Toyota RAV4 v Ford Ranger - the battle heats up | The CarExpert Podcast - video Dailymotion

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VFACTS February is out and the battle to be Australia's favourite car isn't really slowing down. Sean and James run through all the numbers from VFACTS including who is winning and who is losing out, PLUS the boys talk about they cars they have been driving and James tells us about the coolest cars he saw at the Formula 1 over the weekend.  Read the full VFACTS breakdown: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/vfacts-february-2025-petrol-diesel-and-ev-sales-drop-as-phevs-hybrids-surge  Zeekr X Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbhwyvWQZkk  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 VFACTS: 06:05 Honda HR-V Hybrid: 28:14 Nissan X-Trail e-Power: 32:11 Outro: 37:30  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 #toyota #ford

Transcript

00:00The top selling small SUV in the car category and we're not exactly sure why yet but I do see a lot

00:05of them around. Well the top spec ones are 90 grand I think probably more if you want to wrap

00:09that. You know there are a lot of rich people that want these kinds of cars. G'day I'm Sean and

00:13welcome back to the Car Expert podcast. The Australian Grand Prix has been run and won not

00:17by the right person unfortunately so thanks for McLaren for sending me this hat but I won't be

00:23wearing that until Oscar wins. James you went to the Grand Prix. Well I went to the lead up events

00:28of the Grand Prix. I wasn't there for the actual race but yes I did attend. I think it was a bit

00:31too damn. I went Saturday and then stayed home Sunday which I think was the right call especially

00:35given the outcome. And the weather. And the weather yeah the weather too yeah yeah. But you went to

00:41check out the new Audis but they're not I'm so confused about the whole Audi lineup because

00:46they were changing the naming system to reflect electric and internal combustion and now they're

00:51sort of given up on that haven't they? Yeah so there's all these new models coming from Audi and

00:55they made a lot of controversy recently because they've started they started changing some of

00:59their naming structures. So it started off with changing from engine displacement and then the

01:04code names for petrol or diesel power. Yeah it's having power out there were power numbers but they

01:10weren't actually outputs so it was a bit weird and then they started changing with their new stuff that

01:15the odd numbers were going to be combustion vehicles and the even numbers were going to be EVs only.

01:20They've recently backtracked on that so the A6 will be the first line that doesn't have that so

01:26the A6 will be electric to start off with with the new e-tron that's coming here later this year

01:30and they just revealed the new A6 Avant petrol and hybrid version. When I was at the Grand Prix with

01:36them on Friday they had a media night they debuted the new S6 Sportback e-tron and the S5 Avant

01:41to the media there which was really cool and at the front they had the new the facelifted RSQ8

01:47performance as well is that really cool RS6 GT. There's only a handful of those coming to

01:51Australia they're all I think 400 grand plus on roads but it's like they're more powerful

01:55they've got lowered suspension they're more focused and that you can have them in one of two liveries

02:00there's like a rally heritage one it's like white orange and black and then there's also an all

02:05blacked out one which is really cool. But yeah the big thing for Audi at the Grand Prix is that next

02:10year they will be re-entering the Constructors Championship.

02:13Yeah it's a works team. Yeah I don't think they've been in since the 30s so it's been a very

02:17very long time so they had their their big marquee set up right next to Ferrari actually on the main

02:22straight in the lead up for that so they sort of had clients coming in and media and things like

02:26that just sort of waking up some commotion because next year that will be their first rate so they've

02:30locked in their real estate now. Yeah first of all that new S5 looks unreal I have to say it looks

02:37really good. Secondly it'll be interesting to see how Audi goes when they do take over the Sauber team

02:41because last time they had some successful world championships they were able to cheat and use

02:46four-wheel drive. So I don't know how they're going to go with Formula One but you know good luck to them.

02:51The other thing that was as you said right next to Audi was the Ferrari stand which again this is your

02:56video. Yes this is on my videography so I'm going to be coming for Sean's job soon but yeah so went to

03:01the media night with Ferrari on the Thursday which is more of a cocktail party not a huge announcement

03:05or newsy sort of thing but they revealed the new F80 which is a five million dollar hybrid hypercar

03:11basically based around a it's a road going version I'd say of Ferrari's 24 hours of Le Mans racer

03:18and like you just look at it it was awesome but the big surprise as well is that the drivers came

03:22and unveiled it for us so we got to be you know almost touching distance to Charles Leclerc and

03:26Lewis Hamilton which is really really cool. I've I think I'm in my new F1 girly era I think that's the

03:32term that's on TikTok but you know I've never really been to the F1 before and to be able to

03:36attend these events in the lead up and get around the hype and you know I love cars in general and

03:41these events were really centered around the manufacturer's vehicles it was it was really

03:45really cool so awesome opportunity and yeah to get up close and some of that stuff went really cool

03:50on social so it was really fun. Well look I'd say the unveiling of of this went a lot better than

