[17x03] July 10th, 2011

[17x03] July 10th, 2011


  • Total voters
    360
Oh, and another thing (although I don't really like Steve Jobs): Normally, I don't really mind Top Gear being scripted; after all, it produces results (i.e. the best car show ever). However, I do believe that the blokes should "stay in character". And sorry, but James not liking the used cars is just not authentic. After all, he was introduced to the show with a rubbish, antic Bentley as his only car.
 
Wow, another good episode! This series is shaping up well.

Mclaren - yup, same as I've read / seen before. Stellar laptime though. And great cinematography, loved the clean studio shots. Would I have one as my lottery car...? Don't think so.
News. Yup.
Baby Range Rover - again, brilliant bit of filming. The car is "meh", although I'm surprised it was as good off-road as it seemed to be, lends it a bit more credibility. Does look ok but you know it'll be bought by school-run-mums.
Vettel - annoyingly quite nice. <grumble>
Cheap cars - surprised what you can get for that kind of money. Mind you, the folks in Marko were a bit top-end, I'd have but the BM at around ?7500, the Merc maybe ?8500. Also enjoyed this film as it was round where I used to live! Cottesmore at the beginning was only a couple of miles from where I grew up, lovely countryside from there down through Rutland.

All in all another great episode. More please!
 
Good enough to get me to delurk - fantastic episode, best this series, and best for a while. The photography / videography of both the McLaren and Range Rover films was the best I've seen TG do.
 
yet another great episode. Strongest of the series so far. Amazing cinematography despite the fact you expect it from Top Gear it just gets better still.

McLaren review was great, seems same as what everyone is saying, incredible car but no soul. Incredibly fast around the track though, only beaten by the Atom V8 :O

Not followed the Range Rover Evoque much during its development but impressed by it and a great review.

News was good too, good mix of car news and comedy.

Seb was a great guest, he seems really down to earth and a great sense of humour. Staggering laptime though, would like to know what new Stig can do, doubt he'd beat Seb.

Used car bit was good, but felt like it should have maybe been something longer with James, but great at illustrating just what you can get for the money.

9-9.5/10 (can't give it 10 because its not quite a perfect episode)
 
Oh, and another thing (although I don't really like Steve Jobs): Normally, I don't really mind Top Gear being scripted; after all, it produces results (i.e. the best car show ever). However, I do believe that the blokes should "stay in character". And sorry, but James not liking the used cars is just not authentic. After all, he was introduced to the show with a rubbish, antic Bentley as his only car.

He never said he didn't like the cars/used cars in general, he was just pointing out that someone looking for a car like that Nissan probably isn't going to look at a V12 300+ HP Mercedes as an alternative.
 
Apparently I've got to spread the tickets around - can someone please :+1: for me?!

Also, does that space behind Jeremy's shoulder have her name on it? :lol:
Yeah - it's got an 'H' marks the spot, instead of an X :D

8/10 for me - pretty good all round, but no real 'shivers' to bump it up the scale.
 
He never said he didn't like the cars/used cars in general, he was just pointing out that someone looking for a car like that Nissan probably isn't going to look at a V12 300+ HP Mercedes as an alternative.

Yeah I think it's because James like's simple, cheap cars (IE his Panda), so going with that small amount of money and getting a V12 coupe is not his style.
Just a thought
 
I really had no option but to give this episode 10/10 out of a personal perspective.

Reason? I'm just about to spend almost exactly that reasonable amount of money on a car, and even sat inside a Pixo at the local Nissan showroom recently just to see what it was like (actually I thought that it was better value than the new Micra and yes you can get electric front windows at extra cost). However I'm now considering getting a more practical, five year-old Ford Focus instead of a Mercedes or Porsche for the same amount of money, but that Top Gear feature did make me think harder about what my buying priorities should be.

Therefore this was the very first 'new' Top Gear episode that specifically addressed my immediate car-buying needs as opposed to just featuring some exotic supercar (but we got one of those as well), and the James May-'Cher' conversation (and feature) was superbly hilarious. Throw in a genuinely nice SIARPC and there's absolutely no alternative than to give this 10/10 even without a big challenge featuring all three of them.
 
