[15x07] February 16th, 2009

[NooDle]

Originally Posted by cobs

I like the FG presenters, just not the current format. They spend what feels like a large portion of the episode doing voice lead-in, lead-out for section breaks, and they spend a lot of time on the advertising for the competition prizes, to the detriment of the rest of the content.

this is the whole problem of FG at the moment. They spend SO much time with "coming up later ..." and then when they finally show a segment that is relatively cool, it lasts for about 10 seconds, and then they quickly conclude which is best, and then it's "what's coming up after the break" and "don't forget our competition where you can win..."

I'd prefer 3 longer segments instead of 6 3 minute segments and 6 2 minute "ads" where they talk about their competition or whats coming up.

[Cobol74]

If you watch FG live it does not feel quite so disjointed - that is with the adverts included.

Must say I was a little dissappointed with this episode, did not have the flow. Tiff seemed to be hamstrung as he was not able to wang that M3 up the best drive in the world with his normal exhubrance. I do not mind Tim myself, seems OK to me playing the part of Mr Everyman.

Sadly only 5/10 this week though from me.

[MadCow809]

a bit better.

overall, still terrible. especially the F430 bit, pretty boring watching the gals trying to handle the car in the wet, should rather just let Jason powerslide it while giving us viewers some insight feedbacks.

[TheCleaner]

not keen on tim, would prefer jonny to do his bits as he just has some kind of knack of being quite funny, where tim is just a bit obnoxious.. and how on earth does he cross his legs so damn tight!

Anyway, ok'ish episode, though im not fond of the celeb bits.. like jonnys bits, but like everyone is saying, theres too many low quality segments as opposed to time spent making just a few good ones.

As for dielsel, how did he only manage 41mpg in a 1.3 diesel? I have a 1.5 and it beat the crap out my my previous 1.2 both in fuel consumption and being 33% up on its hp and what feels like doublr the torque its a whole lot quicker and fun too. They should have tested a euro car for comparison.

[HatmanCMD]

Well, I agree with most of the above statements. Why the hell don't they just focus on the reviews more? They're just too short to give you any real information.

[matyas]

Stag....Cheep and Cheerful....Cheep and Nasty....smells like Top Gear.

I am really dissapointed with this episode.

[otispunkmeyer]

lol they compared a bose system to a B&O system.... bose might as well be a standard OEM install in this case

[StickForLife]

The one segment of the episode I'd like to comment on is the Mini vs. Mito. Why on earth did they use a Mini Cabrio vs. the Mito? That would seem to skew the results on handling and price point. It was so obvious to me that it felt that they deliberately skewed the test results towards the Mito, just so that they could justify giving away the Mito rather than the Mini (which of course, they've given away in the past.) As an American, I'm not familiar with the precise price difference between the Mini and the Mito, can someone shed some light on this?

I hope I'm wrong, because this kind of shameless flaunting of our trust in them and the implications for their own credibility really would anger me.

[Stefano1337]

Sadly, i think your assessment might be accurate.
The other possibility of course is that they couldn't get a normal mini, or the one they could get had the small engine or something like that. Which woudn't be so bad, but ever so embarrassing.

1) Allthough all this analysis seems perfectly reasonable, we shouldn't take it as fact unless some proper evidence hits the scene.
2) Were not talking about the bbc, arte, or in your case maybe pbs, this is five and from the little i know about british media, they won't answer an email (will they?) with anything more than some standard marketing jibber jabber.
3) if you turn out to be right, the viewers should be properly pissed. Those who payed to see the show anyway

[s_k]

Originally Posted by otispunkmeyer

lol they compared a bose system to a B&O system.... bose might as well be a standard OEM install in this case

Everyone who knows his way around high end audio knows at least.
1. Bose is in no way high and. It's a lot of figures and blahblah, but Bose has never made it's way into the living room of a serious high ender.
To be completely honest, the two best selling bose home audio speakers, the 201 and 301, are complete crap compared to cheap ass speakers from non high-end stereo's from Yamaha, Panasonic or Philips. I'm not trying to tell you to buy yamaha, panasonic of philips. You shouldn't. When in doubt, just believe me: Bose isn't any good or in any way respectable for home audio

2. B&O has always been a brand that prefers to choose design above audio quality. Altough they've made some pretty amazing speakers in the past (the Beovox 3000 and S100 for instance) and they did some good stuff with their vintage reel to reel decks (The beocords 1500-2000 were really ahead of their time) they are in no way a high end brand. Most of the turntable technology was by philips and so are most of their speakers.
As the pop up tweeters show, it's all about design, again.
Resonance!

3. The problem with audio in a car is the limited amount of space and the difficult acoustic environment. If a car stereo has to sound as good as it gets, it had to be specifically designed for the space it is in.
Thus, when you open the windows, you change the internal space by miles.

Anyway, fun episode. But the guys have no clue about audio or acoustics. I'm sorry .

Btw, I wonder if he wouldn't hear the speakers popping up (bzzzzt).
Audiophiles amongst us: Did you know McIntosh had a car system? .
(never heard anything about McIntosh making proper speakers, but their amps are pretty neat )

[Stefano1337]

What audio firms do these days is increase the 'percieved' listening quality.
That means turning up the frequencies above 15kHz to give the impression of crips highs, turning up frequencies under 120Hz to make it sound punchy and modifying the mids to make voices sound clear and so on.

the final product of course has nothing to do with what you hear when the drum set or cello is right in front of you, but what audi customer knows what a cello sounds like. *pointing with pipe*

for those of you who think they don't hear the difference, listen to a recent pop album and try to make out all the instruments.

[s_k]

Couldn't agree more with you.
Loudness warr and mixing albums using bad monitors on purpose (to make it sound great on cheap audio systems) is killing music. Modern recordings are in no way pleasurable to listen to on my vintage Luxman/AR combo.

[wahaha]

Originally Posted by s_k

As the pop up tweeters show, it's all about design, again.
Resonance!

It's all about tight high end, CLASSICAL music. People who buy these cars aren't in it for bang your head rock music and bass. They're refined, older GENTLEMEN with MONEY and class, who know the only way to dress is a 3 piece suit, not off the rack crap.

Originally Posted by s_k

3.Anyway, fun episode. But the guys have no clue about audio or acoustics. I'm sorry .

Of course they don't, otherwise they would've known to use a goddamn 5.1 AUDIO DVD, not a fucking CD, which would have given it away right off, since the BOSE system doesn't do audio dvd.

The person who mentioned ACC, it doesn't matter. The tweeters pop up even without the ignition on. I tested it in a Q7.

[Stefano1337]

Is that so, good sir?