Speaker 1: All right, it is time to talk cars with our
Speaker 1: motoring man, Ernest Page. She's from Change Cars dot Co
Speaker 1: and also the presenter for all things motoring on Ignition TV.
Speaker 1: And he's also standing by to answer some of your
Speaker 1: motoring questions. So do get those calls in on two
Speaker 1: one four four six oh five sixty seven, or you
Speaker 1: can drop us a voice note. Oh seven two five
Speaker 1: six seven one five six seven. We are back this
Speaker 1: week with another Hyundai and at this time we're looking
Speaker 1: at the Hyundai Tucson and it's good to have you back.
Speaker 2: With us, Jay, and fantastic to be back and start.
Speaker 3: Were talking about the Handaed Tucson and last week one
Speaker 3: of our listeners touched on the point that maybe some
Speaker 3: of these cars are getting a little too expensive, and
Speaker 3: I think the two Son might be one of those cars.
Speaker 2: With that conversation is Daily Daily relevant.
Speaker 4: All right, so let's start with what what is it?
Speaker 4: What are we? I mean? I know I'm I'm in
Speaker 4: that kind of I was going to say, yummy mummy category.
Speaker 4: I'm labeling myself there. I'm labeling myself there.
Speaker 1: But I do I do tell to move in this
Speaker 1: kind of suburb southern suburbs, mum circles where this is
Speaker 1: a very very popular vehicle. So I know exactly what
Speaker 1: we're talking about, but maybe other people don't.
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 3: So the Hunda Tucson basically was one of those cars
Speaker 3: that started the C segment SUV. There was the early
Speaker 3: model Tucson and there was the car that came just
Speaker 3: before that similar shape and size.
Speaker 2: But the Koreans were, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, for lack of a better phrase, they were the
Speaker 3: Chinese before the Chinese were the Chinese, and the Japanese
Speaker 3: were the Koreans before they were the Koreans.
Speaker 2: And you know when when Japan.
Speaker 3: First came into the market many many years ago with Deathsuns,
Speaker 3: et cetera, they were frowned upon by local manufacturer enthusiasts.
Speaker 3: The same thing happened with Honda when they came onto
Speaker 3: the market, but they pioneered that Tucson segments so much
Speaker 3: that now it's one of the busiest segments out there.
Speaker 3: You've got Toyota with their four, You've got Massive with
Speaker 3: their six five, and then of course you've got the Cherries,
Speaker 3: the Tigos, the Havals, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: Now populating that market big time.
Speaker 3: So if you're looking for a relatively large suv that
Speaker 3: offers decent amounts of spec and power, and you've got
Speaker 3: about five hundred thousand or just over between five hundred
Speaker 3: and i'd say eight hundred thousand to spend, then this
Speaker 3: is the vehicle that you're looking for because it's got
Speaker 3: lots of comfort features, it's got a diesel engine, which
Speaker 3: is really nice, and then of course it's got the
Speaker 3: space for the entire family, and that's I think where
Speaker 3: the two son fits in. It's a big, comfortable, spacious
Speaker 3: car that's got a diesel engine, which again I'm still
Speaker 3: a fan of, but again when it comes to this segment,
Speaker 3: people are very very much price sensitive.
Speaker 2: And I've got the top spec Enline model, which is
Speaker 2: all wheel drive.
Speaker 3: It's got a two liters one hundred and thirty seven
Speaker 3: killer what four hundred and sixteen muti meter diesel engine.
Speaker 3: It's got a bow sound system, panoramic roof, adaptive cruise control,
Speaker 3: all of those features that I think a lot of
Speaker 3: Chinese manufacturers are now throwing in as just normal nice
Speaker 3: to have, but unfortud I think it has put Hyundai
Speaker 3: a little bit on the back foot. As they are
Speaker 3: now migrating towards being a more premium offering. And by premium,
Speaker 3: we're talking pricing over here. This one that I've got,
Speaker 3: which is the N Line, goes for eight hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty nine thousand. You do, Yeah, that's a lot, and
Speaker 3: you do, but you do get these seven year two
Speaker 3: hundred thousand kilometer warranty, You get a five year hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty thousand kilometer powertrain warranty, the two year power
Speaker 3: train fifty thousand k warranty, and then a service plan
Speaker 3: as well for seventy five thousand ks. Now in that
Speaker 3: same range, though, there is a petrol version that goes
Speaker 3: for five point fifty nine, but that wouldn't be my pick.
