I missed it tonight. Does it get repeated?
More than likely in a couple of weeks time on UKTV People. (Sky digital, ch 566).
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Ice cream vans and bouncy castles, omlettes and real hair being eaten?
yes it's silliness is getting worse but i'll still be watching next week.
BTW it's not a Vauxhall it's a Holsten.
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Wow , That Chrysler C300 was fantastic.Massive and powerful looking.
Any other cars in the UK that are this imposing in size??
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Holden is the brand name, but General Motors owns them both so I suppose one could just say it was GM to be safe. There was talk of the Monaro being imported to the US to replace the now dead Camaro.
The Chrysler 300C certainly has road presence so even if there were other cars in the UK of a similar size (the RR and Bentley certainly come close, LWB S class?) it will still be noticed. While back in the US last month it was one of the few cars that stood out from the crowd and that wasn't down to it's size especially in the land of road yachts and monster SUVs (sorry, can't call them 4X4s as some are two wheel drive). Even my wife who couldn't tell a Ford from a Ferrari and couldn't care less which one was which, took notice of them. To my surprise, she said that she liked them and asked if we could get one as a hire car on the next trip.
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Holden is the brand name, but General Motors owns them both so I suppose one could just say it was GM to be safe. There was talk of the Monaro being imported to the US to replace the now dead Camaro.
They are selling the Monaro in the USA badged as a Pontiac GTO.
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BTW it's not a Vauxhall it's a Holsten.
Well, you could try to argue it was a HolDEN, but you'd still be wrong, since it'll be badged as a Vauxhall over here.
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Is it me, or does the front grill of the Monaro look very similar to an MGF?
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BTW it's not a Vauxhall it's a Holsten.
I thought Holsten made Lager?
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"I thought Holsten made Lager?"
They make cows too.
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No no trancer, the cows are Holstein and the milk is better for you than the Holsten.
I think that the Jag will be a bit of a rust box after all that sea water. I suppose it will be sold as a demonstator.
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I missed it last night. Phone call from Wales pointed out that its on BBC2 Wales tonight at 11.20pm (If you have Sky you'll find it "below" the Sky Listings and Filth Channels)
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It says in the Radio Times it gets repeated at 11.20 pm tonight I think.
I thought it was a great programme, as usual.
teabelly
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Usual TG stuff - glad of the hair eating as the programme overran so I could turn over and watch Himalaya without missing anything!
PS I'd still have the Jag.
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>>PS I'd still have the Jag.>>
What about the Porsche?
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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What about the Porsche?
The article was about as praising of a 911 as JC gets, so I dare say Porsche will be pleased.
Interestingly, TG had to ask the Porsche Club GB for loan of a 996 model to compare. They initially asked for a yellow one - now we know why!
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Repeated Monday Night 11:20pm BBC2
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BTW did anyone think the 3door Astra looked a lot like a 3 door Focus?
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I enjoy watching Top Gear.
I also enjoy watching Warner Brothers cartoons from the '50s (e.g. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner).
Both programmes give me roughly equally useful information about motoring.
Oz (as was)
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My Dad said exactly that!!
I really wish they had test driven it rather than jump ice cream vans over bouncy castles!
Think they are/have lost the plot
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11.20 BBC2
Quality! Missed the first half or so last night, so now setting the Sky+ to tape it.
Another great tip from the backroom!!
--
Lee
MINI adventure over. Now having a Fabialous time.
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I missed it tonight. Does it get repeated?
Well it certainly felt like a repeat, I normally enjoy the show but it felt a bit tired, hope for better things next week.
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Top Gear lost the plot a long time ago. They are to motoring what MPs are to thrift.
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I like Top Gear, I think it's refreshing, funny, well made and photography is simply the best in the industry. However I do find myself wondering this year what's exactly the point of some of their tests. For example what was the point of the Ozz, US vs UK test in last episode? They one sports car, low budget business limo and Richmond repmobile, mistake them for muscle cars and then choose coupe as the best handling and most fun for sporty minded. I'm sorry but what are we watching? A proof that if you take minivan, London Taxi and Land Rover the latter one will be the best all terrain car? Of course Monaro is better fun on the beach than chairman emeritus Chrysler cruiser, we don't need to send filming crew to Wales to know that.
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The point is - there is no point. Its an entertainment prog based on cars. The Jag/yank tank/Holden was entertainment, thats why they filmed it at Pendine sands where they can make them look most spectacular. It was three interesting cars at an interesting location. No more - no less.
They took the "cover short a**E hammond in sand" thing too far tho. It was funny (very funny) last time but too contrived this time.
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Top Gear lost the plot a long time ago. They are to motoring what MPs are to thrift.
They both have something in common..... spending someone else?s money.