03:55Ferrari's weekend in the Grand Prix did. I have to say like this is a spiritual successor to the F50

04:00and it looks I think it looks mega except for the moustache I don't really get this whole moustache

04:05thing Ferrari are doing but I like it. Wasn't that from like a really old era of supercars that they

04:11had I would recall there was one of their like triangular ones was it the the 280 or the one

04:16after that that had sort of like a black moustachy panel sort of thing like that I think it's like a

04:20retro design thing but I get what you mean it's a polarizing design but you know I saw the the images

04:25of this when it was first revealed and I thought it was a bit square and blocky and it didn't really

04:29make a lot of sense whereas seeing it in person it's such a long wide low to the ground car it's

04:34got a lot of presence and it really just looks like an unliveried Le Mans racer sort of like

04:38I don't know some people that are listening and maybe aren't like Gran Turismo 3 players like we

04:44we were but you could you used to be able to get like secret unlocked cars that were unliveried

04:49versions of the race cars that you could buy in the showroom and I feel like this kind of has that

04:52energy which is really cool. Yeah it's got so much presence when you see it you feel it's one of those

04:57cars kind of like the Countach or I'm trying to think of other cars that have that sort of presence

05:01or like seeing an F50 really like it's. Yeah and I love the F50 and like the carbon fiber wheels and

05:06everything it was the detailing was so meticulous and just really really beautiful and the interior

05:10is quite parred back but like the seats were gorgeous the steering wheel looks lovely and all

05:15the screens and stuff were all very very driver focused and minimalist and I think you know this is

05:19a really cool flagship for Ferrari to have moving forward only 799 of them will be made which is

05:24not a lot by you know serious production standards but it's the most I think by quite a long shot of

05:30any of their flagship hypercars or supercars that they've made in one go. I think the LaFerrari only

05:35made like 400-500 units so yeah this will probably be a little bit more common per se but I guess

05:42that's down to demand because you know there are a lot of rich people that want these kinds of cars

05:45and you know if the launch party was anything to go by there are plenty of people that are buying

05:50Ferraris at the moment. Absolutely are you going to buy a Ferrari F80? Leave a comment let us know

05:54if you do and also if you do please let us have a drive of it but let's dive in today we're going

05:59to be focusing on VFX but we're also going to touch on the long term as that we've been driving

06:03but yeah let's get straight into VFX this is for February now just a reminder we call it VFX

06:08it's actually an amalgamation of the FCAI VFX numbers and the EV counts numbers because Tesla and

06:14Polestar don't get along with the FCAI and decided to report their numbers separately so

06:18Will in our Brisbane office does a really good job to put them all together for us

06:22and then we break it down for you guys so a headline figure 96,710 deliveries in February

06:29which is down 7.9% year on year but it's actually up from January where they only delivered 86,000 so

06:35I don't want to say it's a changing trend I don't want to say that we're on the up and up but

06:40is it typical that January is a bit of a slow month or we just see more models come in now

06:46look we've obviously come off the back of a few really strong years in market and I know last year

06:52we were discussing whether it would be a decline we ended up having another record and I think

06:56you know that was sort of the tail end of supply chain issues and you know latent deliveries that

07:02people were waiting to get their hands on off the back of COVID I think now we're seeing a really good

07:07stable market now which is a really good representation of what's being ordered and what's

07:10coming in because most brands don't really have extended delays on their mainstream products anymore

07:14Toyota being a big part of that you see how many RAV4s are being sold at the moment it's been

07:18sustained now I think they sold another 5,000 units and it was number one for the month so you know

07:23that's the front runner for most popular car of the year the top 10 manufacturers they're all sort

07:29of about the same with a couple of exceptions so Kia's jumped into third place in front of Ford

07:34I guess that's just down to maybe a surge of Everest and Ranger sales sort of coming off a little bit

07:40Toyota now has the Prado as well so people aren't just buying Everest's and GWM

07:45GMW yeah it's BMW's name the joint venture between BMW and GWM which exists because that's what the

07:53Mini was born out of I look forward to the GWM empire yes but swap spaces with MG 7th and 8th

07:59and pushing to become a top five brands I think MG and GWM have been doing a lot of work lately

08:04obviously they have a lot of challenges coming out of their home their backyard really and now having

08:10to work on what makes sets them apart and I know that they're really focusing on you know value

08:15they've got a real breadth of product and I'm really working GWM especially working heavily on plug-in

08:21hybrid and EV tech so we're seeing you know the Canon Alpha plug-in hybrid the H6 GT plug-in hybrid I

08:28believe a new H6 the conventional SUV version will have an extended range plug-in hybrid as well

08:33be interesting to see how that goes given the FBT exemptions are ending at the end of March

08:38currently depending on you know what happens with the next election as well I think for what it's

08:42worth I've been thinking about this a lot yes I think we care more about that than a lot of the

