Worst carmakers named and shamed (plus, why they suck) | Auto Expert John Cadogan

[@AutoExpertJC]

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[@tadstertrolley7770]

An interesting subject may be about many of the manufacturers becoming too conservative, not producing interesting vehicles, can't be just bean counters surely? Examples would be Suzuki not producing the hugely popular soft top vitara's and Sierra's. Subaru finally delivering XT outbacks but no Forresters, not a bonnet scoop insight and oh so boring to look at, and down on power, WRXs with CVTs and no brumby, no low range in anything. Holden didn't produce anything interesting since the HJ Sandman and Monaro''s. There is just nothing interesting to buy from mainstream manufacturers (except maybe a raptor, but the wait time is ridiculous) and all those SUVs are just so blah. Bought a new 17 mustang, but it was lacking. Ordered a touring XT, but not really excited about it. I bet many people are in the same boat.

[@DrakeN-ow1im]

@@tadstertrolley7770 So, you are not looking for transport, then, just an expensive toy to parade your imagined masculinity.

[@tadstertrolley7770]

@@DrakeN-ow1im Bikes and cars don't have to be just for transport tosser, there are plenty of enthusiasts that enjoy quality, looks, colour, performance, track days, maybe stick to your plain white barina....beep beep.

[@DrakeN-ow1im]

@@tadstertrolley7770 You are replying to a motor rally enthusiast for whom the practicality of everyday transport is a matter separate from the petrolhead bullshit which frquently passes for automotive enthusiasm. Building your performance vehicle is altogether a different matter to that of buying the garbage which the likes of Ford put out as 'performance' machines. The V8 Supercars bear only a superficial resemblance to the claimed manufacturer - but you know that, don't you. Go build your own and let the average commuting punters get on with their 'white goods' and 'shopping trolleys' which are so capably provided by the better carmakers. But perhaps hands-on engineering and autobody making are beyond your capabilities.

[@skillsrev]

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't disagree with anything you said. Great work John. And I agree, too often dollars come before customers, once had a truck company offer to return all 400 prime movers they'd just bought because they weren't repairing a server fault in the vehicle. Imagine if that was an owner driver or a small business. Not cool, support is king even to a worse product.

[@boskojovanovic2770]

It astounds me that this is the only Australian automotive channel that addresses all aspects of vehicle ownership and not just its aesthetics, features and driving dynamics. Well done John, keep up the awesome work!

[@andrewmihaleff]

ReDriven isn't too bad as it focuses on used cars. But John has been carrying the torch largely solo for a while

[@Rusty_Gold85]

Because he doesnt need a relationship to report on cars and they advertise in his magazines(he hasnt got one)

[@rrocketman]

I think he fed up with whats known as deckheads in Australia

[@nottjohn9418]

I come from the other side of the world and still like to stop by, get a bit of an entertaining moan from John and then get on with my day. See, I'm.here again!

[@the80386]

But this channel fails to cover the most crucial aspect of a car that customers must know --> how many cupholders and bottle storage does the car have and whether there's "hard and scratchy" plastic on top of the dashboard. How can a channel be taken seriously unless they harp on and on about these definite deal breakers? /sarcasm

[@thumbs3000]

17:55 Jaguar and Land Rover 22:13 Fiat Chrysler Australia (incl Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat) 24:51 Volvo 25:52 Ateco (incl LDV, Ram, Renault, Maserati) 28:52 Nissan 31:50 Mercedes Benz 34:30 Volkswagen (incl Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Cupra) 36:29 Isuzu Ute 38:40 Ford 44:00 BYD 44:45 Honda 45:00 Peugeot and Citroen 45:48 Polestar 46:10 Ssangyong 46:30 Suzuki Recommended 47:05 BMW 47:48 Genesis 48:27 Hyundai 48:33 Kia 48:53 Lexus 49:25 Mazda 50:00 MG 50:34 Mini 51:13 Mitsubishi 51:35 Subaru 52:29 Toyota Let me know if I missed any (and tell me the time stamp so I can add it to the list)

[@TheDrEngineer]

Champion!

[@markbrown8097]

Honda Peugeot Citroën Saying (?) Suzuki

[@thumbs3000]

@@markbrown8097 if you have the time stamps let me know and I can add them to my comment

[@utubedano]

@Auto Expert John Cadogan, can you please pin this

[@utubedano]

@Auto Expert John Cadogan can you please pin this

[@tasheksteen1316]

Bought a brand new 2021 Ford Escape ST Line. Gearbox has failed 3 times in the last 6 months. On the first 2 occasions, it sorta fixed itself. The third time it happened, I was more than 1000km away from home with my family. The amount of runaround I got from dealerships in Perth was actually quite unbelievable. The Ford dealership in Wangara initially didn't want to have a bar of the car as it's a warranty job and they wouldn't make any money off it. After a lot of back and forth, they took the car but advised they wouldn't even look at it until the 25th of Jan which were 8 days after I had to return home for work. Got a loan car through Ford's Roadside Assistance Program and managed to get home. Have now been without our car for 2 weeks and don't know how long we'll still have to wait. Needless to say, will NEVER buy a Ford again. Steer clear. It took almost 3 months to get my car back.

[@dalegillispie8436]

The Ford transmission s break in 6 months all the time and they know it but don't want to fix it. Just like dodge 5 years ago.. They know what is wrong but don't stop the problem..

[@andyburk4825]

That's on you for buying NEW, and from a dealer - Caveat Emptor.

[@everyhandletaken]

@@andyburk4825 that's not how this works.

[@SteveEddy-od7fb]

Hmmmmm sounds like you didn't ESCAPE the mechanic??????

[@tasheksteen1316]

@@andyburk4825 Yeah sure mate. It's on me for byuing a new car from a dealership. Who would have thought that would be a mistake? Apart from you OBVIOUSLY.

[@brucesibthorpe9443]

This, your technical analysis and explanation is what you do that others struggle with John. Your youtube channel should be compulsory viewing for journalists. It's not just your background it's your clear thinking, your guts, your lack of fear and having the ability to communicate a complex issue in a simple fashion. It's rare. Sorry I'm having a bit of a rave here but in this youtube you have held a torch to all of our feet by explaining how our careless decisions in life damage not only ourselves but the community. Always had trouble understanding that clearly until now. Thanks John.

[@belalmohammad3705]

Agree 100%

[@davidnobular9220]

Would that be an Olight torch perchance ?

[@fmh357]

I live in the States so things are somewhat different here. However I believe most of what you've said applies here as well. Thank you. As someone who tends to keep their cars long term, durability and affordable repairs when it's on me is an important consideration.

[@MrCountrycuz]

Acura TSX Reliable!

[@marcconyard5024]

Your man at the coal face, Scotty Kilmer kills it with his pull no punches appraisal of the shonks in the car industry. He doesn’t like Hyundais, claiming that they’re not very well made, and I tend to agree with him there as my 2010 build i30 has had quite a few issues. He swears by Toyotas and I tend to agree with him.

[@seamusmcmahon1182]

First i30 was a great car. Much better than a European car or from what I here a US built car. I drove one for almost nine years. My best car yet

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

JUST gotta watch... Mitsubishi might be a good car, but they made a few that you had to extract the ENGINE entirely or disassemble the front end back to the firewall to change the spark-plugs... a supposedly 100,000 mile MAINTENANCE... and this for a pickup my high school shop teacher had (how I found out about the "flaw") and why there's a bunch of us who call them "Mighty-sh*tty"(ies). I don't know how they are for customer support, and frankly, I buy used most of the time, and have learned to watch forums and scour message boards on subjects of make, model, year, and complaints... There's more to post-sales experiences than customer service or dealerships treatment... Many brands like to "booby trap" their ECU's so you (private owner) can't even change your own battery without going to a dealer for it, and spending ANOTHER $100 or more for "reprogramming" which can't (apparently) be done with one of the aftermarket OBDII devices... Every maker has a few models you're just better off avoiding if possible. Almost anything 1985 or 86 is better avoided, and damn the reliability. Fuel injection was still new and buggy as hell in the late 80's, AND only some of them were ever destined to elevate to "classic" status with manufacturers upgrading the poorly designed parts involved. AND on motorcycles, the only point to fuel injection is that pressurized fuel tends not to corrupt the internals. Otherwise it's all throttle-body which is a glorified carburetor anyways... and not half as special as some would like you to believe. You STILL should use the alcohol treatment crap, and you STILL should regularly run old fashioned alcohol-free gasoline if at all possible... especially on older motorcycles... AND Honda and Suzuki should both stick to bikes. Those are actually pretty good most of the time, as far as reliably working after you've put a few miles on them. Some say "rugged" or words like "bullet proof"... I'll only go as far as "good bet" that you can get a 90's Savage or Rebel of whatever size and expect to have it make the trip to your home under its own power. Maybe they'll do better for their cars and other vehicles, but I wouldn't hold my breath with all that cash burning holes in my trousers... ;o)

[@bloothedog4443]

Kilmer says customer support for KIA/Hyundai is abysmal. And we seem to experience random Hyundai engine failures here in 'Merica. (I have a 01 ES 300 with 250K miles and it runs better now since I first got it 3 years ago.)

