The Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast – Episode # 142 – KIA Owner buys a Zeekr – We drive the Mazda 6e

142 – KIA Owner buys a Zeekr – We drive the Mazda 6e

Podcast: Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars
Date: 19 October 2026
Hosts: Trevor Long and Stephen Fenech
Callers: Gary, Dean

[00:00:01] VOICE OVER: This is Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars with Trevor Long and Stephen Fenech. Thanks to NRMA Insurance and Uniden.

[00:00:10] Trevor Long: Great people at NRMA Insurance helping Australians protect what matters most for 100 years or more, and one of Australia’s largest insurers of electric vehicles. We’ll talk to them probably next week about their latest Changing Gears report. And we also thank the good people at Uniden who provide some of the best dashcams on the market to Australian drivers all across the country, EV or otherwise. Doesn’t matter if it’s older car, you can still, you can still grab a dash cam, Stephen.

[00:00:34] Stephen Fenech: Totally. And make sure you’re looking for the model with R. The R models of the Uniden dash cams, that includes the rear camera. You got to keep an eye on all sides, front and back.

[00:00:44] Trevor Long: All right, we will, we’ll tell you more about them throughout the show. Now, Stephen, there was a big acquisition in recent weeks which I thought was worth just quickly unpacking, and that is Ampol buying EVIE. Now, we’ve spoken to the people from EVIE on the show. I’ve used their network in a bunch of places, both regionally on Drive 5-cent around the city. So that’s a huge acquisition, don’t you reckon?

[00:01:07] Stephen Fenech: Well, you know what, it’s a sign that the EV market is growing. It’s a, it’s, what is it, a $225 million? A lot of money. So it’s nothing to sneeze at. Yeah. So this is a, it’s just a sign that the EV market is growing and they need, this is a good, for those who are yet to buy an EV, this is really great news because the network is expanding. This means the infrastructure is growing, it’s getting a higher quality. So yeah, great signs and I think going to be they’re going to certainly make a lot of money out

[00:01:37] Trevor Long: of it because, you know, Ampol doesn’t have a huge number of charging sites, but when you add EV, they, they add 1,000 sites. Yeah, uh, they basically become pretty much the biggest network. It’s pretty, pretty much— it’ll be Ampcharge and Chargefox head to head for—

[00:01:52] Stephen Fenech: so are they bigger than Tesla Superchargers?

[00:01:54] Trevor Long: Leaving them aside, I’m talking about, you know, I’m talking about other competitors because we all, we all know and agree that Tesla, yeah, is just outrageous. In fact, remember we looked at those stats a few weeks ago. I don’t have that data in front of me, but you gotta remember Tesla doesn’t have as many sites as some, but they have more plugs than most. You know, that’s where they call it

[00:02:11] Stephen Fenech: the plugs.

[00:02:12] Trevor Long: Well, I think it is.

[00:02:13] Stephen Fenech: I agree. Yeah, there are some sites that are good, but it’d be great if there were like 2 more plugs there.

[00:02:19] Trevor Long: But I was reading, I don’t know, I think it was Mike Costello might have been— anyway, there was a motoring journo talking about this, and he was talking about the fact that it’s more of a real estate play than anything else because EVs secured that space, those deals, those partnerships in a lot of places like the Maccas that Sutton Forest. They’ve done all these things, right? And for Ampol to have spaces outside of their petrol stations, you know, requires a lot of effort. So they’re essentially just buying up that space. And because it’s interesting, a lot of the talk is that these sites are run at like a 4% utilisation, like very little utilisation overall. So most of the time— yeah, well, that’s the problem, right? The problem is they’re sitting there unused for a lot of the time, but when they need them most, it’s the busiest time and therefore it’s overutilised. And so you don’t really have the balance when you actually need to spread the load more across more sites. So I’m not even sure this is a profitable move. I don’t know that EVs making big bucks.

[00:03:13] Stephen Fenech: Maybe they’ll break even. But I’d say, yeah, the more people that drive cars, the more demand for the chargers and the more money they’ll make.

[00:03:20] Trevor Long: I actually think also I think it’s a massive branding exercise. It’s a really important way for Ampol.

[00:03:25] Stephen Fenech: So they’ll take over so that you won’t see EV as a brand anymore. It’ll be Ampol now.

[00:03:29] Trevor Long: They haven’t announced that yet, but I think they would. With the greatest respect to EV, that’s an early adopter name. We know that. I think a lot of our listeners would know the EV name, but I don’t think it has as much clout as, you know, what is Ampol and Ampcharge. So put that logo in a bunch of places.

[00:03:46] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but think about the Ampol brand and that’s— they’ve been selling petrol for how many decades now? And anyone who’s new to EV, they already know the brand. So it’s not like they need to learn a new brand or think, oh, what’s EV? What are all these? Ampol, hang on, I know Ampol. Ampole. Yeah. So I think that’s, that’s a, that’s a positive too.

[00:04:06] Trevor Long: Yeah, I think it’s an absolute winner. So well done to Ampol. It’s an interesting acquisition. We might try and talk to them over the month ahead just to see whether there’s any talk about what the plans are, whether there’s any change or what they plan to do with this.

[00:04:19] Stephen Fenech: I’d love to know whether we’re going to absorb the brand or just run them side by side or what they’re going to do. That’d be good to know that.

Gary — From Kia EV6 to Zeekr 7X, apartment charging and spare tyres

[00:04:26] Trevor Long: Yeah. All right. Well, if you want to talk charging with us, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch 0477 657 657, send us a text and we’ll get you on the show. And, uh, let’s go to Call Stephen. Uh, our good mate Gary’s on the line. Gary, how are you, mate? Oh, I’ve got to turn you on. I’ve got to remember to keep turning, pressing the button, mate. I’ve got to turn and press the button.

[00:04:55] Stephen Fenech: How you doing, Gary?

[00:04:57] Gary: I’m good, good to be back. And I should add, I’m here on behalf of all Garys who lay claim to the intellectual property of the show. How big is that society?

[00:05:05] Trevor Long: Side, mate.

