Regular Car Reviews - Red Letter Media - Car Edition

[RA-5C Vigilante]

No surprise his channel is bleeding subs and interest. He went from “Regular guy reveiws regular cars” to “Insufferable furfag drives rare, expensive older cars while spending ten minutes stuck up his own ass thinking his opinions are important”. I get not wanting to stagnate with a shtick, but RCR has made the standard Youtuber error: following a new path that doesn’t work.

 

[The Great One]

How many fans does he even have left?

His original fans, probably none, his new audience are shitlibs, troons and furfags who suck nigger and tranny dick for fun.

that's due in large part to my affinity for big boomer land yachts and seventies muscle cars, but I digress.

Finally someone with the same automotive taste, I too thought this review was late and gay but more importantly dogshit. I bet that brian would suck commie cock to drive a byd or xiaomi car because its a ev and not made by Elon Musk, I think he liked the Kia ev3 because I remember him talking about it in one of his gay youtube short videos.

Coming out and saying the Cybertruck kinda sucks ass isn't exactly an earth-shattering revelation, but come on. Tying with the Olds Bravada as the worst car he's ever reviewed? Come on.

That comparison is so fucking retarded its not funny, he's comparing a crappy electric truck to a mid 1990s rebadged gm suv.
Also if I remember correctly years ago he waxed on and off about the 1999 chevy blazer but now he hates the olds bravada? What's the fucking difference between these besides interior upgrades and awd vs 4wd

 

[Captain Manning]

No surprise his channel is bleeding subs and interest. He went from “Regular guy reveiws regular cars” to “Insufferable furfag drives rare, expensive older cars while spending ten minutes stuck up his own ass thinking his opinions are important”. I get not wanting to stagnate with a shtick, but RCR has made the standard Youtuber error: following a new path that doesn’t work.

He's become the Jim Sterling of automotive review channels.

 

[CFC-12]

Finally someone with the same automotive taste, I too thought this review was late and gay but more importantly dogshit. I bet that brian would suck commie cock to drive a byd or xiaomi car because its a ev and not made by Elon Musk, I think he liked the Kia ev3 because I remember him talking about it in one of his gay youtube short videos.

I guarantee you if he ever gets his hands on a BYD he's gonna act like it's the greatest goddamn vehicle ever put on the road just to Epically Own Tesla owners.

That comparison is so fucking retarded its not funny, he's comparing a crappy electric truck to a mid 1990s rebadged gm suv.
Also if I remember correctly years ago he waxed on and off about the 1999 chevy blazer but now he hates the olds bravada? What's the fucking difference between these besides interior upgrades and awd vs 4wd

The different is there is no difference. I think the whole point was that he hates the GM badge engineering that led to the Bravada existing, But I don't know why he chose the Bravada specifically to make this point? 90s Blazers were pretty solid vehicles. GM's been doing half-assed badge engineering like this since like at least the seventies. There's easily like half a dozen examples where the non-badge engineered versions were already crappy cars, and then had an overpriced rebadged variant. The Cimarron and Pontiac T100 pretty immediately come to mind. Those hunk of shit rebadged U-body minivans would have been a great car to make this point with, like the Buick Terraza.

Eugh.

I get not wanting to stagnate with a shtick, but RCR has made the standard Youtuber error: following a new path that doesn’t work.

I think at some point he realized he was gonna have to abandon the older more niche /o/tist-type audience in order to bring in more viewers. It's really hard to point at one specific video and go "that's the one that made everyone leave"; it was definitely a gradual and precipitous decline that led us to Current Year where 95% of the people who were fans between like 2013-2017 have moved on. His audience changed, his sensibilities changed, his changing sensibilities attracted a new audience, and so on and so forth.

His original format was versatile enough that he probably could have changed it without alienating the vast majority of viewers. Those great Roman documentaries are a perfect example of that, breaking out into somewhat more serious discussion of automotive history regarding topics that would interest longtime and new viewers alike. It's kind of a shame because you can really see where they took some of the wrong lessons from the popularity of these broader-audience videos. Leaning into politispergery and allowing the Mr. Regular character to erode away completely, until it was just Brian complaining about having to talk to boomers at the gas station and going mask-off with the furfag shit.

 

[Captain Manning]

Also if I remember correctly years ago he waxed on and off about the 1999 chevy blazer but now he hates the olds bravada? What's the fucking difference between these besides interior upgrades and awd vs 4wd

To be fair, he kinda lays it out at the beginning of the Bravada video. The Blazer had an MSRP of $19,000, and the Bravada was $32,000.

The Bravada ain't fucking worth 32k. Anybody that bought one new, at that price, was utterly retarded. I agree with him insofar as mildly upscale versions of vehicles that come with massive price markups are dumb as shit.

