[07x06] December 27th, 2005

[Z Draci]

My gripe is with the way JC always keeps applauding the Astons, dwelling for about a second on some (major) faults, but spending half the show raving on about everything else. The Vantage is a prime example, JC himself admitted it wasn't that good with it's gearbox, its handling is rubbish and it breaks down a lot (I remember on Fifth Gear Vicky was testing it, and it broke down several times). And yet despite these obvious flaws, put anything but British next to the Aston and JC forgets about all these problems and instead goes on about it's noise, or it's character or it's styling.

Even if a car looks good on paper and is the superior car, it does not automatically mean it'll win your heart. A car is much like a girl. You need to have a personal attachment to actually love it with your heart. Clarkson even wrote a book on how certain machines seem to have souls. You can read performance figures on paper and take the opinion of your average car journalist. However, Jeremy Clarkson brings in another factor--the soul of the car. Being able to feel a car's soul separate those who just likes cars from those who absolutely loves them.

This explains why people still own old classic cars even though modern cars are better in every single way.

 

[SR71]

Rating: 6/10. Good but not great. The segments were ok (since they are filmed well in advance) but somehow the presentation was a bit off. I initially thought James was not going to be there at all, but even when he was there, he looked subdued or hung over from binge drinking the night before. He's starting to look even more aged than Clarkson.

Back to the show, the BMW vs. Golf segment was good. Only I wish they use less of the blue filters, it makes the weather even more grey and dull than it actually is. The Austin vs. 306 Mod (the dull vs. dumb) was boring. The NSX segment was incomplete since JC talked more about the track than the car (it was supposed to be a tribute to the car as well). I was hoping that they have a racing driver to drive one lap just to show how fast you can go on the Leguna track in the NSX. The awards are much better covered in the Top Gear Magazine than in the show.

I hope they get fresh ideas for the next series since the current segments are getting predictible and the photography in Europe is also getting a little stale. Maybe shooting in new parts of the world (Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Russia etc.) might spice it a bit.

 

[magnaman]

Even if a car looks good on paper and is the superior car, it does not automatically mean it'll win your heart. A car is much like a girl. You need to have a personal attachment to actually love it with your heart. Clarkson even wrote a book on how certain machines seem to have souls. You can read performance figures on paper and take the opinion of your average car journalist. However, Jeremy Clarkson brings in another factor--the soul of the car. Being able to feel a car's soul separate those who just likes cars from those who absolutely loves them.

This explains why people still own old classic cars even though modern cars are better in every single way.

Perfectly said..

Somewhere here someone said PUT A skyline VS that old car... Another person missing the point....

ok episode.. It was topgear! still the best out there... But a bit too short and crammed for my liking...

What happened with the freazing? How come every season Bits get advertised then chopped? Its a shame it ended so soon as well

Oh and i too was hoping a racing driver would take the nsx out on the track to show what it could do!

 

[maximus]

Clarkson was unfair on the 130 if you ask me - I'm 6'6 with a 35" inside leg, and have no problems sitting in the back of my Mum's 120i. Yes it's 'cosy' but not uncomfortable. Even with the driver's seat right back. I wasn't really expecting the hilton in the back of a hatchback.

I'm 5'8 and found the back to be stupidly cramped. And the size is not an excuse, other cars are plenty more spacious, i.e: The Focus or the Golf. The 1 Series is bought for the badge. Even the boots crap.

 

[wookiewacker]

ep was ok the car v game bit was ok but they got the idea from the gadget show on channel 5 (on before fifth gear on a monday night).

the guy from the show and tiff needel (special guest) raced on gt4 round a track in a golf gti then did the same in real life to see if being good on gt4 would make you a good driver & visa versa and then added the times and compered

 

[duh]

I felt that this episode was a little painful to watch, especially the bits about the "dogs oversteering and hyenas being FWD" and that 307!! God... i could've sworn that i've seen that in the carbage section on topgear's website somewhere. Those exhaust "bins" and the color! Sick!

Anyways i tried out laguna in a NSX (not the type-s or NSX-R) and managed to get a 1:41:045 with TCS and ASM off. It took some effort to get a timing like this, Jezza must've been pretty good with the PS2..

 

[Blythy]

is it just me or has this season seen less of the oval view? ie.e where only an oval is seen and the corners of the screen are blacked out. it annoyed the hell out me but it's a TG trademark.

 

[LoneWolf]

Can I just ask what some of you mean by the term 'ricers'?

 

[LoneWolf]

I live in North America, where we aren't big on soccer. The equivalent of the footballers ruining cars for us is rappers ruining cars, and since they choose the biggest piles of shit on the planet and make them even shittier, I don't have to worry.

You might think Jeremy is biased... but you can't argue with him that 911s have looked the same since the first one rolled out of the factory and that they are very common; you also can't argue with him when he says Aston Martin's are exclusive and pretty and luxurious.

911 look the same since they were first manufactured? Agreed.