[@SpencerHHO]

On Jeep an old workmate had a 2006 repaired right off which spent half the time in pieces as he fixed it himself for cheap. He needed new injectors and other minor parts. Jeep dealerships everywhere refused to sell him.anything but full assemblies for many multiples the price. As it turned out the engine was made by Mercedes and the Mercedes dealership in Brighton were like angels compared to Jeep and got him the parts at a reasonable price. When it's a relief to deal with a Mercedes service centre you know it's bad.

[@rhys2462]

Mazda has been making it

[@Drmcclung]

Anything from Jeep-Chrysler during the entire Daimler Chrysler era is a hulking piece of shit - I made 50% of my side job money putting Jeeps & Chrysler 300's right (US of course). They're not quite British Leyland bad but pretty goddamn close to it

[@SpencerHHO]

@David Russell -drmcclung1- yeah if this dude didn't do almost everything himself and pay virtually nothing for the car to begin with it would've been a total money pit.

[@Drmcclung]

@@SpencerHHO Right. What I absolutely to this very day in 2023 cannot wrap my brain around are all the Mopar apologists who absolutely refuse to refute ANY of Chrysler's schlocky engineering from back then or their piss poor dealer system.. it it above and beyond mystery to me. It's like Stockholm Syndrome

[@Rusty_Gold85]

Yep Jeep refused to help my Mechanics on a blown Turbo diesel . They ended up buying work manuals to bypass them

[@shanea9613]

I agree with the supermodel syndrome..... Same as a car, someone is always wanting more. This is why I have a clapped out, very used, been around the block a number of times, always needing lubrication type of set up. My car's not so great either.

[@legend7ify]

[@paullewis6410]

Lol, well done!

[@brianmac1]

Great video, I feel ok as I bought my wife a new Kia Sportage 4 years ago, no problems so far. Some years ago I was a fleet manager in NZ. We had one particularly problematic major brand vehicle on your 'under the bus' list, and I was getting nowhere with the dealer. Our procurement manager gave their Head Office a call, asking them politely to please refrain from submitting on any future tenders for our national fleet. The nearest dealership was about 3kms away, and a replacement arrived within 30 minutes of the phone going down. Sometimes the 'right thing' needs a nudge.

[@WillPower46]

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Counties Honda in Auckland this is a motorcycle dealer but your points rang true to me when I watched this vid. You are 100% correct when you summed it up, some businesses ask themselves "what can we get away with" instead of "what would be the right thing to do". Still you can only get burned once.

[@tompchromedome]

did yer write to honda?

[@lukespector5550]

Honda used to really be SOMETHING back in the late 80's to early 2000's.

[@camo8768]

Honda EVERYTHING is trash now. I have some late 80's/early 90's engines that are amazing but as an aside, I run a small landscaping business and not only have Honda's been the least reliable, they're the most expensive. Stay away.

[@geoffyeo7444]

Try getting a headlight for a new CR-V. Bought a new car in March. Wife hit a Kangaroo in June. Five months later, still waiting for a headlight, shroud in and some bolts. They say another five to seven weeks. Absolutely ridiculous. Don’t buy a HONDA.

[@tompchromedome]

I had to wait 12 weeks for a windscreen from Mazda @@geoffyeo7444

[@mongo64071]

It’s interesting to hear your take. Here in the US, Hyundai has horrible customer service. Lots of complaints of engines blowing up or burning oil. They don’t fix anything. The 10 year warranty is basically worthless. Also, mitsubishi is almost gone from the market. Very hard to get repairs. Very few dealers.

[@everyhandletaken]

That sounds about right, I am surprised about John's overview for here in AU. Kia have an excellent reputation of installing explosive devices in the front of the vehicle, which they pass off as an 'engine' too.

[@SME5724]

Yup … I was surprised too

[@SteveEddy-od7fb]

Yes their first cars in the late 80s were 1 headache after Another but they have improved a bit but I still don't trust them

[@Duken4evr29]

Ironically, the older KIA/Hyundai models that were cheap back then were pretty reliable. Now they are as expensive as anyone else, and the engines are crap with thin oil control rings that let them burn oil and of course the 2.4L "Theta" engines had rod design issues that caused them to spin their big end bearings / snap rods to the point they had a class action lawsuit. In contrast, my family had an '07 Rondo with the 2.7 V6 and it ran great, no oil use at 165K miles, well until my kid wrecked it, then it leaked out all it's oil - she hammered it hard. It was a good little car, she was uninjured, it protected her well at the end of it's thankless life...

[@TheGuruStud]

​​@@Duken4evr29they won't burn if quality oil is used and it's actually changed. Hyundai owners do zero maintenance

[@jamesmcmillan2656]

You’re the only car channel I subscribe to that names and shames ARB. Strange that.

[@offroadingfoz]

They also only hire those with visa’s for their warehouses and production facilities.

[@er6505]

I only wear blue singlets and thongs and my sleek sunglasses 😎 over my baseball cap so I love arb. I don’t intend to run over cyclists but I just can’t see them from my six foot off the ground arb bullbar Oy,oy,oyyyy

[@paulkerr782]

For the price of ARB products - they should all be gold plated

[@andrechanthery7197]

Probably because the others are sponsored by arb.

[@jordymaas565]

some one bought a house from covid in w.a.; a mthrfkr big one. panel beater business does alright too, with effective staff & insurance companies on tap.

[@atnit86]

Hearing all this stuff makes me thankful for the experience I’ve had with my Mexican built 2017 Audi SQ5. I’ve been super fussy over several little things over 5 years and the dealer has always fixed it immediately under warranty. This includes a new $4k steering wheel under warranty because I noticed the grip slightly twisting …. Easily could have said it was wear and tear…. But they put it to Audi Australia and a week later I was booked in for a new wheel. They always give me a loan car too. I thought this was a bare minimum level of service for a $100k car…. But after hearing this, it seems that I’ve probably been very lucky.

[@effbee56]

Beer quality for whisky price?

[@GlowingTube]

I'd just rather have the beer

[@legend7ify]

@@elonmask50

[@lard_lad_AU]

Look forward to hearing your opinion once the warranty runs out

[@atnit86]

@@lard_lad_AU I’ve got 2 of the 7 years left… I’ll move it on before it runs out. A single rear suspension component that was also replaced under warranty had a $900 price tag.

[@johnchill]

Thanks John, I listen and digest so very many of your vids. Thanks. On Suzuki, I suggest that you are wrong. Unless it has recently changed ( last 4 years), I suggest that you are very wrong. I owned a long wheel base sierra purchased 2nd hand in maybe 1992 in somewhat abused condition, owned it for 10 years, and then a jimny for 12 years and another jimny ( purchased 2017) They all come with low range, transfer case etc, the last one cost $19,000, manual new, 2017. Cheap. I finally did get sick of the rough ride, not great economy, etc etc, so now I have moved to something bigger recently, BUT , They are what they are, Very tough, very reliable, wont break unless you abuse/dont service them, very cheap, very 4WD capable, very capable, and they never ever let me down . Its a niche...................not everyone's niche, but its a real one that you may have overlooked. Cheers

[@djmini2numpty141]

just like to add, i based my choice of car for my needs , based on your reviews of 4wd's, and chose the Mistzi 2020 ute back in 2020. could not be happier, and to hear that Mitzi still outperforms most in after sales service is not only reassuring but a testimony to your great advice, thanks John

[@Dark_Dial_Watches]

What is a mistzi?

[@MrPhilgos]

@@Dark_Dial_Watches Mitsubishi

[@davidnobular9220]

Damn I thought a Mitzi was a breed of dog....

[@damodoesall6240]

Same, my triton has been good.

