After watching the Neo review, I said I wouldn't watch another Sandy Munro video. It was extremely shallow and showed his complete ignorance of the car, and no prior research. Plus his arrogant style is a real put-off for me. However, since he looked at the Kona (why so late?), I did hold my nose and watch it. It was a similar shallow review. And he kept talking about how he liked it better than the Nero, which is actually a larger car. Yet less room was his main criticism of the Kona. Sure didn't make much sense... And is obsession with the lack of a frunk. I have DIY frunk for my Kona, but so far have yet to need to use it. So it definitely isn't the big deal he makes of it.
Lol, "Sandy" is what happens when a person acquires significant real-world experience without having the foundation and competition of formal training. He has lots of experience in many areas such as fasteners, sheet metal stamping, plastics, metal casting, design for production and cost analysis but visibly struggles with the idea that other engineers may know more than he does. A good tertiary education including competing with other very smart people helps a person understand their limits and to know when to defer opinion to those better qualified. You can see that sometimes he's hesitant in speaking and does realise that he needs to have one of his staff chime in. His staff are respectful but you can see that they really know their stuff and try to give an unbiased opinion without demeaning the boss. I understand where he's coming from though. Decades ago he would have been pulled into production and design meetings and expected to come up with solutions off the top of his head. He's carried that through in his videos, doing zero research on these EVs before casting an opinion, perhaps thinking that's being "unbiased." But often that opinion is based on minutiae that many consumers would never notice, like panel gaps and seat stitching. He's desperate to find something that he knows about and then drone on about how he saved the automotive industry in 1950. I think he's starting to accept this, probably based on YouTube comments, and has started relying on his staff more. But don't even get me started about his Tesla bias.
Munro was hated by the Tesla community for his early takedowns of Tesla quality. I wouldn’t call him a fan boy. Is he the only voice that should be listened to? No. But he has some valid points.
I spent a few minutes searching and reading his biographies but can't find any reference to him having a formal engineering degree.
I haven't bothered with most of his videos in ages. Someone at https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/how-important-is-electrify-america.38827/page-2#post-612840 alleges that they "watched Sandy Munro try to charge a Mustang Mach E with a CHAdeMO plug, then say it would not work because the cable was not long enough!" https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/how-important-is-electrify-america.38827/page-2#post-613643 were some responses...
Wow, he's really in "tired old man" mode here, and there's essentially zero technical detail. Why doesn't he get one to rip down? Maybe he could comment meaningfully on motor-shaft misalignments and bearings that shred themselves in 30k. Or rant about how stupid the eco-mode display is. Or how the climate system keeps switching itself out of "recirculate" mode unless very specific and undocumented conditions are met. Yes, all the foam in the back is stupid and a "real" EVSE would have been nice, but that takes all of two sentences to dismss without making himself look like a shambling moron who's simply run out of GAFs in his life. He *has* done better in the past... if he needs inspiration, he should put a Kona on a lift and really get into some detail. _H*
Definitely! I don't think he's any better in reviewing a car than you and I. The only videos I watch from him is tearing things apart. That's where he has some real knowledge. On how to optimize production processes and designs. Why is that cable routed this way? Why is this inverter designed like this, it would be better this way. Those are the only interesting points of his videos. Everything else, there is way better channels to watch.
He does disasemble cars for which he is paid for to do so. Then they also buy the car somewhere randomly - so they get a car normal customer would. They just loaned them eNiro and Kona EV so he can make just basic checks.