911's are very common? Agreed.

Aston's are exclusive, pretty and luxurious? Yes, but they are commonly bought by footballers.

Can you name me a particular group in society which is more degrading to such a car badge (other then chavs perhaps), and who have such a drastic negative effect on the cool wall?

*nods in agreement* Yup, completely with you there. I was thinking of the American equivelant of Footballers and I could only think of rappers.

I used to live (& still live close by) to 'ghettos' here in London, the population here is very mixed. The biggest problem with ghettos IMO, especially where the youth are trying to act 'gangsta', is they have appalling tastes in fashion and in general. Rappers are a very good case in point, they buy complete trash and try to 'bling' it up. Anyone who's seen the MTV programme (US version) 'Pimp My Ride' will know exactly what I'm talking about. And the same goes for that 306 crew featured in last weeks episode, the idiot thinks he's cool but he clearly deserves to be shot for what he did to his car!

 

[LoneWolf]

The Peugeot sure was ugly, especially the guy's choice of colors. That ugly aqua and yellow combo.

BMW deserve the bashing. Despite my nick name, BMW is my favorite car, at least it used to be. Seriously, I hate the upper lips added to the kidney grills of the 3 and 6 series. And the reverse lights in the 3 series, with the red part next to them... It just doesn't look right, the top part of the rear lights should be completely clear. I understand how BMW feels the need to revoloutionise their designs, they have a few nice ideas, but not all of them are great. You have to give it to them, they made almost all current Mercedes models look a decade old. They have definately influenced the car industry into having to change their designs. I was just reading the December issue of Motor Trend, and they had an article about Chris Bangle (head designer at BMW). If you've seen the new S class, which looks horrible, it actually got a trunk/boot which is sort of similar to the 7 series... Even the new lexus GS got some cues from BMW. The frount end looks like a Z4/6 series, and the rear doors have 4th quarter similar to BMW. Not to mention all the craze with the new LED lights. Although Cadillac used them first, BMW I beleive were the first to make them more popular. In the old Cadillac Deville/DTS, the LEDs illuminated the entirety of the brakelights, and you didn't notice that it had LEDs till the brakes were applied. BMW howeve had the LEDs appart from each other combined with regular lights. When you apply the brakes, you saw independant LED lights, just as seen in the old E46 with LEDs, and the 6/7 series. Other manufacturers failed in applying them, such as in the Mercedes E class, S class and more recently in the new face-lifted Honda accord.

I'm not saying these designs are good, far from it. I think they could've done a better job designing a hatchback. I mean the brakelights look like they're from the last gen Honda Civic hatchback, and the front end feels like it hit a brick wall. Then again, BMW never made a nice looking hatchback, so maybe Bangle was trying to keep up the tradition for once The 3 series is definately crap at the moment, as I said, the grill, and the brakelights. Leaves much to be desired. 5 series I've learned to like, mainly after the 3 series was released. I guess I'm releived it's not as ugly as the 3. 6 series/M6 has a nice profile, but that's about it. Huge trunk/boot lid, and I don't get the front end. 7 series is undesireable (SP?) It's called a whale in Arabic countries Everything is huge, for no reason. The new face-lift makes it look slightly better, but where did the LED brake lights go?

Crossing my fingers for the new 3 series coupe. I've seen spy pics of the convertible having a hard top, so that's something to look forward to. I noticed that BMW started to make minor front and rear differences between the 3 sedan, coupe, and M3, to make the coupe more desireable than the sedan, and the M3 even more than the coupe. So I'm hoping that this would be the same with the new model, maybe the coupe will look better.

IMO Bangle's the idiot who's responsible for ruining BMW over the past few years. A company which has an excellant reputation for style, quality and performance, and immediately starts going downhill when you put an American designer at the helm! Why oh why am I not surprised?

I hope he get's the sack soon and BMW can produce beautiful stuff again like the original 3-series or even the last M3 CSL.

 

[LoneWolf]

My gripe is with the way JC always keeps applauding the Astons, dwelling for about a second on some (major) faults, but spending half the show raving on about everything else. The Vantage is a prime example, JC himself admitted it wasn't that good with it's gearbox, its handling is rubbish and it breaks down a lot (I remember on Fifth Gear Vicky was testing it, and it broke down several times). And yet despite these obvious flaws, put anything but British next to the Aston and JC forgets about all these problems and instead goes on about it's noise, or it's character or it's styling.

Even if a car looks good on paper and is the superior car, it does not automatically mean it'll win your heart. A car is much like a girl. You need to have a personal attachment to actually love it with your heart. Clarkson even wrote a book on how certain machines seem to have souls. You can read performance figures on paper and take the opinion of your average car journalist. However, Jeremy Clarkson brings in another factor--the soul of the car. Being able to feel a car's soul separate those who just likes cars from those who absolutely loves them.

This explains why people still own old classic cars even though modern cars are better in every single way.

