The Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast – Episode # 129 – Tesla’s Child Seat issues and the GWM Ora gets another wrap!

[00:00:01] Trevor: This is Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars with Stephen Fenech and Trevor Long.

[00:00:06] Stephen: Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden.

[00:00:09] Trevor: And we appreciate their support. NRMA Insurance, helping Australians protect what matters most for 100 years or more. And they are one of Australia’s largest insurers of electric vehicles. And Uniden smart dash cams. Get yourself a dash cam like Chris did last week. He bought a brand new car and he followed our advice, the R model.

[00:00:25] Stephen: He got the rear camera too.

[00:00:26] Trevor: Absolutely, gotta get the rear camera so you have vision of what happens in front of you and behind you, and you’ve got that peace of mind in knowing what’s going on all around you. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Vodafone, send us a text, 0477 657 657. Just save that number, 0477 657 657, in your phone as The Two Blokes. Send us a text whenever you wanna talk EVs, and we’ll try and get you on the show and find out what’s going on in the world. We love learning, Steven, from everyone else.

[00:00:53] Stephen: Absolutely, well, that’s what this show’s all about.

[00:00:56] Trevor: It’s about information sharing.

[00:00:58] Stephen: We don’t know everything and you guys help us with your experiences.

[00:01:01] Trevor: What?

[00:01:02] Stephen: Well, I don’t know everything. Neither do I. Yeah, your experiences has helped, helps what makes this show what it is, where you’re sharing that knowledge with other people and your experiences.

[00:01:12] Trevor: Experiences good and bad too. Yeah, well, we don’t mind. No affiliation to anyone. And even if you do have a bad experience, we want to hear about it because I think it helps those companies get better at what they’re doing. Taking calls. Vidhu’s on the line. G’day, Vidhu.

Vidhu — Tesla family torn between a Model Y L and top-tether car seat issues

[00:01:25] Vidhu: Hey, how are you guys?

[00:01:27] Trevor: Yeah, really good, mate. What are you driving, mate? What’s in the driveway?

[00:01:31] Vidhu: Two Teslas at the moment.

[00:01:33] Stephen: Two?

[00:01:33] Trevor: Oh, hello. Humble brag.

[00:01:35] Stephen: So hang on, Model 3 and what else? Two Model 3s?

[00:01:37] Vidhu: 2022 and then a Juniper Model Y from last year.

[00:01:41] Stephen: Okay, so you’re a bit of a Tesla. Is it fair to say, Vidhu, you’re a Tesla fan or what?

[00:01:46] Vidhu: Yeah, I mean, you know, it was the best car in 2022 for sure. I don’t know if it’s still the same, but, you know, back then definitely was.

[00:01:55] Stephen: What am I detecting?

[00:01:56] Stephen: Bit of buyer’s remorse there, Vidhu, mate? You’re not, you’re not, you’re not as happy with it as you were back then, mate, or?

[00:02:03] Vidhu: Well, look, the Model 3, particularly Model Y, I love. I think it’s an amazing car. But the Model 3, the 2022 was good, but, you know, I paid for the FSD, still hasn’t come. You know, all of the little bits and pieces which make you go, hmm. So maybe not the best.

[00:02:20] Stephen: I’d imagine, mate, you would have paid what, you would have shelled out what, $5,000, $10,000 for that back then?

[00:02:25] Vidhu: $10,000. Yeah, it’s $10,000.

[00:02:27] Stephen: Wow, $10,000 and you haven’t got it yet. So what’s your position here, Vidhu? Are you going to talk to Tesla and say, listen, I’ve paid for something and I haven’t got it. Where can I get a refund?

[00:02:39] Vidhu: Well, I mean, I’ve kind of moved on from that because I feel like that has been the case for so long now. You’ve kind of moved beyond it. I’m actually a bit— I was hoping to actually swap out the Model 3 for a Model Y L, but I’m actually in a position where we’re expecting our second.

[00:02:57] Trevor: Oh, congratulations!

[00:02:58] Stephen: Congratulations!

[00:03:00] Vidhu: Moving from the single pram to the double pram, really, the Model 3, you can’t fit it in anymore.

[00:03:05] Stephen: Yeah, right.

[00:03:07] Vidhu: So we were hoping to actually get rid of the Model 3 and get a Model Y, but the Y L, you can’t actually put two car seats in there. You can’t put, um, yeah, so the issue is the top tether. The top tether doesn’t, like, slides off the shape of the headrest in the middle row.

[00:03:26] Trevor: So obviously there’s 3 rows, right? So in the captain’s chairs, there are ISOFIX and there’s an anchor point at the bottom of the seat. And I’ve seen a video of this. You put the harness over the headrest as you normally would and then hook it in. But because it’s so low, the curvature of the seat is— there’s no angles, there’s no sharp edges. The harness or the belt sits on the edge of the seat and then it’ll just drag down and then be loose. But you can put them in the back row, in the third row.

[00:03:56] Stephen: Really?

[00:03:57] Vidhu: But then I can’t put— I’m back to the same problem. Then I can’t put a double pram in because the boot space is not big enough. So the whole point of trying to get the bigger car— I thought the YL was a perfect—

[00:04:07] Trevor: it’s honestly insane. And I know people— first time we’ve heard of this, mate, they love Tesla, I get it, but that is such a dumb design. And I know it’s their fancy cool, you know, rocket ship seats, but it’s a dumb design because you are exactly the person who wants the bigger space?

[00:04:24] Stephen: Yes.

[00:04:24] Trevor: So you want to put the rear seats down, put the double pram in there. You want two kids in car seats and you can’t do it.

[00:04:30] Vidhu: Can’t do it.

[00:04:31] Stephen: Wow.

[00:04:31] Stephen: But what about the regular Model Y? Does the regular Model Y allow you to do that or not?

