Today I went to the CarExpert Open Day, at Docklands.
I didn’t really know what to expect, being an online/YouTube-based meet up. The last purely YouTube thing I went to I think was in 2011 out at Birrarung Marr and was quite uncoordinated.
I've been to various live podcast recordings which is a slightly different genre of 'internet-based things occurring in the real world'.
It was held on the top of The District Docklands east car park, on a very cold spring day. Apparently there was a coffee cart, but as I’m not a coffee drinker, and a disposable cup with a random tea bag slipped into it is not my idea of a wonderfully pleasant drink I elected not to imbibe.
Only about a quarter of the roof top car park had cars on it, and there were a couple of dozen people wandering around.
The Ineos Grenadier looks like an old Land Rover on the outside, but the inside has a fabulous amount of buttons and switches inside, and unlike most cars which are automatic which have a small place for your left foot, in the Grenadier there's actually a sizeable place for your left foot to sit.
The Renault Megane E-Tech looked the most 'movie future' car of the cars there. Like it's got the general idea of what a car looks like now, just pushed into the future a little bit.
It was certainly better sized than the photos and videos I've seen of it in online. Inside it was fine, has a similar airy layout to others like the MG4 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. I'm not sure if I prefer this or the more 'cockpit' style that cars like the Polestar 2 have (this wasn't on show, but I've had a look at them in the past).
The Porsche Cayenne was surprising as they often look quite big on the road. The interior was nicely considered, two large screens, the one in front of the driver had analogue (albeit digital) dials on display. I'm not really a fan of alcantara which was on the steering wheel, but it felt nice and soft, although I do wonder how well it'd wear with day-to-day use.
Interior of Porsche Cayenne.
The second infotainment screen was bright and clear. There were some shiny additional controls on the centre console.
Sitting in the Cayenne was perfectly fine, however getting out of the car I whacked my thighs on the seat bolsters, as they're sporty seats. But that could become irritating very easily if you had to live with that day-to-day.
The Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 was huge. I've seen these and the other US imported utes out on the road and they've looked huge. But actually seeing one in person, just standing in front of it, it's huge.
Also, I went to get into it, like I do my Ranger ute, which is step up, grab the inside door handle and slide in, pulling the door with my momentum to close.
When I tried to do it with the Silverado I almost fell backwards. It was just so huge and big, I realised I had to stand on the side skirts and then step into the cabin and sit down. And then grab the door and close it.
The interior is nice enough, it's very big and US-style, a very chunky gear selector.
I don't know how anyone manages to drive these in anywhere built up, it's just so big.
The BYD Dolphin was interesting. A similar sort of floating design language as the E-Tech and Ioniq 6. A smaller screen ahead. But the interior isn't as odd as the BYD Atto 3. It's functional enough and simple enough. It's not quite the car for me, but I think it'll do well. The Atto 3 has already sold very well in Australia.
The MG4 was likewise fine. It also had a small screen ahead of the driver, compared to the E-Tech and others it's a very small screen. But it's a different market class.
The screen was okay, swiping across on it was smooth enough, but not as smooth as you'd see on your phone or whatever. But it's better than using the touchscreen on my Ford Ranger (although my Ranger is now a few years old). I think this will be a great EV for people, the get around and do stuff. The Camry of the i30 for EVs, something cheap and functional.
The Ioniq 6's interior was very similar to sitting in the Ioniq 5's interior, it's got more of a centre arm rest / cup holder area than the Ioniq 5. Like the 5 it had the camera pods and digital mirrors. I'm not really a fan of them, there'd be a learning curve I guess to look at or around the A-pillar rather than out the window when checking mirrors.
The Ioniq 6 was also running in V2L (vehicle to load) powering the sound system that they had on site.
The BMW iX1 was alright. Like the other electric cars it had a smilier floating open design inside. What seemed to be smaller than the E-Tech screens inside.
Well considered and placed controls for the media on the arm rest.
And on the doors a wood, or wood-effect panel. Although it was a lot of different textures and materials inside the BMW, brown leather and leather highlights, brushed aluminium, plastic, and on the door these plus two textured materials (one over the harmon/kardon speaker) and then the aforementioned wood.
The Nissan Patrol Warrior was the oldest, and inside really looked it. Given that this vehicle is around $100,000 it's a lot of money for a terrible interior.
The screen is absolutely tiny, and the rest is a lot of grey plastic buttons surrounded by some piano black to tart it up a bit.
The buttons on the steering wheel too just make it look dated.
Like the Silverado it's got a petrol V8, so it's not exactly going to be economical.
Mazda CX-90 front.
The only car I didn't sit in, mostly because people seemed to be constantly in it was the Mazda CX-90. It had an interesting third row of seats, which looked like it would be almost impossible to have anything other than a baby seat in it.
I departed about an hour after arriving as I watched (and then felt) the rain slowly make its way towards Melbourne. The combination of the exposed site and the wind was making for a pretty cold adventure out. There didn't appear to be anything else that was going to happen.
I spoke to many members of the CarExpert team; Paul, Jade and Jack, along with Anthony Crawford (the co-founder of CarExpert) about cars, which was nice to do.