Speaker 3: There is a diesel option which goes for seven hundred
Speaker 3: and nine thousand, which I think is much more satisfactory
Speaker 3: pricing if you ask me, because at eight hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty nine thousand, you could go for something that's a
Speaker 3: lot more premium. You know, you now starting to playing
Speaker 3: that million rand sort of budget. Yeah, And when my
Speaker 3: colleague and I was talking about as Brendan Staniforth from
Speaker 3: a Ruler media, he mentioned that yes, extra hundred thousand
Speaker 3: on that eight fifty nine is a lot of money,
Speaker 3: but effectively you're just looking at just over.
Speaker 2: Ten percent of the cost of the car. So all
Speaker 2: of a sudden you've got that million rand space.
Speaker 3: And if you're looking new and use, there are tons
Speaker 3: and tons of good cause that you can get for
Speaker 3: that price. So unfortunately, the two song finds itself in
Speaker 3: a in a very sort of sticky situation when it
Speaker 3: comes to pricing at the moment.
Speaker 2: And then of.
Speaker 3: Course when we talk about the rivals for the TUC songs,
Speaker 3: you could you're looking at the as I mentioned before,
Speaker 3: the cars like the Cherry Tigo Tigo eight. You could
Speaker 3: get the Tigo seven if you wanted to, You could
Speaker 3: get the Haval Aged six two liters Ultra only six
Speaker 3: hundred and fourteen thousand, and that comes fully fully fully
Speaker 3: loaded with a seven year, two hundred thousand kilometer a
Speaker 3: warranty as well. The Tigo pell also diesel the one
Speaker 3: point six TGDI for six hundred and nine thousand. So yes,
Speaker 3: I I do think that the handout is still a
Speaker 3: good God this thing wrong with it, It just finds
Speaker 3: itself in a bit precarious space, specifically in line throm
Speaker 3: I would then rather say go for the one model
Speaker 3: just below that, the two liters diesel. Again, I'm always
Speaker 3: gonna go for the diesel in an suv, and that
Speaker 3: everyone goes for seven hundred and nine thoust.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's listen. I tell you what.
Speaker 1: What I can say for Hyundai is that they hold
Speaker 1: their price quite well. I've noticed the depreciation on a
Speaker 1: Honda on an suv as I think is pretty good.
Speaker 1: But your initial yeah, your initial outmay is is pretty
Speaker 1: high on that on that Toucson. Ray Anne has actually
Speaker 1: sent in a message. You mentioned the Haval H six
Speaker 1: there is being a direct competitor Ernest and says I'm
Speaker 1: looking at buying a Haval H six gt pH e
Speaker 1: V since it's versatile and the consumption is so good.
Speaker 1: The Haval states one hundred and eighty kilometers at highway
Speaker 1: speed on full charge. Does this mean if you charge
Speaker 1: daily you don't need to use fuel? Are there any
Speaker 1: other competitors worth looking at? The speed doesn't interest me
Speaker 1: as much as it used to, so not too fust
Speaker 1: on the speed since it's basically going to be a
Speaker 1: family vehicle.
Speaker 4: Funny enough, I.
Speaker 1: Saw I saw one of these at the gym yesterday
Speaker 1: the H six GT PHGV. I mean listen, I didn't
Speaker 1: get to go inside your look under the boyt or anything,
Speaker 1: but it's certainly caught my eye.
Speaker 4: It's quite meat, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: It's a chunky little monkey, that one. And the thing
Speaker 3: about PhD, you're plugging hybrids as they're called, they are
Speaker 3: now starting to filter into the market.
Speaker 2: Quite a lot.