I will say though that calling it the worst thing he's ever driven (since eclipsed by the Cybertruck, I guess) seems a bit much though.

 

[The Great One]

To be fair, he kinda lays it out at the beginning of the Bravada video. The Blazer had an MSRP of $19,000, and the Bravada was $32,000.

The Bravada ain't fucking worth 32k. Anybody that bought one new, at that price, was utterly retarded. I agree with him insofar as mildly upscale versions of vehicles that come with massive price markups are dumb as shit.

I will say though that calling it the worst thing he's ever driven (since eclipsed by the Cybertruck, I guess) seems a bit much though.

Right, $32k on an awd blazer with leather is not worth it when it was new, but saying its the worst riding vehicle he's ever driven is fucking stupid.

 

[Captain Manning]

Right, $32k on an awd blazer with leather is not worth it when it was new, but saying its the worst riding vehicle he's ever driven is fucking stupid.

I think it would have worked better if he emphasized "this is fucking stupid" instead of hyperbolically declaring it the worst thing ever.

 

[who dare wins?]

I mean that in terms of doing stupid shit and plowing into crowds. Over here, Falcons were mainly used as workhorses (taxis, cop cars, sales reps etc): it was literally Australia's Crown Vic in that regard. The souped-up versions were mainly bought by boomers who watched the Bathurst 1000 religiously every year.

Bogan’s and wannabe-eshays/wogs want a word with ya mate

Even if the AU’s were designed to be workhorses (taxi’s for airports or do family roadtrip with a trailer or whatever attached to the back) people will and forever use these fuckin things as a drift machine. I may shit on them a fair bit but they are good cars you can rev limit bash them for half an hour and they’re fine.

Also those GTO/GTHO’s are a money pit, even as cool as they are. I’ve only ever seen boomers own them.

Edit: I couldn’t get 5 minutes or so into his review (maybe closer to 10) due to his pseudo-intellectual trite polemics against Tesla owners. The entire time he’s just trying so hard at something he clearly has no grasp on and it repeating points clearly told to him. Doesn’t bode well the commenters are total fucking fags and just nod along because their new favourite faggot said the thing they agree with or whatever.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

To be fair, he kinda lays it out at the beginning of the Bravada video. The Blazer had an MSRP of $19,000, and the Bravada was $32,000.

The Bravada ain't fucking worth 32k. Anybody that bought one new, at that price, was utterly retarded. I agree with him insofar as mildly upscale versions of vehicles that come with massive price markups are dumb as shit.

I will say though that calling it the worst thing he's ever driven (since eclipsed by the Cybertruck, I guess) seems a bit much though.

I think it was more of the problem with Oldsmobile towards the end, which was also the same issue Plymouth had: their markets were already covered by their parents other brands. If you wanted a good, no frills car, you'd get a Chevy. If you wanted something a bit nicer, Buick, and if you were wanting luxury, Cadillac. Oldsmobile was somewhere in between those two and it just stopped making sense to waste money and resources on the brand, but they needed to keep the Union boys happy, so make a separate version of a car already in production with some small changes.

 

[Mikoyan]

I think it was more of the problem with Oldsmobile towards the end, which was also the same issue Plymouth had: their markets were already covered by their parents other brands. If you wanted a good, no frills car, you'd get a Chevy. If you wanted something a bit nicer, Buick, and if you were wanting luxury, Cadillac. Oldsmobile was somewhere in between those two and it just stopped making sense to waste money and resources on the brand, but they needed to keep the Union boys happy, so make a separate version of a car already in production with some small changes.

Combined with the fact that the expectation of even an 'entry level car' is now so high that there's really only so much difference between lines and it reduces the space available for the GM kind of strata. The endgame of badge engineering.

How the fuck the Japanese brands get away with having two slightly different versions of most cars to feed multiple dealer networks really puzzles me as a result.

 

[The French Connection]

How the fuck the Japanese brands get away with having two slightly different versions of most cars to feed multiple dealer networks really puzzles me as a result.

The Japanese brands get away with it in Japan because they have 90+% market share among them.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

I hope someone gouges the word 'faggot' into his stupid Falcon with a chisel.

I'd go for "YIFF IN HELL FURFAG" myself.

He did, but Robert comes across as more of a garden variety sperg than a furfag.

Unfortunately, Robert has gone from covering all kinds of weird vehicles to being a total EV shill over the last couple of years, making his channel start to suck.

 

[Mikoyan]

Unfortunately, Robert has gone from covering all kinds of weird vehicles to being a total EV shill over the last couple of years, making his channel start to suck.

It is unfortunate. I liked the duality of 'janky prototype EVs are neat and green but I'm a Trabant main at heart'. It was funny.

