Richard Hammond welcomes Shmee's legendary Clio V6 to The Smallest Cog!
**A Closer Look at Tim's Cog Score**
We recently had the pleasure of discussing Tim's car with Richard, and we're excited to share his Cog score with you. With a total score of 45 out of 50, Tim's car took top honors in our latest test.
**Mechanicals: A Near-Perfect Score**
One of the standout features of Tim's car was its Mechanicals section, which scored an impressive 9.5 out of 10. Richard noted that while everything was "almost perfect," there were a few minor issues to address. Specifically, he mentioned that the engine mount felt a bit loose, and the engine itself wasn't properly secured with cable ties. However, these issues didn't detract from Tim's overall enthusiasm for his car.
**Interior: A Slight Letdown**
The interior of Tim's car was another area where it fell just short of perfection. Richard praised its cleanliness and organization, but noted that a few small details were missing to take it to the next level. For example, some interior components were not properly secured with original clips, which can lead to wear and tear over time. Despite this minor quibble, the interior still earned an impressive 8 out of 10.
**Sound: A Solid Score**
The sound system in Tim's car was another area where it impressed Richard. He noted that the speakers were well-positioned and produced clear, crisp sound, but there was no real wow factor to take it from good to great. As a result, the sound section scored an 8 out of 10.
**Coolness: A Perfect Score**
Finally, the Coolness section was where Tim's car truly shone. Richard praised its exterior design and noted that it looked like something straight out of a magazine. The interior was similarly impressive, with clean lines and a well-executed dashboard design. With this perfect score, Tim's car took top honors in the Coolness category.
**The Road to Nurburgring**
With a Cog score of 45 out of 50, it's clear that Tim's car is more than capable of handling some serious driving. Richard noted that he would be happy to take the car for a spin on the famous Nürburgring track, and hopes to squeeze in a few laps soon.
**A Long-Term Keeper**
Unlike many cars, Tim doesn't plan to treat his car like a disposable possession. Instead, he sees it as a long-term keeper that will be enjoyed over the coming years. With proper care and maintenance, he's confident that the car will remain in excellent condition for years to come.
**A Special Thanks to Richard**
Finally, we'd like to extend a special thank you to Tim for sharing his car with us today. We're thrilled to have had the opportunity to test it out, and we appreciate the time he took to chat with us about his project. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out Tim's vlog from our conversation – it's a must-see for any Cog enthusiast.
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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe tested this format out a couple of times last year and you guys seem to enjoy it so welcome to the first Cog score of 2023 and I can hear a very special hot hatch coming around the corner now in case you missed our videos from last year this format sees a fellow YouTuber arrive at the smallest Cog with their latest pride and joy the car then goes up on a ramp and while Anthony and I inspect it the personality heads upstairs for a chat with the boss by the end of the day Anthony and I will have come up with a cog score out of 50. a man that needs no introduction Tim how are you doing good to see you good to see you too good to be here hello anyone that's been following your Channel or especially your new channels Museum will know everything about this you've basically overhauled a Cleo V6 we brought this car back from the dead cool it hadn't been run for about eight years it had a mouse living in the boot of it it was in a complete state of disarray and you decided to take it on and we were like let's do this let's make it a nice car these I mean it's a seriously cool car my first car was a base 1.2 version of this generation Clio and this was like the Holy Grail the flagship so it was kind of right we're doing it we're doing with this we're going loudly change the color we changed everything yeah so it used to be black correct a note it's what do you call this this is acid yellow so the black gold and I know a lot of people hate it if you change the color of a collectible or rare car like this but I want to drive it I want to use it there were only eight of these color cars in the UK originally out of the 384 in the UK two of them are no longer here so we thought we would fill one of the gaps and make it back to seven again amazing so we're gonna give this a cog score I have a feeling it's going to do quite well hopefully but I mean good man you've clearly driven it here so if you don't mind we'll give it a bit of a clean before we get in the workshops a new addition to this year's Cog scores is that we're going to give the cars a clean before they are inspected to create somewhat of a Level Playing Field and today's sponsor G Technic has come up with the goods first up things get nice and soapy with some snow foam using g-technics W4 Citrus foam unlike traditional pre-washed snow Foams that come loaded with caustic chemicals this foam is a pH neutral formula that removes hard to shift Grime without damaging coatings it is especially tough on road Grime and Bug splatter The Next Step was to apply Citrus all-purpose cleaner around the bottom half of the Clio this biodegradable formula removes the nastiest of Road Grime with these they can also be used for many other cleaning rolls from engine bay degreasing to carpet stain removal while that's doing its thing some W6 iron and Fallout remover is ideal for cleaning the wheels searching out any metal deposits the last step in the washing process is to remove the ingrained dirt grime and Road film 100 biodegradable g10x g-wash produces a high foam content which breaks the bond between the dirt and your vehicle's paintwork the shampoo lubricates dirt particles which minimizes surface abrasion and maximizes gloss retention by always using a g-technic wash mitt bucket and dirt trap Tim's Cleo is now beautifully clean and protected and ready for Cog scoring all right tell me I have the keys over to you Richard is bringing up there for you let's go do it hello hello welcome thank you very much first thing to go for am I talking to Tim or schmee I think probably Tim we can explain a bit more about that yeah Kashmir is I mean people know he was Schmidt you'll know him as much me yeah it's a really funny one because I started going by shme150 online when I was about 9 or 10 years old we're talking 25 years ago with no plans obviously because you you sign up for your Sega Dreamcast or Playstation when I was 9 or 10 this is an interesting age gap between us and also so we're in the same world you and I you're already talking a different language so when you were nine or ten you was this on like a school book you you wrote schmee no no this was online you know the early days of the internet dial up internet MSN Messenger Hotmail is that the one that went yes yes when you're connecting yeah yeah and you know what it was it was never planned right so it was never like let's upload stuff about cars at the beginning cars was always a patch so this was just gaming this is just making a name but what I'm interested so you made up the name schmee 150 which you could get registered or whatever and that's now become your brand the brand that makes you a living as a person to say grown-up I'm pushing it there excuse the noise there's going to be a racket I've got to explain um this Workshop you know we're on the TV we're on Drive tribe but it is actually a workshop and there's somebody doing some work yeah and with every one of those impacts it's more money I'm gonna retire so um welcome Tim to the smallest Cog am I welcome this is just I might have to ask him to hang on a minute I just I'll just Andy Andy have you got a lot of hitting to do has he I don't mind no no he can carry on but if it's like hours don't hold the work but if you haven't gotta hit it don't hit it it's honestly I'm powerless Tim this is it's pathetic isn't it if you need to make a noise make a noise you did quietly welcome to what I suspect is this hell for you this place what do you mean well it's all about old no not at all not not at all I think one of the beautiful things about the automotive world is you know for me I'm more about supercars modern that end but I I love how everything comes together it's very much a shared passion yeah yeah it is and we'll all sing the We love cars song in a minute but you come here let's be obvious you're in you you brought your beautiful Clio V6 You're simply hideous Lamborghini which we'll discuss yours is a world of you've actually said it's got It's the latest you want you always want the latest and and I've got a workshop full of the oldest I think there's a big element of this is like one's own generation so I know a lot more about the cars from my time for example the Clio V6 it's nearly 20 years old but that was a car that when I was starting to drive as a teenager that was like the coolest thing in the world right so that was instantly on The Bucket List you could say I have done a few awesome things where I've driven like a Mercedes 300 SL Gull Wing through Italy on the mill Emilia and that was absolutely out of this world that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life just being surrounded by all the cars from that era and everything but my I suppose biggest passion is the new cars cars that I can follow the Journey of cars where I can know about it from the day it was introduced through to the cars being on the roads through to getting to drive one maybe own one that kind of thing that's interesting so you're there for the sort of the creation of that car you know there from its very Inception and start yeah knowing more about it you know even having come here in the hurricane sto having known the whole story of the hurricane from when Lamborghini introduced it to replace the Gallardo all the way through to the different derivatives to the race cars everything that goes towards the sdo whereas this is a place founded on history that happened often before you were born yeah it's different but this is I stopped learning about it like this is I know what you mean by different things in the sense of classic versus Supercar versus whatever it might be but I still love being around different types of things that I don't know about because so much of it is learning about it like finding out about it getting told about it and it's been a while since we did one of these but what a clanger we're coming back with what we've gone from to what we're going to now oh come on let's not be too harsh I'm not being harsh but this has got a little soft spot in my yeah for your V6 I mean this has to be what I imagine is one of the best examples in the country this is fresh not if not in the world okay it's got to be so before we get too excited we're going through all the categories so exterior interior Mechanicals sound and sheer coolness so let's start with exterior first things first do you like the color I love the color it's rash but I think it's a good wrap yeah but it's not two in your face it's actually it fits the car you know you get some colors on some cards you go that it's better like as far as I know the