[00:05:07] Gary: Oh, it’s massive. It’s massive. It’s dying out, but there’s not too many Garys coming through anymore.

[00:05:11] Trevor Long: Yeah. Yeah. You’re, you were famously running and started the EV Owners Club. You then, I think you bought a Zeekr. So where are we at, Gary? Where does your love lie today?

[00:05:24] Gary: Well, that’s a tough question. But so when we went to the Kia EV6, we went from 2 cars to 1 and we decided we really only needed 1 car. But After a couple of years, we really decided we needed a second car. So we had a bit of a look around, decided to keep the EV6, and we, we had a bit of a look. We looked at the BYDs and one thing another. My wife quite liked the Zeekr X, so we went and looked at the Zeekr X, and that was before they dropped the price. We looked at the price of the Zeekr X and said, that’s not much cheaper than the 7X, so why don’t we buy the 7X? But then of course my wife said she really didn’t like the base 7X, she really liked the top-of-the-line 7X. Of

[00:06:00] Trevor Long: course.

[00:06:01] Gary: Of course. So that’s how they get you. So we went to the top of the line 7X. So it’s just fabulous. But it’s interesting. And she tends to drive the EV6 more than the Zica. Oh, interesting. It’s more familiarity. And in keeping with another motto of the show about happy wife, happy life, if she wants to drive the EV6, I have to sacrifice myself and drive the Zica.

[00:06:27] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Practice, practice saying yes to you. Oh, that’s fine.

[00:06:31] Gary: But it’s a great compromise.

[00:06:33] Stephen Fenech: So can you tell us, so you’ve got the EV6 and now there’s the 7X. What are any major differences you notice between the two?

[00:06:41] Gary: Yeah, I guess. I mean, the first thing is the Zeekr is 5 years newer, so the tech is 5 years newer and there’s a lot more stuff. And I mean, the 7X, the Zeekr, the Kia didn’t even have an app at that stage. So, you know, we’ve got the whole app thing. That’s happening. So it’s slightly better, it’s newer, it’s the tech’s a bit better, the lane keeping and the radar cruise and all that sort of stuff is better in the Zeekr. But that’s, that’s a factor of being 5 years newer.

[00:07:08] Stephen Fenech: Right.

[00:07:09] Trevor Long: Does it feel different to drive now? It’s a completely different brand. So, you know, Chinese brand, there’s a bunch of other things you could say about it, but it’s a different car company. So do you notice that in the daily drive as well?

[00:07:20] Gary: Yeah, you do. And The Kia has more aggressive one pedal. So the first thing people have commented is, is my driving is much smoother in the 7X because passengers

[00:07:33] Trevor Long: can feel it.

[00:07:34] Gary: Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. But it’s nothing dramatic, but it’s just, it’s a smoother experience. But it’s also just much more luxurious. The seats are more luxurious, the fittings are much more luxurious. And you get back in the Kia and it does feel a bit more plasticky.

[00:07:48] Stephen Fenech: Interesting.

[00:07:49] Gary: But again, it’s not dramatic. I still— both great cars.

[00:07:52] Stephen Fenech: So now you’re a, you’re a 2-EV family. What’s the— how have you had to make any adjustments to your charging at home?

[00:08:00] Gary: No, not really. I think I talked about it once before. I live in an apartment block in St Kilda Road in Melbourne, and we’re very lucky to have a very forward-looking chairman of the body corporate, namely me. And so we put, we put the whole EV charging setup in for the apartment block. And it was— I mean, I’m I won’t go through the great details, but I mean, there’s 60 apartments and to put all the infrastructure in was just over $30,000. So it was like $500 each. Yeah. So I stood up in front of people and said, you know, your apartment goes up by more than $500 in value. Now that doesn’t include the charger on the wall, but it includes the whole billing system, includes the network past every bay. So if anyone wants a charger, they just pay the charger and connect up to it.

[00:08:43] Trevor Long: Right. So basically what you installed, I know we covered this I’ve heard this before, but you installed the infrastructure so that every apartment can go, I want one now and I can pay an electrician to come put it in and do the stuff.

[00:08:53] Gary: Correct. Correct. And it’s simply on the Chargefox network. So it means if I have a mate come, he can park in my bay and tap his Chargefox card on and he gets billed for it.

[00:09:01] Trevor Long: What’s the take-up like, Bin? Because that would actually indicate the take-up of electric cars generally as well.

[00:09:07] Gary: Yeah, we’ve only got half a dozen people taking it up so far. But I mean, everyone— I mean, we just had the AGM the other day, everyone saying it’s good to have it there when they’re renting. Renting their apartment out, they can say it comes with EV.

[00:09:18] Trevor Long: All hail King Gary, that kind of thing at the AGM.

[00:09:21] Gary: Yeah, yeah. But it wasn’t quite that way. But yeah, it was heading that way. Yeah.

[00:09:24] Stephen Fenech: It’s a good move though, because how many people have we heard from in the past that are thinking of buying and they live in an apartment or they’re thinking, oh, it’s sort of— they think it’s hard to have an EV, drive an EV and live in an apartment at the same time. But good that you’re setting a bit of an example there, mate.

[00:09:42] Gary: Well, yeah, it was interesting because I guess I decided I wanted to get ahead of the curve and say, let’s work out what it’s going to cost to work out how we can do it. Now, I think the system we’ve got at the moment, they can only handle 30 concurrent cars. And you say, well, we’ve got 120 bays. Pretty good. I mean, will we ever get to that? Maybe one day we will. But by the time we get 30 charging, well, then to spend some more money is easy. But I’m also tangled up on the Electric Vehicle Association on the board here in Melbourne. We’ve just put together some documents to help people with apartment charging.

[00:10:13] Trevor Long: Does your wife encourage you to be on the board of everything? Is she like you not being around?

[00:10:19] Gary: Yeah, it might seem that way. Yeah, yeah,

[00:10:21] Stephen Fenech: yeah. You just go back to one thing you mentioned about the— you’re on the board and about apartment charging. What are you noticing? What’s the situations? It’s growing, I’d imagine.