[00:04:35] Vidhu: Yeah. So the Model Y is fine. Like, it has regular seats at the back. So we’ve already got one car seat and I’ve got the next, like the car seats all ready to go so I can put it into the current Model Y. But the Y, like I was hoping to get like, you know, swap out the 3 for another Y so that way we’ve got two cars that we can get in and out of with the two car seats without an issue.

[00:04:56] Stephen: How ironic is it? You want the bigger car, you want to have more room, but you can’t use this.

[00:05:01] Trevor: You can’t fit what you need. And I think the other thing is, and Vidhu, it’s been a while since I’ve had kids in car seats, but I think if my memory serves, ISOFIX, which is the little hooks inside the seat in Europe, you just ISOFIX and you’re done. That’s the legal requirement for a car seat. You don’t actually use a harness.

[00:05:20] Vidhu: No, the top tether is an Australian-specific requirement.

[00:05:23] Stephen: Correct.

[00:05:23] Stephen: Yes.

[00:05:24] Vidhu: But no car seat installer will sign off on the YL because of the captain’s chair.

[00:05:29] Trevor: Because I don’t— yeah, because it’s, because it’s required under Australian law to have the harness in place. So it sounds like basically you’re looking to go from being a Model 3, Model Y Juniper family to, to 2 Model Y family, but not the YL because you lose the ability to, to do the captain’s seat harnesses.

[00:05:47] Vidhu: Yeah. So it’s very frustrating because we need a second SUV, like the 3 is just too small. So well, my whole point is trying to get a bigger car.

[00:05:55] Stephen: Who can I suggest? There are other EVs.

[00:05:59] Vidhu: I know. I know. I’ve looked at the Zeekr.

[00:06:02] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:06:02] Trevor: So you’ve already been— have you looked at the Zeekr 7X? Because that, mate, that’s selling.

[00:06:06] Vidhu: I got a, got a friend with it and yeah, look, it definitely looks good. But I mean, the issue for us is that the model, the Tesla advantage, if you’re working and you don’t have to service and you don’t have to do anything, is really— it’s just so attractive. Like having had now 5 years of a Tesla, almost 5 years, and I’ve never gone to a mechanic. Is it just such— I had a Volkswagen before that, and I drive about 50,000 K’s a year. It’s just from commuting to work. And I used to service the Golf every, you know, 6 months. It was ridiculous, right? Like, to get through the year, you’ve got to service so often. And then having the 2 Teslas, I haven’t touched a mechanic for so long.

[00:06:52] Stephen: Yes, that’s attractive. And you know what, that’s why Tesla’s Tesla.

[00:06:54] Trevor: That’s—

[00:06:55] Stephen: I used to drive a Tesla myself. I know exactly what you’re talking about. They’re very low maintenance vehicles. And of course you’d want to maintain that, have that sort of in your life. But yeah, I think other brands though are sort of coming into the space now where their after-sales service is just as compelling as Tesla.

[00:07:15] Trevor: Have you looked at a Kia EV5?

[00:07:17] Vidhu: No, I haven’t actually looked at the Kias.

[00:07:19] Trevor: I think Kia EV5 might be a nice option. I think size-wise it’d be a good fit. Certainly be totally fine for the car seats. I’ve got no doubt. Obviously BYD Sea Lion, there’s a new Sea Lion, but it’s a plug-in hybrid, the bigger version.

[00:07:38] Vidhu: The 8 one, right?

[00:07:39] Trevor: Yes. Yes. So, mate, I think that’s what— I mean, before committing to a second Model Y, just because it’s worth checking the market.

[00:07:49] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:07:49] Trevor: I think it’d be interesting to go for a bit of few test drives, mate.

[00:07:52] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:07:52] Vidhu: I mean, then I was thinking, should I just get a performance one? And then I guess I have a long range and performance. And then.

[00:08:00] Trevor: All right, hang on a minute.

[00:08:01] Stephen: Hang on a minute. So this is a performance for you and then what, another one for the kids? Is that what you’re saying?

[00:08:06] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:08:06] Stephen: Or what?

[00:08:08] Vidhu: Yeah, well, you know, if we’re getting a new one and getting a faster one.

[00:08:12] Trevor: Wow. Wow.

[00:08:13] Stephen: That’s great.

[00:08:14] Trevor: I love it. I love your priorities. You know what? It’s funny when we listen to someone talk, I’m pretty confident you’re not wedded to Tesla, but I feel like, I feel like you’re going to be a Tesla family for life.

[00:08:27] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:08:27] Vidhu: Look, I mean, we’ve got the Powerwalls at home. It’s— we’ve got 5 now because they did a replacement from the 2s to the 3s because there was that warranty recall. So we ended up with 5 now in the garage.

[00:08:40] Stephen: So it’s just a charging issue.

[00:08:43] Vidhu: No, we got 2 wall chargers all ready to go. Like, isn’t it? So that way one car’s parked outside, one’s in the garage, they’re both charging at the same time. Like everything is set up so you’ve got to work cleanly right now and you have to move away from it, right? Like the app is there.

[00:08:58] Trevor: That makes it like you don’t have to worry at all. Yeah.

[00:09:01] Stephen: If I was a betting man, I’d say Vidhu is going to be another Tesla and performance model by the sounds of it.

[00:09:07] Trevor: But it’s really, really interesting and great feedback on the captain’s chairs. It’s so timely. I saw it on a TikTok video or something recently. I’m like, that is remarkable to me. That that is a failure. But I guess, I guess I should be less harsh on Tesla there because they’ve built a, built a product that will work in most countries, but it’s just here in Australia. And what do they do? They’ve got to put little clips or something on the seat to hook it in, or, you know, it’s a very hard thing to fix.

[00:09:34] Vidhu: Yeah, they said a tether extension, but I don’t know. I mean, there’s all these posts about people saying at the car show they said tether extension and you can do the Y strap around.

[00:09:44] Trevor: Yes, yes, straight down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:09:48] Vidhu: I mean, the niggling is going to be like, you know, you can compared to your kid being in another car, you’re just taking an unnecessary risk.

