Here's a Thorough Review of a Meter Maid Car 

"Most of you want to see me review the cybertruck or a Corvette" Don't undersell it Doug, I think this review is the prime example why people CHOOSE to watch YOUR content.

The review we didn’t deserve, but the one we needed.

A center driver seat, rear wheel drive, mid engine, automatic transmission. Must be an extreme supercar for sure.

I’d love to see more oddball commercial vehicles like this. Like a street sweeper. Stuff that the general public sees, but would never have the opportunity to see inside or up close.

Doug: "I wouldn't even buy this ironically" Doug immediately afterward: *describes a scenario where he would buy one ironically*

If it had four wheels it would be required to meet DOT auto equipment requirements. As a three wheeled vehicle it's considered a motorcycle.

My eclectic father in law has a first gen one he commutes to work with every day on the ferry. The ferry system in Washington classifies these as a motorcycle, so he pays significantly less than if he commuted in a car. The creature comforts like enclosed cabin and heater are nicer than an actual motorcycle, especially in the fall/winter. I've driven it once, and it is definitely a unique experience. Great video Doug!

"You want to see me review the Cybertruck, or the Bronco Raptor or the New Z06." See, that's where you're wrong Doug. This is exactly what we want 😂

The fact that he found enough “quirks and features” to pump out 25 minutes of video is incredible.

The Sports cars Doug reviews are cool and all but this is the type of content of his I like the most. No other big car review channel is out here making this type of content.

Watch until the end for the blooper. Love knowing that he's all by himself and still uncontrollably laughing at the 120mph speedometer. Doug, you're a treasure. Thank you for all the work you put into these.

Using the mileage and engine hour gauges, this thing has had an average speed of 5.7 mph over the course of its life.

Wonderful content. Multiple "Doug awards" in this vehicle. If the "lateral thrust indicator" doesn't win quirk of the year I can't imagine what will.

15:30 I can't believe Doug failed to mention the most unique quirk and feature on this mighty steed, which is the garlic jar lid being used on the wiper fluid container. Luxury at it's finest!!

I was at a shop that was contracted to work on a small fleet of these, around when the Interceptor II was new; 2008ish, give or take. With all the options, like the light bar and comms radio, I was told by our liason that these were costing the city of Seattle around $50K apiece, at the time. Ridiculous overpricing for what should have just been done with a Cushman. Almost every job they came in for was some sort of recall-based upgrade. It quickly became apparent that whoever was engineering these vehicles couldn't possibly have had experience in road automobile design. And the build quality was also shaky, at best. I mean, for one thing, the non-ignition locks are super basic wafer locks, like these carried by just about every hardware store or auto parts store. For $50K they couldn't even bother to make sure each vehicle had matched locks - necessitating the handful of keys for everything. It's incredibly unstable; whatever the governor speed was, it was still high enough to be easily tipped up onto two wheels. One or two of them had the absurd problem of incorrectly made wiring harnesses, i.e. a green wire at the engine computer could be a yellow wire at the other end! It made diagnostic work incredibly difficult, and the Canadians would ship us an entire replacement vehicle wiring assembly. The motorcycle-type fork, custom-made or customized for the wide car tire... which itself is stupid to have used here - you need a tire with a rounded cross-section, like a motorcycle has, for steering with a fork. The more squared-off, flat treaded tire will lean when turning, both immediately reducing traction during turning and increasing low-speed steering effort. But worst of all, the first iteration of the front suspension had _brass_ bushings! Horrid ride and harshness, plus, being soft metal, they would permanently deform when driving over rough surfaces. Of course, this immediately let to looseness, rattling and clunking... And the first time this happened, the manufacturer sent out replacements... _still made of brass!_ Only after this happened a couple of times, in the vehicle's first couple of road miles no less, they finally made and sent out a set of hard rubber bushings, which anyone who knows any basic level of vehicle knowledge would have done from day one. The only place you find a brass bushing on an automobile is something like a pilot bearing for a transmission input shaft, or something else that supports a spinning shaft... Never, ever, for something that needs to survive lateral impact. I think these vehicles are a ripoff, and the contracts for manufacturing them should have gone to an established US manufacturer that would not have screwed around by leaving the developmental road testing for the paying customer to do on their tax-money-supported time! I loved the outtake at the end!