08:47general public do because I don't think that Feb sales are going to die come April or May I think

08:52people will still buy it and it's just you know like if it suits them they'll be happy to pay the money

08:58yeah I think what what changes will change though is you know a lot of people obviously finance lease

09:03their cars on novated leases and I think one of the one of the direct correlations we've been able to

09:08see with the FBT exemptions is that Feb sales boomed as a result of that because the the cost

09:14difference between a Feb and an ICE car was quite wide for a long time and that exemption basically

09:21alleviated that so it'll be interesting to see the sustained trend of Feb sales from there because like

09:28you say there are more coming to market people want them and I think that the brands that have

09:33been in market already have done a really good job of educating people how they work they're not going

09:37to work for everybody the same way that EVs don't work for everybody but I think what's important here

09:41is that Australians are getting more access to things and while the NVES stuff seems like it's

09:47taking things away or making things more challenging what it does do is it opens up some of the technologies

09:52and the products that we haven't been able to get in market previously are now coming here

09:55and so it allows the consumer to make their own educated choices to what works best for them so

10:01we'll just see how that that goes but I'll be interested to be seeing you know whether that

10:05sustained growth continues for a long time well you mentioned the gap between ICE and and plug-in

10:10hybrid vehicles and I think that's disappearing because obviously we've got the Shark at 60 grand and

10:13the other BYD plug-in hybrids all well priced the Ranger is coming we finally got pricing which we got

10:19pricing I think about two and a half hours after we filmed the last podcast but it's only about three grand

10:24difference between its equivalent V6 diesel so it's not a huge leap for a lot of people and I think

10:28if you're a fleet buyer or you know government council things like that they're not going to care

10:33they're just going to pay that yeah and I think you know part of the reason why there was such a big

10:36price difference before is that manufacturers were only being able to get a very very small amount

10:40and therefore to offset that and still make a profit that would inflate the prices Ford's done a really

10:44good job considering the Ranger Feb comes out of a different factory which is tariffed in our market

10:49and still maintaining a very good price cap it'll be interesting to see what the other brands do but

10:53you know we've seen brands like Cupra and and other European brands sort of close that gap a little bit

10:59to make it more attractive and you know with the definition of a fuel efficient car by Australian

11:05government definitions changing mid this year it still will mean that Feb's are still a little bit

11:10more attractive than some of the other cars on the market because some of those things will change

11:13so even though there's not an FBT exemption it will still be subject to a higher threshold for

11:18luxury car tax for example all right well let's run through the top 10 brands we'll just we'll keep

11:23this light there's a lot of numbers and I don't want to bore everyone with it but unsurprisingly

11:27Toyota number one still by by 10,000 vehicles over Mazda it's like 18,832 down slightly up on January's

11:37number but I mean down year on year no real surprise there because we are seeing that trend

11:41Mazda second Kia third Ford fifth so Ford slipping down the order for Mitsubishi fifth oh god I told

11:50you there's a lot of numbers um then Hyundai GWM pushing right up as you said before they're like

11:54they are keen to be a top five brand and based on these numbers and their growth um and sneakily

12:00putting all their brands back under the one umbrella I they're well on track to it I honestly

12:04think with that uh hybrid plug-in hybrid Canon Alpha you I can't remember they changed the name of it

12:11Canon Alpha is the big one yes the Canon is the small yes which used to be called the Ute yes I

12:15think that's going to help them jump up a bit definitely um especially from a fleet sales

12:19perspective uh the GWM knocked MG down a position uh to eighth Nissan in ninth and Subaru in tenth but

12:26what you'll notice if you look at the car of the manufacturer that's 11th BYD and we had a bit of a

12:32say about them last month because they were way way down the order uh turns out there was a slight

12:38clerical error allegedly that didn't account for quite a number of hundred of uh Shark 6 deliveries

12:44in January so that's been rectified and uh BYD straight up the order as we I guess we kind of

12:50expected circling the top 10 there very good very good um yeah like uh that's the the the brand but

13:00when we look at the model breakdown the model breakdown I think is what really tells the story

13:04here because uh RAV4 numbers are down uh from last month so we were talking there in the 5000s

13:11now down in the mid 4000s now is that uh that sort of backlog coming back a little bit sort of being

13:17cleared I definitely think so because you know this time last year was very early days we were still

13:22seeing that RAV4s were subject to six to eight month wait times and Toyota was pretty open with the

13:27second half of last year seeing that normalized you know anywhere between two and four months depending on

13:32which model you got and the fact that even 12 months later we're still seeing you know it's top

13:37of the pops and it's still you know doing a decent volume at four and a half thousand units um for

13:42February I think what we'll see is that it will continue maybe around this point and what will be

13:48interesting to see is that with other makes and models coming into the fold or seeing updates you know

13:54I look at you know Outlander has been doing really really strong for the last little bit there's a

