Newstalk's new Motor Mouth show and the Motors Forum

Darragh

Hey folks,

This fella here is Daragh O'Tuama, and he is, by his own admission, a Motors forum regular:



He'll be presenting a new show on Monday nights from 10pm until 11pm on Newstalk 106-108fm called Motor Mouth and they've come to us to ask if they can get involved with the Motors forum, both in getting feedback on what you want to hear on the show and on getting you involved.

Here's the official blurb

Motor Mouth - Newstalk 106-108 fm’s new Monday night motoring programme
Got a passion for cars? Do you get annoyed about Sunday drivers? Ever wondered if your mechanic is being completely honest about the work on your car? Are you being charged a fair price by the mechanic? Need advice on buying a car?

From Monday 8th February, Daragh Ó Tuama will host Newstalk 106-108 fm’s new motor programme Motor Mouth. The hour long show airs every Monday from 10pm to 11pm and will answer listeners motoring questions and dispense advice on every angle of the car industry.

The show's regular panel will be the who’s who of the motoring industry and will consist of reputable contributors from the RSA, SIMI, Cartell, AA and the NRA.

Every week Motor Mouth will feature reviews of both new and second hand cars, interspersed with motoring nostalgia, competitions, tips of the week and general banter. Motor Mouth will put the brakes on your Monday
blues.

Daragh's love for motoring began at a very young age as he’d eagerly await the next edition of Knight Rider and Magnum PI each week. In 2007 he presented MPH for TG4. He has written various articles and as well as presenting Splanc on Newstalk he also presented Motor Mouth when it was a slot on Late Night Live.

Contact details for the show are (01) 6445159; Email: motormouth@newstalk.ie; Website: http://www.newstalk.ie/motormouth

Motor Mouth (Daragh) will be around and about.

I'd be interested in your input and feedback.

Cheers

Darragh

(PS, we are not charging Motor Mouth or Newstalk for this)

Berty

It's a good idea.

It's interesting to note that the media / boards management have felt that instead of just scalping our opinion's we might be able to contribute to a wider audience.

Fog lights and overtaking topics FTW. Kidding of course.

Im struggling to understand what Cartell will be able to bring to a discussion.

Best of luck with it Darragh / Motor Mouth.

Lord Nikon

All the best with this. I'll certainly be listening.

Gary ITR

It's on just after Off The Ball too, nice one

colm_mcm

Great to have some motoring content on the radio. Hopefully you won't be recommending everyone buy an Octavia

Redsoxfan

Good to see, but wouldn't a show like this be better suited to Drive Time?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Motor Mouth: Daragh

Thanks, as it says above, the show will be starting on Monday night and we're looking forward to it.

What we're hoping to get from this sticky is topics that you want discussed. We won't be able to cover all of them obviously, but we'll take a selection each week.

This week a couple of items we'll probably discuss will be Toyota and the 30KPH story.

Have you any major opinions you would like aired about the issues above?

Is there any other story or topic you feel that should be covered?

We're hoping that some of you might even be able to answer some queries for us on the show.

So if you have any opinions, please post them here,
or text 53106 @30c
call 1890 453106
or email motormouth@newstalk.ie
we'll also be posting links on www.newstalk.ie/motormouth.

Regards,
Daragh

Drummerboy08

Great idea Daragh, good luck with it.

mike65

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Good to see, but wouldn't a show like this be better suited to Drive Time?

Newstalk are using the 10-12pm slots for more "diversity" and minority stuff.

I trust Daragh (MM) has a thick skin

Gary ITR

Motor Mouth (Daragh) wrote: »

Thanks, as it says above, the show will be starting on Monday night and we're looking forward to it.

What we're hoping to get from this sticky is topics that you want discussed. We won't be able to cover all of them obviously, but we'll take a selection each week.

This week a couple of items we'll probably discuss will be Toyota and the 30KPH story.

Have you any major opinions you would like aired about the issues above?

Is there any other story or topic you feel that should be covered?

We're hoping that some of you might even be able to answer some queries for us on the show.

So if you have any opinions, please post them here,
or text 53106 @30c
call 1890 453106
or email motormouth@newstalk.ie
we'll also be posting links on www.newstalk.ie/motormouth.

Regards,
Daragh

Thanks Daragh

Welcome to the forum. There are a couple of big threads on here about the two topics you mentioned above. I would ask though that if you are quoting posters here that you don't take the comments out of context and read the full threads.

Looks like it has the potential to be a good show. Will you be reviewing cars or is it a case of discussing 'hot' motoring topics?

cadaliac

First off, best of luck with the show.

