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BYD slow down, Mazda's plans for '26 & new Bigster V used Kodiaq
328 Plays19 days ago
Big shifts and bold plans in the motoring world.
Renault’s CEO makes a surprise exit, while BYD slows EV production in China. We put the all-new Dacia Bigster head-to-head with a four-year-old Skoda Kodiaq at a similar price point—what offers better value? Plus, exclusive insights into Mazda Ireland’s roadmap, including three brand-new models set to arrive in 2026.
We also dive into whether buying a used car from a dealer franchise really gives you better warranty protection—and of course, we couldn’t ignore that week Elon Musk and Tesla have had, as RoboTaxi plans hit another bump in the road.
Sponsored by DoneDeal.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Drivers Republic podcast brought to you in association with Dundeele Motors where more Irish drivers find their next car from a trusted dealership than anywhere else. Why? Because Dundeele's Trusted Dealer Programme means verified dealerships and the kind of backup that matters like warranties and history checks giving you confidence from the very first click.
Greetings and Hay Fever Chat
00:00:19
Speaker
Mark, good evening. Paddy, good evening. If you see me kind of probably fidgeting with my eye, this time of the year, anyone who gets hay fever, it's very, very difficult. Yeah, i've never i I've never experienced hay fever, I'm glad to say, but my my sister does suffer from it badly. it's ah It's an affliction, unfortunately.
00:00:36
Speaker
Itchy eyes, scratchy throat, and it just just come you're you're outside trying to exercise, trying to be good, and then you come in and you're in a heap.
Kevin's Surprise Appearance and Listener Feedback
00:00:43
Speaker
I had a lot of people saying to me about Kevin from last week.
00:00:46
Speaker
Yeah. i want to and I hope we heard the show. Kevin, if you're out there, we we am and they star in the making. We want you back. Yeah, I mean, like not that I want to talk about people telling us, oh, I love your podcast, but people do. And and that's very kind. Thanks very much. Not not the reason we're doing it, but it's great that you listen.
00:01:03
Speaker
ah But yeah, i equally had a lot of people saying, geez, your man was gas. And he genuinely just rocked up to the car. It wasn't planned. If I wasn't there myself, I would almost think it was planned because, you know, we're sitting there and in the middle of the podcast and in rocks in this Renault 5 GT Turbo who happens to be a Toyota Land Cruiser buyer. So yeah, we couldn't have we couldn't have made it up.
00:01:30
Speaker
um And he he hasn't contacted on social media. He hasn't sent a DM or anything anything. So I actually don't know. Has he found us? Did he hear the episode? I have no idea. but If you did, Kevin, get in touch. Drivers of Rural Podcast at gmail.com. The doors are open for you to return. We'd love to hear about your Land Cruiser when you do eventually get it. Yes, of course.
Tesla's Challenges and Market Dynamics
00:01:49
Speaker
We're going to start this week, Mark, with them more bad news for Tesla.
00:01:52
Speaker
I was listening to Morning Ireland yesterday morning and and business news said that sales in Europe are down 27.9%, while sales of EVs in Europe are up 27.2%. Tesla sales and profits collapsed from earlier this year in the back of an aging product portfolio and Musk's political activism, and prompting the billionaire entrepreneur entrepreneur to back out of his political activities and focus on running the car company. Funny enough, not a bad idea. So not ah not a not a great start. in In terms of, you know, obviously the sales in Europe, but I've also received an order from France's consumer affairs and fraud investigators to stop deceptive claims over the level of autonomy of its cars or face thousands of euros of fines. And also in France, a handful of Tesla drivers are now suing the company to terminate the leases for their vehicles and
00:02:40
Speaker
alleging that Musk's political activities have made their cars far right totems. Wow, that's quite quite the claim. And actually, the last time we mentioned Tesla on the podcast, I got a couple of abusive messages from, I can only assume, Tesla fangirls who don't like when you, I suppose, just talk about Tesla in any way. um It's also been ah not a good week for their autonomous products with their robo taxis. They trial this in Austin and Texas.
00:03:04
Speaker
And I'm sure some of them did the job quite well, but other cars... went into the opposite lane for six seconds. Another car let someone out in the middle of a ah highway where you wouldn't actually get out of a taxi.
00:03:16
Speaker
These are obviously driverless cars. ah when When it was announced and and there were some cars on the road during the week, Tesla shares crept up because it was like, oh, this is another arm of the of the body. And and But now it's they're back down again.
00:03:28
Speaker
And I think Tesla shares and value of the company are up and down like a yo-yo and have been for the last few years. And I think that's just the way it's going to be. youre you' got For such a ah tech-heavy company, there's going to be reactions all the time.
00:03:40
Speaker
But I suppose what is interesting there, if those sales are up to that level and Tesla sales are down, it would indicate that while people are buying more EVs, they're not buying Teslas. No, it would appear that certainly Volkswagen Group have had a very good few months in terms of EV sales. So things are looking rosier for them after a shaky enough few months. But obviously then the likes of BYD as well coming into Europe, despite potential tariffs, are still flying as well. The other thing about Moskowitz is, I mean, nothing has been actually confirmed, even the allegations that he was doing certain gestures stuff. None of that has actually been proven. So just on the French thing in particular, I'm not telling people that their opinions about him are wrong or anything, but to make a claim...
00:04:29
Speaker
as the French are, it's going very difficult to prove that, sure, you know? Yeah, I would have thought so. and And look, you know, he's obviously as well decided to see some sense and extracted himself from the MAGA situation and in the US. s and But, you know, you and I have talked about this before in the podcast and and for anyone who does get upset about it, the cars themselves are actually very good.
00:04:53
Speaker
And, you know, the the the product, I know they haven't we haven't seen as much product as we thought we might over the last... ah few months, but, um, but what is there is very good. So, you know, things may, might settle down. I know their sales might return and, um, residual values, which were a a little bit shaky for a while as well.
00:05:11
Speaker
Um, because of all the uncertainty around it, um, might return to normal but I think we will need to see a little bit of ah Tesla just getting on with what they should be doing which is producing cars and innovating even if someone could silence him for a while just for the summer even just get to September make him go quiet make him go somewhere for a while and just you know So what else should maybe be the temporary face of Tesla?
Leadership and Brand Identity
00:05:35
Speaker
You must wonder, you must wonder, because like in every country, and and even in Ireland as well, there's Tesla employees, you know, what do they really think? Not that they're going to say it out loud, but, you know, they're they're looking at these cars, which are excellent, and they're going, God, I wish people would just focus on these rather than the... yeah the the owner think of apple when steve jobs was alive you know there was loads of other people but you think of apple even now and the name that comes to you is is steve jobs obviously tim cook has been in that job for quite a long time uh but there was the other guy that set up apple with steve his name is not coming to me right now but but again the name wasn't it yeah beard guy beard guy i know the guy i mean
00:06:13
Speaker
You know, there's always one person in these visionary companies who just is the person. Like, look at Bill Gates. i can't think of any other name synonymous with Microsoft, although obviously there's thousands, hundreds of thousands. and So it's a weird one. But, yeah, it's just when and you're when you're such a public face of of anything, you kind of like, you know, think of our own Michael O'Leary for Ryanair.
00:06:34
Speaker
Like, he's said some crazy things over the years, but none to the point of... you know, potentially, well, no he definitely has offended potential customers, but they still use the airline.
