We can almost see how “ValetDrive” seemed like a good idea. Anyone can be a content creator nowadays, and the “host” of the show probably thought the fleet of exotics he had at his disposal as a parking attendant was a great resource for starring in some video reviews. Thing is, these cars aren’t his to play with, and the crew at Bimmerpost made sure that he wouldn’t be getting his hands on someone else’s property anytime soon.
The video that drew their ire was a seven-minute cut on the latest – and last – video on the ValetDrive’s channel, which is no more. It consists of him and a companion speeding around a parking garage, struggling desperately to give the car the Jeremy Clarkson treatment while intercut with M4 promotional footage.
It’s almost a master class on how not to proceed in this line of work.
We can set aside the utter lack of charisma, but the most grating issue is his lack of knowledge about the car. The “review” initially consists of the valet pointing out elements of the interior, like the carbon fiber trim and the “screen” that displays “things.” Apparently the M4 has M-badging throughout the interior. Well spotted, champ. He can point out that the steering-wheel mounted “M1” button makes the car “go fast” but is dumbfounded as to the function of the one labeled “M2.” For the record, these are presets that let you save your preferred driving settings.
His deep understanding of the BMW is further demonstrated as he takes a guess that the engine is a twin turbo V6, which is close, but is in actuality a 3.0-liter twin turbo inline-six that produces 431 horsepower.
“Turning off the traction control while not on a racetrack is not something I would advise,” suggest the responsible presenter, conveniently leaving out appropriating someone’s vehicle without their permission for your own purposes.
Keen eyed Bimmerposters took issue with his cavalier highjacking of someone’s BMW, using similar uploads and links to the now deleted ValetDrive twitter account to I.D. the valet in question, notifying his employer. The filmmaker was promptly let go, with the company stating that other hotels in the area will be notified. Both the channel and accompanying twitter account were taken down, but the clip has been re-uploaded by others.
Trust us, we can appreciate how nice reviewing cars can be, but abusing the trust given to you by your job to help yourself to someone’s property isn’t the way to go about it.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.