13:58facelifted model coming in a couple of months and including a FEV with even more range than

14:03than currently um you've got challenges from you know Toyota with the Prado within again within their

14:08own backyard they were looking to I think register over 30,000 units in the first 12 months and it

14:13launched in like October so you know that's that's a lot of cars per month um BYD with the Shark 6 if

14:20if there's sustained order and and order banks for that that could be doing really well and then you

14:26know Kia's got a new Sportage coming soon there's meant to be more hybrids who knows that might really

14:30charge up the sales charts same with the Subaru Forester which has been long in the tooth for a

14:35while and there's a brand new model coming very soon with a Toyota hybrid system you know again

14:39Toyota's hybrid system has been a major selling point for them so the fact that Subaru has a vehicle

14:45coming to market basically with the same or similar tech but you know different form factor better focus

14:51on adventure and off-road capability could really shake things up as well and you know with the

14:56ute market Ranger Feb might give it a shot in the arm all that kind of stuff so it's a really

15:00interesting time but yeah I think what we'll see is that the the market the overall volume will start

15:06to slow down a little bit um especially we still have big reports about cost of living pressures and

15:11things like that people aren't necessarily rushing out to buy a brand new car especially you know given

15:16Australians tend to gravitate towards higher grades you know it's an expensive exercise when you're

15:20looking at you know even Ranger and Hilux the average transaction price of 60 to 70 thousand dollars is a lot

15:25of money well the top spec ones I mean the top spec range is 90 grand I think for the platinum and

15:30then probably more if you want to absolutely and I think you know this is where those hybrid plug-in

15:35hybrid and EV options will start coming into play because people start thinking about ongoing running

15:38costs how much am I paying for fuel how much am I paying for servicing so yeah it's a it's an

15:43interesting time but at the moment we're still sort of seeing a fairly stable top 10 with a couple of

15:48shufflings around um but I think in the months ahead we'll start to see that change a little bit

15:53yeah so uh Ranger in second um where Ford was let down was by the Everest which plummeted down to

15:5819th uh but yeah Ranger second with 4040 deliveries then Hilux Prado Outlander rounding out your top

16:04five Shark up to sixth place and I again um I think there was I can't remember the exact number there

16:10was a couple of hundred that were left out from the January numbers but I mean that's still that's

16:15still tons of cars they've delivered 100% and and it's quickly become their top selling model I

16:19genuinely see one at least one every single day um both you know near here in Melbourne CBD but also

16:26out where I live in the eastern suburbs so they're definitely you know hitting customers hands and

16:30people are driving them around they look good um and you know it's overtaken the D-Max which was

16:34for the longest time you know number three or in in the top five so it's interesting time and then

16:40you've got CX-5 there with 1900 units that thing just keeps on going doesn't it that is one of the

16:45oldest cars on the list I think apart from maybe the CX-3 I think that's from yeah the CX-3 is

16:50probably older but the CX-5 also just had some updates announced so there's a running tech change

16:54which sees some of the higher end autonomous technology and some of the headlight tech that's

16:59available or previously been exclusive to the top grades is now filtering down to the touring spec which

17:03is about mid mid spec um so it'll be interesting to see whether that again gives it a little bit of a

17:08boost moving forward because people might not need to buy the Akira for example which is close to 60

17:13grand on the road um then after that the Sportage was just behind with 1,927 and the Kona had a really

17:20great month with 1,889 units and I believe was the top selling small SUV in the category and we're not

17:27exactly sure why yet but I do see a lot of them around yeah I mean the Kona really came out of

17:30nowhere because it was it's been nowhere for quite a while and suddenly jumped up I do um the Sportage

17:35is one I just want to touch on quickly because that it's been around for a while now and I know that

17:40this facelift is only a couple years old but and it's quite like it's still quite a I don't know

17:45every time I drive it I really really yeah so this one this one is actually was the the first of the

17:49of a new generation which came out I think maybe three-ish years ago and basically it's on a

17:54shrunken version of the Sorento platform whereas the old one was I think an enlarged version of like

17:57the Serato platform so this one is getting a fairly comprehensive midlife facelift um within the

18:03next couple of months uh we'll we'll still be retaining the current petrol diesel and hybrid drive

18:09trains but there might be a shake-up in terms of which power trains are available on which trim level

18:13um Kia's been really uh open about the fact that with the NVES coming in as a punitive measure from

18:201st of July that they'll be working very hard to get more hybrid versions of its very popular SUV

18:26models so Sorento, Sportage are big um parts in that you know Sportage has like a monthly cap of like

18:33300-ish hybrid units at the moment which is very low when you look at RAV4 being a hybrid-only

18:38vehicle doing 4,400 units a month and I think that will be opening up with this facelift

18:42so you know we can expect that whether from the base S or one up from that that you'll see

18:48hybrid options across the board which gives more people access and you know might see that get a

18:53boost in in sales volume moving forward and the Kona is another example where you know having petrol

