Chinese cars in winter: Li, Zeekr, Avatr, Geely, Haval!

- Folks, hello, as they say. We've been reading interesting news lately, and by the way we recommend you to do it in our Telegram channel. There's a lot a lot of interesting stuff, special link below. So, in 2023, the most popular electric car in the country is the Chinese Zeekr. It has overtaken the Evolute, which is driven by many taxi drivers across Russia, as well as the Tesla and Volkswagen ID. At the same time, many people were very worried about how Chinese cars, and especially electric c

ars, would survive the winter and some of the fears came true. - You know what I've noticed. I've noticed that charging in the cold it just melts like snow. - In this review we will look at several Chinese cars at once, including quite expensive ones. And talk to their owners. Perhaps those who want to buy a Chinese car, including an electric car, but are still hesitant, will get the answers they have been seeking for a long time. Review, let's go! Folks, this is actually where we're going. Ther

e they are... It's very, very slippery in Moscow, end of February. But it's very cold and it's minus 10 today. So, today we are going to see not only interesting Chinese cars, but we are also testing a good Chinese watch. And this is not some Switzerland for a million, as many may think, the brand is called CIGA Design, and they already have 17 international design awards. This model has a round steel case, innovative hands and a micron precision dial. This watch was sent to us by the guys at Al

lTime, who, I'm going to read to you now. Minimum price of $11. And the maximum, you know how much? $213,497. You're sure to find something for you. Special link below, definitely recommended. We need these two cars, otherwise many people will say again: "You are showing Zeekr for $100,000 again, while the average salary in the country is, what is it, $300?". Anyway, these are some of the most popular budget ones. The weather's so-so, bad. Snow was promised, ended up half snow, half rain. These

are some of the most popular budget, I know if I can use that word at all, budget cars, including in carsharing. And we have something to say about these cars, because we have been driving them literally all winter. And when it was minus 20, and when there were heavy snowfalls. So, we drove them practically the whole winter, including booking these cars from the night. They were parked all night at -15, and in the morning we came up, pulled the handles, warmed up, opened and drove. We have somet

hing to say about that. So, here we are, a Geely. Geely or Geely? Before us is Geely Coolray, one of the most popular statistically, so it is, budget cars in Russia. You can already see the ice crust. Here, come here. Show me, we've got it right here. We booked this car three hours ago. It's cold now, that one's covered in ice. Let's see how it opens up, warms up and all that. The car came on the market in early 2020. Three-cylinder, I can open the hood. Here we are, the car's been parked all ni

ght. It's got a crust of ice all over it. The door handles don't extend. Actually, in a nutshell, what about the Geely Coolray and the Haval. No, that's right, the Haval. In a nutshell, it's fine. It's such a simple car that it doesn't have all these fancy interfaces that scare owners of expensive and future owners of expensive Chinese electric cars. Door handles open, doors close. Something smells. It's classic, classic carsharing. It's very smoky. The car is dirty, with rubbish. Classic. It's

very smoky, it stinks. And nobody does anything. You ring them up and tell them there's a smoker in the car. "Yeah, we've taken note." As for the Geely Coolray. The only thing that I have noticed personally is that the car takes a very long time to heat up the heater. I drove one of these cars yesterday, it had 1,000 kilometres on it, and this one had 34,921 kilometres on it. The heater started blowing hot air after about 15 minutes. I don't know why, and it has happened many times. The glass is

already heating, there is heated steering wheel, heated washer nozzles and windscreen. Ah, there's warm air blowing here. It started right away. It's different every time. Look how much ash there is. They smoked right here. We wanted to open the bonnet. Oh, that's a dent I didn't get a picture of. Maybe something fell off the top while I was walking round. I'm gonna get a fine for a dented bonnet. What's the matter? It's open, did you hear that? Is it open? It's open! Do I have to fill the wash

er fluid? We have to fill it up. Oh, it's really good. All right, guys, whatever. Do you know how much this car cost at launch? That was 2021, that was a while ago, actually. - $20,000? - $12,000 . 12085 to be exact. That was a while ago, 2021, actually. $12,000. It's now worth $25,000. Now, guys, as far as winter is concerned, on this car. Personally, have you driven it? - Yeah. - Did you have any questions? We, I didn't have any questions either. Look how the door vibrates. - I was standing

there, I could feel it. - Feel it. - I was standing there. - The door's bouncing. Is that normal? Well, considering the way they drive them. Now. Now, the hot air is blowing normally. For $25,000, you could get it for about $25,000. Now, in our current reality, it's probably not the worst option. Write in the comments what you think about it. Car number two is the Haval. A lot of people say Haval, but the website says Haval Jolion. The brand was founded in 2013, but the company is owned by Grea

t Wall. And so this Great Wall company was founded in 1976. The name comes from the English phrase "I have all". Can you imagine? "Haval = I have all." Which means: "I have everything". Because Haval is the premium brand of Great Wall. Great Wall cars are simpler, and Haval is cooler, showing that "I have everything". Let's come over here, a bit closer. Also, look, it's all frozen solid. - No dents? - No dents, but there's a scratch, which I didn't take a picture of either. This car is assembled

in the Tula region, and has been for quite a long time. Again, a question for you, how much did it cost at the start of sales in 2021? - Well, the premium $27,000. - You're joking, it's worth $24,000 now. - Oh, yeah? - At the start of sales, the car cost $13,000. Now the base configuration costs $21,000, but the average cost is $25,000. The car froze, it was parked overnight, it was parked all morning. We did not warm it up on purpose, we did not touch anything. Open the car. Oh, it's beautiful

, I took a picture. Look, what's this foil? Is that foil? What is that? I thought it was paint. How is it like that? I'm curious. Coming up, ice crust. Oh, it's so dirty. Got in, started it up and drove off. No questions at all. The gearbox is a bit odd, too. - Very uncomfortable. - Very uncomfortable? - Well, that one's more familiar. - And the climate control is kinda meh. For a person over 60, with poor eyesight, this button pressing, well, you can still press here. But these are all micro..

. Is this ours? - Yeah. - The car's done 28,000 miles. Let's open the bonnet. Maybe they're blocked somehow. - Who's filling the washer fluid? - I was driving the other day, I was out of washer fluid. They said, "Have you looked for washer fluid? Oh, It stopped. They say, "Have you looked in the boot for washer fluid?" So I'm supposed to find it there... That's what they said, this particular company. I'll lift the bonnet. I'll do all this stuff, and I'll fill it up myself. It's all about cars

haring. Now, there you go, that's about winter. It's not that cold outside, it's about minus 10 now. We also have, look, a clean car. Is that broken glass? I didn't take a picture of that either. Here, look over there. Here, give me a close-up. See, it's coming off the roof. - Yeah, but I think they moved the car over there. - I didn't see that. I think we'll have to pay for it. Let's go ask that man. - Hello! Can I ask you a question? Do you have your own car if it's not a secret. - Yes, I do

. - Chinese or non-Chinese? - No, I have a Mercedes. I'm having my car repaired. - What will your next car be, German or Chinese? - I'm thinking! - You're thinking, aren't you? - I'm thinking. I'll see how the car is repaired. What kind of condition it'll be in. - I mean, if it's okay...? - Well, you could get a nice Chinese one. A nice premium one like this. I'd take it. - You don't mind the money? - I don't care about the money. Well, a Mercedes costs $190,000. And Chinese is $90,000. That's

your answer. Whether I mind or not. - Thank you! What's your name? - Pavel. - Nice to meet you. Have a good day. Thank you very much. Let's go back. This is our CHERY TIGGO 7 PRO. The car's frozen too. Dude, we're gonna get a fine for that scratch. Handles, one-two. Oh, this one's cleaner. Have you ever driven one of these? - I drove it to Anapa. It's a carshare classic. You get in and they'll blare some "Like" and another radio, they're all weird. How do you do it? How, where do you turn it

down? - It's 32° here. Usually in cars it's 30-31, here it's 32. We wait 10 minutes. The glass fogs up, it thaws, you can go. There's no question about inexpensive cars. All right, turn it off. Look at this, they ripped this thing off. - Can we open it here? - It looks like someone was sick in this box. Don't show it. - Can we open the bonnet? - The bonnet? That's a good question. No, I don't think so. Close the door. Folks, let's talk more expertly now. If you'd be so kind. - Igor, hello! - He

llo! Long time no see. - This is Igor, our technical director. What kind of Haval car did you have? I had an H6 before. - OH, H6? - This one's an F7x. - Here's a man who's been driving Chinese cars consciously for a long time. Did you have a SsangYong before that? - The SsangYong Rexton was a long time ago. Before that, before Chinese cars, I had a BMW. Still gives me creeps. - How long did you drive the H6? - 2-2.5 years, I guess. - And why did you sell it? - I came to see what was new on

the market. And the terms were so favourable that I left with another car. - Anyway. Here's your car. Shall we go? - Yes, let's go! - You drove it last winter too? - Last winter and this winter too. - So tell me, firstly, how much did you buy the H6 for? Let's start from afar. - At the time, about $15,000. But I remember that I traded it in for $20,000. - Is that right? - That's more than I bought it for. - There you go. How are they different? - It's a different car altogether. It's got a one

and a half litre engine and if you go far away, it was a bit hard on the highway, of course. - What's the engine in this? - 2l. For the city, 1.5 litres is enough. The only necessity, which arises, is when I go to Rostov on the highway for 1000 km. - So, you drove it to Rostov? More than once? - More than once. - And how was it? - Fine - normal. - Fine - normal? - How's the winter, tell me. - Of the problems I've found so far. In heavy frosts, heavy snowfalls, the folding mirrors can freeze.