See one of my later posts, I've discussed these points there.

 

[anti_analog]

Trying to get to the bottom of how JC tested GT4...
I used an NSX-R in arcade mode, medium sport tires and no driving aids and 1:37 was a kinda sloppy lap. Switch to Road tires and it adds 5 seconds on a slightly more sloppy lap.
In an american last generation NSX like he drove in real life, I had to fight to get into the 1:41s, and I'd have to think jeremy would be a pretty decent driver, so that seems more likely. Again, switching to crappy tires only added about 4 seconds a lap, and it still wasnt that easy to upset the car's chassis, so GT4 is still probably going easy on us.

 

[srsairbags]

. . . please add it . . . ! !

. . . please add it . . . ! !

. . .all you ripprs out there cmon now . . . . i didnt see it yet . . .
. . . . . . . please guys . . .

 

[zenkidori]

Can I just ask what some of you mean by the term 'ricers'?

Basically Ricer is a US term used to make fun of cars and thier owners that are tastelessly modified, look ridiculous or have tons of "race style" parts but no actual performance. It can also mean anyone just following a trend and not really into the tuning they are doing, for example JDM. While JDM style doesn't look nearly as horrible, JDM fanboys are no less ricers, in fact most of them are former traditional ricers who traded up. For example pretty much every car I have seen in MAX POWER is rice, any car in The Fast and the Furious movies is rice, etc.

 

[LoneWolf]

Can I just ask what some of you mean by the term 'ricers'?

Basically Ricer is a US term used to make fun of cars and thier owners that are tastelessly modified, look ridiculous or have tons of "race style" parts but no actual performance. It can also mean anyone just following a trend and not really into the tuning they are doing, for example JDM. While JDM style doesn't look nearly as horrible, JDM fanboys are no less ricers, in fact most of them are former traditional ricers who traded up. For example pretty much every car I have seen in MAX POWER is rice, any car in The Fast and the Furious movies is rice, etc.

Oh OK, I get ya. I mistakenly had a suspicion it was a racist term

 

[zenkidori]

nonononononononono...

 

[Manic Moran]

7 series is undesireable (SP?) It's called a whale in Arabic countries

Out of interest, was the last model Ford Scorpio ever sold in Arab countries? If ever there was a car modelled after a Sperm Whale, that's the car.

NTM

 

[rhegedus]

7 series is undesireable (SP?) It's called a whale in Arabic countries

Out of interest, was the last model Ford Scorpio ever sold in Arab countries? If ever there was a car modelled after a Sperm Whale, that's the car.

Have you seen the fat Lexuses and Mercs they drive?

 

[bartboy9891]

Can I just ask what some of you mean by the term 'ricers'?

Basically Ricer is a US term used to make fun of cars and thier owners that are tastelessly modified, look ridiculous or have tons of "race style" parts but no actual performance. It can also mean anyone just following a trend and not really into the tuning they are doing, for example JDM. While JDM style doesn't look nearly as horrible, JDM fanboys are no less ricers, in fact most of them are former traditional ricers who traded up. For example pretty much every car I have seen in MAX POWER is rice, any car in The Fast and the Furious movies is rice, etc.

Oh OK, I get ya. I mistakenly had a suspicion it was a racist term

ricers are called ricers because it started with cheap japanese cars. the japanese are associated rice so...

 

[Ianspeed]

Can I just ask what some of you mean by the term 'ricers'?

Basically Ricer is a US term used to make fun of cars and thier owners that are tastelessly modified...any car in The Fast and the Furious movies is rice, etc.

Oh OK, I get ya. I mistakenly had a suspicion it was a racist term

ricers are called ricers because it started with cheap japanese cars. the japanese are associated rice so...

Ironically, the term was initially in regards to cheap asian performance cars. "Rice Rocket / Ricer" was used for cars you could buy cheap, which had good performance and above average handling. A concept rather foreign to 'performance' american drivers in their heavy Ford Mustangs with webber carbs and big block engines.

And the people who said it wern't saying it to be nice.

Its all history now since Honda is #1 in the american market tuning... heck, I wonder how many kids even think about american cars when they start looking for their first fast ride.

This, I think, is where you see the new definition of ricer evolve. The latest generation of 'peformance' owners have no experience or interest in what actually makes a performance car. They just injest what they see in popular culture mags/tv/internet and slap the same ol shit to the same ol cars.

At least in the UK and europe, tuning seems to have been in reaction to the high cost of big engine performance cars. Young driver just can't afford anything past a 1.0l lupo and decide to spend their time building bigger sound systems and add silly big accessories to the car. I still think its a waste of time, but at least it makes some sence.

Oh well, I guess this is getting OT.

I still think most of this series was shot pre slipped discs, and they drugged up JC as little as possible to fill in the rest of the season. Probably after they reviewed the Ascari video and saw how poorly RH pulled it off. Besides, why would you risk your biggst asset to long term damage?