Speaker 3: A Motor's got one, Jacob's got one, Chiliy's got one,
Speaker 3: aval BMW Volvo tyotas air Ford one stage was basically
Speaker 3: the only one in that size that you could get
Speaker 3: the plug in hybrid, But now it's starting to become
Speaker 3: more popular. And pov An I been having this conversation
Speaker 3: for months about we're not plugging hybrid's going to start
Speaker 3: coming to the country and the time is literally right now. Yeah,
Speaker 3: every second week or so there's a new plug in
Speaker 3: hybrid being launched. Just recently BYD launched their plug in
Speaker 3: hybrid as well. So when it comes to the range
Speaker 3: on a plug in hybrids, as questioned a moment ago,
Speaker 3: you can do as as for their motive, for example,
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty kilometers.
Speaker 2: On pure ev range.
Speaker 3: So what that means is that you plug in the car,
Speaker 3: you get the car fully charged up overnight. If you're
Speaker 3: going to be getting a car like this, it would
Speaker 3: be would stand you in good stead to have a
Speaker 3: charger at home that's the fastest possible charger for your
Speaker 3: plug in hybrid, and then the next day you drive
Speaker 3: basically for free. It's not completely free, but it's a
Speaker 3: heck of a lot cheaper than fuel. And I've gone
Speaker 3: through that exercise with plug in hybrid cars and that's
Speaker 3: exactly what you get. You get an electric car effectively
Speaker 3: that can some of them can do between eighteen, one
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, which means you can
Speaker 3: go to town and back in complete silence and use
Speaker 3: zero fuel. And that I think is the big big
Speaker 3: push at the big big advantage of plug in hybrids
Speaker 3: versus electric cars. You've got the best of both worlds.
Speaker 3: I think, specifically in South Africa, plug in hybrid to
Speaker 3: make a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: Electricity. I know it's expensive, but.
Speaker 3: Compared to fuel, it's quite cost effective. And if you
Speaker 3: cannot have to pay fuel for your daily commute every
Speaker 3: day to work, why not.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you what I drove the UH No, it wasn't.
Speaker 4: It was a fully it was a fully electric vehicle.
Speaker 4: It was a Volvo. Oh gosh X something I can't rememize. Yes, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: And it was yet beautiful.
Speaker 1: Oh just my kids are they're so small, but there's
Speaker 1: they were still talking about mummy, when can we have
Speaker 1: the Google car? They call it the Google cars because
Speaker 1: we could we could talk to Google in that car.
Speaker 4: They thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 3: But I.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of being able to kind of
Speaker 1: venture into the electric space, but one has to first
Speaker 1: get over range anxiety. I was driving around in my
Speaker 1: little neck of the woods, I mean, and I couldn't relax.
Speaker 4: I couldn't.
Speaker 1: Every five minutes I had to kind of put there's
Speaker 1: an electric vehicle place on on Imamharun And I was
Speaker 1: there every five minutes because I couldn't get over the
Speaker 1: range anxiety, which I'm sure comes as you get more
Speaker 1: and more use to the car.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I drove an electric car just yesterday and my passenger
Speaker 3: was supposed to drop me off at the airport and
Speaker 3: then go back and I was what he calmed down, bro,
Speaker 3: But he was anxious and how much colom how many
Speaker 3: comments you've got left.
Speaker 2: And I remember that that was my experience at the
Speaker 2: beginning as well.
Speaker 3: Having said that if you own the car, and I
Speaker 3: really do hope that both of us get to own
Speaker 3: e X ninety me lovely that when you have the charge,
Speaker 3: and that's why I mentioned earlier, the charge at home
Speaker 3: changes the entire dynamic. It makes that range anxiety go
Speaker 3: away because all you have to do is get home,
Speaker 3: and with a normal car with petrol diesel, you don't
Speaker 3: have that problem.
Speaker 2: You can stop anywhere.
Speaker 3: It takes you ten minutes and then you've got enough
Speaker 3: time to get a sparkling water and a chocolate in
Speaker 3: the shop and off you go. Whereas when you're charging
Speaker 3: at a charging station, you've got to organize. I've got
Speaker 3: to drop the car, of am I going to go
Speaker 3: to the coffee shop, I'm going to go shopping. But
Speaker 3: if you can charge at home, then all of those
Speaker 3: problems go away, and then so does the range anxiety.