A great episode, the guys are really back on form with this one. Will this hush the "Nay-sayers"? Only time will tell.
9/10
 
Last edited:
The 12C pissing on the 458 (laptime). :cool:

For the most part I quite enjoyed this episode. Best of the series, or even for several series? It's a good contender.
 
In my view the best of the series so far 9/10. Really good throughout, once again it made me want to drive all cars they had on the show (ok, not the Pixo).
Also, Seb Vettel turned out to be a much better guest than I expected. His lap time was quite impressive, I'm wondering if Lewis Hamilton could beat that if they let him go round again in the dry.
The only thing that turns out to be a bit annoying, they put too much special effects into the track tests in this series IMO. Sometimes less is more.
 
Oh yeah my town's famous for something :lol:

Loved it, maybe my new favourite episode. It even made me like Sebastian a lot more. :)
 
best of the series, really liked it. the "biggest" problem is way to heavy Tron OST usage.

the laptime of the mclaren was amazing and the new stig finaly drove without powerslideing though every corner.
 
best of the series, really liked it. the "biggest" problem is way to heavy Tron OST usage.

the laptime of the mclaren was amazing and the new stig finaly drove without powerslideing though every corner.

I haven't seen the episode yet, but if the new Stig is Tiff Needell, he likes powersliding and in his review of the McLaren on Fifth Gear, he said it doesn't want to slide at all.
 
Oh, and another thing (although I don't really like Steve Jobs): Normally, I don't really mind Top Gear being scripted; after all, it produces results (i.e. the best car show ever). However, I do believe that the blokes should "stay in character". And sorry, but James not liking the used cars is just not authentic. After all, he was introduced to the show with a rubbish, antic Bentley as his only car.

Pretty much this:

He never said he didn't like the cars/used cars in general, he was just pointing out that someone looking for a car like that Nissan probably isn't going to look at a V12 300+ HP Mercedes as an alternative.

The used cars Jeremy and Richard introduced might be much more exciting than some boring new Nissan but they are probably much more expensive to run, to ensure and to service. Alright so you might buy a bad new car that constantly breaks down, but chances are it won't, or you get something like a 1-2 year warranty with the car. On the other hand if you buy a used car you should worry about quite a few things, like how was it treated, has it been serviced regularly, how many previous owners, how many miles, what's the interrior filled with (talking about filth, not equipment), and so on... there are just people out there that aren't really interested in or can't be bothered with these things and that just want to go to a dealership, give the salesman some money and leave with a new car. Don't get me wrong, I think it's amazing what cars you can get for the kind of money Jeremy and Richard spent, but honestly I am not sure if I would buy some old thirsty V12 instead of a reasonably equipted hatchback with a smaller engine, and that's probably the point James was trying to make.
 
Last edited:
Best of the series so far. They've all been great but so far this one and the first episode are neck and neck for me.
Seb was a great guest, completely the opposite of the German "stereotype."
He was very funny and of course he was quick (I just wish they could send Raikkonen around the track in the liana [even though Kimi would never appear on tv for fun :rolleyes:] so I could see his time compared to the others).
Wasn't bored at any point of the show.

I rated a 9/10 just because I think there is room for improvement (somewhere, I just don't know where).
 
Excellent! Solid episode without any boring cocking-abouting while making total fools of themselves.

McLaren review was really well done. Clarkson said the facts and left the britishness out of the conclusion. But holy cow at the time :O

Range Rover was okay, even if I find the car just as intresting as it looks like: a fridge.

Also best used car episode in a long time. Actually good information instead of some banger cars crashing each other on purpose.

Of course it was without any soul stirring moments like the last lap with the S-Type around the ring, but you can't have them in every episode, or actually not in every series. But that's okay, I'm more than satisfied when the whole episode is solid and well made. 9/10.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TC
Top