00:00hi what was the most significant event in the automotive world in the last few months
00:05what were the most interesting cars i reviewed in 2025 and why also i'll give you my quick
00:10impressions of several cars which i really don't think deserve full reviews but i had to drive them
00:15anyway because i became the world car awards juror nobody expected this one coming including yours
00:22truly
00:36in my opinion the most significant automotive event in 2025 had at least two acts but it boils down to
00:43one
00:43evs are no longer the unavoidable future say what first in june 2025 us president donald reciprocal
00:51tariff trump revoked california's mandate to impose its own emission standards and the requirement
00:57to sell only teslas after 2035 the significance of this decision is that california is the biggest
01:04lefty car market in the land of the pickup truck and several other commie states followed california's
01:09standard forcing car makers to look into electrification of their fleets now they don't
01:15have to this made the european car makers soil their undergarments they've just only started
01:21making evs which not only move about but also one could go as far as to say they aren't absolutely
01:28terrible and now the rednecks say oil yeah again so much for fast return on investment as the europeans
01:35now have to develop both powertrain technologies car makers on the old continent were saved by the bell
01:41when the european commission decided to back out from the 2035 ban on combustion engine cars in the eu
01:49and instead of reducing co2 emissions by 100 reduction has to amount to only 90 which still
01:56sounds like a lot but it opens doors to some more creative greenwashing while i get that evs are
02:02becoming mostly good mobility appliances somehow i cannot imagine young men excited by posters of
02:06electric toys hanging over their beds that's not to say there are no electric toys which bring excitement
02:13but those are mainly reserved for the bedroom as far as electric cars go the really exciting ones are
02:19usually very expensive or remain in the concept phase and now a brief recap of the most interesting cars i
02:25reviewed in 2025 bear in mind interesting doesn't equal good because in january i drove the peugeot e5008
02:34this one is a poster child for european commission's decision to give the european
02:39car makers a break i mean i get it career politicians spend most of their time being
02:44chauffeured at the taxpayers dime and therefore their touch with reality may be somewhat loose
02:49but even they probably have a couple of kids by now who are old enough to start their own families
02:55and they're asking their politician parents how on earth are they supposed to drive to a holiday
03:00destination not in a stellantis evie you get the grandkids for two weeks and we're buggering off to
03:07bali and that's a serious argument in february i left my cat with the grandparents they didn't do
03:14anything wrong and they love cats and i flew to dubai to drive the toyota land cruiser which
03:20isn't in fact a land cruiser but that's a long story which i encourage you to watch
03:25i drove in the desert and in the mountains emirates is one of those countries where you can still do
03:30that
03:31in march i was in paris to see jaguar's controversial type double o concept and also to listen to jaguar's
03:39reps shamelessly explaining their clients own many cars including some of which have normal power trains
03:46so an electric gt is more than enough to pot around monaco in april i landed back on planet earth
03:53and made
03:54myself a kappa in the hyundai insta probably the most sensible city ev currently on sale and what
04:01about the citroen ec3 i'm glad you ask this car is the proof that stellantis needs to stay in its
04:08own
04:08galaxy because there is no place for them down here apparently the 1.2 puretech dissolving cambelt
04:15problem has been resolved but their evs are also the early nintendo interface isn't even retro nostalgic
04:22and get this they're putting in the same satnav regardless of the powertrain so you have to pay
04:28for an app to get route planning with charging stops in june i finally managed to get my pause
04:34on the renault 5 i know by now everyone and their mother reviewed the car i was in contact with
04:40the
04:40polish pr probably since autumn 2024 but when it comes to evs press cars are first usually sent to markets
04:46where such cars actually sell and poland isn't one of them so while harry metcalf's renault review was
04:53one of his top videos in 2025 mine got substantially less views than a facelifted clio spoiler alert i
05:02think it would be a much better car with even the tiniest gas engine what works well as an ev
05:09though
05:09is that micro lino bubble car yes it's expensive not particularly luxurious and it has a limited
05:16range but it's been a while since i had a press car in which i would invent errands just to
05:22drive
05:22it for a bit how cool is that audi's back on the channel after a long it's complicated relationship
05:30status and the pr manager got the boot in 2024 so the sq5 is interesting but even more interesting
05:37was the person who watched it and sent me an invitation more about that in a moment
05:44in september mercedes surprised me in a good way my previous experience with mercedes evs was such that