[@djmini2numpty141]

@@Dark_Dial_Watches a typo

[@David-nx2vm]

U.S. subscriber here. My wife has a Mercedes, and her last Service B - glorified oil change - cost me just over $500 USD. Major sticker shock. They are trying to make up lost sales revenue from the chip shortage in the service department. In the post-service survey, I told them they would never see me there again. No follow up. As a fella once said “If you ignore them, they’ll go away.” BTW, as other international subs have said, I have to use Google Translate for some of your content. I will do it gladly. When I was in the military, I had the honor and privilege to work and train with RAAF officers. Terrific experiences, but I had to take careful notes and often go back and look up the jargon.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

we have laws saying you can go to any qualified mechanic for the warranty service. Is that the same there?

[@ozbaz99]

In Australia we have a lot of US tv and UK tv so from a young age we get good at understanding US and UK accents and slang where as the reverse is not the same in the US.

[@TopperPenquin]

They can listen all they want but at the end of the day they gotta Keep Me Silent 🤐

[@TopperPenquin]

Though "They" did release Julian Assange

[@TopperPenquin]

Yet crashed Grant Denyer and Flattened Paul NRL Green however. Flat Earth Theory will sooner or later be sold as the Fruit of Our Elon's

[@sheerluckholmes5468]

Hyundai pulled the 'It's out of warranty' stunt on me rather than own up to their obligation for their piss poor engineering.

[@grahambaglin7484]

They and the Hyundai dealer couldn't smell the rotten egg gas emitting from our i30, bought new from day 1. Six years on and it's still emitting. Choose your dealer as carefully as you choose your car and don't bother complaining to Hyundai - useless exercise and after you complain to the dealer, mysteriously you don't get any more "how did we do emails" after each service from them or Hyundai. You might get an end of warranty survey from Hyundai but it's only a paper exercise for them. We went to town on our end of warranty survey and heard zilch from Hyundai. What a disappointment Hyundai have been. Please don't recommend them John.

[@tomnewham1269]

@@grahambaglin7484did you take it to another dealership? If you didn’t you cannot blame Hyundai as you would have just came across as a unreasonable customer.

[@grahambaglin7484]

@@tomnewham1269 - No we didn't go to another dealer - no point. Living rurally, unfortunately three of the nearest dealerships are all owned by the same franchise. We would have to travel three hours to visit different Hyundai dealer. And to say we cannot blame Hyundai - unreasonable... yeah sure. Our grandkids complained about the smell from the back seats, our neighbours got a whiff as we drove past, people in shopping centres commented. What is so unreasonable Tom? I have never sworn, or behaved badly and always used language and tone respectfully. I wrote directly to Hyundai only to be referred back to the dealer denying. What more could we do? By what assumption of yours tells you we were unreasonable customers? To what extent do we have to go to to demonstrate that we have a Day 1 issue that is not of our own making? I believe Hyundai and the dealership know there is a problem with this vehicle and I am of the belief that they hope it will go away. Well, it has in a fashion except the old adage that a disgruntled customer shouts from the hillside. Choosing your dealer is, in my view, just as important as choosing what to buy.

[@alexgrant1979]

If the rotten egg smell is not a way of saying the car is a joke then the smell is probably hydrogen sulphide gas, try changing the brand of petrol you use. This was a problem back in the 90's when catalysts were being fitted to all cars. The smell is a chemcial reaction with the catalyst and certain additives in the petrol.

[@grahambaglin7484]

@@alexgrant1979 - There wouldn't be a brand of fuel we haven't tried Alex. This problem has been evident from the first day of ownership. Five plus years on, it is still a problem. The dealer suggested we use premium fuel. The manual says RON 91 is the recommended fuel and to avoid potential warranty issues that is the only fuel we have used.

[@sa2591-p5d]

This is a great and relevant review. Disturbingly when car mags review new cars they don’t even touch this issue. We know why they don’t but by ignoring the most important risk of owning a new car these “journalists” should change the profession to “salesman”.

[@person.X.]

That is it in a nutshell. They are just salespeople.

[@jamesgeorgevellavella1961]

Reminds me of the mad tv presenter saying how good his Honda bike was after Honda donated to him. The bike was bad & he was the only one still selling the BS saying it's kosher. They're all salesman

[@mcmoose64]

The only time you hear about an intrinsic problem with a vehicle from a mainstream journalist these days , is at the product launch of next year's updated model . If you are lucky

[@galaga8834]

John, I have been a subscriber forever. I have a 2020 Audi Q5 2 litre turbo. It has been faultless so far and there was a recall and they noticed that due to it the tyres wore down a bit too much for a car travelling 25,000km. So they replaced all of them. No questions asked. They are improving. I've been impressed. The only thing I don't like is that the ride is a little stiff and you need to top it up with oil every 10,000km. Got a top deal with 5 year warranty and free servicing. Ends in 2025. Yes I will sell it before the warranty expires. Euro cars scare me when out of warranty.

[@georgebeare8883]

Well, all I can say is that Ford has always treated me very well, as a customer. Only a month ago, our Mondeo, which was out of the 5 year warranty period by 5 months, went in to Bayford for a regular service. Turns out, an oil leak was developing on the injector pump. All I did was have a chat with the helpful service staff at Bayford, which led to them lodging a claim for consideration with Ford, along with a personal letter from me, outlining my loyalty as a Ford customer. Quick response, they covered the cost of repair in full, no dramas. So from my decades of experience with Ford, I have found them always to be helpful should an issue arise and this was another example of that.

[@shaynenb4262]

Hi John, I've just seen the CURRENT AFFAIR regarding the issues of the current FORD RANGER. Issues such as suddenly braking at 80 km/h, dash board screen showing nothing and poor customer service. In your future videos, COULD YOU PLEASE INCLUDE CURRENT ISSUES WITH THE VEHICLE (any vehicles) and WHAT THE MANUFACTURERS DOING ABOUT IT (fixes). Your videos influences how our hardworking Australians buy their knew vehicles. You will provide GREAT SERVICE to our community by providing not just the POSITIVE and NEGATIVE reviews about the vehicle but also the actual issues with it. This way, the MANUFACTURERS can be put on notice, up their standards and giving the manufacturers the idea CUSTOMER SERVICE should be their number one priority. Now that's a concept, PASSIONATE ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE.

[@TopperPenquin]

I saw the bloke besides me at school on Roger Climpson when I was 21 going through then the exact same thing as I am going through now. 🙄

[@TopperPenquin]

For we’ve played Molongo at cricket and McDougal topped the score

[@tonyh68]

Im up to Subie no.5, and customer service from Docklands Subaru Melbourne has been great over the years. I broke the glove box on a 2010 Outback well out of warranty. The whole glove box assembly needed replacing. I asked how much that would cost, and they said it would be covered by Subaru... and they did. Have bought 2 more Subies since.

[@nickhamilton8689]

My old 2009 Hyundai i30 was an excellent and reliable daily until its life was recently cut short by commodore ute while my neighbours Isuzu Dmax was a never ending story of electrical gremlins. One service a year was all my i30 ever got and it really spoiled me compared to the nightmare that is my current Subaru Outback diesel.

[@MrDuxfield]

Suzuki in New Zealand have been great. I only deal with my local dealership & they have been amazing to deal with. My Wife & I are on our 3rd Suzuki from that dealership & couldn't be happier.

[@johnd8892]

My five year old new car purchase is in the good list. My experience with it and after sales confirms it should be.

[@samboelliott1]

Thanks for the relevant content John. The last few have been really excellent.

[@AutoExpertJC]

No worries Sambo. All the best mate.

[@craigoOZ]

and you were first Sambo and did not claim the prize!

[@dinosshed]

@@craigoOZ did he really pop John's cherry?

[@EdBenji]

The Jeep is the biggest shit box on our roads!

[@TOFAST4YOUFOOL1]

Here in NZ Suzuki is one of the top service and reliable car companies around.

[@philg2468]

Yes, Suzuki are one of the most reliable vehicles in Aus but they only have a limited range of smaller cars. But our Vitara turbo is not a boring car and a lot of fun to drive so it's top of my list

[@iangosling28]

In Australia, my family has had 3 Suzukis over 4 decades. Cheap & cheerful, reliable transport - certainly not a premium conveyance but then, not everyone needs the headaches associated with cutting edge technology either.

[@unahaclosp]

@@philg2468 Yep, John is saying Suzuki don't make bigger vehicles and should be therefore avoided. Which seems a silly argument, if you want a small car. Small cars aren't high profit and dealer networks do not have many parts. Except Suzuki does.

