WTH is Scotty Kilmer's problem, anyway?

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About the only thing I admire about Scotty Kilmer, it's that he figured out how to work Youtube early on. If you are a Youtube partner, as I am, you gain access to ways to optimize your viewership, and Kilmer's hit every one of them. They remind you that the average person only has enough attention span to watch a video under 10 minutes before their eyelids start fluttering like window shades. Along with that, they reinforce that the the average person has a limited ability to take in details, and that one of the best ways to KEEP that limited amount of attention is to fill up your video with the same types of things that keep a toddler's attention...loud, bright, flashy.

On top of that, his titles are clickbait at different times. He did one titled "How to fix your car's AC for free". He showed no such thing. He yakked, put up some impressive graphics, showed the tools the mechanic would use when THEY repaired your AC not for free, and that's it. He never turned a wrench. He gives hope to the hopeless and is long gone by the time you realize(or not) that you've been had. It's purely ENTERTAINMENT.
 
MRGTX said:
This applies to politics these days too! Anyone with an adult brain should be able to see that their own “tribe” has faults and that the other tribe isn’t all bad. Some of us just can’t seem to admit it these days. Why? How have our tribes gotten so small?

I tend to enjoy hanging out and talking with car enthusiasts of all stripes. There’s something to admire and appreciate in all kinds of enthusiast cars...even if I will probably go to the grave “knowing” that the best looking, best performing hotrods of the Muscle car era ALL came from Chrysler. :)

So I do feel some loyalty and I’m a huge fan of modern Mopar. I love the majority of what they have to offer...but as my wife and I shop to replace her Honda CR-V, the Fiat-based Cherokee compeitor isn’t even on the list. Even if I do secretly like them, I don’t trust them.
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Gotta tell you, there's only a few cars in the modern stable that even draw my eye and only a few are Chrysler.

Love the idea of an all wheel drive Hemi powered Charger. Lots of curves where I live to play with the awd in planting power down, having the loud pedal on tap, and the four doors for the boys...

Former mother in law had a '12 Challenger. My rather arrogant, only knows what people tell her, sister in law, thought it was blasphemous to own a four door since her mom owned the Challenger. Guess who had to climb in the backseat and put the carseats in? Wasn't me. After a few times of doing that she got the idea of why a four door is handy. But I digress.

The other is foreign made - the Genesis.

Truthfully, I'd be just as content to find a slant powered F- or M-body wagon as the kid hauler and use my Civic just for work.

I'm surrounded with "keep up with the Jones's" mentality. My ex's grandfather has a lake cottage, a home in Florida, buys a new car in cash every two or three years and the family acts like they need to keep up. My ex mother in law thought her daughter needed something newer to go back and forth to college. Along comes a car loan for a '14 200. "Well, she needs something newer and more reliable for college." No, the truth is, she couldn't bear the idea that her daughter would be seen in something older.

Heard it all, throughout my marriage. "Newer is more reliable!" They all forgot I was a dealership technician for most of my career and spent a lot of time working on that "reliable" **** that would come in on hooks.

But, damn it, I digressed again and you caught me rambling.

Personally, I spent a lot of time when I owned the restoration shop working on GM and Fords. Of the GM's I rather have any of the Pontiacs I restored above and beyond the Chevies. Getting back into the '50's I'd take a Ford over the GM's. And while I love the '50's Hemis and Poly's I'd rather not have to deal with the Chrysler sheetmetal, even though they were building the better looking cars.

Spent a lot of time working on the modern stuff. Hell, I don't even want to change the timing belt in my Civic and I have all the tools to do it. I'll more than likely farm it out. I'm done with modern stuff.

Now, let me build my '69 Plymouth or '78 F250 and I'm all in.
 
My parents bought a brand new V6 mini van 1988 we were taking the maiden road trip to Disney land. Fuel pump failures non stop what a pile of ****. My family wouldn’t own another Chrysler if I gave them one. I personally like the 1975 and before only.
 
MRGTX said:
I really enjoy his channel! First, he's on the record of at least admiring and appreciating classic Mopar stuff. It's just the more modern machines that he gripes about. I don't know about the dart but I put on 285k on my 2007 dodge caliber with 0 problems, I put 299k on the 2005 minivan 0 problems,now it needs lower ball joints. I put 235k on a 2000 sebring,the top wore out and I had to replace it, 95 Dakota v6 at 305k 0 problems, so far I sort of like em, BTW 2095 toyota tundra 12k and it was in for that dammed blower motor in the engine and again at 20k, then trans was slipping at 35k, got rid that truck in a hurry bought me an old dodge diesel 92 and have 490k on it,but it wearing out the tps shafts now,

Personally, I disagree with 50% of his opinions but I find that he's on target with most of his advice. The photos/clip art that go along with his talks make me laugh out loud. There's some funny, subtle stuff that pops up now and again.