00:06:46
Speaker
But um yeah, it's not unusual to have just one person as the kind of the go-to for these companies. Unfortunately, just Tesla's case, it hasn't been a great sort of six months to a year. Steve Wozniak was the name you were thinking of.
00:06:58
Speaker
Steve Wozniak, that's it, yeah. Google told me this now, so it didn't pop into
BYD's Strategy and Market Response
00:07:03
Speaker
my mind. and Closely related, you have been looking at some news around BYD lately. You know, BYD, there's news every week, probably news every day, translate you if if you want to go looking for it. You know, last week I saw the news that they're bringing you five p htvs between in between the next 18 months.
00:07:20
Speaker
and I saw a video today on social media of their huge, one of their ships. and arriving into Ireland and it's, I don't know, ah actually, it was hard to tell was it actually footage shot for Ireland. i think that there there is footage of that ship coming into Ross Lair and it it just said, you know, our our team are ready for 252 registration. So they were trying to localise such a huge global brand, but they have...
00:07:41
Speaker
ah slash production levels by more than a third of capacity and cancels night shifts at more than half of its seven factories. This is in China now, um as they tackle slowing growth and I'd look to kind of cut some bloated inventories is is how it's being described.
00:07:59
Speaker
and ah Some new production lines, ah someone someone familiar with the company has spoke to a news agency literally yesterday, but um like, I'd imagine people in a Chinese company that are quite nervous to talk, to go against your country in China, to go against your your employer. like ah There's a ah ah documentary I started to watch um on Netflix last week, and it was about this factory that closed down in America.
00:08:28
Speaker
it was It was a GM and production. And basically this Chinese company who make an awful lot of automotive glass came in and bought it over. they They were given the staff who now had, you know, they were living in America now.
00:08:41
Speaker
And they they were explaining to them, you know, America pretty much to a point Whirl is your oyster. You know, as long as you're not breaking the law, you can you can do whatever you want. And you can eat they were like essentially coaching the people in American culture. And they were saying, you know, how you can you can say anything you like about the the president and and nothing will happen to you. and So I think for anyone to kind of put their neck out there when it comes to BYD, it's called American Factory, by the way, if anyone wants to watch it, you're kind of taking a gamble there. you know, if you were caught, I'm not sure what would happen to you.
00:09:13
Speaker
It would be a tricky situation to be in, but I was reading Auto Express this week. They said that they are likely to bring in a pickup truck as well to the UK market called the Hybrid Shark.
00:09:25
Speaker
So the BYD Shark is a is a hybrid and And it is likely to come to the shores as well as a rival to the ID.3 and Cooper Bourne called the CL06 GT.
00:09:38
Speaker
I did see they're more premium products as well for people that are in this business, perhaps more than your casual motoring enthusiasts. There's a journalist called Steve Fowler in the UK, who's a bit of a big deal, ah but he's been looking at the BYD Denza Z9 GT. So this is basically a Porsche slash Lotus looking car, which,
00:09:57
Speaker
um pretty much aiming their arsenal in the lawn of Porsche and Taycan, but a very, very nice looking car. Has kind of the the last generation 6 series look on the back of it, very kind of, bit of a C-line 7 nose on it but ah also Porsche one. But again, everything you've seen in BYD is up another notch again in terms of leather, the interior.
00:10:20
Speaker
I can only assume they will bring Denza to Ireland at some point. So, I think as well, a lot of these huge companies, you know, they can, this could be a summertime thing. They're slowing down a little bit.
00:10:31
Speaker
They can ramp things up quickly again
App Mention and Mitsubishi's UK Return?
00:10:33
Speaker
as well. So I think, i think for, in order for the modern car company to actually be, you know, survives wrong word with BYD, they're not going anywhere, but they have to be able to pivot, I suppose, and ramp things up and slow things down. And and that's just going to be the nature of the beast.
00:10:46
Speaker
Total aside, do you ever use Readly? Readly? No. Readly is, um it's like an online magazine portal where you can read lots and lots of magazines, but it's incredibly good value. and i They don't pay me or you, so this is not an ad. But um yeah, it's it's brilliant. It's about 10 or a month, I think, and you can have full access to it.
00:11:06
Speaker
Auto Car, Auto Express, all the magazines on your iPad or whatever. I use it now and it's absolutely brilliant. And there's always a free trial as well. So you always get the first month or two. That sounds a nice day actually. Yeah. Because it's, you know, the magazines here in Ireland are incredibly expensive.
00:11:20
Speaker
why is that? Like, is that just, a obviously they've got, they've, Got to fly them in, I suppose, for starters. but I did. Yeah, we I was talking about that with a friend with ah actually Michael McAleer from the Irish Times the other day. and He was explaining that um that, it's just the volumes of them are so small that it's an even down to the shelf space.
00:11:41
Speaker
that ah that they're just too expensive to put out on the shelves. And and that, um you know, cause I was over in the UK and bought a a handful of them because they're, you know, they are what they are and the on the front of the the the the the magazine. But when you get them to here, they're, you know they're now 10 or 10 euro or so or more for some of them. So, so yeah, this is a great, great one and and great to have that. And and one one story ah i saw as an aside, which I saw in Ottawa car this week is that Mitsubishi are likely to be coming back to the UK.
00:12:07
Speaker
um And I don't know whether there's, and ah you know, they were a big household name in Ireland. They're gone for a while, but I wonder will it see a return. They say in in Europe, they have a Colt, which is now a rebadged Renault Clio.
00:12:21
Speaker
And they are, they have links now with Renault. So they're they in part of the European lineup. They're talking about a ah twinned version of the Renault Scenic, which would be their, um electric vehicle um and and and and a new Outlander model as well. So I wonder, will that return to Ireland? and So that's one we could maybe investigate for next week.
00:12:41
Speaker
You couldn't watch a Channel 4 documentary for years without seeing an ad for a Mitsubishi L200. Also, a friend of mine, Dave, he had, his first car was Mitsubishi Colt. His second name was O'Connor, but everyone calls him Dave Colt.
00:12:55
Speaker
Dave Colt. That is literally his name now and it's just because he has a Mitsubishi. His DJ name is DJ Dave Colt. we We had them at home. Yeah, they were good little car. Yeah, wait my my um my my dad was motor journalist, but our family cars were always Mitsubishi. So we had we had Lancers and we had... a Galantz as well. The Galantz was a great car.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yes. That was a really good car. Charisma. Yeah, the well, looked the but most poorly named car in existence, I think, was the Charisma. So absolutely lacked any charisma. But i yeah, that was when things had got bit sketchy. That's what they had to call it, the Charisma. Yeah, exactly.
00:13:30
Speaker
Poorly named cars. yeah that was That was one
BYD's Performance Cars and Consumer Reactions
00:13:33
Speaker
of them. put in which So BYD as well. are So production is slowing down slightly. for So I wondered, you know, or is that a sign of other things to come? Again, I think because this is is essentially in China more than anywhere, and you know, and you're talking such huge scale numbers, it could be a reactionary thing for for a couple of weeks.
00:13:53
Speaker
They seem to be flying along. In route, otherwise, yeah, they really are. and and that the product the product arrivals are thick and fast as well. And the products, if you haven't driven one, are very, very good. Yeah, I just, ah some of the kind of spicier performance versions, I think the the output doesn't, that the kind of handling, the driving dynamics of the car aren't quite there yet with some of the faster cars.