05:52i began refusing their eq press cars but the cla tickled my curiosity and i booked one for a test
05:58drive
05:59if you're in a market for a compact electric sedan i suggest you give this one a test drive as
06:05well
06:05now i'm waiting for the shooting brake but i want the ice version i hope mercedes won't go the mini
06:10way
06:10where the petrol engines are so subdued that the evs actually feel better better minis not necessarily
06:17better evs mazda 6e turned out to be a better ev better than the mazda mx30 because it's underneath
06:25actually a chinese changan but it looks sexy the interior is elegant and most features are now controlled
06:31from the screen so if you feel musk's products are no longer sexy see what i did there mazda is
06:38almost
06:38like tesla actually no it's not it's nice and it has a mediocre range an alternative to the mazda 6e
06:45is the toyota camry which is hybrid and it's unavailable in most of western europe what happened to
06:52vaguely affordable sedans right here i'll circle back to the audi review because it's what got me a
06:59ticket to crew and i got to drive old bentley's the bentley team is reasonable and they understand
07:04their customers need to have a choice so hold off the evs and let's go the ph ev route also
07:10i'd love
07:11to own one of those 80s turbo r's in december i was in spain to drive the new bmw ix3
07:18remember what i said
07:20the good mini not necessarily a good ev well the ix3 is a great ev but not necessarily a great
07:26bmw
07:28okay and now let's get to those cars which i don't think deserve full reviews on the channel so
07:34why did i drive them in the first place at the beginning i mentioned i was selected to join the
07:40world car awards jury i'm poland's second juror after my colleague pertin who also has a youtube channel
07:47to which i'll link below anyway it's an honor to be among several dozen of top modern journalists from
07:54around the world but it's not all fun and games as i have to drive a number of cars there
08:00are probably
08:01about 90 of them for the 2026 world car of the year edition i won't tell you how many exactly
08:06because
08:07some compete only in certain categories whereas others are in several categories so for example
08:11there is the main world car of the year and world electric car of the year and so on anyway
08:18the news that i was selected came in autumn and it was too late for me to fly to california
08:22to drive
08:23the cars so i decided to arrange some sort of short test drives in poland as many as possible
08:29to get some driving time before the first round of voting i drove about 15 models mainly chinese
08:36of these i'll do a full review of the jetter t2 and also the volvo es90 deserves more time
08:44as for the rest here's my brief take beijing bj 30e i like that it exists but it feels more
08:54like a
08:54sophomore end of term project it needs a lot of work especially on ride and handling assist features and
09:02soundproofing geely ex5 is another generic chinese ev it's got a good interface for chinese car destined
09:08for europe average everything else jku5 it's got a land rover freelander meets range rover vogue vibe
09:15to it unfortunately the engine and the gearbox talk to each other in different chinese dialects
09:20also soundproofing is a letdown driver assist features are subpar as in most chinese cars
09:27unfortunately it's a shame because i like the way it looks and feels but only when the car is parked
09:33oh and the ev version is even worse kgm action which used to be sangyong action its only saving grace
09:41is
09:42the suspension which shines when it's on really bad roads other than that steer clear of it leap motor b10
09:51at first it feels more expensive than it really is but upon closer inspection you realize it's built to
09:57a price point overall it's great value except for the seats which for me are a deal breaker
10:02now the mg s5 ev is an easy sell as long as the test drive doesn't include highways there's a
10:09good
10:10reason it's cheap the driver aids are mediocre connectivity is buggy and the menu is complicated
10:15the omoda 9 features a generic exterior but the interior feels last gen lexus luxurious there are
10:23also a lot of physical buttons to supplement the mediocre infotainment system it's comfortable and
10:29spacious but visibility and soundproofing compromise this otherwise premium feeling car
10:35i've also driven the opel grandland which felt like a pre-production model the scotta superb which is
10:42too expensive even though it's miles better than most chinese cars i've driven so far
10:47and the subaru forester which is let down by its euro spec powertrain the first round of voting for
10:53the world car awards ended on 29th of december and the shortlist will be announced on 6th of january
10:58i'll keep you posted and next month i'll tell you what's happening next on this juror life of mine
11:05meanwhile next week join me for the review of the new nissan leaf which is one of the few evs
11:11which i actually like you can become a channel member and watch it early or i'll see you next week
11:19if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me
11:25every friday at 3 pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video
11:30as it helps me with the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one
Comments