech,
12:51 will go into full production by 2028.
12:54 - 2028? - Yeah.
12:55 And they reckon they'll have the first batch rolling out
12:57 in the next few years as test cars.
12:59 - Right, 'cause I gotta say,
13:00 that does not look production ready.
13:02 - Yeah, exactly.
13:03 I think it's still probably a little bit of time away.
13:05 I'm gonna go do a little walk around with that as well,
13:07 'cause there are some elements on that
13:09 that are kind of production hints.
13:11 But it is interesting as well that Tamura-san,
13:12 who is the, I guess, the GTR guy,
13:14 the Nismo guy that was behind Z as well,
13:17 he's not involved in this.
13:18 And he actually said ages ago when I interviewed him
13:20 that he doesn't want to be involved in any electrified GTR.
13:23 - He told us a lot of things that we can't repeat on camera.
13:26 - Legend of a guy, though.
13:28 Now, tell us about Toyota.
13:29 What have they got going on?
13:30 - They've got a whole bunch of cars going on there.
13:32 They've got an electric ute.
13:33 They've got an electric Land Cruiser.
13:35 And as Toyota Australia has confirmed
13:37 that while we won't get the electric ute
13:38 that is built for the Asian market,
13:41 we will, if they put it into production,
13:42 get the electric Land Cruiser.
13:44 And it looks amazing.
13:45 It actually looks really, really nice.
13:47 There's no details whatsoever at the moment,
13:50 but to be honest, it looks very production ready.
13:52 And they said they're gonna have two more models
13:55 after the B4ZX that comes next year, before 2026.
13:58 - Will they actually be good,
13:59 or will they just continue with the theme of average?
14:01 - One of them may be the electric Land Cruiser.
14:05 - Right, okay. - Yes, potentially.
14:06 - Yeah, look, I have a lot of issues
14:08 with something like that, because the second you try
14:10 and tow with it-- - I think you have
14:11 a lot of issues in general.
14:12 - Second you try and tow with it or go off-road
14:14 or do anything that an internal combustion version
14:16 of that vehicle can do,
14:18 the reality behind them kind of falls apart.
14:20 So I am hoping they've thought about that
14:22 and are going to actually do something with it.
14:25 - Well, I was off-roading with a B4ZX yesterday,
14:27 which was not something I-- - Off-roading.
14:29 - I know, but we did. - It was a gravel road.
14:30 - No, it was a proper off-road course.
14:32 It's called Land Cruiser Park in Tokyo.
14:34 No, I'm serious, it was hardcore.
14:36 And it was surprising, I've never off-roaded in an EV.
14:38 And it was pretty good.
14:39 The downhill descent looked like it was dying,
14:41 but other than that, it was really good.
14:43 - Hardcore, show your hardcore. - It was.
14:46 Other stuff that's going on over here at Nissan,
14:49 they've got their other concept cars on display.
14:51 There were four that they'd revealed
14:52 in the lead up to the show.
14:54 They look sort of pretty cool as well.
14:55 But I think just the vibe of this show--
14:57 - It's amazing. - Is awesome.
14:58 And it feels like an old motor show.
15:00 - I hope it's the beginning of the return.
15:02 - Yes, my fingers and toes are crossed.
15:04 So yeah, let us know in the comments,
15:06 shoot us an email,
15:07 what have been your highlights of the show?
15:09 There's a new Triton over there.
15:11 There's a couple of people hanging around that at the moment,
15:12 looking forward to finally driving that.
15:14 But yeah, let us know highlights of your show.
15:16 Oh, actually, it is worth pointing out,
15:18 Honda, yes, they make cars,
15:19 but there is also a Jet over there.
15:21 - Yes, well, the Prelude is here,
15:23 the new whatever two-door sports car thing
15:26 that I just casually walked past.
15:27 - It's so exciting that I did the exact same thing.
15:29 - I was like, is that a Honda?
15:29 Oh yeah, it is a Honda.
15:30 It looks like an 86.
15:31 - Yeah, anyway, let's go to the Jet.
15:33 But yeah, they literally have a Jet on their stand,
15:36 which I think is unreal.
15:37 It is just so cool.
15:38 - Yeah, if you can't make really exciting cars,
15:41 a Jet is always an option.
15:42 But actually the Prelude looks pretty cool.
15:43 - It does, but just a bit generic, in my opinion.
15:46 Anyway, back to you guys back at the studio.
15:49 - Thanks guys.
15:50 It looks like you're having a lot of fun over there.
15:52 Don't have too much sake.
15:53 You gotta come back and do some real work.
15:56 So look, really cool cars coming out of there.
16:00 Surely we're gonna play a little game of Hot or Not,
16:01 like we did with Munich.
16:02 - Love it.
16:03 - First of all, I wanna just talk about a couple of things
16:05 that Paul and Albo has mentioned there,
16:06 namely, back to Toyota again.
16:09 Toyota claiming that it takes,
16:11 they could make 90 Priuses for essentially
16:14 the battery material of one electric car.
16:16 - Yeah.
16:17 - Like what, really?
16:18 Is that just a bold claim?
16:20 - Well, I think one of the key parts
16:22 of how Toyota has kept its electric hybrid cars
16:25 so affordable is the batteries.
16:27 Up until very recently, they used quite basic,
16:29 what are called nickel metal hydride batteries.
16:31 And even now, the RAV4 hybrid has a lithium ion battery
16:35 in it that has, call it, a hundredth the capacity
16:38 of the battery in a big car like a Tesla Model S,
16:40 which obviously makes it much cheaper to make.
16:42 So the maths on that kind of stacks up in my head,
16:45 but that also then does exclude the carbon benefits
16:48 of charging a big battery on renewable energy
16:51 throughout its life,
16:53 rather than filling it up with 91 unleaded
16:54 and all the other stuff that comes with that.
16:56 So it's definitely an interesting look
16:58 at one part of the supply chain,
16:59 but I don't know that it's a holistic answer to carbon,
17:02 which is what Toyota has said is the enemy consistently.
17:05 - And the bitter irony of all of this
17:06 is the amount of electric cars that Toyota unveiled.
17:09 - Yeah.
17:10 - Which we'll run through shortly.
17:11 So look, it's interesting, yeah,
17:15 Toyota is playing a bit of a funny bugger there,
17:19 but there's some other really cool cars.
17:22 Honda, James, I'm sure you're a big fan of this,
17:25 was the Prelude concept that they've teased.
17:27 - Yeah, it was a really big surprise
17:29 to see that get revealed,
17:30 and the fact that it looks so close to production as well,
17:32 because a lot of Honda's EV concepts,
17:36 I don't even know what the name,
17:37 they normally have like an E dash something in their name,
17:40 whereas this one had like a normal name
17:41 and it looks like a normal car,
17:42 and it's this weird design mishmash
17:44 of a few different models that we've seen in the past
17:46 from European and Japanese brands and stuff,
17:49 and I guess maybe they're starting to lean
17:51 on their legacy nameplates and things like that,
17:53 which is cool.
