Why so anti-US biased?

[GusinCA]

I know I'm a bit late, but I just sat down to watch the final show of Top Gear.

In it, Hammond tests the GT500 Mustang.

Now, I know it's no M3, even at half the price, but to put it on a dyno and then write "almost" on the side because it doesn't make 500 horsepower is just low.

Everyone knows (and so does he, I would assume) that the horsepower claim is made for the engine, there is always some loss to the wheels through the driveline.

Let's see if they ever write the same thing on the side of a Lamborghini LP640, which also has a horsepower figure in it's name. My guess is there is not 640 horsepower getting to the ground there either...

[Lilleput]

Because it's easy, the European and American car industry are wildly different which shows even more clearly with the top end cars. I don't want to list the differences here because you should know this already and i don't want to get my heard chewed off.

I think the point of the GT500 test was to show how low-tech the engine is (Not that it's a bad thing)



[/Political correctness]

[the Interceptor]

This thread might also be of interest for you: GT500 dyno test on TG

[Hidden_Hunter]

perhaps because they're shit cars for the amount of money they cost in the UK.

American cars are cheap in the US but don't think that transfers across to other countries.

[MattD1zzl3]

I always think its funny how they compare american cars to BMW M3's and Jaguar XKR's, but unlike those cars, normal people can actually afford them.

The kind of person that drives an XKR is a well-paid executive, the kind of person that drives a camaro is your friend frank who works at a computer store, normal (even poor) people can afford performance cars like that, and that is the appeal of them. Who cares if it is 1.13455642 seconds slower around that corner, a real life camaro is faster then an imaginary porsche.

But they are compared to special track cars and made to look far worse then they are, because of a xenophobic bias. (I mean look at "Inventions that changed the world: Computers", the UK gets a whole Victorian period piece and half of the show to a failed mechanical computer, but the American west-coast PC industry of the 1970's and 80's is given about 15 seconds, with several veiled insults to boot.)

Look, i love the UK, LOVE IT, i want to abandon this hell-hole and move there one day, but they need to stop thinking that they actually invented every single facet of modern society and nobody else contributed everything. If the US is the global "bully", then the UK is the global "annoying guy who always-has-to-be-right-and-have-the-last-word-in".

[petarkb]

Originally Posted by MattD1zzl3

The kind of person that drives an XKR is a well-paid executive, the kind of person that drives a camaro is your friend frank who works at a computer store

They're reviewing cars in the context of Britain, not the USA. That changes perspective a bit, american cars are suddenly not that cheap anymore, and straight-line speed isn't everything there. Then you also have the social stigma of being an American car owner...

[MattD1zzl3]

I was speaking of britain but in america a jaguar might be something like $120,000, a Camaro can be had for $2000. Sure it might not be as good (in my opinion, not enough to justify the price difference), but how often does the average sports car owner in the UK pop down and do a few laps around silverstone? Or does he just take his ubermobile to work and back, and stare at it in the garage? Why spend money on an independent suspension that you will never use? Again refer to my statement of "its better to have a cheap car then dream of an expensive one".

Understand that i have infinite respect for the UK, and a good-natured friendly tease is one thing (every country gets it on TG), but what i see happening to the US on TG is pure hateful venom, disguised as a good-natured ribbing.

[edkwon]

TG is anti-French, anti-German, anti-Japanese, anti-Pacific Rim, anti-anyonebutUK.

Don't its not just americans getting hated on and shafted. On a per insult basis, they make fun of their neighboring european countries a whole lot more.

Americans should stop being so sensitive about it. I grew up and lived in America my whole life and i dont see anything wrong with it. We are just as bad if not insultingly worse in our shows and views towards other countries and cultures.

and if you judge a country by it leadership (like we do with many other foreign countries, because we have so little exposure to their actual people), then its no big surprise we are so universally hated, but that doesnt mean we individuals are the ones being hated on. so don't let it bother you.

it's just a tv show...

[Steve Levin]

They do it because it's funny.

Clarkson is the Howard Stern of England, really.