[00:10:33] Gary: It is. But I think it’s like everything in the industry. There’s so many myths and misinformation out there. Yeah. People are terrified and It was interesting when we first did it, I sat down with the insurance company that we use and said, do they have any concerns? Because people are saying the world’s going to end, everything will catch fire. And the insurance company at the time said to me, actually, if you put this system in you’re proposing, it reduces your risk.

[00:10:58] Stephen Fenech: Wow.

[00:10:59] Trevor Long: So if you do it right.

[00:11:00] Gary: Yeah. Yeah. Because they said if you don’t do it, you won’t stop people charging. So what people will do, they will run bloody PowerPoint, overload PowerPoints, they’ll run extension cords, they’ll disconnect them at 2 in the morning so no one knows and do it properly and we’re happy.

[00:11:16] Trevor Long: That’s really interesting.

[00:11:17] Stephen Fenech: That’s fair.

[00:11:18] Trevor Long: So go back to the driveway or the car park in your instance, Zica and Kia, and accepting and understanding the Kia is an older car. What would you say if you were both going on the market again for another car? Do you now sway more towards looking at new brand names or are you are you still leaning towards legacy? Where does your loyalty lie? Where does your kind of drive sit for the future?

[00:11:46] Gary: Yeah, it is interesting because I mean, that was, that was a big part of why I set up the Kia Car Club in the first place, that I didn’t think Kia, even though they’re a legacy company, really didn’t get EVs. Yeah. So they were still pushing, pushing the petrol cars and everything else. They’re now a bit further advanced. But I mean, I think The risk is no different. I’m very happy with a Chinese car and you can see it’s an organisation. They’ve got a different level of customer focus. I mean, I was lucky enough they asked me to help them at the Melbourne Car Show last year and stand there and talk to some of the prospective customers. And I did that for a day and they said, well, thanks for helping us. Would you like to go and visit the factory in China? What? What? So you think, I know you guys get some of those chips, but it’s pretty rare for them to say that to customers. So they took 10 of us customers customers to look at the Zeekr factory in China. And it was just, you know, it was unbelievable. I mean, I— you stand there and what blew me away, I mean, I worked in a— worked for BHP for many years around the world, and you look at their factories and the first one out of the factory that day was a Volvo, the next one was a Geely, the next one was a Zeekr, and they’re all custom orders. And you think, ah, so I wouldn’t be happy to buy a Volvo but not a Zeekr, but they’re still made by the same brand.

[00:13:01] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s, it’s something a lot of people got to get on to that.

[00:13:04] Stephen Fenech: We’ve got to get a trip over to Zika as well. Would have mind that.

[00:13:07] Trevor Long: Well, I went last year to—

[00:13:08] Gary: yeah, it’s worth a look.

[00:13:10] Trevor Long: We’ll hook Stephen up, Gary, one of our contacts.

[00:13:14] Gary: Yeah, I think with Zika though, they’re still, they’re almost— the problem they’ve got is they’ve been too successful, so they’re struggling a bit to scale.

[00:13:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:13:23] Gary: And the bit they still haven’t quite right that stands out, I mean, they’re well ahead of Kia, but they’re nowhere near where the Tesla is on the software. And I drew the parallel the other day to someone that you guys would understand and get your head around. It’s a bit like the mobile phone industry. A new version of the software comes out and different versions come out in different regions. And why haven’t we got this version?

[00:13:45] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:13:46] Gary: Yeah. And they still haven’t quite got to the point where that’s slick. So, you know, I can look now and see the Europeans have got better functionality than we do in Australia. Why have they got that software? Why don’t we have it? Yeah, I will get it soon.

[00:14:01] Trevor Long: You do, you bang your head up against the wall as an owner, especially when you’re part of all those Facebook groups and you hear people talking about, you know, I’m a European, I’ve got this cool new feature, and you’re like, guys, just press the button, run it out here. But, and I don’t, I honestly, there’s obviously regulatory approvals and there’s, there’s things that need to be done, but on a broad principle, I mean, if Tesla’s able to do it as well as they do, then it can’t, you can’t really blame, you know, regulations and things like that unless there’s some sort of exclusion that’s sits in place. But, but it is a simple, simple gripe. I get it.

[00:14:31] Gary: Yeah. I think it’s more that Tesla have done more work in standardizing the hardware.

[00:14:39] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:14:39] Gary: So I think some of the, some of the hardware we’ve got in the Australian cars is different to the European cars. And so Tesla, I think, have pushed hard. That’s right. To standardize everything in the car.

[00:14:48] Trevor Long: That makes sense.

[00:14:49] Gary: Yeah.

[00:14:50] Trevor Long: Well, you know what? I think as a man who was so passionately into the Kia space, to have adopted the Zeker in the way you have. I think, I think it is an unbelievable stamp of approval for— and you’ve heard them, Gary, people on this show, the number of people who say to us they love their Zeker, especially the 7X. It’s been such a successful car. We talked last week about the numbers on the

[00:15:11] Stephen Fenech: show. We spoke about how quickly they had to scale to handle the demand and yeah,

[00:15:16] Trevor Long: and just the sheer numbers they’re

[00:15:17] Stephen Fenech: doing now

[00:15:18] Trevor Long: is, is impressive. So yeah, great stuff, mate. Keep us in the loop on how that 7X treats you, mate.

[00:15:23] Gary: I’ll just share one other quick story around spare tyres. Yeah. I know that’s a hot button. What I’ve done since I had the Kia, I went and bought a spare tyre, not a spare wheel, just a tyre. And the tyre sits in the shed most of the time except when I do a road trip. If I do a road trip to Sydney, it gets chucked in the boot. And so if I had a major drama, I know I have to get towed to a town that’s got a tyre shop and I just put the tyre on it and get there. That means I might get stuck in a town overnight, but I won’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere with some guy telling me it’ll be a week to get another tyre and $1,000.