00:14:15
Speaker
and I will say the seal aside, i think the seal is a pretty good car to drive, but things like, I just thought the the Dolphin, or not the Dolphin, the C9 7 with the 523 brake horsepower, I just think it was too much for that car deal with. And again, i kind of got roasted in the comments on YouTube by people who are, you know, very are are proud of the the product and and the the purchase they've made, which I understand.
00:14:39
Speaker
If you spent a lot of money in the car, at the last thing you want is someone on YouTube not saying fully complimentary things about your investment. So I get that. And look, I don't care. It's... I'd rather any kind of comments than no comments.
00:14:52
Speaker
But um yeah, just I think some of the some of the beefier stuff just needs to drive a little better.
Luca Di Maio's Career Move
00:14:57
Speaker
Some other news this week, which I was very surprised about, was and that Luca Di Maio has resigned from his role after five years in charge of Renault. And he's going to take charge at Keiring, which are a French company that owns luxury goods brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Now, Di Maio has had a know a huge, huge impact on Renault.
00:15:19
Speaker
When he took over, Renault was losing 15 million euro per day. and When he took over, he changed the whole product plan in just six weeks. Outwent the majority of the small cars and in came more profitable, compact and mid-sized segments, including the Symbios, Scenic, Austral, Espacio, which we don't have in the Rafale.
00:15:37
Speaker
Dacia got the big stir. His big hit, of course, is a car we've talked about it here a lot, which is is the Renault 5, which was replacing the Zoe, which was kind of an a a worthy EV, but...
00:15:48
Speaker
Not amazingly remarkable. and So, again, we were you were talking about share prices earlier on. The Renault Group share price lost 8% on the news of DeMeo's exit. And ah his new company, Keering, climbed 11%. I thought you were going to say it was actually more than 8%, you know. um Yeah, he really has been a bit of a a much needed shot in the arm for Renault. And I suppose it doesn't show you though that these car companies to these big, big people in charge, some of them anyway, it's just, it's another commodity. It's another part of their career.
00:16:21
Speaker
Parachute in, make it better, leave again. You know, ah and that's kind of, that's how these top operator operators work, whether they're in a bank, you know, huge property empire, whatever it is, they're they're never there for 20 years. That's not their, that's not the, don't think that's what gets them going in the morning.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, and we have to remember what a good job he did in Volkswagen Group as well with Sayed and Cooper. And also he was in Fiat before that. I remember interviewing him probably, God, 20 years ago, sitting in his office in them in in Fiat. And his his office, but I remember writing it for the Irish Times at the time, and and you know is is he had surfboards on on the wall and you know sipping coffee. And his office was like something out of Mad Men. It was a proper Italian office.
00:17:05
Speaker
um so everyone is is Everyone chain smoking. He's doing what now? So it's so handbags, is it? Luxury goods. Yes. So Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Good luck to i hope they have some nice leaving drinks for him because he's probably earned that now in Renault, in fairness.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. um I mean, it's it's funny because, they a again, Steve Croppley, who who um who you mentioned earlier, was writing about it this week and saying that he's disappointed by it because he thought that, you know,
00:17:28
Speaker
it's a bit beneath them really. This is a bit too easy for him. And, um, you know, maybe he just wanted an easy life for a while, but I think like anyone else, this, they're just sorry to see characters like this go from, um, from the industry because he was, he had, he was so impactful, um, that he was, you know he really did, he did, really did create a stir and has been brilliant for Renault who are kind of knocking it out of the park and most things at the moment.
00:17:52
Speaker
It has to be said, he I mean, he's not personally designing a lot of these, uh, these Renault cars, but obviously he's definitely having an input, surely. and I had read that he had there when he when he joined, there was 23 concept cars that were on the table at the time, and most of them were small cars. And he just went in and tore up the book and said, no, we need to make some money. So that's why we saw saw so many of the...
00:18:15
Speaker
Simbaoz, Rafale, Austral variants because he needed to get the profit in. Right, well, we'll take a quick break and we'll be back after the break with the some news on Mazda and some news from about a Peugeot GTI, which will ring a lot of bells for a lot of people. Mark and I have been looking at a new versus used car and a little bit more coming
Listener Engagement and Car Dilemmas
00:18:38
Speaker
up after the break.
00:18:38
Speaker
Welcome back to the Drivers Public Podcast, which is brought to you by Dundeele Motors, home of the Trusted Dealer Program, helping you buy with confidence from verified dealerships. and So welcome back to ah part two of the podcast. And as always, you can email us driverspublicpodcast gmail.com, especially if you have a driver slash car dilemma.
00:18:58
Speaker
You know, we always like those ones. I love a car dilemma. And then generally, we we have a bit of an idea how to help you. Although this week I did have a reply from someone who said, can you please break down for me why and the differences between the Skoda Elrach RS, the Taviskan VZ and the Born VZ. And can you tell me why your preference would be and in what order? And I just replied to the person who said, listen, I've got videos on all of those three cars. If you want to have a look at my opinion on them, watch the videos.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to pick one. i don't think thought It was quite an extensive question list. It was like ah job interview. Tell us why you should why we should hire you and seven reasons why.
00:19:40
Speaker
And justify all of your decisions. Yeah. I'd have the Bourne VZ, I think. I was looking at my phone going, I've got to go and do a podcast now, buddy, so sorry. and Yeah, they well, still need the space, I suppose, yeah. don't know, but you haven't driven the Alarac RS, though? thaty you'd have to you No, I haven't, but they they're different price points.
00:19:56
Speaker
and Very different price points. so and You were on the town last night by your Instagram. but well You were home early, because I know you had no other to do. Yes, I've been covering for PJ Gallagher and Jim McCabe this week with Dee Woods, who is on Red Nova every day, but I'm not on it every day. But because did breakfast for a little while over the years, I get the gall. So I'm up at 5am this week, actually 10 to 5 some mornings. It's very early. But anyway.
00:20:22
Speaker
ah I was on a dart, so I had a lovely pint of Guinness in Bowes, which is a great pub. Yeah. £7.20 for a pint Guinness, Bally and Dublin. Jesus. £5.60 in Ballycotton.
00:20:34
Speaker
we Anyway, we went into Hawksmoor, which is where Abercrombie and Fitch used to be on Dame Street. It sounds like... don't if they Jeremy Clarkson's pub or beers what's this called what's it I call it Hawks no you're right Hawksmore Hawksstone Hawksstone Hawksstone is his beer which is also I can highly recommend I have sampled it where did you have it when I was in Clarkson's farm last year bought didn't know you were in Clarkson's farm I was. Worth the visit?
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, it was. So I went, I was in the Cotswolds for a few days last year. I went to Legoland, did some camping in a Volkswagen, California. um Went over on the ferry. I thought it was a good buzz. You'd have to ask the rest the family to see if they agree.
00:21:14
Speaker
But it was August, so the queues for Clarkson's Farm were pretty big. And the first day we went there, about four o'clock the afternoon, it just, was no point. but Massive, massive queue. And then someone locally said to us, oh, what you should do is go early the morning, about quarter to nine. It's not open yet, but the car park is open. You can go in queue. There will be a queue, but it won't be as bad.
00:21:33
Speaker
That's what I did. The shop is pretty small. you go in one door, out the other, as you don't even really see the doors on the show. But um yeah, the car park is as bad as it is on the TV show. It's shockingly mucky, actually. You have to like nearly bring spare clothes for it. and Is Lisa behind the counter?