But that's normal for many cars. The second problem... - Do you open them by hand or what? - No, I just switched off the automatic folding, so that when you switch off the car, they do not fold. - Would it break if you opened them by hand? - I've opened them by hand before. - With force? - Well, it's not that hard, but it's just weak, these mechanisms that fold and open. And the other problem was more serious. I went on holiday, the car was left parked for two weeks. - On the street? - Outsid

e. The weather was wet. It was raining. And when I got back, and I got in, and I drove off, and when I braked, there was a big grinding noise. - I went to the service, because not only was it grinding, it was also tapping. I came to the service to find out what was wrong. And they said to me: "You see, your brake discs were stuck while the car was parked for two weeks". - Two weeks? - Yeah, and I mean, the discs are made of very bad metal. - I went to the service, I asked the question. They s

aid that the stock ones are like this, there's nothing to be done. And they said that you can just put not original ones, they will be normal. - Did they say that at the official service? - Yes, the official one. Well, there are normal guys there, with whom I have been in contact for many years. They know me well. But, again, they complain about the Chinese, that the metal is bad. The previous one was scratched a month after I bought it by some lovely people in a Zhiguli without documents. I wan

ted to polish it, but in the end I drove with it for several years. Neither rust nor corrosion, nothing started. Although there was a scratch right down to the metal. - Anything to do with winter use, did it show up here? - Just the mirrors. - Did it always start normally? Door handles work? - Always started fine. Lovely heated windscreen. By the way, the F7 doesn't have it, only the F7X. - You've got an F7X? - Yeah, but my dad's got an F7, so I can compare. - You've got two Chinese cars? - I

've had four Chinese cars because I had an H6 first. - That's a good life you're living. - My dad was buying it. I had a look at it. It's a good car, basically. He got an F7, then I got an F7X. And then my mum got a HAVAL too. I've driven them all. And anyway, it's a good car. - Do you fit in it OK? - Yes, absolutely. No problem. There's a strange ergonomics in this area here. - What's this? What's that pocket for? - I don't know. - Little things? - Keys, I guess. If you put a cup of coffee

down and you accidentally elbow it, pop. - And if there's a lid, everything falls in there. - Well, if it's a lid, but if it's a full cup, it's all around. It's happened a couple of times before. - You've done 37,000 miles. - Yeah. - Nearly 40,000. Even the seats, right? No scuffs. You know, there's a lot of scuffing here. - You know, I'm always elbowing here. - And there's nothing. - Nothing. I have a rather utilitarian attitude towards the car. I mean, a car should drive, it should be comfort

able. It should be reliable. I've been driving it for over two years and it hasn't broken down. - Yeah. - I get it serviced on time. It's got four-wheel drive, so I can get out of a snowdrift. - It's got four-wheel drive? - Yeah! - That's awesome! Thank you so much for your detailed comment. - You're welcome! I did the best I could. - Thanks Igor! Guys, important information. Since we're talking about good Chinese machinery, let's go outside. I'll tell you something. Right away, Igor. 55 se

conds, as they say. - Why are you laughing? - 55 seconds. - 55 seconds! All right, guys. A few more important words about good Chinese tech. And here we're talking about Honor smartphones. If you're planning a gift for the 23rd of February, 8th of March. Yes, for any holiday, catch the lifehack: until 31 March, if you buy X8b model together with a communication subscription, you will get a discount of $70 when buying it in Megafon online shop. The discount is also available for existing MegaFon

subscribers when purchasing a digital product or insurance for the amount of $15 or more. By the way, Megafon also offers discounts of up to 50% on other smartphone models. Up to 50%! Igor! Discounts are always nice, and mega discounts are twice as nice. All the details are already at the link in the description. So, the next car we have is a Zeekr? Yes, that's right, the Zeekr 009. But one thing, this car is in St Petersburg. - And if we need to get to St. Peterburg... Aviasales gonna help! Fo

lks, we're in Petersburg. Aviasales is awesome. Definitely recommended. So the next car is Zeekr 009. And the best part is, it's only the company's second car. It is presented in autumn 2022, and the first car is, as we know, already almost legendary Zeekr 001. But before we call up the owner of the car and talk to him, I'll name a few interesting facts. The Zeekr company, mind you, is founded by... - Priora - What Priora? You can't bear to look at the Priora? Show the folks the Priora. It touch

es a chord in your soul, doesn't it? Anyway, folks, Zeekr, please note, was founded in March 2021. That's literally recent. And the second interesting fact is that the company is founded as the premium division of Geely. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that at all. So the next time you start teasing your acquaintance with the words: "Eh, you have a Geely", remember where it all began. And what's more, it was Geely that saved Volvo in its time. If it hadn't been for Geely, it's quite possible th

at Volvo wouldn't exist now. And this car too, because many technologies in Zeekr, and in modern Geely, are taken from Volvo. And there's a couple of interesting facts: the company Zeekr, you can consider that the company Geely, co-operates with the American company Waymo - it is a division of Google on electric cars, with the Israeli Mobileye - it is a driver assistance system. And also a strategic partner of Geely and Zeekr is the company CATL. The Chinese company CATL is the world's largest m

anufacturer of electric batteries. And as we know, the Chinese sell to the Chinese cheaper, so this car, and there's also the Volvo EM90 is a copy of the Zeekr, and it's the Volvo that's based on the Zeekr, not the Zeekr based on the Volvo. So this car is half the price of the Volvo. Let's get closer to the car. What we have here is a Chinese-built car. It's a sort of minivan. By the way, this car works in a taxi, we will talk more about that. The length of the car is 5.2 metres, the weight is 2

,380 kg. The car, let us repeat, is purely Chinese-made. But the designers who worked on this car, here are their names, not a single Chinese surname. This car's main competitor. If you would be so kind as to zoom in that direction. No, not the bin lorry, but over on the right, there's a Toyota Alphard there. That's a Hyundai Staria, and also a Volvo EM90, almost a copy of this car, only externally slightly different. But the Volvo, mind you, is twice as expensive. So, please, in the comments, t

ell us which you think is better for that money. Here are the prices of the Alphard, the Staria, the Volvo and the Zeekr. We look forward to your comments. But it's getting colder in St. Petersburg, minus 5, but we honestly wanted to shoot in minus 20. Just recently it was minus 20, but minus 5 will do too. Let's call Artyom. And here's a little commercial break. 55 seconds and then we're on. - - Guys, this is Artyom. Artem, hi! - Greetings. - Many of you have seen the reviews on YouTube. - It'

s 1:10pm and we're starting our countdown. For exactly 12 hours, I'm going to be riding today. - The car, as we realised, Artem just told us, is not yours, it's a rental. - Yeah, it's a rental car. - Tell me about it. - These cars are leased because they're on the market fo $110,000. Not every driver can afford them, so people just buy them in batches and rent them out. - By the way, the BMW 7, is it a rental car? - No, it's my BMW, it's my own. - That's your BMW? - Yes, it is. - OK. How does

the interaction work? Where do you find people who have bought cars and are willing to rent them out to taxis? - Avito. - Really? - Yeah, there's a lot on Avito. They just rent them out. Either you're on a percentage or you're on a rent. Because a lot of drivers think it's more profitable to work on a percentage, but other drivers think it's more profitable to rent. - What if you scratch it? - You're liable. Well, again, if it's your fault, you pay. - Once again, did we understand correctly tha

t if there is a person with experience, for example, a bus driver, some Mikhail Semyonovich, age 56, says: "I'm tired of driving old woman on excursions, I want to work in a taxi. Can he go to Avito, find a person who has 10 Zeekr cars, get on a Zeekr and drive it? - Yeah. - That's cool! All right, let's get down to business. So the car. You drove it. What was the maximum sub-zero temperature? - Minus 25. - Yes, it was cold in St Petersburg, there was a hurricane, which was called Ivan, or Vit

ya. And I was caught in that storm and I was driving a Zeekr. I handled it okay. Zeekr, unfortunately, was a colossal failure. - Colossal? - Yes. Because the Chinese promise 800 kilometres of range after a charge, but the actual range is 150 kilometres. - Really? - Yes, seriously. - They said there'd be a difference of 150 kilometres, so it'd be 550 kilometres, 700 kilometres minus 150 kilometres in winter. - No, it's exactly 150 kilometres on a 93% charge, which is what it was at the start of

my shift. Three hours later, I was already at 40% or 39%. If it's minus 25 outside, it's best not to drive away from the charger. So you just charge, then maybe 100% will somehow charge. - What kind of charger do you have? 220 volts or fast? - No, SuperCharge, which ... - The city chargers that they have in Peterburg? - Yeah, yeah. - This is the LED part of the car. - Yeah. - How did it work in the winter? Because the Chinese love all sorts of innovations. For example, the pull-out handles, t

