[12x06] December 7th, 2008

[12x06] December 7th, 2008


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I gave it an 8. A very good ep. but too much of the Veritas, it needed moar Caterham!

And the black Vette was EPIC!!
 
Excellent episode - all the necessary elements were there.

I just felt the communist car film was lacking in some way - not sure what it was though.

Loved the Fiesta film - a "proper car test" at last :lol: The most exciting thing that has ever happened to Basingstoke shopping centre I would imagine.
Looked like the the marines in the car with him were having a blast too



Mayor of London in the SIARPC was also enjoyable. Is it just me, or does he seem rather daft? Not much foresight in that guy....

Understatement of the year, mate. Boris is extremely well educated but also incredibily dopey.

And those of you wondering about Stig's communist cousin check out the Vietnam spoiler thread....not if you don't like a spoiler obviously....
 
Looked like the the marines in the car with him were having a blast too
Did you pick up the "Are we there yet?" from the back of the Fiesta at one point from one of the Marines - priceless.

/EDIT I agree the Vette looks great in Black!
 
Thats like saying "it is a particularly well polished turd".

I don't really care for the car either. I've never even seen a BL car in the flesh. But I feel for the owner. He loved that car and cherried it. It was a prime example of a historical (crap) vehicle and, for whatever reason, this guy has a passion for them. He tried to ensure that the car wouldn't get damaged on the show and was assured that it would not get damage too severely. But not only was it crashed severely, multiple times, but they set it on fire afterwards for no apparent reason. I can see why the guy is upset and devastated.
 
Did you pick up the "Are we there yet?" from the back of the Fiesta at one point from one of the Marines - priceless.

/EDIT I agree the Vette looks great in Black!

There were a lot of priceless moments in this one for me.

Some I remember:

JM: "That's you told."

A drag race with a DOG.

Those wobbly wheels on the Lardacar.

The pedals in that car. So glad we were shown those.

Jeremy saying he thought the steering rack was set in concrete.

Richard barely being able to put the time on the board.

Jeremy's bf Will.

James having the guts to appear on television looking like a mutant.

RH: "He must kill himself and take his knowledge to the grave."

JC: "One better than a 207 is.............herpes."

Jeremy's hat.

The clunk when James changed gears.

James pushing the button in too far.

Jeremy driving around with the car door open because it would not close.

The car with the built in fishing hole. (Not even a Maybach has that.)

The hub cap rolling down the road.

Jeremy hot wiring the car.

JM:"Do you think we've actually found a communist car that we actually like?" JC:"........ NO."
 
I'm not sure how much the Marina complainers are able to do. I'm certain that if there was any concrete agreement on paper that forbid the BBC from letting Top Gear destroy the Marina then they wouldn't have done it. A simple verbal assurance isn't sufficient and if they knew what Top Gear was they are foolish for thinking otherwise.

How pathetic are those Marina guys? He sold the car and took the money. If I sold anything *of mine I would expect the buyer to do whatever he or she wanted to do with it. I wouldn't care. If I cared about something that much I wouldn't sell it


*well, except perhaps a kitten or a puppy ;)
 
How pathetic are those Marina guys? He sold the car and took the money. If I sold anything *of mine I would expect the buyer to do whatever he or she wanted to do with it. I wouldn't care. If I cared about something that much I wouldn't sell it


*well, except perhaps a kitten or a puppy ;)

quite true, i had an old technics turntable that i loved but had to sell.... fair enough i was abit miffed when the guy i sold it too told me he was going to take it apart and use it for an art project, but what can i do? naff all coz i took his money for it.
 
11/10 because of the Fiesta piece. Great road-test done in the lunatic Top Gear way. The shopping center chase was something else, and the beach landing was also something fantastic. Anyone thought at that point of a bullet-proof water-proofed Fiesta converted to a beach landing machine? :D

The Caterham was stunning around the track, looked hyper-fast and was hyper-fast. The Veritas looked great, sounded great but was somewhat disappointing. And good thrashing by the Hamster.
"When you hit the throttle, this thing just drop-kicks your stomach half a mile down the road!!!!"

Boris... uh, pretty good. I wasn't paying too much attention, but he seemed to be interesting. Maybe it's just that I was tired.

Communist cars... WHERE WAS THE DACIA 1310? :lol: Even without that, it was great fun. And also drag-racing against a dog... :lmao: Just like the "old car control" piece, but more fun to watch.

And finally, again, congratulations to everyone on this forum which made for the best part of the episode: Jeremy's Heat magazine humiliation! :clap:




EDIT: I am soooooooooooo buying a Caterham in a few years' time.
 
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Forgot to say earlier. Am I the only person who (and I hasten to say I said it to Mrs Hersworksfinetoo long before Hammond mentioned it while commentating on the Stig's lap) didn't think that Veritas sounded like it had a modern BMW V8 in it?

To me it sounded like a much older car, as if it has been tuned to have a retro sound to go with its retro looks.
 
Am I the only person who [...] didn't think that Veritas sounded like it had a modern BMW V8 in it?

To me it sounded like a much older car, as if it has been tuned to have a retro sound to go with its retro looks.

You're right in some way... but i think it was not nearly loud enough to sound really retro... at least not "V8-retro". One of my neighbours has a mid-70's muscle car with straight pipe exhausts... if he revves it in neutral the windows in my room vibrate from the noise... that's retro sound!

*well, except perhaps a kitten or a puppy ;)

Exactely. For some people, a car, and even a crap one like that, is as important as a kitten or a puppy... it has a soul, a life. For the owner, finding out what they did to the marina must have been like finding out the nice young woman you sold your cute kittens to works for an animal testing facility...
 
I vote retro also.
 
You're right in some way... but i think it was not nearly loud enough to sound really retro... at least not "V8-retro". One of my neighbours has a mid-70's muscle car with straight pipe exhausts... if he revves it in neutral the windows in my room vibrate from the noise... that's retro sound!

I did say "sound" and not "volume". Even shed-based car makers are subject to certain noise regulations.

:p:p:p
 
Reading that Marina forum was funny thx for the link. I can understand likeing the Marina (I do for some reason I can't work out) I was going to buy a Ital once. Just passed my test and as you do when you suddenly have "freedom" was clocking up seriours miles on the new Fiesta I had bought in 87 and had the idea of buying something to just clock up miles on and I so wanted a Ital. Went to look at one and my old man stopped me took the cash and used his own wisdom to get a 1.3 Ford Cortina MkV instead. Now I wonder if he was so keen on the Cotrina was because he wished he had paid the extra pound in the day when he bought a new Moskvitch 1500.
 
that was just insane. 8.4x10e8 out of 10.

there will never be a better car review than that Festiva review. i can't believe anyone could think up of a race inside a shopping centre... let alone actually get permission to do it...
 
Just Wow! :blink:

Loved the Caterham bit unfortunately I can't say the same about the Veritas.

The Communist cars bit was "just" ok. I expected a little bit more of that bit.

But the Fiesta review... it was made of pure AWESOMENESS!!! :D

And not because I love and own European Fords but that mall bit was just brilliant. Watching it I really thought it was one of the best car chases I've seen since Ronin. Really well filmed and edited and with Prodigy's - Hot ride as chase music it was epic! ^^

So I'm giving this week's episode a 9! Please give us more Fiesta style reviews!! :D
 
Best episode of the Series so far, and probably the best road test of a car ever. I loved that test of the Fiesta and couldn't stop laughing when it reached the point of the shopping centre chase. Also, Boris Johnson was by far the most entertaining guest in the Chevy so far.
 
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