17:54 I like a retro mod sort of thing
17:56 where you take an old name or design
17:58 and sort of revitalise it for the modern age,
18:01 and it's an exciting thing to see, yeah.
18:04 - They also did something really unusual,
18:06 usually with concepts
18:07 it's all about expectation management,
18:08 but the boss of Honda came out and said,
18:10 "Keep your expectations high for this model,"
18:12 which is a fantastic quote.
18:13 I love the confidence.
18:15 - It's not something that,
18:16 but not a thing we've had with Honda for a few years.
18:19 - Exactly.
18:19 - Bit of a dry spell for them.
18:22 - It's a different approach to Toyota,
18:23 to public criticism, isn't it?
18:25 Like Toyota saying, "Well, this is why we haven't done it,"
18:27 and Honda's like,
18:28 "Yeah, we're just gonna do something really great next."
18:30 - I think it's interesting,
18:31 after the Munich or IA mobility,
18:34 we were like, "Well, the future's electric,
18:35 but it's kind of dull."
18:37 And I think Tokyo's really showing a different side
18:39 to the whole EV future, I guess.
18:42 - I think Japanese brands have had a pretty rough trot.
18:45 I know that COVID's hit a lot of them very hard.
18:47 And if we go back to the start of the 2010s,
18:49 between GFC and tsunamis and earthquakes in Japan
18:52 that hit their production facilities,
18:54 Honda was really hit by that.
18:55 It's been pretty tough for them.
18:58 So it does feel like they kind of have their mojo back.
19:01 Toyota has a new design direction.
19:03 Honda's trying some cool stuff.
19:05 Nissan's just decided that it's all straight lines,
19:07 but these brands, I think,
19:09 are using electric power as the opportunity for a rebirth
19:12 and to really find their feet again
19:13 after the crazy '80s and '90s bubble cars.
19:16 And I love that.
19:16 I just think it's gonna be fantastic
19:18 when there's more variety on the road.
19:19 - Well, let's get into our game of Hot or Not,
19:21 because there is a lot of variety going on here.
19:24 We're gonna start with probably,
19:25 I guess, well, I mean, I wasn't there,
19:26 but it sounds like it was the absolute showstopper,
19:29 the Nissan Hyperforce,
19:30 which is essentially the next GTR, the replacement GTR.
19:34 It's gonna be a solid-state battery, 1,000 kilowatts.
19:38 Not a fire-breathing monster,
19:39 but I imagine there'll be some lightning
19:40 coming out the back of it.
19:42 The carbon fiber highlights on it are amazing,
19:45 but I'm curious, guys, Hot or Not?
19:47 - Hot.
19:48 - Yeah, hot.
19:49 1,000 kilowatts, all-wheel drive,
19:51 and graphics inside designed by the people
19:53 from Gran Turismo.
19:54 - Which is, that's not old,
19:56 that's not new news with GTRs.
19:58 It's been around for a while,
19:59 but these ones might work a little bit better
20:01 than the previous ones did.
20:02 - Yeah, it is funny.
20:03 I've driven an R35 GTR,
20:05 and a lot of the screens there are genuinely identical
20:07 to what you get on Gran Turismo Sport
20:09 when you're playing online.
20:10 So I'm looking forward to seeing how the next gen
20:13 then translates to the next Gran Turismo.
20:14 - Must be like the big (beep) or something.
20:15 - Yeah, exactly.
20:16 - It does have all--
20:17 - I think that's the thing.
20:23 It was really cool to see exciting stuff
20:25 from some of these brands,
20:26 because Nissan has been,
20:28 and no disrespect to the stuff that they do,
20:30 'cause a lot of their cars are quite good still,
20:31 but they've been very dull for a long time,
20:33 and their future visions have not been super exciting.
20:35 To see something like this,
20:36 where they're like, it was very clearly a GTR,
20:39 but they sort of kept the excitement
20:40 by not calling it that.
20:42 Even down to the pixelated badge up the front,
20:44 which is very clearly a GTR badge,
20:45 and then even the one at the back.
20:46 So it's like the R35 recreated
20:48 for this futuristic electric age.
20:50 Like, what a cool thing.
20:51 And the carbon fiber wheels and stuff was super, super cool.
20:55 - There was a point when Nissan said,
20:56 "The Juke is our exciting car."
20:58 (laughing)
20:58 The fact that they now do the Z,
21:01 they're doing a new GTR, we hope, based on this concept,
21:04 I think they've rediscovered what exciting actually means,
21:06 which can only be a good thing.
21:07 - Juke's sort of exciting, isn't it?
21:09 - Fear of death's always when you feel most alive.
21:12 - I'm gonna be dragged in the comments again, aren't I?
21:13 (laughing)
21:14 - If you're completely blind, it's probably great.
21:16 But other than that, it's not so great.
21:19 If you accidentally bought a Nismo, I am sorry, seek help.
21:22 - Actually really good fun to drive,
21:23 but that's a different story.
21:24 Let's talk about that later.
21:25 - It's not because you can't see it.
21:27 But something that I think is hot,
21:29 but I'll ask you guys, Honda Prelude.
21:31 - Hot. - Hot.
21:32 - Yep.
21:33 Look, it's gonna be the star of "Fast and Furious" 27.
21:35 There's no doubt about it.
21:36 (laughing)
21:38 CGI Paul Walker driving that unquestionably.
21:40 But yeah, again, like James said before, really cool, right?
21:43 What are your thoughts on it, Scott?
21:44 - I think the concept looks slightly awkward.
21:47 The sort of front light treatment, I don't love.
21:49 It looks a little bit sort of overbitey,
21:51 but I also love that Honda's actually doing it.
21:53 So I'm gonna give it a pass
21:55 on the slightly awkward concept looks.
21:56 They've got plenty of time to sort it out.
21:57 Honda, make it happen, make it affordable.
21:59 I'm there with you.
22:01 - In another classic '90s Japanese fast car reborn,
22:05 basically a new MR2.
22:06 It's called the Toyota FTSE.
22:10 I don't know, man.
22:13 Toyota, look, you're gonna,
22:14 just to give you guys a heads up,
22:15 there's a lot of scrabble from Toyota.
22:17 (laughing)
22:18 - It's not just like code.
22:19 I don't understand.
22:20 It's like trying to enter a code into like an Excel cell
22:22 or something like that.
22:23 - Someone at Toyota was naming it
22:25 and their iPhone came up with,
22:26 is this the code you want?
22:27 (laughing)
22:28 - Yeah, yeah.
22:29 - From Mercedes and then pressed that.
22:29 - Like someone's iCloud keychain
22:30 just got entered into the name.