[00:09:54] Stephen: Yeah, exactly right. Safety first, mate.

[00:09:56] Trevor: Mate, if a car seat installer said to me, “Oh, let me put an extension in, we’ll do it,” I’d be like, “Great.” Yeah. But if they’re saying no, then that’s where I’m at. I’m a hard no, unfortunately. Even though we know that the cars are safe overseas and they’re running the ISOFIX seats, Australia has higher standards. And I’m in favor of standards that protect kids, and I’m pretty sure you are for your own kids as well. So I feel like you’re just gonna end up with another junior Juniper, and it sounds like it’s going to be a Performance Model.

[00:10:25] Vidhu: Well, kind of two of the same, right?

[00:10:28] Trevor: What color have you got in the driveway at the moment?

[00:10:31] Vidhu: Uh, we’ve got the Stealth Gray, um, a Y Long Range. So I thought maybe Black Performance Y. Nice.

[00:10:39] Trevor: Yeah, he’s got— he’s thinking.

[00:10:39] Stephen: He’s already— I already have to be honest with you, you’ve already gone on the website, you’ve already specced it up, haven’t you?

[00:10:45] Vidhu: Oh yeah. I mean, I would love if they would let me transfer the, um, the FSD from the Model 3 to the Y, but they’re very, uh, really you know, that would be the— because I don’t want to pay a subscription.

[00:10:57] Stephen: All right.

[00:10:57] Trevor: I’m going to give you the last piece of advice on that then is I’m writing today to the New South Wales Department— you’re in New South Wales, where I am anyway, whatever local state you’re in— Department of Fair Trading and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the ACCC. I’m writing a letter saying I paid for this X number of years ago.

[00:11:14] Stephen: Didn’t get it.

[00:11:15] Trevor: And I’m now ready to, you know, sell the car or trade the car in. And this company will not honor that purchase with a product. Yeah, it is insane.

[00:11:25] Stephen: That is true.

[00:11:25] Trevor: It is absolutely insane.

[00:11:27] Stephen: Is it an Australian consumer law issue too?

[00:11:29] Trevor: Like, I mean, I feel like it is. That’s why I say the ACCC.

[00:11:31] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:11:32] Trevor: So, mate, I’d fight.

[00:11:33] Stephen: I wouldn’t, mate. $10,000 is $10,000. I wouldn’t let that go.

[00:11:38] Vidhu: I’m going to try and push them to transfer it at least so I don’t— it’s not, you know, at least I’ll get it at the very end.

[00:11:43] Stephen: Well, you’re closer to getting it now than before.

[00:11:45] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:11:46] Stephen: Like you said, you don’t want to be paying, what is it, $149 a month for a subscription.

[00:11:51] Vidhu: Yeah, but you already paid for it and didn’t have to.

[00:11:54] Stephen: Otherwise you have to just drive the car yourself. What can we say?

[00:11:58] Vidhu: That sounds terrible.

[00:12:00] Trevor: Oh, you poor thing. All right, mate. Great to hear from you. Let us know what you end up doing, buddy.

[00:12:05] Vidhu: Thanks, guys.

[00:12:06] Trevor: Cheers, mate. Good to hear from you. Thanks very much. There you go. That’s a first world problem. There is a Tesla fan going, you know what?

[00:12:12] Stephen: He did outline the reasons why he’s so loyal to this brand because they are, I’ve got to say, after sales, they are excellent and really good in sort of low maintenance, all of that.

[00:12:25] Trevor: I think if you had this argument at a barbecue with car people, especially somebody who works in car servicing, right? They’d be like, “Oh, it’s insane not to look at your car, look at da da da da.” And I think I was like that in the early days thinking, “Yeah, but come on.” But it’s not like we’ve had a plethora of issues with 5-year-old Teslas not being serviced and their brakes running off or something. You know what I mean?

[00:12:46] Stephen: How many, yeah.

[00:12:48] Stephen: Testimonials we had from people who bought, they’re still driving 10-year-old Teslas and they’re perfect, still great.

[00:12:53] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:12:53] Trevor: So I agree. I think it’s another great selling point for a Tesla and it’s a hard one to argue.

[00:12:59] Stephen: But the other side of that, the FSD.

[00:13:02] Trevor: That is wild.

[00:13:03] Stephen: That, I don’t know how they can get away with that legally.

[00:13:06] Trevor: They haven’t delivered a product. I always say it’s the most disgraceful thing that Elon Musk ever did was sell something that he couldn’t deliver.

[00:13:11] Stephen: Couldn’t deliver it. You know, so I’ll tell you what.

[00:13:13] Trevor: And even now he can deliver it, he’s got people who paid for it that can’t have it.

[00:13:16] Stephen: Yeah, that’s ridiculous.

[00:13:17] Trevor: That’s absolutely insane to me.

[00:13:19] Stephen: Yeah, ridiculous.

[00:13:20] Trevor: I would today write a letter to your Department of Fair Trading and the ACCC, raise it, CC to Tesla, and begin the process, mate, because the loudest voice wins, unfortunately.

[00:13:31] Stephen: Absolutely. Squeaky wheel gets the oil. And I think, well, I think what he wants to do is transfer it to his next purchase. Maybe they might be willing to negotiate.

[00:13:39] Trevor: That’s the most insane part about it is they’re going to keep him as a customer by just going, okay, cool, we’ll just copy that across. Copy paste, folks.

[00:13:46] Stephen: Why not? Why not put it in there? But I don’t think you can actually buy it outright now. It’s only a subscription.

[00:13:52] Trevor: It’s only a subscription, yeah.

[00:13:53] Stephen: So I don’t know, is that true? You can’t just pay a lump sum and that’s it.

[00:13:57] Trevor: Not that I know of, no. Two blokes talking electric cars. Let us know your experience. I’d love to hear from people that use Full Self-Drive too. I see so many videos on it. It’s obviously amazing.

