Correct, not all things that matter are positive.

But it’s the 5% we need to focus on.

The same was true for YouTube, in the beginning they operated at a loss, and when people were hooked on the service, they monetized it.

As a non native English speaker, I found the “pilot” thing a bit confusing. But:

pilot = pilot program

And then it made sense.

Anyways I think it’s not so much the 95% that fail that matter, it’s the 5% that succeed.

deleted by creator

you gave no proof

WTF! I gave a timed link to Gamers Nexus CLEARLY demonstrating LTT posting videos with similar conflict of interest.
And I gave examples of how payment as “sponsor” which was the method he mostly used, omitting the sponsor part in his reviews, gave exactly the result I claimed. And even that the opposite was also the case for the non payment.

I also demonstrated the fact that such claims can be made without risk is also evidence of the truth of the claim.

HOW the fuck can you say I gave no proof? You appear to refuse to see the truth, or have a complete lack of understanding of what evidence is.

That’s an extreme accusation

Yes, and I can make it without fear of him suing me, because it’s true.

It was pretty obvious if you have more than 2 brain cells and the ability of critical thinking.
But Gamers Nexus actually gave examples of obvious “conflicts of interests”:
https://youtu.be/FGW3TPytTjc?t=1575

This is actually from way after I stopped viewing LTT trash, but I can’t just go back multiple years and dig up the evidence.
But if you really are curious, you would have to track his “sponsors” and compare them to his “reviews”. And the evidence will quickly be pretty clear.

For instance it was very obvious that after AMD became a major sponsor around 2018, Radeon suddenly got way better reviews.
Raja had tried to suck up to him, and give him special treatment and privileges of first access with the Vega release, which didn’t work the slightest. But when they became a sponsor THAT WORKED!

And when Intel stopped their sponsoring of him, he suddenly made several features complaining about how bad Intel was. This was at least true, it’s just funny how the criticism didn’t come out until they stopped paying him.
Intel stopped supporting YouTube reviewers in general, but other channels did not suddenly switch how they reviewed Intel.

LTT is corrupt as hell, to the point he may use his popularity for extortion. He probably doesn’t think so himself, because he seemingly doesn’t have the intelligence to see that what he is doing is wrong, unless it is pointed out to him very clearly.

But if you don’t have eyes to see what’s going on, I really can’t help you.

Linus has to keep sponsors happy

Meaning that for Linus you are the product, and the advertisers are the real customers.
Again meaning the videos are not made for you, they are made for the advertisers.

He only changed practices to be more transparent because he was called out with clear evidence.
I bet he still breaks the rules if it fits his purpose, but since I haven’t watched his dishonest channels for years, I cannot really say. But once a fraudster always a fraudster, that’s my experience.

First it’s not investigative journalism, it’s hardware reviews that may or may not reveal problems, and he fakes and cheat with his, and takes money illegally under the table for making good reviews.
Difference between him and for instance Gamers Nexus, is that Gamers Nexus reveals if he detects something is off when he tests. While LTT prefer to get companies to pay for good reviews that gloss over the problems.

People are idiots if they believe your claim is true, and apparently most do?!

No it’s not, it’s clearly illegal even in USA. Gamers Nexus never did anything like that, or Hardware Unboxed. Those are channels that are renowned for their integrity. Although Hardware unboxed is Australian they are addressing the same market. Except for not being a goofy joke like LTT.

Yes, he would make a paid advertisement camouflaged as a review and never disclose that it was in fact not a review but an advertisement.
He had even set up a scheme to hide the fact, and make it look like the payments were for something else, like consulting.
The guy is absolute scum, and the success of his channel is based on illegal practices.

Oh I almost forgot about him, I blocked his channels years ago. He is an idiot and a shill, and did illegal hidden advertising.
Why anyone would still watch his channels is very strange IMO.

That’s a good point, especially at at high mileage it may become an issue.
But I don’t think it’s normally much of an issue, it would be mostly gear and engine that has that extra stress, and AFAIK they are very durable.
I saw a complete tear-down video review of a VW gear and engine, and they are very well made. So I wouldn’t worry about it, especially if you can find one at a reasonable price with reasonable mileage.

