"Thisss..." is an article about Doug DeMuro, the Californian YouTube automotive reviewer who has gained fame and renown for his quirky yet extremely detailed car reviews. While the cars he reviews range from special sports cars to high-end luxury cars, Doug himself is never seen in anything but the most modest of attires—a pair of cargo shorts with a regular t-shirt that has become his unique selling point.
Nevertheless, over the years, Doug has managed to grow his YouTube subscriber count to over 4 million. That's because he's arguably one of the most interesting personalities in the automotive industry, making fascinating videos that have bolstered his popularity. In that vein, here are some of the facts that you probably didn't know about the 33-year-old.
8 He Used To Work For Porsche
Doug DeMuro wasn't always an automotive interviewer. However, he certainly was inclined towards the automotive world, explained by his job as a 'Vehicle Allocation Manager' at Porsche's American headquarters in Atlanta. Doug's job required him to send various Porsche models to dealerships across Northern America.
Despite having multiple high-end German Porsche supercars and sports cars at his disposal, Doug ended up quitting his job because it began getting 'boring' for him. Nevertheless, it didn't take him away from the world of cars. Rather, quitting his job and becoming a reviewer rather helped Doug get closer to the world of cars.
7 He Bought A Ferrari Just For YouTube
Almost over a decade ago in 2014, Doug bought a Ferrari 360 Modena for the sake of his YouTube channel, featuring it heavily in his early videos. One of his most famous videos, to this day, is the lanky, tall 25-year-old DeMuro attempting to pick up women in his red Ferrari, seeing if they respond better owing to his Italian prancing horse.
The 360 also made its way into several of Doug's other videos, after which he then expanded into reviewing other sports cars, going from a satirical-skit YouTube content creator to a full-time automotive reviewer with his own trademark 'Doug score.'
6 His Trademark ‘Doug Score’ Is Irrelevant According To Him
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Back in 2017, Doug introduced the 'Doug Score' rating system he uses to rank cars based on several factors. The Doug Score's 'weekend' category includes factors such as style, acceleration, handling, and fun factor, while the 'daily' category's factors are features, comfort, quality, and practicality.
However, he himself admitted that the Doug Score is practically irrelevant to anyone who doesn't own a stylish sports car. He wrote on his website how he primarily reviews special and performance cars (which, in his opinion, are the best cars), and thus, the Doug Score is meant only for the exciting cars, being entirely unhelpful to practical car owners.
5 He Came Up With Cars&Bids During An Airplane Flight
Doug's new venture is the website CarsandBids which is an auction site for enthusiasts to buy or sell their cars. The website is his backup plan, so to speak, as he acknowledged that his YouTube career was unsustainable in the long run and simple algorithm change by YouTube could end it. Thus, he decided to start the website, naturally earning commissions from every sale that happens on the website.
In fact, the idea for the website had come to him during a plane ride when his mind was free to brainstorm ideas, separated from the noise of social media notifications and messages. Then, he met a friend, and the two spitballed ideas about the user interface of how the website would be, and thus, Cars and Bids came to be.
4 He Does Not Review Modified Cars
As much as he is into the most special and unique cards, Doug DeMuro does not review modified cars. In fact, he explained how he tries not to feature any modified cars on his channel at all. For Doug, anything that makes a major change to the appearance or driving experience of the car is considered a modification. This is because he wants his viewers to get a review of the original factory car as it was made available to the public.
To that end, if a car even features modified wheels or rims, DeMuro would refuse to feature it on his channel. However, he does acknowledge that 20 or 30-year-old cars have obviously undergone some modifications or replacement of parts. Nevertheless, he strives to feature cars that are as close to stock as possible in his videos.
3 He Has Owned 30 Different Cars
Doug's content has resonated with millions over the internet for one simple reason—he himself is an avid car enthusiast. At the age of 33 years, he has already owned almost 30 different cars, and even though some of them have been fairly unremarkable commuter cars, his garage has also housed some pristine models that only enthusiasts admire and revere.
Some of the cars DeMuro has owned over the years include a Nissan Skyline GT-R, a Range Rover Classic, a Ford GT, the Dodge Viper GTS, and also an Audi RS 2 Avant. Looking at the cars Doug has owned, it is clear that he really does prefer high-end, 'fun' cars over regular vehicles.
2 He Has Authored 3 Books
Doug DeMuro has a history of Automotive writing. Even while he worked full-time with Porsche, he wrote consumer-focused articles on cars for a side gig with Autotrader. He even wrote for Jalopnik for a while. Today, he writes exclusively for Autotrader’s Oversteer.
However, apart from that, DeMuro is also a published author and has written 3 books so far—Plays With Cars, Bumper to Bumper, and From My Perspective. The first two books are about his own history with cars while the last one is just his commentary on random things, peppered with his classic humor.
1 He Has Worked With James May and Jay Leno
DeMuro happens to be quite modest and humble about his own fame, considering himself nothing more than a car guy with a few popular videos online. However, there is no doubt that he is a car celebrity himself today, and he has worked with even more popular automotive icons.
He collaborated with automotive legend James May, of Top Gear fame, for a video about his Ford GT after May roasted the car for being a tribute. Additionally, he has even been interviewed on Jay Leno's Garage and had the opportunity to review Leno's McLaren F1, which incidentally happens to be the highest-rated car on the Doug Score scale.