car was black before yes that's right so now it's acid yellow but if I was gonna have a car it Cleo acid yellow with those twin papers what they're connected to knowing what's sat in there waiting for us to have a look at it there's just so many details because you can see so this is normal Cleo Bodywork here and you can actually see where they've bonded on the white Arch here but they're not afraid to show it that's one thing about the French it we've put a panel on we're not going to hide it yeah it's there it's just bondage sorry I'm a white boy and that's me are we going to be able to find a blemish this is my problem I it's so fresh even the petrol cap so that you need to put your key in to get that out at night that is covered in scratches but it's it's Immaculate perfect how is that possible it's not it's not normal I'm even looking for seals that aren't fitted quite right but to be honest it looks like it's come out the factory with past cards we've looked at we've spent an hour on the rear quarter so we're still in the boot right yeah just think it's it's interesting you brought the Clio V6 in which they're looking at downstairs yes you're gonna do well I hope so okay I certainly hope so no guarantee no guarantees um it's just an interesting car just to establish our different age groups our different where we are uh the clear V6 I worked at Renault so I'd worked in radio stone to death got a job at Renault UK to get to know the editors of all the car shows yeah it worked yeah after 18 months I went on Dominion Motors I wasn't at Renault when the Clio was launched by then I was just starting Top Gear I've been doing Granada Nano Motors so I was already working I was at finally after 15 20 20 years got myself going broadcasting about cars you took a very different path because but You're Something of a phenomenon really in that you are one of the originals when YouTube started all of this that we're doing now right when it started you happen to be there yeah I was I was super early into this social media world before I think any of us had any idea where it would go what it could become the concept of doing it as a business as a as a job it was very much hey I've got my camera let me go film something let me film a cool video and you know it started for me over 13 years ago with literally an event for the Top Gear magazine Awards in London yeah I haven't actually seen it you handily did a video in 2017. in which you interviewed yourself for about 20 minutes I saw that that's brilliant having a look at anything um but you did apparently so this was you weren't doing lots of car videos at that point no I hadn't at all my my YouTube channel I had made a few years earlier when YouTube had been made yeah I've been on YouTube since literally it's Inception why did you do why did you think I love cameras I love videos it was very very basic for me mini TV tape cameras I've always been into gadgets and stuff always had lots of toys around so you were a gadget geek rather than a big show-off it was always about the the cameras and things so at school for example I would go and film the first 15 rugby matches and then make edit the videos together or film friends doing whatever it was that you get up to and make the videos and YouTube was like the place to go and host it it was the place to put the video it wasn't with any intention you know this is the era of Charlie bit my finger and there's super early virals but it wasn't let me upload something that a random person will try and watch and it was only when I started doing car videos that happened that people started coming to watch the car videos so there you were driving along the Kings Road of course it was the King's Road we'll get to that uh driving along the Kings Road and you went past bibendam yeah and in the window was a Ferrari and a Lamborghini and a Top Gear side yes indeed what happened I was kind of like why don't I just make a video clip I had just got a brand new camera because I wanted to go and film a ski trip I was going to go with some friends go skiing shortly after I got a new camera and I I just thought I would why not film it why not just film it's a 458 Italia and a Murcielago SV two brand new cars you know only Top Gear has the power to pull those kind of cars out when they're so new upload the video and I think it was probably a few thousand people watched it I was kind of like hey this is exciting but what was probably even more exciting was that the people commenting were people from around the world people who had a passion for these kind of things coming together in a you know somebody would say hey I'm from Sydney I've never seen something like that or I'm in Beverly Hills and there's one of those down the road over here you know what it might be but just instantly engaging with a global community so it opened up the global car Community there you are down King's Road a bit of a film it goes uh people watch it so this sort of almost camera geek and video producing geek makes this thing but you are still it's cars for you for sure I mean cars have been there since I was a little kid I don't I don't really know otherwise um it was it was a blending of Worlds I'd been taking photos of cars for years before I'd done videos so I'd been car spotting in London taking pictures of cool cars that I would see at a time when that wasn't really known we didn't have Instagram and Snapchat and all the stuff that you have now so it was kind of just taking pictures and maybe putting them on forums or maybe sticking them on my personal Facebook page it wasn't what it is now what I'm interested in is we have car families both of us indeed um and for that reason why in hell does it work so well what you do why do people watch quite a post bloke driving around in cars they're never in a million years afford because if you think in any other thing if it was about you know most TV media it's always the worst hotels in the world the worst jobs in the world and there's you look at me I'm in Scotland with a Ferrari FF and I'm gonna have a day you're probably never gonna have and we love it why why is it about you or the subject why does it work so I I didn't start with supercars so the first car I owned was a 1.2 Clio so 70-something brake horsepower but that was probably you know I think with everyone first car is your first Freedom your first opportunity to get on the road and I actually started making videos back when I had my second car which was I had run a business and after a couple of years I bought a one series had a one two three D and I've been lucky to order that new it was a brand new car but that's where my online Journey began so everything from that point to today is all there and that's one of the craziest things for me is I can watch back my own videos and be like whoa you know where did this where did this start but it's always been under the tagline living the Supercar dream and the the aim for me is to try and share that experience it's not it's not supposed to be about me I feel incredibly lucky that I get to to do this us to own these cars and to be part of this but it's to inspire and to create something that allows people to to think either you know hey maybe one day I can get to that position or to see what that experience is like what what is it like to actually use a Ferrari so I started creating videos kind of like what I wanted to watch so shooting what I wanted or what I hoped would be out there to see but wasn't and that's always been always been the same kind of theme to bring people along for that journey and obviously to try and involve as many people as possible along the way in different ways within it I mean we're gonna it's gonna be tough to not give this a 10 and exterior at this point I mean I'm looking for stone chips yeah I was going to say should we even check for the old there's no cable ties like the uh Supra I mean yeah it's just insane we've not found a single blemish yet and we're already halfway around the car you haven't even got water in your headlights like a normal clearance I mean those headlights look amazing they look brand new oh oh I think I found some as well I've just found some at the same time I've found something look the paint is chipped someone's put this Grill back in and the paint has been chipped there and there that's getting close to Interior now I mean that's all the way in the faster pointing those out is now I found one thing that I think he should get changed I found one Oh see it's not is it slightly too big no no it's been where it's been taken out it's probably got an aluminum strip in it and it's deformed okay so I mean come on that's me being fussy that's me being I mean well this is Concourse level judging happening here this isn't cool come on no but that's the only that's the only issue I can find is that one rubber anyway that's how Scott Road that's the quickest go run we've ever done of exterior we will leave our scores till the end yeah I think it's fairly clear what we're going to give exterior it's pretty good okay on to interior do you still enjoy it absolutely it's a job now it's been a job for years I've actually been doing this as a full-time job for a decade I believe you do I was chatting to your absolutely very modest Entourage you're not the person who's come here with the most bit I was thinking right schmee's coming in there's gonna be fleeted there's no it's it's quite a modest number of people came with you but I was chatting to them and the overriding thing that came out is your enthusiasm is still as boyish as ever was and it's generally it's genuine that's what I say about not growing up I still feel myself you know somebody says hey do you want to go do this do you want to go drive that car or go to this place I'm still you know I don't mind if I've had no sleep I'm there I'm in if there's something to do I appreciate these opportunities are there and might not be there in the future you know for me I can't believe that somehow this has worked this is beyond my wildest expectations I started in a successful but very textbook office type role and I thought that was going to be the entirety of my future and don't get me wrong I wasn't complaining about doing that but to have fallen into doing something I love you have this cliche phrase if you do something you enjoy you never work a day in your life but it's so true it's completely true I'm still I just want to get back to this business of it not fading for you because for most of us I came I came here today in my very own smeaker sorry I did it on purpose that's all right I knew you were coming in and thought right what's the least 150 car it's my Land Rover Defender so I brought that in and honestly I was probably happier driving that here than I would have been in your Lambo STL I would probably be happier driving that here than the sto don't get me wrong yeah it's a more appropriate car for the area in the day you know people often people often say this to me actually there's this kind of assumption that you have to always if you're doing what I do you have to always be driving a Supercar I'm very happy to be in the cheapest rental car I can get just off-grid under the radar just whatever but if you go to a petrol station and you know you're pretty well known anybody likes cars he's gonna know you they're not a bit disappointed when they see there's a rented course that matters does that matter it's your social Duty as it is sometimes it doesn't matter to