hat's a separate story. - There are no breakdowns, no glitches at all, nothing. The only problem with the Zeekr cars here is the rear doors. After washing, when you drive out and it's cold outside. - So the lights were OK? - The lights were fine. - Even in minus 25? And during the storm, it was fine? - It was fine. The biggest problem is the problem with the doors, because... - Are the handles here regular handles that don't go out? - No, the door handles are fine. Yeah, I mean, they open and c

lose. But if it's minus 10 degrees outside and you've washed the car, the door opens and doesn't close. - Why? - I pressed open/close for 20 minutes and somehow it glitched like that. 20 minutes in the cold. - And when you're on a taxi shift, that's not convenient. - No, 20 minutes is not a big deal for this car. It's when you're sitting on chargers for an hour and a half, at least three times a shift. It's noticeable. - How much does your shift cost, if you don't mind me asking? - Rent. - How

much do you pay? - $110. - That's ... How much do you earn? - That's still cheap. - Can I tell you these secrets? - Well. - More, I guess? - I earn something. Enough. - $110 a day. - Well, it's still cheap. Because in Moscow, renting this car costs from $150 to $170. - Doors. - The problem with the doors, yes. And there's another big problem, with these armrests. That is where the seat adjustment is. - Rich, by the way, isn't it? - Rich, but... - What do you think of the interior? We've go

t an Alphard over there, over there. You've probably seen it, haven't you? - Yeah, I know the Alphard. - And this. - I'm not comparing it to an Alphard, I'm comparing it to a Maybach 223, I'm comparing the quality of materials. - Is that right? - You know, cars that are taxi related. So I'm comparing it to a Maybach 223, because it's on this tariff, it's a Maybach. It's an elite fare if you compare it in terms of the quality of the materials. - Elite fare? - Yes, it's an elite rate. So it's a

Maybach. When you order a Maybach, you can get a Zeekr 009. - I've never been in one. - You haven't? - Nope. - I'll give you a ride. - It's free. - Minimum $20. Just kidding! The problem with these armrests. A lot of passengers, when they sit down... I mean, imagine the situation: you ordered a taxi and Zeekr came to you. - Yeah. - It's snowing outside, or it's muddy. Obviously, you have to shake off your feet to get into the car. - The usual, yeah. - How do you do that here? - Apparently no

way. You probably get in and you don't. - No, a lot of people get in, shake their legs off, then get up. - They sit down here? - Yes, they sit right here. I tell them why you do it. And they say, "Well, there's no other way. - Oh, even like this? - Don't do that, Stas. - Interesting. - A lot of people somehow manage to sit down and shake off their legs like this. But in doing that, they're resting their hand by armrest. And when people put their hands on the armrest, they break it. - The pro

blem with the Zeekr is the doors and this armrest. So they're failing. - Actually, that's a significant issue. - Significant because there's nowhere to fix them. When this armrest here breaks, the seat stops working. It doesn't function any more. - You mean it doesn't move back and forth any more? - These are all the buttons on the comfort seat control box, they just stop working. - For a winter job in a taxi, given that the car wash is there almost every day, as far as I know, because the car'

s always clean. - Even several times a day. - Wow, wow. It's an ambiguous car, the Chinese would hardly have thought of all that. - It's all the little things. In fact, the main big disadvantage of being a taxi driver in this car in winter is charging. - Take us for a little drive, shall we tell you about it? - Here we go. - Folks, let's go for a ride. Is the seat always in this position? - Naturally. - How many people have you driven this car with at most? - Five. - "Yandex Taxi" regulations

for the Elite fare, this car can only have three seats. - You, Kirill, you sit well, don't you? - You can lie down if you want to. - Oh, by the way, about the BMW. You said you're selling it today? - Yes! - Why? - I'm buying a Maybach. - So you're going to have your own Maybach? - I had my own Maybach before the BMW 7, but I overheated the engine in it. I had to sell it. - Overheated? Overheated how? - It's a car designed for normal driving, for comfortable, relaxed driving. And I'm young a

nd energetic. - Is that so? - Yeah, I had to overheat it a bit. - Are you from around here? - I'm from Murmansk. - Oh, from Murmansk. - But I've been in St Petersburg for 13 years. - So if you've got a BMW 7, why are you paying rent for a Zeekr? It's a BMW 7. - For content. - Really? - Yeah. - Just for content? - Only for content. - So, would you rather buy your own car for the money? - Of course! No, it's more profitable. Sorry, I'll interrupt. The best part is, I've got the reversing came

ra on. - What's that? - It's the car park where the car was parked. The camera's frozen. I mean, here I am in forward gear. - How does that happen? - Well, it's Zeekr. - How much is the car worth? Do you know how much a car costs? - $108,000. - Here in St Petersburg? - Yes, 108,000. But, as many say, if you bring it from somewhere else, you can find it for 90,000-100,000. - And how much do you buy a Maybach for today? - A Maybach costs between $65,000 and $100,000. That is, in general, the sa

me price. - The same money. - Yes, but the car will be 2018, and Zeekr 2023. - So you're choosing the car over the Zeekr for the same money? - Absolutely right. - You could have got the same one, couldn't you? - After working on the Zeekr, I realised that I would not buy this car for sure, because I already have experience with this car. I have been through a lot with it and realised that I am still not ready for a Chinese electric car. A year or two will pass, I will realise that things are g

etting better, we have electric chargers, we have dealers who are official dealers of these cars, and then I will buy one. - What's our percentage? 64? - 64% - When you left this morning, what was it? - 90% - It's only 11:00 in the morning. - I'll tell you more, the car left two hours ago. But in St Petersburg there are also Zeekr in taxis with big batteries. They have a range of literally 2-3 hours more. I'm guided by time, not kilometres. - So why do people rent them? - The car is fresh and

it's 2023. In the taxi industry, we get priority points, the more priority points you have, the quicker you get the order. So I'll be standing in a 2018 Maybach and there'll be a 2023 Zeekr. The order will come to the Zeekr because it has more priority points. But I'm not ready to spend $100,000 to spend $100,000 on an electric car I'm not sure about. And I'm not sure about this car at all. - Let's talk about the good things, the pros. I suppose there are some of those, too? - Let's talk about t

he cons for now. - Are there a lot of them here? - More cons. - Are they piling up? - Of course! It's not about the car itself, but about Russia. We're not ready for electric cars yet. - So we are ready for such cars. But not for Zeekr, because we have a big problem. Personally, we have a big problem in St Petersburg problem with chargers, there's really not enough of them. And there are very big queues for them. In order to charge your car, you don't just spend an hour you spend an hour on a c

harger, you can spend two to one and a half hours queuing for a charger. - Oh, hang on. What's an hour of time? There's some chargers that take 20 minutes, 30 minutes. - Look, everyone keeps telling me, in the videos, in the comments, that I should charge with other chargers, Supercharge. Although I do charge on them. I mean, a lot of people say that the current or whatever, amperes. I mean, the volts should be 150 volts, and we have 54 on our chargers tops. Although they should give out 150. Bu

t our chargers in St. Petersburg only give 54. - You don't charge to 100%? To 90%? - I don't charge to 100%. 95% at the most. Because if you charge 100%, it's bad for the batteries. That's from what we're told by the owners of these cars. - Oh, is that the car owner's request? - Yeah, don't charge it to 100% and don't discharge it below 20%. - In minus 40 in Yakutia, would people be able to go anywhere in a car like this? - I like this, in a comment, a man from Yakutia wrote to me, he said: "if

I buy this car, I will have to keep it charging all the time, because it will even run out of charge". We have minus 40, he said, "I will charge it to at least maintain some kind of charge." - Yeah, so this car, for these parts of the country it's not cost-effective. We were just talking about taxis. I mean, I wouldn't take it for a taxi. If I was taking it for personal use, that's a different matter. - It's a strange car to drive, to carry a device like this with you. - Yeah, and maybe in that

case it's OK, you'll get enough charge. But, as a rule, these cars are bought for travelling, because all the comfort is in the back. So it's a pleasure to drive long distances. - Unless it's winter. - I don't think you'll get the advertised 700 kilometres in the summer. I think it'll only do about 400 kilometres in the summer. Exactly, if you're travelling long distances. But I like the acceleration here. - Oh, it's nice. - There's just so many different combinations. - You know, it's real

ly good in Russian. - Well, yeah. - Kirill, hang in there! Wow, wow, that's how you fly. Easy, easy, it's almost 90 kilometres an hour. I think we exceeded it. Kirill, how are you doing up there? - I mean, there's a certain zest to this Zeekr. It's an emotional car. - You have to drive carefully. - Yeah, this is Peterburg. This is how they clear the snow on the roof. - There's bits of it getting to the cars that are parked next to it. - Yeah. - Well, there's an upside. Tell me about the pros. H

ere's an obvious advantege. - The pros... - Keeping the passengers happy on a Friday night. It's Friday night, right? - The biggest pro is that I like is the materials that it's all made of I mean, the alcantara, the leather, the stitching. I mean, it's exactly the right seam. I've driven a lot of cars, and it's the detailing here that's just amazing. - Well, here is the BMW 7, what is better in terms of materials? - In terms of leather quality, the BMW 7 may be more interesting and reliable, bu

t I'm comparing details, little things. You won't find a single element here that's just plastic. Well, in some cheap plastic. So everything looks expensive and rich, as they like in Russia. - The people who ride with you call for a Maybach. Zeekr comes to them. What do they say? - The passengers are all shocked, they like the Zeekr very much. I even had a passenger, she has an Aurus. - People have Aurus for personal use? - Of course they do. And she said she was ready to sell the Aurus and buy

a Zeekr. - But people get in, it's all in Chinese on the door. Does it even have a clock? - When passengers get in, they like the car and the next time they order a car, they put in the comments that they want Zeekr 009. - Wow! - But in St. Petersburg, unfortunately, there are only three Zeekr 009s working in taxis. But there are 50 percent of people who want Zeekr and 50 per cent of those who really want a Maybach. So they have ridden in a Zeekr and realised that it's all fun and cool, but it

doesn't have that status like a Maybach. - Is it old school or is it young people? - Exactly old school. Young people, yes, young people get in. They admire it, they press all the buttons. They like everything, they turn on the TV, this one. - Wow, there's more TV in here? - Yes. - Is it here by default? - Yeah, every package comes with a TV from the factory. - That's cool! How much mileage on this car? - 7,800 kilometres. - Ah, well, a new one, I suppose that's not an indicator, is it? - No