[00:14:06] Stephen: It’s so good, but it’s not quite. You’ve still gotta be in charge, eh?

[00:14:09] Trevor: I’ve seen people that are not really in charge. They’re hands off in a sense. So I’d love to hear real world experience. Is it your daily commute? Is it relaxing? Does it focus you more on the road?

[00:14:20] Stephen: What does it make you do? Does it work?

[00:14:22] Trevor: Yeah. How does it make your partner think? My wife was in the car and I was just doing that. She’d lose her mind.

[00:14:27] Stephen: Oh, well, even today I did the great grandma express and I had my Merc does it. And then I said, oh, look, the car’s driving itself. Oh mate, you should be careful.

[00:14:36] Trevor: You really gave them a horrible drive because then you threatened them with a walk home.

[00:14:40] Stephen: I trolled them. Yeah, I trolled them on the way back too.

[00:14:42] Trevor: 2 blokes talking electric cars. We’d love to hear from you on the show. 2 blokes talking electric cars. Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden Smart Dashcams. Taking your calls. 0477 657 657. Send us a text. Thanks to Vodafone. Colin did that and he’s on the line. G’day, Colin.

Colin — GWM Ora ownership as a self-described motorhead

[00:15:07] Colin: How you going, guys?

[00:15:08] Trevor: Mate, really, really good. Where are you at in the world of electric cars?

[00:15:13] Colin: So I’ve purchased a GWM Ora in March this year.

[00:15:18] Trevor: Nice.

[00:15:20] Colin: Just due to the aging Corolla that I had for years.

[00:15:26] Trevor: That’s an interesting upgrade because the Corolla is a small car. The Ora is a small car. Now, to be clear, we’re talking about the Ora, not the Ora SUV one, the Ora 5 or whatever they call it.

[00:15:35] Colin: Yes, it’s the older one, the Ora 3.

[00:15:38] Trevor: The OG. It’s a little bubble car.

[00:15:39] Stephen: Yeah, nice little car.

[00:15:42] Colin: Not, not a very manly car.

[00:15:45] Stephen: You said that, not us.

[00:15:46] Trevor: Depends what color you got it in, my friend.

[00:15:49] Colin: Uh, Shark, uh, chalky gray, I think it’s called.

[00:15:52] Trevor: Okay, that’s all right. No, that’s manly.

[00:15:54] Stephen: Yeah, it’s pretty good.

[00:15:55] Colin: And I’ve got the GT, so nice.

[00:15:58] Trevor: Tell us about it.

[00:15:58] Colin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like I said, I had an aging Corolla. Um, it was involved in an accident which ended up being written off. I was looking to upgrade to a hybrid Corolla. Just the cost of them is still pretty high for a late model secondhand low case.

[00:16:18] Stephen: Yeah, yeah, right.

[00:16:20] Colin: At the time I was working for GWM as a motor mechanic. Oh, so that was convenient. I went to my boss and I said, I’m interested in the Ora and the price that he gave me, I couldn’t really refuse compared to the Corolla. Price-wise, tech, what you get. And it was a no-brainer. Yeah, right.

[00:16:41] Stephen: So you will obviously, you working as a mechanic, they must be, you know, from the inside then that they’re reliable car, that they low maintenance and all, they tick all the boxes.

[00:16:53] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:16:53] Colin: And it just blows me away. Like $99 services for the first 5 years.

[00:16:58] Trevor: Wow. We were just talking about Tesla and how that’s an appeal to people and not really have to service their car compared to the mainstream or legacy motor, motor companies. So what are you saying? So $99, is that basically per year? What’s the regularity of service?

[00:17:14] Colin: Yeah, so it’s 15,000 Ks, 12 months, pretty sort of standard, but $99 per service for the first 5 years.

[00:17:22] Trevor: Which is, you know what, I respect that because that’s them saying, look, selling point, we’d like you to bring the car in because we think it’s important to check the brakes and da da da da da. And so you’re paying essentially for them to wheel it in, put it up on the hoist and check everything. Are the tires good? The wiper? You know, you’d expect them to, you know, check all the fluids and things, wiper fluid, and everything. But, you know, basically, and let’s be clear, the service center is also then gonna go, hey, new wipers, new tires, you want us to fill this up? They’re gonna ask all those things, but you’ll have the option of going, it’s cool, I’ll get my tires myself, or I’ll do myself, whatever. But you know, what a great selling point, Steven.

[00:17:59] Stephen: Absolutely, yeah.

[00:18:02] Colin: Yeah, so, and you know, it’s the age-old argument. I’m a motorhead. I’ve got a 1,500-horsepower drag car that runs on methanol. So the kind of car that people would associate with myself. What?

[00:18:18] Trevor: Hang on. What do your mates say? What are you rolling up in an Ora?

[00:18:23] Stephen: What happens then?

[00:18:25] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:18:25] Colin: So it was more just time and place. And it was around that time that the war started. Fuel prices were supposed to skyrocket, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Hey, I went into it very unprepared. I won’t lie. I didn’t really know too much about the charging.

[00:18:41] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:18:42] Colin: Anything. So. But it’s worked out great. I love it. I don’t—

[00:18:47] Trevor: because you listen to a podcast and found out the answers.

[00:18:50] Colin: Yeah, well, and that too. And that too.

[00:18:52] Stephen: So what you say. So you, you’re going in, as you just said, you’re going in blind here. How have you now adapted to driving an EV charging and how many K’s you drive a day? How’s it been for you?

[00:19:04] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:19:04] Colin: So that’s— it’s just my run to work daily car. The granny charger at the moment is filling that gap very well.

[00:19:12] Stephen: Nice.

[00:19:14] Colin: I do about 90 km when I go to work overnight. I replace that.

[00:19:19] Stephen: So that’s—

[00:19:20] Stephen: I’m pretty happy with the granny charger. You replace that?