00:21:49
Speaker
No, no. They're all kids. They're all kids. Right. Okay. and but they do know how to charge my god his but his beer is good but yeah but I bought his relish I bought his ah his honey his honey is really good right okay bee juice as he calls it and I laughed because on I think season 2 of Clarkson's Farm Lisa actually says to him how much will we charge for this and ah for the honey and he said what they charging down the road and and she said 13 quid or something he said 3 pounds 50 it was 13 pounds so I think a lot of that was just for the show to make him seem like he's a
00:22:23
Speaker
selling you a bargain. But I think from watching the latest season of Clarkson's Farm, the plan I'd say will be to shut that farm shop down eventually and move everyone to where the pub is because I think the locals are really fed up.
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah, I imagine they are. the I mean, small sleepy village which now has queues into a car park and people at the grass verges yeah exactly have you been watching it though yeah yeah I do enjoy it it's one of those ones which I didn't expect to like but yeah I grew compelled to to watch now I really like it it's one of those ones you can sort of ah sit down and switch the brain off it's yeah and So you were at you were at an event last night with Mazda Ireland.
Mazda's Future Roadmap and Strategy
00:23:03
Speaker
Yes. So back back to Hawksmoor in Dublin. So essentially it was Mazda's way. It was a nice way doing it actually because, you know, car brands, I love to maintain relationships with journalists and kind of keep in touch with people. But a lot of the times that's via email, maybe a a local car launch.
00:23:18
Speaker
and But in Mazda's case, they haven't had any new product really for quite a while. yeah. This was their way of doing it, was by having a bit of dinner in town, showing us the sort of roadmap for the next 18 months.
00:23:31
Speaker
monthss and Mazda Ireland is kind of operated by a small enough local team, and then their head of PR is a lovely lady called Marketa, who's based in the Czech Republic. but She came over to ah to join us. and The first car they spoke about was the new Mazda 6E, which I'm sure a lot of people have have seen. and It won't actually be arriving in right-hand drive till sort of the first quarter of next year. And there's a new CX-5 on the way.
00:23:58
Speaker
um And i think just it's going to be a quiet year for Mazda, but then next year will be very busy for them. And, you know, it's going to be kind of three new models all at once.
00:24:09
Speaker
look at some of the specs on the on the concept of the Mazda 6E or the Mazda 6E as call Two battery options, 68.8 kilowatt hour, 80 kilowatt hour with range of up to 552 kilometers. Rear wheel drive layout, so an interesting and nice to have a rear wheel drive Mazda 6.
00:24:29
Speaker
A good looking car as well. Really, really pretty. Big 14.6 center display, 10.2 inch digital cluster and head up display. So, good looking car was supposed to be yeah supposed to be coming summer 2025 which is for Europe but obviously that's for left hand drive and so yeah so right hand drive is going to be a small bit later right You will see a left-hand drive version in the country probably when autumn kicks in. and They'll be doing some sort of tour. um They're also going to be slightly changing their logos. If you think of the the kind of, it's not a bird, but kind of imagine a bird's wings in the Mazda. They're going to slightly change.
00:25:08
Speaker
And also and their their dealerships are going to have a new look. Slowly but surely over the next little while. so dealership Dealerships wise are pretty small in Ireland, I imagine, at this stage. I don't think it's a huge dealer network.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's not. But um one thing they're definitely not doing is going to an agency model. So they they're a firm believer in, you know, people want to go in, they want to touch the cars, they want to have that relationship with, with you know, the local salesperson that they've dealt with for years, whatever it is.
00:25:36
Speaker
and They've 15 dealers in Ireland. Maybe it's more than you thought. It is more than aal I thought. I would have thought it was really less than 10. and But yeah, that's a strong enough number. I mean, I don't know if you have one. I've certainly when I was growing up and, you know, early part of of of this career, Mazda were really popular in Ireland. My first car was a Mazda 626. But um yeah I'm sure you've had you. Well, I know you've had an MX-5. Have you had other Mazdas over the years?
00:26:02
Speaker
ah Not in my... No, not my ownership, but um I... Actually, quite a few years ago, probably 10 years ago now, which is scary. and The Mazda 6, which is I suppose it is still the Mazda 6. When that came out, I was in my early early to my 30s, and i I started to sneak need a family car. And someone I worked with the time had a Mazda 6.
00:26:24
Speaker
And they had the Platinum the Spec with the Bose sound system, the white leather seats and the nice alloys and a head-up display. And I was like, God, I really liked that car. And it was in the... The one I got to test for a few days was Soul Red. and this was before I was reviewing cars, but just purely because I was doing some radio, they were happy enough to give me a car for a few days. And um so that was officially one of the first press cars I ever had.
00:26:46
Speaker
and And I just... Loved it. They're always handsome cars and and, you know, well-equipped, pretty nice handling, good steering, you know, were pretty well put together.
00:26:57
Speaker
Good second-hand buy as well. Yeah, I mean, the diesel engine in this in some early six... There were some issues with with engines in them, but think they got that sorted towards the end. that Certainly that 3.3 litre diesel they have now and things like the CX60.
00:27:13
Speaker
Really strong engine, powerful, reasonably fuel efficient. like There's very few people doing 3.3 litre diesel engines anymore, but Mazda is just one of those. America is a big, big market for them.
00:27:26
Speaker
It also, and so the obviously, I think people everyone knows that the MX-5 is going nowhere. ah The next generation, probably 2027, it would be definitely just a petrol and engine. Could be some mild hybrid decisions.
00:27:38
Speaker
But also what they showed us last night, interestingly, 40% of their plan is battery electric vehicles. 60% is petrol and HEV. Their EV offering early doors hasn't been wonderful. I don't imagine there's too many vehicles You know, there's not too many of those in the road, thankfully, because the range was really pretty awful in them.
00:27:57
Speaker
They essentially want to position themselves. And I think they have done for the last few years as a premium product. They're aiming to by 2030 in Ireland to sell around 2000 cars year. to set around two thousand cars a year They're currently at about 1,100 cars per year. So there's you know reasonable growth expectations there. But if anyone hasn't experienced a Mazda over the last few years, especially things like the CX-60 and the 80, which I had recently enough, there's not much, in my opinion, between Lexus interior now and a Mazda interior.
00:28:26
Speaker
No, they are very good. And I know Neil Briscoe, Irish Times, as you know, um he he he bought a Mazda 3, so that's where he put his money. so um So they are, you know, they're very popular. They're popular cars with people who know a little bit because they are very good. They just tend to be a little bit too expensive, aren't they, at the outlet at the the outset?
00:28:45
Speaker
Yeah, they're a bit like Honda these days, you know, so they have this different market now, an SMG market that doesn't include the UK. So you have, you know, Cyprus is is a big market for Mazda. They have Ireland on the map. and They have Portugal.
00:28:57
Speaker
and So in some ways, I think it gives them more power than they would have had because they they were kind of roped in with the UK prior to Brexit. And obviously the UK always get first dibs and they've just, they've lot more sway because it's such a big market.
00:29:11
Speaker
and But now actually, if you can get, you know, a couple of other markets and Mazda, it sounds like Mazda will do the the ringing around essentially for you. But let's say in the Irish market, you want a particular trim,
00:29:23
Speaker
to celebrate an anniversary or whatever it is. And then you can now go to Cyprus and you can go, and the Irish are interested in this. What do you think about it? And then suddenly these smaller nations that aren't done anywhere near as big as the UK suddenly combined have a decent amount of of power when it comes to ordering and and and sales. So I it works out for them.