, it is. The gearbox was already broken here. - Wait, wait, how? - Well, the clamp for the wires was badly snapped here from the factory and it came off, and the gearbox just didn't work. They should have just taken the plastic off here and snapped the clip back on. - Who did that? - The owner. I understand the people who buy Zeekr, they have some sort of anonymous chat room. - What's an anonymous chat room? - Where they all chat, solve problems. And a lot of people have this problem, that the

Chinese have badly connected some contacts from the factory and the owners have to repair them. Take apart some panel and get to this wire. And re-solder it yourself, or plug it into the plug. - Yeah, I mean, the car just stopped. He couldn't go forwards or backwards. - And you can get up on the road. - He was on the road. - But these are details that the Chinese will probably work out in time. - It's all the little things. If this is their second car. - It's only their second. Well, they've

got a third one out now. - It's a top. - It's top? - It's top for its money. At the moment, it's just top. - If we're not taxi drivers, we're buying for ourselves. You know how popular it is in Moscow, they take their kids to school in one of these. - Yeah, it's perfect. - 5 kilometres to school and back. - Then it's perfect, yeah. If you need this car for travelling up to 50 km, it is ideal. - And as for the service. You said what confuses you. - For example, you've broken this window. Where a

re you going to buy this kind of glass? It's all about time. And in a taxi, time is money. - From a commercial point of view. - Yes, of course it is. When you work in a taxi, every little thing has to be fixed in the shortest possible time. - Yes, every 10 days we do a photo check of the car. So if the car is beat up or there's been an accident, they block your car. - I've always wondered how much you spend on water. Don't you have free water in the passenger door? - Baikal water is also expens

ive here. I usually get Pilgrim. - Have you calculated how much you spend on water per month? - 216 roubles a day. - By the way, about water, Zeekr has a big plus: the armrests for water are very far away, in the door, in the corner, there. - And you're too lazy to reach? - And a lot of people don't want to reach for it. Yes, and that's a big plus. - It's a practical car. And you're going to buy a Maybach now anyway? - Yes! - So for a taxi, a Maybach is more, in your opinion, reliable? - Yes,

because there's something to sit in. To be honest, a car should have a soul, I think. Because in a taxi your car is your office, your home, and you spend more time in it. - It's not the worst office you've got. - But everywhere here, there is a moment with video cameras. There is always the feeling that some Chinese person is sitting behind you right now, watching what you are doing. - And he's watching. - Camera here, camera here, camera here. I mean, they're watching everything. - So you jus

t tape it up, that's all. - With duct tape, right? Maybe. - Artyom has his own channel, we'll leave the link at the bottom. You can check it out, it's got all sorts of interesting videos. - My videos are mostly about working shifts. That is, I show from the inside the work of a premium taxi driver. I work on many cars, and many people simply do not know how this work goes from the inside. I mean a lot of people are used to getting from point A to point B. But not many people know from the inside

how it all happens, which is exactly what I show on the channel. - Thank you very much! The link is at the bottom, let's move on. - Rich neighbourhood. Guys, we're off to see the second car, it's also a Zeekr. We're back in Moscow again, Aviasales are good. What a big dog. A separate sign for the playground? What, are we there? - I think so. - Ooh, it's fresh. What is it? They sure do spend a lot of money on signs around here, don't they? Let's go in, huh?Can we? Oh, just like that? It's open.

Hello! - Igor. - Kim. What a license plate. Do you need to change? We'll tell you about the car. - Yes, yes. - We're waiting for you. - Folks, first a few general introductions about the car. The car is already, you could say, so almost legendary. One of the most popular electric Chinese cars in Russia. That is, in many cities many of you have seen this car, but nevertheless a few important words. In front of us, Zeekr 001 is a five-door electric sports car. It is produced by Zhejiang Geely Ho

lding Group. In short, Geely. We have already talked about the Geely company, because the Zeekr 009 that came before it is also a Geely company. Now the interesting thing! This car is based on the German Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo model. I don't know how true this is and if there are supporting facts. But it's a phrase that comes up a lot. The front end of this car is taken from a Lynk & Co 05. Lynk is also related to Geely. Here's the Link, and here's the Zeekr. The production car has been

in production since The production of this car takes place in a purpose built and ultra high-tech factory, in Ningbo, China. And a few technical facts: it's four-wheel drive, which is why it's apparently so popular. Acceleration to a hundred in 3.8 seconds, top speed of more than 200 km/h. And on 1 September 2023, the Zeekr 001 FR was unveiled, 1,248 horsepower and one of the one of Tesla's biggest rivals, the Tesla Model S Plaid. Igor, hello again! Thank you for taking the time. You know, it's

rare that a person with such a car, with such numbers, is so unafraid to communicate freely. - I can tell you the history of these plates. - Go ahead. - We were selling a car in which we had plates three fives, a Range Rover. My wife went to deposit the number and was given this number. - For free? - Yeah. - Get to the point. Why did you choose this particular car? - It's just, first of all, it was my wife's choice. She said the car was beautiful, fashionable. We went to see the car. - Three C

hinese cars in our neighbourhood now. - And then the Z Sport came out. Actually, this version, it was only orange, we ordered it. - Does the wife drive? - The wife drives 90% of the time. - Why don't you? - I don't like to drive the same cars for long. I'm like an explorer. I want to have fun. I've got something in there that makes me feel good. - What is it, if it's no secret? - Jaguar XJ. - Why not electric? - It's real. I mean, you get it... - That's a good word! - You enjoy it. So it's lik

e a rubber woman. It's kind of the same thing. - That? - Yeah, but you get a high from the real feelings. You start her up in the morning, she charges you up. You don't charge it up, it charges you up and you go. It's got real leather, it's got real wood. You sit down and you ride. - But why do we have the electric car as a second car? It's because, for us, it's a fairly trouble-free operation. I mean, we charge it at home. We put it in once a week, it recharges. The car parks free, no tax. It's

inexpensive in principle, but you don't bother with it. Since 2019, we haven't had any electric cars that have broken down and they haven't been repaired. They basically don't break down. They have a service like this: Change the cabin filter so it's nice to breathe. There the pads, I don't know if anyone's ever changed the pads. I don't know if anyone's ever changed the pads. Our regulars, yeah. - So, we're almost minus 15 today, it's been colder than that. How is the car behaving in winter?

- It hasn't had any problems in terms of anything not working. It's just the consumption is increasing. It keeps getting out of the warm garage. Although at minus 21 in a petrol Jaguar, it's a lot warmer than at minus 23 in an electric car. So, no electric car gives the kind of warmth that a V6 petrol car gives. There's been so many of them, none of them do. You get in an internal combustion engine and you're like, "It's warm! - Can you show us the door handles, please? - The only story we've h

ad with the key is that the battery was dying. They go quickly and that's about it. It hasn't glitched that badly. Just with the key. - No major ones? - In general, there are no problems that would cause great inconvenience. - So the Chinese have thought of everything here for minus 20 temperatures? - I don't think the Zeekr is a Chinese car. I drive a lot of cars, and the latest one I'm driving now is a Tank 500. - In stock? - Yes. And you get in the Zeekr and you don't feel like you're in a Ch

inese car. - I'm going to ask you about the Tank, though. The Tank 500, why not the Land Cruiser 300? - Because it's an X2. - How does it feel? - I've never liked the Land Cruiser. - What do you like? European? - Range Rover. - There! - Because it's more X than X2. - And the X4 is already there, yes. - And that, I think, is unreasonable. Range Rover we were looking at at the time, it was a 2018-2019 with mileage under 100. - What was the price? - It was comparable, it was in the region of $6