me you're not first no I put regular hotels and book rental regular rental cars I'm not outs outside of cars I think I'm you know obviously I'm very lucky that maybe that's a lot of money being made that noise that's that's actually using power tools I'm sorry I'm distracted because I'm just doing some actual work and earning me money carry on I was going to say that obviously this has all been very successful and I can't believe that's the case but outside of that I don't think I've really changed the way I do things you know I still we'll go about trips and travel and the way I always did lucky to go lots of press launches and stay in amazing hotels that way but I think that I'm still the same person I was before just the cars got very crazy well it's an interesting one because there's lots of Cleo in here obviously very clearly but then you feel everything Alcantara no I don't think well it's definitely fresh it's very fresh yeah it feels lovely I found one issue already have you yeah I've got a gap on my trim I know quite being fit as possible not quite am I the same this no I'm I'm I'm full I think I think I've just fixed it for him well oh right Tim that needs fixed yeah anything else big issue I've got a big carpet show in there just sticking out you can see in the carpet okay this is that oh look at that that that's been placed has not been put in I look I can lift this whole thing oh God that's proper French quality I I would lift this all the way out there's wires that are keeping it in place but that has not been that's typical French Plastics overnight Jose brought that for a cog score and not put that in properly I don't know and there's nothing worse than missing having a cigarette later that piece is right off yeah even if he's got a USB you should have replaced it with the original thing the only thing I would say about this and I'm a bit gutted it doesn't feel sporty sporty seats are too high do you know what I'd have in this car if it was mine well I totally get this it's like in my one deal you feel at your high but again the mundane origins of this thing of course it's going to be like yeah but if it's my car if Tim said and what would you do to this bucket seats no no no no no no not two bucket CT like the comfortable ones not the pure like you know when you get this you just sit a bit lower because I'm like I know I'm a big like I disagree I think that would ruin it because these are lovely I mean you're still yeah they look like my granny's Cleo seats but the Alcantara on them you're grannied my scoot octavia's got out your granny is not kicking around with Alcantara seats we'll disagree on that one though I reckon buckets would just finish it off I'm not sure what's happened there there's a bit of scuffing on the head line yeah but why would you scuff there though what are you doing that scuffs that positan get up in this thing I don't want to know and I wish I never touched it no gear shift feels nice that's a problem you just tell it's very clear the only thing is when you look back and you go oh yeah oh but what's that next yeah that is the boot by the way I don't know if you've ever gone there's a tiny bit of storage in the back but that is essentially where you put your luggage that is it or you do it so it's not very family no but again it's a Cleo V6 yeah so I mean we've definitely found things to mark down but I mean you know when we say mark down mark down but not it's nothing crazy this has been the worst bit so far yeah I mean that but I mean compared to Jimmy's Car where he had a doorbell in the dark doorbell so that's interior onto Mechanicals mechanical my bit when you're on press launches so those are the manufacturers are launching a new car and they invite lots of journalists out with their notepads and pens as it used to be um to review it do you ever come up against a sort of proper old school hacks or they're with a notepad not like a digital notes I'm writing it down um the proper old school hacks I'm not gonna name them no I know what you mean because you see that since the days I started going to Media launches I was writing notes on my tap on my phone I've always been doing it that way and I think everyone's looking at me like why is he not using so one of the old hacks make of you and how do you feel about it in the early days I think it was greeted with a lot of confusion certainly because the social media world was so new nobody knew what this was but obviously I was capitalizing on the fact that hey I can create some content and it's interesting to a lot of people so I'm going to do them as much of that as I possibly can we've this has evolved a little bit since and obviously there's there's a bit of conflict between the different worlds because I think they're often not understood you know obviously I've grown up reading magazines and watching the TV shows and taking in all of this content that's how I've learned about the world of cars and I think social media is often misunderstood almost in a quite protective way of the industry because it's new because it's different you know this has always happened through time um but I think they exist quite nicely alongside one another because if you're if you're purchasing a performance vehicle you want both a technical understanding of it but you also want to understand a bit more of what it's like to perhaps live with you know this is very relevant content now buyers of a Lamborghini want to know what's it actually like when you order one what's that process going to be like why should I order a Lambo rather than a Ferrari a McLaren a Porsche or something else so it's it's almost like alongside it's a different world and in terms of what we both do and I've done you know whether it's in print on TV short form on social media wherever it is the key to it always was actually nine times out of ten it's got to be somebody who's driven all the competition if you're driving a new Supercar you've got to have experienced those on either side of it to make those comparisons which you can do and me if I were out there as either a potential customer or an enthusiast I'll tell her I won't have done I don't know how a Ferrari would feel next to the equivalent Lamborghini you do because you didn't yeah it's it's really really quite crazy the the list of cars that I have been lucky to experience and I think that does as you say give people that result because you you can say hey when I do this and that car does this if I do it in that car it's it behaves differently and having tried pretty much all of them it's it's it's quite mad to think about and I guess supercars like it or not and I am I've become a bit cynical about it because I'm older than you well they're all too good exactly I agree same happened with bikes Superbikes reached a point where it would either put you in prison or Hospital and you probably weren't going to go you can't go any faster on the road so there's if you're not careful there's a kind of cynicism that comes in but there's also an unalloid absolute ridiculous Preposterous joy that you'll never get around our room when we had the original conversations so new Top Gear when we started it back in 2000 Jeremy and Andy Willman had had an initial meet with the BBC we want to bring Top Gear back and it's going to be in like a studio and we're going to do reviews so we have the basics there yeah then we started having meetings when we were designing what the show was going to be and I remember I've recounted it off but I remember there was a conversation in the office when we all said so that's us plus the rest of the team right Grand rules for new Top Gear no supercars it's only going to be ordinary cars that people can actually buy and no foreign travel it's just going to be in normal places that people actually go and we very quickly realized do you know what it's before so it didn't come from the audience it came from us as car guys I mean cars down to our boots we thought no because if you've got a passion for the subject you want to drive and experience the best in the best places and that's what people want to watch it's true completely true if if they can if you can offer it and so it's fair to say we both owe quite a lot in terms of our careers and they're fortunately being able to follow our passion professionally to the nature of the subject itself oh 100 I I definitely agree with that because you're not a neither am I a racist driver who needs to be handy handy at peddling but not brilliant it's not like watching sport when you're watching what you do others like us do it's about sharing the experience so we owe a lot to the subject I think what you just said is quite interesting being reasonably handy at the wheel of a car but not a professional racing driver actually adds even more relatability to the viewer because while lots of people might say they dream of being an F1 driver let's be real not many of us can ever be an F1 driver whereas a lot of us can dream about peddling a car at decent speed around a racetrack and picturing being in those shoes and this also links a little bit to the the journalistic angle in the sense of not that many people imagine what it's like to be driving at full speed as fast as you can in the latest Supercar because it's so fast they can imagine driving it at 90 95 because that's what they would do that's where they would try to to be with their car so it creates this subconscious relatability through the experience through the video through what you're what you're sharing I'll let you do the honors the V6 no I have seen your dad's already nipped in here earlier so this should be all good it should be off by now he's already had a peek more boot space yeah so this is that's mad in it right let's see we can have a look see if we can uncover that three liter 24 valves look at that V6 I'll be honest can't see a lot so this is essentially a three liter v6 out of a Laguna that's been taken from the front and put in the bank in the back so it's essentially a front axle of a Laguna the new is that a standard intake or is that a oh yeah that does look fancy it looks fancy that doesn't it so I'd say it's probably not standard so this is supposed to be 255 horsepower they've had it on the dyno and it was I think 242 so nearly there not bad um but when this first came out 255 horsepower it was the most powerful hot hatch in the world really it had just more than the alpha 147 GTA so there you go this is the e45s yeah and it's naturally I'm created as well and actually aspirated hulking great engine back here which makes obviously a bit I bet she's yeah yeah a bit wild a bit like a Porsche but worse okay well yeah you're right we can't see too much shall we get it up in there I reckon I have to go airplane yeah all right Anthony what can we see I'm seeing color matched AP Racing breaks yeah pretty good nice touch that I like that yeah and uprighted shops are they shock standard oh they do look pretty fresh they do it's it's almost like a Veyron under here it's just undertree the entire way before you can see that's not covered in under tray is uh there's no rot it's solid I cannot see any rust at all there's a mountain a clear with no rust this will just be UK speed bumps that have done this yeah and maybe sometimes holes Tim's done a couple of jumps Maybe um I guess one tiny thing I'm seeing a couple of zip ties so if we're really going to Concourse again the clip's missing someone's taking those clips out and not bothered putting in