22:32 - Yes, please choose a stronger password.
22:34 But what do you think?
22:35 The FTSE or the new MR2,
22:37 what do you think, hot or not?
22:38 - I'm gonna say hot,
22:40 but I'm also hoping that Toyota has made this handle
22:42 like an early MR2,
22:44 which would mean just making it spin on the spot
22:47 and they'll be littering every hedge
22:48 around industrial estates in Melbourne within seconds.
22:51 So it's hot if it handles like the first MR2.
22:54 - James?
22:55 - I'm sort of in the middle of it.
22:57 I really like the color.
22:58 There were some angles of it that I really liked.
23:00 I saw the front and I was like,
23:01 it looks a little bit like an insect
23:03 and I wasn't 100% sold on that.
23:06 Let's say lukewarm.
23:07 - Lukewarm, all right.
23:08 Well, that wasn't an option,
23:09 but I guess it is now.
23:10 Something, look, if you say this is not hot,
23:13 I'm going to smack you.
23:15 The Mazda Iconic SP,
23:17 the RX-7 Reborn.
23:19 - Hot, hot, hot, stunning.
23:20 - Absolutely stunning.
23:21 - Absolutely stunning.
23:22 - Absolutely stunning.
23:23 Igor's behind the camera right now
23:23 and he's nodding very, very ferociously.
23:25 - He's in full agreement.
23:27 - I mean, like, what do you say about this car?
23:28 I mean, it is like, it is,
23:30 you remember when Alfa used to bring out
23:32 these really cool concepts back in the 2010s
23:34 and we were all like, that is what,
23:36 that is what this car is.
23:38 But will they ever actually build it?
23:40 - Yeah, that's what you need to say about this car.
23:41 They need to bloody build it.
23:43 In saying that, Mazda has a fairly good history
23:46 of taking some of these really cool concepts
23:49 and adapting them to production.
23:51 There was a couple of cool concepts
23:52 that were previewed, the current Mazda 3
23:55 and the hatchback especially looks a lot like
23:57 the original concept.
23:59 The 6 sedan and the CX-5 were fairly true
24:04 to their concepts as well.
24:05 Now, we just need to see more of the sports car stuff
24:08 because the MX-5 has been around for a really long time.
24:10 That formula doesn't really need to change.
24:11 So you can imagine how that would sort of look.
24:13 And we actually thought this concept
24:14 was going to be an MX-5 future facing thing.
24:17 But the fact that this looks like a modern day RX-7
24:20 and even has the, they've made a point to say
24:22 it's got a rotary engine in it.
24:24 There's, you know, this plug-in hybrid
24:26 range extended thing.
24:27 - That's actually my main problem with the car.
24:29 I love the way it looks, the interior is stunning,
24:31 but I wish Mazda would just commit to building
24:35 a petrol version or an electric version.
24:37 This thing they've got going on at the moment
24:39 where they go, well, it's a rotary range extender
24:40 and maybe that's the future.
24:42 I feel like we've kind of landed on the fact now
24:44 that the future is going to be electric
24:45 or it's going to be hybridized in certain situations.
24:48 - In fairness, they said it could run on hydrogen.
24:50 So it would technically be electric,
24:52 but can you imagine like sitting there at the lights
24:53 and things just going (imitates electric motor)
24:55 like it'd be so strange.
24:57 - The problem is inevitably your wanker
24:58 will just stop working.
24:59 And then, but the good thing is-
25:00 - You just wanted to say wanker.
25:01 (laughing)
25:02 - But like it will inevitably stop working
25:04 as what happened with basically every RX-8 in existence.
25:07 But then you get to look at it
25:08 while you wait for the tow truck.
25:09 And I think that's not a bad deal.
25:10 - I just, so depressurizing rotary engines is a real problem.
25:15 The idea of hydrogen, if it becomes rapidly depressurized
25:18 and what that looks like, scary.
25:20 - Yeah, I could look at it.
25:22 - Depends on the-
25:22 - Hydrogen is a very funny topic.
25:24 In theory, it should be okay
25:25 'cause it's a very light gas.
25:27 It should just evaporate into the atmosphere.
25:29 - Like all your hopes and dreams.
25:30 As you're very expensive as the sports car sits there.
25:33 - Yes, it's not called that.
25:34 No, no.
25:35 - Give it the two point, sorry,
25:37 the two liter engine from the MX-5,
25:39 make it rev to nine grand,
25:40 give it a manual transmission or make it fully electric.
25:42 I don't want this halfway house stuff.
25:44 - Yeah, all right.
25:45 Let's move on.
25:46 Toyota, another one,
25:49 but this one is actually kind of exciting.
25:50 It's the Toyota LC-SE.
25:53 And if you are familiar with Toyota,
25:55 then you'll know that LC means land cruiser.
25:58 And this is an electric land cruiser
26:00 in every sense, I guess, but hot or not?
26:04 - Hot.
26:04 - I love the idea of an electric land cruiser.
26:09 And I think that it's going to be really cool
26:11 when we see very capable electric off-roaders like the G,
26:14 but I also, there's no indication
26:16 of when it's getting built.
26:17 We don't know what it looks like inside.
26:18 We don't know what capability it has.
26:20 So really cool idea, but beyond that,
26:23 I just, we don't know enough.
26:24 - Yeah.
26:25 - I can't see many blokes whose names end with like Aca
26:27 or Aza lining up to buy it anytime soon.
26:30 So yeah.
26:31 I look, it's a cool idea,
26:33 but I mean, given Toyota's opinion
26:35 on electric vehicles this week,
26:37 and then that it's like, well.
26:39 - Well, they've said they want it in Australia though,
26:40 if it goes into production.
26:42 So although Australia is still not quite ready
26:45 for fully electric cars,
26:47 according to Toyota in a number of cases,
26:49 they want this electric land cruiser,
26:51 which I can see selling,
26:52 but does feel like a bit of a conflict
26:54 with what they've said.
26:55 - It's gonna look great cruising the streets of Turak
26:57 and that's probably where it's gonna spin.
26:58 - I think they need a hybrid land cruiser first
27:00 before they go to full electric.
27:01 - Yes.
27:02 But speaking of Toyota utes,
27:04 they have an electric ute concept,
27:05 which I think actually looks kind of cool,
27:07 but again, whether it ever happens,
27:09 what do you guys think?
27:10 - Hot.
27:10 I really like the look.
27:11 - Yeah, I think that was revealed alongside
27:13 that land cruiser and they're both very cool looking cars,
27:15 but like Scott was saying, it's very early days.
27:18 The design's still very rough in the sense that it's like,
27:20 you know, that slab sided thing with not too much detail.
27:23 So it's very early in the design process.
27:25 So how they can make that into a production car
27:28 will be really interesting.