The drivetrain, interior dash cluster, column and seat/fabric appear to have been taken directly from a late 90's Hyundai Atoz. The seat fabric is standard Hyundai Atoz trim, not from a bus. We got the Atoz in the UK, it was pretty terrible although popular with older drivers as the tall body made it easy to get in and out from.

Can we take a second to appreciate the garlic jar cap on the coolant reservoir at 15:25? The ingenuity is breathtaking.

This is what makes Doug the most distinctive car reviewer on youtube no one would even think about reviewing something like this

I'm absolutely in love with this dinky little thing lol. I'd love to have something like this to pop down to the local grocery store and back. It really looks like something out of an 80's science fiction movie (the exterior does anyway). I love the industrial design of it, the exposed roll cage and all the exposed screws and fittings like on the rearview mirrors, all the straight lines etc. If you painted it black it wouldn't look out of place on an imperial star destroyer from the original star wars movies, being driven by some imperial officer inspecting the tie-fighter bays

10:29 I recall in an episode of How It's Made, where they built city buses using a similar fabric, that these odd designs were actually to "deter" (or at least hide) vandalism. I instantly thought "city bus" the moment I saw that seat, lol.

Doug really is a man of variety One second he’s reviewing an automobile legend, the other the most random thing ever

Supercar, but better. Change my mind. Mid-engine, center-seat, wedge-shape front, truck bed with tonneau (robbed a bit by the engine), truck-like rear window, SLIDING DOORS, sliding windows, inverted hazard light switch, engine hours counter, roll cage, bullbar, and of course, 1 less wheel = weight savings. Combining the best and coolest part of everything.

@18:15 I would say that the door rails would be a high wear area 😬 maybe they make them long so that they can swap them over L to R when worn out 😉😎

Best review. Watching Doug laugh at the speedometer in the blooper at the end brought me great joy.

This is why I watch Doug's videos, everyone is reviewing the latest cars, you get special stuff on this channel.

If Doug hasn't done one yet, he should review the Grumman LLV! Folks living in the U.S. would recognize them as a standard mail truck, and they're super interesting

Addig all the numbers in metric aswell, seems like such a small and insignificant detail, yet it makes your videos so much more enjoyable and informative for many of us. It makes me appreciate your content and you as a RU-vidr even more. Thank you for that Doug!

This is awesome 😂. Love that you do these reviews Doug. Never quit these quirky ones 👌🏻.

I honestly like the styling more than I probably should. lol It has a very cyberpunk vibe to it, especially the sharp angles around the door slide mechanism. Also it's worth noting Doug that these were not just "Meter Maid" cars but also used for city maintenance and groundskeeping as well, so the bull bar and truck bed would have primarily been useful for those applications.

from the perspective of a professional designer this is farrrrr more interesting than some new hypercar! love this

12:05 I lost it at Doug’s face for a good 2 minutes

THIS...is the flavor of vids I LOVE on your channel!

I’d soooo be down to watch more quirky videos like this. No other RU-vidrs cover these type of vehicles so it’s always nice. I wouldn’t worry about people wanting to see the newest, fastest cars, I could probably say most of us watch you for YOU, not the specific cars you review! Also, old cars is what gave way to future cars. I’d rather see you review a model t than a model y douggy!

doug is the type of guy that chills when driving a million dollar hypercar but terrified when driving a 3 wheeled car in the rain

13:36 That is engine from Hyundai Atos. My family used to have Atos for 11 years. Great little car, and great engine. Atos could go 160km/h (GPS). I liked it a lot.

This is why I love dougs channel who Else is doing an In-depth review of a meter maid car. I love that he does the every man can and not just Luxury cars

Thank you. I hope this and all the other messages below reach you. Sure there will always be people interested in new, modern supercars, but you also have a huge fanbase who more or less only watch your videos for the old, strange and quirky cars like this Meter maid car. Those videos are exactly why we keep watching your content over other channels. Please for our sake, keep making videos about weird cars, and we will keep watching.

