Bob Flavin (motoring journalist) & his views on EVs

ELM327 wrote: »

I've seen him at IEVOA agms and events.
He hasn't a clue of the proper EV parlance but do people who drive fossil fuel cars generally use the right words for EGR and DPF? They just drive...

The EQC and the ETron like it, are just paperweights. Crap compared to Tesla, less range, more inefficient, less charging speed or opportunities. When big auto wants to play the EV game I'm sure they will outspend Tesla and blow them out of the park with a 1000km range EV with 350kW charging but they are no where near that.

I have never been or attended an IEVOA AGM or official meeting, I'm a member of the facebook group but that's it.

As you say, proper terminology or parlance is often wrong for all kinds of things. There's a lot to remember when I'm live!

Bodhan wrote: »

Hi Lads, just catching up on Boards as it was mentioned to me on Twitter a long while ago. Sorry I didn't answer, I'd forgotten my login details and there's so many comments, questions, videos, emails to get through.
Maybe you don't want a reply seeing as it might just be letting off internet steam?

Anyway, I'm Bob Flavin and I've been a Boards user for years and years

Not to put you in the hotbox there Bob, but the ID3 1st, hot or not? I'm close to pulling the trigger on one this morning..

Old diesel wrote: »

Wouldn't panic lads.

If you look at the main motors section you will see a thread about Mazda 6 2.2 diesel issues.

Ask someone like Bob and he will probably tell you the Mazda is a great chariot.

The real world input from sites like boards and wider social media wins out eventually.

Someone drew Bob's attention to this thread on twitter and his reply was "does boards still exist".

Mark N is passing him out rapidly imo

Are you ranting about me or Mark Nobel? I test new cars, I didn't see a thread on the Mazda issues and neither have I had a comment anywhere that I can think of for a Mazda problem. If I had I would have gotten a statement from Mazda, I've done this many times for subcribers.

By the way, Mark is a nice fella and has a good channel that I'm subscribed to

Bodhan wrote: »

I don't remember in what context I called an EQC a paperweight but if you want to spend that sort of money on a good car then get an EQC, it's good

I think I called it a paperweight


Which it is, as it has too short range, bad charging options and is overpriced. If you want german premium in an EV get an etron!

beauf wrote: »

I like Bob. Watched him build his channel from nothing. He comes across more as reporter than car nut, maybe I'm mistaken. Either way that's ok, it's just a different perspective. Also it gives you an insight into the Irish motor industry etc. He does a load of work to make that content. I look forward to his videos dropping. He's only getting better. I don't always agree with him and he's not always right. But so what. Thumbs up for Bob.

Humbled, thanks very much!

Lantus wrote: »

+1. Listening to people that only say what you want to hear or nothing new or challenging is a pointless exercise. And hydrogen is very flammable. Korea and Asia are having safety issues. Not nuke issues but it's a concern currently.

Overlooked comment here, there have been a number of Hygroen fuel station fires and explosions, I know this can happen to any petrol station as well.

Kramer wrote: »

I agree - fair play to Bob for creating the content & proffering a uniquely Irish perspective on Irish motoring. No issues from me there & I hope he evolves.

My only issue is with misinformation. Bob has a viewership & as such, has influence. Disparaging a €100,000 EV because, as I suspect, he's not aufait with charging parameters, cables etc., doesn't do anyone any good, most especially himself.
His intro does state "expert care reviews".

Be an expert then, educate yourself & be a better journalist. Learn the difference between kW & kWh, AC & DC charging, charge points & chargers, how hydrogen is produced etc.

A little constructive criticism shouldn't cause offense to Bob & I haven't seen anyone attack him here. Hopefully he's reading (you know he is - hi Bob ) & takes some good from this thread anyway.

Thanks dude! The channel is evolving fast now so it can be hard to keep up with all the outlets.

No offence taken, it's a live show and sometimes I get muddled. Imagine a radio presenter answering questions but can't go to an ad break or a piece of music or even the toilet!

Nickindublin wrote: »

I look at a lot of motoring journalists on YouTube from Carwow to Honestjohn and Bob. To be fair to Bob he hasn't the resources of the others but he does a good video and review and tries to be different. The Sunday show is live and a bit long for my liking. He claims he doesn't take sponsorship from motoring companies etc.

Thank you, I do try to be different from the rest but still provide value to the consumer.

I don't take and advertising/sponsorship/dontations from any car company in exchange for a positive review. I don't have "sponsored content" like I see in many other profitable publications. Any sponsorship is welcome as I try to make money to pay the bills but it must come from something I don't review. I hope that makes sense?

DrPhilG wrote: »

Can't be arsed with Bob. Ever since one of his videos when he reviewed (I think) an Ioniq. It was one of his earliest EV reviews and came across like a hatchet job.

He demonstrated charging the car and made such a meal of how confusing it was to get the correct plug for the car, even though the charging station had a dirty great picture of the sockets on it.

Plus as others have said he seems very uninformed on details for someone who is supposed to be an expert.

I love the judgement call from one video when there's over 700 videos on my channel.
The video you are talking about was to show how confusing it would be if you aren't an EV person. If I took a live-long ICE driver and gave him/her the keys of an EV and left them at it with a charging station what do you think would happen?
The charging stations should be like a USB port, if I plug in an Apple device to a Windows laptop Windows will tell me its an Apple and will start to charge the device. Why can't EV chargers do the same?
It should tell you nothing, you plug in and everything else happens automatically, like Tesla

high horse wrote: »

Bob is on boards alright. Bodhan is his user name.

Feck, should have came here first I'd forgotten all the log in stuff!

unkel wrote: »

He did that on purpose, that was pretty clear to me. But a lot of people thought he was just ignorant / thick. Someone even took so much of a hump, they started a thread on it here. I think Bob must have had a good laugh about all that

Still laughing about it now, that video still gets views and comments. To be fair most people got the joke but some people who claim to know everything didn't see the funny side. Even other motoring journalists said that I was wrong, some people are easily upset though

DrPhilG wrote: »

Pretty stupid stunt to pull.

And even aside from that I find his videos waffly and ill informed.



Bingo

Cool, I don't make the videos for everyone.

Bodhan wrote: »

I've never made a video like the one you've linked because I'm not Chris Harris and I don't have Topgears budget. Also, if you think there's no rehearsal or second takes in this you should look at it again. Chris is a super presenter and has a wealth of knowledge, that's why he's on Topgear

Since I posted those original comments I've watched a fair bit more of your output and now I like it (not that it matters!). I don't know whether the output has improved or whether I've just got used to your presenting style.

My original criticism was that you had no obvious area of expertise that makes you stand out. If I want an opinion on how a car drives, why would I watch you rather than Autocar? Your content is objectively less well edited and produced, and your subject matter expertise (on cars and driving in general) doesn't appear to be better. That doesn't mean you're deficient as a human being, it's just a consequence of sharing an online space with output from larger countries (UK and US) where the pool of money is bigger.

I think I now understand that your area of expertise is the Irish motoring industry, dealer networks and business models, local pricing factors etc. That's fine, although it's going to massively limit the number of subscribers (maybe you don't care about that?).

Bjorn Nyland is a good example of someone who lives in a small country like ours but has developed a large international following (181k subs), despite fairly low production values and very niche (and mostly quite boring) output (BEVs represent < 5% of global car sales). He gets those because his expertise is unrivaled.

minikin wrote: »

Lost all respect for him over the EV charging retardovid.

Can't please everyone I suppose, retardovid is a bit sharp though no?