the original on Twitch you know mine's as a mechanic you can understand I can understand yeah that's a bit of nitpicking I was hoping to see more of the engine under here but if anything it's even worse there's actually less to see can't see any you can't see any of that V6 considering that V6 is not a small small lump and you can't see any I've got the end of the gearbox that's it yeah just more on the tree although looking at this I can count seven Ducks they're quite nice little Aero boots but it's nice bit of aluminum it's not you can see where the the race inside of it comes into it and the sporty side but yeah fresh exhaust very fresh and bush is all fresh yeah again not a speck of us I think we found out that Tim doesn't have fast anything the whole asses everything he makes sure he's got the best example he can have of this car okay I think Mechanicals are going to score very high as well let's move on to sound my favorite bit you're always very honest and open about how lucky you feel and you know by trying to be the same we have been quite lucky um getting to explore what we love and turn it into a job obviously things are changing um and for one thing and your career is founded on changes in the media itself what we communicate this through um but the subject itself is also undergoing profan change so the million dollar questionnaire if you can answer this one uh my view is um there's never been a more exciting and important time in the history of the car it first came about it was a novelty for rich people who look Carruthers hasn't got a horse in front of that carriage and it's coming up the drive and then it shaped our world now it is undergoing reinvention and change and we know how important it is because it shaped our world so what's going to happen what are you going to be doing in five years and where's how's it going to be for the next 2150 it's interesting isn't it obviously electrification is being mandated across the world that's the biggest thing I don't think will happen in the way we're currently led to believe it will happen I believe it will happen in some form um I believe that obviously something needs to be done but I think the biggest thing that needs to be done will be a change in the the way that we travel the the private vehicle will change into more into into something else I think that's the fundamental issue should we say you know even production of batteries will get better and charging stations will get better but at the end of the day we're still having to we need to reduce consumption ready Anthony ready sir Zing from the start normal low V6 bearable now I know that Tim is very careful about revving his engines from cold so I'm going to be careful yeah actually to be fair flying wheel is not I know you can't rev it very hard I know I'm being careful but what you're doing is it's not too in your face it's actually quite a nice it revs so easily he's obviously put a light flying Queen when it starts up it sounds like it's got a honestly I'm barely touching Christmas it's meaty it's not it's not E46 M3 I don't know no I was gonna say it's not quite E46 but okay you know my love for naturally I sprayed engines yeah yeah it reminds me to be here reminds me a lot of my mondeos engine yeah very similar same type of thing okay I do not stress Tim out with Revenant now I want to get back to your Niche supercars the reason I want to go there is do they best sum up what it is about an enthusiasm for cars they they can't in a you can't in a single category put enthusiasm for cars like you say there is always that Pursuit for ultimate performance for certainly a draw towards exclusivity and Rarity and price tag is always going to be a thing that that pulls people together you know we all as a child kind of dream and idolize about that Ferrari or whatever it might be um but it's such a an emotive topic that everybody goes in a different direction I think you know we slightly go off the fact that nobody needs a Supercar no no Supercar is never a a thing of need it's a thing of want right it's a it's a it's a thing where or a world where the majority of people who are fortunate enough to own such a machine will also have probably a regular car they drive they're not commuting to work in their Lambo that's not like some people might but they're a minority and who knows why it is that ultimate expression of as you say something that we all need in our daily lives certainly at the moment we need because that's how the world has developed particularly in the United States for example if you don't have a car you can't really do a whole lot in some cities some places and it allows you to do that in a way that ignites conversation ignites passion ignites awesome moments you know the number of times when I've been at a petrol station and you see a kid oodling the cool car and you say come and have a look come and have a sit in it or something and they they're probably inspired for their lifetimes by that kind of moment and it's something that's so hard to to actually quantify its its emotion it's passion oh really please it's a good note to end on actually it draws it to a close naturally talking about a kid seeing a car and going oh wow because uh you think about this you've thought about it it's your living and you're not a kid anymore you've done it for a long time uh you've turned it into a successful living and you're continuing to do it but um job or not and you told me quietly when you first arrived here today putting a little microphone on that basically you just have one on every day because you're always yeah you're always doing stuff so odds are tomorrow you'll be encountering some Supercar driving it looking at it getting in it talking about it but you'll still have that same boyish wide-eyed not even innocent excitement always I think that I enjoy these kind of opportunities so much that the stuff people don't see they're like you say getting dressed in the morning putting a microphone on to scripting a video to flight cancellations and delays and cars breaking down the stuff that is never necessarily on a video because you don't get to make the video because something goes wrong before almost all fades into non-existence because the cool moments and I've been lucky to have some really cool moments are so exciting that you just forget the rest it doesn't matter it's kind of take the moment you know enjoy the moment so for God's sake please don't ever talk to anybody who somehow sours that or or inject a note of cynicism into it that spoils that youthful exuberance because it's that that I think people follow and want and it's great to think that you know it's raining out there you're going to be somewhere looking at some insane new device as excited as or maybe more excited than anybody watching would be to be doing the same and that's maybe the secret to it I think so continue to enjoy it thank you continue um if Anthony or Mike's wrote a book here see I can't wait to go and take this Country Lane keep it alive Anthony the final Factor coolness tell me what you think of this Cleo V6 my honest opinion yeah growing up as a kid and watching TV and seeing these come out and being launched I'd give it a 10 person I think I'd have to just because of the look of it oh yeah I'm trying to think it within its sector is there a hot hatch cooler than that no no it sticks out as much as this you'd have to go somewhere like car 205 t16 but I mean that's kind of yeah that's a totally different League again and I think for me this is my kind of thing because it's a very mundane platform yeah that's been an engineer has done something so changed it to the last so kind of like my Mondeo it's that incredibly mundane car that's a silly engine in it that being in the back it makes it even cooler exactly so I've got it I could personally more do you give it I it's gonna have to be a 10 as well so anyway so we're on to the scores then yeah let's give this car Cog score so starting with exterior you know it's the best one we've ever had and it's taken some finding to find any issue with this car yeah I did find one that rubber so you find the Rubber and I found the tiny paint chips in there but is that enough to take an entire point off it seems harsh so you could say it's not perfect therefore it can't be yes it can be 10 because it's not perfect nine I don't think we can take an entire point off I think yeah you're thinking nine and a half I know it seems silly being giving half points but for this yeah I think we have to if they change that yeah look yeah perfect yeah let's do nine now okay so nine and a half for exterior interior no I must say considering the rest of it it's maybe a bit of a light down interior interior yeah well not Mega let down again yes this is all relative there's a few improvements I could make in there personally with some of the stuff that wasn't quite connected properly I'm gonna give it an eight yeah I'd go with that there's a few little tweak seats Etc I would change to make that okay on to Mechanicals then again I mean that engine if you look under there it's like yeah I mean for much more really for the age of it underneath we found there's a cable ties yeah but again we take an entire point off for a couple of cable ties yeah because it's not perfect so I can't give no I'm not having it to me that maybe another nine and a half yeah give me nine and a half Point yeah half points because it's not there and also to be fair if you put in the original Clips they're probably going to snap off in six months yeah so friends it's actually the thing to do of course it is but yeah okay I'll go with that so nine and a half from Mechanicals sound now obviously we didn't ramp it just maybe as hard as we could have yeah because you know it's Tim's lovely new car you don't want to ruin it it didn't sound bad though did it sound lovely you know me I'm a big sucker for now naturally I sprayed engines do it for me immediately every Cog score so far has beaten any yeah you've been loving it I'm loving it yeah I'm dreading the turbo coming in but um so where are you at hey okay popular weirdly if if it had been warmer um you might have been up there I agree with that one totally eight okay I'm with you on that and then coolness as we've already come to 10 you ain't gonna beat V6 doing that quick maths in my head I'll leave that to you again I've got the number let's get Tim in yeah and reveal what's called Tim welcome back did you have a good chat with Richard yep yep very good chat but I am super intrigued yes so we have your Cog score I'll give you a quick rundown of each section so exterior was 9.5 out of 10. so almost nothing that's not bad I can take you through a couple of things later interior was actually for the car slightly lets itself down but still eight out of ten so okay you know 80 in our test at school you'd be happy very happy that's that's more than a pass so Mechanicals another 9.5 out of 10. so nearly perfect zip ties That was it that was it get some original Clips you'll be sorted yeah eight out of ten for sound now I must admit I know that you're real and rightfully so you're not a fan of Raving a card when it's cold so on up on the stand I didn't want to give it the bean so it could have got higher but okay it was an eight over eight or ten percent and then finally coolness flat 10 out of 10 no worries there at all so your Cog score is 45 out of 50. that is by far and away the best so far that feels pretty good thank you