[Singh101]

ThankYouForMentioningTheWayFaisalTalksBecauseItIsB othHilariousAndEnragingToMeAndICantStandItOneBitRe asonBeingHisLackOfInformationProvidedDespiteTheNum berOfWordsSpokenAndOfcourseTheAbsentPunctuationsAn dRelevantPausesWhichMAKEALanguageInMyHumbleOpinion .

Team-BHP has been my go-to for reviews for the longest time and I don't see that changing no matter what happens over on YouTube.

Powerdrift was exciting there for a moment but even that has become a flurry of sponsored content and needless movie-like story sequences and sorry attempts at cheesy humour. I'm sorry, but what about the car? Show me the car, please? Hey, could you talk a bit about the car? LISTEN TO ME, you're not Jeremy and James- STOP trying to recreate that chemistry and just make a good, comprehensive car review. You have the strengths- well spoken, knowledgeable presenters, good camera angles, nice shots, great editing and bespoke music. USE THEM, why don't you?!

If anything.. (*sigh*, don't banish me for going so mainstream) Gavin from Autocar India is a pretty good reviewer and doesn't pander to automakers too much. His reactions are on point and his coverage of the technical stuff as well as how the vehicle feels (like on Team-BHP) is quite solid.

[Tomthumb]

Driving license should have a points system, where after certain threshold of violation there license gets suspended. Reckless driving should have greater fine than 500 under the new motorvehicles act. Tagging the police on social media for relevant city should spur them into action .

[sachin2612]

Originally Posted by Kln

There is a channel by Anshuman Bishnoi that has some really dangerous offroading being attempted by some of the worst drivers I've had the displeasure of watching. I hope someone tells it is incredibly unsafe the way he's encouraging people to drive their vehicles.

For your kind information, Anshuman Bishnoi is a fellow Bhpian and i thoroughly enjoy his videos. Not only they are for entertainment but he gives immense knowledge to learn if you own a 4x4 vehicle. Yes there is some danger involved but at the end of the day it is off-roading and there is danger involved even on a concrete or tarmac roads too. And those who regularly watch his videos know 1 or 2 incidents where the cars got toppled but these guys are well prepared for any unexpected event. These guys are not speeding on a public road rather in a controlled environment.
Note: In no way i am arguing, just want to shed a light to Kln. Peace

[VVN]

This. This is what creates bad drivers in India. These videos are not isolated to India. It happens in the West as well. Difference is, the TG is educated enough to understand whats right and whats not. This clubbed with stricter rules and regulations keeps things balanced. Unfortunately in India, the TG itself is so meek and easily influenced that these videos are giving birth to a whole new generation of reckless drivers. Majority of the Indian youth today is at that stage where they prefer to be educated by such lunatics in YT or TikTok or Instagram. It's absurd that FK has become a bit of a celebrity for this nonsense. But then if Salman Khan/Rohit Shetty can have die hard fans for their BS movies then nothing really surprises me.

OEMs need to ban these reviewers asap. Testing a car to its limit is done in a highly controlled environment and not on some random damn publicly used road. I am all for vlogs but then make it sensible and cover the important bits like safety, reliability, comfort and other features rather than talking about wheelspin and handling at 160+ speeds which an average Indian would never do.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

I just can't bear him talking not sure if it is just me or anyone else feels the same. I love Gagan's reviews. He has knowledge, he speaks well and he drives sanely.

I have the exact same thoughts. I was a viewer of FK in the initial days. Lately, couldn't take it anymore, since his reviews no more have any merit. He simply goes crazy pushing random buttons and making the rpm meter cry. An ape could do a better job. Gagan meanwhile gives quality content and speaks like a normal human.

People who have distanced themselves from FK may find below video interesting

https://youtu.be/l0kKCJKEKw0

[AKSarkar1]

These guys aren't even fit to be called YouTube reviewers. They are a bunch of rowdy people who just hoon around in cars at high speeds and call that a 'review'. I don't these people drive "unsafe" for the views, that is just how they must be driving normally. The fact that they are confident and carefree enough to upload it on a public domain just goes to show that this is somewhat of an accepted practice on Indian roads.