 

[monk]

Thread tax: RCR is an open furfag, and he's getting more insufferable to watch. I prefer Doug Demuro.

I don't like the rich pretentios fart-huffer type of car guys that make youtube videos to brag about how rich they are. People like Demuro, Hoovie and Samcrac come to mind. Although I can somewhat stomach Hoovie because he's still somewhat honest about who he is and what he does, and he collabs with Car Wizard which is more of my type of car review, a regular down to earth mechanic. And maybe WatchJRGo, even though he uses his videos to sell and flip cars, he's still sometimes okay to watch.

I much prefer the mechanics that work on their cars and do videos on their work and the general topics of regular car ownership and maintenance. And there's a group of people that also hate modern cars and how shitty they've become compared to old cars, I prefer to watch those, like Dead Dodge Garage, Uncle Tony's Garage, Junkyard Digs, Pole Barn Garage, Vice Grip Garage, Lucore Auto. All focus on old classic cars.

Then there's the everyday mechanic that works on everyday cars, like Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics, South Main Auto, Watch Wes Work, Wrenching With Kenny, Rainman Ray, Car Wizard.

My point is that RCR is just boring most of the time. His entire appeal was that he was funny, even though his perception and opinions were fairly normie and not technical, he's not a mechanic, he doesn't work on them, he has nothing to teach you. But he was funny. Now he's not funny, and so there's no appeal left.

Unfortunately, Robert has gone from covering all kinds of weird vehicles to being a total EV shill over the last couple of years, making his channel start to suck.

Yeah. I think the last videos I liked were the Trabant and the bus conversion he was working on and never finished. Instead he started buying crappy EVs and it all got really boring.

 

[CFC-12]

I think it was more of the problem with Oldsmobile towards the end, which was also the same issue Plymouth had: their markets were already covered by their parents other brands. If you wanted a good, no frills car, you'd get a Chevy. If you wanted something a bit nicer, Buick, and if you were wanting luxury, Cadillac. Oldsmobile was somewhere in between those two and it just stopped making sense to waste money and resources on the brand, but they needed to keep the Union boys happy, so make a separate version of a car already in production with some small changes.

This was really the crux of the problem for Oldsmobile. GM had sort of a brand hierarchy: Chevy for basic cars, Pontiac for nicer and somewhat sportier versions of those cars, then Oldsmobile as a mid-range option, Buick for the nice cars and Cadillac for the really nice cars. Plus GMC for more commercially-oriented vehicles.

This hierarchy worked perfectly fine in the mid-20th century when General Motors was King Shit of the domestic auto market and sold something like 50% of all cars in America, It's easy to forget that the Oldsmobile name really did used to mean something at one point. Hell, as recently as 1983 the Olds Cutlass Supreme was the bestselling car in the country. But as GM's various divisions were forced to share more and more components, and the company's overall market share continued to dwindle under growing pressure from foreign automakers, there was less breathing room for each of these divisions to survive in.

By the 90s Oldsmobile's brand identity had been pretty substantially eroded and, much like Pontiac in the 2000s, there just wasn't a whole lot that was distinguishing them from the other GM marques anymore. Like, a 90s Olds was sort of nicer than a comparable Chevy, but not really luxurious like a Buick, but not really sporty like a Pontiac, either. The consolidation of the General Motors supply chain that led to all their marques using the same platforms and engines for all their vehicles really blurred the lines in the established brand hierarchy. GM knew well before its bankruptcy that consolidating its divisions was inevitable (though I'm still pissed to this day about the death of Pontiac) and discontinuing Oldsmobile was an early attempt to cut some dead weight from its lineup.

Junkyard Digs, Pole Barn Garage

Highly recommend both of these guys.

 

[Maori Kiwifruit Growers]

My point is that RCR is just boring most of the time. His entire appeal was that he was funny, even though his perception and opinions were fairly normie and not technical, he's not a mechanic, he doesn't work on them, he has nothing to teach you. But he was funny. Now he's not funny, and so there's no appeal left.

Rcr was fun/funny/watchable BECAUSE he wasn't "your average gear head". I, a normie will never drive a Lamborghini and honestly don't care too. But I can definitely see myself driving a Porsche. It was refreshing seeing him review regular cars and poke fun at those who drive it. But overtime it became clearer and clearer how socially stunted he is. It's like he CHOOSES to be ignorant with the only view of the outside through the lense of reddit (it would explain his politics and fetishes). I think he's more culturally disconnected now then he ever was before.

Yeah. I think the last videos I liked were the Trabant and the bus conversion he was working on and never finished. Instead he started buying crappy EVs and it all got really boring.

What happened to the bus?

 

[Mikoyan]

People like Demuro, Hoovie

I have someone who breathlessly tells me about the antics of these. I've told them repeatedly that I don't care what rich people do with their supercars.

