Which Top Gear spin-off is better: Russia or Australia?

[Nuieve]

I'm surprised I say this (I downloaded the first TGR episode already not liking it cause it's made in Russia, and we all know nothing good ever comes from there)... but... I like TGR as much as I do TGUK. But then again, I know russian. They actually have better chemistry than TGUK... from the very first episode. And more bits of humor thrown into their dialogue. TGA is distant last and simply is not even comparable to TGR. But again, to appreciate TGR you need to know russian... no subtitles will ever substitute for that.

[Kiskaloo]

Well having seen five episodes of Top Gear Russia, I think I have enough handle on the show to compare it to Series One of Top Gear Australia and have registered my vote for TGR.

TGR is like a "junior varsity" version of TGUK. I have to give both credit and admiration to TGA for trying to be something more then just TGUK with an Australian accent, but I love TGUK and the fact that TGR more closely apes it then TGA is a plus in my eyes.

And I find the Russian girls hotter then their Aussie (or British) counterparts.

That being said, I will be watching TGA Series 2.

[cxo]

I think TGR is a more authentic version of TG than TGA

[sta1k3r]

Even though, I am from Russia, I think that TGR is total rubbish, however, TGA is no match for the original, but out of two bads I'd choose TGA.

TGR presenters, except Fomenko, are simply not worth being there. Castings were held as a 'secret' or so I guess, because there are lot of good russia TV presenters out there, that can do the job, better than Max and Kuchera who were at the right place at the right time.

[jasonof2000]

Originally Posted by freefall

Same for me. Can't stand pickups, but can't stand ignorance and overacting even more.

BTW, Viper, how about a countdown on the front page? It was much quicker with TGA, didn't take you a couple of days after the first episode release to set up a subforum either Don't even get me started on the unicorn that is TGUS I mean come on, the cold war has been over for a couple of decades now

I only seen part of the first episode of TG:R I turned it off after they called the MX-5 a bad handling POS.

[ChrisSRT4]

TGR was atrocious

[tromoly]

Alright, so I'm through episode 3 of TGR, episode 2x05 of TGA, and 4x04 of TGUK.

I enjoy TGA because it's almost completely different than UK, the challenges do seem to have a more Australian feel to them, I think that they have done well with the show with making it a true Australian version.

Now, with TGR, reading the subtitles can be a bit daunting, and because of that most of the humor is lost. The challenges from episodes 2 and 3 seem like copy/paste from TGUK (cheap car challenge from 4x03 and Killing a Hilux), though I did like seeing the pure strength of the GAZ, that was pretty cool. It's a different culture and some things don't make sense at all, but it's starting to grow on me a little bit.

If I really had to pick one, I'd have to go with TGA, TGR is just a bit too lost in translation right now to be truly epic.