I’ve lost count how many Supercar channels I’ve subscribed to over the last 10 years. It’s difficult to keep up with them as there are more and more coming through every single day.
Being a Supercar vlogger is something that many people would consider to be their dream job. Imagine the lifestyle. Driving the best cars the world has to offer and being paid for it to! What is there not to like?
However, this is a very difficult area to break into now and most of the Vloggers that are successful started a very long time ago. The market is almost saturated with many people daily starting up their channels with dreams of a bright future.
To be able to succeed now though you need to be different, you need to niche-down and set yourself apart from the rest – which is not easy. Also, vlogging takes a long time – more time than most people realize. There is an enormous amount of planning that needs to be done and the drive for new content is relentless.
It’s not just the video creation though but the post-production editing – that can easily take longer than the amount of time it took to record!
Arguably, it’s a full-time job to produce great content, frequently – which is why it’s so difficult to make this a success these days. If you think you’re going to succeed just by recording supercars in your area as they drive by, you’ll be disappointed. Maybe you could do well by just doing this 10 years ago, you can’t now!
So, here’s a list of the very best Supercar channel on YouTube – enjoy!
What are the best Supercar YouTube Channels? These days we are spoilt for choice as there are many Supercar vloggers around. My favorites are Schmee150, Harry’s Garage, Doug DeMuro, and Jay Leno – amongst others.
BEST Supercar YouTubers List
Shmee150
The brand Shmee150 was created by Tim Burton almost 10 years ago now and his beginnings started the classic way, recording videos around town and uploading them onto YouTube. Tim’s passion for anything 4-wheels is tangible in the way he talks about not only his own cars, but others. The enthusiasm he obviously has is contagious and you feel yourself being drawn into his adventures.
He does like to push his brand – so there’s quite a lot of references to Shmee this and Shmee that (for instance, ‘Shmeetings’) which does make you cringe a bit but you can’t blame him for wanting to do it!
Tim never followed the general path of a lot of Supercar vloggers when they purchase a new car, which usually goes something like this:
- Produce several videos about which car they should buy.
- The ‘reveal’ video.
- After they’ve had the new car a week, they record their “10 things I hate about their <insert their new car name here>”
- Video about wrapping their car.
- Video about fitting a new exhaust.
- Video about which car they might buy next – and repeat!
Tim is a little different in this regard and that’s partly why I like him. Yes, he’s nowadays in the fortunate position where he can afford many cars but he leaves his upgrades primarily to the ‘cheaper’ line such as his Ford Focus RS.
Yes, you do occasionally see an upgrade on his supercars but mostly, they are kept stock and he just enjoys them the way the manufacturer wanted you to.
I’ve no idea (nor is it any of my business) how Tim has acquired so much wealth in recent years to be able to afford (and keep) the cars he has but it does make for compelling viewing! Crikey, just the insurance on these cars would cost more than the list price of my Gallardo I reckon!
Anyway, if you want to check Tim’s channel out, take a look at the below:
The Stradman
James, aka ‘The Stradman’ hails from Utah in the US and has an interesting and inspiring background. James financed his first Supercar (a Borealis Orange Pre-LP Gallardo, which he still has) and worked as an accountant for a few years before being made redundant.
This guy is driven though and in the past worked his socks off (without help from his parents) to get to where he is today. After leaving the accountants he decided to become a full-time YouTuber, a sizeable risk but he made it work the only way he knows how – with hard work.
The Gallardo wasn’t the Strad’s first decent car though, he had an S2 Elise before this and was the reason why I first connected with him (I had an Elise in the past).
The Stradman has gone from strength to strength in the last 18 months and his channel has grown very quickly which has enabled him to fund other cars such as a McLaren (which was given away in an auction) an Audi R8 and a Lamborghini Aventador.
Underneath his ever-developing confidence, James seems a decent guy – something that you can’t say about a lot of vloggers these days (which is perhaps why they are not listed) – definitely worth checking out his content!
Supercar Blondie
The Supercar Blondie (Alexandra Mary Hirschi) is an Australian vlogger but actually, her YouTube videos are only a small part of her social media presence. Alex is a presenter and has incredibly popular Facebook and Instagram sites.
Supercar Blondie has been based in Dubai since 2008 and in 2018 was recognized as one of the top 50 most influential women in the Arab world.
Without pulling punches, Alex is very pleasing to the eye. Yet, unlike many other good-looking presenters who have a strong social media presence, she does not seem to use her appearance to progress her career.
She is an example many should follow. Check out her Instagram page or any of her YouTube videos and you will see someone who is extremely knowledgeable about cars (she owns an Aventador herself), is comfortable presenting and is clearly intelligent.
Being based in Dubai gives Alex a slightly different perspective on the car scene although she seems at her happiest when she spends time with her family at home. Definitely check this very bright lady out.
Doug DeMuro
Doug is a journalist who creates articles for the blog site Oversteer and predominantly posts reviews of cars on his YouTube channel. He was born in 1988 in Denver, US and earned himself a bachelors degree in economics – this guy is not stupid, not by a long way.
Doug’s YouTube review videos tend to keep the same format. After a brief intro, he will give a tour of the outside, followed by the interior and then a drive – all the time highlighting the quirks and oddities related to that particular car.
Although sometimes I feel that these quirks that are mentioned are often irrelevant and are mentioned purely for entertainment purposes, the positives to his style far outweigh any negatives.
