FWIW, I agree with a lot of what Austere had to say. The boat segment did go on a bit too long and while there were laughs to be had, they could have been easily squeezed into, say, 20 minutes.
The R8 review - Beautifully shot. Richard
screaming into shot in his car was fantastic.
I have to say, I'm a fairly recent convert to Top Gear. And as someone who only really started looking at it last season, if I were taken from the deepest rainforest having never seen the show before, and was told it was a "car review" show, I might wonder "really? 'Cos it looks like three mates cocking about, having a laugh and focusing more on entertaining the audience, than about cars". Then, of course I would have to own up to being a big fat hypocrite - because I watch Top Gear to see three mates cocking about and having a laugh, not necessarily for the cars. But how to draw the balance between entertainment and information? The debate will linger for as long as the show does, methinks...I think I'd rather see them review cars I could possibly afford in an interesting way, and tease us just a couple of times a season with their merry japes. Make it all the more special, then...JMO.
I think the three individual presenters' differing personalities lend themselves very well to informed and balanced car reviews, while their easy and witty rapartee with each other is, I think, enough of a gimmick to keep the audience interested. Do we really need to see them, say, resurfacing a road? (Oh wait....
)
All this from a noob on their 2nd post!! *Quakes nervously*