[01x04] October 20th, 2008

[Hidden_Hunter]

I almost reckon they've been reading what people on here think and have had to work around what they've already shot (eg why the conclusion for the w427 was mostly in the studio)

[WellsieTRD]

7 from me this week.

Absolutly cracked up watching the lawn bowls, where the hell did Warren pull that one out of? Brilliant

Enjoyed the W427 review. Little bit forced but a solid effort none the less.

Missed the first bit of the Kimberly challenge, but what I did see was great. More on the TRD 'lux would have been nice though.

Im really enjoying watcing Warren. IMO he's the only one of our 3 who has stepped up and showen any real character and personality. Steve is close but Charlie isn't even in the ballpark.

All in all, another great episode. Keep it comming

[gti138]

Went with an 8 this week....

The lawn bowl's segment was the highlight.

Having driven a TRD hilux for a week I was disappointed they didnt give us a chance to hear the supercharger whine - it sounds amazing - could have mentioned the shithouse fuel economy too! I saw one go thru 3/4 tank of fuel in an hour.....

The 'rotus position in the W427 was brilliant!!

Looking forward to he next few episodes.

[GerFix]

I gave this episode a 7 (same as last weeks). The thing that encourages me is that each week the show appears just a little more polished. The studio segments in particular, seem more cohesive and the presenters, more relaxed ... and I think this augers well.

Weakest segment was (excluding SIABSC .. yawn) the challenge. Despite its beautiful scenery .... it still needed a map (with perhaps some icons showing where the competitors were in relation to each other) to give it more credibility as a true challenge, rather than a photo oportunity.

The W427 review was good ... could've done with some more details about the car, but it was still very watchable. Can't believe it beat the M3 around the test track .... the way the Stig drove the W427, he must be a Holden fan boy.

The Astra bowls segment was great and the prize at the end was all in keeping with a bowls comp. I recieved an email from SBS today about this episode (must have signed up ... can't remember how) and it included a picture of Warren's original drawing for this segment and here it is:

[Santah]

Gave my first 8. Good solid episode.

Liked gps vs tracker.

Star segment didn't drag on like last week.

Liked the review. Whats with the camera coverage of the power lap :/

Car lawn bowls sounded shit house but it turned out pretty good.

[Fleetfoot]

6 from me, "ok" aussie car show, not getting the TG feel yet from Cox who's too forced and boring
Warren is good but with the other two not coming down to his level it's him "the clown" and them the pro's.
Steve is doing better but Cox needs to come out of his tower.
Steve needs lessons from Clarkson about doing drifting around on a wet circle, gas on gas off, heavy steering, too much work there Steve.

SIARPC I skipped, too slow, too long etc..

HSV.. 7 litres and what? can't even get close to the euro cars, Yankee low tech heavy block high price and it looks just like another boring commodore. if you pay 150k then get some sportscar looks, not some big fat wallowy thing that can't take corners.
Lawn Bowls, yeah .. I think the UK trio would have taken the steering out or something, not much challenge when you can steer it around and then the inevitable lets bang in to the other car thingdidn't do much.

Might point out too that one of the reasons TGA is getting "ok" votes here is cause most people have switched off long ago :-/ 1st episode we had 27,197 views, second 9,131 third 4,591 which goes to show.

Anyway, i'll refrain from posting too, Warren can't make it TopGear class alone and while he's trying his best the other two just remind me too much of plato and needle, though they (5th gear) manage to still get more excited and are more genuine, no aussie "tough guy" attitude to hold them back though

[Dsemaj]

Better and better! The lawn bowls was classic, Warren really does have some great ideas, he's my favourite by far.

[MattD1zzl3]

Look. i've been a huge defender of the local top gears from announcment one and i liked the other episodes. but about 5 minutes into this one i just really couldnt bring myself to watch it. I started kinda skipping forward looking for something, and shut it off somewhere around another boring holden review (honestly, i like them but how many times can you review basically the same car in 4 episodes)

1/10, the worst score i've ever given any top gear, not because of its merits compared to other episodes, but because my soul and willingness to watch were actually crushed.

[Seasonone]

Give it a 6, could have been a 5.

The reviews still are just plain horrid, it's like there is a Holden rep in the seat next to it. "I don't like the color of the interior" wow tell it like it is The reviews are still way too half assed and guided to not offend anybody. After TG UK I get a feeling that I would want or not want a car... after TG AU I uhh... well don't.


The challenge was ok but boring, not much actually happened.

SIARPC sucked as usual, the guest was a drone.

The Lawn darts was ok I guess, not bad but def. not something I would recommend to anybody.

And that pretty much sums up this show for me, not bad for a couple minutes as I am doing other stuff but I wouldn't recommend anybody watch it and I wouldn't actually go out of my way for it. If it weren't for my TGUK rss picking it up I don't think I would even be downloading it anymore.

[Whitey Ford]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

The reviews still are just plain horrid, it's like there is a Holden rep in the seat next to it. "I don't like the color of the interior" wow tell it like it is The reviews are still way too half assed and guided to not offend anybody. After TG UK I get a feeling that I would want or not want a car... after TG AU I uhh... well don't.

You gotta please the people who pay the bills!

I have been thinking about that topic, if you remember when James May drove the Veyron at a high speed track, he didn't explore the car much either.

This problem has plagued every car show ever produced in Australia and TGAU doesn't seem to be an exception. They haven't "reviewed" a car yet. The only thing TGAU has done with cars is shown them to us like an advertisement. It's my biggest dissapointment with the show, but I am far from suprised.

