Yup. If Evansgear copies some aspect of CHM TG, it's "How dare they?" If Evansgear does something new, it's "I want old TG back!" When Evans gets as excited as Clarkson or Hammond used to get, he's annoying. If he didn't get excited, it'd be "proof that his heart isn't in it" or some such. And all because people still think he stole the show.
Let me put it this way: Top Gear used to be 3 guys doing stupid stuff with cars.
Clarkson would say "My Ferrari is better because I can do longer slides! And your glorified VW Beetle has the engine in the wrong place!" because he is the stereotypical buffoon that thinks bigger is always better. POWER POWER POWER
James May would be interested in the mechanical aspects of the crappiest car, pretty much the geek that would explain you the difference between a twin turbo setup and a twin-scroll turbo and would provide evidence that some obscure Swedish manufacturer has done that in 1943 while wearing a vintage jacket of said manufacturer.
Hammond was the bridge between them, a typical motoring journalist giving out facts and figures about the cars and doing a more traditional role as a presenter in a motoring show.
In your circle of friends, I bet you have three people exactly like them. I also bet you spent many times wondering (and doing) stupid things with cars while bantering.
It felt like what would happen if me and 2 other friends had a huge budget and connections to get awesome cars, an airfield and a filming crew. The last few episodes were crap too, in my opinion, don't get me wrong, but when they got it right, it was awesome. You felt like you were experiencing three friend having fun with cars.
On the other hand, The Chris Evans show has a guy SHOUTING all the time, almost begging you to like him.
LOOK AT WHAT I AM DRIVING.
LOOK HOW SILLY THIS IS.
DID YOU SEE HOW FUNNY IT WAS WHEN I DID THAT?
NEXT WEEK, WE WILL HAVE
TEN PEOPLE IN THE COUCH, BECAUSE MORE IS ALWAYS BETTER, AM I RIGHT?
DID YOU NOTICE HE IS AMERICAN?
INTERNET, I KNOW THAT YOU EXIST.
Clarkson, with all his stupidity and lack of knowledge compared to May and Hammond, still was a guy that liked cars. He cared about them in a mechanical and emotional level. I don't get that from Chris Evans. Like MacGuffing said, Matt LeBlanc is good, but it feels like an actor playing someone who cares. I am fine with that. It's much better than a radio show host trying to appeal to an audience he does not understand because he is not one of them. Put Chris Harris in his place, instead of this stupid side show, and it would improve dramatically, because Harris is a true enthusiast and knows how to convey the excitement of driving fast cars (or any car for that matter) with words and emotions instead of sheer volume.
Whew, that came out longer than I expected. Sorry for the wall of text.