[11x01] June 22nd, 2008

[11x01] June 22nd, 2008


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Did the Scuderia seem like a past review... say the F430? Well I would hope so, since the Scuderia is an F430. And that's the point. It's an F430, it's as brilliant as an F430, but then it takes it one step further. Remember Jeremy never once turned off the traction control in the F430 and here he's doing the whole second half of the review with it off. He wants to get away from focusing on all the fiddley computer bits and instead talk about the heart of the car and prove that there was still some honest passion left in an Italian car company that's starting to take a page out of the Japanese makers with all their computer controlled everything.

Much like the old EVO review, all the computery bits start to take away from the simple joy of driving. Sure you can take a corner hard and generate lots of smoke and tire squeal, but you don't feel like you're responsible for keeping the car on the road. It's all those damn computers. Jeremy's trying to find a car that puts some honesty (or at least the feeling of) back into driving.

There was nothing wrong with the F430 review, there was just nothing different or more to the point MEMORABLE

To be honest, I'm looking for something like The McMerc brake test, the EVO FQ400 vs Lambo (and subsequently fiat diesel), Drag race against petrol, Apache pisstake - Stuff like that are what makes top gear different from a fifth gear review - things that convey performance in a different way to clarkson going sideways in a powergasm.
 
You must be insane :? Thats one of the episodes i frequently re-watch :|

They drove around in circles complaining for a half hour, the W12 Golf review was ok, and the guest was almost as bad as the two guys on this episode. The previous supercar comparsion with the Ford GT, Zonda and F430 was miles better.
 
Worst. Episode. Ever.

It still manages 6/10, though ?

The Police Challenge is the weakest of all the Cheap Car Challenges thus far. It was too contrived, and the editing of Hammond?s hot lap was shambolic to say the least.

The guests sucked.

The fuel economy challenge was predictable, but it did prove a point so I?ll give it extra points for that. (really, as if TG would set up a fuel economy challenge where the Pious would win ? that?s why the result was so obvious!)

The less said about the stunt driver the better.

The Ferrari review seemed like a repeat, almost as if we were going through the motions ? much like an Aston Martin review, really.

Still, like pizza and sex, bad Top Gear is still reasonably good overall. But I?ve had to mark it harshly because in the context of TG, 11x01 blows.
 
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The worst fuel mileage supercar skit was great. Classic Top Gear in-your-face-and-we-don't-care style. And Thank-you Jeremy Clarkson for telling the world the truth about the Prius' hypocritical BS!

The 430 review was...ho-hum. I couldn't really see the purpose; I wasn't convinced.

The backwards jump...thing, was .... whatever.

Who the heck were those fat, fugly, stale fruit-cakes sitting on the guest seats and how is that BBC hasn't gone bankrupt replacing the broken cameras? Dang.

I don't think a cheap car challenge is usually something that should be used to start a series with, but I laughed by pants off a couple of times. Best moment: windscreen wipers :rofl:

Oh, yeah, and WHAT WAS THE PICTURE ON THE NEWS!? (yes, I know that's a rhetorical question).

I must have hit the left-arrow key five times :lol:

Hammond's verbal reaction was priceless.
 
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Worst. Guests. Ever.

+1 No other guests have been this horrendous. The SIARPC segment could go away and I'd not shed a tear. Put a legitimate affordable car review by James May in place and that'd be epic. :mrgreen:
 
Not bad, but not very good either. Yes, we're spoiled, but this felt a bit by-the-numbers.
They know what we expect and they deliver, but now we want a truly epic season.
 
Too much clarkson in the beginning, stuntman bit could have been cut out, scuderia review was bland I think as long as Clarkson has been doing reveiws he seems like hes tapering off a bit, sort of getting long in the tooth. As far as the Scud review I would have let the car do most of the talk and kept the dialog breif.

I can agree that he needs to choose his words with care (usually does), but the dialog is the only thing that really seperates this show from all the other poseurs, its the best goddamn part. I mean if you hate listening to people talk intellegently about cars then watch "Winding Road" reviews on you-tube.

Honestly i think the show has fallen on its ass mostly because the production crew is embarrassed about putting too much dialog in, but all the nonesense about genesis/Phil Collins, Berry White swallowing bees, etc is what makes the show so fucking great.
 
