A european's thoughts about TGA

[Xaromir]

Bomber:
But you guys have TopGear now...
We also have things like that, and all we get for our Money is a Transvestite called Thomas Gottschalk,
that appears from time to time and annoys half the country with his opinions,
racist thoughts and tasteless dresses.
And they also show commercials i think till 20:00 (8PM) as far as i know,
but there are no commercials after 8PM of course.
Thomas Gottschalk:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4gcWrwtDc8[/YOUTUBE]
German TV is sub-standard in every possible way...

Cobol:
Not really fitting but it just rushed into my mind while watching the adds...
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD5L2CxRMG4[/YOUTUBE]

 

[pepitko]

I'll provide my European view, I don't really know Australia and I found the accent quite hard to understand at first :

I like to see different cars than we have over here (Holdens, Fords, etc.), I think it would be too much repetition if both Top Gears reviewed exactly the same cars. And while talking about reviews, I have to say I miss some of the little details such as top speed or 0-60 times, don't need too much, but some would be good to know. (i.e. why the Aussie Ford GT has 800 HP and not 550?)

Also the "cool" factor that TGUK talks about in their reviews would be interesting to find out from the Australians point of view.

Challenges were great so far, fun to watch, hope to see more of them.

The studio bits, well, I don't know, seems like the presenters need to get more comfortable, the audience is dead and the jokes don't really work. But I believe that will get sorted after the first season..

The track shooting improved a bit, but still needs more work, the presenters should drive around to introduce the place a bit, give insight why they named the corners (Clarkson corner..)

Other than that, the episodes are enjoyable to watch, I hope the show/presenters will soon get comfortable and the show will go its own way. The Ford vs Holden test was excellent, driving like hoots (warming up the tires) ..

 

[the afro guy]

from an aussie perspective, it's a lot like the first series of tguk to be honest. that was a bit painful to watch at times!

i think there's 2 main things they need to do that would improve the show out of sight. firstly, the guys need to be themselves in front of the camera instead of their presenter self. charlie (aussie clarkson) is the main offender here i think. you get him being normal in the challenges when he's talking to the other boys but as soon as he's talking to the camera it's as if he's talking to the future in-laws - all prim on propper. get rid of that and the show will be a lot more watchable i think

secondly, in the challenges and what not, they really need to get some conclusions happening. the holden v ford comparison final decision i actually agreed with, both cars have their strengths and weaknesses and everyone knows that, one is better than the other depending on what you want from the car. BUT the paddock bashing shenanigans, they could have at least had a points system! fastest in the drags at the start, most cylinders lost in the race, most smashed body parts, just SOMETHING to make it a bit more interesting and hold your interest for a touch longer.

i think thats the two main things to tidy the show up, the rest will fix itself in time. do any mr europeans agree with that or are we really that different :lol:

 

[DubyaStep]

Mr.European - how do you find the in-studio bits. The humour etc ?? Many Aussies don't like it. Find it forced and fake. But what do you (and others from around the globe) think?

can someone PLEASE translate KW's to HP, or whatever they are referring to? call me an American, ok, please dont, but i need imperial.

and yes, the humor seems kinda forced, as soon as a "joke" is done the tone changes completely and on to something else.

if i have learned anything, that is the Ford Falcon(i think its called) i have been seeing in print and on games for years needs to come to america! like the "GTO and what we call the G-6!"

 

[Hidden_Hunter]

can someone PLEASE translate KW's to HP, or whatever they are referring to? call me an American, ok, please dont, but i need imperial.

and yes, the humor seems kinda forced, as soon as a "joke" is done the tone changes completely and on to something else.

if i have learned anything, that is the Ford Falcon(i think its called) i have been seeing in print and on games for years needs to come to america! like the "GTO and what we call the G-6!"

If you read one of my other posts I mentioned how Ford America decided halfway through a LHD conversion project that nobody wanted it.

 

[Wildy]

I love how Aussies can beat the English at sports consistantly for decades (20 years worth of Olympics for example) yet as soon as the Poms manage to beat us once, they declare that they are better than us.:lol:

Let them have it, we'll wallop them next time.

It's shameless cross-promotion by SBS (a taxpayer-funded station that introduced advert breaks 2 years ago to boost its funding by 20% and has been on a slippery slope ever since). (snip)

And that's all thanks to the last PM.

