The truth about modern engine oil (and filters)
This video is a technical deep-dive into modern engine oils and filters, aimed at the home car maintenance DIY-er.
May 31, 2025•30 min
AutoExpert
AutoExpert is all about cars from Australian automotive expert, journalist and engineer John Cadogan
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Episodes
RAM 1500 Laramie Sport review (with Driving Enthusiast's Brett Davis)
My mate Brett from Driving Enthusiast - https://www.youtube.com/@drivingenthusiastaustralia - dropped by the Fat Cave today, and since we both recently tested the same RAM 1500 Laramie Sport, we went for a spin and rolled a GoPro while we talked about it. This car is one of the most under-rated utes in the market - it tows heavy, it accelerates fast, and it's abundantly luxurious, as well as packed with clever features. Predictably, lefty/greenie types hate it.Make sure you check out Brett's cha...
May 30, 2025•33 min
Looming glut of used EV lemons
Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solarIn this video:Polestar has just started offering battery state of health certificates on select used Polestar 2s being resold in its dealer network. Companies don’t get up in the morning and randomly decide this kind of thing is a good idea. It has to be for a reason.According to them: "As part of the Pol...
May 29, 2025•18 min
Ford Ranger Sport V6 test (with Brett Davis from Driving Enthusiast)
My mate Brett from Driving Enthusiast - https://www.youtube.com/@drivingenthusiastaustralia - dropped by the Fat Cave with a Ranger Sport Loaner, so we went for a spin and rolled a GoPro while we talked about it. It's pretty impressive from a platform, dynamics, ergonomics and powertrain perspective. But it is quite expensive, and my reservations about Ford's product support and long-term reliability linger.Make sure you check out Brett's channel and give him a sub - he's doing good work over th...
May 28, 2025•20 min
New car sales are starting to tank in 2025
Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solar
May 27, 2025•25 min
Motorway chaos exposes serious state security lapse
Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solarIN THIS VIDEOLast Friday morning, a truck operated by NJ Ashton Group inconveniently, and certainly unintentionally, sprayed 750 kilos of Satan’s fingernails, also known as ‘flock’, which is finely shredded steel fragments, all over a 30km stretch of the M1, which is the northern motorway out of Sydney. F...
May 26, 2025•27 min
300kW GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV: Cheaper than Ranger Wildtrak or Kia Tasman
In this episode: full breakdown on the newly released specs and pricing on the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV. (The Chinese carmaker's new 300kW plug-in hybrid dual-cab ute.)
May 25, 2025•30 min
The truth about Chinese manufacturing in 2025
Get a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solarSave thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactIn this video, I visited Risen's factory in China, and saw truly cutting-edge manufacturing technology on a scale you will not see in Australia. Risen is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of solar panels. It has roughly 15,000 employees, of which more than 1000 professional propellerheads work in R...
May 25, 2025•19 min
Kia Tasman is way too expensive, and far too ugly
Pricing revealed and pre-orders open for one of my most anticipated new vehicles - Australia’s new ugliest ute - the Kia Tasman. Move over Ssangong Musso; there’s a new monument to dual-cab ugliness in town...Hilarious developments back at headquarters: The penny has dropped, finally, that it looks hideous. They're doing what they can. They’re defending the design, but at the same time also striving to make it seem less crap, at minimal cost - overseas and here.And the price: It’s out of control...
Apr 24, 2025•34 min
The Ford Ranger Super Duty - over-hyped and too expensive
The Ford Ranger Super Duty is currently a fairy tale. Ford’s PR team - doing what it does best: Selectively representing the truth about the Ranger Super Duty to the most domesticated car reviewers on the planet.The ones too timid, or otherwise incentivised not to ask any hard questions. Perhaps they just don’t know what to ask. In any case, the official Ford-sanctioned reports so far are just a suck.Ranger Super Duty is going to be OK - too expensive, but OK. Meaning, not nearly as good at towi...
Apr 24, 2025•46 min
Self-destruct mode: How Subaru lost the plot
Subaru used to be a great company in Australia, but unfortunately they've been sowing the seeds of their own downfall for well over a decade now ... and the harvest is imminent. Increasing Toyota ownership of the company means more Toyota beancounters running the show, sucking the passion from the brand and removing - essentially - all the exciting variants from the range, especially in Australia. Here I use one owner's interaction with them to illustrate this point, and lay out the broader reas...
Apr 23, 2025•39 min
Elecbrakes eb2 electric bracke controller review and road test
This video isa a full review and road test of the Elecbrakes eb2 brake controller. What makes the Elecbrakes eb2 so interesting and effective? Here in Australia you need an electric brake controller to tow any trailer over two tonnes. The conventional approach involves hard-wiring a controller to every vehicle tasked with towing such a trailer. That gets kind of expensive. Especially if you’ve got one trailer - a boat, caravan, camper trailer, horse float, excavator, diesel generator, whatever, ...
Apr 23, 2025•19 min
Battery recycling plant explodes - twice. Major HAZMAT disaster.
A battery recycling facility near Glasgow in Scotland has just blown up - for the second time in 12 months. Toxic, carcinogenic chemicals including hydrofluoric acid, hydrogen cyanide, heavy metal compounds including cobalt oxide, manganese oxide and nickel oxide, plus phosphorous oxyfluoride, formaldehyde and acrolein rained down over nearby houses, and the plume of contamination widens.Regulators and politicians at all levels are very disappointed. Lots of hand-wringing there. The company that...
