[10x01] October 7th, 2007

[Ilpav]

I have another improvement suggestion about this episode.

In the light-weight super car film I would have liked to see more about the cars, not just the roads. Some might say that it was like in 07x03 where they drove three supercars to the Millau bridge, but no. I think this film was supposed to be a bit more of a comparison of the cars like, for instance, from 07x01 where they went to the Isle of Man with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, BMW M6, and Porsche 911. They did a race there (or measured the time/avg. speed.) I would have liked to have saw more of that kind of thing from this film.

 

[ColumbusIS]

Also, where was Top Gear Dog???

I wondered the same thing, I hope everything's OK

 

[zenkidori]

Great episode, should be a good series.

I really liked how they focused mostly on the roads, we can all look up specs on these cars, and they're just different versions of cars that have already been tested, plus they did give a practical review of them all in a real situation. driving twisty mountain roads is my specialty, I do it every day since I live in the mountains, and I love taking the roads by the scruff and shaking some fun out of them on occasion, so I really liked that segment. no mamby pamby crap about speed limits and shit, just awesome driving on awesome roads in awesome cars.

the Golf review was funny too.

 

[Viper007Bond]

Great episode, should be a good series.

I really liked how they focused mostly on the roads, we can all look up specs on these cars, and they're just different versions of cars that have already been tested, plus they did give a practical review of them all in a real situation. driving twisty mountain roads is my specialty, I do it every day since I live in the mountains, and I love taking the roads by the scruff and shaking some fun out of them on occasion, so I really liked that segment. no mamby pamby crap about speed limits and shit, just awesome driving on awesome roads in awesome cars.

the Golf review was funny too.

"Top Road" ?

But yeah, I agree now that I think of it.

 

[nist7]

I just hope the rest of the series would be a lot more content-oriented. But that probably won't happen since Top Gear is NOT a car show for car enthusiasts...but an entertainment show with some automotive elements thrown in so that the average bloke will "ooh and ahh" when they see bright yellow Aston Martins being piloted by a naked, middle-aged man. The value of Top Gear is mainly through humor and eye-candy.

But nevertheless this episode proved to be rather colorful in terms of photography and the usual bantering about, which would ensure the loyal audiences and attract some new ones, as previous posters have mentioned. What bothered me was the lackluster performance/script-writing? of James May. All he said about the Aston Martin was that it cramped his balls.....which we understood whenever you needed to do a checklist of procedures for starting a car.

But besides whining about his car and telling obviously scripted/half-hearted lies to his other presenters, he gave us nothing. At least we got some pricing and equipment info from the GT3RS and the Gallardo but there was nothing interesting/factual/opinion/joke/etc. for the N24.

In any event, I only hope that May (or whoever writes his lines) will contribute a lot more in the upcoming episodes.

 

[MKnight]

I thought Richard Hammonds hair looked great! He has a more modern appearance with his new wardrobe...very youthful...

 

[haz]

Anyone else but me that thought the Aston reminded of another car, in that colour combo?
http://img512.imageshack.**/img512/8559/astonhawy7.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.**/img512/8559/astonhawy7.1e7be88b6a.jpg



































namely, VWs Harlekin
http://img442.imageshack.**/img442/3628/vwhargu6.jpg

haz

 

[Blythy]

yeah, the aston did look a bit bennetton ish

 

[haz]

notice the licence plate

 

[Queen of Meh]

I don't get why people are saying that James drew the short straw with the Aston. Have a read of the articles that Viper has provided a link for on the front page (I'm not giving the url, find it yourself) and I get the impression that the producers would have said "Go get a light weight road/racing car and we'll take them to the best roads in the world." Then the presenters went off and chose the cars. How does James draw the short straw when he picked the car??

I only said that it seemed James got the short straw because I thought perhaps the producers would have picked three and cars and purposly picked the Aston for uncomfort value to be funny and to make the point that a pure lightweight car is not something that you could live with and that even they need to have some compromise, such as the Porsche and the Lambo. Because you wouldn't think that James would purposly pick a car that, while you can use on the road, you couldn't realistically drive without it 'turniong your pelvis to dust' and hurting his testicals

 

[AnGuRuSO]

I just hope the rest of the series would be a lot more content-oriented. But that probably won't happen since Top Gear is NOT a car show for car enthusiasts...but an entertainment show with some automotive elements thrown in so that the average bloke will "ooh and ahh" when they see bright yellow Aston Martins being piloted by a naked, middle-aged man. The value of Top Gear is mainly through humor and eye-candy.

Jeremy wrote about exactly that in one of his articles, he referred to some argument in internet land about Top Gear being dumbed down. Anyway, he said we might be right and alluded to doing more car reviews.

So lighten up.

 

[Zegna]

The "Italian Job" reference on the Alps with the orange Lamborghini is one of the funniest things I've seen from Clarkson.

Also, I think Aston Martin should replace the driver's seat immediately after we all saw what James did to it!

Anyhow, its definitely a brilliant opening episode.

 

[Jezzabelle]

Originally Posted by BigDaveDogg
Also, where was Top Gear Dog???

She is fine. She did go to the studio, but they decided she wasn't needed for this ep. so Mindy came to fetch her.

 

[un-dee]

the world doesn't end on the German border! Nor does Europe as a matter of fact.

Oh, it does. But we are quite experienced in just pushing the border eastwards when we get bored with it too much

 

[controlspecimen]

Wasn't the first road the same one that Hammond used to test out the Zonda convertible a few years ago?

 

[rheinberger]

i'm so happy after seeing this episode. thank you top gear for ditching last season's format and going back. i'm actually anticipating next week's episode again.

 

[edkwon]

Also, I think Aston Martin should replace the driver's seat immediately after we all saw what James did to it!

Im pretty sure some crazed James May fan would pay a handsome sum for that seat on ebay since its now permeated with the essence of May's ass sweat.

Is it me, or do a lot of people on these forums not know who Star In A... Helen Mirren was? Nobody seemed to remember her by name, but i'll admit, i couldnt figure out why she was invited to be on the show, she didn't seem to have any interest in motoring at all.

 

[andoxviii]

Am I the only one who thought that W12 Golf was pretty hot?

Hopefully there is some sort of demand and VW produces it

 

[ycchan]

Pretty entertaining but seems they only did one proper road test.

Hammond's new hairstyle eek...

I didn't know they all smoke? I thought James didn't (from previous episodes) and Clarkson quit.

And they keep mocking fifthgear :lol:

 

[BigDaveDogg]

She is fine. She did go to the studio, but they decided she wasn't needed for this ep. so Mindy came to fetch her.

Cool, thanks for the reply. That's good to hear.

I didn't know they all smoke? I thought James didn't (from previous episodes) and Clarkson quit.

I didn't know that either, and I guess Clarkson couldn't quit?