5,000-70,000. - But for after washing, is there any water freezing here? There are no nuances afterwards? - Not once. If we washed it yesterday and left it outside, it might freeze. - You've never had that experience, left it outside? - Why? We get somewhere, we go on business, it stays outside for three or four hours. Then you get in and drive off. - In four hours, there were no problems? - Absolutely not, not at all. I mean, we had problems when the key got in. It has a card, like a Tesla, yo

u have to put it in, and there's a bluetooth key. But not everyone is linked to a master account. That's the nonsense the Chinese have come up with. That's the thing that pisses me off the most. I mean, what makes Chinese cars so annoying is this master account, which works great in China and is very hard to come by. - Shall we go for a little drive? - Yeah, yeah. - Here we go. And then the window comes down, like a Passat CC. - Well, that's the standard story of frameless doors. - Didn't freez

e in those four hours? - No. Just on this handle. The handle that opens. - How much mileage on the car? - 6,572 kilometres. - We can do it. - All right, here we go. - Someone's not wearing a seatbelt in the car. - Probably me. - Not even in the back seatbelt? - Yeah, safety. - Right, back to Zeekr. Winter conditions. How much mileage is claimed? - No, you don't want to look at that at all, those claims. Especially as the Chinese claim about 600-something. But that's rubbish, not a single car. T

he first electric car we had was the Jaguar I-Pace. It did not go through the declared kilometres either. In winter, we do about 380 kilometres. - It's claimed to be 600 kilometres, but it's 380 kilometres - In the winter, yeah. - Yeah. That's not bad, almost 400. - And in summer, 450 or so. You see, it's frozen. - What's that squeaking noise? - Well, that's frozen water and that's ice squeaking on the roof. That's the ice, it's vibrating. - Is the roof going to be all right? - We'll find out.

Nothing's happened before. - Have you ever noticed anything like that on a Tesla? Maybe someone you know has. - I had a Tesla 3 also after a Jaguar. We decided to try something more advanced, technologically advanced. So we bought a Tesla 3 Performance and within a month, we wanted to sell it. Right off the bat. It's not very well made. As they say, it's technologically advanced, it's fast, but you don't feel that stuff. That's what you're touching all the time. It's a normal story for electric

cars when your consumption, your actual mileage, goes down by 30 percent. That's the normal story. If it's more than that, then it's a bad electric car with bad software, bad fuel management and so on. - What about handling in winter? - In winter, you absolutely have to switch on the snow mode here. In snow mode, it lets you drive steadily because the car is powerful. It gives you a lot of torque all the time. And in snow mode, it reduces that torque so you can be more stable. In the snow in the

yard. When you drive into a courtyard somewhere, where in Moscow they don't clear it after snowfalls. Rows very well. I mean, you increase the ground clearance, raise the air suspension and it goes like a tank. Although the Tank is worse on snowdrifts. - The Tank is worse than this car in a snowdrift? - In snowdrifts, yes. - Igor, are you not embarrassed by the electric doors? - Not at all. - Do you find it reliable? - In 6500 kilometres, I've had no problems. - Not one, not once? - Yes. We ha

ve children. - And kids can yank it so hard, it's a real pain in the arse. - That's why we've made a mode here where the electric door is ajar, not open. Or it opens all the way, you sit down and it closes. But after using this feature, we're so used to it that when we get in a taxi, or anywhere else in another car, there's a different expectation. You get in and you're waiting for it to close and it doesn't close. - Yeah, yeah. - It's convenient, there were no problems with that. - What do you

think about Mercedes and BMW? - I have a friend who drives a Mercedes 223, a petrol car. You get into it and you realise that you are already in a Chinese car, in a bad sense of the word. So there's nothing of the Mercedes left. And why buy it, I don't understand. Speaking of European cars, the leader for me was Range Rover, but now it costs about $320,000 for the right configuration. The second is that our dealers cannot service them normally because of this whole situation. And plus you don't

have a warranty. And I can tell you a funny thing about the warranty. A friend of mine bought a year ago a new Cadillac Escalade, American. The car had 10,000 miles on it in December. His engine broke down, completely broke down. There is no official warranty, he had it repaired at a specialist service for $17,000. The new Escalade has the most problematic engine, they've made it aluminium now. And if you start reading the owner's manual, it says oil consumption: 1 litre per 3,000 km. So you're

supposed to check the oil every 3,000 kilometres and enjoy your beautiful car. - And he didn't top it up accordingly? - Yes, so, probably, the future of BMW, Mercedes in our country is for super rich people. Who can say that he can do as he pleases. Besides, you can buy anything now, but you have to think about service. It costs $300 to make a new key. On BMW too now, if you lose your key, there will be problems. My mate got it for $1,100. - How much did you buy the car for? - This car cost $70

,000. - If you have $70,000 or $75,000, without a garage, what's better to buy? - It's hard. There's quite a lot the Chinese offer you for that money. - Petrol or electric after all? - No. If you don't have a garage, no parking, there's no point in thinking about an electric car. I mean, go for a classic internal combustion engine diesel. Something you're used to. What you understand. It makes no sense to take a car without its own charger, just its own charger, so that you can charge it every d

ay, if something happens. Well, either as a second car, or as a first car, definitely not. In the city, in the region up to 200 kilometres, these are comfortable cars. They give you a lot of things and ask for little, but if you don't have your own charger for them, then they will ask for a lot. - Igor, we will definitely be asked, that's what they call it, where is the money coming from? What do you do, if it's no secret? - One of the main businesses, that is what you can talk to me about, is I

T. - "What you can talk to me about"? - Yes, IT, cars as a hobby because I've been doing it for a long time and restaurants. In terms of IT and cars, I have come up with one of the car sales channels through an online car auction, which allows anyone sitting at home to put their car up for auction. If you're the owner and your car's mileage is up to 100,000 kilometres. So we take any car of any age with mileage up to 100,000 kilometres to auction. At first it was called Staffcar, the project it

self. Then we had a collaboration with Clickoncar and now it's called Clickoncar.ru. - What about restaurants? - You were filming something at the Flacon Design Factory. There are three restaurants there. The first one is-- - "Let's carbonara." - "Let's carbonara." - This is your restaurant? - It is. - That's awesome. Respect. We go there all the time, we eat there. - Tonight we're having a special from Let's Carbonara. We're having tartare, and of course, carbonara pasta. - You don't look lik

e a man who has three restaurants or Clickoncar. I just wanted to say this. It's Thursday afternoon and you just got your first call. Usually there's constant Telegram notifications, WhatsApp notifications, or constant calls. - I have that during the day, yes. But I try to manage my time properly. - Delegate? - Yeah. - What's your next car? Have you thought about it? - Well, it's not released yet. In fact, even among what they've shown so far, I don't see an alternative for me. Firstly, these ca

rs have become cheaper to sell here. The Chinese are lowering the price on them. You can buy it there now for $70,000. You just come and buy it from the cars in stock. Wife said she'll drive it for a year at least. So not yet, can't see any alternative. We compared and with Avatr, she looked. And this is still more family car, as we have children. - The Avatr has a smaller boot, but here's plenty of room. There's more boot space, better visibility. - I've got one more question I'd like to ask,

one more to ask. You change cars so often, who does the buying and selling? Do you do it yourself? It's a lot of travelling, plates, state services. - When you understand the process, it takes you one day a week. But in general, if you are motivated, you do it. - And you're still motivated? - Well, when there's interest, why not? - Okay, thank you so much for your time. - Yeah. - Thank you. Thank you. Let's go see Avatr, it's not far. - All right, folks, we have Dasha with us. Dasha, the main qu

estion, I've asked it before, but again, is it cold without a hat? I've realised that my younger years, when I was fine without a hat, are over. - I still feel young, so I walk around without a hat. No, of course, I go with a hat when I'm walking with a small child, but not now. - So it's not for the film? - Not for the film, no. It's my standard look. - So, Dasha has Avatr 11. - Avatr 1.1. - It's not 2, not 11, but 1.1.! - It's in the garage, isn't it? - Yeah, it's in the garage. - Open up!

Whoa, let's get a shot of the red car, please! - It's my husband's favourite toy. - Does it run, does it drive? - Yeah. You know, I had a Porche before. - Which one? - Macan S. - Where did it go? - It broke down. - It broke down? - Well, it's broken in such a way that it needs a lot of money invested in it. And given that it's been of 2015-2016, it just wasn't cost-effective any more. - A 2015 car and seriously broken down already? - Yeah, it had engine broken. - And you managed to sell it?