[00:15:57] Trevor Long: Right. So, so, but why not take a wheel and tire, put the

[00:15:59] Stephen Fenech: wheel on? Is

[00:16:00] Gary: it weight? The reason for that, the reason for that is much heavier,

[00:16:04] Trevor Long: right? Yeah.

[00:16:05] Gary: Which is going to change your opinion, impact your range. What a lot of people don’t think about is you need a decent jack. You’ve got to lift a 2.5-ton car. I’m now at the point, as a nudging 70-year-old, I’m sort of past crawling around under cars with a, with a 2.5-ton car above Yeah,

[00:16:23] Trevor Long: fair

[00:16:23] Gary: enough. You think, well, it’s a middle ground. You see, I’m now tangled up with the Melbourne Zika Club. I think you’re talking to Andrew Bartrom soon about it. That now they now offer a service with a spare wheel. So if you’re going on a road trip, you can rent a wheel and a jack and a— as a club and everything.

[00:16:41] Trevor Long: That’s really handy.

[00:16:43] Gary: And they also offer it as an emergency service. So if you, if you blow a tyre somewhere around Melbourne, you can ring up and they’ll ship the tyre out to you.

[00:16:51] Trevor Long: Well, handling it as owners, that’s very cool.

[00:16:54] Stephen Fenech: That’s smart. And I can vouch for the fact there are jacks that can lift up your EV. I’ve seen mine jacked up a few times, my old Mercedes EQE, a few times to get new tires put on.

[00:17:04] Trevor Long: Stephen has seen his car on the side of the road a couple of times,

[00:17:07] Stephen Fenech: been jacked up a few

[00:17:08] Gary: times. So I want to give a shout out to the Melbourne Zeeker Club, melbournezeekerclub.com.au. They do a spare tire deal. They help Melbourne owners.

[00:17:17] Trevor Long: What a great idea.

[00:17:18] Stephen Fenech: We think they need a Sydney chapter as well.

[00:17:21] Trevor Long: They probably have one. We’ll find out. Lovely to see you, Gary. Thanks for joining us once again, my friend.

[00:17:27] Gary: Okay, talk soon, mate. Thanks for all the great work.

[00:17:29] Trevor Long: We appreciate it, mate. Thank you. Thanks for your loyalty. Yeah, I mean, that’s a great idea. As a club, you know, clubs are normally just, you know, to, you know, to go on road trips and enjoy the cars together, to learn about the cars together, but then to be helping each other in that way, that is—

[00:17:44] Stephen Fenech: Ford Sadies have got one. It’s called roadside assistance. So I’m covered.

[00:17:49] Trevor Long: Oh, that’s very good, Stephen. All right, we’ll keep taking your calls. You can send us a text, 0477 657 657. It’s the simple things in life, Stephen. It really is. Those

[00:18:10] Stephen Fenech: little things

[00:18:10] Trevor Long: You’re listening on Spotify or Apple and you’re not watching. On Spotify, by the way, I think there’s a— I don’t know what button you push when you turn the screen off. There’s a video. I’m spending an hour uploading to Spotify, so please watch it on Spotify if you’re doing that.

[00:18:23] Stephen Fenech: Make Trevor’s work worthwhile, please.

[00:18:25] Trevor Long: Yeah, please. It’s an extra few minutes of effort to choose that. It’s just more waiting. Uploading an audio file is very quick. Waiting around for the video to upload is not so much.

[00:18:35] Stephen Fenech: I understand.

Dean — Choosing between the MG S6, Geely EX5 and BYD Atto 3 Evo

[00:18:35] Trevor Long: Anyway, let’s keep going with your calls. Dean is on the line. G’day, Dean.

[00:18:40] Dean: How’s it going,

[00:18:41] Trevor Long: mate? We are great. Now tell us about you, mate. You’re in the market for an EV?

[00:18:46] Dean: Yeah, I’m in the market. I’m just looking for one at the moment. We’ve had a petrol Pajero for a while, so we’ve been— Mrs. has been driving that mostly, so I’ve got to work you. But I’ve been trying to convince her to buy an EV for a while now, so I end up stopping to fill her car up for her. So she can’t go and get it.

[00:19:08] Trevor Long: Hang on. So what you’re saying is to convince your wife that an EV was a good thing, you went, you know what, I’m not going to fill a car up anymore so she can see the dollar signs tick over on the, on the bowser. Is that what you did?

[00:19:19] Dean: 100%.

[00:19:19] Trevor Long: Oh geez. Bravo.

[00:19:22] Stephen Fenech: So tell us, Dean, are you looking to— obviously the Pajero is what you’re looking to, the next EV to replace that one. What, what, what’s your plan?

[00:19:32] Dean: I think so.

[00:19:32] Trevor Long: Are you going to keep it? Have you got 2 cars now?

[00:19:34] Stephen Fenech: Are you going to buy another SUV though, or what are you going to get?

[00:19:38] Dean: Now what it is, I’ve got a Workute and I think by the end of the year they’re going to take that off me and I’ll— because the next job I go to, I don’t get a work car, so I’m going to need another car again.

[00:19:48] Stephen Fenech: Okay.

[00:19:49] Dean: I used to have a RAV4. Yeah. Okay. Travel to work and end up selling that when I got the Workute. And then now I need another car. So we’re going to keep the Pajero, buy an EV, and then the wife will use that when I don’t need it.

[00:20:03] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:20:04] Dean: So we’re not going to be basically using the fuel anymore. But we’ve looked at a few different models. I think I’ve test-driven about 7 different cars so far.

[00:20:12] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:20:12] Stephen Fenech: Not bad.

[00:20:13] Trevor Long: What sort of vehicles have you considered? Which market are you in?

[00:20:17] Dean: Well, I’m looking between— now I’ve got it down to 3. I’m looking at the MG S6.

[00:20:22] Stephen Fenech: Nice.

[00:20:24] Dean: Yes. The Geely EX5.

[00:20:27] Trevor Long: EX5,

[00:20:27] Stephen Fenech: yeah, another good choice.

[00:20:28] Dean: And also I like the BYD Atto 3 Evo. Wow,

[00:20:31] Trevor Long: yeah, yep, yeah, better range.