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Absolutely slated the new Focus looks wise - drives great apparently but the words "dull" and "dreary" were used.
I'll now switch over because they're going to talk about £300,000 cars for the next 40 minutes ;-)
--
Adam
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Absolutely slated the new Focus looks wise - drives great apparently but the words "dull" and "dreary" were used.
I thought for a moment TG were going to break the habit of a lifetime and actually slag off a Ford, but no, they still found an excuse to like it!!
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Oh here we go - not enough to kick me when I'm down... :-)
The Focus mark 2 is ugly - and I do not use that word lightly. I think quite possibly I would choose an Austin Allegro over it....or a Vauxhall Vectra ;-).
However, everyone knew it's redeeming features were going to be in the handling/safety aspect. That wasn't even a Ghia yet had 6 airbags. Given that Hammond is the only one I listen to, I'd be forced to believe him if he says it's a good drive.
Moving back onto my car, because I have to talk about it every 6 posts, it still amazes me how well it drives. I know it's a saloon and it's hardly a race car, but it gives a confident, sure footed ride and still, even though I got it in June, I have a smile on my face every morning when I walk up the drive.
If the new Focus improves on that, then I will be very eager to drive it - but it would have to be able to take 90 degree corners at 70mph minimum for me to actually buy one.
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Adam
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Dear Sir
As a license fee payer I have to write in and complain. The programe had only one real car featured that had a proper road test. The rest of the airtime was taken up with foreign exotic rubbish, titilating women, and men behaving like boys.
I shall never watch this rubbish again and will be in contact with my MP.
Disgusted of Tunbridge
And Ford have stolen a little style piece from every modern mid size car on the road for the front, and grafted a focus mk1 back on it. It loooks all wrong.
The C4 looked fabulous tho.
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And Ford have stolen a little style piece from every modern mid size car on the road for the front, and grafted a focus mk1 back on it. It loooks all wrong.
Wonder if the designer of the Focus(2) was the same one that designed the new Porsche 911?
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Given, as they said themselves, it's probably one of the most important car launches of the year, they didn't really cover it enough. I was just a 5 minute filler to say they cover normal cars before Clarkson had a chance to play. I would have like to have heared more about the new engines etc.
Other reviews I've read said that the handling isn't quite as sharp as the previous one due to them changing the suspension set up to make the ride better.
The looks aren't as cutting edge as the original Focus, but as often happens when somebody does a radical design that sells, the competition copies. I agree it's a conservative change personally I don't think it's that bad. The bit where they were watching people go past the parked Focus could have easily been edited to make it look as if nobody looked or everyone looked just to fit what they wanted to say.
No mention of it being 6 inches wider than the old one, which will be significant for many people is it may no longer fit in their garage / parking space. Also no mention of the silly naming of models e.g. the Sport trim level doesn't have sports suspension, to get that you have to buy a Zetec. I also believe the Titanium is the top spec, rather than the Ghia which will confuse serial Ford buyers.
Once again, the bulk of the program was made up of Clarkson playing with big boys toys. Don't get me wrong, I like nice cars, but the program should have more information / features which are of use to most motorists.
I also think they have too many childish things on, which at the end of the day is a waste of the licence fee / tax payers money. At least it doesn't have Tiff Needell on anymore.
I think the best car programme in relatively recent times was the original format of Deals on Wheels. The average 2nd car buyer learnt a lot from it and at times it was entertaining.
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I think TG tend to give all the technical info in their magazine, and as they only have an hour of airtime a week, like to make it as entertaining/dramatic as possible!
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I think TG tend to give all the technical info in their magazine, and as they only have an hour of airtime a week, like to make it as entertaining/dramatic as possible!
Agreed its Show Business with a motoring slant.
I must admit to liking JC but get a bit fed up with him getting orgasmic in his supercars.
Given that there was supposed to be a comparison between 3 cars in a very important sector(diesel Focus, Astra & Golf) it is a pity a few more minutes weren't devoted to them.
Incidentally will anyone pay £19k for a diesel Astra?
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All the complainers about TG seem to me to be missing the point. This is a light hearted entertainment show that is clearly aimed at the fun side of driving. Whether a car fits in the average garage is not really the point of it.
Bear in mind that it's been calculated that a 30 minute news (i.e. mainly talking) broadcast contains as much material as the front page of the Telegraph, I suspect an hour of TG contains about the same (There's a lot of non-talking portions).
So, imagine you have a single page of a newspaper to fill. Would you make it entertaining, or would you fill it with details about a car's fuel injection system pressure (or whatever)?
If the BBC give motoring an hour a day there might be space for turgid detail; with an hour a week, give me some enjoyable TV any time. At least in its current format it might tempt people to think that motoring is *fun* rather than the evil habit our ruling masters seem to think it is.