Apr 22, 2025•22 min
Porsche Taycan EV explosion claims 2 lives in car park
Two firefighters have died, one is seriously injured, and another thirteen were injured less seriously, when a Porsche Taycan electric sports car crashed and exploded around 4pm on Wednesday, in an underground car park in Madrid. In other news, despite mounting evidence of the danger, there’s still no plan to mitigate the risk posed by EVs among us. If you think there’s any kind of risk management plan in place here in ‘Straya, I’ll be auctioning off the Harbour Bridge this weekend. This is your...
Apr 22, 2025•14 min
Peter Dutton to repeal CO2 penalties on new cars if we elect him - allegedly
Chrome-domed Pierre Potato-Trump making news , claiming by way of leak to The ‘Strayan newspaper … that the PM, Mr Albo-sneezy, has it wrong on new vehicle CO2 policy, which is apparently set to drive new car prices sky high without a good, old-fashioned Coalition watering-down. Elmer Fudd giveth; and Spuman taketh away. Thus restoring harmony to the universe, which he was put here to do, obviously. So, if you can believe anything in the ‘Strayan, Mr Potato-Trump, will retain Labor’s New Vehicle...
Apr 22, 2025•21 min
Chinese PHEV - under $50K! (Jaecoo J7 SHS) | Auto Expert John Cadogan
The new Jaecoo J7 SHS plug-in hybrid is under $50 k, drive-away - and it's fully loaded. For comparison: Kia SPortage hybrid GT-Line: $60k... * Equivalent-spec Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Exceed Tourer): $80k. The advent of Chinese automotive brands in Australia will invert the established market, and it's going to be a bloodbath.Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https:...
Mar 31, 2025•37 min
Federal Election: a perfect storm for new car buyers | Auto Expert John Cadogan
If you plan on buying a new car in coming months, it’s a perfect storm, right now. All the ducks are in a row. The market is commercially crap, dealers are ready to roll. Established brands are getting bent over by the upstart Chinese brands, money is tight. And now there’s an election in five weeks (on May 3). There really hasn’t been a better time in years to stride purposefully into a dealership and negotiate as hard as you can. Show no mercy.Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): ht...
Mar 31, 2025•18 min
GWM is about to go 'Boss Level' on ride & handling in Australia | Auto Expert John Cadogan
Chinese car brand GWM just installed a dude named Rob Trubiani as their head of engineering. He's the guy who spent 15 years making Holden's ride and handling so damn excellent. Oh, and he set the lap record for a commercial vehicle at the Nurburgring, in a VF SS-V Redline Commodore Ute. So there's that. His mission is A) fix the ride & handling, and B) fix the intrusive, ineffective ADAS. GWM is on a roll. This cannot possibly end badly. Check out Brett Davis's channel here: https://www.you...
Mar 30, 2025•20 min
BYD's 1 megawatt charger: EV charging solved? | Auto Expert John Cadogan
BYD just announced 1MW (one million watts, 1000 kilowatts) of recharging capability. The inferences are: It's as fast as refilling on gasoline/petrol, and EV charging problems are now solved. Survey says: Still slower, and recharging is just as problematic as ever.Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solar
Mar 30, 2025•15 min
BYD Shark 6 test drive + first impressions (production-spec)
My mate Brett from Driving Enthusiast - https://www.youtube.com/@drivingenthusiastaustralia - dropped by the Fat Cave with a BYD Shark 6 loaner earlier today, so we went for a spin and rolled a GoPro while we talked about it. It's a huge - and hugely impressive - new ute. The performance is staggering, the interior is gorgeous, the tray is huge, and it makes a real statement on the road ... but it does have one significant problem, which could (seemingly) have been so easily fixed.
Mar 21, 2025•21 min
Car dealers are doing EV oil changes now. No, I'm not kidding...
A woman named Jane recently dropped her battery-electric MG ZS EV into a dealer. They serviced it. The total cost of the 48-month service was over $900, including $165 for the oil change. That's just for the oil - God knows what they charged her for the labour to change it. No - I'm not kidding. Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Get a great deal on home solar (or add a quality battery to your existing setup): https://autoexpert.com.au/solar...
Mar 21, 2025•16 min
DCS accuses YouTuber of 'cyberbully attack'
Save thousands on any new car (Australia-only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contactGet a great deal on home solar - or add a backup battery to your existing system: https://autoexpert.com.au/solarIn this video episode, it has come to light that - several months before hitting YouTuber Stephan Fischer with a defamation lawsuit (which was recently dismissed) DCS appealed to the Australian Federal Government for protection against alleged "cyberbullying" by a single YouTuber (presumably Mr Fischer)....
Mar 20, 2025•24 min
Heathrow Airport tunnel fire: Was it really an EV?
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a qua...
Mar 11, 2025•15 min
Ford Ranger vs Cannon Alpha vs Shark 6: plug-in hybrid 4WD utes compared
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quali...
Mar 09, 2025•41 min
Ranger plug-in hybrid: too expensive and beaten by China!
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality...
Mar 05, 2025•24 min
Kia Tasman ute is doomed: beautiful, expensive new ad misses the point!
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality h...
Mar 03, 2025•24 min
New Deepal EV's engineering calibration disaster
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality hom...
Mar 02, 2025•26 min
New emissions laws will kill Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X 2WD
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality home ...
Feb 27, 2025•15 min
How to weld like a pro - in your home workshop
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality home so...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 27 min
Cybertruck Snowflakes Vs "Hate Crimes"
Save thousands on any new car (Australia only): https://autoexpert.com.au/contact Slash your power bill, increase your energy security, and take effective climate action with a quality home sola...
Feb 23, 2025•19 min
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