I bought my car because Clarkson gave all the good points and all the bad points, which was enough to convince me to go put my name on the waiting list. Like you said, there hasn't been a car review on TGAU yet that has made me want to buy it. They just seem like 5 minute ads.

[RommieSG]

This episode got another 7 from me. Still above average, but it was lacking something.

The challenge, for once, had some purpose to it. I found it to be entertaining, gave me a laugh, and it goes to show that even a GPS can get you lost or lead you where you don't want to go.

The thing that got to me was the 'review' of the Holden. That's the thing, there was no 'review'. It was just him driving the car around the tracks, mucking about, and showing off the trick with no hands. Nothing about the handling, the feel of the drive, or anything 'review' like. All he mentioned about the car was the power, the no-hands trick, and the antenna flopping about at 250kph. Fun to watch, but a rubbish review.

As for the challenge and the game at the end, pure entertainment. I think I kinda like the Lawn Balls better than the Soccer games that TGUK ran. I can just see them doing a Curling challenge one of these days on one of the shows.

Overall a good episode. At least they haven't lowered in my expectations of the show. But it still has that 'lacking' element. And that's the actual 'reviews' of the cars. IMO, there have only been two good reviews so far, and they were both in one episode. The Ford GT and the BMW X6.

[RommieSG]

Originally Posted by Whitey Ford

I have been thinking about that topic, if you remember when James May drove the Veyron at a high speed track, he didn't explore the car much either.

In James' defense, he wasn't really there to review the car. He was there to get the car up to it's top speed of 253mph.

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by Tommo

I put Mediacentre on pause just after the news segment while I had dinner, just so happens that it doesn't timeshift very far so I ended up with the 5 minutes of ads after the show had finished and that was all :\

Thanks Microsoft, with 100's of GB's left on the hard drive of course I'd only want to timeshift for 5 minutes. I guess I'll have to wait for other means of obtaining it

You can change the length of time shift on MCE/VMC: http://www.dougknox.com/xpmce/utils/...vbuffermgr.htm

[Tranquillizer]

yea i missed it this time again.
bloody job.
i was tired and because i didnt sleep much last night i fell asleep infront of the tele, i was still awake till 7pm.
now downloading.

[tone76]

A solid 8/10 here. I was almost going to give it a 9/10, but I know there’s more room for improvement, despite this episode being the best thus far. The finished product turned out way better than I remembered it in filming.

The Tracker vs GPS piece was nice, the W427 piece was superb (and should put any doubts anyone has about Pizzati to rest once and for all) and the Astra Lawn Bowls bit could have been taken from TGUK, it was classic cocking about without worrying about the consequences.

I’d argue that 1x04 is the first episode of TGA that is truly worthy of the TG brand. The first 3 eps were basically dress rehersals. If they keep it up, then TGA will eventually be a must-watch in its own right.

The audience did sound a little subdued, which is odd considering how animated we were in the studio. I reckon they still have some work to do on the acoustics. Charlie was yelling again, but mainly because he had to.

I reckon if 1x01 was as good as 1x04, the ratings would be better and the critics would be less vocal. That said, the only way to improve is to ‘suck it and see’ … which means having a go and then tweaking it. And tweaking it. And tweaking it some more.

I’m really excited about the rest of TGA S1 now.

BTW: did anyone spot some tall dude with grey/brown hair and a blue t-shirt at all? Mainly up the back in the aerial shots … if you did, then you just spotted me.

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by tone76

I’d argue that 1x04 is the first episode of TGA that is truly worthy of the TG brand. The first 3 eps were basically dress rehersals. If they keep it up, then TGA will eventually be a must-watch in its own right.

.....

I reckon if 1x01 was as good as 1x04, the ratings would be better and the critics would be less vocal. That said, the only way to improve is to ‘suck it and see’ … which means having a go and then tweaking it. And tweaking it. And tweaking it some more.

I’m really excited about the rest of TGA S1 now.

My thinking exactly!

[mitchtj]

Originally Posted by GerFix

The W427 review was good ... could've done with some more details about the car, but it was still very watchable. Can't believe it beat the M3 around the test track .... the way the Stig drove the W427, he must be a Holden fan boy.

when you look at the 70kw power difference between them i'm not surprised.

[Wyvern]

Enjoyed it again. I think it's bedding in now. Didn't even mind the SIABSC too much as I think I've got the track in my head (thanks to the sterling work of people here). Beautifully shot in places and several moments where I laughed out loud - one of them at Charlie. He works a lot better out of the studio than in it, but I think I'm getting used to his delivery.

The thing is they aren't Clarkson, Hammond and May... they are Cox, Pizzati and Brown, and I think we're starting to see that. And that's fine by me.

[Dave2003]

They seemed to have plateaued over the last few eps. they havent gotten worse, but they havent gotten better either

[TopGearNorthAmerica]

I did like the lawn bowling bit, which worked a lot better than the Smart Car Hearse.

The horse vs. Hilux wasn't bad either, given that it takes a while for onscreen chemistry to develop. Cox & Pizatti are getting there, and you can't really expect Mr. Brown to have James May's camp humour.

Can't really get into SIABSC, maybe because I'm not as familiar with the test track.

I am curious to see if they have better luck with that boat than the Herald Yacht. (Not to mention if they do any sort of salute to James May there.)