[@TOFAST4YOUFOOL1]

@@philg2468 I had the 2017 vitara turbo for 5 years and 100000km, never missed a beat and nothing broke down, might not have all the bells and whistle but drove like new even after 5 years, now got a 2022 swift sport, even more enjoyable to drive

[@sturm7130]

Met a $0.25M Landrover owner. Car out of warranty 1 month. Rod escaped the block doing 100 kph up Geelong Rd. Clowns in car roll past laughing and calling him names. Goes to dealer and sees said clown - a mechanic ! Then wrestles for 6 months with JLR getting a new engine. He paid for the labour ! Has said TATA to JLR forever.

[@grekiely6245]

Once again, an honest, educated opinion by one of the best - thanks John.

[@Jase583]

As a person of 5 Nissan's over the years all brought brand new from the same dealer. I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with Nissan's after sales care. They have even fixed a couple of issues that I had outside of warranty.

[@mjcussen7458]

I can vouch for that! Yet I had a Mazda 626 which pooped itself in western Queensland; the automotive transmission would jump from 1st to fourth. $3k+ later, the transmission had to have its own cooling system; couldn't hack the heat and it wasn't that hot. It was a world wide problem and a class action. I don't know how that ended but I sold it soon after. Not a peep from the local Mazda dealer. That's when I realised that 626 stands for NOT to be driven from 6am 2 6pm.

[@SteveEddy-od7fb]

Yes Nissan and Toyota will get you there without a lot of headache's

[@therealjeffg]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge/opinions John as always. It would be difficult/time consuming to do this level of research myself.

[@joshm3342]

I'm in the USA, so a few of these brands don't don't ring a bell, but for the ones I'm familiar with, YOU NAILED IT. Keep up the good work!

[@ozspencers]

After-sales service is of course important John, but so is the quality of the car in terms of dynamics and performance, and here I would single out the MG HS as deserving of a good kicking. I have no idea what MG's customer service is like but, even if it's first class, I still wouldn't drive a HS/ZS for free. They are truly awful things, so bad I fail to see how on earth they passed whatever tests are required in Australia before going on sale. I am similarly puzzled by the apparent lack of criticism in the media, though perhaps I just missed it. No experienced car journo could possibly recommend the thing based on its dynamic qualities - if he/she is being honest. Just my opinion, but I would strongly advise potential buyers to arrange a long test drive rather than the usual 5mins round the block. And make sure you tackle a few hills ... 😲

[@laurenglass4514]

Because of the Freemantle Hwy fire I ended up on your site. Good job covering that from another perspective and now I get to hear about various auto information and get really entertained. Take your show on the road your sense of humor and dialogue is just great!

[@Layzee_8]

I heard a GLC "scrubbing" once in a carpark. Thought they'd run over a plastic bottle or something. Certainly didn't sound like an operational characteristic. Funnily enough, it didn't feature on the promotional material we were given when went to drive one.

[@DMV1090]

Hello John, Isuzu Australia support is really bad. My 2021 D-Max developed a Diesel Particle Filter problem, they refused to repair it using a pathetic excuse of "contaminated fuel" after they found some dirt in the fuel tank. They looked for excuse for almost 4 weeks. I believe this will be their main "excuse" since many utes with new engine come into 45-50,000 km range where the problem seems to show up.‼

[@mini_steve]

Astounding that a company is allowed to take a 130 million dollar hand out from tax payers to "help" but make nearly 160 million profit. Absolutely disgusting and infuriating.

[@jarrodhayne560]

Take the red pill, much worse than that happening out there

[@nearlyretired7005]

That's nothing! In the UK The British Goverrnment is subsidising energy companies who make 3 billion profit. They hike up energy prices so high people can't afford it! The government pay people's energy bills,and we have to pay it back through our taxes. The rich are milking the British people 🥺😡

[@tuxedomoon2]

Hi John , I’ll give you a tip for one to add for next year list. Genesis Australia! Watch this space . The mn they left the Hyundai network and went independently, is the exact time when complaints of after sale service have started to increase dramatically. It’s a shame because the cars are absolutely top quality. By the way , I’m surprised that fca still sells cars. I’m one of those ppl who made some Videos few years back to make sure they won’t push too much the “how much we can get away with”…. Better not say too much I’ll might be in breach of the …they issued me😉

[@shanespilsbury8718]

Interesting that Hyundai/Kia was not thrown under the bus with the others. They are currently facing a class action against them with regards to their abs system catching on fire and destroying the vehicle, with them not wanting to take any responsibility for their substandard products. It is only a matter of time before somebody is killed by their vehicles. Maybe you should look into this too. I know of three that have shat themselves just in Port Macquarie over the last 12 months, the most recent being a second hand Velostar that was being test driven by a prospective customer from the local Subaru dealership last week. This information is all publicly available

[@SteveEddy-od7fb]

Hmmmmm who ever thought a Hyundai would be a Hot car????

[@keithtt7798]

Thanks for interesting vid, however i feel i should share my experience with BMW (UK). I've had a few beamers, but my last one, a nearly new 520d touring will be my last. After 6month air con packed up ...was told by dealership that needed regassing because new "greener" refrigerant was more volotile and escaped more easily. Ok £150! later ...the refrigerant was a service item therefore was outside the warranty. The air con again gave up before the end of the summer. Dealership said they'd put a tracer dye in the condenser to check for leaks. £170 this time presumably £20 for the dye. I took the car in 3 days later and sure enough there was a tiny pinhole leak towards the top of the condenser only visible because of the dye. Took the car in a week later to have the condenser replaced under warranty only to be told it was stone damage and i would need to pay £700 for the work. The technician had previously said that it appeared to be a manufacturing fault with the. The workshop manager insisted it was stone damage and was therefore not a warranty repair. How a stone could get to that part of the condenser and even if it did only caused a pinhole invisible to the naked eye completely baffled me but Manager insisted he saw it all the time. Not willing to spend £700 on a £40k one year old car i went home and Googled it. Sure enough on a US BMW owners site i found this was a common problem for 2013/4 manufactured vehicles and was due to a faulty batch of condensers. And, strangely customers had been told the same story as I had ...stone damage etc. To cut a long story short armed with a printout from this site I arranged a meeting with the MD of the dealership. He caved almost immediately and gave the excuse that this was what BMW (UK) had said they should do in the case of perforted condensers and a warranty repair should only be given in "exceptional" circumstances. Needless to say they repaired the car under warranty and refunded my x2 regassing services. If you Google BMW 5 series air con condenser problems you can see the saga continues. Frankly I'm not sure which car brand to trust. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee now that has had it's share of problems however a local Jeep specialist garage has managed to fix the majority of problems relatively painlessly. The authorised Jeep dealership had quoted 5 or 6 times the cost to solve the issues, so I'm sticking with my local garage owned by ex Jeep technician.

[@jamesbailey5624]

Terrific channel. Fully agree with you John. I've had a recent shitty experience with Land Rover. If you own a Discovery Sport, one acronym to note down is DPF. $8000 for a filter. They're getting away with it and they're expecting to see you soon.

[@robertvanruyssevelt7159]

Surely it could be cleaned for about $100 or you may find the same part on a cheaper car for less. $8000 is nuts but in any case I just see so many dead Discoveries.

[@watershed44]

*I'm in the USA, but really enjoy listening to John, I'm almost surprised that MG hasn't tried to enter the US market again, since it seems like they have their ducks in a row now, and although Chinese based, I'm sure management is probably also influenced by the UK offices*

[@alexrobinson2100]

I look at it from a point of view of trying to choose a builder for your new home… which builder will still be in business, and correct faults at the time the sh-I-t hits the fan.

[@mrbaaghi1189]

Landrover NZ is on top of their game with support and service. Repetitive picks up the call every time and are very helpful. Maybe because they are managed by a local company, which keeps interest of the consumer.

[@miskatonic6210]

What are the calls like? "Thanks for the call, just give back your Landrover shitbox and we send you a Toyota."?

[@mrbaaghi1189]

@Miskatonic Toyota is selling cars again? The last time I checked, they were putting their customers on 3-4 years wait times while they upgraded the safety and dpf filters of their shitbox boats on wheels.

[@gavinivers8941]

Go out the back of your local Land Rover Dealer, and see the rows of dead Land Rovers.

[@angelaclose4460]

Somebody says something positive bout land rover and the toyota fan boys get their skirts in a knot

[@Land_Raver]

​@angelaclose4460 They can't help themselves it's part of their personality. They go ballistic on my channel where I show them stuck and have to go recover them. The excuses are endless.