18:57hybrid and EV options I think the hybrid's been an amazing major driver force in that in recent in

19:03recent times and while it was you know never quite the top seller um at least at the beginning of

19:09this generation's life cycle maybe one or two years ago it's definitely really pushing ahead with that

19:14now it's overtaken the MG ZS um which has been I don't even know the the top selling small SUV for

19:20quite some time well and yeah it's it hasn't been updated yet like that I think they're talking update

19:25for the ZS so the ZS launched the ZS hybrid just launched the new generation one and the petrol

19:31yes you're thinking of the HS which is also launched but there's a hybrid version that coming

19:35but yeah so the ZS has launched launched first with hybrid versions at the very end of last year but

19:39they're quite a bit more expensive than the the old ZST which started around the 22 drive away or 23 drive

19:44away point um so there's now petrol versions of that coming in that started around the mid

19:4820 000 points a bigger car much nicer inside much um a much needed update to the tech suite

19:54um and it still did fairly well with 1700 units ahead of the Toyota Corolla and Mazda CX-3

19:59um but like you say that you look at this top 20 list you've got you know a number of stalwarts

20:03X-Trail, Tucson, Triton, BT-50, Jolion, Everest, Mazda 3 all of these have been with the exception of the

20:09Shark have all been top 20 players for the longest time we're just sort of seeing them shuffle here and

20:14there um in in recent months so you know it's an interesting time and the the months ahead might

20:21see some more shuffling or some new players come into the fold we're not sure yet all right so let's

20:26just quickly recap highlights before we get into the the people who well the the brands who have not

20:30done so well this month um Kia I think big shout out I like I genuinely stand by I don't think they

20:35make a bad car in their lineup I think every car is is quite good uh and so I think well deserved to

20:40get into third place with that one um yeah numbers overall up but uh like trending I think the year

20:47is trending downwards it's absolutely that's a big one uh and BYD finally coming online with that Shark

20:526 and actually being able to deliver their cars not have them sitting on boats offshore somewhere

20:56means that they're I think we will see them easily top 10 next month so something to look out for uh let's

21:02head to the bottom end for the people or the brands that are not doing quite as well um Leapmotor 29 I think

21:09I don't know I don't know enough about Leapmotor yet to say to properly comment on it but I feel

21:14like they expected to do more than 29 deliveries in a month yeah it's it's interesting because that car

21:20came in you know it's a mid-size SUV electric to start off with they've got that extended range um

21:26extended range extender version that's just launching this this month as well you know both around the 45

21:31thousand dollar mark and you know even if the styling's a little bit bland on paper it should be

21:37something that people get really interested in I don't know whether it's the looks I don't know

21:40whether they haven't been able to roll them out at dealerships yet um but I do find it interesting

21:45that Leapmotor's not really made much of an impact yet maybe the extended range one being sort of like a

21:51a USP might might change that um but yeah they're only a few months in market as well so it's not really

21:57easy to tell where they were before yeah um Zika is another one uh 99 deliveries in February same

22:03amount as Peugeot I don't know who that is good for and who that is bad for to be honest well

22:08considering Peugeot's down 51% I think Peugeot will be more disappointed with that result um but

22:13considering so Zika currently only have a couple of cars in their model lineup um the and the one we've

22:19just recently tested and we've driven both variants of the X yep uh we've got a full video review of the

22:25rear-wheel drive Zika X which I think is technically the base model yes um and it's a Volvo and it's a

22:31there's a whole bunch of different brands going on there we've got a video on the YouTube channel

22:34I will put a link in the description for you to check out um but look they're you know miles behind

22:38Volvo still uh Polestar where's Polestar sit on this list I actually can't find Polestar it may not be

22:45in this table because it's from VFX unless you put it in the no you're right I can't I don't

22:49actually have Polestar's numbers oh no Polestar's there 125 oh 125 so there you go so Zika's still

22:53trailing behind I don't know what they whether they expected more as well because the the idea

22:57with that um Zika X is to sort of undercut the price of the Polestar uh well the Volvo yeah the

23:04Volvo X30 is the main one and then I think there's the smarts are also the hashtag one and three

23:09are also on the same platform um I think you know Zika's got very early days they're

23:14still working on their um brand recognition I think they started to in addition to trying to

23:19figure out their own dealer network they're also tacking onto Volvo showrooms at the moment

23:22um they look cool you know I had a a different I had the Zika X all-wheel drive recently um it gets

23:27you a lot of looks I had this sort of ivory colored one with a swish interior um looks really cool and

23:33I'll have a written review of that coming soon um but I think you know it just comes down to to brand

23:37recognition and it's um you know the people probably be wondering what it is it's one thing to say it's the

23:43same stuff underneath as Volvo and Polestar um but whether that resonates with people that are

23:48buying you know Zika is trying to market itself as the premium Chinese brand as well which is sort

