The New Scout Could Be Cooler Than We Were Expecting! 

Scout having rivian bits underneath sounds a lot more appealing than having id4 bits underneath

I agree more with Tommy. Talking about having “choice”. Scout could offer choice! Gas version, maybe a plugin hybrid and BEV

I agree I'm not an EV guy but nothing wrong with options Buy want you want its your money

I love it when you guys engage in constructive debates on opposing sides of any issue. Nowadays, it seems we've lost the flexibility of open-minded discussion and the ability to learn from each other, which were foundational to the US. It's important to remember that it's okay to disagree with your loved ones and neighbors on politics, policy, and general opinions without polarization leading to severed relationships, anger, and violence. Thank you for releasing this video.

Roman is the get off my lawn defender of electric vehicles

You lost me at all electric.

Volkswagen thirsty for some of that sweet Wrangler / Bronco money

I’ll like the idea of trucking through the woods quietly with my doors off. Sounds intriguing.

The Ford Bronco and Scout would be competiting against each other. They look alike.

Tend not to break? Ask Rivian and Tesla owners. I live where it gets extremely cold. Saw plenty of vehicles stuck on the highway when snow closed it. Nope

I do appreciate that you had different opinions on EVs. My opinion is that if EVs were cheaper, they'd be great for local commutes, grocery getting, etc. So an ideal situation would be to have a cheap EV for local driving and a Gas or Hybrid for road trips or heavy hauling.

Longest range takes me 2.5 days to get to Moab and 2.5 back so that leaves 1 day to offload with electric. Range is the killer.

Tfl loves anything they can talk about

It's good to see competition because they need to make these a lot more affordable😊

Give me a new Scout with a gasoline engine and a manual transmission please! Would be a nice alternative to the Broncos and Wranglers around every corner. Making it an EV is just a marketing gimmick and not practical unless you charge at the trailhead…

Very smart of VW to partner with Rivian expertise. I'm not a fan of the Scout being electric, but since it's going to be, might as well be based on the best electric in the business.

So maybe big diesel powered charging stations at the trailhead? How can I haul an extra 20 to 200 miles of range on a rack, to make sure I can get out of the back country, once I get in?

I drive by the Scout factory regularly and they already have several buildings built on the campus.

The only competition to a Wrangler would be solid axles, which I would have hoped to see with gas or hybrid.. This is akin to an EV Bronco.

If Scout wants to embrace the EV offroader and not limit their market, having an optional range extender similar to the BMW I3 would be the best of both worlds scenario. If they went this route and made the range extender modular so you could leave it at home when getting groceries, that would be even better. I'm excited to see what they bring to the market as it'll influence all manufacturer offerings.

$25k Electric is not coming to the US. The Chinese lettering on that concept is the giveaway.

As someone who grew up driving a Scout II to high school and wheeling on the evenings and weekends I want to buy this new rig sight unseen. Call me crazy but I am intrigued as hell for this to be my first all electric vehicle...I bought the Ford Maverick sight unseen in 2022 and was not disappointed with that purchase...

Most off-road vehicles purchased never leave the pavement and if they do it’s very seldom that it is for an extended period of time. So most people buying them really just want a large vehicle, that looks cool and has no problem running over curbs. The scout is the electric version of that vehicle. If you want to go out and do some overlanding there are plenty of ice options, pick one and don’t be mad that scout isn’t making an ice vehicle that you probably wouldn’t buy anyway. Toyota/Jeep: overland and road trip Rivian/scout(EVs): everything else

This Scout reminds me of the scout international from the 80's. My friend had one and he took this one to some crazy places. I like the looks of this new one.

Agree 100%...more vehicle variants = more choice for consumers = better overall experience and hopefully lower prices.

First, I'm indifferent as to power source. It should be affordable, sustainable, widely available and provide a quick refuel. We are on a four lane highway with ICE, Hybrid, PHV and BEV. All have their advantages and disadvantages. Today the sweet spot is Hybrid/PHV. We must continue to progress our energy future and we can't do that by sitting still. With that, a PHV Scout would have been ideal.