[@TwistedDonners]

I'm suprised MG is on the list of good brands as I know many a person that has had absolutely abysmal dealings with them from the cars themselves to the overall experience with dealing with them.

[@ouethojlkjn]

MG is well thought of here in the UK and that everything 7 year warranty is not to be sniffed at. If other brands are so confident of their cars, they should also be offering a seven year warranty warranty

[@mattphillips9107]

I was in Oxford when the great British government threw MG under the freight train. Blackbird Leys fell into a place of desperation and MG was sold to the wonderful Chinese for £1. Dont expect every 7 year warranty to be upheld, they aren't fab at treating people fairly to say the least.

[@dwindeyer]

I also see no end of complaints about getting Genesis cars serviced, eg service locations disappearing, unable to make bookings etc. But most of that seems to be US based. Not sure how relevant that is to how the servicing operates in AU.

[@badbasic]

To me it's strange that he totally and absolutely ignored Tesla, in all categories. Not exotic or obscure, not in the bad list and not in the recommended list. Not sure if he did it on purpose.

[@TwistedDonners]

@@badbasic could be because Tesla is technically a tech company not a car company even though they make and sell cars maybe?

[@michaelrussell6661]

That range rover case is similar to my experience [not vehicle related] I had been seriously injured at work and I tried to return to normal duties as a tube bender operator, but the injury stopped me from doing so. I was on work cover and work doctor said I was able to return to normal duties to the company, but noone one else involved was told this. I was made redundant on the advice of the worker advocate[ex nurse] who wasnt doing what was called for in her contract of employment. This was to 'save' the company $33,000, to cut the story short that decision ended up costing the company around $500,000 all up.IE medical costs/reports, Lawyers fee's Medical/Legal reports 2, and payout. My case was solid only used 1 lawyer, where as the company went thru 6 layer firm's, along the way a Specialist[a Mr Gallery] was banned from the work cover system for good, as he said there was nothing wrong with my spine, yet 9 other Specialists said the total opposite. Mercedes is the "Mr Gallery" out of the Car maker's in my opinion.

[@davidl5101]

Thank you John. Sounds like Honda is somewhere in the middle these days? Overall good car (except the air conditioning) but the dealer/Honda Australia support is appalling these days in my experience.

[@david-reason]

I'm no petrol-head, but I enjoy your style of presentation, John - Thank You. I'm a Pom living in Bangkok - here a lot of new cars are appearing, particularly electric cars from China - which are being sold in shopping malls. The world needs more product makers "To do the right thing". Back in the UK in 2008, I bought a 2nd hand Toyota Aventis from a local garage with only a 1 year warranty. After a year, the engine started making strange noises so I took it to an-ex Toyota mechanic called Dave. His advice was to take to the local dealership and explain that I'd done some research on the VVTi engine had a fundamental design fault. It over-heated. This was causing the problem. After a few frantic calls to Toyota HQ, the dealership offered to replace the engine - FOR FREE! A 4,500 GB Pounds engine was installed over a week and everything was great. Sometime later I left the UK (forever) and the car was sold to a taxi firm in Leicester, who got a car with a new engine! Back in Bangkok, I bought for my girlfriend a Mazda 2, after she was conned via FACEBOOK into buying a car, which was stolen. The Thai Police arrived and took it away! When buying an internet phone I compared Apple and Samsung by reviewing the number of times each company was fined by Governments around the world - because "Doing the Right Thing" is important. Of course, I bought a Samsung.

[@topher.m]

John. You’ve said it best. Toyota doing that would definitely help the order bank (even more!).

[@RGD2k]

This video is great, and exactly what is needed regularly online. The engineering pick-any-two triangle you need isn't 'good/fast/cheap'. The one you really need is the 'correct/useful/quick', pick any two triangle. (can also be correct/useful/cheap, but realize that fast and cheap really are two sides of the same thing. And 'good' involves value judgement, so you might as well lower the bar to just 'correct', which is at least objective and testable. Criminals and politicians are the ones who pick useful (to them at least) behaviour that is quick (thus time-cheap. Really just cheap overall, it's the same thing) and then often try to pretend they're getting all three by re-defining, to themselves, what 'correct' is. Maybe make some whiney 'woe is me' argument that 'everyone is doing it' and they're 'missing out if not' and 'it doesn't make any difference anyway' so 'might as well be me' or something. So, why is is companies always seem to end up evil? Well, it goes like this: If you have to work to a time plan, if it can, Murphy's Law will apply, and the plan will be wrong, and you'll find yourself with 'quick' having already been chosen by default for you. This happens in most jobs, because managers are rarely able to program any work, even that for a well-behaved and perfect worker, like a computer. So their planning (programming) is generally quite pathetic, but they somehow believe that they're good at it, whilst knowing that they're bad at programming computers, and that planning job and programming for a computer are really the same thing, made different only by computers being machines, and people being people. Hint: if you find programming computers actually easy if you know how (and it is), then the difficulty with programming for humans is usually that by comparison it's childishly simple, and thus also much harder. But if you mastered computer programming first, you're highly likely to understand Murphy's Law as applied to plans, and have a better grasp of how 'hopeful' any untested, unpractised plan really is. But if you're like most people, working for a company, to a plan set by a manager, and find yourself locked to an overly optimistic schedule which has never been rehearsed. Well. Then you have to face the choice of getting nothing useful done, and being correct, or looking like you've done the job but actually cutting corners whilst covering your arse. Which is what you get when you seem to get all three. It's because you must have taken the shortcut of compromising on correct. Guess what happens in basically every large human organization? You get a few 'slow' people who at best, occasionally make the rest look useless in comparison - whenever they get anything finished, which is never to schedule. At best these people get treated like the goose that lays golden eggs, the 'rockstar' that they are. If they aren't, but just get treated like one of the rest - the rest don't like this, it makes it harder for them to keep covering their arses. And the leadership ends up belonging to the guys who all put 'correct' last, because they've successfully gotten rid of anyone who threatens to make them look useless. All whilst actually being almost totally useless, too. If they once were useful, they often get so out of practise of actually *doing* work, that they start to guess increasingly inaccurately on how long it would take 'themselves' to do things, and the above time correction actually becomes increasingly accurate. Their plans, as executed, are always 'late', but it's always some incompetent underlings fault. They'll say stuff like 'I'm surrounded by idiots'. Which means they end up being bad managers, pre-choosing and selecting for employees who can only keep their jobs by compromising on correct. Good way to keep that from happening: Make your plan with a guess at how long each job will take. If you haven't done it before, first apply the following correction: Double the number, whatever it is, and upgrade the time unit a step. So that '5 minute' job actually becomes 10 hours solid work. Expect that someone else is going to take that long to do it, that way you can be pleasantly surprised if they do better. Give the expanded timeframe estimate to higher / the customer, but do try to work to your original timing - just expect that the schedule is going to slip, because 'quick' is the enemy of the usefully correct. Don't go too slow though: Perfect is the enemy of 'good', and noone has unending time and money. I.E, if you're asking someone to work for you - you give them your original estimate, and negotiate to what they agree it will be: But privately, you should think to worry about whether it ends up doubled and upranked due to delays or not. Have a plan for that: Make sure you are both *very clear*, preferably in writing, about what is 'in scope' and exactly where the goalposts are. Even better: Pick milestones and pay to them, so long as standards are met. They've not reached the goalpost for payment if they didn't do the work to the minimum required standard. If they think they can do it quicker: Great. But don't pay for time if you can avoid it, most especially not for one-off projects. Pay by milestone. Treat your own work the same way you would you were a subcontractor. Don't cut yourself slack by not recording your own progress somehow. It'll help in future. But you could easily end up one of the bad bosses, without realising it. That's why you pay to the milestone and negotiate so both you and they win. If you can't manage, then you really need to learn more about negotiation. If you 'always win' at negotiation, well, I've got some bad news for you. If the people you make deals with don't want to deal with you again, then you've actually lost. You've only been 'winning' by being a bully, and there's no skill involved in that. Really skilled negotiators only make deals where everyone genuinely wins. Another art that bad managers really don't know. And how we get so many hopelessly bad companies to avoid.

[@joshlegg8600]

The “its out of warranty” thing clearly works well for the dealers, for every one person who argues and wins how many took it at face value and paid for the repair. I just have to hope that they have the sense to at least pay an independent rather then a dealer when they do have the car repaired.