00:29:42
Speaker
Speaking of Honda, I spent a week in the Honda Jazz just recently, a car you've had as well. Oh And you've had time to reflect on your thoughts, so come on. I did. ah I started off the week just a bit sad in the Jazz. The jars do you only way can describe it, I was, I was driving along and am I just was like,
00:30:00
Speaker
I just felt that the the look of it is ah it's it's the it's the shape of a car that I haven't seen new in a long time. You know, they're so familiar in Irish roads, especially as Honda fits and um the like. So and I just was looking at it going, oh, really? okay It kind of looks like it kind of looks like the space under your stairs. It's straight down against the downstairs toilet wall and then it slants from the yeah back of the roof towards the front for the stairs.
00:30:26
Speaker
But over the course of the week, ah couple of things stood out. And, and like you know, i i I had met you and you were in your Land Cruiser. I was in my Honda Jazz. But firstly, it was that david and goliath the quality of the interior is really good.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah. Like first class. and And, you know, I haven't spent a bit of time and driving up and down to Cork. And, you know, the seats are good. The layout's good. The fuel economy is outstanding.
00:30:50
Speaker
I mean, I drove it for a week and I only put petrol in it in Middleton on Sunday night. for the first time. And I put, i think I put 20, as we do play that bingo when we're returning press cars of like, I don't want to put too much in it, but but am I hip paper put 25 quid of fuel in in Middleton, and I had like tons of fuel left, leaving it back. 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres, no matter what I did.
00:31:19
Speaker
I couldn't get it beyond five, and I think it was 4.8, 4.9, very, very easy on fuel. Certainly give, I think, Toyota a run for their money in terms of the hybrid technology that's in that particular car anyway. I had the advanced model, heated seats, heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise, dual zone climate control, reversing camera that looked like it came from a Casio from the which is a bit weird. They make it ridiculously hard turn off the ADAS for the speed sign. Yeah,
00:31:45
Speaker
So it's in the sat-nav settings, and I actually couldn't, I gave up trying to do that car. I remember doing it in a Honda Civic or something else, and you've got to go in and disable it, and you can't disable it permanently, but you've got, it's in the sign-in-up settings.
00:31:56
Speaker
That would indicate, though, that that was, that the car was capable of going faster than the speed limit at any given time, which is, it would be something of a challenge that But there's a lot of, there's a lot of space in it as well, isn't there? There's tons space. I'm pretty tall and pretty wide and I had lots space in the back. Those Magic seats, which flip up, are great, which you could put various items in the back, but space isn't, isn't,
00:32:17
Speaker
amazing but it's fine that little compartment underneath the boot floor is clever for your dirty shoes or whatever else yeah I was going to say it's an expensive car but cars are now expensive 32 grand starting off but ah you know you can be up at 35 36 grand for one of the sport models if yeah that that which is an oxymoron that is too much but you know a Yaris hybrid now starting from 28 so if if you kind of go for the maybe and they're quite well specced standard really well specced maybe one up I wouldn't go much further than The advanced model, which is the one that I had, with was absolutely fine. um And you can see why people would be drawn to it. They just, they won't sell in big numbers. They'll sell in tiny numbers because there's just so many alternatives now.
00:32:59
Speaker
mean, you could walk into Volkswagen's showroom and... you know, get a pretty decent ID.3 that maybe wasn't new, but it'd be fairly, you you know, almost, almost new. And you'd have a pretty nice car. and We'll talk about new versus used shortly, but really just a very likable thing. and And for some people, I can see the appeal, but it's going to be a very small audience.
00:33:18
Speaker
Absolutely. And Honda is going to be a small audience. And I think Honda are okay with that. They're, you know, they've got, again, many, many aspects of the company, not just
Honda Jazz Review
00:33:27
Speaker
cars. And i think quite like Mazda, they're ah quite a cash rich company.
00:33:32
Speaker
So they can ride out a quiet year or two. Look, I'm sure they'd still love to be selling more cars in this part of the world. but But you remember the lineup for Honda a few years ago. I mean, it was. Yeah, know. But again, it all comes down to emissions like the Land Cruiser. i We didn't talk about the we spoke about the price of it. But even, know, in this day and age, and it's been quite a while since the day and age began of low road tax diesels.
00:33:59
Speaker
The emissions on the Land Cruiser, I mean, it's it was €2,400 a year for the road tax. Wow. Even though it's diesel. That's part of um the emissions issue of the cost ah of a lot of Hondas.
00:34:13
Speaker
As you said about the Land Cruiser, they really need to put that plug-in hybrid engine in. but um But yeah, i look, Honda Jazz, I mean, for some people, if you want that sort of size car, you don't want an SUV, it's going to absolutely tick some boxes. And and by the end of the week, I was thought, this is quite a likable thing.
00:34:27
Speaker
um You know, comfortable, go on go on fuel. Actually, you know, you had said that at the handling's quite good. I said, right, I better figure this out. And it it does steer and handle pretty well. and yeah It's not what it is outstandingly fun.
00:34:41
Speaker
That gearbox, that CVT gearbox, which is just, oh, when you put the foot down, it's just...
00:34:48
Speaker
ah yeah And then nothing. It's like dropping yourself, lowering yourself into a hot bath. Yeah. that you ah that you You want to go fast? What do you mean? can't.
00:34:59
Speaker
It hurts.
New vs. Used Cars Discussion
00:35:00
Speaker
Monday eight monday afternoon, we um we set out to have a little comparison test because Nobby was again in the Dacia Bigster and... they were there was no way you were going to do the your 800th review of the bigster. So we thought it would be interesting to compare this, you know, good value, large SUV to another SUV. We thought, right, we won't do new, we'll do used.
00:35:22
Speaker
So um thanks to Lee and Spirit's Skoda, we borrowed a four-year-old Skoda Kodiak diesel, 150 horsepower automatic. And how do we get on with that?
00:35:33
Speaker
Well, to be fair, Napati, this was all your idea. um Well, I didn't want to take the... The full blame for that one. but ah well well Well, normally when you're saying it like that, it does mean you're trying to blame somebody. But no, it was it was a good way of doing it. And just the way different minds work when you start chatting about something. um Yeah, so I'd obviously be very fortunate to have a look at the Bigster early doors last year in the studio. And then we got to drive it in Marseille and everything. so And then I did the local launch in Ireland. And I was like, how what what is the next twist I can do on a da your baster um because it? Because, you know, it is, you do notice different things when you take a car for, you know, more than a couple of days, you know, you do you do notice things when you have them for the week. and
00:36:13
Speaker
So, yeah, we we we grabbed used Kodiak. Some people have, like, so the video is doing very, very well on YouTube and it's on the channel if you want to go and have a look. And I just need to listen to you more, Paddy, because most most of, I think that one of the most watched videos on my channel is you talking about your Skoda Enyaq at the time.
00:36:31
Speaker
and Oh, yeah, yeah. I have look i have the odd good idea. The odd one. It's food for thought in terms of people are definitely into the the the kind of the twin test. But this isn wasn't even a a twin test and in the sense that they're not identical cars, but it was just.
00:36:45
Speaker
they It was a financial twin test. Yeah, yeah, it was. Even the APR rate on both cars was exactly the same. So you can get, a you know, it was 4.9% four year old's. on the four- yearold Kodiak and weirdly, you know, it should probably be lower 4.9 on the brand new Bigster.