What I like about Dough though is that it’s actually not all about Supercars. One week he’ll be reviewing the Ferrari LaFerrari and the next week he’ll be in a 1996 Ford Bronco. You don’t quite know what you’re going to get next and this is fun.
Harry’s Garage
I like Harry. He’s not like so many automotive YouTubers these days (e.g. the young and good-looking types). Harry has been there and done it. He is, how shall we put this…a little more experienced than others. More worldy-wise.
A little longer in the tooth… Harry Metcalfe founded the extremely popular car magazine ‘Evo’ and was also the Editorial Director until 2013. He now works for Jaguar Special Operations on a consultancy basis
When you watch one of Harry’s videos you are instantly put at ease. He has a very natural, comforting way of presenting and his knowledge and passion for cars is obvious. Harry has an extensive fleet of cars at his disposal in his personal garage, including a red Lamborghini Countach which I’m particularly jealous of.
He doesn’t just talk about them though – he drives them. In fact, he drove his Countach from his home in the South of England to the South of France and back, which is good-going in a Countach!
From the same era, he owns a Ferrari Testarossa – which he drove to the Sahara desert, a trip of 2,000 miles! It’s all very interesting content. Actually though, and here’s the thing that keeps me coming back – I’m not sure if it’s his content or Harry that I find entertaining – actually, it’s probably both.
I could listen to Harry wax lyrical about crop rotation in the 14th Century and somehow find it interesting. Seriously, check him out.
Jay Leno’s Garage
There are not many people that haven’t heard of Jay Leno and of course, most will have become familiar with him as a presenter of The Tonight Show between 1992 and 2009.
But that’s not what we’re interested here, what we’re interested in is his YouTube channel. Of course, Jay made a lot of money during that time and what a position to be in – to be able to buy (probably) any car you want – and he’s bought quite a few!
Jay reviews cars on his page and it’s obvious that he loves them, loves talking about them (surprise, surprise) and loves driving them. Apparently, he now has over 180 cars (and over 150 motorbikes) in his garage and how he maintains all of these must require a dedicated team of engineers.
From what I’ve been able to establish, the value is over $50m but it wouldn’t surprise me if this number is a bit on the low side. Anyway, what does it matter – the guy has money, loves cars and has the space to keep them and enjoys talking about them.
Jay’s channel now is approaching 3 million subscribers and it’s not just because of who he was (although that helped of course) – people subscribe to him because they like his content.
Top Gear
Many people, including myself, will say that Top Gear hasn’t been the same since Clarkson, Hammond, and May left and this is, of course, true. It doesn’t mean the program is worse, it’s just different. The presenters may change but the format remains, and it continues to provide compelling viewing.
There’s no doubt that Chris Harris knows how to drive and this adds a new element to the series. Watching him push cars to their limits makes me realize how much I actually don’t know about driving, you can only get that kind of confidence with experience – and he has a lot of it.
Chris is a former racing driving and has competed in many events, including 24 hr races at the Nürburgring.
He doesn’t mince his words also and this has got him into trouble in the past with both Ferrari and Lamborghini banning him from reviewing their cars after he criticized their companies.
They have now kissed and made up and once again you will find him behind the steering wheel of either. It’s refreshing though. With Harris you know that he’ll give you the honest verdict of the car, not a manufactured response which you so often get from journalists worried that they’ll ruin the relationship between themselves and the supplier.
Mr. JWW
James William Walker (or Mr. JWW) is a lucky guy. Born into a rich family he oozes wealth, without throwing it in your face. You just have to look at the guy and notice the clothes he’s wearing or the watch on his wrist to realize that this guy has more money than you.
That’s okay though, the guy got lucky – not his fault, and to be fair he seems like a nice chap. Anyway, despite the first couple of sentences being about how the guy has money, that’s not what I’m bothered about – it’s his channel that I want to discuss, so let’s just do that.
James has a growing channel and you don’t gain so many new YouTube subscribers by delivering boring content. The guy knows how to present and you can easily see that perhaps in a few years he’ll be delivering the latest car news on Top Gear or some similar main-stream television program.
He has a confidence that draws you in and makes you feel comfortable as he shows you around cars you will most likely never get a chance to drive.
But that’s ok. A lot of us watch videos on YouTube to escape the regular monotony of life for a few minutes and be inspired, to day dream. Mr. JWW helps us do just that, well worth checking out.
Conclusion
I could spend all day recommending car-based YouTube channels but I think I’ve covered the best around, at least at the moment. I’m sure that these channels (and a few others) were partly responsible for me taking the plunge myself and investing (worst use of the word ever) in a Gallardo.
You can get so much more information that was available to us just a few years ago and I spent countless hours looking at reviews before pulling the trigger.
However, just to be clear, hear are my favorite Supercar YouTube channels:
- Shmee150
- The Stradman
- Supercar Blondie
- Doug DeMuro
- Harry’s Garage
- Jay Leno’s Garage
- Top Gear
- Mr JWW
It can be difficult to not get sucked in to some of the lives that you believe the presenters of these channels actually have. Remember, all we see is a tiny snippet of their lives. Most of the time we really don’t know how they have afforded their lifestyle.
It could be because of a rich mum and dad, it could be that everything is heavily financed. Or it could be that they’ve just worked damn hard. Whatever the reason though, they are certainly entertaining – and that’s all we care about, right?
Finally, as a supercar fan you may be wondering why supercars backfire – if so, and you may be surprised – check out my article by clicking on the link.