And that's why I love Doug. He has hypercars available to him and he decided to review a meter magnum.

this is so much more interesting than a cyber truck review. thank you for this doug, im honestly getting emotional just watching this. thank you

Great video Doug. It's a pity you never get over the sea to the UK. You could do a review on a Reliant Robin. A three wheeled family car with the same wheel layout, but four seats, sold from the 60's to the 90's. It was sold as a cheap car, and usually driven on a motorcycle licence due to UK loopholes.

This is absolutely hilarious. The sheer terror when Doug is first driving is the best.

For anyone who is curious, most of the parts on this came from the Hyundai Atos, including the drivetrain and the "city bus" pattern seats. I'm not sure where the headlights come from though. They look similar to the Subaru Sambar lights, but different.

Exact video i was looking for. I'm in the market for a rear-engine single seat supercar and have now made my decision. Thanks!

omg the jarred-garlic lid on that front container had me laughing. What amazing ingenuity

Doug this is a dream come true. Growing up in a big city all I’ve ever wanted was to drive these little machines. Some people remember the first Lamborghini or Ferrari they ever saw, me, I remember the first time I ever saw this beautiful tricycle. I’ve had dreams about driving through the traffic of the city, stopping, and ruining peoples days just to full my quota. Wow, I’m getting chills just thinking about it. Absolutely a piece of art. Thank you Doug, from the bottom of my heart.

"This is a mid-engine vehicle with a center driver seat like the McLaren F1." Gotta love the thoughtfulness and generosity of that man.

I have never left a comment on a video of Doug's before, but i've seen enough over the years.. This rates as some of the best content you've done. I can see reviews for fancy crap anywhere, but someone applying that same criteria to this is fantastic.

I love how Doug is trying his best not to burst out laughing while reviewing this thing.

I love how Doug enjoys reviewing such mundane vehicles like this just as much if not moreso than exotic supercars.

Anyone else catch that one of the fluid reservoirs in the front used a cap from a jar of minced garlic? 😂 Fantastic review, Doug!

The pure passion from Doug is an inspiration to us all.

Doug the type of guy to forget that his fans don’t want 5 unskippable ads in the first 5 minutes and 16 seconds of a meter maid car review.

Doug, I love that you review old cars and oddball stuff like this. It shows your passion for vehicles and gives your channel a sense of "perspective" that is unique among reviewers for the most part.

That minced garlic jar lid being used to cover the windshield washer fluid reservoir had me laughing hard for too long!

This was cool. Doug would love to see you do more reviews like this, maybe old police cars, milk trucks, etc.

I'm actually having flashback, I drove one of these around for 3 years as a meter maid. Now I realize it was fun to drive, lol!! Thanks for this review Doug!!

One seat, mid-rear engine, rear wheel drive, 680 kg.s of weight... You can always claim you have a Formula 1 in the garage. Anyway, this is th exact review we want from Doug. We like supercar ones, but the fact he also reviews these weird things is what distinguishes him.

I have one 3 years now, 2001, and absolutely love it. I use it for all my errands. I feel safe driving at under 50mph. It is the coolest car I have ever owned.

Doug showed this thing more enthusiasm than every other driver of one combined.