[00:19:22] Trevor: Yeah, that’s fair.

[00:19:22] Stephen: That’s pretty good.

[00:19:23] Colin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And obviously I’ve just used public chargers when I’ve had to travel. Yeah, my partner is pretty savvy on saving money, which, you know, that goes along with everything. And we found, we found a place in Sydney when we do travel, the hotel’s got free EV charging.

[00:19:43] Stephen: Lovely.

[00:19:44] Colin: Yeah, it’s just, yeah, the plan is to put a proper charger in at home down the future, you know, down the line. But this is how unprepared I was. I turned up at a public charger and, you know, I thought the cable was there and everything. And my partner went, went, have you got a cable? Went, no.

[00:20:00] Trevor: Lesson learned. It’s one of those little things, isn’t it, that we’ve talked about a little bit. It’s just no car. There might be a couple of cars that come with it.

[00:20:08] Stephen: Are you still working at GWM?

[00:20:11] Colin: I’ve just left there for no reason. I’ve just secured a job, a little bit better money and conditions and that. That’s all we chase.

[00:20:24] Trevor: So yeah, of course, mate, do what’s right for you. I’m still blown away and interested in the idea that your mate know that you’re a drag car owner and here you are in a little GWM Ora. I mean, have you become an advocate for the electric world given where you came from, which is, you said, was pretty much nothing?

[00:20:43] Stephen: You’re a motor guy.

[00:20:45] Colin: Yeah. I think it’s the— I think it’s a— you’ve got to look at it the right way. I think like if you think you’re going to drive to the Northern Territory in it, you’ve got the wrong opinion. Yeah, I think for what I bought it for and what I use it for is what they are at the moment.

[00:21:03] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:21:04] Stephen: Yeah, that’s important. I think you need to, you know, you need to do your homework and buy the car that’s going to suit your lifestyle and your job and all of that. So it sounds like you’ve done that. And, and it sounds to me like you’ve got just the right car for yourself. You haven’t overcapitalized, you haven’t gotten something you’d never use.

[00:21:22] Trevor: Low on gas costs.

[00:21:23] Stephen: Yeah, that’s it.

[00:21:24] Trevor: It’s a win.

[00:21:25] Colin: Yeah. Yeah. And I’ve got a Land Cruiser that tows my race car. If I want to drive to Northern Territory, I’ll put diesel in and drive there. Right.

[00:21:33] Stephen: Okay.

[00:21:33] Colin: So I just think it’s funny how a lot of people have the wrong mindset around them.

[00:21:39] Trevor: Oh, mate. Yeah, 100%. Can I ask you this though? As a bloke that gets to sit in front of the Christmas tree and see the lights go up and, you know, lay down some rubber. I mean, the Ora is not known as a sports car. You did get the GT though. I mean, is it impressive?

[00:21:56] Colin: I think so. You know, I think they’re compared to a Corolla 26, they’re 126 kilowatts and from 0 to 70, it is actually quite impressive.

[00:22:08] Stephen: Sounds to me like you’ve given it a bit of a squirt.

[00:22:11] Trevor: Hasn’t he?

[00:22:11] Stephen: What, have you had a crack?

[00:22:14] Colin: Legally? Yes, I have.

[00:22:15] Stephen: Yes.

[00:22:16] Trevor: Well done, mate. I’m really, really happy for you, Colin. Sounds like you’ve fallen into a great car. It feels like it was the right thing to do at the right time and it’s ended up being the right thing for a long time. And I think it’s a great little car. And I’ve said on recent shows, I’ve said I never liked the look of it when it announced, but then when I saw it on the road, I thought it looked good on the road. So I think it’s actually a better car in the flesh.

[00:22:39] Colin: Yeah.

[00:22:39] Trevor: And mate, I’m glad you’ve enlightened us on the super affordable ongoing servicing for 5 years. That’s a brilliant thing to know, mate. So thank you very much for getting in touch.

[00:22:49] Colin: No worries at all. And I think I’ve went to the other end of your scale about test driving. I test drove one car.

[00:22:56] Trevor: That’s it. Boom.

[00:22:57] Stephen: Wow. So you’re the, you’re the bottom record on your show.

[00:23:00] Colin: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that you said some lady, Penelope, drove 16.

[00:23:04] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:23:05] Stephen: Penelope.

[00:23:05] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:23:06] Trevor: And you know what? I think the only— I would say this to you, Colin. I think the only other people that have driven one car are normally Tesla drivers because they they’re mesmerized by it. They drive it and they buy it. I don’t think there’s probably others, but I think broadly speaking, that’s a very rare thing. And I’m glad you ended up with a good result, Colin.

[00:23:26] Colin: Oh, thank you. Can I ask Steve a question?

[00:23:29] Stephen: Sure, mate.

[00:23:30] Colin: What’s your opinion of the 500? I did see on the last show you’re driving a 500 at the moment.

[00:23:35] Trevor: Oh, the GWM, the tank. Yes, mate.

[00:23:38] Stephen: That is, you know, a big car if you love big cars.

[00:23:42] Trevor: Um, because you’re a Land Cruiser owner.

[00:23:44] Stephen: Yes. Uh, I think for someone like yourself who’s used to a big car, absolutely. Uh, and this, this was a plug-in hybrid as well, so you’ve got a motor as well as the, the battery portion. So for your city driving, but yeah, mate, well put together car. Uh, nice and nice, plenty of room, really nicely appointed as well. Beautiful inside.

[00:24:05] Trevor: Have you, Colin, have you seen the Densas?

[00:24:09] Colin: Yes.

[00:24:10] Stephen: Yes.

[00:24:10] Colin: My, my partner is in love with the C97.

[00:24:14] Trevor: Oh, right.

[00:24:17] Colin: Yeah. So I have— yeah, she sent me a lot of that kind of stuff. So yeah, I have seen them.