I just drove my Tesla from UT to MI and it was much better driving that distance than the same trip just two years ago. If all stops had been 250s, none of the charging stops would have seemed longer than needed for bathroom and snack breaks. That’s not even the state of the art for charging. I actually think we’re getting pretty close to (expensive) EVs being capable of road trips without much sacrifice and some benefits. We’ll see when we get to off-roading, but road-tripping has gotten much, much better, at least in a Tesla.

I’m excited! I would be interested in the Scout!

Until you can fuel an electric in a comparative fashion as a gasoline/diesel it will ever be more than a urban commuter vehicle.

I was out when you said all electric 😂

My 2016 VW e-golf with 40,000 miles has been flawless. Never one problem.

First vehicle I owned was a 1978 IH Scout II with a 345 V8. Awesome 4x4. Should have kept it. Some are still on the road today.

Is there some tension between these two that is leaking into the video or am I just imagining things?

I own a 1975 Scout II. I am looking at the Rivian R1S to replace my daily driver Subaru. I have not ordered a new vehicle in anticipation of the information coming from Scout this summer. The new Scout EV would give me interesting option for local trails when I don’t want to take the classic. Can any of us say that our non-buggy 4x4 SUVs/Trucks are used more on trails than on pavement? How often are we going on off-road trips that exceed 250-300 miles. If either of those are you, then perhaps the new Scout isn’t for you. Honestly, my Scout II’s modified 392ci gets 7MPG, limiting my 33 gallon tank to 231 miles. A R1S Tri Motor with a 400+ mile range might actually be the better option for some trails.

I wonder what Canoo's software is like.

My daily driver for 14 years was a 1980 Scout 2 with the optional Nissan turbodiesel. Wish a modern common rail diesel (i.e., a TDI) would be an option. If it must be electric only, the Rivian architecture is preferable.

hybird scout would be nice.

I appreciate Roman's perspective on EVs. He's spot on. My partner and I have two EVs for daily driving, charge from our garage of solar, and own a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee for off roading. We're mostly off-roading close to home so we could maybe do an EV. I think most of us agree there aren't enough off road EV options and the range and/or infrastructure aren't there yet. Heck, even if you get there you have to deal with vampire drain when camping. I think it's partly like HD TV adoption. Not many folks were going to buy an HD TV without content and not much content without demand. The government had to motivate industry and it's working. I don't think addressing local pollution and climate change should be political but I recognize it has become so and understand not wanting to go there.

Should have a version for ICE.

I believe that the offroad EV could be manageable. The major problem with the EV is they are not aftermarket friendly. How do you install 40" tires and regear a Rivian or cyber truck. Way too many issues with the electronics when installing lifts trimming the wheel wells to fit larger tires. Give the consumer a basic EV with the ability to highly mod the suspension then I think in my opinion it would have a better chance. I would love an R1T with 74weld portals, 37" tires and 600mi of range.

Before we add more full evs we need to address the infrastructure. The should have build a hybrid instead of going full ev. Scout could source the engine or full powertrain and blend it with their own tech. Similar to lotus.

Give the Scout the same kind of hybrid architecture as the Chevy Volt / Ramcharger to give it great range while away from charging stations and the little 1.5L VW motor to self charge the batteries with a pure electric drivetrain. Then you'd have something great.

Would love a pure electric off road camper van or truck/suv with roof tent. With enough range, loaded, to actually go out into the middle of nowhere. And affordable. Right now, you can only get 2/3.

What happened to your MB GL with the off-road package? It just kinda disappeared...

Scout could also use a small range extender for their EV, like the upcoming RAM EV Pickup or the past GM Volt.

the scout badge was under international HARVESTER. NOT just 'international.' that's why the logo was 'i H.'

Scout is leveraging more than just sw. Rivian ecus are also made without a supplier like bosch, conti, etc. Now, hv is Rivian technology. Complete setup for a startup. No low volume, off the shelf ecus . No startup battery suppliers (even the fine o.n.e next door to Scout. ) When Rivian up and left mi, a lot of good employees (especially engineers; it sucked) were not very pleased to have all their work (yes sw and hw need integration; to play nicely) frozen in time. Well, not only did Rivian's stock rise, so did mine...