Speaker 2: I think for the most part.
Speaker 1: Somebody saying how do you feel about the jaiqu J
Speaker 1: seven compared to the Chinese cars like Haval that you've
Speaker 1: been chatting about, But Jaiku's also a Chinese brand isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Indeed, I haven't spent as much time with them, although
Speaker 3: I did go to an event that they had recently.
Speaker 3: And what I do like about jaku Jaiku is that
Speaker 3: they are starting to start owners clubs and they're starting
Speaker 3: to they're actually an event for owners of the brand
Speaker 3: to come through as a music festival, which is quite
Speaker 3: strange but interesting. And what they did they was start
Speaker 3: an owner's club and I spoke to a few owners
Speaker 3: of the vehicle and they experience so far, seemingly from
Speaker 3: the people that I spoke to at this event, that
Speaker 3: has been very good.
Speaker 2: The cars are very well spected.
Speaker 3: The people that are running at the management team are
Speaker 3: trying to cover all their bases to make sure they're
Speaker 3: parts of ale, to make sure that the communication with
Speaker 3: the public is transparent and consistent, and you know, I
Speaker 3: think that that goes a long way. When you're trying
Speaker 3: to establish a new brand in a country, it's not
Speaker 3: just about the cars, about the off cells and how
Speaker 3: you look after your clients. So Jacob, I think there's
Speaker 3: doing good things when it comes to off the cells
Speaker 3: and when it comes to building a community around their brand.
Speaker 3: So let's see how they do and the J seven.
Speaker 3: It's a beautiful, beautiful car. They launched it in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, and again the design is just I really
Speaker 3: do quite like the designer's call. I don't personally have
Speaker 3: that much experience with it, but it does come with
Speaker 3: a one point six liter turboforce, a little petrol engine,
Speaker 3: seven speed your clutch, and definitely at least I think
Speaker 3: worth a test drive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, I'm fascinated to get
Speaker 1: behind the wheel of one of these. I love how
Speaker 1: it looks, but it's not just about that, is it.
Speaker 3: What is it like to drive?
Speaker 4: Has it got a bit of meat behind it?
Speaker 3: Ernest so, as I said, I've had that much experience
Speaker 3: with it. But when it comes to the engine, specifically
Speaker 3: of the Chinese brand, and a lot of them are
Speaker 3: running basically the same engines. Now have a pool of
Speaker 3: engines that they choose from one point five turber, one
Speaker 3: point six turbo two D to turbo, so a lot
Speaker 3: of them aren't necessarily making their own engines, and that's
Speaker 3: one of the reasons you're getting the fuel consumption that
Speaker 3: is generally above average. Having said that, they are starting
Speaker 3: to make V eights, the Chinese are now where the
Speaker 3: Europeans are saying, you know what, we don't want to
Speaker 3: focus on diesel anymore, the Chinese are saying, well, we
Speaker 3: kind of do want to focus on diesel because one
Speaker 3: of our key markets is going to be Africa, and
Speaker 3: I think Africa is going to stay a diesel market
Speaker 3: for a long long time. So I think in the
Speaker 3: future we are going to be getting a lot more
Speaker 3: cost effective Chinese cars.
Speaker 2: And that's the biggest scribe. And again every generation of
Speaker 2: these cars is just getting better and better.
Speaker 3: It's an exciting time for the consumer when it comes
Speaker 3: to costing of vehicles because we've been moaning a South
Speaker 3: Africans for a long long time that.
Speaker 2: Vehicle pricing is too expensive. Pricing is coming down.
Speaker 3: The J seven starts at about five point forty nine,
Speaker 3: which is quite competitive. Having said, having said so that
Speaker 3: it does affect our local market, it does affect our
Speaker 3: local manufacturer, and it does affect local job markets as well.
Speaker 2: So it's a it's a chicky one. It's a chicky one.
Speaker 4: If you're just joining us this afternoon, good to have
Speaker 4: you with us. Welcome.
Speaker 1: We are chatting with Ernest Page and it is our
Speaker 1: cast segment on launch Sarah has asked a question, says
Speaker 1: hianis what do you think of a twenty twenty four Billino.
