Do you even like the TFL guys?

[Fightnfire]

Yes, that’s part of my plan. I also have a friend who has the prior gen Ram with the V8. I’m strongly considering several video ideas like:

0-60 comparison old vs new
50-75 MPH comparison old vs new
MPG drive (my friend has a baseline he can share, I’d just do it in the new truck)
Towing with new Ram 1500 (I can compare it to the other towing test like you said)

When I buy it I’ll do a:
Here’s what I bought video
Hoping to go for a long road trip and do a first 1000 mile drive


After 6 months:
6 months later here’s what I think

Then around December:
I’ve owned all four full-size trucks, here’s what I think

I shot a video already on how much it will cost me to own the Ram 1500 for a year. I might reshoot it today since I think I missed out explaining why own it for a year (I need to rewatch it). I want to go live with that on Saturday. I’m looking at resale value, total cost of ownership compared to Chevy, GMC, Ford, Toyota and then Ram. That video will have all those details.

I’m rather irritated I didn’t talk more about the tax break in the Silverado how much I lost video. I’m constantly answering comments from people who are losing their minds over the $14k “loss.” When you regularly have a 30k tax bill and you can write off the truck, you don’t lose 14k. You actually make money.

Those would all be good videos.

Interior noise test comparison (db meter same stretch of road same speed etc)
Ride quality on stock setup comparison
Tech, creature comforts and Interior ranking (I'm curious to see how the bighorn is, with all of the money in the redesign are they still the best interior at their low-mid level)
Likes/Don't Like
If you stopped getting vehicles and had to pick one to live with for the long run, which and why
What does the wife think, her comparison of sorts as a passenger (boss thoughts)

Lastly two thoughts, feedback.

1) I really feel like Pick up Truck Plus needs it's thing. Whatever that thing is. TFL has the Ike, 100 mile mpg loop. truth or dare off road. Truck King has the water line (I forget what they call it) and the left hook, Driving sports has his local forest course for SUV's and his eastern Wa property for truck etc. It's really those repeatable comparable reviews that bring me back to their channels. Not only do they compare the performance of the vehicle they're in that day to the past but as a viewer of their channel(s) I also remember. It doesn't have to be an off-road feature at all, but something that is repeatable and interesting. I agree with you that a MPG loop could be it, maybe incorporate the db meter on the same stretch and instead of cutting to a interior then exterior review hit that during the loop as your driving and the exterior before you start driving. Name it and try to hit the same 4-5 points during the trip for repeatable comparisons.

This ties into my last thought

2) Video length. I recently heard in one of your videos a comment you made about pressure to shorten your videos. I disagree completely with this thought. I could be on an island here but a 30 minute video is great, I'm not a big fan of a 12 minute video. There just seems to be too much left unsaid and too much glossed over. Looking specifically at the recent GX 550 video, yours was around 12 minutes. Ryan's video was right next to yours on my Youtube feed and his was 30 and brought more depth. I'm not consuming this type of content on my phone during the day, I watch YouTube truck videos after work or early on the weekend with my coffee before kids are bothering me. I want to sit down relax and watch a longer video. (it's possible you have a 2nd video coming but I haven't seen it yet) I fully admit I could be an outlier here but I have a hunch I'm not alone.

 

[testerdahl]

Those would all be good videos.

Interior noise test comparison (db meter same stretch of road same speed etc)
Ride quality on stock setup comparison
Tech, creature comforts and Interior ranking (I'm curious to see how the bighorn is, with all of the money in the redesign are they still the best interior at their low-mid level)
Likes/Don't Like
If you stopped getting vehicles and had to pick one to live with for the long run, which and why
What does the wife think, her comparison of sorts as a passenger (boss thoughts)

Lastly two thoughts, feedback.