[00:20:33] Dean: Because I need about 150k a day, I’ll probably be doing to 200k a day.

[00:20:38] Trevor Long: And you’ve driven all three?

[00:20:39] Dean: Yeah.

[00:20:41] Stephen Fenech: Which one’s winning, mate? Which one’s winning, Dean?

[00:20:44] Dean: Well, that’s the three that I like.

[00:20:46] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, okay, so that’s your shortlist.

[00:20:48] Trevor Long: No leader there.

[00:20:49] Stephen Fenech: And are you going to give your wife any kind of, uh, influence too, mate? Is she going to get a say in this or no?

[00:20:55] Dean: Yeah, she’s out here to say I’m just trying to convince her to come and have a look.

[00:20:59] Trevor Long: Oh, really? So has she driven or been a passenger at least in any of

[00:21:03] Dean: any of them? Any of the EX5s.

[00:21:05] Trevor Long: Right. What do you think?

[00:21:06] Dean: She liked it. That’s— I like the EX5 for the comfort. Yep. I like the MG for the range. Yep. And I actually like the features of the BYD. That’s me. That’s my issue. So that’s why— that’s where I’ve broken it down to.

[00:21:22] Stephen Fenech: You want to put them all into one.

[00:21:24] Trevor Long: Stephen’s driving the MG S6 right now.

[00:21:26] Stephen Fenech: We have— we have got that. We’ve talked about that. I’ve been driving that for the past week, mate. The MG S6. And I’ve got to say, Really like it. It’s one of my favorites that I’ve driven for quite a while.

[00:21:35] Trevor Long: Wow. That’s a

[00:21:36] Dean: big endorsement. Yeah. But I have to say, that’d be on the top of the list at the moment.

[00:21:40] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:21:41] Trevor Long: All right. So we’ve pushed you to find a top now. That’s good. How much did you— you mentioned range is a factor. What’s the difference in range between those three? So what are you compromising if you choose one over another? What’s your fear?

[00:21:57] Dean: Well, it’s not really the range. I think the Geely’s 475. Yeah. And the MG’s 520 and the, the, the, um, ATO is 510 or something.

[00:22:09] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so not far off each other, is

[00:22:10] Trevor Long: it? It’s not even a question.

[00:22:12] Stephen Fenech: That’s, yeah.

[00:22:13] Dean: Yeah, that’s right. I like the, um, with the Geely too, I don’t like the front-wheel drive. I prefer the rear-wheel drive of the MG and the ATO.

[00:22:22] Stephen Fenech: Yep.

[00:22:23] Trevor Long: I think we’ve eliminated the Geely, mate. I think we’ve just eliminated the Geely.

[00:22:27] Stephen Fenech: Red mark on the Geely, mate. All righto. Red pen on the table.

[00:22:30] Trevor Long: So now we’ve just got it. We’ve just got to decide between the MG and the ATTO 3, mate.

[00:22:35] Stephen Fenech: You know, if it was— I got to say, we’ve driven the BYDs and the MG, which I’m driving right now. Very nice vehicle. And you know what? For my wife to say that’s really nice, I’d take her word for it too.

[00:22:49] Trevor Long: For a look or as a passenger?

[00:22:50] Stephen Fenech: Both. Yeah. Right. So she likes the look of it, the size of it, and just the fit and finish is really nice.

[00:22:56] Trevor Long: I would say I think it’s a bigger car too, isn’t it? It is big. Have you looked at that?

[00:22:59] Stephen Fenech: It’s a big one.

[00:23:00] Dean: Yeah, it is a big one. Because they’re driving to the city too. That’s the other thing I thought of the EVA, because if we’re going to park in the city and it’s easy to park, right?

[00:23:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, but it’s not, it’s not like it’s a huge car.

[00:23:09] Dean: I know what I was looking at was the battery technology. Like the, the ATO has got better and the Geely with the LFP battery. I was just, I’m not sure on that either because I’m 100% up for it.

[00:23:20] Trevor Long: I hear you on that and I think about it a little bit and then I go, you know what, most of the time it doesn’t make a difference to your daily life. Now, yes, it changes the way you charge. So should you be going to 100 and all those different things? But most of the time you don’t need to go to 100 anyway. Even on your day, 150k round trip, you don’t need to go to 100. 80 is going to get you there every time. Easy. So is it really that big a difference? We haven’t seen— and we might catch up with Brendan again from Pickles in the next few weeks, I reckon— because is there any big difference between the technologies noticeably in the secondhand market? I don’t know. But the big big challenge I would say right now is what’s the price difference between— if we were to narrow it between the ATTO and the MG, is there a big price difference as well?

[00:24:00] Dean: Well, the quotes I’ve had, it’s $1,000.

[00:24:03] Stephen Fenech: Oh, so they’re within each other’s price range. Um, other question, uh, Dean, what are you going to do charging-wise at home? Have you made preparations for charging? You need a wall charger, you’re going to trickle charge, what’s your plan?

[00:24:18] Dean: Well, we’ve got solar and a battery, so I’ve got an 8— it’s an older, older solar system. It’s 8 kilowatts of solar.

[00:24:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:24:25] Dean: And then we’ve got 24 kilowatt battery and I’m looking at putting the, Sig— was it SigAC 7 kilowatt charger?

[00:24:33] Stephen Fenech: Energy.

[00:24:33] Trevor Long: Yeah. Yep.

[00:24:34] Stephen Fenech: That’s popular, isn’t it? How popular is that one? Yeah, the SigAC. I

[00:24:37] Dean: don’t need to look at that because it’s got— because I’ve got the SigAC battery. So.

[00:24:40] Trevor Long: Yeah. So it’s a perfect add-on.

[00:24:41] Stephen Fenech: Nice. Nice one.

[00:24:43] Trevor Long: Yeah. I mean, that’s sort of, you know, Just remember though, obviously with a smaller solar system and the battery, you got to— there is a balance there between what you actually just want for the house, let alone the car. Yeah. How much of the time is the car in the driveway or will it be in the driveway to take the sun directly?