V
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TG has become auto-porn with nothing substantial. It's also getting tedious as entertainment. The cool wall, and other features, are long past their bed time. Last night I turned it off as it was too dull.
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Time for a new motoring programme for people who use their cars to drive from A to B on public roads.
Imagine a cookery programme where the TV chefs' main preoccupations were things like how hot they could get the gas burner on a cooker - "look, that wok's glowing red hot... now let's splash some cooking oil in and... whoaaa, look at those flames..!"
Or a gardening programme where they tested chainsaws by how quickly they could slice a log cabin in half. Actually that would be quite a good test!
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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I might be a lone voice here, but I don't want to watch a motoring show about cars I can afford, I want sixty minutes of escapism and watching ridiculous stories like Ben Collins racing some schoolboy on a skateboard down a hill. I will concede, however, that the Star in a Reasonable Priced Car feature gets more woeful each week.
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Yeah - I like the funny slots such as Ben Collins and weeks ago when they fired the cars into a target in a quarry. I also like the fast cars (The Enzo piece was actually quite good) but I think it needs to be 50/50 rather than 5 minutes realistic and 55 dream.
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Adam
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El Clarko said he left the original Top Gear and laid off writing for motor magazines because all they ever did was attend motor launches where they sat with their mouths open being fed lobster and champagne until they wrote the glowing reviews they were supposed to write.
The new Top Gear is all his own work. It started well enough but now its just fantasy buyland interspersed with ever more unfunny jokes and the way that the other presenters suck up to the big man is nauseating.
Yes the Enzo is a miracle car but how many more shots of the thing changing engine note whilst Clarko goes 'coooorrr' can we take?
Now utter tosh, utterly self indulgent and totally boring. I watched it from start to end because I have recently purchased a small fridge that sits next to my TV viewing chair and thus beered up couldn't be bothered to get up to change the channel (the ex stole the remote - true story) otherwise I would have changed channel after 5 minutes. And how interested/interesting was Gerri Halliwell?
There is a HUGE gap in the market for an affordable car programme. An idea I put out there free and gratis, HJ to do a 'bargain hunt' type programme where teams of amateurs have to get the best car they can for £1,000 from an auction site, it gets valeted (no more) and then re-entered at another site and who makes the most profit wins. Diamonds in the Rough type thing.
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Now utter tosh, utterly self indulgent and totally boring.
Well said, couldn't agree more. I fell asleep last night while Clarkson was creaming over the Enzo.
His head (and those of his co-presenters) is wedged firmly up his own backside.
Jumping an ice cream van over some bouncy castles.. what a cracking wheeze. Or do I mean a pointless, unamusing waste of time and (our) money?
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Top gear is too presenter based, just like some of these makeover programmes. The presenters get in the way of the subject matter. It's also a bit like these pop talent contests like X factor - we're led to believe the wannabe singers are the stars but really it's the panel of judges who hog centre stage.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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There are some terrible programmes on television, but I've perfected the art of not forcing myself to watch something I don't want to watch. Its so much less stressful than watching it and then whinging about it.
As it happens, I quite enjoyed Top Gear last night.
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I got really wound up to the point of shouting profanaties at the screen when a smug James May went into his 'humourous' racist diatribe against Bill Bryson.
IMO he does not deserve that sort of insulting comment.I certainly know who I find the most readable and it aint James May.
To use the programme to go for a cheap laugh against someone who cares about Britain and is campaigning against the proliferation of roadsigns everywhere had me reaching for the off switch.
Mind you I was pleased to see the Pink Floyd drummer prefers a helicopter to his Enzo - A man after my own heart.
Oh by the way - he's got a book out ...
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I have to wholeheartedly agree with helicopter. I think The Lost Continent is one of the funniest books I have ever read. What's James May ever done other than look gor...actually - probably isn't the best thing to write on a forum lest the post get deleted.
That being said, Bill Bryson probably wouldn't appreciate the finer points of an F40 ;-)
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Adam
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>>An idea I put out there free and gratis, HJ to do a 'bargain hunt' type programme where teams of amateurs have to get the best car they can for £1,000 from an auction site, it gets valeted (no more)>>
Too late!
It's a bsic formula already been done on ITV, presented by Ginny Buckley, on Saturday afternoons.
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I thought it as little more than auto-porn. Boring, tedious and juvenile. Seems to be aimed at the lads mags audience. It's all very well saying that its okay 'cos some people find it entertaining, but the problem is that the Beeb no longer have a car program as TG supposedly fills that slot. And yes I turned it off out of boredom.
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Well this sad old soul finds it very entertaining....:-))
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Amen to Leif's message, to which I'd add "puerile", just for good measure.