00:37:02
Speaker
and So, you know, if you, I suppose if you had, well, I don't know because residuals maybe, but if you had the same deposit, you would be looking at similar monthlies. and I couldn't get over, well, at first I couldn't get over how what condition that Kodiak was in. And I don't think even think it was their final prepped of it, but it was in such good condition. Four years old, they've lived ah obviously a very easy life. Yeah, I think i think that's one area that PCP has has actually maybe improved things. Like i know from my own experience with PCP in our house, the car is always going back before the three years are up. The car always goes back with less than 25,000 kilometers.
00:37:38
Speaker
So like there are some demo cars with 10, 11, 12,000 kilometers. So really, barely double the mileage. and ah So and people, i think people are really more protective of their PCP cars because they know there's a guaranteed future value.
00:37:55
Speaker
There is a misconception that, you know, they have to go back to the same brand they bought that car from and actually their relationship was was is with the bank, but don't tell anyone because yeah it suits the car brands. So, and, you know, even if, um you know, God forbid someone has a tip in a PCP car, they always say to me, oh, I have to go back now to Frank Keen or whoever it is, where Frank Keen and many other main brands, they don't have crash repairs. They'll sub.
00:38:18
Speaker
the workout but people are very very attached to their pcp and and i think it reflects in the condition of the cars they're looking after them they're getting them service because again they feel they have to maintain the warranty and all the rest of it um and the result is you know if you if you get a good one you're going to have a low mileage uh good nick car and and that was one of those you know it is it is perhaps strange that a four-year-old kodiak is still going for 40 grand and that is yeah it's it's somewhat alarming. When that car launched in 2019, it was 40 grand. Yeah, it was 39,995.
00:38:54
Speaker
Sorry, 2027. The video's over and on Navi and Cars on YouTube. what are the What are the people saying in the comments? it kind of spit down the middle. NCAP seems to be quite important to people, but again, what people say on the internet, what they do in reality are two very different things. you know So it's an easy one to to say, oh, well, yeah, the Kodiaq because you know we should put your family in the big stir.
00:39:13
Speaker
you know, I often say whether it's Dacia or any Brad really, the the NCAP report, it's there, it's pages and pages of PDF. Sometimes you will lose a point because you don't have lane keep assist or not points, but you know, an overall score.
00:39:25
Speaker
ah Not to say that pedestrians aren't any more important than the occupants of the car. But again, sometimes a car will lose a lot of points because the angle of the bonnet, that doesn't mean the people in your car are less safe. It means the person who unfortunately might, as a pedestrian, would be injured. It's a very generalized test and in in some sense, but that Look, that was certainly one area that people and were able to pick on the the Bigster versus the Kodiak. think a lot of people thought the Bigster actually looked better on the outside. It's a fresher design and and it does look quite good. I mean, and there is that sort of, okay consumer, you trying to give some helpful consumer advice.
00:39:59
Speaker
If you're getting a new car, yes, you're going to have a longer warranty. There's not going to be any problems. There shouldn't be any problems with the car. You know, there is that thing of, oh, you're buying someone else's problems when you buy the used one. But I think, you know, what we did in terms of taking car out of and an approved Skoda dealership and is you're reducing the the the likelihood of there being any faults to that I would imagine that Kodiak was absolutely perfect. And also, you know, and look, it will always cost you a little bit more. And i have a friend who bought a Porsche Taycan, a used one.
00:40:28
Speaker
the end of last year and has had huge, huge issues with this car. okay Really bad issues. Screens of death you know bring to workshop. The car had to be towed. It doesn't start. Charging ports don't open. herett like really just I paid 60 grand for this car. And was this an official Porsche used car? No, no. You see, this is the thing. And and I remember at the time saying to this friend of mine saying, look,
00:40:55
Speaker
It's going to cost you maybe four or five grand more to go to Port Dublin. But something goes wrong with that car, you can park in the forecourt you can go in really politely and ask for someone in service and go, hey, bought this car off you, sort it out.
00:41:11
Speaker
And the independent random dealer, like the dealership she bought this from, you know, I don't know where the Taycan came from. The rest of the cars were, you know, 12 year old A3s.
00:41:23
Speaker
a nice condition, but older golf. They were, they were, it was almost like a trader's yard, but maybe spruced up little better than that. and And to be fair to them, it's not a huge amount they can do because they can't repair the car.
00:41:34
Speaker
They've, they've offered a long car while the car is off the road and stuff. But anyway, the moral story is when you go to a dealership for a used car, there is that, there's accountability. You're going to get a warranty at least a year, maybe two.
00:41:46
Speaker
I mean, Windsor for know they're still doing it. Windsor were doing three year warranty on used cars. That's very impressive. Yeah. But look, there's no there's no such thing as a cheap used performance car or premium car. yeah And if there is, then that should be raising all of the flags.
00:42:00
Speaker
um yeah And also just when people are servicing their cars as well. I mean, we buy our cars and then suddenly, you know, we might be good for the first two or three services. And then after that, we ah, sure, look, it'll be grand.
00:42:11
Speaker
I can tell you, having worked in a major OEM, the people who go to the proper franchise dealership, right, they might be paying a little bit more to have their car serviced. But if the shit hits the fan, if something goes badly wrong, even if you're out of warranty,
00:42:26
Speaker
There's thing called goodwill and goodwill is only in lots of cases exercised if you've done your part of the bargain. So if you've gone to your main dealer, you have all your stamp service books.
00:42:38
Speaker
If something goes wrong out of warranty, there's I've seen so many cases of people being looked after because they've done their bit. It doesn't look good for a company to kind of turn their turn the other way when a customer is coming to them, kind going, I need some help here. Now, this Taycan, it turns out, needs a new battery.
00:42:55
Speaker
But then it got into the nitty gritty of it. Well, I said, is it getting a new battery or are they replacing some cells and modules? um And again, that's where you then go into your small print of your, your eight year battery warranty with 160,000 kilometers, whatever it is.
00:43:08
Speaker
So I'll let you know the outcome, because as far as I know, that car has been sitting in Porsche Dublin for the last, three weeks. um A lot of workshops are are out the door as well. To be
Tesla Executive Changes and Sales Decline
00:43:18
Speaker
continued. Breaking news, actually. My iPad here has just flashed up with news that Elon Musk has fired one of his top Tesla lieutenants. I'm going to butcher this guy's name, Omid Afshar, one of Tesla's most senior executives, so was tasked with improving the electric vehicle company's business in North America and Europe late last year, but sales continued to drop. So he has been axed.
00:43:38
Speaker
So follow on from our earlier discussion. He doesn't strike me as the most rational thinking man when he's own under pressure. Or tolerant. No, certainly certainly not.
00:43:50
Speaker
and So, look, for our our verdicts. What were our verdicts on the on the new versus used? I probably would have. Look, I would have probably had a Kodiak. I've had a Kodiak before. I loved it. and This one felt really fresh.
00:44:05
Speaker
um And, you know, even though the money was expensive, I probably would have landed on the Kodiak. I think you were the other way, were you? and Well, I just think from a, there's many, many different trims. And I like that about the bigster in Ireland. You know, you can get them for 30 grand and you can get them from almost 40 grand. You can get an LPG, you can get a 4x4, you can get a hybrid, an automatic.