I personally didn't mind when they used to have commercials in between the shows. You got to see the whole show uninterrupted and they got their commercials.

I'll provide my European view, I don't really know Australia and I found the accent quite hard to understand at first :

That'sbecausewedon'tuseanyspaceswhenwetalk. An'we'aveourownwayofprunouncingwrdswhichisdiff'rentta'owpomssayit.

can someone PLEASE translate KW's to HP, or whatever they are referring to? call me an American, ok, please dont, but i need imperial.

Because we all know that TGA is made for Americans.

 

[tone76]

can someone PLEASE translate KW's to HP, or whatever they are referring to? call me an American, ok, please dont, but i need imperial.

As a very rough guide, 100hp = approximately 75kW.

 

[Ironlord]

As someone who is clearly not into cars she didn't belong on the show, but I guess they'd have to make the show 10 minutes shorter if they dropped the segment.

At least on UKTG, Christopher Eccleston was somewhat apologetic about not being able to drive a manual...

If they'd told this awful woman to sod off (or whatever a suitable Aussie expression might be), there'd have been more room to finish up the old wrecks segment - and give them a third challenge.

 

[Tommo]

On the hp/kw discussion I've found they seem to switch between the two... but for different reviews?? I wonder why they don't stick with the same metric.

 

[Hidden_Hunter]

On the hp/kw discussion I've found they seem to switch between the two... but for different reviews?? I wonder why they don't stick with the same metric.

Lots of people seem to do the same thing anyway, i've often done it when talking with my friends

 

[Wildy]

I think that's because we still have quite a bit of Imperial measurements in Australia even though we are metric.

That and it seems to me that we moved to kW only recently. Maybe I haven't been paying too much attention to car commercials for the past 19 years.

 

[fbc]

I think that's because we still have quite a bit of Imperial measurements in Australia even though we are metric.

That and it seems to me that we moved to kW only recently. Maybe I haven't been paying too much attention to car commercials for the past 19 years.

Err, Australia's been officially metric for your entire life - I can't recall ever seeing a car commercial that used HP. Having said that, there's still some imperial measurements commonly used just because people are used to them - people's height being the obvious one.

 

[GerFix]

^ LOL, yeah the metrication program started about 1971 and finished in 1988 ... I think the real estate industry was the last to convert (from acres to hectares). I guess though, when wildy was born 19 years ago, his weight was announced in pounds and ounces .... pretty sure this use of imperial measure will continue for decades to come.

But, just to introduce some confusion, there is such a thing as "metric" horsepower. A lot of the German manufacturers will quote the power of their engines in PS, which stands for Pferdest?rke (horse strength) and is basically BHP ... 1PS = 0.735kW. I don't think they do this just for the British and American export markets either since there are examples such as BMWs M Division ... which always strives to get 100PS per litre from their engines ... they are obviously thinking about PS units when building their cars and not just when they are marketing them.

 

[NooDle]

On the hp/kw discussion I've found they seem to switch between the two... but for different reviews?? I wonder why they don't stick with the same metric.

Ive also wondered what those "killer wasps" are they talk about all the time. That Holden thing has 375 of them, so it must be a very dangerous car!

 

[Hidden_Hunter]

Ive also wondered what those "killer wasps" are they talk about all the time. That Holden thing has 375 of them, so it must be a very dangerous car!

It's from a really annoying (and seems to reaffirm in my mind the sort of people that drive them) ad for a toyota kluger.

 

[Dave2003]

Insurance ads -- do not talk to me about insurance ads!!!

[youtube]yrKaQRIXPNw[/youtube]

[youtube]8hXyvUkH3LQ[/youtube]

[youtube]uw3MDQigLTE[/youtube]

What is it with British Insurance ads with Aussie Sheila's and Australian Insurance Ads with British Blokes

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk6pO7eLeiM[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maDmVuQF66g[/YOUTUBE]

 

[tone76]

^ I hope Tommy Dysart (a.k.a. The Goggomobile Bloke) gets a crack as SIABSC in Series 2 ...

 

[Wildy]

Err, Australia's been officially metric for your entire life - I can't recall ever seeing a car commercial that used HP. Having said that, there's still some imperial measurements commonly used just because people are used to them - people's height being the obvious one.

I know.

As I said, I probably haven't been paying too much attention to car ads until recently. I've always considered the power of cars to be in HP.

 

[edkwon]

edited for content