Yes, I remember the brake line repair that everyone is pontificating about...I agree, it's a great example of something he did wrong but the vast majority of his information is worthwhile.



I disagree. The guy was a professional mechanic for 50 years and now he has a profitable YouTube channel (which is probably a lot harder than you can imagine). He's no hack. You're free to not like the guy or disagree with his methods but come on. A "joke and a hack?" You're flat wrong by any legitimate measure.

There's a disease in the US of A these days where any person that we disagree with is some kind of worthless piece of dogsh--. Can't we move past this?



Scotty has 1.4 million YouTube subscribers.



I believe you completely but looking at the Mopars that you listed, I'm struck by the fact that those are (by my estimation) the "good" ones. They're also the modern Chryslers that most of us here are probably most familiar with. These vehicles have tried and true engines, domestic/German underpinnings, ZF and Tremec sourced transmissions, etc. Ignoring the fact that Durangos, Dakotas and Rams are total rust buckets around here, these are the best of Chrysler's offerings over the past two decades. They have their problems but they're certainly competitive and appealing.

Scotty Kilmer seems to primarily complain about the FWD stuff...and based on the age of cars and demographic that he served, he was likely exposed to a lot of the Cerberus Capitol era +/- cars which were largely Mitsu-based platforms that were a generation behind in terms of tech, and from Eastern Europe in terms of interior/exterior styling.

Would you be sharing the same high praise if you had a 2000 Avenger or Sebring? How about a 2006 Caliber or a 2013 Dart? I honestly doubt it. Maybe his mistake is that he's not differentiating between the model lines.

By the way, if you say that those Audis were trouble free for 200k+ miles, we're going to have you checked into an asylum. :D
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I find it funny how a lot of yall pound on @abodyjoe for bashing newer Chrysler products. He's right. They're piles of ****. No way would I be loyal to a turd. And before somebody says "but my Challenger is the best......" Did anybody say Challenger? No then shut up.
 
I can't stand Scotty Kilmer. Some of his videos he's visibly drunk, talking slow and slurred words, plus it's a tad creepy he ALWAYS is wearing sunglasses... like you trying to hide something buddy? I just hate his "mansplaining" attitude like "this is the way it is because I'm a mechanic and I know best". His videos are clearly meant for people who know NOTHING about cars at all, those are the only people who watch his channel if you look at the comments. He never goes into detail about how your case might be different or specifically what makes a car crap, he just throws out some general terms (transmissions are junk! Engines sludge up and fail!) and yells at you with that annoying voice that you're an idiot if you buy XYZ junk car. There are several other car-fixing channels that are superior; ErictheCarGuy, Uncle Tony's Garage, Car Wizard, just to name a few.

I guess my family got lucky with newer Chrysler products, we had a 2003 Town & Country minivan for about 7 years with no issues at all. My dad did own a 2007 Dodge Durango overseas for a while but those things are junk, big old heavy boats with bad visibility and weak chassis and electricals. My mom had a 2009 300C Hemi AWD until about 3 years ago it got totaled in an accident, no problems with that one either except for a recall on the timing chain. Now she has a 2014 300C V6 AWD with the 8-speed, only 55,000 miles so far but again we've had zero issues in the past 3 years.

I think it's the case with newer Chrysler vehicles, you really have to pay attention to specific models, platforms, years etc. because some are great and some are total trash. I would own a 300/Charger/Challenger or maybe a newer Ram truck but I would never touch something like a Dodge Journey or Chrysler 200, they just aren't good enough to own and rely on IMO. The next newer car I get will probably be a Honda Accord or mid-size Acura with the V6, those things haul *** and are built like tanks. I did the struts and shocks on a friend's 2001 Acura 3.2TL with 160k on the clock and that thing drove like a brand new car when I was done. Even had a performance-tuned 5-speed auto trans that would bang-shift when you were flooring the gas pedal it was fantastic.
 
I believe ALL newer cars are a problem waiting to happen with many built in failures.
Consumers are mostly responsible for buying into this BS technology for the sake of technology mentality. All types of safety crap for retards yet your car along with the
brake lines rust out in a no time! Scotty only loves his 94 Toyota Celica so don't be
insulted by his Mopar bashing take his tech advice for what it is.
 