00:44:24
Speaker
gearbox but you know there's something for everybody and particularly if you if you don't want one that's way into the 30s they're they are offering a ah very good sized family car um that is is relatively affordable and you know that that's the whole point of dacha yes it's easy then to go oh like 40 grand ridiculous what a few other the comments were from outside of this country which is actually quite a big difference between the price of the two cars so it actually wasn't as much of a a test in certain markets but certainly in Ireland I think i think at the 40 grand level i I probably would prefer a Kodiak but you're not going to get a new Kodiak and you're near 30.
00:45:01
Speaker
And look let's be clear on its own as a new purchase the Bigster is peerless pretty much at the moment because you're there's no other car giving you that much space, size, spec you know that sort of Tonka toy feel for the money so it is pretty much you know, on its own and will sell accordingly, I think. And I was driving behind a 142 Sandero last night. so a nice blue colour.
00:45:25
Speaker
And I actually kind of had to do a double take of the rage because, again, the lady was driving this that obviously mined it. And it was still on the road, you know. and And that's not just on the on the Bigster video, but I've done quite a lot of Datcha reviews over the years. And the one thing that comes back over and over again is reliability with them.
00:45:41
Speaker
People love them. That was probably a 16 grand car at the time. And, you know, wipe clean efficiency and simple enough. And in a lot cases, that's what has longevity.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. They're just simple. They're straightforward. they're They're affordable for people. Not everyone wants flash car. And yeah, like for for some people, they're absolutely all they need.
Peugeot E208 GTI and Electric Hot Hatches
00:46:02
Speaker
Peugeot 206 GTI, 205 GTI rather. What a car.
00:46:06
Speaker
and And, you know, one of the original OG hot hatches. Peugeot this week have shown us what the future looks like. And it's the E208 GTI. not surprised they're doing this. I'm surprised it took so long though.
00:46:19
Speaker
You know, i think they have to tread very carefully with any of those heritage products. They probably had to take the time and make sure that they got it right because i don't think they could afford to get this one wrong.
00:46:30
Speaker
Something that strikes me as odd, and just as an aside, I saw read an article about the ID.2 GTI or the ID.GTI, and it was talking about it having sort of 295 horsepower.
00:46:41
Speaker
this horse These horsepower figures and 280 for the GTI, they seem quite small given what EVs can do. I wonder, is that deliberate? Yeah. You know, if you're thinking of an ID.3 GTX is what, 326 horsepower, and they're talking about less than 300 for the GTI. Is it a case of they've reached a point where they're saying, okay, this is too much.
00:47:01
Speaker
Here's a sweet spot. And this is enough. I mean, a GTI has always been front wheel drive. So... I'd say that plays an element. Yeah, you don't want to be putting og stair that much in the front wheels.
00:47:13
Speaker
Yeah, the figures for this, 280, 345 newton meters, 0 to 100 kilometers per hour, 5.7 seconds, top speed 180, claiming to be the quickest electric hatch in its class for now.
00:47:27
Speaker
I have to have to divert from this slightly because you brought it up, but the the new anniversary GTI that was an announced this week. Oh, my God. I want one of them. Yes. Well, I don't know. Will we see them here? like go I don't know. i don't know. um It might be a case where if you went into a bigger Volkswagen dealer in Ireland, they could get you one, but I don't know if they'll be you know officially doing it. I would have said that...
00:47:49
Speaker
that if the I thought maybe it was just Europe. but Because the UK is such a big market for both Volkswagen and for Golf GTIs, I would suspect that there will be right-hand-drive versions, but I also suspect that the right-hand-drive versions would be snaffled up. Martin Cardiff, who I know is probably listening. Martin might let us know. Get us few, Martin, will you? He's the man who would be trying to get his fishing hooks out to but snaffle a few of those. So hopefully we'll see love that version soon because it looks absolutely awesome.
00:48:20
Speaker
But that no, Peugeot absolutely deserved to be at this table. You know, how many of us lusted after and still do the old GTIs, the 106 GTI as well. um What a car, brilliant. Fun little car.
00:48:31
Speaker
And yeah, look, once the driving dynamics are there and it's exciting looking and it kind of invokes a bit of passion out of people. You know, we have missed this in EVs, I think, for the last years, you know, and it is new technology all the time.
00:48:46
Speaker
ah But it we're we're now kind of getting into an era and and era and and About bloody time where EVs are are getting interesting. The stats on this are pretty good. Also, limited slip differential, 54 kilowatt hour battery. Their WTP range is, WLTP range rather, is about 350 kilometers. Fast charging at 100 kilowatts. So the stats from an EV perspective we are pretty good.
00:49:06
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds like the Alfa Junior Veloce, which I have driven. It sounds like that's what it is in a Peugeot. You said that that car is pretty good to drive as well. It was. Handling, that limited, it's an E diff, is good. It is good. And I'd driven the other version first, the normal EV, and then I'd driven the Veloce. Now, the wheels were quite big on it, but the sport seats were class, like proper sport seats, fucking into your seat. I don't get their augmented sound. It's a bit weird. I always turn it off. But it was quick. It was snappy. It was a pretty good...
00:49:45
Speaker
Not the best hot hatch I've ever driven, but ah as ah as a ah small EV style hot hatch, I enjoy it. So I'm sure the future will be just as good. It's funny, you know, we could be talking and this time next year, we could have quite an interesting car park of small performance TVs available. If, you know, if you think of maybe IDGTI, this,
00:50:06
Speaker
you know, Alpine, you know, that that car park of of interesting small EVs might be but be quite good. And now we are probably at at the risk of obsessing over these um as motoring enthusiasts. I mean, again, if you if you compare it to what we've had now, there's there aren't a huge amount of Focus RSs or STs in the national car park. There aren't. I mean, it's probably more Golf GCI's, but you know, these types of cars, they'll never be huge volume setters. But as long as it's something interesting for people who will hopefully continue to love driving, you know, and and a kind of silences the whole idea of, oh, cars are dishwashers and washing machines on on wheels. Plus, we can't forget as well the Skoda Epic, which is due as well, which is that the Skoda's sort of smaller EV. And um there is rumor of ah an RS version of that too. So that could be a...
00:50:58
Speaker
Very interesting. There's rumors of that. ah There's also rumors of, ah so for those who remember with the Skoda Fabia RS, which had a TDI engine yeah ah with the 170 brake, I think, there are some rumors of Skoda bringing back the Fabia with a petrol RS.
00:51:14
Speaker
Right. and About 200 brake horsepower. And there's a, I've heard rumors as well of a sort of rally inspired version of the Fabia too. Oh, really? Yeah. That could be coming soon with the, with, in the Mamba Green as well.
00:51:25
Speaker
So, yeah, just just make it fun and keep people interested. And again, these these are heritage things that, you know, and again, when I was at Mazda last night, they talk every car brand that has been around, they're all using the word heritage.
Brand Heritage vs. New Entrants
00:51:39
Speaker
And they're not saying, well, you know, who does not heritage? But, you know, they they why wouldn't you lean into it? If you have these cars that people loved over the years, you know, why wouldn't you kind of?
00:51:52
Speaker
Well, it's one of the few things that they have left that they can throw at the Chinese brands and say, well, you know, Johnny come lately, right? You can make, you're making good stuff, but you've no heritage.
00:52:05
Speaker
So, yeah. And the problem is if BYD decide, oh, okay, right. You want a hot hatch? Okay. They could make, you know, a dolphin hot hatch. I mean, I won't, I won't make people remember when they were younger, but it could be really, really good.