[00:24:58] Dean: If I get home of an afternoon, sometimes I get home a bit earlier in the afternoon, I can plug it in and then try and get on an EV plan overnight.

[00:25:05] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. The EV plan’s the go, mate. I’ve got that one. My one, you get free energy 11 till 2 and then really cheap rate overnight.

[00:25:13] Dean: What are you trying to find? One of those plans?

[00:25:16] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:25:16] Trevor Long: What’s the plan from this moment on? Are you going to go and take the wife to drive the MG as well and the ADO, or do you think you’re just going to mull it out, pull the trigger, and drive home with one at some point very soon?

[00:25:29] Dean: Well, believe it or not, when we hang up from here today, I’m taking her to have a look at the MG.

[00:25:34] Stephen Fenech: Happy days.

[00:25:35] Trevor Long: What do you reckon she’s going to be looking for? What is, what is it that that gets her, you know, going, this is a nice car. What do you think is going to make it for her?

[00:25:43] Dean: Well, the other thing that sells it with the MG, I reckon, is because it’s got the buttons in it and it’s not all control off the screen.

[00:25:48] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:25:49] Dean: Yeah. Technology. Yeah. So I think the buttons will be the best thing.

[00:25:52] Trevor Long: That’s, that’s a good point.

[00:25:54] Stephen Fenech: And just one last question, mate. What are the dealers giving you in terms of how long you need to wait? Say you were ordering the car today. What are they saying? How long do you have to wait for it?

[00:26:07] Dean: Basically told me it’s in stock.

[00:26:09] Stephen Fenech: Wow, that’s great. Drive away pricing. Drive away. There you have it.

[00:26:14] Dean: Yeah, it basically was. It’s, um, the— with the Geely, when I spoke to them, they said it would be— she said, I can have it for you next week. And the MG was the same.

[00:26:24] Trevor Long: I think that’s a really interesting— I think that might show that the— especially the up-and-coming EV brands, I’d call MG that even though they’ve been quite established here for a little while. I think they’re starting to realize that stock matters. And so they’re bringing cars in. Like traditional car companies used to. They’re buying cars, they’re selling them to dealerships, and they’re putting them on the lots so that they can literally turn people around. And, you know, the other reason for that may be, Stephen, is because there’s so much— mate, Dean, if you went to a BYD dealer today and an MG dealer today and that was the difference, yeah, then it might, might be the deal breaker. And so I think they’re realizing that they’re losing customers because the cars aren’t here. Maybe.

[00:27:03] Dean: Well, the other thing with MG too is the warranty. Like when you work it out, like 10 years on 250,000 K’s, and if I’m doing a lot of kilometers, just say I did close to 1,000 a week, I’m going to get a full 5 years on the Innovator lease if I’m still in the warranty.

[00:27:15] Trevor Long: Yeah,

[00:27:15] Dean: right.

[00:27:16] Stephen Fenech: That’s great.

[00:27:17] Trevor Long: Well, Dean, enjoy the drive, the Savo with the wife. I feel like

[00:27:22] Stephen Fenech: today’s the

[00:27:23] Trevor Long: day

[00:27:23] Stephen Fenech: I’m going to pick MG as the winner.

[00:27:25] Dean: Please no.

[00:27:26] Stephen Fenech: But yeah, let us know, mate. My money’s on the MG, but you know, you just don’t know. We don’t know what’s going to happen.

[00:27:31] Trevor Long: Good on you, mate. Thank

[00:27:32] Dean: you so much for listening. You’ll have all the colours.

[00:27:34] Trevor Long: Oh,

[00:27:35] Stephen Fenech: well, I’ve got to say the colour, that’s another thing, Joe. I’m driving a cream. The beige. It was a beige-y cream. Cream, the bone, the off-white, the white, the ivory, the beige. Very nice colour. The beige.

[00:27:42] Trevor Long: Oh, hang on. Does Dean have a favourite? Gold.

[00:27:45] Stephen Fenech: Gold. Well, that’s sort of the— that’s it. Sort of goldy beige colour. I believe so.

[00:27:49] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s like a metallic beige.

[00:27:50] Stephen Fenech: You can see it right here.

[00:27:51] Trevor Long: I’m looking at the security camera. Sorry.

[00:27:52] Stephen Fenech: He can see it.

[00:27:54] Trevor Long: Come, come to the EFTM studios. We’ll just give you this one.

[00:27:57] Stephen Fenech: You can just drive this around the block. If you want.

[00:27:59] Trevor Long: There’ll be some calls from MG at some point, but you know. Love to hear from you, mate. Good luck with the buying.

[00:28:05] Dean: Thanks very much.

[00:28:06] Stephen Fenech: Thanks to you, mate.

[00:28:07] Trevor Long: Take care, mate. Good on you, mate. Thank you so much. There you go. That’s cool. We narrowed it. I think we helped.

[00:28:12] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely, mate.

[00:28:13] Trevor Long: Or did we not?

[00:28:14] Stephen Fenech: Well, no, I think we narrowed it down. You gotta narrow down here. You know, that’s the whole name of the game. You gotta narrow it down to one choice.

[00:28:20] Trevor Long: All right. If you’ve got decisions to make, the two blokes will make them for you.

[00:28:25] Stephen Fenech: Let us help you make the decisions.

[00:28:25] Trevor Long: As I often say on the AFM podcast, and maybe you say this with Tech Guy too, I’d love to help you spend your money.

[00:28:31] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:28:33] Trevor Long: Yeah, I enjoy telling people how to spend their money.

[00:28:35] Stephen Fenech: Well, it’s funny when people come up to you, especially on our tech, from our tech backgrounds. You cost me so much money, they say to you, because I hear what you’re talking about and I want to buy it. Maybe we’re having the same influence here on the EV Show.

[00:28:47] Trevor Long: Maybe we are. All right. Two blokes talking electric cars. Get in touch. 0477 657 657. We’ll get you on the show very soon. After this, we’ll go around the block in the Mazda 6E. Welcome back to Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars. Uh, we’ll get back to your calls next week. 0477 657 657. We are going around the block. And Stephen, just before we talk about the car we’re in, yes, behind us, the Kia PV4.