1) I really feel like Pick up Truck Plus needs it's thing. Whatever that thing is. TFL has the Ike, 100 mile mpg loop. truth or dare off road. Truck King has the water line (I forget what they call it) and the left hook, Driving sports has his local forest course for SUV's and his eastern Wa property for truck etc. It's really those repeatable comparable reviews that bring me back to their channels. Not only do they compare the performance of the vehicle they're in that day to the past but as a viewer of their channel(s) I also remember. It doesn't have to be an off-road feature at all, but something that is repeatable and interesting. I agree with you that a MPG loop could be it, maybe incorporate the db meter on the same stretch and instead of cutting to a interior then exterior review hit that during the loop as your driving and the exterior before you start driving. Name it and try to hit the same 4-5 points during the trip for repeatable comparisons.

This ties into my last thought

2) Video length. I recently heard in one of your videos a comment you made about pressure to shorten your videos. I disagree completely with this thought. I could be on an island here but a 30 minute video is great, I'm not a big fan of a 12 minute video. There just seems to be too much left unsaid and too much glossed over. Looking specifically at the recent GX 550 video, yours was around 12 minutes. Ryan's video was right next to yours on my Youtube feed and his was 30 and brought more depth. I'm not consuming this type of content on my phone during the day, I watch YouTube truck videos after work or early on the weekend with my coffee before kids are bothering me. I want to sit down relax and watch a longer video. (it's possible you have a 2nd video coming but I haven't seen it yet) I fully admit I could be an outlier here but I have a hunch I'm not alone.

Jill and I have been playing around with three core video types: 5 likes/dislikes, 100 MPG test, city vs rural.

I do need to come up with a name for the 100 mile loop. After I started doing them, I saw TFL brought back their "Denver 100" series. Funny how the timing on that worked out. LOL

Interesting point on the GX 550 video. I happened to watch Ryan's as well since I was curious. He takes hours to film and has a video person with him to help with the shooting. They then spend hours editing multiple camera angles and what not. The video turns out really well and he really goes in-depth on them. That's his style.

First drive events are so tough for us. We simply don't get the views others do. I've asked the audience a few times and they point out our reviews are much better than others due to how we look at practical things. They also said there's so many videos dropping at the same time, it is hard for them to watch them all. Our videos tend to get missed in the echo chamber that is YouTube.

For the GX drive, I decided to do things differently. I wanted to just drop one short off-road video when the embargo dropped. I have another one I need to edit and publish on Sunday. There's a lot more details in that video. My goal was to drop it AFTER everyone else and see if it would spark interest back to the off-road video. In that off-road video, Jill talks about the other video and IIRC I do the same thing in the 2nd video.

We also did a Livestream to drive interest.

As far as length, it is also a strategic decision sometimes. Like I shared above, I shot two videos and combined they are longer than Ryan's video. My hope with the shorter time stamp, I'd get someone to watch one video and then watch the other versus somebody watching one long video. Always a game trying these kinds of things.

You might have noticed this similar thought on the 4 truck towing video. That video turned out to be over an hour. My video editor was really pushing me to break it down to individual videos and that's what we did. We published the really long one and then cut the video up to run 4 parts of each of the trucks. The long video outperformed the others, but I've had many people who watched one of the shorter videos and not the long one. So, you try to satisfy both audiences to some degree. Sometimes that backfires and other times it works.

 

[Dusdaddy]

Getting the GX video out quick like you did was a plus. That worked well. I didn't watch any others. I'm not in the market for one whatsoever but I'll watch a quick video just to check it out. I would imagine people in the market for an SUV would watch both. Your five +/- videos are a keeper. Short and to the point. They stir up discussion as well because it is so subjective. (Like I don't care about the lack of headlight switch.) Which is all good for you to get more traffic. As for the MPG loop, stretch it out farther than 100 miles, everybody does that and it's too short. If you drive at least 200 miles, then you will be able to attest to the comfort and convenience of the vehicle for a longer road trip. Doing that drive while towing is even better. How much mpg is lost means quite a bit.