I really think that it is time for the local authorities to become a little more tech-savvy and pay heed to what is happening on social media platforms. In Mumbai however, the police are extremely receptive once there is a complaint. Either way, the fact that these people have millions of followers should be enough of a deterrent for them to stop doing such senseless things.

[RoadMonkey]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Atrocious driving to say the least. Name any aspect of bad drivers we hate about, he has it.
Doing 160+ km/h on public roads, weaving in and out of traffic, no idea of lane manners, quick steering inputs on city/highway roads, looking at the screen/camera while driving, adjusting his seat/steering wheel while moving.
Not to say he stands on the horn. Even while driving in the middle of a fricking field!!! And to top it off, rap style NCR punjabi talking.

I knew who this was going to be without needing to look it up, haha. His videos have been posted in the bad driver thread, the Punjabi bit also gave him away. He's from Ludhiana. I'm ashamed to say I know too many people who drive like that in real life, they just aren't posting it online. Punjab/Haryana have an unhealthy and unsafe driving culture, though Punjab has considerably improved over the last few years. Punjab police has started random Highway speed checks! That helps.

[koyomi_araragi]

I think the discussion is moving off track, more towards the style that some YouTubers have with reviewing cars and about the influencer genre of media as a whole. In fact, even as an 19 year old (belonging to the target generation) I agree with many of the view points thrown out here, and I know for sure many in my generation feel the same.

BUT, we live in a free country, and these YouTubers and the like have the freedom to speak how they want, treat their car how they want or post videos in whatever way they want.

What we need to discuss is them endangering and violating the RIGHTS of others. In a free country, you have freedom as long as you don't threaten another's, and the old Faisal khan and those aping him (like this Arun Panwar) are all driving at insane speeds on Indian roads, and as the original video shows threating the lives of other road users not to mention encouraging their minions to do the same. The "chappri" culture or whatever it's called is what's worrying.

We definitely need to notify the authorities and the manafacturers, because this is simply not acceptable. They need to understand the severity of it, if you go on to such YouTube videos, most of the comments are on the lines of "Bhai bahut hard driver hai" which shows the influencer and his followers have no ounce of shame or maturity in them. If they don't have it in themselves, then the law should inculcate it into them.

Sorry for the long post, but I was seriously disturbed at the driving and especially by the minions support. Endangering the rights and safety of your fellow human beings is no joke.

[ShivWason17]

Ohh man, the video shared by the OP

To be honest when I read the thread title, I was kinda sure that the (in)famous Faisal Khan will be mentioned abundantly here in this thread.

These youtubers/ influencers aka self proclaimed car experts/ reviewers are impacting new drivers in a very bad way. A normal teenager now literally grows up watching the videos by these youtubers and acts in a similar manner when in the same situation.

Writing this I cannot help but think about one such incident happened with me this morning- While driving from Dehradun to Noida earlier this morning, one idiot dangerously drove past me in an insane speed. He had his mobile in his hands and it was clear he was making a handheld video for youtube or instagram may be.

I hope the cyber/ social media cells of the traffic department are vigil enough to catch these morons and penalise them for endangering overall road safety.

[alphadog]

It is a free country and in this era of social media, these Youtubers are well within their rights to have a certain style to get their views and subscribers. I do not find that wrong, take it or leave it, no one forces us to watch these videos. The very fact that they have these many viewers and subscribers show that there are enough and more people who do not find anything wrong with what these guys are doing.

However, what is not acceptable, is them doing all this on public roads, breaking traffic rules consistently and possibly endangering the other road users. Unfortunately, they end up influencing a whole lot of younger generation, who feel that this is the way to enjoy life, be cool and have fun on wheels.