I too have an ‘04 Gopher and it’s my daily driver. I too live in San Diego. I love this goofy little car. In the beginning it is terrifying but you get used to it pretty quick. It’s a fantastic little grocery getter. Here by the beach its perfect for short runs to the store. Like the one reviewed here, I cranked up the governor on mine. I drive it regularly on the freeway. The fastest I’ve had mine is 78mph but it’s scary at that speed. Any evasive maneuver and you will probably end up on your side. Some precautions include taking turns slow. It likes to fishtail if you take a turn too fast. Be careful driving in the rain. These will slide if you hit the brakes hard. The mileage is nowhere near 50mpg. Possibly when used for their purpose but daily city and highway driving is about 27 mpg. It does attract attention both good and bad. I get a lot of people asking about it and a lot of people don’t like them. I’ve had homeless people threatening to throw their water bottles at me, people say bad words to me and show me I’m number one with their middle finger. A number of people want to ask me or blame me for a parking ticket. One old man literally chased me to complain about a car that was parked more than 72 hours in front of his house. Me and a buddy who has one went for a long distance ride. We drove them from San Diego to Virginia City, Nv. 1200 miles but we did it. Our butts and throttle knees were aching at the end of the trip. We would drive sitting almost 90 degrees while extending our throttle knee out the open door for a few miles to relive the pain. It was fun though. These are not meant for long distance driving. I’m keeping mine. It’s a fun little machine.

Casual car enthusiast: “The Mclaren F1 is the only midengined car with a central driving position”. Doug in Yoda voice: “No, there is another”.

the Lateral Thrust Indicator is a great idea, it should be implemented on all reliant robins

Reminds me of your BMW Isetta review. Great video!

Hey Doug, do you do any outtake videos for the end of the year? Your crack up at the end of the meter maid review had me in tears!!

Ohhh Doug we love you. Please don't stop doing older cars. I will watch this video twice to help the analytics. MUCH LOVE FROM THE UK 🇬🇧❤️

I had a coworker who bought one at an auction solely to get the mail with, as he lives in the middle of nowhere with a driveway nearly a mile long. Eventually it fell into disrepair and he upgraded to getting the mail with a clapped out MR2 he got for $500

I have an ex-NYPD one here in Florida. Here it's registered as a motorcycle (no insurance needed) and with my roads being a max of 55mph, and I'm 10 miles from a store. This is a very practical "extra" vehicle to use when mom has the kids in the Highlander. Massive money savings and a self contained "motorcycle" that I can do errands with. Even tow a small trailer. I like to park it in the "Police only" spot at Walmart.

In the UK we had electric vehicles back in the 1960's and 70's...the Milk Float. You knew what frustration meant to be stuck in your car behind a Milk float on a milk delivery round :) Tp speed 5mph...

Doug, I remember your recent video describing how it often rains when you are on a tight deadline. This must be one of those times. I'm all for meter maid car reviews! I'm very much interested in micromobility transportation. I would love a review of the Citroen Ami if you ever get to France.

This is the kind of content that I come here for. I mean it too, i love it when Doug does reviews of cars that you never see reviews of.

The work switch I’m thinking would be the switch for work lights. In a majority of emergency vehicles or emergency vehicle lighting work lights are just steady white light for scene lighting. The ROT and TA function would make sense if it had an overhead light bar only amber white though. Most agencies aren’t allowed blue light unless it’s police. Amber Red at most but when you dig into light bars that have amber white and red it gets expensive so my guess is that it had amber white functions

I'm happy you reviewed one of these as I was thinking about getting one of the new manufactured ones of these for my work commute as the speed limit is only 34 to 45 mph the whole way anyway and I like heat and AC and being out of the rain unlike a lot of my co workers and the new ones are electric

16 hours and 250,000 views. Doug they’re decent numbers. You gotta keep doing these vids. Ok, overall they don’t come close to new car vids but this is what makes you Doug DeMuro and the only car reviewer most of us watch…look man it a Doug DeMuro thing and I can tell your having fun, it comes across. I’m smiling through the whole thing. Love your work.

I disagree with a 1 for practicality. Yeah its 3 wheels and its 1 seat, but it's also got a massive cargo area, and realistically has to be pretty good on gas... that's gotta be worth something.

Doug Demuro does the meter maid car and RCR does the NYC taxi. RU-vid car reviews don’t align in the cosmos like this very often, and who knows if they ever will again. What a time to be alive.

This is the most Doug video review ever!