Hammonds Vitara was a big laugh, I nodded off during the Scuderia which surprised me :-/

Then ten minutes of totaly wasted gay appeacement which every real man would have squirmed and fast forwarded, real men don't listen to screwed up pink fluffy headed morons that all seem to think they are so much cooler when all we want to do is ship them off to some distant planet, what a waste of time, Jeremy be a man and tell the gay lobby to stop sending these self loving condesending psychos around cause it's damaging your show.
 
I thought the show as a 9/10, they were a bit rusty after a long lay off. I thought they could offend more people but there some very funny moments.

Why couldn't we see what the photo was on the screen?

I don't understand why previous post complained about this episode. It was great.

The 430 Ferrari is Car Porn. The best thing was exposing the Prius Fraud. The Prius is an ugly car, it is only there to appease the tree hugging greenies.

I love the Smart Car. I would also love one as a electric vehicle not his hybrid rubbish. The Smart 4/2 Convertible is a chick magnet. I do love the F430 but I would consider it a large car.
 
I gave it a 7, even though I wanted to give it a 5.

For the gay guests interview I fast forward it, so freakin' annoying and a total waste of time. I wish the sofa
those gay guys sat on were ejection seats.

As for the cop car challenge it was alright, the typical ambitious-but-rubbish routine.

FACT, a BMW M3 is environmentally friendlier than an ugly ass Prius
 
Fuel economy is not entirely down to the car. Like Clarkson said, it's not what you drive, it's how you drive it.

Viewing the show back, I noticed there were a lot more indifferent faces than normal in the crowd during the SIARPC lol. Can just get the feeling that they wanted it to get over and done with quickly.

Perhaps this episode is just the slight bummer. Looking forward to the future eps because the challenges sounds quite exciting. TG should really stop trying to be so scripted and funny all the time because then, it kinda loses the informality and spontaneousness it's known for.
 
Did anyone else see Haymond driving the Bowler Nemesis in the intro? That will be very cool.

So that's what it was in the clip, cos i had no idea. I wonder if hell declare himself as a "Driving God" again.
Judging from the crash he has in it, i very much doubt it, but i think theyll bring that bit up again.
 
Viewing the show back, I noticed there were a lot more indifferent faces than normal in the crowd during the SIARPC lol. Can just get the feeling that they wanted it to get over and done with quickly.

And yet they both made laps which made it feel longer than ever. I literally minimized the video player while was going on and did other stuff until it was over, yes I know I could have skipped it but I still wanted to know the times.
 
seems like they're going to do more than just the GTR vs Bullit Train in Japan...

there were two Mitsuoka in the preview clip~! looking forward to how many bad things they're going to say about those~!
 
I did a proper reivew on my blog:
Rg's Torque said:
But what's pissing me off is the amount of people dissing the first episode of Top Gear season 11. Yes, we all have our own opinions. Yes, not all of us liked anything until they showed the police challenge. Yes, nearly everyone hated the SIARPCs, because they were crap and they didn't know cars. Yes, the top Gear stunt man could be a public inconvenience. Yes, too much Jeremy overload with the fuel thing and the Scuderia. In the end, this all adds up to one thing: Are we too critical about Top Gear? Or is it our nature to be critical about something we love/obsess about?

I don't care that it wasn't the best start to a new series since series 9. I don't care that the Stunt Man was rubbish. I don't care that an M3 is more economical than a Prius and everyone didn't like that fact because the M3 wasn't revving that much and the whole fuel segment was too long and pointless. I don't care that the SIARPCs didn't know much about cars. I don't care that it was too scipted. I only care about is that Top Gear's back and I have something to watch other than Big Brother or some weird reality shit.

If you didn't like it, that's fine. If you liked it, good for you. If you absoulutely love it to death, I'm with you on that one. It's one and five to go. Some people are already criticising that episode two won't be as good as one. God, do you judge a book by its cover? If you do, you're an idiot.

So really, it all comes down to opinions really. To be honest, I don't think the last three or four paragraphs made sense really, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that Top Gear is Top Gear. If you don't think it's Top Gear, watch Fifth Gear. But since Fifth Gear isn't on, you might as well watch Top Gear.

I think i contradicted myself.
 
btw,

the Police astra diesel, is if you listen carefully, not a diesel :D
 
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