[00:29:21] Stephen Fenech: Yes, I noticed.

[00:29:22] Trevor Long: Someone’s driving an electric Kia van, which we’ve spoken

[00:29:25] Stephen Fenech: about on the show. They may have been motivated to buy it actually watching our episode. You never know.

[00:29:31] Trevor Long: Anyway, we are today inside the Mazda 6e. Now, this is not Mazda’s first electric car. They had one, I don’t know what it was called, the EX3 or something. Many years ago when we were in Japan, when you and I were in Japan on separate trips, I was there with Mazda and it was this little cute little thing all about eco-friendly, bloomin’ touch points and all that kind of stuff. It was very eco.

[00:29:53] Stephen Fenech: That was a while ago.

[00:29:54] Trevor Long: It was a long time ago. Didn’t go well for them overall. Like, it didn’t really sell like hotcakes. Okay, this is a very different car. Now I’m going to— for people that think we’re motoring journalists, we’re not. Um, I don’t read about the cars before I get them. I don’t really do any research cuz I’m like, I want to drive the car like I’m doing a test drive as a, as a punter. And so I, I actually had these real questions about this car as I drove it. Mate, I love the look of it. Yep. I love the interior styling. We’ll talk about the color choice in a minute, but I thought, hang on a minute, Mazda’s a Japanese company, this has to be a Chinese car. This infotainment system is like every other Chinese car. Did you notice that?

[00:30:37] Stephen Fenech: I did notice that. Is it, is it a similar OS or something, or what is it?

[00:30:40] Trevor Long: I mean, everything here, it looks like, yeah, it’s, it’s like the MG, MG, MG, like all of them, right?

[00:30:49] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, yeah.

[00:30:50] Trevor Long: And so I did some research, having now had it for a week. Yeah, um, it’s a collaboration between a Chinese car company and Mazda. Now Mazda are very clear because I think they got this— I assume at the launch they got this from journals— they’re like, ah, it’s a Chinese car, so it’s made in China. No, no ifs or buts, it’s made in China. But the factory is set up and tooled by Mazda, right? So the construction methods, all the things they do to build the car are Japanese, right? So they’ve used all their same learnings from many years of building cars as Mazda to build this car. Because I would say this doesn’t feel to me like a Chinese car. You know, everything from the way the doors shut to the way it drives to the fit and finish doesn’t feel like a Chinese car.

[00:31:34] Stephen Fenech: It does have a little bit of added polish to it, don’t you think?

[00:31:36] Trevor Long: Yeah, it feels like a Mazda, so tick that box.

[00:31:40] Stephen Fenech: You’re a Mazda— you’ve had a Mazda for how long?

[00:31:42] Trevor Long: Yeah, since 2012.

[00:31:44] Stephen Fenech: You know the look and feel of Mazda. I

[00:31:45] Trevor Long: know it, and I’ve driven many of them over the years when I was on— when I was driving petrol cars to review. But this infotainment system is a put-off for me. Oh, I, I don’t love it. I don’t love Chinese cars’ infotainment systems. I don’t love Chinese cars the way it’s hard to find everything in the settings. Everything’s you know, a mode and a thing on the screen.

[00:32:07] Stephen Fenech: I

[00:32:07] Trevor Long: don’t know, I, I just, I long for the basics of buttons. And so that’s a little, little negative

[00:32:14] Stephen Fenech: for me because I know I’m noticing now, I’m just looking, there aren’t many physical buttons. Like everything is on the screen. Correct. A lot of other cars we drive, including, you know, the, the Chinese cars and other, other cars that we drive, have a lot of physical buttons. This one has chosen nobody.

[00:32:31] Trevor Long: The way we talk about Chinese cars sounds like we’re being negative, but forever— Well, because they’re so popular. No, no, no, but forever the car industry has talked about Japanese cars, American cars, German cars. So that’s not a—

[00:32:42] Stephen Fenech: Well, that’s an important distinction.

[00:32:43] Trevor Long: That’s not anything anti-China. That’s not a slight on China. Not by any means. It’s just, it’s a categorization of the car. So I need to make it clear, if you’re thinking about this car, you need to play around with this menu. And if you buy this car, I would encourage you to insist on a detailed handover, you know, find out where all the menus are, find out where the wiper adjustments are, cuz mate, there’s one button for the wiper. I, I don’t know how to turn the wipers on. It’s not on the stalks, it’s just a button. But there’s probably settings here to move it up and down. These are, these are off-the-shelf stalks from Mercedes that were used in Teslas in the original years.

[00:33:19] Stephen Fenech: Speaking of Tesla, it does have that sort of— you do have a cluster in front of the driver. Yes. But it does have that Tesla sort of minimal feel, doesn’t it, with the screen controlling everything?

[00:33:29] Trevor Long: It’s a minimal, um, interaction, but the, the layout is much more traditional. So, you know, there’s more touch points, there’s more edges, there’s just a different design inside. Hey, on the road, this is beautiful. I’ve loved driving this. I’ve loved every bit of driving this. It doesn’t nag me. The beeping, I haven’t had to turn off even though I know it’s there. Just kind of chimes in my ear when I touch the speed limit. Um, there’s a rear spoiler that pops up at 80 kilometers an hour for aerodynamics. I don’t know whether it makes a big difference. It’s a beautiful sedan-looking thing. Well, that’s what I was going to mention, it’s a sedan.

[00:33:58] Stephen Fenech: That’s another point of difference too. Like most of the—

[00:34:00] Trevor Long: yeah, the fastback on it.