I would love to hear other peoples opinions on the ever growing cost to the motorist in this country. Espically compared to other countries. Toll roads, parking prices, road tax and car insurance to name a few costs that I think should be highlighted.

Thanks and Good Luck.

Mr Benevolent

cadaliac wrote: »

First off, best of luck with the show.

I would love to hear other peoples opinions on the ever growing cost to the motorist in this country. Espically compared to other countries. Toll roads, parking prices, road tax and car insurance to name a few costs that I think should be highlighted.

Thanks and Good Luck.

+1

Motor tax is very high in Ireland and has been for years before the Green Party came into power. I'd like to see the government's reasoning for this and suggestions as to how we can replace it with, for example, a 'pay as you use' system, e.g, no road tax but an extra tax on fuel to replace it. This will reduce CO2 emissions by reducing the number of unnecessary car journeys made. I've done a fair amount of research in this and my brother has just finished a BSc on the same subject. It's the most viable solution imo.

rebel.ranter

I would 2nd that suggestion on the the "pay as you go" road tax. I cannot understand why the Greens have not pushed this idea.
By increasing tax on fuel & abolishing the tax disc the following pluses would arise:

- The more of a polluter you are the more you pay
- Less checks that need to be carried out by a Garda
- A whole department in each county council could be closed down with civil servants redeployed
- Various rebate schemes could be established for hauliers, taxis, bus operators, etc.
- Older, larger engined cars that currently get driven on rare occasions (with no current road tax disc) will pay their fair share of tax. This means it would be viable to keep an old "luxo barge" for infrequent driving.

A second topic that could be covered is the government scrappage scheme. The main issue I have with it is that perfectly roadworthy cars are being scrapped in order to have a shiny new one take its place. Again I am surprised at the Green Party condoning this scheme when you consider the environmental impact of producing an unnecessary new car & consigning a viable car to the bin. Calculations have been done to show how long a new car would need to run in order to equalise its environmental impact of being manufactured.

A third topic could be the myth surrounding the efficiency the current crop of hybrid cars like the Prius & especially the Lexus 4x4 & "luxo" hybrids. This marketing ruse should be exposed as often as possible. Numerous tests & comparisons have been carried out comparing these types of car with cars like the VW Gold diesel & BMW 520d. In addition to this the problem of disposal of these new so-called "eco friendly" when they reach end of life. an other study has shown that the disposal of the batteries from a Prius along with the rest of the car is many multiples of the environmental problems associated with disposal of of something like a Hummer. Again the "Greens" seem to be mesmirised by the lack of an exhaust pipe & engine note.

A fourth topic could be the benefits of an Irish Motor Industry ombudsman. Currently the public see an organisation called SIMI as some sort of quality standard, but this organisation is a motor industry advocate not an unbiased intermediary for dispute resolution between the consumer & motor industry.

There's loads more potential topics in the threads & I would recommend that in advance of any topic discussion that you use the forum search facility to drag up all the potential points of view.
Best of luck with the show!

Poly

Should be a good radio show when you consider the possibilities of linking it in with live webcasts, videos, pictures, performance stats etc.

Mr Benevolent

Will this program be solely affiliated with Boards.ie or will it involve other popular Irish motoring forms?

PS, we are not charging Motor Mouth or Newstalk for this

Obviously. Newstalk is now advertising Boards.ie on their station for free, so why would Boards charge them for that privilege?

Poly

Confab wrote: »

Will this program be solely affiliated with Boards.ie or will it involve other popular Irish motoring forms?



Obviously. Newstalk is now advertising Boards.ie on their station for free, so why would Boards charge them for that privilege?

Without knowing the accounts of Boards.ie, I'm sure it's not the cash cow that many people believe it to be.
Fair play to them for any publicity they get in these times and if it results in more revenue for them, then good. They provide a great, free, entertainment resource for everyone.


However, I do think boards.ie has a large influence on Irish Media. More than the media outlets would like to acknowledge

unkel

I'll third the motor tax. At present someone can drive 100,000 km per year and pay a €104 motor tax compared to someone driving 1,000 km per year paying €2,100 motor tax.

This is totally opposite to the principle of "the polluter pays". Not only that, it encourages people to drive more, once the motor tax has been paid.

A usage charge (obviously as an additional excise on fuel to ease revenue collection as opposed to the ludicrous idea of road charging as being contemplated in the Netherlands at the moment) would encourage people to drive less, or take alternative transport like walk, cycle or public transport

dudara

Daragh, the very best of luck to you in this new venture. I'll definitely be listening in when I can.