[00:24:21] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:24:21] Stephen: The GWM, I didn’t mind. I think, yeah, for someone who is into big cars, I reckon they would take to that really well.

[00:24:27] Trevor: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds like car culture.

[00:24:30] Stephen: Just watch out for the rail, the rail that comes out from the sideboard that comes out of the car. Automatically when you open the doors, just be careful of your shins. I think I said in the show last time that I had to reach in to get my phone and just bash my shin against this.

[00:24:48] Trevor: So what were you saying? What’s the reason you ask?

[00:24:51] Colin: The reason I ask you, when you compare that car, once it— I think once it has a decent diesel engine in it, because that’s what people want, when you compare that to a 300 Series in the way of—

[00:25:05] Trevor: it’s crazy how they are inside, the tech that they’ve got, for $80,000.

[00:25:10] Colin: How can you buy a 300 Series?

[00:25:12] Trevor: It’s, it’s why I’m flabbergasted that Toyota is still selling as many cars as they are. Because like, even with respect, even the Lexus I’m driving at the moment, I look at the interior and I go, I get it, it’s nice, but it’s also just so Toyota. It’s very, it’s very plasticky in some ways. The infotainment system is not amazing. It’s just like they haven’t really advanced into the 2020s. And so if you had landed on Earth and heard that you needed to have a big bulky four-wheel drive to be the alpha male, and you see someone with a 300 Series Land Cruiser and you go, okay, I’m gonna, you’ve never driven anything before. I’m gonna sit in a Land Cruiser, a GWM tank, and a Denza, like the D8 or D9, I think they’re called. I don’t think you’d buy a Land Cruiser. I don’t think you would. Now that said, I get it that if you’re taking it on rock crawls and bloody off-road and maybe there’s some absolute credentials there. But mate, the percentage of Land Cruisers that actually do that, very low.

[00:26:11] Colin: Very low.

[00:26:12] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:26:13] Colin: And if you took the badges off all of them and made people sit in them and said, okay, which one? Which one is a premium brand? I think Denza and GWM would win.

[00:26:24] Stephen: Absolutely. Yeah, they would.

[00:26:25] Trevor: Good observation.

[00:26:26] Stephen: Very nice. I think I only drove the 500.

[00:26:29] Trevor: You didn’t want to get into it. You hogged it.

[00:26:32] Stephen: It’s a beautiful vehicle. No, very nice inside and out.

[00:26:35] Trevor: Lovely to hear from you, mate. Thanks for getting in touch, Colin.

[00:26:39] Colin: No, thanks for your time. Talk to you later.

[00:26:41] Trevor: Great stuff. Well done. Great car. Drag car owner there driving a GWM Ora. What a car.

[00:26:46] Stephen: Wow.

[00:26:47] Trevor: Amazing. Amazing. Didn’t see that coming.

[00:26:50] Stephen: No.

[00:26:50] Stephen: Well, you know what? I love the fact that he just got the car that would suit his needs.

[00:26:55] Stephen: Yep.

[00:26:56] Trevor: That’s all he needed.

[00:26:57] Stephen: He never tried to go over what would fill his requirements.

[00:27:01] Trevor: If there’s a car to suit your needs out there and you found it, let us know. 0477 657 657.

[00:27:14] Stephen: 7.

[00:27:17] Trevor: Great to have your company, folks. Um, sorry about the fast-moving images for those watching on YouTube. If you have issues with strobe effects, sorry, I apologize in advance. Um, love to take your calls. Michael’s on the line today. Michael, Cool.

Michael — first EV, a BYD Sea Lion 7, bought sight-unseen in Tasmania

[00:27:33] Michael: How you going, Steven?

[00:27:35] Trevor: Mate, we’re very well. We’re all here. We’re all friends here, Michael. You’ve bought a BYD Sea Lion 7. Not the first Sea Lion 7 owner we’ve spoken to. What are you loving about it, mate?

[00:27:46] Michael: I love it all, really. Great car. Love the technology. Love the looks of it. Interior is fantastic. First electric car, but yeah, no, it’s really great.

[00:27:57] Trevor: There it is. Glowing endorsement. Thanks for your call. It doesn’t come any better.

[00:28:00] Stephen: It sounds like too, you got it pretty quick.

[00:28:02] Trevor: So you did your test drive.

[00:28:04] Stephen: And you were in it pretty fast, is that right?

[00:28:07] Michael: Yeah, probably less than 2 weeks. I’ve had it just over a week.

[00:28:10] Trevor: Wow.

[00:28:11] Michael: Okay. So how did that work out for you?

[00:28:13] Stephen: So you went— you live in Tasmania, right?

[00:28:17] Michael: That’s correct.

[00:28:17] Stephen: Yeah. So they had some supplies there, did they? Had some stock then for you?

[00:28:22] Michael: How was the experience? Yeah, really great actually. I know there’s a lot of people had issues with BYD, but I can’t fault them, to be honest.

[00:28:31] Trevor: That’s great.

[00:28:32] Michael: Yeah, no, no problems at all. 3 dealerships here in Tassie, so they were able to move cars around a bit and get one up to me pretty quick. Yeah, it was great.

[00:28:41] Trevor: So your first electric car, as you said, how long did you spend looking before you chose the Sea Lion 7?

[00:28:48] Michael: Oh, guys, I guess I was always going to buy an electric car as the next car. It probably came a bit quicker. Actually went looking for a car for my partner. She wanted to downsize out of her RAV4 and we were looking at a Kona, but the Kona dealership is also the BYD dealership and she bought a Kona and I wandered up the corridor and bought a BYD at the same time.

[00:29:09] Trevor: So hang on, so did she get the electric Kona or plug-in hybrid or the petrol?

[00:29:13] Michael: She got the petrol hybrid. She wasn’t quite ready for the electric.

[00:29:17] Trevor: She’s part of the way there.