Speaker 1: Suzuki Bilino with twenty five thousand k's on the clock.
Speaker 3: Suzuki Billino is one of my favorite when it comes
Speaker 3: to small cars. I've spoken about this before, is that
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty four model should be the facelifted one,
Speaker 3: so that'll be.
Speaker 2: The later model. Definitely can't go wrong with that.
Speaker 3: Suzuki have carved a niche for themselves where they're making
Speaker 3: cars that are cost effective, but you get what you
Speaker 3: see on the tin. It's exactly what you get. There
Speaker 3: no surprises with the Bileno. Yes, it's been around for
Speaker 3: a little bit of a while, but it does still
Speaker 3: look finished, simply because the Yota has also released a Starlet,
Speaker 3: which is basically the car. So I don't think you
Speaker 3: can go wrong with the Bileno. If you're looking for
Speaker 3: a good old fashioned hatchback in the old sort of way,
Speaker 3: yes you've got the Billina. But you remember there is
Speaker 3: a cross as well, So if you're looking for something
Speaker 3: that's a bit higher up, that might have a little
Speaker 3: bit more chunky sort of suv feel to it, then
Speaker 3: you've got the Suzuki Throncs. But if you want a
Speaker 3: good old fashioned hatchbag with decent power, good feud economy
Speaker 3: one point five lit the engine and just it's meat
Speaker 3: and potatoes kind of car, I really do like the Bileina.
Speaker 1: Someone else saying, or John says that how long do
Speaker 1: these electric vehicle batteries last? And do they need to
Speaker 1: be replaced at some point? And what would that cost?
Speaker 1: That is a great question, John, thanks for that.
Speaker 2: So that is.
Speaker 3: Exactly the problem that electric cars have at the moment
Speaker 3: is that there's a usually there's a warranty of about
Speaker 3: seven years on the battery. Now that is coincidentally how
Speaker 3: long those batteries start to before they deteriorate. And when
Speaker 3: it comes to the battery of these cause that it
Speaker 3: is going to be expensive. It is going to be
Speaker 3: very expensive if it's an out of warranty repair. So
Speaker 3: that again is the trade off when it comes to
Speaker 3: plug in hybrids. Now, Toyota, the best probably the best
Speaker 3: case to look at would be too to pres because
Speaker 3: that's a fully electric sort of car and at least
Speaker 3: the hybrid car.
Speaker 2: And you can look at something like that and see
Speaker 2: for yourself, what will it costs to replace.
Speaker 3: But I do know that when it comes time to
Speaker 3: replace batteries on something like a hybrid cars, something like
Speaker 3: an electric car, it is one hundred percent going to
Speaker 3: cost a lot of money. I have spoken to some mechanics,
Speaker 3: and certain mechanics are now starting to focus on that market.
Speaker 3: And what that would hopefully mean is that in five
Speaker 3: ten years time, when a lot of this cause oh
Speaker 3: out of warranty, there will be off the market parts available.
Speaker 3: At this stage, the battery technology is still quite expensive,
Speaker 3: so you are looking to pay quite a substantial amount.
Speaker 3: I can't say exactly what that amount is, but it's
Speaker 3: not going to be a cheap repay if the car
Speaker 3: is out of water d So be very aware that
Speaker 3: when you buy anything with the plug in hybrid system
Speaker 3: or battery system, what the warranty is, how that wardity works.
Speaker 3: Speak to the manufacturer, find out what you can look
Speaker 3: at paying to replace those parts.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited, but yeah, great question. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: by the by the increase in electric vehicles and what
Speaker 1: that means. And yeah, hopefully there will come a point soon.
Speaker 1: As you say, Ernest, well you and are we cruising
Speaker 1: around in our highly expensive electric vehicles and doing.
Speaker 4: Our bit, for doing our bit for the environment.
Speaker 1: Thanks very much, indeed, eis We're going to have to
Speaker 1: leave it there, but appreciate your time. Ernest is back
Speaker 1: with this next week, of course, and you can get
Speaker 1: your questions into him.
Speaker 4: You can keep sending them there if you like. We
Speaker 4: can always forward them on to next week.