I have real gripes about the basic level of comprehension of some Irish driver - leaving foglights on the whole time, inability to use driving lanes on motorways etc. These are all simple things, and yet a reasonable percentage of people don't execute them correctly. Perhaps a driver's ed slot?

Additionally, can we get the government to consider introduce driving into the secondary school curriculum (a la the States). Transition year would be a great opportunity for structured, standardised driving education.

Mr Benevolent

Poly wrote: »

Without knowing the accounts of Boards.ie, I'm sure it's not the cash cow that many people believe it to be.
Fair play to them for any publicity they get in these times and if it results in more revenue for them, then good. They provide a great, free, entertainment resource for everyone.


However, I do think boards.ie has a large influence on Irish Media. More than the media outlets would like to acknowledge

A huge influence, just have a look at AH. However, my response to the OP's comment wasn't to denigrate the new show, but to indicate that none of us would believe that Boards would charge Newstalk for giving them free publicity. That'd be madness. A similar thing happens with Politics.ie, they get a slot and free publicity on Newstalk Late Night as well. It's an acceptance that the Internet is influencing people far more than the radio, and I admire the willingness of Newstalk to accept the change, and I admire Boards.ie for using more publicity.It's about time. Very subtly done OP, I tip my hat to you

Oh yeah, and the presenter and production team are probably off celebrating even now - a radio show that can legitimately rip topics straight from the Internet? Manna from heaven for the beleaguered presenter (and producer)!

At present someone can drive 100,000 km per year and pay a €104 motor tax compared to someone driving 1,000 km per year paying €2,100 motor tax.

Isn't the maximum motor tax for private vehicles €1566?

Absurdum

Great idea for a show, and best of luck with it. No doubt there won't be a shortage of topics to discuss!

Mr Benevolent

dudara wrote: »

Daragh, the very best of luck to you in this new venture. I'll definitely be listening in when I can.

I have real gripes about the basic level of comprehension of some Irish driver - leaving foglights on the whole time, inability to use driving lanes on motorways etc. These are all simple things, and yet a reasonable percentage of people don't execute them correctly. Perhaps a driver's ed slot?

Additionally, can we get the government to consider introduce driving into the secondary school curriculum (a la the States). Transition year would be a great opportunity for structured, standardised driving education.

If the show turns into a educational piece about foglights and motorway rules I'd turn off in the first two minutes. That way lies The Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow. Then again I'd turn off if they only talked about the latest Maserati and Bentley GT Continental. Hopefully it will be well balanced and informative, not a pedestal for axe sharpening.

P.C.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Great to have some motoring content on the radio. Hopefully you won't be recommending everyone buy an Octavia

No, we will be too busy recomending the Subaru Legacy.

kindalen

confab, if we had a pay as you go system and no road tax would people not just flock to the north to fill up? also would it encourage smuggling?
a great idea, but could not see it working.

Mr Benevolent

kindalen wrote: »

confab, if we had a pay as you go system and no road tax would people not just flock to the north to fill up? also would it encourage smuggling?
a great idea, but could not see it working.

Explain it simply to people and they'd get it. The more you drive the more you pay. Carpooling would dramatically increase, traffic volumes would go down. Besides, going up north every time you needed to fill up is illogical unless you lived in Donegal or Louth. I've even kicked the idea around with someone at the Chartered Institute of Transport & Logistics and he's all for it.

unkel

kindalen wrote: »

confab, if we had a pay as you go system and no road tax would people not just flock to the north to fill up? also would it encourage smuggling?
a great idea, but could not see it working.

You're raising a very valid point.

Up to a few years ago, we had very low fuel prices compared to the North. Back then would have been ideal to up the excise and we could have achieved removing motor tax altogether while upping the excise on fuel, still leaving fuel prices on similar levels as in the North (as in the UK). At a total cost of zero to the taxpayer. A missed opportunity. Shame on the politicians for their lack of acting upon this when the oven was warm.

After the recent excise increases a similar move would indeed mean our fuel prices would be higher than the UK. That said, over the past few decades there have been price differences significant enough for people to cross the border to fuel up. North and South. With the closing and re-opening of fuel stations on either side of the border. The total effect is probably not that important. No one in Dublin is going to spend €10 in tolls / fuel to save €15 in fuel in an extreme situation. For sure, border people will take advantage, but so they've always done, north or south.

kindalen

if this system was brought in, there would probably be a "nominal" fee to register cars annually....
that would creep up and up..

cadaliac

If Darragh looks at this thread, he will want to see bullet point topics, not the argument over such points.
If this is to be a successful vocal point, for us boardies, on motors, to get our points broadcast on Newstalk - brilliant.
If he has to read through pages and pages of us arguing, well I'm not so sure that we will get our points broadcast.
Sorry, I really don't want to kill a thread but I do think that this is an excellent place to voice our opinions, as motor fanatics, with a very real chance of getting all of our opinions (common or not) on the national airwaves.