[@tropicoeg4354]

I watched this and continued with my purchase of a Next Gen Ranger. I still really appreciate the full rundown and evidence based reporting and will always be a subscriber of yours 😀

[@alexgeorge2993]

Awesome report John, I am surprised at how many people want a Ford considering how they screwed over Australian taxpayers and departed the country laughing with cash in hand. As for ARB well I would suggest customers avoid them for their lack of ethics and morality.

[@AutoExpertJC]

Agreed on both counts, Alex.

[@shellez101]

I think that was GMH not Ford .

[@pyrobob208]

@@shellez101 It was both.

[@theairstig9164]

@@pyrobob208 as manufacturers yes

[@hamishfullerton7309]

🎻All car companies get government subsidies,it's an expensive sector to run but creates jobs that's why countries bend over backwards to attract the investment, it's not Amazon which is a glorified warehouse and it's nothing compared to what the 5billion cock up with submarines cost for nothing and alot of defence contracts and probably creates more jobs for the investment, I've had good realible falcons cheap parts , that were better cars than lots overseas built brands including a lot of overseas Japanese and Korean brands and good experience with the dealership, being produced here means you have localparts but that's not possible now and shows how the Thai built ranger is having more issues for Ford to handle. I agree the it's better to have the company in Australian hands because and overseas company ,will never have your best interests at heart

[@Qitch242]

Your comments on the lack of integrity that seems to infiltrate many corners of our global societies is spot on. Future problems in whatever country you live in are likely to originate from a loss in confidence in government, car brands, home builders, professionals, __insert product or service here__; ultimately this leads to a loss of confidence in money and the economy and from there you better be prepared for a storm. Of course, we could all collectively push for accountability, a return to integrity, true justice and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...but I don't know how that comes to be without getting crushed by those who like it the way it is. Love the content, feeds the mind. I have a Honda Clarity, it works well so far and sips gas; but the parts prices are ridiculous. Apart from the Civic and the CR-V they don't seem to be investing in anything and they've made both those models boring and blah. That's my take from Northern Shitsville (Canada)

[@philbrannigan5854]

In my view, the non-disclosure agreement is a big red flag. If a company agrees to fix your problem with their product, but only the condition is that you don't tell anyone else about it, what does this tell you? It suggests to me that, because of the nature of the problem, the company knows there must be others out there with the same problem who haven't plucked up the courage to make a nuisance of themselves, but who might if they find out someone else has been successful. It suggests to me that they're worried about being seen as a soft touch, when in fact they'd rather be seen as hard-nosed, so that others and their complaints stay away. No matter how hard I try, I can't think of a single positive reason why a company would make a customer sign an NDA as a condition of solving their problem; not one reason that makes me think that they're using the NDA to protect their legitimate interests. As soon as I hear a mention of an NDA in these sorts of stories, it gives me an impression that the company insisting on it is trying to hide something that should be in full public view. Maybe Australian consumer law should prevent NDAs from being used in this way.

[@aussieideasman8498]

Bought a new $28,500 2018 Launch Edition VW Polo (before I discovered you) and was shafted by them a couple of months back. I bought it because it was the only small car with adaptive cruise control at the time. Pathetic 3 year warranty, and just before it ran out, I was adding coolant for a while. I just thought it was using it, at first, but at the 75,000 km service they told me the pump was leaking and needed to be replaced. Around $1,500, from memory, so I went to a non-dealership and they confirmed it, but suggested trying another dealership because Springwood was useless, and ask for a warranty job, because it was well under the 100,000, anyway. Well, two days later the rear hatch electronics failed, so we went to Mt Gravatt, who charged about $180 just to evaluate the cars' problems. They then made an offer of about $800 to fix both, and said the water pump was fine and it just needed a bottle. The bottle was an arm and a leg, mind you. I can't remember exact figures, but my wife has receipts and quotes in storage. It was cheaper than Springwood at $1,000 so we just went with it, but I see now that it was still a wrong road for VW - they just made a little diversion toward the right thing, while still seeing what they could get away with. I won't ever buy another VW, and if that water pump fails, I will be taking them to court; there is a likelihood it should have been replaced. It's just wait and see. So far, no loss of coolant, though. My next car will have at least a 5 year warranty.

[@johnoneill1011]

JC, Toyota engaged an upmarket law firm to threaten to sue Berrima Diesel when they figured out and publicised the design problem with those 2.8L diesel DPFs years before Toyota took any corrective action, while continuing to break the law. Doesn't seem like something a car manufacturer with integrity would do, does it? You used the lack of integrity argument to bin some other car manufacturers, so why does Toyota get a pass?

[@AutoExpertJC]

Not my recollection. Toyota's in-house counsel just threatened them. I have the letter.

[@alexandrecouto9195]

Toyota is no different from other brands.

[@haytch1598]

@@alexandrecouto9195 actually Toyota to my knowledge is one of the best car manufacturers in the world and have lots of integrity, but the blame for some stuff ups is usually local and normally rectified by toyota Japan, because as soon as head office in Nagoya hears about a problem they make sure customer satisfaction is top on the list.

[@ouethojlkjn]

Maybe it’s because Toyota is the most indebted company ever in the history of Ever? They would go bankrupt, but the Japanese government wouldn’t let it happen.

[@Neosahater]

This did help me find my replacement car for the BMW 320d sport, when my back went and it was too uncomfortable to drive anymore. After visiting Aus, and driving a Kia I got a Sportage GTline mild hybrid. It is a fantastic car for an aging guy and a bad back. I did drive a mini, dont bother. All the BMW menu issues and its a hatful car to drive. One to look out for are the Skoda lines, a lot of bang for your buck. So many thanks for this video and I am in love with my sportage, as an aging petrol head it's ideal for me. Thanks dood.

[@EchoesDaBear]

Great, very informative list John! A whole handful of brands I've never heard of, but I'm from Canada. Of the 'mainstream' global ones you mentioned, not too many surprises (esp. VW/Audi, Ford, Nissan, Chrysler, Land Rover) - I'd add GM to that list too (eyebrow raised that it wasn't mentioned at all - is GM not a presence in Australia?) I've seen the steady decline of Honda in the last decade or so - sad as they used to be almost on par with Toyota with reliability & quality service, but they've taken the approach of our big 3 domestics (Ford/GM/Chrysler) it seems. I own 2 Toyotas - a 2010 Venza (~160k) & 2017 Sienna (~78k). While I avoid the dealership at all costs (unless it's absolutely something only they can do, or it's warranty), but when I do, I get exactly what I need, when I need it. I don't get the feeling of being jerked around (generally). I have had the odd experience of recommended work/repairs that seemed fishy, so I get my local independent garage to provide a second opinion (plus cheaper rates, part cost AND excellent service!), but as they're Toyotas - regular maintenance keeps them easily on the road! Cheers - keep up the amazing content.

[@markschultz1606]

GM does not pursue business in Oz under the GMC brand. GM was the parent company of (GM)Holden, which closed up shop in the last 24 months. Not sure if any of their underling brands are present.

[@chrisbarnes888]

GM doesn't have much presence in Australia these days since they closed their local manufacturing brand, GM Holden (to much local dismay but not much real surprise).

[@tomnewham1269]

@@markschultz1606the Silverado is converted here to RHD and the Corvette is sold here as well under the GMSV brand.

[@bloothedog4443]

Always heard good things about Holden, especially in performance. Any bad Holdens?@@markschultz1606

[@sgtkabukiman9411]

Was recently watching an American KZbin car channel and they were talking about lemon cars. Not sure if it was a state or federal law, but where they were a dealer has 3 chances to fix a warranty issue before they're legally forced to provide either a full refund or a new car.

[@whomcares3438]

Hey John, can’t lose what you never had. I’m tipping your basketball skills are acceptable in ‘G’ grade. Thanks for the content though. The evidence based research is awesome. Very helpful. I own a px 2 Ranger and have had a good run. I think it’s because I never let Ford touch it after purchase? Not going near a new one!

[@RachelEvans680]

Indeed John,it seems very few jobs were actually "kept" with all that money given out. A more apt term from me particularly was to call it "Profitkeeper"

[@tim9241]

I didn’t hear John mention Tesla - probably a good idea to avoid the pitchforks!

[@BoleDaPole]

He doesn't seem to like electric cars, and I'm sure seeing Musk turn Twitter into a free speech platform must've ruffled his feathers as well.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

@@BoleDaPole You must've missed the video John made about living with a Hyundai Kona EV for 12 months, then.

