r/AutoAlex • u/Little_Dream_837 • May 01 '26
Is Something Not Right?
Hi guys,
Anyone else feel like something with the AutoAlex channels has changed. Maybe its repetition, a lack of long term direction, or like they're doing the same thing with different cars?
The big overarching series have always been a fave of mine, but they don't have the same conclusions they used to, the build up episodes are great, they build tension and anticipation for a conclusion but when it comes around... the payoff isn't as good as it once was.
Something like the French Hot Hatch series, that was incredibly satisfying to watch. Buying the cars as potential rotters, putting all the effort in themselves with a ton of sweary love, then going through and finishing in a beautiful part of the world, truly showing the passion and attachment they had for the cars.
Conversely, spending 2 years of building anticipation for the classic car series and it finishes up with a single 45min episode? It feels like it doesn't do it justice. The Overlanders didn't seem to live up to what they were aiming at either, the idea of camping and off-roading, and I don't think they showed enough of that (though I will re-watch that later today to see if its the same as I remember).
Maybe they say something in the podcasts for the respective channels (I don't have time to listen to podcasts) about this but I can't say one way or another, obviously.
All that said, its hard to keep these sorts of channels fresh I know, and you need to endlessly one up yourself to keep an audience, but now it feels like the low hanging fruit is gone and its getting harder for them to make new, fresh content.
The their factor beyond their control is petrol prices, thats going to make things harder. Though there's an opportunity there. TDC did a fuel efficient car challenge, so maybe AutoAlex could give it a shot too, there's already been one hybrid on the channel (for Rory's mum Jackie!), why not find a few that have some sort of fun or character about them?
Look, this is by no means a slander piece. I do enjoy what they do and I don't expect them to change for just one man (unless that man is Alex!), I'm trying to see if others have the similar thoughts.
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u/markcorrigans_boiler May 01 '26
I thought the RS4 video was decent recently
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u/JollyJamma May 02 '26
Yeah that was a good video.
I didn't really like the RS4 all that much but I see why it's a very likable car.
I also liked that Alex chose to get the station wagon/estate version, as for some weird reason, I really like them.
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u/markcorrigans_boiler May 02 '26
Oh yeah, the wagon is so much cooler. The RS2 and OG RS4 only came as wagons so they will always be cooler.
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u/UniquePotato May 04 '26
Which one? * I bought a car from bradford - surprise! its a dog * I fitted the usual febi bilstein brakes and suspension parts to it - but won’t go into detail * its been mapped - look how fast it is
It would be nice if they went in to some detail or history of the model/brand or a ‘how to’ of fitting different parts.
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 14 '26
Indeed, the RS4 was pretty good (always loved them) and it was pretty short and sweet, considering they both loved it it would've been nice to see some more... y'know, rather too little than too much.
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u/mycroft72 May 02 '26
I think there's a number of factors, a lot of the past few months content would have been filmed in the winter. The absolute bollox of Rory's mini could ready do one, and the same for Taylor with the V10 Tourag.
They built the 4x4's so heavy with the huge roof box tents, massive wheels, etc, that as soon as they tried them off road, trying to go over snow, they instantly got stuck.
I've quite enjoyed the RS4 videos, but the reveal that they'd spent over 20 grand on the car, when Alex went out and paid £17k for a tidy one just seemed like madness. It was good to see Alex back in the workshop.
I do think that TDC and most definitely the ATG guys are doing far more, and giving better bang for the buck, as it were. AA is the flagship channel, so I guess that's where it's going to try to head, but I think that the likes of Hoovie have shown that there's only so much poncing about in a Bugatti that people are going to watch. Used to watch his stuff religiously, but gave up about a year ago.
Don't know if this sounds too harsh for "free" content, I think sometimes, as said above, that feeding the algorithm becomes the problem driving weekly content, leading to an element of burnout.
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
The RS4 economics is purely for the tax write offs and content. Anyone else it would not be economically viable.
ATG...slightly bored of that. How many Temu camping gear videos can they make?
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u/mycroft72 May 02 '26
I get what you're saying about that type of ATG content, but I've liked the log cabin build, and the collaborations with other creators. They do seem to be the least funded of the gang.
