Yes, i sat here and defended the show all last season saying things like "give it time to come into its own", al the while thinking how bad it stank. i wanted so hard to give it a good honest chance. people were ripping it because it was nothing like the UK version and so on. i was hoping so much that they would be better this season, well, they are. i gave it an 8/10 simply because of potential. it was natural, it flowed ok and it was entertaining. i saw someone write earlier how they only tested one car, well, thats the point of the show. i know im in america and i dont know of all the car shows you have in Australia, but, the Top Gear concept is 3 friends screwing around and talking about cars and, well, guy stuff. this show has been refined to what it should be, i didnt ever see them trying to be Jezza, hammond or may, they were just themselves. awsome job, this will be Great! now, with that said, there are a few things i hope to see fixed in the near future.
1) the race challenge. i love that the UK show always has a point to the race such as the truffle race. everyone knows traffic sucks and i hope they were just trying to relate the race concept to the audiance. i want to see the car start at the same point as the challenge. i want to feel that someone has challenged the other two guys because he found a car that he thinks can beat them. i know its set up in the UK to feel that way, but, it works. loved the race though!
2) the segments. they were much better, i was actually laughing during the first segment, they did a great job. "lets break in the new boy" was funny, however, it wasnt as seamless as it will be in the future.
3) missing element! look, there are 4 things that you MUST have for a show to be called Top Gear. the challenges, the stig, the star in some kind of car and the NEWS. where was the NEWS!
so, again 8 out of 10. great great great improvment. its onlygonna get better!