23:52of a new space there's a lot of firsts for them that um they're probably just working through and

23:58trying to get their feet on the ground but you know a hundred well thereabouts a hundred registrations

24:03of a brand new vehicle from a brand new brand in market it's not a bad result I'd say

24:08yeah no you're probably right I think um I do think that that X is a little bit pricey considering

24:15what like the tech that you're getting with it you have to sort of spend extra to get

24:19a bolt on tech like you know seat memories and things like that yeah um look we'll see we'll see

24:24how how they go and this is the thing we're going to see a lot of these sort of brands come through

24:28the door this year so uh there'll be a lot of these conversations I just want to quickly point

24:31out before we move on as well that Citroen still managed to sell or register four vehicles despite

24:37having left the market I feel like someone might have just found them it's like it's a

24:41less zombie yeah um I do also have to point out Skoda uh down 41 and a half percent year

24:48a year with 312 deliveries I mean that can't be good for for the Volkswagen group their numbers are

24:53not looking amazing because Cooper sales are down uh the I think the Volks uh Volkswagen sales are down

24:59it's just it must be tough times over there at the moment uh I think so it has been tough in the

25:04the lead up to now but all of their brands are launching quite a number of new products in the

25:09coming months we've had a number of launches recently we've got a number of invites coming

25:14up I'll be driving the ID4 and ID5 um Josh will be driving wait wait wait it was I think we talked

25:19about this we have pricing they're here I think they're getting to customers in April um Skoda has

25:25an all-new Kodiak and a facelift at Octavia two of their top sellers that are coming back

25:29Cupra Leon and Formentor their their facelifts are coming later I think like May June so they're not

25:35far off and because there's been such a long lead time between when these vehicles were launched

25:39globally and when they're coming here you know people are waiting and so that obviously means

25:42that sales sales reduce has actually been the case for a number of brands not just those guys so

25:47um yeah but yeah Citroen is a dead brand walking still yeah um big shout out to McLaren 350

25:54increase on deliveries must have been Grand Prix month because they delivered nine

25:57cars so well done to McLaren big shout out I know they watch the podcast uh look that pretty

26:02much wraps up VFX I do want to give you the opportunity James to point out anything that you

26:06caught your eye surprised you didn't surprise you but maybe should have I don't know anything like

26:12that well I know that we talk a lot about um electric vehicle sales um going down and it's

26:17still continuing to go that way I think according to numbers we've got um down 43.8 percent

26:23but again off the back of our discussion about FEVs before FEVs were up 346 last month probably off

26:29the back of the shark with 4,871 units so within 800 units of electric vehicle sales for the month

26:36which shows you how the market has very quickly changed in the last 12 or so months you know from

26:41the naysayers saying that FEV was a stepping stone technology that has no place here to now you know

26:46people buying them in much greater numbers and that will probably continue to be the trend um it'll be

26:50interesting to see in the next six or so months you know with Tesla launching a new model Y

26:54and you know BYD's onslaught of new products you know they've got sea lion 7 coming sharks launch

26:59they've probably got other cars on the way as well well they got a few updates to the shark already

27:03they're talking about so yeah so it could be really interesting to see how that changes things yeah I do

27:07sorry I neglected to point out Tesla um which is remiss of me because their sales are down 71.9 percent

27:14they sold more shark sixes than they did Tesla's and look potentially people are waiting for the new

27:18model Y but I just feel that their PR is not great at the moment and I think also you know the while

27:25the model Y update seems to be very promising and a very substantial update um for in response to

27:31feedback from owners of the first car there are just so many more options now and so you know if

27:36whether it's the the PR stuff if we're going to be be careful about how we talk about it or you know

27:42just the fact that the cars kind of look a little bit old now um and there's a lot of other products

27:47coming into market there's just more competition and while that while that's great for the consumer

27:51it's also not a great thing for brands if they're they're not able to get in the mix soon enough

27:56yep all right well what do you guys think uh any surprises that caught your eye this month if you

28:00want to read the full list and all of the juicy numbery detail there is a link in the description to

28:06check out Will's deep dive article on VFX uh but we are going to talk about our long term so I'm going to

28:11hand it over to you first James because you've been driving a Harvey I think this is what Honda launched that car

28:17my name is Harvey yes so um we picked up recently a Honda HRV the new hybrid base model so it's like

28:2440 grand drive away for this car it's in a lovely you know sagey metallic green which I really like

28:30yeah this is very I'm not sure if that's the exact same might be the same car but it looks just like

28:34this um and it's had some running feature changes in the sense that you know the old base model the

28:39petrol one missed out on a lot of stuff and it sort of forced you to move up another 10-ish grand to the

28:44hybrid whereas this one is a nice step so you've got things like blind spot monitoring you know a

28:48nice new um infotainment system with um Google built in uh it's and obviously a cheaper entry