Steve

[James May's Hair]

Originally Posted by Steve Levin

Clarkson is the Howard Stern of England, really.

Not really -Jeremy's funny.

[MattD1zzl3]

Originally Posted by edkwon

TG is anti-French, anti-German, anti-Japanese, anti-Pacific Rim, anti-anyonebutUK.

Don't its not just americans getting hated on and shafted. On a per insult basis, they make fun of their neighboring european countries a whole lot more.

Americans should stop being so sensitive about it. I grew up and lived in America my whole life and i dont see anything wrong with it. We are just as bad if not insultingly worse in our shows and views towards other countries and cultures.

Well, if you bothered to read i said:

Originally Posted by MattD1zzl3

a good-natured friendly tease is one thing (every country gets it on TG), but what i see happening to the US on TG is pure hateful venom, disguised as a good-natured ribbing.

[hajj]

Originally Posted by edkwon

TG is anti-French, anti-German, anti-Japanese, anti-Pacific Rim, anti-anyonebutUK.
.

Wrong... They are anti-welsh as well and that's part of the UK. So they are only pro-british and pro-manx.

[Goose+]

Originally Posted by hajj

Wrong... They are anti-welsh as well and that's part of the UK. So they are only pro-british and pro-manx.

Wales is part of Britain.

UK = N. Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland.
Britain = England, Wales and Scotland.

[hajj]

Ahh crap... sorry about that one... so it's pro-english

[bartboy9891]

Originally Posted by Steve Levin

They do it because it's funny.

Steve

That's the real reason. They give the audience what they want.

[sth]

That's the concept of Top Gear. Each presenter shows his personal, subjective view of the thing. Relax and take it easy.

[swek]

Oh geez, not another one of this threads.

Why don't you look up the 1.000.000 other "Why does the TG team hate the US" threads? It's all been said.

[otispunkmeyer]

get in another "why does clarkson pick on the americans like all the time" threads.

havent had one in a while, and my asbestos suit needs a dusting off.... ill just go suit up.

[MattD1zzl3]

Originally Posted by sth

That's the concept of Top Gear. Each presenter shows his personal, subjective view of the thing. Relax and take it easy.

Personal, insulting remarks are not the same as harmless joking amoung friends, and i feel that they toe that line with the US, and the US alone.

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by edkwon

TG is anti-French, anti-German, anti-Japanese, anti-Pacific Rim, anti-anyonebutUK.

Don't its not just americans getting hated on and shafted. On a per insult basis, they make fun of their neighboring european countries a whole lot more.

Americans should stop being so sensitive about it. I grew up and lived in America my whole life and i dont see anything wrong with it. We are just as bad if not insultingly worse in our shows and views towards other countries and cultures.

and if you judge a country by it leadership (like we do with many other foreign countries, because we have so little exposure to their actual people), then its no big surprise we are so universally hated, but that doesnt mean we individuals are the ones being hated on. so don't let it bother you.

it's just a tv show...

i would say they actually make fun of britain and the people who run it a lot too, far more than they bash america. only difference is when they bash the UK.... we all know its true. plus british hunour has always had humility as a big part of it.

Originally Posted by MattD1zzl3

Personal, insulting remarks are not the same as harmless joking amoung friends, and i feel that they toe that line with the US, and the US alone.

so complain the BBC..... im pretty sure they wont care, but u got nothing to lose. if the BBC dont care, then i imagine JC and the producer andy willman will actually care even less than that.

at the end of the day, your country is the butt of many jokes and jibes. thats something you just have to live with. fair enough they are not representative of normal americans....but then again, when you are normal no one gives a fuck... if your outragously stupid on the other hand, news makes its way across the pond about this stupidity and it gets laughed at... the US is a super power, a political sledge hammer and military force to be reckoned with, it is the self appointed sheriff of the world.... now the minority of dumbass's in the middle east like to blow you up for all that, we on the other hand like to make fun of you instead.

best course of action for you is to give as good as you get..... throw some banter our way! its easy!

even better would be to not get bothered by this at all.... go out and be a prosperous american and make some $$$.