[00:29:19] Michael: Yeah, yeah. She’s a little annoyed. She’s got to wait 8 weeks and I got mine in 2. So she’s not very happy, but that’s okay.

[00:29:25] Trevor: What about, just by the way, what about the dealer principal at that joint? He’s just sold 2 cars to one household. He’s, he’s very happy.

[00:29:31] Michael: Yeah, I think he was pretty happy. Yeah, happy man.

[00:29:33] Trevor: And so how are you preparing to go electric then? That’s the big thing. It’s a big change.

[00:29:39] Michael: Yeah, no, it is a big change. Like I said, I’ve had it for a week. Just granny charger for me for the moment. I think I can pretty much get away with that. Only traveling maybe 40 to 50 kilometers a day. So, you know, I can gain that back overnight on a charger here easily.

[00:29:55] Stephen: What about, what about when you need to venture out into Tasmania, what’s the charging situation like down there?

[00:30:06] Michael: Look, it’s okay. I think it’s okay. It’s getting better. There’s some fast chargers relatively close to home. There’s a Supercharger not that far away. You know, we only do the occasional trip to Hobart, which is around 350 kilometers, and there’s plenty of chargers on the highways down. So it’s not a huge issue at the moment. It is getting better.

[00:30:26] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:30:29] Michael: A few places in the state that aren’t great. The East Coast, not great at the moment, but it’s improving. And this BYD dealership that I dealt with, they’re pretty committed. They’re putting 3 chargers in up there at their dealership, public chargers.

[00:30:46] Stephen: So what is it like for in Tasmania? Are people, are you noticing more EVs on the road or are they, they sort of holding back a little bit?

[00:30:56] Michael: No, no, much more popular. You’re starting to see a lot of them around, a lot of BYDs around, lots of, you know, different makes, different brands on the road.

[00:31:07] Trevor: So yeah, it’s, it’s kind of picking up without, I guess, putting all Tasmanians in a bucket. But, you know, I think Tasmania leans heavily green. You know, people are very environmentally conscious. So I would have thought that in Tasmania there’d be a great uptake down there for that reason. And people trying to, you know, do their bit for the environment because Tasmania is such a beautiful place. And for decades it’s been that, you know, I think the most beautiful kind of forestry place in Australia. And so I would’ve thought it’d be strongly accepted down there. And look, 3 dealerships, I assume they’re in Devonport, Launceston, and Hobart. I’m assuming that’s how they’re operating. That’s correct.

[00:31:44] Stephen: Yeah, right.

[00:31:45] Michael: Yeah, pretty much. I guess the issue we have is there’s not a lot of other brands here as yet.

[00:31:51] Stephen: Right.

[00:31:51] Michael: When I went to look, if I was happy to travel to Hobart, there were lots of different options to drive. But, you know, local, close by, yeah, it was somewhat limited. Now, the other vehicle I drive was the new Hyundai, fully electric. I’d rented a Tesla in the past and I’d rented a Polestar in the past, but—

[00:32:13] Stephen: Well, I was going to ask about Tesla. Have they— do they have a presence there as well, or?

[00:32:19] Michael: Yeah, out of Hobart they do.

[00:32:20] Stephen: Okay, right.

[00:32:21] Trevor: There’s a Tesla Supercharger in Devonport, is there? There, not?

[00:32:25] Michael: Yeah, there is.

[00:32:26] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:32:26] Michael: Not very far away.

[00:32:27] Stephen: Tesla was never an option, Michael.

[00:32:30] Trevor: You never—

[00:32:31] Michael: No, not really. I like the idea of having a dealership relatively close by.

[00:32:37] Trevor: Okay.

[00:32:37] Michael: Okay.

[00:32:38] Trevor: Fair enough.

[00:32:38] Michael: For that reason, BYD became it, really.

[00:32:41] Trevor: What’s— and excuse my complete and utter ignorance, but because I’ve only ever been to Hobart in Tasmania, but what’s the population in Devonport? Because I’m looking at Plugshare and I’m a little bit blown away by how few public chargers there are. There’s essentially the Tesla, as I mentioned, there’s— it looks like there’s one in like a marketplace shopping centre and there’s one like a car dealership. That’s pretty much it.

[00:33:03] Michael: Yeah. Yeah, that’s pretty much it for a reason. It’s probably 45,000 population, so it’s a reasonable size, you know, small city.

[00:33:12] Stephen: Yeah.

[00:33:13] Michael: Yeah. And that’s the issue, you know, that the Tesla charger has 3 or 4 bays. I think the marketplace charger has 4 bays and the dealership has one, which is the dealership I bought my vehicle at. He has the one charger, but about to put 3 more in.

[00:33:27] Trevor: Devonport, where the Spirit of Tasmania comes in?

[00:33:31] Michael: Yeah, correct. And that’s where the Tesla Supercharger is.

[00:33:34] Trevor: I’m blown away there’s not more Tesla Superchargers there. I would have thought they’d put in 10 there because if you own a Tesla and you take the Spirit of Tasmania down, you want to, you know, get off the boat and make sure you’re fully charged for a lovely trip around the island.

[00:33:47] Michael: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that’s what people here are doing, charging up fully before they get on the boat to go to the mainland.

[00:33:52] Trevor: Hey, one thing that I would point out to you, and again, maybe I don’t know the area, but I know I know that Tasmania certainly isn’t a flat state. You need to be very cautious about hills because going up a hill is more drain on a battery than normal. Yeah, it is. Obviously going down is super efficient ’cause you could use literally next to nothing. But it’s an interesting thing in terms of trip planning. And it’s where you go to an app like Plugshare where it understands elevations and you can look at it and go, actually, this is very much a downhill journey. So my point is that it can be a real mindset issue. I get to my destination and I only use 20% of my battery. But you don’t realize that because you were going downhill the whole way. And so it’s really hard to see. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:39] Michael: And I do find that as, you know, being new to an EV, I’ve done one reasonable trip, 250 kilometers round trip, and I was somewhat obsessed with the battery percentage and the amount of kilometers I had left, which I guess is something that it, you know, goes after a while.