- Yes. - As is? - No, we put an ad on auto.ru that there is a scuff in some of the cylinders and the next day it was taken away in one day and it was not a fence, but a real buyer. - And the repair was voiced how much is it worth? - A $100,000. - Ugh. - I mean, you know, there was no point in investing. You invest a large sum in a fairly old car to change it after a while. And I had already thought about changing the car. - Charger. - The charger is original. I bought the car at the "Avilon". A

VILON ZIL gave me this charger, just gave it to me. - What's that noise? - That's the noise it makes. - Is the car official? - AVILON is not an official dealer, but AVILON is the largest supplier of Avatr in Russia, as far as I know. And they're the only ones who warranty it. They gave me a two-year warranty on it. - Wow, it's that noisy, isn't it? - Yeah. - That's interesting. - Well, look, maybe it's because it's been cold. I had it outside overnight, and I just got it in this morning. It was

covered in ice. I mean, I put it in, I literally just put it in the garage four hours ago. And it was just like one solid block of ice. - Did it get from here to here after the night outside? - It moved fine. I don't have any issues at all and I hope I don't have any issues with it running in this weather. Because even on New Year's Day, when it was brutal here. Only lost 10% of its charge in 14 days and it opened the first time and I had no difficulty at all. I mean, I feel like I just kind o

f pressed on the button. I mean, I walked up to it, the handles came out. And she was like, "Hi, Dasha," and I was like, "Hi." - That's cool, but who installed it? - Some electricians I know. - By yourself? - Pretty much by myself. - Yeah, yeah. - Well, that's 220. - Oh, is it a regular one? - It's 220, yeah. The only thing you have to do is ground it, that's all. - How long does it take to charge? - I usually try to get the car down to about 30-40 per cent and put it on charge. In order for it

to charge to 100%, but again, it's better to charge to 90%, which I do, it takes about 7-8 hours to fully charge. - That's it? - Yeah, it gives 7kW. I drive about 70 kilometres a day, and that's enough charge for three days. - So, shall we take it out? - Yeah, yeah. - While Dasha's driving the car out, we've got some interesting facts about this car. The Avatr 1.1 is the first car from this brand. The brand entered the Chinese market in 2018. It is a joint project of three companies: the automo

tive concern Changan, IT - giant Huawei and also CATL, which produces batteries, the largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars in the world. It has been in serial production since 2022. Designers of the Chinese Avatr 1.1 car, here is the list of designers, no Chinese name there. Two electric motors with 578 horsepower, 555 kilometres of range, as the Chinese say. But in fact, it's probably less than that. Dasha will tell us now. 3.98 seconds to 60, top speed 200 kilometres an hour. It'

s considered a rival to the BMW X5 and X6. There's Mercedes, what else is there to compare it to? Porsche Cayenne, I suppose. And here is more interesting news: in 2024, Avatr brand will officially appear in Russia. The local representative office of Changan will take care of deliveries. And in parallel... Oh, careful - careful, the girl is moving out. Yeah, that was good. And the parallel importation of these cars will be banned. In China, this car now costs from 300,000 yuan, that's $42,000.

How much Dasha bought it for, we'll ask you now. - If it's no secret, how much did the car cost? - $65,000 - Well, it's an adequate price tag, considering the cost of the Porsche. - I got very persuasive managers, and I bought the car in December, and I had certain nuances of the purchase. - They had to close sales in December. - Yes, they need to close sales in December. I tell them I need a new car. - Is $65,000 the final price or was it possible to change it? - No, $65,000 is the final pri

ce. - But it must have cost more? - $85,000 - Wow, wow, that's a difference. - The downside of my car is it doesn't have a heated steering wheel. It's such a standard, I think, option. - You'd like that in an expensive car. - Yes, but for some reason it's missing. That, in my opinion, is its only disadvantage so far. - Shall we go for a little drive? - Absolutely. - All right! Guys, all these new Chinese cars nowadays, it's hard to know how to open them. What do you press, this way, right? - Ye

ah, two times. - With all due respect to Porsche, and I have a lot of respect for Porsche. - So do I. - We just drove round Bangkok all day recently in a Porsche, a Cayenne, an old one. But there's a noticeable difference. - Big difference, but I'm still a Porsche fan and I still hope that I'll have a Porsche in my life, a car with character. I can't say that about the Avatr. - What can you say about the Avatr? - It's a very comfortable car for city driving, family driving. If I wanted to race i

n a Porche, I had 345 horsepower. I often thought, "This is the best place to accelerate from traffic lights. - I had a nice start at the traffic lights and I was followed by a Macan, like I used to have. And you can imagine, this Macan is equal to me, the window opens and a girl, a girl to me, I never thought it was possible, the girl says to me, "What's that cool car you've got?". And I say, "It's an Avatr. She says to me, "A Chinese electric car?". I say, "Yes!" She says: "What do you think?

" You know, we're just driving along Prospekt Mira. I said to her, "It's cool." - You were chatting on the move? - Yes! I said to her, "Get in, I've just got the same one." Well, she wouldn't say that about a Porsche. I get such pleasant moments and compliments from other road users quite often. - It does not seem to be like that, many people just say that it is a trinket. - It's done beautifully, it looks beautiful. Here I like to put different themes. They're mood-loaded here. - A man, the own

er, who drives a Zeekr 009, said he doesn't like the fact that some Chinese guy is watching him all the time through this camera. - Well, look, first of all, this camera can be closed. - Wow, there's a curtain. - Yeah, there's a curtain. - Look, Igor almost got hit. - What? But he didn't. - It doesn't bother me. And I leave this curtain here, because it recognises me and adjusts the car, the seats and so on, to fit me. You look into this camera and it says that the registration has taken place,

everything is fine. - Every time? - Every time. - Does it recognise your face? - It recognises your face. Yeah, we're looking at Face ID on the phone, every five minutes. Yeah, it doesn't bother me, I can shut it down and not use it, but I do. - What do friends and acquaintances say? - A lot of people are interested in the fact of the electric car itself. But not all our friends and acquaintances, unfortunately, live in country houses. I wouldn't have decided to buy this car if I didn't have my

own house. I always know that if I have electricity in the township, then I have a charged car. In winter, there are several driving modes, and when it starts to get so bad, I can switch to the custom mode, where I set up a slightly duller mode. So you don't need that fast start when the road is mushy. When it was snowing yesterday, I switched it straight into custom mode, I have everything set up there. I'm in all the Avatr telegram chat rooms. - You have groups, don't you? - Well, there are g

roups, yes. There are quite a lot of people there. There are two main groups on Telegram where they discuss the operating system. There's a discussion about what to do what to do if the car's completely discharged and how to get in. - Does that happen? - It happens. Well, yes, apparently it does happen, I've not come across it. Then there are stories about a master account to control the car from your phone. I'm still in the waiting mode for a master account. Right now in China we have New Year'

s Eve, so now I have to wait a little bit and then I'll be able to park my car from the app by pressing one button. It will drive itself in. And there's a lot of other cool features. And then there's Energy Moscow, which is the mayor's project, they don't have any of these chargers. And you have to have an adapter. Which adapter to buy, how to find it, where to find it. So there's a lot of information, but no specifics. It's cool when they tell you that a certain adapter fits your car and then y

ou can buy it. Adapters are laggy. Sometimes you drive up and it doesn't charge the first time, or there's a power failure. - Is there a charger at work? - No. - Just at home? - Only at home. - So this car is only for the journey to work, home, shop, children's activities. - Well, not sections, but still some outings with a child somewhere. - What's the claimed mileage on this car? - 578 kilometres, if memory serves. - What's the actual mileage? - I think it's about 400 kilometres in the winte

r. - Oh, that's good, not 200. - Well, no, it's definitely not 200. Personally, I've probably done about 350 kilometres and there still were charge. - But if you leave it outside for a long time in the winter, even if you don't have a warm garage, the losses are small. - The loss is also small. It's lost 10 per cent in two weeks. That doesn't seem like a loss to me. - How come there's no problem with the door handles? I mean, everybody was worried about the handles. - You know, I washed the car

yesterday in preparation for our meeting. It was outside. For, like, five hours and then it was out overnight and it's running fine today. I mean, it opened and closed perfectly yesterday in this snowfall. There were no issues today either when I drove it off the street. I mean everything opens, everything goes out, nothing has ever happened to it in the 3 months I've owned it, no lags, bugs or other issues that would upset me. - Now for the most immodest question. Many will ask: "What, I wonder

, does Dasha do?". - Yes. My husband and I have a family business, distance selling goods that make people's homes more beautiful, warmer, and household appliances: gas equipment. We are an official dealer of a very large supplier. The kitchen plumbing equipment, sinks, mixers, water treatment, including commercial. Yes well, and a lot of other interesting things. - Are there any thoughts on the next new Chinese car, maybe in a year or two? - There is no such car at the moment. Before buying thi

s car, I looked at different brands. We started with Zeekr. - Why didn't you choose Zeekr? - You know, I didn't like it. I went in almost 99 per cent sure that this was my next car, it had echoes of Porsche. But I arrived and, honestly, I saw a BMW in it. As I said, I'm not a big fan of BMWs. It's the interior trim, that kind of grainy leather. Well, at least that's what it is. - And the Li? - And the Li hybrid. - Yeah, well, it's more practical. - No, practicality. All right, cool. But you p

ay tax, you don't get free parking. Plus it's very big, I don't need one of those. - And, as I said, I was practically in no mood, already offered to take a used car, the same Porsche. - My husband said to me: "Go and have a look!". I came and realised that yes, I should take it. - Thank you very much for your time. - Thank you very much! - And the next car we have is a Li. We'll go and have a look. - It's slippery. Careful, careful. - Hello! - Hello! Hello! - We're doing a YouTube special on C

hinese cars in winter. - In winter. - Yes, how they behave in winter. And we're also doing a feature on reasonably priced cars. We've filmed this one, this one. - Ah, Geely. What do they say about Geely? - It's fine. - There's nothing wrong with this one either, it just feels like plastic, that's all. - But it's not expensive, is it? - I got a new car from the park. It had 45,000 kilometres on it. I mean, I picked it up from scratch and I drove it for 45,000 kilometres. I drove it, everything

was fine, electronics, gearbox, nothing broke down. - You went from zero to 45,000 kilometres? - How long have you been in the taxi business, if it's no secret? - Four or five months. - You've done 45,000 kilometres in five months? - Yes! - That's amazing! Did you consciously go into taxi work? - Consciously, but temporarily. - How did the car behave in winter? We've got freezing rain now, classic. - Yes. - Before that, it was minus 20°. It felt like minus 32 when we were there. How does th

e car behave in the morning? Handles, warming up? - All the usual, standard. I've driven a Qashqai before. I didn't really feel any difference. - 86,000 kilometres now. - Yeah. - Usually, you sell a car at that mileage because you have to do maintenance at 90,000 kilometres and then you start to get into trouble. And it's as good as new. It's a rental car too, isn't it? - Yes, it is. - But we have a colleague of yours, who drives in the Luxury class or, as it is properly called, Ultima. He said

that renting is expensive. It's better to save up and buy your own car for taxis. - But it's right for those who consciously go to work. I say, I'm only temporary. I just don't need it. - But you can't just get a job in a taxi. You just come and work. - Why not? You'll get a job. - How long does it take? From the moment you think about it to the moment you start your first day? - I chose. As a girl, I chose a taxi company that was reliable. You come in, you sign a contract. - Yandex? - No, not