Mr Benevolent

cadaliac wrote: »

If Darragh looks at this thread, he will want to see bullet point topics, not the argument over such points.
If this is to be a successful vocal point, for us boardies, on motors, to get our points broadcast on Newstalk - brilliant.
If he has to read through pages and pages of us arguing, well I'm not so sure that we will get our points broadcast.
Sorry, I really don't want to kill a thread but I do think that this is an excellent place to voice our opinions, as motor fanatics, with a very real chance of getting all of our opinions (common or not) on the national airwaves.

If he's any good as a presenter he'll be researching the argument and taking all points on board, not looking for us to simplify it for him.

TJJP

On Toyota:

The president was mis-translated and quoted out of all cultural context by RTE and the BBC. I'd expect it of Fox, but not the beeb (RTE are just crap, so we'll leave that).

A Japanese apology or admission of guilt is a very, very, serious action. He didn't 'come clean' at the first press conference because that's not what is expected of him (in his country and culture). That doesn't mean Toyota won't put things right, of course they will, first time all the time.

The Toyota bashing is a joke - ford pinto anyone?

unkel

TJJP wrote: »

On Toyota:

The president was mis-translated and quoted out of all cultural context by RTE and the BBC. I'd expect it of Fox, but not the beeb (RTE are just crap, so we'll leave that).

A Japanese apology or admission of guilt is a very, very, serious action. He didn't 'come clean' at the first press conference because that's not what is expected of him (in his country and culture). That doesn't mean Toyota won't put things right, of course they will, first time all the time.

The Toyota bashing is a joke - ford pinto anyone?

Not sure what you are on about?

My wild guess is that american Toyota owners really don't know and really don't care about the finer details about Japanese culture. Why on earth do you think they should? If they knew a bit more they would convince him to do a seppuku

TJJP

No offence, but presume you're not following the story or this thread then....

1)

Motor Mouth (Daragh) wrote: »

Thanks, as it says above, the show will be starting on Monday night and we're looking forward to it.
This week a couple of items we'll probably discuss will be Toyota and the 30KPH story.
Have you any major opinions you would like aired about the issues above?
So if you have any opinions, please post them here,

So I posted an opinion.

2) On the Toyota story in general, much is being made of Akio Toyoda's comments (out of context) in Irish and UK media earlier in the week. My post was in that frame and had nothing to do with US sentiments. Hopefully 'harakiru' won't come into it.

Dartz

unkel wrote: »

Not sure what you are on about?

My wild guess is that american Toyota owners really don't know and really don't care about the finer details about Japanese culture. Why on earth do you think they should? If they knew a bit more they would convince him to do a seppuku

In fairness, American Toyota owners don't understand how to use a clutch either.

Mc Love

Maybe you could talk about the Car industry in Ireland and the poor levels of customer service experience by some of the posters on here.

Surely as been mentioned previously that the car tax issue is a big one which the govt needs addressing. Doing away with VRT too would be good

Hal1

Mc Love wrote: »

Maybe you could talk about the Car industry in Ireland and the poor levels of customer service experience by some of the posters on here.

Well Audi have plans to address this issue of poor customer service. See thread here. Hopefully other car dealerships will follow suite.

CharlieCroker

The biggest thing for me would be how so little of the taxes (VRT, Road Tax, fuel tax, etc) brought in by the government every year is pumped back into roads, motorway services and so on. I wouldn't mind paying what i do (as much) if i could see where the revenue went.

Seth Brundle

CharlieCroker wrote: »

The biggest thing for me would be how so little of the taxes (VRT, Road Tax, fuel tax, etc) brought in by the government every year is pumped back into roads, motorway services and so on. I wouldn't mind paying what i do (as much) if i could see where the revenue went.

The revenue raised from motor tax has no connection with maintaining the roads and simply goes into the exchequer coffers and is used for hospitals, education, social welfare, NAMA, government junkets, FÁS, etc.

CharlieCroker

kbannon wrote: »

The revenue raised from motor tax has no connection with maintaining the roads and simply goes into the exchequer coffers and is used for hospitals, education, social welfare, NAMA, government junkets, FÁS, etc.

I understand that, but wouldn't it nice to see it going into transport, such as better public transport, roads, etc. I'd quite happily use more public transport if it was good and available and leave the driving as something pleasurable rather than stressful.