I prefer to watch those, like Dead Dodge Garage

I don't stop liking that guy. I think it's like the sixth 318 I've seen him build get posted this week and it doesn't' stop being just a pleasant ride and a little something new every time.

He also doesn't hate hate new cars but he likes the old stuff better.

 

[BIG BILL HELL'S]

What happened to the bus?

tl:dw: He started working on it, realized that it was going to be way more work than he originally thought, the broke brain took over, and he ended up getting rid of it. On the plus side it now gives him a lot more room to accumulate cars that he'll never work on. The other upside is that now that he fixed up the bus dungeon, he moved his lift out of the main shop, which seems better for filming.

 

[Captain Manning]

I think it was more of the problem with Oldsmobile towards the end, which was also the same issue Plymouth had: their markets were already covered by their parents other brands. If you wanted a good, no frills car, you'd get a Chevy. If you wanted something a bit nicer, Buick, and if you were wanting luxury, Cadillac. Oldsmobile was somewhere in between those two and it just stopped making sense to waste money and resources on the brand, but they needed to keep the Union boys happy, so make a separate version of a car already in production with some small changes.

This was really the crux of the problem for Oldsmobile. GM had sort of a brand hierarchy: Chevy for basic cars, Pontiac for nicer and somewhat sportier versions of those cars, then Oldsmobile as a mid-range option, Buick for the nice cars and Cadillac for the really nice cars. Plus GMC for more commercially-oriented vehicles.

This hierarchy worked perfectly fine in the mid-20th century when General Motors was King Shit of the domestic auto market and sold something like 50% of all cars in America, It's easy to forget that the Oldsmobile name really did used to mean something at one point. Hell, as recently as 1983 the Olds Cutlass Supreme was the bestselling car in the country. But as GM's various divisions were forced to share more and more components, and the company's overall market share continued to dwindle under growing pressure from foreign automakers, there was less breathing room for each of these divisions to survive in.

By the 90s Oldsmobile's brand identity had been pretty substantially eroded and, much like Pontiac in the 2000s, there just wasn't a whole lot that was distinguishing them from the other GM marques anymore. Like, a 90s Olds was sort of nicer than a comparable Chevy, but not really luxurious like a Buick, but not really sporty like a Pontiac, either. The consolidation of the General Motors supply chain that led to all their marques using the same platforms and engines for all their vehicles really blurred the lines in the established brand hierarchy. GM knew well before its bankruptcy that consolidating its divisions was inevitable (though I'm still pissed to this day about the death of Pontiac) and discontinuing Oldsmobile was an early attempt to cut some dead weight from its lineup.

I agree with both of you.

I would add you can also apply the same analysis to Mercury as a mid-level brand for Ford.

I think at some point offering a higher end trim package for a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge, made more sense than keeping Oldsmobile, Mercury, and Plymouth (respectively) as separate brands.

On the GM side, I still encounter people who pine for Pontiac, because there was some distinction with them as a sporty brand, but I don't think if I've ever encountered anybody who seriously misses Oldsmobile.

 

[CFC-12]

On the GM side, I still encounter people who pine for Pontiac, because there was some distinction with them as a sporty brand, but I don't think if I've ever encountered anybody who seriously misses Oldsmobile.

Out of all the dead brands from the big three, Pontiac is probably the one with the strongest case for its return. Pontiac's overall thing was making sportier, more youth-oriented but still relatively affordable cars. The Firebird alone still has insane brand recognition today, even amongst people who weren't even born yet when they went out of production. It's a strategy that could still work for GM. For basically every other dead brand (Oldsmobile, Geo, Saturn, Plymouth, DeSoto, Mercury, AMC, etc) there really isn't a lot of arguments to bring them back that aren't just based on nostalgia alone.

The only reason they killed Pontiac in the first place was to keep Buick around, because for some inexplicable reason the Chinese go apeshit for Buicks. I personally love old Buicks, but I also understand that the big 90s velour land yachts I love are long gone and they are not coming back. It's just rebadged Chevy SUVs now that have been given the ol' razzle dazzle. Pontiac, on the other hand, could have actually done some interesting shit and kept making cool and sporty cars. I guess we'll never know.

I think he's more culturally disconnected now then he ever was before.

I kinda agree but I also kinda don't. To wider culture? Yeah, probably. But the bigger problem now is he's too thoroughly connected with his alt furfag Bluesky-tier culture. In the early days he wasn't afraid to just put whatever he wanted in his reviews. They were made for him, and they contained things that he found funny or interesting. But now that the vast majority of his social interaction is with the anti-wrongthink league, he's far too scared to say the "wrong" thing and suddenly have to atone for it throughout his wider social circle. His format generally just worked better when he was anonymous and didn't care what anyone thought of him.