I mean it's all thanks to the guys who've worked on this Tom obviously setting up all of the projects and Scott and Eskimo explore who did a lot of work to this car yeah so what are the plans from here on in what are you gonna do with this thing like all of my cars it's got to go into a lap of the Nurburgring good I take everything to the Nordstrom for that steering lock yeah let's let's hope it doesn't go wrong um I think this is the kind of car that needs to be explored around the countryside maybe a trip to Scotland or something like that um but I see it as a long-term keeper like a car to just enjoy owning doesn't have to do loads and loads and loads of Miles I'm not trying to like squeeze an ownership into one or two years and then moving it on so it's one I'd like to keep pulling out every now and then and just enjoy Tim thank you very much for coming hope you enjoyed your chat with Richard and thank you for bringing this card down it's been epic absolute pleasure thank you thank you so that's the first Cog score of 2023 done and dusted a big thank you to Tim for coming here and if you want to check out his video from today he's filmed a vlog we've put a link in the description below our plan is to do plenty more of these in 2023 and we have listened to you guys the people that you want will be here at some point this year with their cars so if you like this video give it a thumbs up I've been Mike and don't forget to subscribe to drivetribe thank youwe tested this format out a couple of times last year and you guys seem to enjoy it so welcome to the first Cog score of 2023 and I can hear a very special hot hatch coming around the corner now in case you missed our videos from last year this format sees a fellow YouTuber arrive at the smallest Cog with their latest pride and joy the car then goes up on a ramp and while Anthony and I inspect it the personality heads upstairs for a chat with the boss by the end of the day Anthony and I will have come up with a cog score out of 50. a man that needs no introduction Tim how are you doing good to see you good to see you too good to be here hello anyone that's been following your Channel or especially your new channels Museum will know everything about this you've basically overhauled a Cleo V6 we brought this car back from the dead cool it hadn't been run for about eight years it had a mouse living in the boot of it it was in a complete state of disarray and you decided to take it on and we were like let's do this let's make it a nice car these I mean it's a seriously cool car my first car was a base 1.2 version of this generation Clio and this was like the Holy Grail the flagship so it was kind of right we're doing it we're doing with this we're going loudly change the color we changed everything yeah so it used to be black correct a note it's what do you call this this is acid yellow so the black gold and I know a lot of people hate it if you change the color of a collectible or rare car like this but I want to drive it I want to use it there were only eight of these color cars in the UK originally out of the 384 in the UK two of them are no longer here so we thought we would fill one of the gaps and make it back to seven again amazing so we're gonna give this a cog score I have a feeling it's going to do quite well hopefully but I mean good man you've clearly driven it here so if you don't mind we'll give it a bit of a clean before we get in the workshops a new addition to this year's Cog scores is that we're going to give the cars a clean before they are inspected to create somewhat of a Level Playing Field and today's sponsor G Technic has come up with the goods first up things get nice and soapy with some snow foam using g-technics W4 Citrus foam unlike traditional pre-washed snow Foams that come loaded with caustic chemicals this foam is a pH neutral formula that removes hard to shift Grime without damaging coatings it is especially tough on road Grime and Bug splatter The Next Step was to apply Citrus all-purpose cleaner around the bottom half of the Clio this biodegradable formula removes the nastiest of Road Grime with these they can also be used for many other cleaning rolls from engine bay degreasing to carpet stain removal while that's doing its thing some W6 iron and Fallout remover is ideal for cleaning the wheels searching out any metal deposits the last step in the washing process is to remove the ingrained dirt grime and Road film 100 biodegradable g10x g-wash produces a high foam content which breaks the bond between the dirt and your vehicle's paintwork the shampoo lubricates dirt particles which minimizes surface abrasion and maximizes gloss retention by always using a g-technic wash mitt bucket and dirt trap Tim's Cleo is now beautifully clean and protected and ready for Cog scoring all right tell me I have the keys over to you Richard is bringing up there for you let's go do it hello hello welcome thank you very much first thing to go for am I talking to Tim or schmee I think probably Tim we can explain a bit more about that yeah Kashmir is I mean people know he was Schmidt you'll know him as much me yeah it's a really funny one because I started going by shme150 online when I was about 9 or 10 years old we're talking 25 years ago with no plans obviously because you you sign up for your Sega Dreamcast or Playstation when I was 9 or 10 this is an interesting age gap between us and also so we're in the same world you and I you're already talking a different language so when you were nine or ten you was this on like a school book you you wrote schmee no no this was online you know the early days of the internet dial up internet MSN Messenger Hotmail is that the one that went yes yes when you're connecting yeah yeah and you know what it was it was never planned right so it was never like let's upload stuff about cars at the beginning cars was always a patch so this was just gaming this is just making a name but what I'm interested so you made up the name schmee 150 which you could get registered or whatever and that's now become your brand the brand that makes you a living as a person to say grown-up I'm pushing it there excuse the noise there's going to be a racket I've got to explain um this Workshop you know we're on the TV we're on Drive tribe but it is actually a workshop and there's somebody doing some work yeah and with every one of those impacts it's more money I'm gonna retire so um welcome Tim to the smallest Cog am I welcome this is just I might have to ask him to hang on a minute I just I'll just Andy Andy have you got a lot of hitting to do has he I don't mind no no he can carry on but if it's like hours don't hold the work but if you haven't gotta hit it don't hit it it's honestly I'm powerless Tim this is it's pathetic isn't it if you need to make a noise make a noise you did quietly welcome to what I suspect is this hell for you this place what do you mean well it's all about old no not at all not not at all I think one of the beautiful things about the automotive world is you know for me I'm more about supercars modern that end but I I love how everything comes together it's very much a shared passion yeah yeah it is and we'll all sing the We love cars song in a minute but you come here let's be obvious you're in you you brought your beautiful Clio V6 You're simply hideous Lamborghini which we'll discuss yours is a world of you've actually said it's got It's the latest you want you always want the latest and and I've got a workshop full of the oldest I think there's a big element of this is like one's own generation so I know a lot more about the cars from my time for example the Clio V6 it's nearly 20 years old but that was a car that when I was starting to drive as a teenager that was like the coolest thing in the world right so that was instantly on The Bucket List you could say I have done a few awesome things where I've driven like a Mercedes 300 SL Gull Wing through Italy on the mill Emilia and that was absolutely out of this world that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life just being surrounded by all the cars from that era and everything but my I suppose biggest passion is the new cars cars that I can follow the Journey of cars where I can know about it from the day it was introduced through to the cars being on the roads through to getting to drive one maybe own one that kind of thing that's interesting so you're there for the sort of the creation of that car you know there from its very Inception and start yeah knowing more about it you know even having come here in the hurricane sto having known the whole story of the hurricane from when Lamborghini introduced it to replace the Gallardo all the way through to the different derivatives to the race cars everything that goes towards the sdo whereas this is a place founded on history that happened often before you were born yeah it's different but this is I stopped learning about it like this is I know what you mean by different things in the sense of classic versus Supercar versus whatever it might be but I still love being around different types of things that I don't know about because so much of it is learning about it like finding out about it getting told about it and it's been a while since we did one of these but what a clanger we're coming back with what we've gone from to what we're going to now oh come on let's not be too harsh I'm not being harsh but this has got a little soft spot in my yeah for your V6 I mean this has to be what I imagine is one of the best examples in the country this is fresh not if not in the world okay it's got to be so before we get too excited we're going through all the categories so exterior interior Mechanicals sound and sheer coolness so let's start with exterior first things first do you like the color I love the color it's rash but I think it's a good wrap yeah but it's not two in your face it's actually it fits the car you know you get some colors on some cards you go that it's better like as far as I know the car was black before yes that's right so now it's acid yellow but if I was gonna have a car it Cleo acid yellow with those twin papers what they're connected to knowing what's sat in there waiting for us to have a look at it there's just so many details because you can see so this is normal Cleo Bodywork here and you can actually see where they've bonded on the white Arch here but they're not afraid to show it that's one thing about the French it we've put a panel on we're not going to hide it yeah it's there it's just bondage sorry I'm a white boy and that's me are we going to be able to find a blemish this is my problem I it's so fresh even the petrol cap so that you need to put your key in to get that out at night that is covered in scratches but it's it's Immaculate perfect how is that possible it's not it's not normal I'm even looking for seals that aren't fitted quite right but to be honest it looks like it's come out the factory with past cards we've looked at we've spent an hour on the rear quarter so we're still in the boot right yeah just think it's it's interesting you brought the Clio V6 in which they're looking at downstairs yes you're gonna do well I hope so okay I certainly hope so no guarantee no guarantees um it's just an interesting car just to establish our different age groups our different where we are uh the clear V6 I worked at Renault so I'd worked in radio stone to death got a job at Renault UK to get to know the editors of all the car