I'm no fan of JC, but he was good on QI last Friday and he's made far better use of his talents in the past, notably the series on the British motor industry, as I told him in person at a filling station one day. Richard Hammond also redeemed himself in the recent prime-time programmes on getting risk into a more sensible perspective.
Oh for a motoring programme for grumpy old gits like me. I'd even stay up until 11.30 p.m. for it. Bring on the likes of L. J. K. Setright and non-journo celebs who have something worthwhile to say about cars, such as Clive James; let's have some serious investigation and discussion about the issues vexing 28 million motorists every day. It's time Top Gear was moved into the children's TV slot.
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Isn't Top Gear just an excuse for Clarkson et al to enjoy themselves at the expense of the licence payers? If you were in their shoes, would you want to drive cheap family hatchbacks or expensive supercars?
Clarkson gets all the good cars. James May often doesn't get a car to drive at all - what was his contribution to yesterday's show (apart from the Bill Bryson nonsense)? Hammond seems to end up with all the bad stunts.
5th gear on soon - will be a pocket version of Top Gear.
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Fans of Clarkson, yes both of you, might be interested in the BBC2 programme tomorrow (tues) at 9pm - 'Who do you think you are?'.
Looks at the pedigree of sundry public figures.
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Look guys*, you may find this amazing, but the majority of people in the UK who watch telly dont find cars in the least bit interesting. Therefore car progs about MPG, or the range of engines, or the latest diesel technology get LOUSY viewing figures. Thats why there is so few of them, or if there are they get shifted to graveyard slots.
So, you get cartainment programs. It works. TG gets good ratings for BBC2.
Nicolle has no interest in cars as long as they are girly and cute, starts, gets her from a-b, the heater works and the CD is loud.
BUT she and Junior RF both watch TG, and are entertained and laugh.
(*sorry NW and PG *"and girls")
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Couldn't disagree more, ratings should be of no consideration to the BBC. You are never going to get the majority of people to be interested in the same thing, the old Top Gear with Quentin Wilson, Tony Mason, Tiff, Chris Goffey and Clarkson was a far better program.
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>>ratings should be of no consideration to the BBC.
If ratings were of no consideration (a very strange point) then presumably the point is that consumer opinion is not relevant. That being so, there is not much point in stating your opinion.
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>>ratings should be of no consideration to the BBC. If ratings were of no consideration (a very strange point) then presumably the point is that consumer opinion is not relevant. That being so, there is not much point in stating your opinion.
I believe that the BBC remit is that they should cater for various tastes and parts of the community and not just chase ratings. Ratings are a consideration, but not the most important one. In other words, they will braodcast some programmes in the knowledge that they could get better ratings from something else. Maybe wall to wall football would get the best ratings, but thankfully we do not see that.
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Not quite the same as "of no consideration".
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I think Top Gear is great. I'm always disappointed if I miss it. Come on guys, it's just a bit of fun after all. There's little enough fun in life as it is, with Tony and his posse telling us to be sensible and responsible and making us feel guilty for enjoying something. Mind the gap keep off the grass go by bus twenty's plenty eat healthy not in my back yard don't smoke don't drink keep your head down no shouting no talking no laughing what have you got to laugh about?
I want to watch 3 blokes sitting on car seats in a studio ranting about random stuff and then skidding around a track in a car that costs more than most people's houses and then seeing how many Toyota Hiluxes they can still start after jumping a double decker bus over them. It's fun. It doesn't take itself seriously and it never claimed to be a sensible motoring program. OK, I'd probably watch a program where Chris Goffey and Tony Wilson talked about how the window winders on an Astra are five tenths of an inch longer than on a Golf, but that's not Top Gear's role.
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I too think TG is good automotive (sometimes somewhat tenuously!) entertainment . My work involves a lot of intense concentration, and something like TG fits the bill for relaxing, glass of wine in hand, with one of my interests (cars), perfectly.
If I'm in the market for a new car, and really want to know how it handles, how well screwed together it is, what the styling looks like from any number of angles, and what the refinement is like, I'll go and arrange some test drives or hire one. I'll trust my own judgement over that of a journo (be they tv or magazine for that matter) any day.
Sure, I got lucky with the chance to try a Mclaren Mercedes SLR, but this was a one off (okay, actually a 'two-off' but I doubt there will be a third), so TG bringing on the Enzos and GT3s of this world to give me the opportunity to hear and see them suits me fine.
My missus has no interest in cars whatsoever beyond knowing what she finds pleasing on the eye, the boot being big enough for the shopping, and being able to see each corner easily for parking. That's pretty well it, and she leaves the rest of the decision making process down to me. She too, however, will happily sit with me, and enjoy Top Gear for the easy entertainment that it is.
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> Not quite the same as "of no consideration".
I know what the BBC charter says and I disagree with it, that was my point.
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