Since moving to dublin 6 months ago, i use the Luas and Dart a fair bit. There is NOTHING even similar to that down the country, even in cities.

Mc Love

Yeah and trains cost way too much to travel on

Atomic Pineapple

CharlieCroker wrote: »

I understand that, but wouldn't it nice to see it going into transport, such as better public transport, roads, etc. I'd quite happily use more public transport if it was good and available and leave the driving as something pleasurable rather than stressful.

Since moving to dublin 6 months ago, i use the Luas and Dart a fair bit. There is NOTHING even similar to that down the country, even in cities.

Agree completely, the dart and luas are a great service and there non existant outside Dublin.

When I was going to college in Dundalk my choice was a bus which I had to drive to a pick up point or drive all the way to college.

taking into account insurance, tax, petrol, maintenace and pay parking at the college it still worked out cheaper to drive and Integra Type R to college than get a weekly bus, thats how bad things are outside Dublin

ronanc15

-As an Administrator of one of the country's largest modified car enthusiasts websites, I would love to hear some discussion involving real enthusiasts rather than boy/girl racers.
An unbiased discussion.

-The NCT system is something I would really love to hear fleshed out. I would say this would be a massive area of discussion and probably one that will re-occur due to the obvious characteristics of a money racket.

-Also, after a stint of 8months in Dublin I have to say that a DART service or similar would be a massive boost in other regions around the country. Its a shame its not developed more.

Seth Brundle

CharlieCroker wrote: »

I understand that, but wouldn't it nice to see it going into transport, such as better public transport, roads, etc. I'd quite happily use more public transport if it was good and available and leave the driving as something pleasurable rather than stressful.

Over the last few years a fair bit of money was spent on roads (mainly new constructions) - obviously not much compared to what was taken in though. Nowadays, you are forgetting that the greens are in power so if you think that any driving pleasure will be allowed then you are seriously misguided!

CharlieCroker wrote: »

Since moving to dublin 6 months ago, i use the Luas and Dart a fair bit. There is NOTHING even similar to that down the country, even in cities.

Whilst public transport rarely makes money, there isn't the population to make these even semi-viable options. The luas was an expensive project and yes carries thousands every day but the initial construction costs will never be recouped. These days, we simply don't have the money for another luas!

unkel

kbannon wrote: »

you are forgetting that the greens are in power so if you think that any driving pleasure will be allowed then you are seriously misguided!

Are the greens banning BMWs? :eek:

CharlieCroker

kbannon wrote: »

Over the last few years a fair bit of money was spent on roads (mainly new constructions) - obviously not much compared to what was taken in though. Nowadays, you are forgetting that the greens are in power so if you think that any driving pleasure will be allowed then you are seriously misguided!

Whilst public transport rarely makes money, there isn't the population to make these even semi-viable options. The luas was an expensive project and yes carries thousands every day but the initial construction costs will never be recouped. These days, we simply don't have the money for another luas!

I'm not disagreeing with you in any way. It was just a suggestion as to one of the topics that i would like to hear on the show.

One of the others is who the hell made Conor Faughnan a spokesman for every motorist in Ireland. The man is a trafficwatch presenter!!!!

Seth Brundle

unkel wrote: »

Are the greens banning BMWs? :eek:

They are doing their best to ban anything with an engine!

CharlieCroker wrote: »

One of the others is who the hell made Conor Faughnan a spokesman for every motorist in Ireland. The man is a trafficwatch presenter!!!!

The media did because there was/is nobody else - are they to call to your front door for a quick soundbite?
And in fairness to him, I don't ever recall him presenting trafficwatch!

CharlieCroker

kbannon wrote: »

And in fairness to him, I don't ever recall him presenting trafficwatch!

Thats how he started many years ago, iirc but i'm open to correction.

Maybe a discussion on the establishment of a proper drivers association, that genuinely looks after the interests of motorists.

Seth Brundle

How did the show go last night anyhow?

Seth Brundle

unkel wrote: »

Are the greens banning BMWs? :eek:

Give it time!
I'm just after seeing this vid which reminded me of your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq58zS4_jvM

Mr Benevolent

kbannon wrote: »

How did the show go last night anyhow?

I think everyone forgot to listen to it I know I did.

Edit: Think I'll listen to it now thanks to ROR.

R.O.R

Seems to be available here http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/

Anyone know how to download this? Could listen to it in the car on the way home

stevenmu

Haven't tried it yet, but if you go to http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/ you can scroll down to motor mouth, which I presume will let you listen to last nights show.