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah. They can put a red, they can put a red stripe on the grill. And they'll have it out in three months. and so That's the other thing. and Speaking of Chinese brands, next week, we are hoping to speak to Steve McGrath, who's, um,
00:52:33
Speaker
in charge, brand manager for for Leap
Leap Motors' Irish Market Entry
00:52:35
Speaker
Motors. and So we're looking forward to speaking to Stephen next week. It's a brand I don't know much about. um i know um you've been looking at it a little bit, but another new entrant onto the Irish market, Stephen is likely to, Stephen of course will know everything about it. He's the brand manager. so and Looking forward to speaking Stephen. He's going to talk us through some of that. So Elite Motor will arrive in, I think, officially September. But I did notice from on the social media, they seem to have some Irish cars on ah on trade plates. so They do. I was talking to Stephen earlier on. There's eight cars currently
00:53:07
Speaker
during the round and he he said to me that the cars are going to come to Ireland in September, October. um So press launch will be in September. He doesn't want to give us one of his trade plate lead motor cars early, does he? We'll have to just talk to him nicely next week.
00:53:26
Speaker
so Hello, Mr. Stephen. Could we have a look at these? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, that would be good. and Just on on a briefly, yeah what am I driving this week? Because I have been enjoying it, is ah the Volkswagen Multivan, which has been refreshed. So it now has the 50 DC charging on it, little bit more range. I have actually been charging it at nighttime.
00:53:47
Speaker
I can't really get the thing to use petrol, which impressive. That's complaint. And do you know what? It's one of my favorite vehicles. I just think it does so much. and Like obviously California is great, but I but certainly with the nature of my work and where I live and everything, I love a vehicle that I can pull in, open a laptop, do a bit work, have a bit of a doze if I want, eat my lunch.
00:54:09
Speaker
And that's the absolute perfect vehicle for that. It's amazing. Why does this car stink? Oh, Paddy Com was in last week. Yeah, he was eating his egg sandwiches. It has like a push-up area between the driver and passenger. When that pushes up to kind of almost shoulder level, it does that. So you can pull out to, like when you're sitting the emergency exit row of a plane and you get the tray table in the actual armrest, it pulls out like that.
00:54:31
Speaker
and Loads of charging ports. I do think the space around the dash for coffee, you know, there are coffee holders, they're not in a great position. The door holders used to be bigger, are the the the inserts on like something like a transporter. They're a little bit smaller for a 1.5 litre bottle of valve. I found that falling out when I've gone around corners and stuff. But um it's 80 grand, not cheap. but you know it does It does drive like a van.
00:54:56
Speaker
But again, when you when you have like the way you can maneuver the seats, you can take some in, take some out. Obviously, you're going to use it a public service vehicle. Is that 80 grand now? That was 68 not too long ago.
00:55:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And and that's this is a plug-in hybrid version, don't forget, not even the diesel. Yikes, things are getting worse in terms of pricing. And it's on 17-inch alloys, so it's actually quite comfortable.
00:55:18
Speaker
Yeah, go I did. i saw you. that i so I was speaking you the day you picked it up. It did look nice. um Did you spend that only only the week in that or have switched, watched around? Yeah, I also need to get into a Skoda Superb Sportline. I haven't had a look at the Sportline version at all. I was hoping it was going to be diesel because I just love getting into a 1,200-kilometer range Skoda. Yeah, I'm in the i'm in the revised Enyaq, Enyaq Sportline 80X, which is just...
00:55:45
Speaker
I'm a former Enyaq owner so a bit biased but it's a lovely thing it's really really nice that front though is really a I'd be annoyed if I was an Enyaq owner of the last face because it's so different yeah it is so different and interesting enough I was looking at Merlin car auctions and i don't know if anyone ever listens watches their website or goes to the Merlin car auctions there's a gaggle of EVs at the auction which will be tomorrow today if you're listening to the podcast there's a ton of ID4s there's tons of them and there's Kodiak's or sorry not Kodiak's there's Enyaq's there as well and I'd be really curious to see what they go for because they're not major mileage and they're pretty fresh as well so I remember an interview with I think his name is actually Merlin yeah it is it's Merlin yeah
00:56:29
Speaker
He did an interview, i think, with Neil Briscoe from the Irish york Times, and it was about banks who had repossessed ID4s from people, ah particularly, I think, like relatively soon after And he was saying, these are 22, 23 grand cars.
00:56:46
Speaker
Yeah, the and the and the that stuff is not... People are a little bit worried. People are a bit sort of anxious about buying from auction anyway. But um if you're going down end there as a buyer, if you're brave enough to get one, you can really get a bargain. I'm just looking here as we speak. Yeah, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ID.4s.
00:57:05
Speaker
um All pretty fresh 221s. Pros. um And there's an Enyaq and there's... an ID.3 with the big battery, and then there's a Volvo XC40 all in the electric stuff, couple of Teslas, all really fresh as well.
00:57:21
Speaker
Not old cars. Yeah, the thing is, a lot of those cars will be out of the normal warranty, so you still will have the battery warranty, but I suppose it has to be reflected in the price. You can buy extended warranties for these cars.
00:57:33
Speaker
you know It might give you a bit more peace of mind, so you you get ah a decent auction price, and then you just buy an extended warranty. Oh dear, I see a Great Wall or a Funky Cat. don I don't suspect it will be very much.
00:57:44
Speaker
That was a 40,000 euro car with that launch in Ireland. I'd say that will be it. I'd be curious to find out, but my guess is if it sells, 12 grand.
00:57:55
Speaker
My God. 2, 3, 1. could stand corrected, but it either won't go or it'll go for... for a pretty small money. I don't even know if I could put 12 grand on my hard-earned money into that car.
00:58:08
Speaker
Yeah. Just purely because ah just, like, think the day you buy is the day sell. Three years' time, is anyone going to want that car off yet and how much they're going to want to give give you first? No. And and not ah not a terrible car. It has some quite annoying traits, but, um you know, it's just a brand that just did not work. no No. Not here. And it didn't help that they they didn't seem to do do their due diligence and check that Caterpillar, the company who make footwear and um machinery ah have the trademark on ah Funky Cat and Cat. So now it's the Kia Ora, like the drink in the 80s. 07 or whatever it's, or 03 or something. It really slips off the tongue.
00:58:48
Speaker
That's the reason. But they had they had quite a few built before they were either told or realised of this issue. ah So the names had to be removed from from the cars. And that was that was the reason the...
00:59:01
Speaker
the digger company, says, uh-uh, can't use that name, guys. Sorry. One one major lawsuit ensued. and yeah So this episode was brought to you in association with Dundee Motors, where more Irish drivers find their next car from a trusted dealership than anywhere else. Why? Because Dundee's trusted dealer program means verified dealerships and the kind of backup that matters, like warranties and history checks, giving you confidence from your very first click. Mark, we will ah reconvene next week. So more from, ah obviously, we'll speak to Leap Motors next week and, uh,
00:59:30
Speaker
we will bring you all the latest motoring news. We might even be going international with one of our guests, um, uh, Palomina, who is based in the UK and, uh, has quite a large YouTube channel over there.
00:59:42
Speaker
And, uh, been a weird time to be a car reviewer and get confused with an influencer in the UK. So we'll hopefully delve into that subject and see are people getting a little bit of ah unfair treatment from the public.
00:59:55
Speaker
Put it that way. So do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Do leave us a ah review if you feel like it. It all helps. and and And tell your friends. But i otherwise, we will talk to you next week.
01:00:05
Speaker
Bye for you. Kevin, are you out there? Come on. Talk to us, Kevin.