Liking or disliking the videos, both contributes to their audience engagement as per Youtube and this encourages them more. The motoring industry will not pull the plug, for them 'no publicity is bad publicity' for their products. They will continue to lend the review and test drive / ride vehicles to some of these imbeciles. What is needed is action from the appropriate authorities.

There is another one, a youtuber with a channel called TurboXtreme. He regularly posts videos of him doing insane speeds on his various bikes including the Hayabusa, on the NCR roads. Im talking of speeds north of 250 kmph and he calls it Hyper-riding. There is a convenient disclaimer at the begining urging people not to imitate him, which is supposed to absolve him of all the wrong stuff he is doing.

All in the name of entertainment. Sad and shameful indeed.

Cheerio!

[museycal]

Never watched FK's driving videos, never will, or of any of the other reviewers "reviewing" the cars. Though hate is a strong word, but that's what I feel the moment I see these reviewers' captions - "Jaaniye sachai of so-n-so car", or, "kyu ki paise ki barbadi yeh car lekar?", or, "hawa se baat karti hai yeh toh!"


These are red flags of cringe content alert. There is dire need of moderation and censorship on these videos.

I stick to walkaround videos on YT and read the reviews here on TBHP. Stopped watching the reviews from publications too some 5 years back since they all to sound like advertorials or paid.

[sierrabravo98]

I am pretty sure that most of the big guys mentioned here are/have been Tbhpians. In fact, I would go out on a limb to say that most of the popular reviewers are atleast passive Tbhp followers if not active members. IIRC, Faisal Khan is a pretty old Tbhp member. He was very active in the late 2000s (atleast I remember his posts when I first came across Tbhp, ofcourse I only discovered the real identity of the man behind the handle last year).

[veedub89]

Faisal Khan has the potential to be a good reviewer but he wastes all his energy on talking too fast.

But honestly, I don't mind his review style that much. If you have to stand-out on YouTube you have to have something different from the others. If he can get more views by rambling on then so be it.

But yes, I do have a problem when the reviewer breaks rules. Don't drive like a moron on the roads and endanger other road users. What I find equally irritating is the camera moving around too much. In some videos, the guy can induce fits with his camera work.

I think Horsepower Cartel is a great Indian channel on YouTube. Guy has good content and slick editing. Maybe not so many car reviews but more than decent vlogs on the Bombay car scene.

[Kln]

FK routinely "launches" cars on busy highways and city roads just to say "THIS CAR HAS PLLLLLLLLEEEENNNNTTTYYY OF WHEELSPIN ON OFFER". It's extremely dangerous, to say the least, and of zero use whatsoever. If you need to do 0 to 100, better do it on isolated roads, like how Mat Watson does on carwow.


The only reviewer whom I've found even halfway useful while deciding whether to purchase a car or not is Gagan Choudhary. He reviews cars that will be bought and used by the common man. He comments on things that will actually matter to you in long term.

FK on the other hand "reviews" cars such as the AMG G63, which I'm sure the Ambani Adani clan is watching before deciding to buy it for their security convoy. "Reviews" of high end cars, especially without any consideration or mention of their price, or the total cost of ownership in India just strikes me as bizzare and tone deaf. But that's just me personally. He obviously has a huge fan following of young (and old, who knows) people living out their fantasies of driving fast cars, through him.

[vik99]

What one person may feel is crass may be cool to someone else. The very fact that these youtubers have followers in hundreds of thousands is indicative of the fact that there is a sizeable market for such content. That said, I believe the platforms should have some way to remove content which is so full of traffic rule violations. If they don't they're just as guilty of promoting such reckless behaviour for the sake of advertising revenue as the content creators are.

As for the authorities, MVD et al, these guys aren't hard to find, in fact they'll probably make a video of getting challaned/fined and try to make some money off views in the process.

This drastic fall in the quality of content is not limited to social media platforms, traditional news media outlets have been catering to the lowest common denominator for a quite a bit now. Some of us may remember a famous anchor from a popular Hindi News channel telling us of some really outstanding technical innovations in what was then a newly introduced denomination of currency, chips anyone?