Yandex. - Taxi company? - Yes, a taxi company. You sign a contract with them, you give them your driving licence. And security checks everything. - Can I ask you a modest question? Do you have an education or what's your main activity? - I work in tourism. I just don't want to be in sales at the moment, probably. But I've worked In Turkey before. - You lived there? - Yes, I came here from Turkey. - You picked a strange season to come from Turkey to Moscow. - I'm here on business. Otherwise, I

worked at the reception desk in a hotel. - Do you like it? - Yes! - Do you like working with people? - Yes! - And then there's all sorts of inappropriate characters. - It's much more interesting. It's much more interesting to solve some problems, situations. - Well, you're solving other people's problems, they start acting wierd, someone in a bad mood, someone ... - I sometimes forget Russian words. I'm stress-resistant. - You've probably learnt the language by now, haven't you? - Yes! - Hav

e you thought about working in a taxi in Turkey? - In Turkey in a taxi? - Have you thought about working like that? - No, no. What for? No, I'm here temporarily. I don't like Moscow at all. - Why not? - I don't like Moscow itself. - Why? And you, if it's no secret, where are you from? We're not from here. - From Bashkiria. - Why don't you like Moscow? - I take too much energy. When i was in Istanbul... - You've hit it exactly right. Yes. - I used to live in Istanbul, though. I mean, I worked

in another city, but I lived in Istanbul. And but I didn't feel so, how to say... There, in Turkey, people are friendly, you know, smiling, and always ready to help. But in Russia, people are cold. - While you are here, on business, when things settle down will you go back if possible? - I am already considering another country. - Which one? - I haven't decided yet. - Are you considering Dubai for yourself? - No. - Why not? - Well, I've been there. I don't like it. - Oh, is that ice? - Appa

rently so. - Here, this freezing rain. It's no joke, no joke? We're straight, straight yes. Straight ahead and now I think it's through one building. So you're good with Chinese cars, then? Have you driven them a lot? - I have! - Oh, you can, how cool is it to drive in this lane? Cool! So you didn't have any trouble in the winter, then? - No! - If you need it, there's a car showroom called Autojir. - Are you going to keep filming? - Yes. Well, if you feel like it, you can come back later or yo

u can come back with us now. No? - Thank you. - We owe you a tip. - Have a good day. Thank you very much. - Thank you! Thank you! - Good luck with the job! This way. Wow, that's quite a place they got here. I thought it was just two cars. I thought they had, like, a Porsche and a Mercedes. - Hello! Have you got a Rolls-Royce? Can I see it? $315,000! A friend of ours has such a car in the showroom. I've only seen it in pictures. You know Turbo gum wrappers? - Hey there! - Is it filming now

or what? - Great! Guys, this is Ilya Frolov from "Privet Tachka". - Here's a real russian Lamborghini! Sportcar from the outside, and a little bit of Lada from the inside! - This car came to us, it was on the set of Basta's music video. So look. Lyosha, has Basta's music video come out yet or not? - Hi! - Hi! The voice is from YouTube. - This is a personal Kruschev's car! - You should have put "24 wheels. - The wheels are great! - The colour of the interior is Tiffany and the car, which used to

be black, just with shiny chrome, now looks differently. And we're looking forward to the season and hoping someone will take it away from us and make room for some Zeekr. - Gentlemen. - Yeah. - What's your story in a nutshell? Everybody, a lot of people, know you as youtubers, first of all. And then we see this. You had something to do had a lot to do with it. - That's true. - Who's paying for it? - We have an investment, of course. - Partner? - Yes, we're in partnership with a man who... Y

ou have to understand that if you want to buy a stock of 60 or 70 cars... - And you have 60 cars? - We have three car parks in Moscow, we have a car park here, a car park nearby, another car park in the south of Moscow. And when you add it all together, you get about 70 cars. Of course, it is not always possible to take out a consumer loan from a bank. - The whole country is actually trying to sell cars. - Yeah. - There, and that's a failing business right now. If you want to come in here, guys,

bad business. Well from my relatives to my neighbours, I've got everybody selling cars. You end up with these cars in car parks, you've got to reduce the price, you've got to sell at a loss. the big players, of course, feel a little bit better. - You drive a Li. What do you drive? - I still drive a regular car from the past. And we've brought the Zeekr X to the wife, and I can give you a brief demonstration of why. - Briefly? - Yeah. - Let's make it short. - Come on. - It caught my eye. Here

's a little bit about the prices. $180,000? - $180,000 - $70,000. - Yes, people who used to buy X5s and so on are now buying them. - Why do you need it for $180,000 when you can get it for 70? - There are conservative people who still remember that it's Old Money, as it's called. - Yeah. - If you have that Old Money in your pocket, so to speak. $42,000? - $42,000 for the car. Get in! - I'm getting in. - No, no, no. - Look, we have a specific topic. - Wait, you just get in. Right away, so ther

e's no more questions about this car. You know all this, don't you? - I've seen it. - It's all convertible with an ottoman. We give you a massage and you have a quick rest between shots. Zeekr, of course, by adjusting the armrest here and charging your phone here. But you have to realise that buying a car like this is the way of the Samurai. - Let's maybe go through the loan, we'll do the maths. - I've seen your ad integrations many times. Five more minutes and I'm definitely going there. Our t

opic is Chinese cars in winter. How does it feel now, with the freezing rain outside? Is it all right in winter? - No. We have to get to the freezing rain first, we have to get to the freezing rain first. Get a Chinese phone number to link the car to the app. - That's the only way? - Put a Russian SIM card in here, stock up on charger adapters because they don't fit Chinese cars and so on. You have to really want to... - There's a lot of nuances. - Yes, but when you drive in traffic, you see t

hat your car is more modern than 99% of other cars. You know? - It's true. - Because this compact car, the entry premium Zeekr. 3.7 seconds to accelerate, honest. It's got everything, including fresheners. Remember in the S-Class a long time ago, Mercedes, the Germans came up with the idea of putting perfume in. This has that perfume, side airbags, autopilot. - You have to agree, he's gracefully dodged the question about the freezing rain. - Oh, yeah! - We are in the sales business after all.

- By the way, the handles opened today and there's a charging hatch on the other side. It can glitch sometimes. - In winter? - Yes, it's a very sophisticated electric car. On the one hand, it's a Geely, which means it's not some start-up where people come up with it on their knees and want the car to drive somehow. It is reliable, it is easy to use, but it can glitch. The other day, for example, I was getting out of the car. I locked it up, everything closed, the handles closed. 20° frost, drive

r's windscreen opens. - By itself? - Yes! I pressed it again and it closed. You've got to be sympathetic to that and want to drive a modern car from the 21st century. - You've got to be prepared to forgive. - But you're gonna have to suffer a little bit, that's 100 per cent, guys. That's 100 per cent. - Thanks for your honesty. It's a good place, keep it in mind. We'll put the address in the description. Let's get to Li. - Let's do it! - Do you drive a Li? - Yes, it's parked outside. - Let's go

outside. $51,000. Are the cars new or used? These three. - These are new. Right now, the Chinese car market is at rock bottom. This is the best time to buy a car. - Yes? - Yes, because in Russia, cars have never been cheaper, but a lot of private people came into the business, bought cars, saw Zeekr, Li... they bought a lot of cars and eventually demand fell off by New Year. The model year changed and people started selling off cars at a loss or low margin. So now is the best time to come and

buy a car. - Tell me, please, they're saying that parallel imports will be banned. And the scheme with Bishkek will be banned soon. - Maxim, darling. - Will cars go up in price by summer? - In April, they'll go up already. They've already started to rise in price. - Because of what? - Because there will be more issues with customs. - Chinese cars will go up? - Everything's going up. - How much? - Nobody knows yet. We're still waiting, but everything will go up. - Thank you for the information!