 

[Fightnfire]

Getting the GX video out quick like you did was a plus. That worked well. I didn't watch any others. I'm not in the market for one whatsoever but I'll watch a quick video just to check it out. I would imagine people in the market for an SUV would watch both. Your five +/- videos are a keeper. Short and to the point. They stir up discussion as well because it is so subjective. (Like I don't care about the lack of headlight switch.) Which is all good for you to get more traffic. As for the MPG loop, stretch it out farther than 100 miles, everybody does that and it's too short. If you drive at least 200 miles, then you will be able to attest to the comfort and convenience of the vehicle for a longer road trip. Doing that drive while towing is even better. How much mpg is lost means quite a bit.

I agree, 200 miles with a couple different segments of Freeway 65+, Hwy 55+ and a little frontage at 35+.

 

[testerdahl]

Getting the GX video out quick like you did was a plus. That worked well. I didn't watch any others. I'm not in the market for one whatsoever but I'll watch a quick video just to check it out. I would imagine people in the market for an SUV would watch both. Your five +/- videos are a keeper. Short and to the point. They stir up discussion as well because it is so subjective. (Like I don't care about the lack of headlight switch.) Which is all good for you to get more traffic. As for the MPG loop, stretch it out farther than 100 miles, everybody does that and it's too short. If you drive at least 200 miles, then you will be able to attest to the comfort and convenience of the vehicle for a longer road trip. Doing that drive while towing is even better. How much mpg is lost means quite a bit.

200 would be a challenge to be honest. It takes me all day to do a 100 mile drive with filming. Plus, for towing videos I put gas in the vehicle too which adds to the cost of production.

For example, here are the stats for the Honda HR-V video. I lost money on that one.

 

[Fightnfire]

200 would be a challenge to be honest. It takes me all day to do a 100 mile drive with filming. Plus, for towing videos I put gas in the vehicle too which adds to the cost of production.

For example, here are the stats for the Honda HR-V video. I lost money on that one.

View attachment 148

Do your SUV videos typically underperform when compared to a truck video?

 

[testerdahl]

Do your SUV videos typically underperform when compared to a truck video?

Typically yeah. Here's a better comparison. Video title:

100 Mile Cummins Diesel MPG Test w/2023 Ram 2500 Rebel​

 

[Fightnfire]

Typically yeah. Here's a better comparison. Video title:

100 Mile Cummins Diesel MPG Test w/2023 Ram 2500 Rebel​

View attachment 149

That makes sense as an avid watcher of your content I do tend to skip the SUV's that I'm not interested in whereas I watch every truck video. I would watch anything intended for part time of off-road life, the large 3 passenger SUV's, or new to both of those worlds eg: Land Cruiser, 4Runner, GX 550 etc. I have no interest in the luxurious suv segment or midsizers ad down.

 

[Dusdaddy]

Then your 100-mile loops will just get lost in the static. To make it your own, it's gotta be different somehow.

If not real-world mpg tests, what else creates the most hits? I would imagine towing tests can be expensive because you need all the same trailers, weights, etc. to keep it consistent so you have to buy it all to do it right. I guess you can always use the Swede as weight and rent a U-Haul car trailer every time but even that'll get pricey. Of course, TFL has that budget, and they add trailer reviews at the same time. Also, I don't recommend doing "max weight towing" as most will never do that so why watch.

 

[testerdahl]

That makes sense as an avid watcher of your content I do tend to skip the SUV's that I'm not interested in whereas I watch every truck video. I would watch anything intended for part time of off-road life, the large 3 passenger SUV's, or new to both of those worlds eg: Land Cruiser, 4Runner, GX 550 etc. I have no interest in the luxurious suv segment or midsizers ad down.

You aren’t alone. I can tell that from the view count. Those views lead me to stay buying a full-size truck and the easier time having the tax write offs as well with the weight.

 

[testerdahl]

Then your 100-mile loops will just get lost in the static. To make it your own, it's gotta be different somehow.