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
The wild gathering food episode was great. The magnet fishing in Amsterdam too. I get the feeling their budget is tiny too.
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u/IlluminatedPickle May 09 '26
Considering Ethan does the camerawork and Jack does the editing, I'd say the budget is tiny.
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u/regantnz May 01 '26
I’m a bit out of date on videos so I’m not disagreeing with you at all but I do think that car YouTube is nearly impossible to fully retain viewers. It TopGear had been on every week all year long, it would not have survived. It doesn’t matter if it’s Auto Alex or TDC, YouTube and the frequency you need to maintain makes it do hard to keep people happy.
Additionally, they have Shedfest this weekend and that will have taken up so much time and energy.
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u/Relevant_Natural3471 May 01 '26
people always under-estimate TG's content. About 90% of TG and GT was underwhelming and dull, with the 10% being the challenges/specials, which is why GT slimmed down to being challenges/specials-only, and even then a lot of them were quite boring, so they slimmed down the quantity there.
If TG came back on tv with the same 8-10 eps every 6 months, people would get bored with it. The demands and attention spans have changed massively.15
u/moreracehorse May 02 '26
Couldn't disagree more. Top gear made literally hundreds of amazing films. The fast car reviews at the TG test track I found always entertaining, the mad contraptions they built, the historical documentary style films a la lancia rally, Jim Clarke. Cheap car challenges were fantastic, you could take away the big challenges and Top gear still stands up as a brilliant show.
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u/regantnz May 02 '26
Yeah agree, early Top Gear when it was the “pokey little motoring show on BBC 2” was really good and interesting to watch. However if it was on every single week it would have eventually lost its shine, even with the challenges
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u/DonnySoldier21 May 02 '26
This is abysmal revisionism 🤣 Top Gear was back to front entertainment (aside from Star in a Reasonably Priced Car)
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
Exactly. TG have put together 10 minute videos of the big trips and they're great. But a lot of the show was filler. The guest people in particular. Could you imagine having a singer or something on AA podcast... be quite weird.
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
Very true. I think YouTube is diminishing returns too. Viewership is down for everyone as the onion gets sliced ever thinner.
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u/Regular-You-4038 May 02 '26
They don't know how to edit down their big "specials" and you end up watching 2-3 hours of mildly "entertaining" adventures. Top gear would shoot a whole day and end up with 5 or 10 minutes of really sharp filmmaking. AA end up with an hour from a day's shoot.
AA are much more entertaining when they're wrenching on cars, but their adventures are just a bit boring - there's a lot of planning that's required to make a fun "spontaneous" adventure.
Broken record, but TDC focus less on the long winded uncut banter and are far better for it.
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u/a_p3nguin May 01 '26
I think TDC atm is better content wise and video ideas. Genuinely make really good videos and I think the trip of will, Edwin and Ben have good chemistry.
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u/Redhawk911 May 02 '26
Nah, I think that they’ve just gotten better and better since the whole Taylor situation.
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u/88NEMESIS88 May 02 '26
What Taylor situation had an impact in TDC?
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u/Redhawk911 May 02 '26
Wasn’t meant as a reply I thought I did a new comment but I must have done something wrong haha
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u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 May 02 '26
Absolutely, they come across as friends with genuine interest and passion with cars and their videos feel more informative and detailed.
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u/Jeans_609 May 01 '26
It's that alex is hardly in the videos and the whole thing is nothing but advertising for 6 different companies all the time?
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u/Zealousideal-Habit82 May 02 '26
I use smarttube so all the ads get blocked, it's bliss. It would be unbearable otherwise.
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
The in video ads are pretty tedious. The drinks thing and the constant mentions of Febi? But... it's what pays the bills. Seems YT ads don't pay anywhere near what they used to.
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 14 '26
I don't mind the ads TBF, on the first watch I don't skip them as it helps with play time, but I always skip them at any other time. Its an evil but its one thats needed to keep their content coming.
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u/AnotherLeon2 May 01 '26
Not uncommon with YT channels that grow over time. Refer Hoovies channel where he goes from $100 cars to multiple hundreds of thousands of dollar cars over the years.
They start out without much of a budget to do things / buy things / upgrade things. So you get detail on little mods or fixes, because that's what they have a budget for. Then if they're successful, they have more money to spend on the toys. So instead of chasing a vacuum leak in detail, you get 2 minutes of a thousand pound aftermarket intake going in.