[@alanh5187]

Tesla must surely fit into the "mad science experiment" category. What carmaker can be taken seriously when they have virtually zero presence outside Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne? Even MG can claim a more credible sales/service experience in Australia, and most of us aren't ready to buy a car like you'd buy an Apple Mac.

[@tim9241]

@@alanh5187 there is plenty of Tesla presence in WA - and they are the world’s best selling EVs. The ‘experiment phase’ doesn’t count anymore.

[@Mike_Ockiner]

It's interesting how people's experience of vehicles differ. Whenever I own a Ford I have nothing but trouble but as soon as I buy a Renault I have completely trouble free motoring. Even my Renault vans have covered over 150,000 miles with no issues and just routine maintenance. Yet I know people who would never buy a French car as they've had so many issues.

[@eyerollthereforeiam1709]

Scotty Kilmer has a channel that I used to watch, but he's been getting nuttier by the minute lately, and I don't watch it anymore. But, to give credit where it's due, he does offer what I think is good advice. If you absolutely must own one of these iffy brands (he usually refers to ones like Jaguar, Audi, and the like), if it's on your bucket list, then lease it. Get rid of it in a few years when they start falling apart.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

The only car made this century that Scotty likes is the Honda Fit, so he obviously has good taste in cars.

[@davidnobular9220]

@@TheKnobCalledTone. FIT ??? F*k It's Terrible ??

[@abmbarry]

Hi John, May heart-felt thanks for putting the work into this very informative presentation of Facts. I have just forwarded your like to a friend that is being shafted over an engine failure in his Ford. Same engine as the Mazda BT-50 $25,000 to repair! Thank you, ... Barry Manclark.

[@davidhenry9054]

Great segment. I expected you to hit on Tesla. Did I miss it? Contrary to widespread opinion I have found that as a company they are pretty responsive after sales and appear to be trying to do the right thing. For instance, I recently reported a charging delay on my Model 3 by the phone App. They ran over-the-air diagnostics and called me within 20 minutes. It was dirt in the contacts. They booked a service visit but also instructed me in how to clean the contacts - which worked. I then cancelled the service visit on the App. That's over 3 years with no service visits other a tyre replacement.

[@ouethojlkjn]

I was fortunate to have a Tesla model, three standard range for 3 1/2 years in the UK. Problems were few and far between, but there was never any argument about things being fixed under warranty and being given courtesy cars. Like you, the only thing I paid for in those 3 1/2 years was nothing at all. Not even tires due to Covid.

[@Psi105]

@@ouethojlkjn Yeah, Tesla tend to get quite a bit of hate. Some deserved but overall they are pretty good cars and pretty good to their customers when compared to the industry.

[@ZipZoomZip]

In my 60 years I've owned a lot of cars of many different brands. The only one I would say was principled was Tesla. I'm constantly amazed how they never want to overcharge me, even when I've done stupid things like rip the under fairing off by off-roading. I booked a service to replace the under-fairing and when I left, they said "no charge, we replaced it with a new one under warranty". They also fixed a body panel that had been displaced by built-up slush freezing solid in the wheel wells repeatedly over a series of drives in unusual winter weather. I saw the frozen blocks of slush becoming problematic but kept driving it through the slush and parking it outside each night in frigid temperatures. They fixed it with a smile.

[@joecoolioness6399]

@@Psi105 They do. I resent my tax money being used to help a company succeed when their CEO then takes billions as a bonus. As far as cars go I'm sure they are nice to drive. I think they are popular more because they are still considered cool and the promise of full self driving and their charger network than how great a car they are. Once the charging is opened to all makes, and people start to get tired of the unfulfilled promise of full self driving, coupled with very good competitor products (my Ariya is an amazing EV), sales are going to slump hard.

[@deanrhodenizer938]

Greetings from Canada and thank you for this well considered analysis. I was surprised to see anyone willing to stick their neck out and report on this subject as you did. Your unique position of dealing with the public through your sales brokerage role and your extensive engineering background position you well to deliver this analysis. I am surprised that you are not constantly under attack from those who were “harmed” by your reporting.

[@DeAudiofilosyLocos]

I lost my E350 Mercedes because of a rusted subframe. They wanted to total it,to sweep it under the rug.

[@garyarmstrong1063]

Alex Jupe spotted my Alfetta GTV parked in Fareham Hants in about 2005, put his card on the windscreen and ended up helping me out a few times with tech issues. His knowledge of these cars is unmatched, he even told me who I'd bought the car from. Fabulous car, full of "quirks", but great fun!

[@Xanthopteryx]

In Sweden, looking at registered car models, there were 316 different car models! In Little Sweden! That was INSANE! Of course, that is REGISTRATIONS so if you have had an import of an old car model, then it is counted too. Like i saw one Volvo 900 in the list. But still.... wow...

[@trentthomas1635]

With the 52 odd brands in Australia, if each one has 6 models that is also around that 300 different models.

[@-2u2]

I could not agree more with your assessments. You say it the way it is, no sugar-coating.

[@craigwall8703]

I'm in shock John you recommended Mini, you mustn't be well or something. Up side you'll get to know everyone at the service Dept really really well!

[@spikespa5208]

Had three Mini owners tell me essentially the same thing: get the extended warranty.

[@helmuthhaass3631]

Mni engines have a terrible reputation

[@python27au]

On the subject of doing the right thing. I was told by a Subaru exec that a bloke bought a WRX, had it for x years and during a service, after its warranty was long over, the tech heard a funny sound coming from the engine. He had the engine x-rayed and discovered a crack in the cylinder wall or something catastrophic like that. The owner was devastated cause there was no way he could afford to replace the motor or the car. The exec contacted Subaru Australia and they contacted Subaru Japan who looked over the service record of the car and being satisfied paid for a new motor to be installed.

[@douglaslamb8709]

Sir John I almost gave you a thumbs down with bin cam still not being in play BUT I just couldn’t bring myself to do it Just loving all the content great work again

[@shanea9613]

I want a step further in production. I want a paper rolled up and thrown in the bin and as he throws it he cuts to another camera which is then in the position of the paper and is thrown towards the bin and whooooossssssshhhhhh slam dunk, nothing but bet in the bin it lands.

[@godfreyberry1599]

Crazy how a world in general decline can produce this enormous variety of motor vehicle brands?. Availability of spare/replacement parts alone is an immediate nightmare for the less popular brands shortly after the showroom odour has dissapated. Your amazing in depth analysis of the insidiousness of the entire industry is quite astounding and really scary for ordinary citizens who only want a reasonably priced conveyance that will perform economically as intended without ending up with an all encompassing migraine and money pit.

[@lukespector5550]

More women (both single or married) in the workforce. That's why there's been so much more choice since the late 1970's.

[@Garage-uj7pv]

Damn no time to watch the full thing overnight here in Straya but no doubt John you'll use the term "Three pronged" which my brain has now internalised in a semiotic sense as the sole representation of the Merc logo

[@shaz8486]

I certainly agree with you on many of your comments for cars/dealership’s. We purchased a new Mazda back in 2003, from EAGERS at Newstead. After a service where they did something to do with brakes/wheels, can’t remember the specific of the service now, but as soon as I got in the car and started driving away I started hearing a terrible noise like metal on metal. It was still within the warranty period, I took it back to them, and being a female they treated me like I was an idiot, I didn’t know what I was talking about, they were so ARROGANT in customer service (non existent in reality). As soon as the car was out of warranty a year or more later, after complaining constantly, they just fobbed me off, also my husband, suddenly “oh it’s the engine mounts, they need replacing.! “ EAGERS refused to do anything, I wrote to Mazda and complained, they grudgingly offered to pay for the parts we had to pay for labour, which was some outrageous amount. I told them to stuff it, never went back there again, never purchased another Mazda. My husband bought a car that was small, cheap to run as he had a 60klm each way to work….Mitsubishi, they were as bad as Mazda when it came to any warranty issues, so would never purchase one of them again either. It’s funny how one bad experience can completely change your opinion on what others can judge as a good particular brand. We trade the Mazda years ago, now have a VW Passat. Have found that with the VW it was great with the original owner also running service, as soon as he sold it, every time we took it in, they broke something on the car! They drove me insane, of course denied it, it got to the point we had to video the car at their service section before we handed them the keys, they were useless.!!!!!! The guy that originally owned it, I called him he arranged for our car to be serviced at a service place where the owner just services European cars, mainly Audi, Mercedes but can do our VW. NEVER EVER had a problem since! We test drove and looked for ages before getting the VW, it is beautiful to drive, but the main reason we went with European was that both front seats could be lifted in height, I have a bad back, and I struggle to get in/out of low or very high cars. With the seat being able to be raised it’s perfect, it feels luxurious and the interior quality far surpassed anything else we looked at. Everything so much cheaper nasty plastic, the VW, is way classier inside and it’s a lot more solid than the tin crap most cars are made of. They no longer make our diesel car now, so I have no idea what we would get if we ever decided to trade it in. It still hasn’t even done 100K Thanks for your breakdown…it was extremely interesting!