If not real-world mpg tests, what else creates the most hits? I would imagine towing tests can be expensive because you need all the same trailers, weights, etc. to keep it consistent so you have to buy it all to do it right. I guess you can always use the Swede as weight and rent a U-Haul car trailer every time but even that'll get pricey. Of course, TFL has that budget, and they add trailer reviews at the same time. Also, I don't recommend doing "max weight towing" as most will never do that so why watch.

Personally I think everyone has their own ideal loop limit. I mean, I started with 50 and got a lot of complaints about being too short. I moved it up to 100 and got less complaints.

I then hear from people they want an empty tank to empty tank. That’s literally impossible. The trucks arrive full of gas and my press loan agreement often has a max 500 mile limit.

If I go 200 miles, then I’m also limited on mile range if I also want to tow or I need to take a day trip to Denver to pick up something.

I find 100 to be the sweet spot. I can film in a day, have miles left for other things and I tend to get pretty good views.

I also more time to do night time videos, YouTube shorts while not spending so much time on a review, I neglect all the other work I do in a week. Reviews don’t often pay the bills.

 

[testerdahl]

You guys might find this interesting. Here are the top 6 videos from last year in terms of views. The top one is a YouTube short I made like $75 on. YouTube shorts make so little money, they don't really make sense to make besides appeasing the YouTube algorithm that is pushing for them.

 

[Dusdaddy]

I then hear from people they want an empty tank to empty tank. That’s literally impossible. The trucks arrive full of gas and my press loan agreement often has a max 500 mile limit.

I also more time to do night time videos, YouTube shorts while not spending so much time on a review, I neglect all the other work I do in a week. Reviews don’t often pay the bills.

I see, with a 500 mile limit you are stuck at 100 miles. Full tank is just not doable and has too many variables. That would be best for long-term comparisons like will do with your new Ram.

Making more nighttime videos is good too. Let's people see how it is lit up and you can also review headlights, auto high beam systems, interior lighting, ease of finding your keys when you drop them......

 

[Dusdaddy]

You guys might find this interesting. Here are the top 6 videos from last year in terms of views. The top one is a YouTube short I made like $75 on. YouTube shorts make so little money, they don't really make sense to make besides appeasing the YouTube algorithm that is pushing for them.View attachment 150

Yeah. I hate shorts for the most part. I only waste my time with those when they are like 10 secs long and just something funny.

So, you got long-term "living with it" type videos, large scale comparisons, and the like/dislikes. Makes it tough to do two of them with temp loaners and the likes/dislikes only work once for each new release. Somehow, you need to come up with a way to test each of the temp loaners individually but against the same standards as the others. Like the Ike Gauntlet, they often only have one vehicle, but "test" is the same. Some route, task or experience that is repeatable, consistent and above all, interesting. Honestly, I like Jill's trips to her parent's. Those work great. I watch them as she did them in an EV then in an F350. Urban, highway, gas-ups, etc.

 

[Fightnfire]

Yeah. I hate shorts for the most part. I only waste my time with those when they are like 10 secs long and just something funny.

So, you got long-term "living with it" type videos, large scale comparisons, and the like/dislikes. Makes it tough to do two of them with temp loaners and the likes/dislikes only work once for each new release. Somehow, you need to come up with a way to test each of the temp loaners individually but against the same standards as the others. Like the Ike Gauntlet, they often only have one vehicle, but "test" is the same. Some route, task or experience that is repeatable, consistent and above all, interesting. Honestly, I like Jill's trips to her parent's. Those work great. I watch them as she did them in an EV then in an F350. Urban, highway, gas-ups, etc.

I agree, mentioned similar somewhere above. Find a way to tie the loaners into the same comparisons where you can with the long term trucks. All of the channels except for Truck King seem to have gotten away from their comparison boards but I really enjoyed those as it was a repeatable test in the same cicrumstance with results from previous gens or different manufacturers.