shows yeah it worked yeah after 18 months I went on Dominion Motors I wasn't at Renault when the Clio was launched by then I was just starting Top Gear I've been doing Granada Nano Motors so I was already working I was at finally after 15 20 20 years got myself going broadcasting about cars you took a very different path because but You're Something of a phenomenon really in that you are one of the originals when YouTube started all of this that we're doing now right when it started you happen to be there yeah I was I was super early into this social media world before I think any of us had any idea where it would go what it could become the concept of doing it as a business as a as a job it was very much hey I've got my camera let me go film something let me film a cool video and you know it started for me over 13 years ago with literally an event for the Top Gear magazine Awards in London yeah I haven't actually seen it you handily did a video in 2017. in which you interviewed yourself for about 20 minutes I saw that that's brilliant having a look at anything um but you did apparently so this was you weren't doing lots of car videos at that point no I hadn't at all my my YouTube channel I had made a few years earlier when YouTube had been made yeah I've been on YouTube since literally it's Inception why did you do why did you think I love cameras I love videos it was very very basic for me mini TV tape cameras I've always been into gadgets and stuff always had lots of toys around so you were a gadget geek rather than a big show-off it was always about the the cameras and things so at school for example I would go and film the first 15 rugby matches and then make edit the videos together or film friends doing whatever it was that you get up to and make the videos and YouTube was like the place to go and host it it was the place to put the video it wasn't with any intention you know this is the era of Charlie bit my finger and there's super early virals but it wasn't let me upload something that a random person will try and watch and it was only when I started doing car videos that happened that people started coming to watch the car videos so there you were driving along the Kings Road of course it was the King's Road we'll get to that uh driving along the Kings Road and you went past bibendam yeah and in the window was a Ferrari and a Lamborghini and a Top Gear side yes indeed what happened I was kind of like why don't I just make a video clip I had just got a brand new camera because I wanted to go and film a ski trip I was going to go with some friends go skiing shortly after I got a new camera and I I just thought I would why not film it why not just film it's a 458 Italia and a Murcielago SV two brand new cars you know only Top Gear has the power to pull those kind of cars out when they're so new upload the video and I think it was probably a few thousand people watched it I was kind of like hey this is exciting but what was probably even more exciting was that the people commenting were people from around the world people who had a passion for these kind of things coming together in a you know somebody would say hey I'm from Sydney I've never seen something like that or I'm in Beverly Hills and there's one of those down the road over here you know what it might be but just instantly engaging with a global community so it opened up the global car Community there you are down King's Road a bit of a film it goes uh people watch it so this sort of almost camera geek and video producing geek makes this thing but you are still it's cars for you for sure I mean cars have been there since I was a little kid I don't I don't really know otherwise um it was it was a blending of Worlds I'd been taking photos of cars for years before I'd done videos so I'd been car spotting in London taking pictures of cool cars that I would see at a time when that wasn't really known we didn't have Instagram and Snapchat and all the stuff that you have now so it was kind of just taking pictures and maybe putting them on forums or maybe sticking them on my personal Facebook page it wasn't what it is now what I'm interested in is we have car families both of us indeed um and for that reason why in hell does it work so well what you do why do people watch quite a post bloke driving around in cars they're never in a million years afford because if you think in any other thing if it was about you know most TV media it's always the worst hotels in the world the worst jobs in the world and there's you look at me I'm in Scotland with a Ferrari FF and I'm gonna have a day you're probably never gonna have and we love it why why is it about you or the subject why does it work so I I didn't start with supercars so the first car I owned was a 1.2 Clio so 70-something brake horsepower but that was probably you know I think with everyone first car is your first Freedom your first opportunity to get on the road and I actually started making videos back when I had my second car which was I had run a business and after a couple of years I bought a one series had a one two three D and I've been lucky to order that new it was a brand new car but that's where my online Journey began so everything from that point to today is all there and that's one of the craziest things for me is I can watch back my own videos and be like whoa you know where did this where did this start but it's always been under the tagline living the Supercar dream and the the aim for me is to try and share that experience it's not it's not supposed to be about me I feel incredibly lucky that I get to to do this us to own these cars and to be part of this but it's to inspire and to create something that allows people to to think either you know hey maybe one day I can get to that position or to see what that experience is like what what is it like to actually use a Ferrari so I started creating videos kind of like what I wanted to watch so shooting what I wanted or what I hoped would be out there to see but wasn't and that's always been always been the same kind of theme to bring people along for that journey and obviously to try and involve as many people as possible along the way in different ways within it I mean we're gonna it's gonna be tough to not give this a 10 and exterior at this point I mean I'm looking for stone chips yeah I was going to say should we even check for the old there's no cable ties like the uh Supra I mean yeah it's just insane we've not found a single blemish yet and we're already halfway around the car you haven't even got water in your headlights like a normal clearance I mean those headlights look amazing they look brand new oh oh I think I found some as well I've just found some at the same time I've found something look the paint is chipped someone's put this Grill back in and the paint has been chipped there and there that's getting close to Interior now I mean that's all the way in the faster pointing those out is now I found one thing that I think he should get changed I found one Oh see it's not is it slightly too big no no it's been where it's been taken out it's probably got an aluminum strip in it and it's deformed okay so I mean come on that's me being fussy that's me being I mean well this is Concourse level judging happening here this isn't cool come on no but that's the only that's the only issue I can find is that one rubber anyway that's how Scott Road that's the quickest go run we've ever done of exterior we will leave our scores till the end yeah I think it's fairly clear what we're going to give exterior it's pretty good okay on to interior do you still enjoy it absolutely it's a job now it's been a job for years I've actually been doing this as a full-time job for a decade I believe you do I was chatting to your absolutely very modest Entourage you're not the person who's come here with the most bit I was thinking right schmee's coming in there's gonna be fleeted there's no it's it's quite a modest number of people came with you but I was chatting to them and the overriding thing that came out is your enthusiasm is still as boyish as ever was and it's generally it's genuine that's what I say about not growing up I still feel myself you know somebody says hey do you want to go do this do you want to go drive that car or go to this place I'm still you know I don't mind if I've had no sleep I'm there I'm in if there's something to do I appreciate these opportunities are there and might not be there in the future you know for me I can't believe that somehow this has worked this is beyond my wildest expectations I started in a successful but very textbook office type role and I thought that was going to be the entirety of my future and don't get me wrong I wasn't complaining about doing that but to have fallen into doing something I love you have this cliche phrase if you do something you enjoy you never work a day in your life but it's so true it's completely true I'm still I just want to get back to this business of it not fading for you because for most of us I came I came here today in my very own smeaker sorry I did it on purpose that's all right I knew you were coming in and thought right what's the least 150 car it's my Land Rover Defender so I brought that in and honestly I was probably happier driving that here than I would have been in your Lambo STL I would probably be happier driving that here than the sto don't get me wrong yeah it's a more appropriate car for the area in the day you know people often people often say this to me actually there's this kind of assumption that you have to always if you're doing what I do you have to always be driving a Supercar I'm very happy to be in the cheapest rental car I can get just off-grid under the radar just whatever but if you go to a petrol station and you know you're pretty well known anybody likes cars he's gonna know you they're not a bit disappointed when they see there's a rented course that matters does that matter it's your social Duty as it is sometimes it doesn't matter to me you're not first no I put regular hotels and book rental regular rental cars I'm not outs outside of cars I think I'm you know obviously I'm very lucky that maybe that's a lot of money being made that noise that's that's actually using power tools I'm sorry I'm distracted because I'm just doing some actual work and earning me money carry on I was going to say that obviously this has all been very successful and I can't believe that's the case but outside of that I don't think I've really changed the way I do things you know I still we'll go about trips and travel and the way I always did lucky to go lots of press launches and stay in amazing hotels that way but I think that I'm still the same person I was before just the cars got very crazy well it's an interesting one because there's lots of Cleo in here obviously very clearly but then you feel everything Alcantara no I don't think well it's definitely fresh it's very fresh yeah it feels lovely I found one issue already have you yeah I've got a gap on my trim I know quite being fit as possible not quite am I the same this no I'm I'm I'm full I think I think I've just fixed it for him well oh right Tim that needs fixed yeah anything else big issue I've got a big carpet show in there just sticking out you can see in the carpet okay this is that oh look at that that that's been placed has not been put in I look I can lift this whole thing oh God that's proper French quality I I would lift this all the way out