I would think Steam is big enough to make deals with local card vendors in individual countries.
I bet that would also be a lot cheaper than PayPal.

No need for Steam to make their own as some suggest, it would be insane to have a system just for one business.
And it would be a serious limitation for Steam, because many won’t bother signing up for it.

Funny, because the Beetle was very reliable and durable here in Europe, both in cold Scandinavian countries, and hot south European countries, and for driving the demanding roads in the alps. And here they were everywhere even more than a decade after production stopped. Very very durable and reliable cars. Also beating way more expensive cars in how old they got on average.

What they were not was well equipped with extras, or fast or powerful or particularly comfortable to drive, and they were also noisy.
But to say they weren’t reliable???

Did USA get some sort of second rate Beetle cars compared to Europe? Here we called it the asphalt bubble. I even have a neighbor who owns a late 70’s beetle today, which still drives absolutely fine! Still with minimal maintenance!

I could understand if you were from Brazil, they had their own VW factory early on, and IDK if quality is the same on those? Maybe USA got VW from Brazil?

Yes we’ve seen the beetle in many American movies, and every hippie group with respect for themselves drive a Volkswagen Bus. (according to Hollywood) 😋

That schematic is basically worthless, first it’s “per car”, with no mention of average age or mileage.
Mercedes is no doubt among the absolute most reliable cars you can get, most Taxi drivers here use Mercedes for that reason.
But Mercedes also on average drive longer than most other cars, because people who drive a lot tend to prefer Mercedes more.
VW only ranking a couple places above Chrysler is laughable. There is no way that can be right.
Also Audi ranking below VW is ridiculous. Audi is to VW somewhat what Lexus is to Toyota.
Something is definitely off with that chart.

But I do not deny that Hyundai may have improved enough to be as good or maybe even better than VW, What I questioned was how they could have that reputation already few years after they clearly sucked on quality. Being reasonably good now, is exactly as expected though. Because when they were bad over a decade ago, they were so bad there are probably very few left on the roads. It was not just something that needed to be fixed bad, it was very much also end of life for the vehicle bad.

I skimmed the article to find the methodology behind the numbers, but couldn’t find it.

The study, now in its 35th year,

That indicates my previous point, they don’t account for age, it’s easy to stay “average” if your cars are scrapped after a few years. It also explains the poor position of Mercedes.
Here for instance Volvo has a longer life span on average than Toyota. Toyota are good cars, but they are generally not built to last as long as Audi or Mercedes.
I bet you don’t see as many 30+ year old Toyota as you do Mercedes.

Regarding reliability it’s weird Hyundai already has such a good reputation for reliability, because it’s not many years ago that Hyundai was pretty poor quality. Like for instance the Hyundai Sonata was really awful with rust. And the way the car was built was outdated.
So just a few years ago, there was no comparison that VW and Toyota were vastly superior quality to Hyundai.
I know they are better today,but still I must admit I’m surprised if they are really better than VW?
For instance the Hyundai Kona 64 had a total recall on the batteries. That’s an enormous issue to have had.

OK, but still USA is just 1 of the 3 biggest markets in the world, and the one where VW is doing worst.
All three brands are very reliable, so i bet the margin in that regard isn’t big between them.
On a global scale VW remains ahead of Hyundai.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacturers_by_production

not in the US, however.

🤣🤣🤣
I wonder why that may be. but incidentally Porsche was the most profitable brand in USA before Trumps stupid tariffs, and Porsche is also VW.

USA can go fuck themselves, they are making themselves irrelevant. Hyundai is also losing profits in USA despite investments:
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/hyundai-motor-warns-bigger-hit-us-tariffs-after-q2-profit-fall-2025-07-24/

Hyundai will be fucked over too, it’s just a matter of time. VW decided to scale back in USA, instead of fighting the windmills.

I’m not dissing Hyundai, they make OK cars at OK prices, I might actually go for a Hyundai for my next car, but mostly because it’s cheaper, if I can find a VW or Skoda Enyaq 80 or 85 at a good price, that’s the one I want.