I haven't laughed this hard and I've seen quite a few reviews...well done Doug. I can see the terror in your eyes during the drive 😂

Gotta love DeMuro. its nice too see someone stick on his own values

If I want to watch a video about a vehicle that I may never own, I at least want it to be something as lovely and plain as this. Thank you, Doug

The speedo thing reminds me of something we got here in Germany. We got cars that are marked 25km/h. I'm not entirely sure who or what qualifies for driving one, except ppl with old east german agricultural DLs and I think some disabilities qualify as well. Today there are "cars" build for that purpose, basically small engined plastic boxes with the crash safety of a pair of jeans. But there are also normal cars, like Fiat Pandas and Seat Mebellas. Those were regular cars at some point that just were modified. Most of the time with a bit of wood to lock out everything above second gear, a bit of plastic to limit throttle travel, and removal of the rear seats and rear seat belts. You remove those, which is quite easy with just a screwdriver, and you have a somewhat normal car again. Mechanically speaking, legal requirements apply. They also go with a moped insurance plate. I could imagine they get a different rate, but a plate for a moped goes for around 40€ for the year basic liability. And yeah, they got a totally standard interior. For US ppl: imagine driving a smart car with a top speed around 16 mph. I'm no expert on this, so if someone knows more or if I made a mistake, feel free to educate us all.

This vehicle has 7939.2 hours on its engine and 45337.9 miles on the odometer. Assuming that it has only had the single engine and never had an odometer reset this means the vehicle's average speed was 5.7 miles per hour. Considering that, I don't know if the vehicle was even worth it over just having the meter maids walk.

"The interceptor is uncomfortable, impractical, slow, dangerous, and lacking in any decent equipment and luxuries. Naturally therefore, I think it's wonderful." Gotta love him.

Love how the key that unlocks the door says fuel on it. That's not confusing at all

This reminds me of Doug’s older content and that makes me happy.

If the car industry ever meant to create a car specifically for Doug... well folks, here it is.

RCR: "Here's a car you can never review Doug" *Mailtruck* Doug: "I raise you THIS Meter Maid Car".

That seat (cloth design and all) is the OEM seat from the first generation Hyundai Accent. On the whole the vehicle is a first-gen Hyundai Accent that only seats one person and can tip over. Perfect for low-speed uses, including supervisor transportation at airports and factories with large campuses (like Boeing). The reflectors aren't just decals; they are DOT compliant retroreflective tape, and are actually better than the plastic lensed reflectors that most cars use.

Demuro, thank you for reviewing this. I have seen these things utilized by the NYPD all my life (different variations obviously) and never actually knew what these things were!

It would be really cool for you to review a street sweeper! I have driven one and it is crazy how many switches and gadgets are in them. it would be hilarious watching you describe all the way they build them so you can drive it from both seating positions.

I see so much potential for customizing one of these. Fat rear tires/rims, chromed roll cage, candy paint, custom audio, supercharged GM 3800. That would be so much fun.

18:32 thats actually a retro reflective sticker. Reflectors on cars dont have to be actual reflectors, they just have to reflect x amount of light back to be dot certified.

1:42 “Veeerrryyy different” “let me just tell ya!” 😂

Thank you Doug for working so hard in the sun and in the rain just to bring us all such awesome videos! I've been watching you since the pandemic started and I love the way you present your videos! Love from Sydney, Australia

"Lacking in decent amenities..." Come on, it comes with a solid steel cupholder! Already beating anything GM from the period. A Thrust Indicator for a vehicle governed to 35mph, brilliant.

I wanted one of these since my teens. Always loved the Cushman scooter that was used prior to this vehicle. Of course, now that I'm in my mid 70s and can no longer drive anything that requires a license, and get around on a 4-wheel mobility scooter.

One of the coolest Doug videos

NYPD used these vehicles for officers when I was young.. Mostly in public parks but I remember seeing these as a kid, and always wanted one.. Cool content

I love how much fun you can tell Doug is having with this. You can really tell every time he says "in the Interceptor TWO!"

I doesn't get more Doug DeMuro than this, I love it :D. I was wondering how the Doug Score would look like for such a vehicle... . Would love to see the bloopers from this shoot :D.

I know this is old; but man, this is why I watch your channel. I am not interested in any other channel at this point. Very entertaining!