66jim said:
I believe ALL newer cars are a problem waiting to happen with many built in failures.
Consumers are mostly responsible for buying into this BS technology for the sake of technology mentality. All types of safety crap for retards yet your car along with the
brake lines rust out in a no time! Scotty only loves his 94 Toyota Celica so don't be
insulted by his Mopar bashing take his tech advice for what it is.
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I still have yet to meet a person (besides my... "eccentric" software engineer uncle) who recently bought a newer car (post-2013-ish) and is actually excited about all the tech gadgets and touch screen/infotainment crap. A ton of people my age can't afford it and would rather have something simpler and more reliable anyway. Certain 1990s cars and trucks are in high demand because people young and old are realizing they're just better vehicles; they aren't built to fall apart after 100k miles and don't have 100 electronic doodads to go bad and make the car computer go crazy but are still modern enough to have EFI and basic safety features.

Case in point my '93 Cherokee, 255k miles still with original engine, transmission, transfer case, rear axle... I don't plan on ever selling it, I'll get a more economical daily driver and build the Jeep into a more serious off-roader.
 
MopaR&D said:
I still have yet to meet a person (besides my... "eccentric" software engineer uncle) who recently bought a newer car (post-2013-ish) and is actually excited about all the tech gadgets and touch screen/infotainment crap. A ton of people my age can't afford it and would rather have something simpler and more reliable anyway. Certain 1990s cars and trucks are in high demand because people young and old are realizing they're just better vehicles; they aren't built to fall apart after 100k miles and don't have 100 electronic doodads to go bad and make the car computer go crazy but are still modern enough to have EFI and basic safety features.

Case in point my '93 Cherokee, 255k miles still with original engine, transmission, transfer case, rear axle... I don't plan on ever selling it, I'll get a more economical daily driver and build the Jeep into a more serious off-roader.
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I'd rather stick a modern engine in a '60s Dodge truck than get a new one.
 
Steve 225 said:
Well, Scotty Kilmer and consumer reports are stupid and have no idea what they're talking about
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Kilmer is an assclown that prefers to have men in his mouth. He talks like an idiot, twitches and jerks like a meth freak and has a voice only slightly less annoying than Rosie O'Donnel or Fran Drescher.
 
Kern Dog said:
Kilmer is an assclown that prefers to have men in his mouth. He talks like an idiot, twitches and jerks like a meth freak and has a voice only slightly less annoying than Rosie O'Donnel or Fran Drescher.
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I agree he is an assklown.... not sure what "men in his mouth" means but I'm sure it's not good. He is not entertaining and kinda seems too European for my liking.

My favorite youtuber is uncle Tony's garage.

I agree with the crowd pounding on new Fiats with old mopar names on them.

I got a dodge caliber as a rental vehicle. What an ugly and cheap piece of fecal matter. I couldn't get anything to work right, the battery went dead over night. Turned it back in to the rental place and they gave me a Kia that was actually really comfortable and decent to drive with no problems

I am glad the newest car I own is a 75 dart. :D
 
Kern Dog said:
Well, not the WHOLE man, just about 3 % of him anyway.
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I didn`t read all these posts, but I did see where he repaired a brake line w/ a compression fitting. Never watched him after that ! No wonder he isn't making a living being a mechanic !
 
famous bob said:
I didn`t read all these posts, but I did see where he repaired a brake line w/ a compression fitting. Never watched him after that ! No wonder he isn't making a living being a mechanic !
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That was about the 3rd video i watched. I blocked him so i wasnt even tempted to watch him ever again.

South main auto is down to earth and right to the point. No nonsense.
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
He is not entertaining and kinda seems too European for my liking.
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TylerW said:
This has been beat to death, but these days Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan and VW are produced here in the USA. They make Toyota engines about 20 miles south of here(Huntsville), Nissan engines about 50 miles east(Decherd), VW's in Chattanooga, Kia in West Point, GA, Hyundai in Montgomery and Honda in Lincoln, AL. They employ a lot of Americans down here. I understand folks' views are colored by their emotions, but we run fleets of Altima's and Camry's, including one I drive myself, and POS is not a word I would label them with. The 2016 camry I drive had 14K on it when I got it last November and when a year rolls around next month it will have about 52K. Not a hint of trouble.
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My wife works for Avis rent a car , she gets 4 weeks of free cars every year, I have driven a bunch of diff. cars , the nissans are the worst I`ve driven , I rate the new chargers among the best looking , most comfortable they have . Run circle around most others too !
 
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