28:53point for that hybrid system which is really good um it's nice and talky it's very um very efficient

28:59and you know it's it's I've not spent too much time in the new HRV but because it's so tall and boxy

29:04but like really compact it's just a really easy car to live with you know driving into the Melbourne CBD

29:09every day with lots of traffic and you know various parts of Melbourne's city roads that you know

29:14pinch you in the sides in in bigger cars so it's a really nice easy car to live with and it's got

29:19good space in the second row for two people only yes yes it is a four seater um just like a 911

29:25yeah exactly and it's got the the magic seat function which is a big draw card for them as

29:29well and the boot's nice and big and just you know it just does the job um so have been really

29:33enjoying that so far maybe about four weeks into our loan of our three months with it and um we'll

29:39have some more content going live on the site soon um but you know first impressions have been really

29:43good so far and I guess this new uh entry point price wise is a nice competitor to something like

29:50a yaris cross which has been very very popular with its hybrid options so yeah definitely one to

29:56keep an eye out for on the website because we've got some more stuff coming I mean look personally I

30:00think this looks better and it has a much nicer interior than a yaris cross and I this sounds

30:04really like plebby of me but I really like the the cloth seats in this thing oh yeah rather than a

30:09leather interior I think it's I don't know it's I don't know it's probably some recycled interior

30:13or something they do but it's it's really like a pleasant little car to be absolutely and like you

30:18know I know a lot of people in Australia really love leather when you have kids because it's easy to

30:21wipe things off you know if you have spills or chuckies or whatever but you know in we've been driving

30:26these cars in very hot Australian summers and so having a fabric seat that doesn't retain heat

30:31burn your ass when you sit down burn your excuse me burn your butt when you sit down um it's definitely

30:36very nice and just very comfortable the steering's lovely you know everything's just nice in this car

30:40it's sort of like I'm trying to fit it's almost like Japanese Volkswagen a little bit in that everything

30:45just is nice and and and it just works and and that's the simplicity of this car is is what is really

30:51great about it and to Honda's credit the previous generation Honda's uh and this sounds really silly

30:57but the previous generation Honda's infotainment systems felt like MS-DOS I was rubbish and then this

31:03thing was a wholesale change and it's this really nice smooth easy to use infotainment system and

31:08I think um sometimes we overlook that uh working in in our area of automotive uh that we we focus on

31:15that cars handling dynamics and we forget about the sort of back to basics things and the infotainment in

31:20this is absolutely fantastic uh one nitpick I do have with it is when you're in B mode which is like

31:25the yeah the regen mode single pedally sort of driving yeah you can't you can't put cruise control

31:30on I find that really odd because the car I'm about to talk about the Xtrail e-power you can yes which

31:36I find really nice especially if you're on like a motorway or something where you're just cruising

31:40on cruise control and you see there's a bit of a towel back ahead of you you just cancel cruise control

31:44and single pedal does the work slows you down gets a nice regen whereas this you you don't have

31:49that you'd have to shift out of drive and it sounds silly but it's one of those things I just I don't

31:53quite understand why because every other sort of hybrid or plug-in hybrid I've driven allows you to

31:59to activate cruise control I don't think it has a dedicated EV mode button either which is another

32:03interesting thing that some other rivals do but yeah I guess maybe that's something they can work

32:07on for the next one yeah so just hondo if you're listening but yeah no I want to talk about the

32:12Xtrail e-power which is what I've been driving now this is this is quite a fascinating car to me

32:17prior to this I had the uh Qashqai e-power which is the same principles behind it so basically it's

32:24an electric car with a generator in the front that powers the battery and the battery powers the wheels

32:31straight off the bat I'm going to say I prefer the Qashqai to the Xtrail for a couple of reasons one

32:36the Qashqai was just front wheel drive which meant that you got this amazing like thousand

32:41odd kilometer range out of a tank of petrol and two I just found it it's just overall just a little

32:46bit more comfortable whereas the Xtrail which shares a platform with the Outlander it's uh and

32:51the Outlander it's sort of built as a seven seat platform I feel this thing's not quite as comfortable

32:56to get around in as the Qashqai and because it's all-wheel drive which I find completely unnecessary for

33:01this car it munches petrol compared to the Qashqai um but but other than that it's like it's actually a

33:06really nice car it does uh it's really efficient well I just said it's not very it is still efficient

33:12by comparison to its petrol twin um but you know it also has heaps of power so when you put your

33:17foot down and drive away like it's you can pull and pull and pull because it's got that EV

33:21punch behind it but you mentioned the seats like the the leather seats in this thing are absolutely

33:28horrendous on a summer day they're like that plasticky leather and they don't have cooling and you just

33:34you get in it on like a 36 degree day and it is the worst place to be because it also has a big

33:39big glass roof yep um so look I if they just had cooling seats it'd be fine or a cloth seat uh option

33:47but uh oh that like it's a great car I I honestly don't know why people would buy a RAV4 over this if