there's wires that are keeping it in place but that has not been that's typical French Plastics overnight Jose brought that for a cog score and not put that in properly I don't know and there's nothing worse than missing having a cigarette later that piece is right off yeah even if he's got a USB you should have replaced it with the original thing the only thing I would say about this and I'm a bit gutted it doesn't feel sporty sporty seats are too high do you know what I'd have in this car if it was mine well I totally get this it's like in my one deal you feel at your high but again the mundane origins of this thing of course it's going to be like yeah but if it's my car if Tim said and what would you do to this bucket seats no no no no no no not two bucket CT like the comfortable ones not the pure like you know when you get this you just sit a bit lower because I'm like I know I'm a big like I disagree I think that would ruin it because these are lovely I mean you're still yeah they look like my granny's Cleo seats but the Alcantara on them you're grannied my scoot octavia's got out your granny is not kicking around with Alcantara seats we'll disagree on that one though I reckon buckets would just finish it off I'm not sure what's happened there there's a bit of scuffing on the head line yeah but why would you scuff there though what are you doing that scuffs that positan get up in this thing I don't want to know and I wish I never touched it no gear shift feels nice that's a problem you just tell it's very clear the only thing is when you look back and you go oh yeah oh but what's that next yeah that is the boot by the way I don't know if you've ever gone there's a tiny bit of storage in the back but that is essentially where you put your luggage that is it or you do it so it's not very family no but again it's a Cleo V6 yeah so I mean we've definitely found things to mark down but I mean you know when we say mark down mark down but not it's nothing crazy this has been the worst bit so far yeah I mean that but I mean compared to Jimmy's Car where he had a doorbell in the dark doorbell so that's interior onto Mechanicals mechanical my bit when you're on press launches so those are the manufacturers are launching a new car and they invite lots of journalists out with their notepads and pens as it used to be um to review it do you ever come up against a sort of proper old school hacks or they're with a notepad not like a digital notes I'm writing it down um the proper old school hacks I'm not gonna name them no I know what you mean because you see that since the days I started going to Media launches I was writing notes on my tap on my phone I've always been doing it that way and I think everyone's looking at me like why is he not using so one of the old hacks make of you and how do you feel about it in the early days I think it was greeted with a lot of confusion certainly because the social media world was so new nobody knew what this was but obviously I was capitalizing on the fact that hey I can create some content and it's interesting to a lot of people so I'm going to do them as much of that as I possibly can we've this has evolved a little bit since and obviously there's there's a bit of conflict between the different worlds because I think they're often not understood you know obviously I've grown up reading magazines and watching the TV shows and taking in all of this content that's how I've learned about the world of cars and I think social media is often misunderstood almost in a quite protective way of the industry because it's new because it's different you know this has always happened through time um but I think they exist quite nicely alongside one another because if you're if you're purchasing a performance vehicle you want both a technical understanding of it but you also want to understand a bit more of what it's like to perhaps live with you know this is very relevant content now buyers of a Lamborghini want to know what's it actually like when you order one what's that process going to be like why should I order a Lambo rather than a Ferrari a McLaren a Porsche or something else so it's it's almost like alongside it's a different world and in terms of what we both do and I've done you know whether it's in print on TV short form on social media wherever it is the key to it always was actually nine times out of ten it's got to be somebody who's driven all the competition if you're driving a new Supercar you've got to have experienced those on either side of it to make those comparisons which you can do and me if I were out there as either a potential customer or an enthusiast I'll tell her I won't have done I don't know how a Ferrari would feel next to the equivalent Lamborghini you do because you didn't yeah it's it's really really quite crazy the the list of cars that I have been lucky to experience and I think that does as you say give people that result because you you can say hey when I do this and that car does this if I do it in that car it's it behaves differently and having tried pretty much all of them it's it's it's quite mad to think about and I guess supercars like it or not and I am I've become a bit cynical about it because I'm older than you well they're all too good exactly I agree same happened with bikes Superbikes reached a point where it would either put you in prison or Hospital and you probably weren't going to go you can't go any faster on the road so there's if you're not careful there's a kind of cynicism that comes in but there's also an unalloid absolute ridiculous Preposterous joy that you'll never get around our room when we had the original conversations so new Top Gear when we started it back in 2000 Jeremy and Andy Willman had had an initial meet with the BBC we want to bring Top Gear back and it's going to be in like a studio and we're going to do reviews so we have the basics there yeah then we started having meetings when we were designing what the show was going to be and I remember I've recounted it off but I remember there was a conversation in the office when we all said so that's us plus the rest of the team right Grand rules for new Top Gear no supercars it's only going to be ordinary cars that people can actually buy and no foreign travel it's just going to be in normal places that people actually go and we very quickly realized do you know what it's before so it didn't come from the audience it came from us as car guys I mean cars down to our boots we thought no because if you've got a passion for the subject you want to drive and experience the best in the best places and that's what people want to watch it's true completely true if if they can if you can offer it and so it's fair to say we both owe quite a lot in terms of our careers and they're fortunately being able to follow our passion professionally to the nature of the subject itself oh 100 I I definitely agree with that because you're not a neither am I a racist driver who needs to be handy handy at peddling but not brilliant it's not like watching sport when you're watching what you do others like us do it's about sharing the experience so we owe a lot to the subject I think what you just said is quite interesting being reasonably handy at the wheel of a car but not a professional racing driver actually adds even more relatability to the viewer because while lots of people might say they dream of being an F1 driver let's be real not many of us can ever be an F1 driver whereas a lot of us can dream about peddling a car at decent speed around a racetrack and picturing being in those shoes and this also links a little bit to the the journalistic angle in the sense of not that many people imagine what it's like to be driving at full speed as fast as you can in the latest Supercar because it's so fast they can imagine driving it at 90 95 because that's what they would do that's where they would try to to be with their car so it creates this subconscious relatability through the experience through the video through what you're what you're sharing I'll let you do the honors the V6 no I have seen your dad's already nipped in here earlier so this should be all good it should be off by now he's already had a peek more boot space yeah so this is that's mad in it right let's see we can have a look see if we can uncover that three liter 24 valves look at that V6 I'll be honest can't see a lot so this is essentially a three liter v6 out of a Laguna that's been taken from the front and put in the bank in the back so it's essentially a front axle of a Laguna the new is that a standard intake or is that a oh yeah that does look fancy it looks fancy that doesn't it so I'd say it's probably not standard so this is supposed to be 255 horsepower they've had it on the dyno and it was I think 242 so nearly there not bad um but when this first came out 255 horsepower it was the most powerful hot hatch in the world really it had just more than the alpha 147 GTA so there you go this is the e45s yeah and it's naturally I'm created as well and actually aspirated hulking great engine back here which makes obviously a bit I bet she's yeah yeah a bit wild a bit like a Porsche but worse okay well yeah you're right we can't see too much shall we get it up in there I reckon I have to go airplane yeah all right Anthony what can we see I'm seeing color matched AP Racing breaks yeah pretty good nice touch that I like that yeah and uprighted shops are they shock standard oh they do look pretty fresh they do it's it's almost like a Veyron under here it's just undertree the entire way before you can see that's not covered in under tray is uh there's no rot it's solid I cannot see any rust at all there's a mountain a clear with no rust this will just be UK speed bumps that have done this yeah and maybe sometimes holes Tim's done a couple of jumps Maybe um I guess one tiny thing I'm seeing a couple of zip ties so if we're really going to Concourse again the clip's missing someone's taking those clips out and not bothered putting in the original on Twitch you know mine's as a mechanic you can understand I can understand yeah that's a bit of nitpicking I was hoping to see more of the engine under here but if anything it's even worse there's actually less to see can't see any you can't see any of that V6 considering that V6 is not a small small lump and you can't see any I've got the end of the gearbox that's it yeah just more on the tree although looking at this I can count seven Ducks they're quite nice little Aero boots but it's nice bit of aluminum it's not you can see where the the race inside of it comes into it and the sporty side but yeah fresh exhaust very fresh and bush is all fresh yeah again not a speck of us I think we found out that Tim doesn't have fast anything the whole asses everything he makes sure he's got the best example he can have of this car okay I think Mechanicals are going to score very high as well let's move on to sound my favorite bit you're always very honest and open about how lucky you feel and you know by trying to be the same we have been quite lucky um getting to explore what we love and turn it into a job obviously things are changing um and for one thing and your career is founded on changes in the media itself what we communicate this through um but the subject itself is also undergoing profan change so the million dollar questionnaire if you can answer this one uh my view is um there's never been a more exciting and important time in the history of