[@cyclemoto8744]

Thanks JC. Always entertaining (and informative of course). Cheers

[@johnrobinson5156]

I have no plans to replace older cars that can last longer than myself. Glad I kept Grandpa's Power Wagon running, worth more than some homes now

[@mnkybndit]

When are you doing the Fat Cave tour? Bonus points for the backyard cicada experience.

[@AutoExpertJC]

Nature provided the flesh-eating cicadas.

[@StenCheesemonger]

One friend of mine said he likes the Germans because they express their arguments in a sharp, abrupt and concise way, like a bayonet, meanwhile the anglo's style of delivery is more akin to poisonous gas, that meanders on the field and takes forever to get you.

[@MSC-101]

Great video. I decided a long time ago to simply avoid certain manufacturers, like Chrysler and it's many corporate incarnations, altogether. Lucky for me, I have also not been able to afford any of the premium brands. And it helps if I imagine a shiny new car without its alluring sheet metal, like looking at a person's skeleton through an x-ray machine as they walk by wearing the latest fashions. Think of Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! I don't follow all of your rationale but may have landed on similar lists. While some manufacturers just don't do it for me, and I resist the allure of others, I have somehow managed to happily own 4 cars from your first list, 5 if we add GM. Our Pontiac 6000 was a workhorse, I miss our Isuzu Trooper, our Subaru was gutless but super reliable, and our daily driver is a 2010 Honda Crosstour. Hope the latter's predicament does not complicate things as the left and right sides of my brain duel it out between that and another wagon waiting in the wings. I am retired and don't want too many vehicles so one of them has to go. I was once told that if it had to be German, that it should be made in Germany for Germans (ideally with Swedish steel) but suspect that in the end I will settle on a recent Toyota, and two beautiful (to me) bricks made in the mid 70s, one sporting a yet to be found BMW engine. This would cover both present and past, when companies where smaller and presumably more prudent about being fair and acting with integrity, as well as both lists. Unless of course all manufacturers start making cars for each other or we 3D print our own.

[@lukespector5550]

Just buy something British or Italian if you absolutely MUST. Only once though & when you're younger & preferably single.

[@sugimoto2389]

Anecdotal evidence here I had a Skoda with an issue under warranty and took it to the dealer. The dealer (where they sold both Skoda and VW) said lucky it’s not an actual VW as they would require a log book to be kept to document how often the issue occurred whereas Skoda offered to fix it in the spot (probably due to trying to get good brand reconciliation here in Australia). Skoda have 7 year warranty now as well so they must be semi confident in product 😂

[@eriknephrongfr8847]

😂 You missed that second shot, you bastard!

[@Tim_in_Australia]

I have a Volvo S60. One tiny issue with a roof rattle. It was fixed by the excellent local dealer (in Launceston) with no bother. Great car and service from my perspective.

[@GanGoz]

I have owned 7 4X4 vehicles, all equipped with ARB everything - not this time, my new Landcruiser will not be wearing any ARB product, and I will not buy it again.

[@AutoExpertJC]

That's one way to let them know what you think. Probably one of the better ways.

[@St.Nicodemus]

Brilliant explanation of the "times" in which we live. Apparently, a worldwide struggle between right and wrong. Wrong being the winner, by quite a margin here in the US.

[@jamestreloar5827]

Love your work John. The basis of your reporting is a bit disingenuous though, I suggest - JLR for example rated so poorly with the justification and 'evidence' based on one lemon case. Where as Toyota rated so highly after right-royally screwing thousands of customers with the constant recalls and deisel scandal. Rationale for the list just seems a bit tortured is all. As always, keep up the good work . I really enjoy your vids, as does the family. Cheers and beers, JT.

[@jackabubba]

If Australia had just one politician with John's integrity, thruthfullness and will to do the right thing, we'd be 1000 times better off than we are. But John... Where did you get that very nice weling fixture to your right????? I will forgo a copmment about the multiple hold down clamp sets though 🤣

[@globalgregors]

As a cheerful “Lab Rat” (Ineos, in my case), I wonder whether you’d consider surveying the current “mad experiments” and offering a view on them, and any challenge they represent (or not) to incumbents. Thanks, I enjoy the vids!

[@trentthomas1635]

My wife and I bought a Haval Jolion. A brand considered not good enough in Australia or a Lab Rat car. 4,000km so far and we are very pleased. Build quality seems great.

[@adrianling]

Good presentation John. I was thinking buying a new BMW but the subscription for things, I thought was part of purchase like heated seats and other items, put me off due to being a expensive car in the first place. Now looking at Lexus they have told me there is no subscription for activation of items in their car's. What you pay for is what you get, and it's cheaper than BMW.

[@danieldebono7116]

Bmw subscriptions are mostly for EVs. They're making money for subscriptions to recoup the lost revenue for traditional vehicle services.

[@johnherbert5919]

While BMW has a few polarizing cars style wise, that Lexus pinched front end is hideous.

[@fmartin59]

@@johnherbert5919 we have both. Lexus New front grill is really polarizing.

[@StaitlyNatters]

It seems that most of these once major companies have made this list seems purely on the fact that the corporate directors have become overly money hungry and no longer care about the consumer nor the consequences, (as shyt as it is). If the regulator ever grows some balls and teeth, then maybe, just maybe, the corporate overlords will pay better attention…

[@legend7ify]

agree

[@connor3288]

It's not illegal to sell crappy products and deliver poor customer service. If people did research before they bought cars I think Fiat/Chyrsler group would be out of business.

[@sixstringedthing]

I enjoy these yearly "greatest fails" wrap-ups, they're like JC's equivalent of Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's Best, Worst and Blandest video games of the year. Except the stakes are quite a lot higher than discovering that your latest $100 game purchase is a bit shit. Great work as always John!

[@MrButtonpresser]

Thanks John. That's very interesting and valuable information. You've certainly changed my mind regarding viable car brands.

[@arthurtreibs4174]

JOHNNY, YOU HAVE THE GIFT OF THE GAB AND A FUNCTIONING BRAIN TO GO WITH WITH IT. CONGRATS!!!

[@maeleach3122]

I was going to buy another Ranger.. I won't be now... Thanks John.. I did however, buy my Missus a diesel CX5. Toyota here we come. Ford loses another 70k , based on their savings over the said "what can we get away with" versus, what was the "right thing to do"

[@MrWillo58]

Had my 2018 Ford Escape since new and had not had a problem.Had 5 years free service and roadside assist. The electronic handbrake locked on one morning last month. Had a loan car for 3 weeks 'til they fix it, constant updates, no complaints!

[@JackiePrime]

Hi John, why do we hear so many negative things about Hyundai from overseas (particularly the US), but you rate them very highly in Australia? Do we get different treatment here ? I have a Kona N so I’m curious what I’m in for over the next 5-10 years.

[@thomasjackson4743]

I think US spec cars are built in a different factory in the US, while Australia delivered cars are built in Asia. I’m pretty sure that a lot of the complaints are to do with manufacturing defects which are coming out of the US plant but are not an issue in the Asian ones.

[@AutoExpertJC]

This is correct, Thomas. US-specific Hyundai-Kia problems tend to be linked to quality control at the (US) factory.

[@Brusselpicker]

Yep, some US car channels I watch tell their viewers to only go for the Asian built (Korean?) Hyundai vehicles.

[@thomasjackson4743]

@@sheepshit666 I daresay that the Asian factories would produce more cars, considering that they supply Europe and the entirety of Asia. Considering the reliability of other US built cars/brands, it seems that American manufacturing and quality control isn’t up to the standards of Asia lol.

[@TheSpoovy]

Similar thing happens with Subaru. The Japanese-built ones we get in the UK are absolutely bombproof, while the US-built ones are far from it. It's a shame as poor reliability reports from the US are effectively trashing the brand reputation over here too, as most people don't understand this difference.