27:29 And then, you know, the fact that they didn't even offer
27:31 any insight into like motors, battery capability,
27:34 you know, people want to tow with these things,
27:36 they need payload, all that sort of stuff.
27:38 Until you really know what those things are capable of
27:40 and how close they are to production,
27:41 like, yes, they look cool.
27:43 And if that's the game we're playing, sure.
27:44 But in terms of like, from a consumer's perspective,
27:46 which is what we're also meant to be doing,
27:48 it's sort of like, yeah, let's see what happens.
27:50 - Well, credit to Toyota for trying this
27:52 because they've been making the same cars
27:53 since man picked up tools in a cave.
27:55 So good on them for giving it a go.
27:57 - Sean really getting some shots in here.
27:59 - I'm making the most of it while I can.
28:01 Another one, again, it's just amazing.
28:05 The Toyota FT3E, which is a large luxury SUV.
28:10 Hold on.
28:11 - This is the BZ4X looking one, isn't it?
28:13 - Yeah, but it's I think bigger again.
28:14 - Yeah.
28:15 - The fact that it's kind of,
28:16 neither of us can remember really what it is says enough.
28:18 - It was okay.
28:20 Not quite lukewarm, but like warmer than cold.
28:23 (laughing)
28:24 - Look, I don't not like it.
28:26 - I like this game.
28:27 - All right, well, we'll move on then from Toyota.
28:31 The Mitsubishi DC, which is a modern,
28:34 well, I guess a futuristic.
28:36 - Hot.
28:37 I wrote this and I actually.
28:38 - You've got a really good story about it too,
28:39 that one in Australia, yeah?
28:40 - Yeah, yeah, it's a really cool thing
28:42 because the Delica or the Delica, however you say it,
28:45 is an old name play that you may have seen
28:47 some of the older versions running around in Australia,
28:50 both as a commercial van and as a people mover.
28:52 It's been off sale here for a real long time,
28:54 but they're super popular in places like Japan
28:56 and some parts of Southeast Asia.
28:58 And they're looking at actually bringing in
29:00 the next generation one, which going by this concept,
29:03 will sort of do what the Kia Carnival did
29:04 and be more blurring the lines between like MPV and SUV.
29:08 - Or a GUV as they call it.
29:09 - Yeah, a GUV, there you go.
29:11 But you know, in the concept,
29:13 which is still very out there in some way.
29:16 - It looks like a Moon Rover or something like that.
29:17 - It looks like a Moon Rover, yeah,
29:19 with its like all terrain tires and like.
29:20 - Yeah, it doesn't come with like 33 inch muddies
29:22 to go off road.
29:23 - They didn't give an exact measurement,
29:24 but there are in large diameter tires
29:26 according to the press release.
29:27 And it's meant to embody Mitsubishi motor'sness,
29:30 which wasn't really explained.
29:32 - Yeah, Mitsubishi's motor'sness
29:33 is just the vaguest term on earth.
29:36 But I do think there is some authenticity to this concept
29:39 'cause the Delica is known as being a rugged people mover.
29:42 There's all sorts of, they've got fantastic names
29:44 like Delica Space Gear, Alpine Tourer Special
29:46 and that sort of thing.
29:47 But they have roof tents on them,
29:49 they have raised ride heights,
29:50 they have proper four wheel drive systems
29:51 and they come to Australia as grey imports.
29:53 So hopefully Mitsubishi can get this next one here
29:56 'cause I can actually really see a market for it
29:57 among the people who, I don't know,
29:59 maybe camp on the beach in their Hilux
30:01 or something like that,
30:02 to instead have a high riding Delica
30:04 that can go a bit off road
30:05 and has plenty of space in the back
30:06 for whatever you get up to afterwards.
30:08 - As long as it's got a little ladder on the back
30:09 to get up to the stuff on the roof,
30:10 then it is a Delica.
30:12 - The other thing I just quickly wanna say on this
30:13 is that doing my research,
30:15 I realised that the current one,
30:16 which is about 15 years old now,
30:18 is actually based on the same platform
30:20 as the previous Outlander.
30:21 And then the current ASX and Eclipse Cross.
30:23 And the way that they were talking about
30:25 the plug-in hybrid powertrain,
30:26 again with not much detail,
30:27 leads us to believe that it's gonna be based
30:30 probably on the new Outlander platform,
30:32 have the same powertrain.
30:33 So it's sort of like this platform underneath
30:35 and then different body on top.
30:36 And you can imagine we all like
30:38 the current Outlander plug-in hybrid.
30:40 - You're running one at the moment, I'm sure.
30:41 - I love it, I think it's fantastic.
30:42 - Yeah, so imagine that with a boxy van,
30:45 off-roader aesthetic and I think that's super cool.
30:47 - Yeah, ripper.
30:48 All right, this probably wins the award
30:51 for worst name for a car all year, at the very least.
30:55 But it's called the Subaru Sport Mobility,
30:57 mobility, sorry, Subaru Sport Mobility Concept.
31:02 - That would be even worse.
31:03 - Yeah, Subaru Sport Mobility Concept.
31:06 Thankfully the name is pretty much
31:08 the only bad part about it.
31:09 - Yeah, I think it looks fantastic.
31:11 Subaru does weird better than most
31:12 and this is weird, but it's good weird.
31:14 Yeah, James?
31:15 - Yeah, I agree.
31:16 I think it looks really cool.
31:17 I'm very scared that they're gonna ruin
31:19 the production model though,
31:19 because they've done that with the WRX
31:22 and the Levorg, looked amazing as concepts
31:24 and then they brought them to production
31:26 that were skinny with skinny wheels
31:27 and it was just like, where did the good stuff go?
31:29 That was so good.
31:31 - Yeah, look, I reckon this looks like something
31:33 out of a Halo game, but you know,
31:35 a cool looking thing and again,
31:38 Subaru is a company that always plays it really safe
31:40 with its designs and it's cool to see
31:42 something bold coming out of them.
31:43 Sort of Toyota-y.
31:46 - Lexus LFZC?
31:49 It's just like a Prius or something?
31:51 - Yeah.
31:52 - Sort of that sort of thing.
31:52 - It actually, it is quite a significant car for them
31:55 'cause it debuts what they call giga casting
31:58 and it's the way that Tesla makes cars.
31:59 It makes it easier to make large panels
32:01 at scale more quickly and at lower costs.
32:03 - It's just like, you know, the model planes
32:05 you see, you pop out each bit from the--
32:07 - Yeah, it's the Lexus Airfix.
32:09 Yeah, but it genuinely does have some relevance
32:12 to production cars and how Lexus and Toyota
32:14 wanna do things in the future.
32:16 Just wish it didn't look like it does.
32:17 - Yeah.
32:18 So the, and then following on from that,
32:20 the Lexus LFZL, which is the big version of it, I guess.