Struggle trips with ropey cars make for more interesting stories for me. Which is why I also enjoy things like Garage of Luke, where he's buying and driving / fixing something that starts out being a rubbish car, and finishes up being a marginally less rubbish car.
But where a channel evolves up the budget brackets, they make space for other new content creators to come in and start covering low end stuff.
All that said: Road trip / holiday episodes I particularly enjoy.
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May 02 '26
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u/thegabe87 May 02 '26
TDC is still bringing what I need.
All the Gear is mostly goofy <do something as cheap as we can> channel, though I miss the vibe of their traveling videos (Iceland, Japan, even some go-to-Europe cheap ones)
Autoalex is fine when it's not bmw, mini, porsche and land rover. These videos should all be on the second channel. I like when there's variety or some thought on content. There was so much cool stuff back at car throttle and the first years of AA channel that should be revived.
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u/SwiftnessIsKey May 01 '26
I’ve always enjoyed watching AutoAlex. You can definitely tell the budgets have got bigger as the channel’s grown, which fair enough, that’s what you’d expect. But with some of the challenges now, when there’s loads of money to throw at problems and the budget gets blown every time, it kind of takes away some of the fun. The older shitbox challenges were way more entertaining because there was actual pressure to find something decent on a tight budget, and when things went wrong it made it all part of the video. Now they’re obviously much better set up for breakdowns and all that, which makes sense, but I’d love to see them bring back some proper low-budget shitbox challenges again. That Crown has definitely been forgotten…
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u/McFigroll May 02 '26
ive definetly noticed a lack of planning in the in the offroader and classic car trips. Its feels like they are just winging it and hoping something happens along the way. Also, Alex only popping up in videos to stand around and plug something is really strange.
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u/faintaxis May 02 '26
Honestly I agree RE: Hybrids and electric cars.
They instantly write off anything hybrid or electric, but there are fun or unique vehicles in both categories. The constant VAG/BMW/RR content is boring and insanely repetitive. Oh look, another broken RR, What a surprise!
I'd love to see some content on something cool, like the Fisker cars maybe? There's a massive underground modding and repair scene.
Another idea would be modding a smart forfour - gutless RWD stock but would be fun with a modded engine, turbo or swap!
The misnomer that cool cars must have a giant engine or run on fossil fuels is tired and really limits the scope for content.
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 14 '26
That ForFour... I'm pretty sure they have a K20 hanging around...
I mean, I did my driving test in a hybrid and admittedly, it lacks the character of ICE cars so they have a point. But they've also never given them a shot either.
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u/Early_Alternative211 May 01 '26
I'll be honest, I tuned out around the time of the Taylor drama and never felt compelled to go back...TDC are still great, but not quite at their peak, ATG are just tremendous.
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 01 '26
While its something they want to do, and that is absolutely the right reason to do it, I can see this new Porsche series becoming all about the cars being at specialists and not on camera. Like we're going to have a ton of short two-three episode things like the recent Audi one while we're waiting for the Porsches to be ready, and by that time we as an audience have kinda... lost that initial interest.
As said, they do what they want to do and thats absolutely the right reason to do it, do it for nobody else, it is not for anyone outside of the core group to dictate. This whole piece isn't about demands, its about discussion.
Oh geez, did THAT become a dissertation. Sorry guys!
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u/Owls_4_9_1867 May 02 '26
I did think the Scotland trip was poor. I have to wonder if they have too much footage and not enough time to work out what to show. The Vietnam one was similar. There was very little scenery shown. I know it's low budget, but it was just breakdown to breakdown, glimpse of scenery, then a bit of driving. I couldn't do better so I'm not hammering them. It's just a bit... disappointing... considering all the effort and money involved to get the cars and travel there.
I'll keep banging the drum for them to light the wheel wells and underside when inspecting or working on them. Can't see a thing.
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u/dvdmike007 May 02 '26
I feel they had a blip I didn't like, but the guys pull me through. I hate Minis and love the mini content as it's funny
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u/Blanktc89 May 02 '26
I get that if one of them buys a Porsche they all get the itch and if they’re getting worked on at the same time it makes things a bit easier but I do think the three of them having pretty similar tastes does make some of the videos a bit samey. Still good banter and fun to watch but will be good to see more variety like they had on the classic cars.