VW should use the Rivian platform for the Scout, just like Honda is using the GM EV based SUV for Honda’s SUV EV.

If only they could build a Scout hybrid with a TDI 2.0

My first thought was that everyone still has a choice. No one is making anyone buy anything. But, you are exactly right. The threat of what's to come is what bothers people. Great insight. You've changed my understanding

Great perspective Roman. This is why I enjoy watching your videos and keep my subscription. It’s refreshing to listen to intelligent people and Tommy is following in your footsteps. You’ll be on the right side of history for sure.

Well just watch the video. Thank you for making it and thank you for putting that out. Your videos are always entertaining and informative. I do agree that there needs to be choice and I think Volkswagen and scout are really screwing up by not offering some type of internal combustion engine variant. Maybe even a hybrid because so far electric vehicles are pretty good at like just driving you around towns and cities. But the problem is if you're going on a longer trip where charging systems and charging infrastructure isn't there then it becomes a lot harder to do. And going off-road where there is zero charging infrastructure. Then your your calling somebody with a generator and a bunch of cans of gas to charge up your scout or Tesla or whatever your electric vehicle or calling some sort of recovery wrecker service. The big deal lately is that EVs have not been selling. I go go and inspect vehicles and when I go to Ford dealerships they always have mustang mach-e plenty of those sitting there and they also always have F-150 lightning plenty of those sitting there and being that Tesla has been around for 15 years now, I can tell you where I live in Tennessee. There is two don't get too excited two supercharger stations okay. I'm being sarcastic here. The problem is each one of them is an hour away from me. So yeah, having the infrastructure in your home to charge your car. I'm sure you can charge it out for 110 outlet but it takes forever to do it so it's not that electrical vehicles don't work. It's just that you know when you go on a trip somewhere, even a short trip count. How many AV charges stations you pass by? There's not that many and right now you can make something and you can put it out. But if there's not a market there to sell it to, it's going to sit there. Do the main the basics of any business is if you're selling something to people whether it's a product or a service. It's got to be something people want and if nobody wants that. NEV I don't care how many government laws you put it into players. It's just not going to work which could be something that The government is looking for it. Limit your mobility. I mean your ability to go places and do things so really for me. The EV just doesn't do it. It just doesn't check all the boxes. It's here's something that Jay Leno said and he said it plenty of times before is that he talks about the rotary engine like in the Mazdas and he says the new technology has to be better than the old technology. It has to be able to completely replace the new technology and while Mazda has done a fantastic job keeping up and updating that rotary engine, it's still just cannot completely replace a piston engine and it never did and the the real person that really made The most money from the rotary engine was Felix Wankel he invented that rotary engine now. He made the most money off of it but it did not replace the piston engine because it wasn't better than what's already out. You see the point I'm trying to make here so far are the EV is not better than the internal combustion engine so I really don't think that scout is making a great idea by making the scout. All easy is just not going to work out for them now. Maybe 20 years in the future. Maybe it will, but way it stands right now. Nope

It looks great.

All I wanted was the Jimny.

2022 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk (ice version) is the perfect White Rim Road vehicle.

As a long-time offroader, I've learned the less electronic crap on my 4×4 s the more reliable off road. Way to ruin the name scout though ..

Agreed, choice is great, but, disagree that it brings prices down. Ordinarily, in an unbiased market, yes, you are right. But right now, where there are penalty dollars added to the price of petrol powered vehicles, so that the price of EVs can be artificially reduced, it is in fact adding to the price of ICE vehicles. Also I acknowledge, this is outside the domain of TFL Car, but hey, this is the world and the market space we live in.

The governent subsidies for gas and gas vehicles are still way above those for electric vehicles.

Interesting news gentlemen Rivian VW collaboration has great potential.