33:53they actually drove them back to back because I genuinely think this is a much nicer yeah I've driven

33:57your long term a couple of times in in recent months and you know I think I've copped a lot of

34:02flack on the website because I often recommend this car as something to look at um as an alternative

34:06to some of the top selling mid-size SUVs whether whether it's a RAV4 hybrid a Tesla Model Y things

34:11like that you know it's got the EV driving experience that people really like because it's got that

34:15really smooth instant seamless um torque delivery that people love about EVs it does have a petrol

34:21generator up the front which sometimes fires to life you can sort of hear it oh this I found

34:25actually compared to the Cascade this can be a little thrashy because I think it has to work a little bit

34:28harder to get driving yeah but other than that like it's just a very nice easy car to to drive

34:34and live with it's it's big enough that the e-power admittedly doesn't come with seven seats in

34:39Australia which is a crying shame but it's a big five-seater that you know for two to three kids in

34:44the back and all their stuff plenty of room um you know the the leather I know you say it's a bit

34:48annoying in the heat but the quilted napa leather interior with all the soft touch points the big screens

34:53and everything it definitely feels really nice inside and you know if the looks appeal to you

34:59it's a bit rugged looking this one is not the e-power this one's the n-trek from what it looks

35:03like but you know they all sort of look the same um but yeah it's I really enjoy that car and now with

35:08a 10-year warranty there's an added peace of mind um for people that are looking to step into something

35:13like this as opposed to a top selling competitor so you know I really enjoy this car but like you say

35:17I wish they did the single motor version as well because that would be much more efficient and the

35:21seven seat option I think would be is a it's a big miss to begin with given you know all of its hybrid

35:26competitors the CRV the RAV4 um and some of the Chinese stuff as well none of them offer three

35:31rows in the hybrid version so the fact that Nissan has this available in their global portfolio and

35:35hasn't done it in you know in an effort to maybe protect the pathfinder which doesn't sell very in

35:40very big numbers and doesn't have a hybrid option either just seems like an odd product um planning

35:45decision for me but otherwise a really good car well and to that point like I don't need seven seats

35:50so I haven't got any kids but the the boot space in this isn't you know isn't it doesn't benefit from

35:54it because it's got the silly split ah yes floor things so even if you lift off the covers like

36:00you still can't you still don't really get extra space unless you've got small things so yeah obviously

36:05it's just a shared platform and it's easy just to do that but yeah I think they may as well just put

36:09seven seats in it at that point and then it also stops the back from flapping around when you go over

36:13bumps which which they do if you've got nothing in it so but look on the whole I think it's great and

36:18personally in my money on the table I would have that over a rav4 um just because I think I'd say

36:23the same yeah one you're not buying a rental car and two I just think overall the experience of

36:27driving it's a lot nicer um but yeah that uh I think that pretty much brings us to the end this

36:31week James um you're a bit quieter this week is my understanding this week yes but it all starts

36:37picking up again next week so between now and when we probably film the next episode I'll be driving

36:42the new Volvo EX90 in Adelaide that's the big one the big one with the um the little hat yeah the

36:49LiDAR sensor um I'm also doing the Kia EV3 local launch which is very exciting because I got to do

36:55the global drive in Korea so I'll be able to see you know what they what they've done with the local

36:59tuning and things like that they just price it starts from like 47 grand which is pretty affordable for

37:03you know Seltos size EV um and what else have I got I'm doing the ID4 and ID5 launch in Canberra um the week after

37:11that so very busy and the rest of the team has a number there's a number of other launches coming

37:15like new ram 1500 with the inline six twin turbo yes standby on the youtube channel because we've got

37:19some great video content coming with that in the near future so that that's that's going to be really

37:24interesting because I'm not sold that that's the right move for ram I do understand like emissions

37:28and things like that but like a twin turbo straight six over the v8 I can't always want the v8 it's

37:36just a bit more charm to it yeah they have a hybrid version what would you need uh but look

37:41that brings us to the end this week thanks again for coming along mate um I'm glad that we've all

37:45recovered from the big weekend it was a it was a big weekend for a lot of us I think a very sad weekend

37:51and a crazy race as well crazy race um you know but it's also yeah it'd be it would suck if it was

37:57boring so glad there was a bit of spice to it unfortunately Oscar didn't win I will keep the hat nearby

38:02just in case uh Oscar gets a leg up in China next weekend and then I will wear it and that's my

38:07promise to everyone I will wear the McLaren hat the entire time if Oscar gets a win uh but anyway

38:11thank you everyone for joining us uh if you have any thoughts feedback ideas that you'd like us to

38:16cover leave a comment or uh drop us an email podcast at carexpert.com.au if you haven't already

38:21subscribed to the youtube channel or hit that follow button on your preferred audio streaming platform but

38:26until next time we have a car expert podcast take it easy

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