32:24 - Yeah, yeah.
32:24 That's a not from me as well.
32:26 - No, it looked like, yeah, it just didn't look right.
32:29 - All right, well, we got one last one
32:31 and we actually sort of talked about this
32:32 on the podcast a couple of weeks ago.
32:34 It's called, pardon the name, the Ophelia Prototype.
32:39 It's an interesting name, but essentially
32:41 it's the Sony Honda concept thing.
32:46 Hot, what do we reckon?
32:48 - It's fine.
32:49 It's a fairly generic looking electric
32:50 sort of fastback thing, really.
32:52 - Yeah, the initial design study,
32:55 I feel like looks better than this one,
32:57 which is close to production.
32:58 It sort of has a bit of an awkward proportion to it,
33:00 but power to them for trying.
33:02 (laughing)
33:03 - So supportive of you.
33:04 - So that's pretty much, they're the headline acts
33:07 that have come out of Tokyo.
33:08 Some awesome cars, some--
33:10 - Lots.
33:11 - So inspired cars.
33:13 And look, I do wanna shout out,
33:15 Albus talked about it in his little throw over there.
33:18 The Honda Jet that they have on display there
33:21 is a gorgeous piece of machinery.
33:23 I don't wanna get carried away, I know we're a car podcast.
33:24 I'm actually starting plane expert next week, so tune in.
33:27 Yeah, really, really pretty, really, really cool.
33:29 We'll probably get you from Sydney to Perth
33:31 in a couple of hours and in great comfort and speed.
33:34 So yeah, shout out to Honda for showing up
33:37 to a car show with a plane.
33:39 - Remember when Honda was the company that did,
33:41 I mean, they still do motorbikes, generators,
33:43 fishing equipment, et cetera.
33:45 But they also had Asimo.
33:47 - The robot.
33:47 - The world's most advanced humanoid robot
33:49 is what they called it at the time.
33:50 - Didn't that age well?
33:51 - And they had the Jet, the car, and Asimo on stage
33:52 at a motor show.
33:53 I don't know how old we would have been,
33:55 but I still remember that photo there.
33:57 And I'm sad that Asimo's not--
33:58 - I think they still use it on some of their
33:59 corporate imagery. - Oh, do they?
34:00 - I think I've seen Asimo show up a couple of times.
34:02 - It's not like Japanese car company
34:04 to stick with something very old, is it?
34:06 - Try it and test it.
34:07 - Yeah, try it and test it.
34:07 - You have to see it that way.
34:08 - I'm not allowed to say that about people or robots.
34:11 That's something entirely different.
34:12 - If you are interested in any of these cars,
34:14 we've got a full write-up on the website.
34:15 And if you're looking to purchase one of them,
34:17 you can't quite yet.
34:18 But we have a great way to help you purchase
34:20 one of the cars available on the market currently.
34:23 Now, I know there's big delays with some cars,
34:25 but we have a connection of dealers
34:26 that can probably get you into one of those cars
34:28 sooner than you think.
34:29 It's very simple.
34:30 Head to Google, type in Help Me Car Expert,
34:32 and we'll take you to a page where we can help you
34:33 source a car, find the car, we'll connect you to a dealer,
34:37 make sure you get the right price,
34:38 and we'll get you into that new car sooner.
34:40 So head to Google, type in Help Me Car Expert.
34:42 And if you do use it, leave a comment below.
34:44 Let us know how was it, any thoughts, feedback,
34:47 'cause we'd love to know.
34:48 It's very difficult for us to use it ourselves
34:50 because we're busy running it, so.
34:52 - We actually have some feedback on the site now.
34:54 I was actually playing around with the website,
34:56 funnily enough.
34:57 - Is that why I went down?
34:58 (laughing)
34:59 - Yeah, just jumped in the back end,
35:01 fiddled with some code, fixed some things.
35:02 - You could say something about Russia, but.
35:03 (laughing)
35:06 - But there are some testimonials on the website,
35:08 and they show what cars people have actually bought
35:10 and how their experience was.
35:12 I know we choose what shows up there,
35:13 but the feedback was really positive.
35:14 So please do that for the comments here as well.
35:17 - Yeah, and if you do buy a car,
35:18 also submit an owner's review.
35:20 We had a great one this week.
35:21 It turns out we learnt a new thing.
35:23 Jesus is back and he drives a Chevy Silverado.
35:26 Great review, very cool.
35:28 We get some really cool cars coming through there.
35:30 Not all new cars, some of them are old.
35:31 So yeah, check out that.
35:33 If you do buy a car, leave a comment and leave us a review,
35:35 'cause yeah, it'd be great to hear from you.
35:37 All right, we'll move on to the car
35:38 that we're reviewing this week.
35:40 And we're gonna stick with Japan,
35:41 because it's our big Japanese special, I guess.
35:45 It's the new Honda CR-V,
35:46 which is one of those cars
35:48 that's been a really long time coming.
35:49 I think the previous gen came out in 2011,
35:52 and it really felt like it driving one.
35:54 I think we actually had one in the office earlier this year,
35:57 and it felt kind of Flintstone-y at that point, yeah.
36:01 But the new one is, whoa, it's a different car.
36:04 It's a completely different car.
36:06 It looks great, it drives really well.
36:08 They've redone all the engines.
36:10 - You don't need us here, you've just reviewed it perfectly.
36:12 - No, no, but we do need your thoughts.
36:13 It's really important.
36:14 And the interesting thing we're gonna have today,
36:16 we're gonna have sort of two CR-V reviews,
36:18 because Scott and I drove the petrol-powered one,
36:20 but James, you actually went to the launch
36:22 and drove the hybrid one.
36:24 So tell us, we'll start with that,
36:26 'cause it is kind of the top-tier version.
36:28 You can get to us a little bit about it.
36:29 - So it's the first time, actually,
36:31 that Honda's offered a hybrid CR-V in Australia,
36:33 and this has been something
36:33 that they've struggled with for a while,
36:35 because obviously, electrification
36:37 has really picked up in Australia.
36:38 Honda's been a little bit behind.
36:39 - Not according to Toyota, but anyway.
36:41 - Well, but they have hybrids, you know.
36:43 And so Honda has been working on completing
36:47 a refreshed portfolio under their new business model,
36:50 and CR-V was pretty much the last one to get that.
36:52 So this new CR-V hybrid gets their new e-HEV tech.
36:56 They have quite an extensive way of explaining it.
36:59 Basically, there's two electric motors,
37:00 it's got a petrol engine.
37:02 It drives like, it's a similar drive concept
37:04 to your conventional Toyota hybrid,
37:06 but it's meant to be a little bit more torquey,
37:08 a little bit more fun to drive.
37:09 And the previous CR-V was already a fairly capable handler.