In a couple of years We wont be able to differentiate Tommy and Roman, Nice presentation guys

Was excited for the first few seconds then they said electric

Another 4 wheel drive will be the 2025 Caterpillar pickup truck :) --- The scout looks cool but I hope it has more towing than the Bronco - the new Broncos were kind of disappointing really (I liked the '95 - '96 years better with 5.8 Liter)

I’m sorry, but “All electric Off-Road” sounds like a recipe for disaster. For around town, fine. Out in the mountains? No freaking way.

My choice? Would be an eletric with a low maintenance "range extender".

Considering that I see so many wranglers with perfect paint and no pinstripes, I'd say the average buyer only cares about the looks of a 4x4 and couldn't care less about what drives it. In that case, the EV wins out over ice in that the maintenance is so low and it's so affordable to juice up.

Electric vehicles are fine. The issue is the charging network. It’s limited (at best) and half of the stations are down.

I suspect that Rivian will gain from VW manufacturing heritage, they know how to build at scale. I agree, some mutual synergy appear to be in their common future. The R1S/T are no slouch, amazing vehicles. People opinion will change, once the prices come down, the wind will shift in EVs favor, lower cost of ownership and operation over time. Mass Media keep saying the sales of EVs are down, but are they ? Tesla is so large, the changes in their sales influenced the entire market stats, if we look at the demand per charge port, we see an increase of 20%, Kia ( and others) can't seem to ship their fast enough, so perhaps Tesla is meeting a more stout competition. Mustang Mach-E prices went down and their sales went up substantially. Time will tell.

R3 looks like a Lada Niva 4x4. Like the look.

I so want a smaller off-roady looking ev. Toyota was teasing one too.

They should have just made a Scout trim Atlas like the Toureg that people are familiar with. Batteries are very heavy and expensive and make off-roading them out of reach for most people

Nice to have more options. Hopefully price is right but with EV it won't be cheap either. Personally after owning 2 EVs, they are nice in something but overall cost savings aren't there as electricity is also not cheap where I live. Handling could be better and Ionic 5 N shows it can be done. Straight line acceleration of EV is better than any V6/V8 out there. Almost no maintenance but in case of accident, definitely a lot more $$ as these companies thinking less of repairability..

I have four cars for myself and three others for my family. The newest is a Tesla X Plaid. I enjoy our gas vehicles, but I wouldn’t buy another new ICE car. I think these new EV options are great.

Do one of the Scouts with the full axle electric drive

What are the limitations of hybrids on off roading

i wish Toyota bring back their fj cruiser hybrid 4 doors with wrangler style

Does the kid understand it's easier to get a new ev brand to the market right now than an ice because of regulations on ice vehicle components? Without combustion components, it's cheaper and quicker to produce the vehicle in the US. Why do you think new ice brands haven't entered the market in decades. Regulation on ice components is a bank breaker.

Without at least a hybrid option it isnt even an option.

I drove my brother's 1971 Scout in 1974. If no one else is going to state the obvious? The basic outline of a Scout that VW has been touting looks enough like the Rivian R2 to not be an accident. In turn Rivian's styling is far more appealing than any of VW's. Finally, despite careful wording by Rivian's PR people? Rivian was going out of business. They have lost $15B+ in the last 3 years. Ask Musk, it is brutal starting a car company and Rivian is no different, when Ford walked away I assumed they were toast...but here they are, I hope they make it.

I wonder if it will rust on the showroom floor like the original Scout?

I'm fairly pro electric, but I'm absolutely with Tommy. Electric has it's strengths, but for the most part, it's not off road excursions. Until they plop down giant solar charging stations in Moab or Monument Valley or wherever, it's just not practical.