[00:34:57] Trevor: It definitely goes away after a little while, mate. You’ll end up being totally fine and understanding exactly what your car can and can’t do, mate. That’ll be totally fine.

[00:35:04] Michael: Yeah.

[00:35:05] Stephen: And just quickly, Michael, what— give us a quick review, mate. Good things, things you don’t like about the car. What’s— put your reviewer’s hat on.

[00:35:14] Michael: Yeah. Can’t really say I can fault it. I noticed I looked at a lot of reviews. Obviously it would have been great if there’d been a few more options for interior colors and stuff apart from just the, the usual all black.

[00:35:27] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:35:28] Michael: But apart from that, yeah, I can’t fault this car at the moment.

[00:35:31] Stephen: There you go.

[00:35:32] Trevor: That’s awesome.

[00:35:32] Stephen: Glowing endorsement, mate.

[00:35:34] Trevor: We’ve heard so many great things about the car. I gave it big wraps last year. I just think it’s— I think it’s a sleeper. It’s selling very well, but I think as a part of the market, it’s a— it’s an absolute sleeper. It’s a— it’s a really fantastic vehicle. BYD hitting it out of the park. If they are continuing to work on the issues that we’ve heard over months, although you didn’t have anything of the sort,— they’re doing great things, Michael. So yeah, really great, mate. Lovely to hear from you, buddy. Enjoy your electric future.

[00:35:59] Michael: All right, guys, thanks very much.

[00:36:01] Trevor: Cheers. No worries at all. Great to hear from you. Always good to hear from anyone who’s bought an electric car or in the market for an electric car. Lots of options out there, including hybrids. And Steven, you were driving the MG HS recently, correct?

[00:36:13] Stephen: Yeah. Well, this is, this isn’t a— this is a hybrid. So it’s technically still an EV, but it’s not a plug-in hybrid.

[00:36:19] Trevor: It counts on like the new vehicle emissions scale. But yeah, it’s a—

[00:36:22] Stephen: so it is. And you know what, obviously see, having that type of hybrid means it’s just a more efficient— makes it a more efficient petrol car, basically. It had great mileage, really nice looking car. I’ve got to say, what surprised me, I remember when I took this home, my mother-in-law took a real shine to it. She said, well, this is a better looking than your car, she said. And my car cost 3 times as much. She said, yeah, the MG, it’s really— she’s— and it is a nice little stylish car. So that was the first thing that she took to.

[00:36:53] Trevor: But in the end, she’s right. The Mercedes is ugly.

[00:36:56] Stephen: Well, the MG HS though, it is a nice car. Decent, I think, what would you call it? Mid-size SUV? It’s mid-size. So plenty of room. My wife particularly liked it. She said, this is the sort of car that would suit me, suit her, size-wise, and the fact it’s a hybrid as well. So, and plenty of space in the back as well. So if you, you know, the shopping, the golf clubs, trips, suitcases, plenty of room for that. I do like the MG, the interiors, how they’ve really improved, so they’ve brought, I think, the EV style into the hybrid as well. So the screen that goes right from the driver all the way across to the middle of the car and their infotainment system is pretty seamless. It’s really easy to pair your phones and to be able to access CarPlay and Android Auto. They’ve even got an app as well if you want to go into it. MG’s app is actually quite handy too. If you want to do things like, you know, precondition the car and do all those kinds of things before you head off. But overall, I think the styling inside and out— outside, you already know our opinion, it’s a pretty nice looking car. Inside has a nice appointment. So it has, even though it’s not a European car, has a sort of European feel in the styling and the quality of the interior of the car. And of course, having a petrol engine in your back pocket, there’s no kind of range anxiety issues going on here. So it’s got a 1.5-liter turbo petrol engine under the hood, literally. So, but—

[00:38:32] Trevor: and so the other thing is, and I don’t know why MG didn’t give you the Super Hybrid, because I’m pretty sure the Super Hybrid is a plug-in. This to me says that, you know, Joe likes the size of this car. Yes, Joe’s next car should be something like the MG HS Super Hybrid because you get the benefit of all the hybrid stuff on the, yeah, on the main roads and the drive up to see little Jack. But around town in her normal life to school and back, whatever, yeah, just get a plug-in hybrid. So I think because there’s the, as I understand it, and I’m not an expert in this range, but as I understand it, MG have the hybrid and the Super Hybrid of the HS, which means you’ve got the option of the Toyota-style hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, which would be awesome.

[00:39:10] Stephen: And on the safety side as well, they’ve got everything there. They’ve got the Intelligent Cruise Assist there, yeah, autonomous emergency braking. They have all those safety features, so they tick all the boxes there as well. Adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, blind spot detection, lane change assist— it’s all there.

[00:39:28] Trevor: It’s all there, everything you need.

[00:39:30] Stephen: And of course too, 10-year warranty on this car as well. Crazy, 10 years. They’ll back it, MG. Uh, yeah, so they’ve been in the game a while, and their range of fully electric cars are really impressive too. But they’re still actually maintaining the quality with their hybrids as well.

[00:39:47] Trevor: All right, check it out, the MG HS, as endorsed by Stephen Fenech. Great little car. And I think, yeah, talk to the dealer about the different options because it’s like the Hyundai Kona, there’s multiple drivetrain options. And I just think these days, if you’re on the edge, as we were talking, I think last week I mentioned the NRMA had noticed in their charging business an uplift in people using plug-in hybrids because why not use every bit of battery you can? Absolutely right. It’s insane not to. Absolutely. All right, uh, Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars, we’d love to hear from you about whatever car you’re driving. Uh, 0477 657 657. Get in touch, we’ll hear from you soon, and Stephen, we’ll do it all again next week.

[00:40:23] Stephen: Bring it on!

[00:40:24] Trevor: Righty-o!