37:13 Like, it still drove pretty well,
37:15 but there were certain elements of it,
37:17 particularly the tech that was starting to feel
37:19 really outdated. - It was really old,
37:20 wasn't it? - Especially the infotainment.
37:22 It looked like something out of Windows 98.
37:23 It really did. - With the stars
37:25 and everything. - Yeah, every time
37:26 I ever drove one, and you know--
37:27 - The Honda reversing camera's also, sorry,
37:29 and I'll catch you off guard. - Yes, no, no, no, no.
37:30 - The reversing camera on that old CR-V,
37:32 it was as if someone had smeared something
37:33 on the lens for soft focus.
37:35 It was shocking.
37:36 That was really, really frustrating trying to park.
37:38 - Especially on such a big car.
37:40 And for me, my family had a first generation CR-V
37:43 that my parents bought me in 2000,
37:45 I drove it as my first car, right through--
37:47 - Here's a picture of that on screen right now.
37:48 - There you go, yeah, see if I've aged.
37:50 See if I've aged okay.
37:51 But one of the reasons that my parents
37:54 never went back and bought another one
37:55 was because, particularly once they started moving
37:57 to the time-made ones,
37:58 like third and fourth generation,
37:59 they never quite had that same feel.
38:01 And we were talking before about that heyday of the '90s
38:04 for Japanese brands.
38:05 And I've grown up with Hondas and Subarus
38:08 and they just, for a little while,
38:09 they weren't really feeling the same.
38:10 This one feels like a real return to form.
38:12 It's still made in Thailand,
38:13 but it has the same look and feel
38:15 as Honda's other products that have just been launched.
38:18 So Civic, which is an excellent car,
38:20 HR-V is really good, ZR-V is pretty good as well.
38:22 And you've got that same, all the same infotainment tech,
38:25 all the same assistance technology,
38:27 and it almost feels like a two-generation jump,
38:29 like you were saying.
38:30 The fact is that the last generation
38:31 actually came out around 2017,
38:33 but the fact you thought it was from 2011
38:34 shows us how old it felt.
38:36 Yeah, so the hybrid I drove--
38:39 - Is it the same hybrid system that's in the Civic
38:41 or is it got more powered for the bigger CR-V?
38:45 - No, it's about the same.
38:45 So it's like a 135 kilowatts thereabouts.
38:49 - 'Cause that Civic is like an unbelievably good type R.
38:52 It is so quick, it handles so well.
38:54 It is phenomenal.
38:55 - And that's the thing, this really felt like
38:57 a big Civic made for when you have to take three kids
39:00 and their friends in the back.
39:02 And I really enjoy, 'cause I drove the petrol first
39:05 and then we did, we were running out
39:07 to Mornington Peninsula.
39:09 So once you get off Peninsula Link,
39:11 there's a couple of really nice roads into Red Hill
39:12 and I had the hybrid for that stint.
39:15 And like the Civic, if you put it in its sportier settings,
39:18 it has like this augmented engine sound
39:21 and like it shifts gears
39:23 and it almost sounds like an old F1 car.
39:25 And it's completely ridiculous for a car like this.
39:27 But the fact that combined with really keen
39:31 in direct steering, a really nicely controlled body
39:34 and this drive train that just wanted to go,
39:37 because it's got like 330 newton meters
39:39 from the moment you'd step on the pedal
39:40 from that electric motor.
39:41 It was a really, really fun thing to drive.
39:43 And I say to a lot of people that ask me questions
39:46 about hybrids on the market,
39:47 Toyota's the leader, they make the most efficient ones.
39:50 And so like the easy recommendation.
39:52 But a few of the other--
39:53 - Honda's more fun.
39:54 - Honda knows how to have fun.
39:55 I mean, look at the NSX, that thing is out of this world.
39:58 - That does nothing for me.
39:59 - It's a hybrid, man.
39:59 That thing goes like stink.
40:01 - That's a very different side of the scale.
40:02 - Same thing, same thing.
40:03 - But when you look at the CR-V
40:05 versus the RAV4 hybrid for hybrid
40:08 and the RAV4 quotes more power,
40:11 is probably quicker in a straight line
40:12 if you were to line them up for a drag race.
40:14 But the fact that the CR-V actually makes you feel something
40:16 and you're willing to push it hard
40:18 'cause a lot of Toyota hybrids,
40:19 those engines are very coarse
40:21 when you start revving them out.
40:23 It was just so much fun.
40:24 - And it looks great too.
40:25 'Cause the RS, which is the top spec hybrid,
40:28 like looks fantastic.
40:29 - Yeah, and that red.
40:30 - Yeah, the red with the black highlights.
40:31 - Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful color.
40:33 - So moving back to the petrol side of things,
40:36 which is the car that Scott and I drove,
40:37 which is the VTi L7, I think it was.
40:40 - Yeah, alphabet soup.
40:41 But yeah, it is the most expensive,
40:43 most luxurious seven seat version you can get.
40:45 - But you say most expensive, it's $53,000 drive away.
40:48 Which is actually really well priced.
40:49 - Good value in the context of the market.
40:51 - It's a little bit more subdued in the looks department,
40:54 but I think it still looks really smart.
40:56 Obviously it looks subjective,
40:58 but yeah, I think it looks really good.
41:01 It only has a 1.5 liter four pot.
41:04 - Yeah, turbocharged engine.
41:05 - Which it feels a little underdone,
41:06 especially if you were to load up,
41:08 like if you were to load that up with people,
41:09 I think you'd struggle.
41:10 'Cause it's a hundred, what have I got here?
41:11 140 kilowatts, 240 Newton meters.
41:14 - I actually kind of disagree with you on that.
41:16 And I know we talked about this before the podcast,
41:18 but it's one of those engines
41:20 that when you really put your foot down,
41:21 it makes all sorts of noise.
41:23 And it's not uncomfortable or anything,
41:24 but it doesn't feel like it's happy doing it.
41:27 But with those Honda CVTs and the turbo engines,
41:30 when you kind of give it half throttle,
41:31 it actually gets along really nicely
41:32 and kind of just sits in its torque band.
41:36 I put my foot down away from a freeway on ramp,
41:39 went, "Oh, this is horrible."
41:40 But driving it over the course of a week,
41:42 I actually kind of got to know where it was most comfortable
41:45 and came away going, "Yeah, I could do this."
41:47 I don't know that I'd want seven people on board
41:49 all the time, up and down hills and stuff, but--
41:52 - Or a ton of towing,
41:53 which is what they claim capacity is.
41:55 - But I think it is perfectly adequate
41:56 for most people are gonna be doing with it.
41:58 And in the five seat version, which is a bit lighter
42:00 and obviously can't carry seven people,
42:03 I think you've got plenty of punch there.
42:04 - And credit to, speaking of weights,
42:07 the seven seat is only 1700 kilos.