[00:34:04] Stephen Fenech: But, um, it is, uh, it’s a nice looking car, I’ve got to say. Design-wise, really, really nice. Good size as well. It’s not too, uh— what would you say, sort of size-wise similar to like a Model 3, sort of a—

[00:34:15] Trevor Long: yeah, it’s probably, it’s probably on the same as, as the, as the Model 3, um, and Kia’s EV4 in that space. So BYD Seal. Yeah, but mate, I look at the price, I’m like, oh my God, this is drive away 56 grand. Yeah, pretty good value for a range of— so I’m at 87%, says 400K, so it’s about 550. They say 550, 560. I’m thinking this is a 500K range car. Yeah, bottom line. It’s, it’s 500, and that’s good, mate. So you’re ticking range, you’re ticking size, you’re ticking style, you’re ticking price. You’re not a fan of this tan interior we’re driving?

[00:34:48] Stephen Fenech: Well, I would have picked a different color. I love it. It kind of looks like a, uh, like an outfit you’d wear in the ’70s. It’s suede, suedey sort of looking. Do you like the, the suede feel?

[00:34:59] Trevor Long: I really like the suede feel. Yeah, I’m being— it’s not me being big, just to be clear, it’s someone else.

[00:35:04] Stephen Fenech: Maybe someone’s recognized this.

[00:35:06] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah, no, I like this fit and finish. I’m sure there’s different color options. The car we’re driving is a deep blue, which is also very nice. Yeah, I’m a big fan, big fan, because they haven’t come in and gone, okay, we’ve got to get into this EV space because sales are going crazy. Yeah, and they haven’t charged $80 grand for this thing. This is reasonably priced.

[00:35:24] Stephen Fenech: They’ve come in at their own speed here, and, um, and yeah, it’s, it’s affordable, range is great. Look, style is good. It does have the— it’s a Mazda too. You can see it’s a Mazda.

[00:35:35] Trevor Long: Yeah, I don’t know what would hold this back.

[00:35:38] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, apart from you not liking the— I’m gonna— I don’t mind it.

[00:35:41] Trevor Long: I’m gonna tip into a bunch of the reviews now and find out because look, it’s usable and it is very

[00:35:46] Stephen Fenech: recognizable. Now I come to think of all the icons and all that are very similar.

[00:35:49] Trevor Long: Left-hand side, list of all the things. It’s just—

[00:35:52] Stephen Fenech: mate, which is not ideal because the driver’s over here.

[00:35:55] Trevor Long: Correct. Come on, can you adjust that in I don’t know, because the settings are so deep, it’s bloody hard to use.

[00:36:01] Stephen Fenech: And no annoying sounds, you said? No, not too bad.

[00:36:04] Trevor Long: No, I’ll tell you the funniest annoying sound, because I drive very early in the morning every day, so I get this every day. Yeah, it turns on the demister, right, which is fine, but it says humidity is high, automatic defog on. Defog? I’m like, you mean defog? I mean, is that what we’re doing? We’re defogging the screen? She goes, automatic defog is on. Um, little things like that aren’t great.

[00:36:25] Stephen Fenech: And I, I think when I— because I’ve picked this car up first before you took it, um, I wasn’t a fan of the headphone—

[00:36:31] Stephen Fenech: the headrest speaker.

[00:36:33] Trevor Long: Oh, there’s a speaker in here.

[00:36:33] Stephen Fenech: I turned it off because I got a phone call and I could hardly hear it, and I’m turning the volume up, but it didn’t make any difference. I, I struggled with it a little bit. I couldn’t take phone calls. There’s probably an adjustment in there, but I end up turning the headrest speaker off.

[00:36:47] Trevor Long: Maybe somewhere. Yeah, look, big fan. I like it. I think it’s well worth— put it this way, you’ve got to put it on your list. I think if you’re spending— definitely consider 70 or less, 60 or less, and you’re looking for a sedan style, even though it’s not traditionally a sedan, um, not an SUV—

[00:37:02] Stephen Fenech: well, I think, look, if you’re in the— if you’re in the Model 3, BYD Seal, yeah, Kia EV4, in that ballpark,

[00:37:10] Trevor Long: yeah,

[00:37:11] Stephen Fenech: this should be in that ballpark.

[00:37:12] Trevor Long: And I I think this is probably one of the most premium interiors for getting the color. I think it’s one of the most premium interiors of those bunch.

[00:37:20] Stephen Fenech: I quite like it too.

[00:37:21] Trevor Long: And I’ve got to say, I think the styling is nice. The front grille on this has this beautiful light array. The rear is just bold and different. It’s a win for me. I like it. Should we start rating the cars?

[00:37:32] Stephen Fenech: Good looking car.

[00:37:35] Trevor Long: Oh, we do the movies? We do a movie. Rate them.

[00:37:37] Stephen Fenech: Rate them. Rate them. No, I don’t know.

[00:37:38] Trevor Long: But no, see, here’s why I don’t rate cars, because we’ve, we both— every car’s different. The thing is, if, if you were, if you were to try and rate cars, the only way to do it is comparatively. So would I— would— here’s the thing, I would— if you were choosing between— we probably missed some, but if you’re choosing between Model 3, Seal, EV4, and this, this would be my top two. Yeah. Um, I would— and to be honest, the BYD is the other one. One, only because I think the Kia is a bit stark looking. I’m not a massive fan of the EV4 looks, but it’s a great car. And obviously I’m not gonna buy a Tesla, um, that— but that to me, this is, this is very close to top of class.

[00:38:17] Stephen Fenech: This would be cheaper than a Model 3, wouldn’t it? No, yeah, way cheaper than a Model 3. I think so. So it’s, it’s all rather sealed, BYD sealed through correct prices.

[00:38:25] Trevor Long: Yeah, right. So on price it’s going to win. So yeah, yeah, this is, this is close to top of class, I would No, I agree. And well done, Mazda. Yeah, you’ve nailed it.

[00:38:33] Stephen Fenech: Welcome, welcome back to the EV world.

[00:38:35] Trevor Long: If you have driven this car, uh, and chose not to buy it, if you’ve driven it and you’re looking to buy it, or you’ve owned one right now, we’d love to hear from you. Yes, uh, send us a text 0477 657 657. We’ll get you on the show to share your thoughts on the Mazda 6e. Stephen, see you next week.

[00:38:51] Stephen Fenech: See you around the block next time. And can we pick when the timing is? I don’t know.