 

[testerdahl]

Well I remember when leaded gas was $0.25/gal and the attendant filled your tank, washed your windows, checked the oil and sometimes the tire pressure. Don’t really pay much attention to mileage videos because there are just too many variables that affect mileage. The cost of fuel is what the global market can bear and it is what it is.

I would be more interested in things like how easy is it to check the oil, how easy is it to change the oil and oil filter, air filter and cabin filter? How easy is it to use the spare tire? Most YouTubers don’t cover these items.

For a while I was popping the hood and going over a few things like where the dipstick was and whether it was accessible. Kind of got away from that. I could easily do a video like this with each press loan and then do a separate 100 mile drive. Or maybe one big video.

Would you watch a 100 mile drive video and expect me to go over those things OR would you think a standalone video would get your attention better covering maintenance items?

 

[testerdahl]

For me, since I am a DIYer, a separate video going over basic maintenance items would be useful in understanding how easy/hard each vehicle is maintained (the simple stuff as I previously mentioned). My recommendation is to keep the mileage loop as a separate video. Do a couple maintenance videos and track the views to see if it’s worth the time and effort.

I'm out of press loans at the moment. When I get another one, I'll do one and we can see how it goes. Thanks for the idea! Now I just have to remember... LOL

 

[Beninbeta]

I'm out of press loans at the moment. When I get another one, I'll do one and we can see how it goes. Thanks for the idea! Now I just have to remember... LOL

I think what I don't see with mileage is what you got over the course of that week and what the overall MPGs are from those that drove the vehicle before you. I know a lot of vehicles will give you the cumulative MPGs. I think you should do a long hwy stretch and you may as well also talk about feature of the vehicle, ride quality, 5 things you like and 5 you don't or whatever works for you during that drive. Then give the MPG for your week with the vehicle and cumulative if it's available. Sure those get driven harder and probably sit while on too, but it's real world driver review mileage that you could track somewhere. Then at the end of the year you could do a year in review of what you drove and how they performed or something?

Knowing how easy it would be to maintain and maybe sharing the estimated 3-5 year cost of ownership might be interesting if that were possible too. Like based on the I80-100 loop driving 15000 miles per year, x $ per gallon/charge, performing scheduled maintenance would be about x at a dealership, y on your own. I think another thing to include is how long and if possible how good any manufacturer included maintenance is. Especially on your long termers.

You'll figure it out.

 

[testerdahl]

I think what I don't see with mileage is what you got over the course of that week and what the overall MPGs are from those that drove the vehicle before you. I know a lot of vehicles will give you the cumulative MPGs. I think you should do a long hwy stretch and you may as well also talk about feature of the vehicle, ride quality, 5 things you like and 5 you don't or whatever works for you during that drive. Then give the MPG for your week with the vehicle and cumulative if it's available. Sure those get driven harder and probably sit while on too, but it's real world driver review mileage that you could track somewhere. Then at the end of the year you could do a year in review of what you drove and how they performed or something?

Knowing how easy it would be to maintain and maybe sharing the estimated 3-5 year cost of ownership might be interesting if that were possible too. Like based on the I80-100 loop driving 15000 miles per year, x $ per gallon/charge, performing scheduled maintenance would be about x at a dealership, y on your own. I think another thing to include is how long and if possible how good any manufacturer included maintenance is. Especially on your long termers.

You'll figure it out.

Watch the video tomorrow. I do an analysis on the 2025 Ram 1500 I’m buying in regards to resale and total cost of ownership.

Jill and I have been talking about doing a best of the year award with real rankings. I’m blah over awards, so I’m been hesitant.

 

[Beninbeta]

Watch the video tomorrow. I do an analysis on the 2025 Ram 1500 I’m buying in regards to resale and total cost of ownership.

Jill and I have been talking about doing a best of the year award with real rankings. I’m blah over awards, so I’m been hesitant.

I'll definitely watch. I don't know if you need awards, but maybe just your favorites in each category?