42:09 I don't understand how Honda has done that.
42:11 I mean, everything must be made out of space age materials
42:13 or something, 'cause that is incredibly light.
42:15 - It's HondaJet underneath.
42:17 - Yeah.
42:18 Look, again, like James was saying with the hybrid,
42:20 it's pretty much the same interior
42:22 as what you get in the Civic,
42:23 which it's a little bit dull.
42:26 I guess everything's sort of that same monotone,
42:28 gray, blacky color.
42:29 - Yeah, the Civic, you can get some more silver trim
42:32 on the dash and that sort of thing.
42:33 This doesn't have that.
42:34 - It could probably benefit,
42:36 but there's not much piano black.
42:38 It's really, it's quite stylish.
42:40 It's easy to use.
42:41 I do have a quick question for you about it though, Scott.
42:44 - Yep.
42:45 - What was the fuel economy in it like?
42:47 - Yeah, it depends on how you're driving.
42:49 So I did a sort of 90 minute highway loop
42:51 that I do with some of the cars we test
42:53 and I came back at like six, six and a half liters
42:55 per 100 Ks.
42:56 And we've seen that with the Civic as well.
42:57 If you're cruising on the highway,
42:59 those Honda engines are incredibly efficient.
43:01 In the city, less so.
43:03 So the combined figure that I got
43:04 was about 8.5 liters per 100 Ks.
43:07 It's not terrible by the standards of an SUV that size,
43:10 but the fact it doesn't have start stop
43:12 is really disappointing,
43:13 'cause so much of that consumption
43:14 was just idling at the traffic lights around our office.
43:17 And the car turned itself off when you did that.
43:20 You would obviously not be using fuel
43:21 and you'd get a much better number.
43:23 - And the other question I have for you is,
43:25 did you sit in the second row by any chance?
43:27 - I did.
43:28 So we've again, talked about this,
43:29 but the second row in the last Civic was a bit disappointing.
43:32 - CRV.
43:32 - Sorry, the last CRV, excuse me.
43:34 - The second row in the Civic is fantastic.
43:37 - Yes.
43:37 It has these doors that open to 90 degrees, which is great.
43:42 It has plenty of leg room,
43:43 but the old CRV with a sunroof had shocking headroom.
43:46 - Especially with seven seats,
43:47 'cause they're on rails, so they were raised up as well.
43:48 - Yeah, they'd lift up.
43:49 And so you'd sit there and like, I couldn't sit up straight.
43:52 I had to tilt my head and James's hair would get ruined
43:54 by the bump behind the sunroof.
43:55 - Heaven forbid.
43:57 - Disaster.
43:57 This new one is better again.
44:00 So it's got more leg room.
44:01 It's got headroom, even if you do have the sunroof fitted,
44:04 I can sit back there comfortably.
44:06 And it's still got the clever stuff
44:07 that makes it a great car if you're a parent.
44:09 - Are they magic seats?
44:10 Just to throw the job out there?
44:11 - No, they're not.
44:12 - They're bloody close to it though.
44:13 They're very impressive the way they work.
44:14 - Yeah, they fold properly flat,
44:16 which is not a given with these SUVs.
44:19 And I'm a little bit disappointed.
44:21 The seven seat model with the sixth and seventh seat
44:25 in there, there's like a bump in the boot floor
44:27 that means you have to put a little divider in to flatten it.
44:30 But that only is because the floor is so low
44:33 in five seat models and it frees up so much space.
44:35 So it's kind of a give and take there.
44:37 It is a very, very practical car.
44:39 And I think if I had to carry around my own children,
44:42 which I don't have, but I'm assuming they're tall,
44:44 'cause I'm tall, the CR-V would be a really great car for it
44:47 because there's room for them to grow
44:48 as they get to teenagers and that sort of thing.
44:50 In a way, there's not in a CX-5 necessarily,
44:53 or a Tiguan, something like that.
44:54 It is a big car.
44:55 - Yeah, it's a really big car.
44:56 - So we do actually have a full video review.
44:58 Paul's done it.
44:59 It's on the YouTube channel now.
45:00 So click up there and we'll put a link in the description.
45:02 But guys, the important question, buy or pass?
45:05 I'll let you start this one.
45:07 - I think it may depend on the variant.
45:10 I think there are certain ones in the range
45:13 that aren't quite as compelling as others.
45:15 I think the seven-seaters, like the one that you drove,
45:18 is a really great one because in that segment,
45:20 there's only really two other competitors that offer that.
45:23 - I should note, the one we have
45:24 is only front-wheel drive.
45:25 - They don't do an all-wheel drive seven-seater.
45:27 - Oh, is it only the five-seat?
45:28 - Yeah, there's two all-wheel drive models
45:31 and they're both five-seat Petrels,
45:33 which I don't necessarily think is really,
45:36 are really the ones to buy
45:37 'cause they add quite a bit of money
45:38 for not a huge amount of gain.
45:40 I think the base seven-seater's really good.
45:42 The L seven-seater's actually pretty good as well,
45:44 given the price and the amount of features you get,
45:46 or the top-spec hybrid, they're all buy.
45:48 And I think, particularly the hybrid as well,
45:50 when you start looking at
45:51 where everything's priced these days,
45:53 it's actually really competitive.
45:54 - What's the hybrid cost?
45:55 - It's 59,900 drive away.
45:57 - So it's a fair lick cheaper
45:58 than a Outlander plug-in hybrid or what else is it?
46:02 - And you're still undercutting a top-spec RAV4 hybrid
46:05 when you factor in the on-road costs.
46:06 - And you'll probably get one sooner too.
46:08 - Well, yeah, there's that as well.
46:10 - What about you, Scott, buy or pass?
46:11 - I'm buying.
46:12 I liked the last CR-V, even though it was old,
46:14 and I think this one just builds on those strengths.
46:17 I'm kinder with James.
46:18 I think it offers really good value at the bottom end,
46:20 and really good value at the very top end.
46:22 And some of the stuff in the middle's a little bit confused.
46:24 So I'll take mine in red as a hybrid, please.
46:27 - Fair enough.
46:27 Well, one of the more pleasant surprises of this year,
46:29 I think, is, yeah, generally an all-round fairly good car.
46:33 And I think if you're an average punter,
46:34 it's probably gonna fit the bill for you really well.
46:37 But we're gonna move on.
46:38 We're gonna leave all of our Japan stuff behind now.
46:41 Well, I think I don't know what their picks are,
46:42 but we're gonna move on to our picks of the week.
46:44 And I'm gonna ask, if I can go first,
46:45 and can I please talk about race cars for a second?
46:47 - Yes and yes.
46:48 - Okay.
46:49 Really exciting news came out last week
46:51 that we're finally gonna have
46:52 a full-blown GT4 category in Australia,
46:54 which, if you don't know what GT4 is,
46:56 it's essentially improved, improved production cars.