the car it first came about it was a novelty for rich people who look Carruthers hasn't got a horse in front of that carriage and it's coming up the drive and then it shaped our world now it is undergoing reinvention and change and we know how important it is because it shaped our world so what's going to happen what are you going to be doing in five years and where's how's it going to be for the next 2150 it's interesting isn't it obviously electrification is being mandated across the world that's the biggest thing I don't think will happen in the way we're currently led to believe it will happen I believe it will happen in some form um I believe that obviously something needs to be done but I think the biggest thing that needs to be done will be a change in the the way that we travel the the private vehicle will change into more into into something else I think that's the fundamental issue should we say you know even production of batteries will get better and charging stations will get better but at the end of the day we're still having to we need to reduce consumption ready Anthony ready sir Zing from the start normal low V6 bearable now I know that Tim is very careful about revving his engines from cold so I'm going to be careful yeah actually to be fair flying wheel is not I know you can't rev it very hard I know I'm being careful but what you're doing is it's not too in your face it's actually quite a nice it revs so easily he's obviously put a light flying Queen when it starts up it sounds like it's got a honestly I'm barely touching Christmas it's meaty it's not it's not E46 M3 I don't know no I was gonna say it's not quite E46 but okay you know my love for naturally I sprayed engines yeah yeah it reminds me to be here reminds me a lot of my mondeos engine yeah very similar same type of thing okay I do not stress Tim out with Revenant now I want to get back to your Niche supercars the reason I want to go there is do they best sum up what it is about an enthusiasm for cars they they can't in a you can't in a single category put enthusiasm for cars like you say there is always that Pursuit for ultimate performance for certainly a draw towards exclusivity and Rarity and price tag is always going to be a thing that that pulls people together you know we all as a child kind of dream and idolize about that Ferrari or whatever it might be um but it's such a an emotive topic that everybody goes in a different direction I think you know we slightly go off the fact that nobody needs a Supercar no no Supercar is never a a thing of need it's a thing of want right it's a it's a it's a thing where or a world where the majority of people who are fortunate enough to own such a machine will also have probably a regular car they drive they're not commuting to work in their Lambo that's not like some people might but they're a minority and who knows why it is that ultimate expression of as you say something that we all need in our daily lives certainly at the moment we need because that's how the world has developed particularly in the United States for example if you don't have a car you can't really do a whole lot in some cities some places and it allows you to do that in a way that ignites conversation ignites passion ignites awesome moments you know the number of times when I've been at a petrol station and you see a kid oodling the cool car and you say come and have a look come and have a sit in it or something and they they're probably inspired for their lifetimes by that kind of moment and it's something that's so hard to to actually quantify its its emotion it's passion oh really please it's a good note to end on actually it draws it to a close naturally talking about a kid seeing a car and going oh wow because uh you think about this you've thought about it it's your living and you're not a kid anymore you've done it for a long time uh you've turned it into a successful living and you're continuing to do it but um job or not and you told me quietly when you first arrived here today putting a little microphone on that basically you just have one on every day because you're always yeah you're always doing stuff so odds are tomorrow you'll be encountering some Supercar driving it looking at it getting in it talking about it but you'll still have that same boyish wide-eyed not even innocent excitement always I think that I enjoy these kind of opportunities so much that the stuff people don't see they're like you say getting dressed in the morning putting a microphone on to scripting a video to flight cancellations and delays and cars breaking down the stuff that is never necessarily on a video because you don't get to make the video because something goes wrong before almost all fades into non-existence because the cool moments and I've been lucky to have some really cool moments are so exciting that you just forget the rest it doesn't matter it's kind of take the moment you know enjoy the moment so for God's sake please don't ever talk to anybody who somehow sours that or or inject a note of cynicism into it that spoils that youthful exuberance because it's that that I think people follow and want and it's great to think that you know it's raining out there you're going to be somewhere looking at some insane new device as excited as or maybe more excited than anybody watching would be to be doing the same and that's maybe the secret to it I think so continue to enjoy it thank you continue um if Anthony or Mike's wrote a book here see I can't wait to go and take this Country Lane keep it alive Anthony the final Factor coolness tell me what you think of this Cleo V6 my honest opinion yeah growing up as a kid and watching TV and seeing these come out and being launched I'd give it a 10 person I think I'd have to just because of the look of it oh yeah I'm trying to think it within its sector is there a hot hatch cooler than that no no it sticks out as much as this you'd have to go somewhere like car 205 t16 but I mean that's kind of yeah that's a totally different League again and I think for me this is my kind of thing because it's a very mundane platform yeah that's been an engineer has done something so changed it to the last so kind of like my Mondeo it's that incredibly mundane car that's a silly engine in it that being in the back it makes it even cooler exactly so I've got it I could personally more do you give it I it's gonna have to be a 10 as well so anyway so we're on to the scores then yeah let's give this car Cog score so starting with exterior you know it's the best one we've ever had and it's taken some finding to find any issue with this car yeah I did find one that rubber so you find the Rubber and I found the tiny paint chips in there but is that enough to take an entire point off it seems harsh so you could say it's not perfect therefore it can't be yes it can be 10 because it's not perfect nine I don't think we can take an entire point off I think yeah you're thinking nine and a half I know it seems silly being giving half points but for this yeah I think we have to if they change that yeah look yeah perfect yeah let's do nine now okay so nine and a half for exterior interior no I must say considering the rest of it it's maybe a bit of a light down interior interior yeah well not Mega let down again yes this is all relative there's a few improvements I could make in there personally with some of the stuff that wasn't quite connected properly I'm gonna give it an eight yeah I'd go with that there's a few little tweak seats Etc I would change to make that okay on to Mechanicals then again I mean that engine if you look under there it's like yeah I mean for much more really for the age of it underneath we found there's a cable ties yeah but again we take an entire point off for a couple of cable ties yeah because it's not perfect so I can't give no I'm not having it to me that maybe another nine and a half yeah give me nine and a half Point yeah half points because it's not there and also to be fair if you put in the original Clips they're probably going to snap off in six months yeah so friends it's actually the thing to do of course it is but yeah okay I'll go with that so nine and a half from Mechanicals sound now obviously we didn't ramp it just maybe as hard as we could have yeah because you know it's Tim's lovely new car you don't want to ruin it it didn't sound bad though did it sound lovely you know me I'm a big sucker for now naturally I sprayed engines do it for me immediately every Cog score so far has beaten any yeah you've been loving it I'm loving it yeah I'm dreading the turbo coming in but um so where are you at hey okay popular weirdly if if it had been warmer um you might have been up there I agree with that one totally eight okay I'm with you on that and then coolness as we've already come to 10 you ain't gonna beat V6 doing that quick maths in my head I'll leave that to you again I've got the number let's get Tim in yeah and reveal what's called Tim welcome back did you have a good chat with Richard yep yep very good chat but I am super intrigued yes so we have your Cog score I'll give you a quick rundown of each section so exterior was 9.5 out of 10. so almost nothing that's not bad I can take you through a couple of things later interior was actually for the car slightly lets itself down but still eight out of ten so okay you know 80 in our test at school you'd be happy very happy that's that's more than a pass so Mechanicals another 9.5 out of 10. so nearly perfect zip ties That was it that was it get some original Clips you'll be sorted yeah eight out of ten for sound now I must admit I know that you're real and rightfully so you're not a fan of Raving a card when it's cold so on up on the stand I didn't want to give it the bean so it could have got higher but okay it was an eight over eight or ten percent and then finally coolness flat 10 out of 10 no worries there at all so your Cog score is 45 out of 50. that is by far and away the best so far that feels pretty good thank you I mean it's all thanks to the guys who've worked on this Tom obviously setting up all of the projects and Scott and Eskimo explore who did a lot of work to this car yeah so what are the plans from here on in what are you gonna do with this thing like all of my cars it's got to go into a lap of the Nurburgring good I take everything to the Nordstrom for that steering lock yeah let's let's hope it doesn't go wrong um I think this is the kind of car that needs to be explored around the countryside maybe a trip to Scotland or something like that um but I see it as a long-term keeper like a car to just enjoy owning doesn't have to do loads and loads and loads of Miles I'm not trying to like squeeze an ownership into one or two years and then moving it on so it's one I'd like to keep pulling out every now and then and just enjoy Tim thank you very much for coming hope you enjoyed your chat with Richard and thank you for bringing this card down it's been epic absolute pleasure thank you thank you so that's the first Cog score of 2023 done and dusted a big thank you to Tim for coming here and if you want to check out his video from today he's filmed a vlog we've put a link in the description below our plan is to do plenty more of these in 2023 and we have listened to you guys the people that you want will be here at some point this year with their cars so if you like this video give it a thumbs up I've been Mike and don't forget to subscribe to drivetribe thank you\n"