Well, let's go see Li. Yes, let's go. Thank you very much! - Oh, you drive this? - I drive it. And any customer can drive it, because we bought this car especially for the test drive. We're the only ones who... - Hello! Look how beautiful it is. - We've had two or three customer test drives, people are falling in love with this car. And I'm no exception, to be honest. I've been inspired by it. - Inspired by what? You've driven a lot of cars, haven't you? - Lots of cars. - I've switched "ROCK"

mode on, and it's not for rocky road. And this car is not for drift either... - Hello! - Hello! - How are you? - We're watching you. - Thank you so much. - It's unreal, really. - Don't be a salesman right now. - I'm not calling you into the credit department. Okay, I promise. - I'll get to the point. - Yeah, I promise. - Let's start with the handles. We've got ice on them, everything. Oh, it's coming off. - Yeah, there you go. - There's a bit of a problem. - It's not completely gone. - Why

not, see, it's gone. - That's what we're here for. - Watch this. Did you close it now? - I just did. - Step back, please. Can I tuck it in now? Oh, see, it's not all the way out? - Oh, yeah. - There, it's gone. I wanted to get in there, use my finger to pry it out. - See, if you've got them, like, stuck for some reason or frozen. And they don't extend. Well, maybe that's a possibility. You do this. There's an emergency release. - Emergency? - Yes. Can you see inside there, too? It's a locking

mechanism. - How much is it? - You know, we're having a special offer right now. We have bought five cars in China that we're selling at a unique price. This particular car is going for $67,000 in our showroom, full equipment, sills, lidar, the whole thing. - Is that a Li 7? - It's a Li 7. - Does this complete package work in Russia? You said you need SIM cards, some Chinese numbers to get. - Of course, you have to re-flash it. But now the new firmware has English, so it is not necessary to russ

ify. - Everything is so that I can come and not sit with a programmer and a phone. I don't have to poke with USB cable. - Of course. - Will there ever be Russian? - Never. - What do you mean, why never? - They don't need it - is it a startup? They don't care globally at all, whether it sells in Russia or not. - Even so? - They're not going to do much about it. So the fact that English has appeared is a miracle. Zeekr, for example, doesn't have it at all. With Zeekr, you have to re-flash it t

o Russian. Here now we'll put telematics, we'll put a Russian SIM. It's just that for today we agreed and the guys took it apart. Then I said you were coming and they put it back together. You can press a button, connect to wifi and upgrade to English, in the new version. I'm going to drive in English, I'm not going to russify it. - Is there any way to force Russian into it? - Of course. - Can we still do that? - Of course! - Zeekr and Li are very well studied in Russia. You can have Yandex na

vigation here, the whole Yandex ecosystem can be here. And all of our players there Kinopoisk, Ivi, and so on. It's all being done. But what I don't like here. I do not like that there is no windscreen heating. That's important for a car in Russia. - Wow, wow. - We're going to drive off now. - It's actually very important - Yes, there's no heating, it doesn't switch off the stabilisation system. It's important to me, for example, that it's switched off. I want to go sideways sometimes. And I wo

uld also, and I'm not the only one, some customers are talking about it, I would have the wheel arches soundproofed. In fact, it's got great noise insulation, it's got double glazing. All that, but at high speeds, on studded tyres, you do need a bit more noise insulation. - Does the air-conditioning cope with fast defrosting? - Defrosting? - Yeah - It's quite good. Well, this is the defrost. It's just maximum airflow on the glass, it's a very simple option. - And there's a TV too, even in th

e Li 7. - Yeah, well, it's the top of the range. At the back, there's a retractable TV, split panorama, lidar, retractable sills and "21 wheels. - It's a hybrid, isn't it? - It's a hybrid. - How much engine? One and a half? - One and a half litre engine. You only need it to charge the battery. It has nothing to do with the wheels And the batteries are small capacity, up to about 80 kW hours. I'd say up to 70. I think it's about 65 kilowatt hours. That's because you've got the charger under the b

onnet all the time. 65 litre tank, you fill it with ninety-five litres of petrol and they say that when you fill up a full tank and charge it 100%, you can drive 1,315 kilometres. That's all lies, of course. Nothing to do with reality. In fact, if I drive at least 1000 - 1100 km on all this, it will be good. - There are already a lot of such cars in Moscow and not only in Moscow. So people read reviews, do not find anything critical apparently and buy them. - Now there is only one rumour about w

hat may be wrong with this car. They say it turns into a brick after a serious accident. Actually, any modern car cuts off power after a serious accident and this is the absolute norm. You change the blocks and the car becomes alive again. But blocks are still a shortage right now. There are already services that... - But it's solvable? - Yes, yes, of course it's solvable. So there is no such thing that you gave $70,000 and the car turned into a brick when you hit a kerb. No, thankfully, there'

s no such thing. - Are they officially serviced by anyone here? - There are no representative offices that would service them officially. This car is not officially represented in Russia in any way. - Right. What if something, filter, whatever, pads, what do you do with it? - You have to change the oil, you have to change the pads, you have to change the filters. - What kind of oil? - Engine oil. Here in the engine, in the internal combustion engine, - Ah, well, there's an internal combustion en

gine. - Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that because it's a BMW engine. The Prince series engine is a learner engine, one and a half litres. There shouldn't be any problems with it at all. - Do you know people who've had it serviced? - The highest mileage Lixiang in Russia that I know of is 30,000 kilometres. - 30 000? Well, that's a low mileage. - There are no statistics yet. - In short, from the point of view of daily, including severe winter use, what conclusions? - It's difficult weather i

n Moscow now, very difficult. The car is freezing all the time. You can see it yourself. - Well, that's all right. It's getting warmer here. - And the fact that all cars, for example, have snow on the wipers or some similar things is observed in all cars. I honestly haven't found anything that's only a problem here. - Well, you've driven a lot of cars, Range Rovers, Mercedes. - It's very similar to a Range Rover. - I've driven a BMW. That's how it is now. What's on the market? What should peop

le do, what should they spend money on and what should they not spend money on? - That's a good question! You know, the prices are such that you either have money or you don't. The prices are crazy out there. - $320,000 for a Range Rover or $100,000 for a Li 9. - It's not worth $100,000 any more, it's worth less. I'd give $90,000. - Oh, come on. - Yes, they're getting cheaper. It's a very difficult import control situation now and everyone's importing cars. Every taxi driver, every neighbour, e

veryone. You call your contact list right now. You'll have one in three people selling cars. Here's another thing that pisses me off. It keeps locking and unlocking when it sees the key next to it. They bring so many of them in, you have to lower the prices to sell them. People are just trying to get some money out. That's why the price is dropping. I'd take the Li, of course. - Which one? Li 7, Li 8, Li 9? - Seventh so far. It's a perfect match. There you go again. I don't know why you do that.

I'm praising you, and you. This is the only two-row car. From the Li 8 onwards, they're three-row. If you don't need a huge car, this is a good choice. Plus it's cheaper and the specs are still the same. - The Chinese are actively updating them now, restyling is going on. For 2024, any tips perhaps? - Li will have a Li 6 model, it will be even smaller, even cheaper. - Wow, that's interesting. - It's coming out in the next few days, literally. We're going to be seeing a lot of updates in Beijing

. - At the motor show? - Yeah, yeah. The Zeekr will be updated, the Li will be updated. But it won't look any different, it'll be the same basic car externally. It's going to be the same car technically. - Wait for car showrooms and a little bit ahead. Then again, you wait and then something new comes out again. - Something new always comes out. - They've got a machine working there. - The worst thing is that the machine also works in the legislative sense. There's always some new law coming ou

t. We've been working for less than a year and during this time we get calls every month saying: "Well, what are you going to do now?". I always ask what's wrong. Because I'm not interested in it anymore. - I've stopped reading the news. - Some new law comes out, some new ruling, some new decision. Now, for example, there was a meeting of the EAEU member states in Almaty. There are new changes. - New realities. - Yes, realities. February and spring are the best time to buy Chinese cars. If yo

u are not scared of Chinese cars, this is the best time. - What if it's a little bit better later, or unlikely? - It'll be a bit more expensive. Maybe it will be a little better, not maybe, but 100% it will be better. There will be more service, more maintenance, more understanding of what to do with these cars. But the price will be higher, that's 100%. So if you think about buying a Chinese car, a Chinese car, you have to buy it now. What to do with the Germans? - Good gesture. Good gesture. G

uys, here's the story. Naturally, there are a lot of Chinese car owners among our subscribers, we know that for a fact. Can you please take five minutes or even three minutes? Write your comments. We'll even put a like on them so that other people will read them too. Li 7 is sold at the Autojir showroom. This is not an advert, just a nice place and nice guys. PrivetTachka channel. - Thank you very much. - All the links at the bottom, looking forward to your comments. "Chinese cars in winter", b

ig issue. Maybe there's a bit of understatement somewhere. You know what I mean. And there are various other cars that weren't shown. But they've tried to show the top ones and the most popular ones. Where are you going to store it at night? - I always store it outside. - And you're not afraid something will happen in the morning? - My job is to study it thoroughly. - Yes, to study it. - I'll be storing it in the snow, driving it off-road and so on. - Doesn't that damage the paintwork? - No, i

t won't. - Will it? - Sure. - We look forward to your comments. See you, bye!