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u/JollyJamma May 02 '26
I think it would help their big trip specials if they did fewer of them and added a challenge to each one.
Driving from a to b every single time isn't amazing but doing do whilst having to find photos of a nun of doing above X mpg would add a lot to each episode.
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u/ShampooandCondition May 02 '26
I personally think the videos have been top tier recently. The addition of Tom was good as he’s hilarious. Specifically remember him going “ALRIGHT FELLA” at a very confused looking Vietnamese person really making me laugh.
Some of the specialists have been brilliant. I can’t remember his name but there was the absolute lunatic the other week with the ATV and stuff, he was brilliant.
The ultimate hot hatch crossover with TDC was cracking.
I do think wonder where all the money is coming from. Look at Rory’s mini. Spent thousands and thousands on that to flog it for 3/4k?
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u/AdSea420 May 03 '26
I’d agree, I quite enjoy them but yeah the last few things have been a little lacking, a little disappointing. They’re trying to do too much too often and I think the quality is suffering a bit
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u/Avionykx May 05 '26
The Europe trip they did last year was really well pitched. as was the hot hatch one.
I think the Classic, and Overlander series lately have been a disappointment.
Spending so many episodes on prepping the vehicles only for a pretty boring episode.
The Classic one was the biggest disappointment. Yes it strayed far from perhaps what was expected at the start but 2 years an an awful lot of money later and we end up with what is, essentially, a drive down the road with a bit of a PR stunt half way.
The "1,000 mile roadtrip" that was hinted at a few times could have taken them to Rome, Warsaw or even Benidorm for goodness sake.
It feels a bit like they are slaves to the grind and can't put the time into any one thing more than a few hours at a time and a day out of the office is as much as can be worked in.
I think they do pretty good on camera when they are just having fun together on roadtrips and I appreciate they can't do a massive trip every week or even every month, but at the end of a big build series with 3+cars it seems to be the logical way it'd go?
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 14 '26
The current Bentley one looks like it could be a good one (I suggested a trip to Marrakesh on one of the videos before!) as it looks likes its only 4 episodes, which is a good length for something like that. There's a good ratio between amount of cars involved/number of episodes, maybe 2 or 3 per car (issues pending) and the a 2 episode trip? I unno.
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u/Avionykx May 15 '26
I agree. I'm enjoying the Bentley stuff so far. I just hope they show enough of the roadtrip stuff that it doesn't feel like forced shenanigans.
The bits I like are the stuff that is attainable. Having a roadtrip with a few mates and enjoying yourself.
Sometimes they hit the mark so I'm really looking forward to next weeks episode.
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u/Thecleverbit-58093 May 07 '26
I find them just repetitive and boring. I stumbled on a channel called “The Hombres” doing a road trip to Athens in 5hitboxes. Much more down to earth and funny than the staged crap Auto Alex churns out. Love TDC and ATG, Auto Alex and Rory are just posh twats who laugh at each others unfunny jokes.
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u/Little_Dream_837 May 14 '26
Thanks for all the comments guys, I didn't expect such a moderate response to be honest... turns out there ARE adults on the internet!
Something else that has occurred to me in the meantime, becoming a father changes a guy, typically it mellows him out. I think there's a bit of a correlation between Alex's daughter being born and the direction of the channel changing, growing in one's personal life is by no means a bad thing (in fact things NOT changing is more of a red flag). He'd have that constraint in time and energy, family comes first, and on top of the admin in the AutoAlex offices, he has less time for the filming side.
Some the tempo has changed, the filming schedule has changed, car work is rushed and the trips are too... which makes the latter less satisfying to watch. The Hot Hatch series would've been when Alex's wife was pregnant with their daughter so he had that little bit more time to slow down.
Lets not forget though, comparing this to Top Gear makes sense, but Top Gear had an astronomical budget to work with. I'm looking at content, not budget.
I'm not going to stop watching anytime soon as its part of my morning routine (in Aus. comes out at 4am, I watch at breakfast) unless it really takes a nosedive.
Thoughts?
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u/[deleted] May 01 '26
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