I have five electric vehicle owners in my family, and the statement of lower maintenance cost way not accurate, every time a Tesla mechanic has to be called out, for what should be minor repairs or service in a gas vehicle, my family members have been charged over $4,000 a pop, the constant charging issues leading to bricking, stranded on the side of the road, the outlandish cost to upgrade their homes electric amperage, and in two cases the entire subdivision was substandard to support EV charging, over a dozen public charging stations we've looked at had diesel generators for the chargers, to my Nephew being charged $25 and hour to charge his S at a Tennessee station for two hours, the cars still have to be serviced and there is still oil, coolant, etc. that has to be done, and finally the battery doesn't last as expected in the extreme climates and two of my family members have already faced the $8,000 and $14,000 battery swaps for their respected vehicles, All of them have had to keep gas vehicles for reliability, two of them can't charge them in the below zero winters of their northern states, two of the others can't get half of the battery life here in the desert at 100 + degrees, and one of them has constant salt air damage to the electrical connections in Florida, My son works at the Largest vehicle parts distributor for the southwestern region and is seeing replacement batteries Quadruple due to early failure rates. So, your son is correct that gas and hybrids are the better option and is actually what people want. Every single one of my family members who own electric vehicles are getting rid of them as soon as they can, with only one planning to return to even hybrid, I work for a parts distributor, I am personally seeing customers come in hoping we can help them source batteries, (we can't) because of the waiting list and the cost.

It seems like a well played business move for VW. The infusion of cash for both Scout and Rivian should benefit them as well. I hope it works out to yield more vehicles for the automotive enthusiast.

“They’re doing it right”, not the electric part.

So no scout 2 door manual with a 220 horsepower GTI engine in red with checker cloth seats

Was gonna bag on them for looking like a bronco then realized the stout came first 😅

I think the biggest issue in how electric vehicles have been rolled out is that instead of marketing vehicles for specific jobs that electric vehicles are good for (delivery vehicles, police vehicles, grocery getters, etc.) and focusing on replacing vehicles in those jobs, we are being marketed electric vehicles built to do almost anything, This means the vehicles we are getting are expensive, in a lot of cases doesn't do those things as well as gas or hybrid alternatives, and often has more power, space, and/or range than what is needed for how the vehicle is going to be used.

With all these off roaders on the road that are ready for MOAB I would expect MOAB to have more congestion than Chicago 5 o clock traffic.

I have to agree with Tommy, EVs are great for daily commuting for work, but the off road space needs to stick with internal combustion, or even hybrid. At least for now, the new scout should NOT be fully electric.

8:33 agreed. But we’re car enthusiasts. 😂

The news makes more sense when you look at the Rivian R3 that looks just like the OLD GOLF MARK 1.... That seems to be done for a reason.

The older manufacturers have to hurry, the cninese are developing all kinds of trucks /offroad vehicles all electric, hybrid, mixed that are up to the task. For instance byd leopard. There are various. With electric, traction could be much much better, either 2 motors front and back or maybe even a motot for each wheel!

EVs and off roading (specially rock crawling) are a match made in heaven.

Wow - I agree with Roman and he had more rational opinion here. What is happening!?

Someone buys one and then converts it to gasoline. Wooooo

I owned a Scout, what the Bronco wants to be

What offroad models does VW corp own?

I agree with Tommy, I was really pumped to hear that this vehicle has been reborn but for it to be only electric would basically keep it as a pavement princess, so I say ICE and HEV would be the only way to go. It would also be useless for anyone living in northern climates where winter is a huge factor

Back in 80's when I was in High School one of my friends had a cool International Scout, it was yellow and white. Really fun vehicle lotsa memories riding in the old Scout. I was excited to hear the Scout was coming back, but that quickly waned when I heard it was all electric only. I guess the EV market is really strong and they'll sell like hotcakes? Sorry that's simply not giving consumers choice. And all electric start ups are a gamble, just look at Fisker or VinFast. Off Road is already a niche market, and EV is even smaller. Give the consumer the OPTION of gas or electric and I have a funny feeling the gas versions would fly off the lots and the EVs would gather dust. As it stands now the Scout is probably DOA.

I bet the Scout line is a re-skinned Rivian R2 built side-by side at the upcoming Rivian factory in Georgia. The Rivian will be aimed at the higher priced Land Rover Discovery and the VW Scout against the Wrangler and Bronco. For those that don’t;t know about Rivian, their EV technology and off-road capability is the real deal.

Might want to remind the EV owners themselves about the lower maintenance needs. My wife works for a GMC dealership and a hummer owner scheduled an oil change.