46:59 So basically, think BMW M3s, Mercedes AMG GTs,
47:04 Porsche Caymans with roll cages and a bit of a tune,
47:07 and they all go racing in a category.
47:09 But they all have what's called balanced performance.
47:11 So essentially, they all meet the same top speed,
47:15 aero requirements, and a lot of it comes down to setup.
47:18 So we're gonna have that in Australia from next year
47:20 as part of the Shannon Speed Series,
47:22 and I cannot wait, because that is,
47:24 GT4 is such a great category.
47:26 You're gonna have, I think, a really good mix of races
47:28 and a really good mix of cars.
47:29 So I look forward to seeing that.
47:31 And hopefully we see a really, really cool variety
47:35 of exotic cars, and it's not just a bunch
47:36 of old Commodores racing around.
47:38 - The great thing about GT4 is that it's not affordable,
47:41 because you still need to pay, call it a quarter
47:43 of a million dollars for one of these cars.
47:44 - You pretty much have to buy a road car
47:45 and then add all the bits to it.
47:46 - Well, no, so most of the car makers
47:48 will now sell you a GT4 car
47:50 through their factory programs.
47:51 - Ford have one with a Mustang, don't they?
47:52 - So Ford, Porsche, Audi for a long time with the RS3,
47:57 BMW with the M4 or the M2, one of the two.
48:00 You can actually buy a GT4 car from BMW Motorsports.
48:04 You can import it, and obviously it's a track car,
48:06 you're not registering it,
48:07 so it doesn't need to be right-hand drive.
48:09 And they will then sell you the parts to support it,
48:11 you can use them to help you get it all set up.
48:14 As motorsport goes, if you want to be serious about it,
48:16 it's definitely the most affordable sort of step
48:18 on that ladder before you get to serious GT3
48:21 and Le Mans racing.
48:22 - I think, and I was discussing this with Igor before
48:24 about who the kind of people that would be racing it is.
48:26 And it's a really cool mid-step
48:28 from sort of your open-wheeler Formula Ford
48:31 to getting into like, if you're going for supercars,
48:33 the Super 3 categories or Carrera Cup,
48:35 it's just, yeah, like I said, slightly more affordable.
48:38 - In the context of racing, yeah.
48:39 - Absolutely, but yeah, look,
48:41 money is a different level in racing.
48:43 James, we're gonna throw it over to you.
48:44 What is your pick of the week, mate?
48:46 - So it's a very quick one.
48:48 Me and Jade were scouring the internet one day
48:50 for viral stories, and we found this old lady
48:53 who knits sweaters for supercars, and it's really funny.
48:56 She like knits or crochets like sweaters,
48:59 and they go almost like car covers,
49:01 and they perfectly fit everything.
49:02 And there's like pictures on the internet
49:03 of like G-Wagons, Veyron, and they've all got--
49:06 - Crochet my ride, yes.
49:07 - Yeah, it was really cute.
49:08 I thought that was fun.
49:09 - That's, yeah, so it matches your grey hand.
49:11 (laughing)
49:13 - The miniature ones, though, not the big ones.
49:15 - Wow, okay.
49:16 Scott, what's yours this week?
49:18 - I've got a little left field this week.
49:19 Usually I bring something from Instagram or Motorsport,
49:22 but I've actually, I've got Jimmy Kimmel.
49:24 He popped up on my, one of the social feeds,
49:28 doing a bit on his show with Olivia Rodrigo,
49:31 carpool karaoke style.
49:33 But the car caught my eye,
49:35 'cause usually, and I know you do the same thing,
49:37 when I see a shot from inside a car,
49:39 I look and I go, because of that door handle,
49:41 I can tell you that it's a Range Rover or whatever.
49:43 We're just nerds.
49:44 And I was looking at this thing going,
49:46 what the hell is that?
49:46 I cannot work it out.
49:48 Does anyone wanna guess what Jimmy Kimmel was driving?
49:51 - Well, I just wanna start by saying,
49:52 when you brought this up earlier in the office,
49:54 I thought you said Jimmy Fallon.
49:55 And so I take back everything I said,
49:56 'cause I quite like Kimmel.
49:57 - Okay.
49:58 - I don't like Fallon.
49:59 I'm gonna guess it was something
50:01 that may have had some testing
50:03 and development done in Australia.
50:04 - Yeah, but it wasn't a Commodore, it was a Vinfast.
50:07 - Yes, which is like a Commodore,
50:08 but worse in every single way.
50:10 - More Vietnamese, less Australian.
50:12 But yeah, we've been trying to get in touch
50:13 with Vinfast for ages,
50:15 'cause they bought the Lang Lang proving ground
50:16 that we used to film.
50:18 They had a head office set up in Australia.
50:20 And then they just decided, actually,
50:21 we're not doing that, we're going to the US now.
50:23 - They sort of, they left the country so quickly,
50:25 they never put the signs down from the office.
50:28 - So Jimmy Kimmel, if you're watching,
50:29 call me, tell me who you spoke to at Vinfast.
50:31 I want to interview them for a story.
50:33 Olivia Rodrigo, if you're watching, just call me.
50:35 - So yes, Scott's in trouble now.
50:39 We might not see him for a couple of weeks,
50:41 as he'll be in the doghouse.
50:43 But that pretty much wraps us up for the week.
50:46 James, did you have a good time?
50:48 - I did, yeah.
50:49 Hopefully I don't get dragged in the comments
50:51 for being too slow off the line,
50:52 like I was a couple of weeks ago.
50:54 I read them.
50:55 - Yes, yes, James took part in a recent drag race.
50:58 And he did it on Perth time.
51:00 - Yes, yes.
51:01 - I'm not an intern, just so anyone's wondering,
51:02 just in case anyone's wondering.
51:04 - To be fair, in the words of Meatloaf,
51:05 two out of three ain't bad,
51:06 and that's the amount of races you did actually win.
51:09 So, 70s Meatloaf, it's all good.
51:13 Guys, any final thoughts before we wrap up?
51:15 - Nothing on the back of Meatloaf.
51:18 - All right, well, Scott's still reliving the pain
51:20 from that AFL grand final, I think.
51:22 - Yeah, yeah, 10 years ago now, something like that.
51:24 - It still burns.
51:25 - Absolutely.
51:26 All right, well, guys, thank you so much for joining me.
51:28 If you did enjoy the podcast,
51:29 please leave us a comment or a rating or a review
51:32 on whatever podcast platform you're listening.
51:34 And did you enjoy James?
51:35 Leave us a comment.
51:36 We'd like to know.
51:37 We need to know whether we keep him or get rid of him.
51:40 It's very important, your feedback.
51:41 If you do have any questions for us, write to us,
51:43 podcast@carexpert.com.au.
51:46 But until next week, see you later.