[10x04] November 4th, 2007

Great episode. Scenery and filming just stunning! After watching it, I want to visit Botswana some day :)
It wasn't as funny as American special, but very entertaining.
African Stig was quite disappointing for me.

The season is good so far. I think there is more freshness, bits doesn't seem to be forced and so scripted like last series.
 
Lancia Beta Superleggera :lol:
 
I was so disappointed with jc's beetle bashing .-.... until it was announced the winner car :)

mathematica said:
For the first half show, I didn't get it at why they hate the beetle so much. The fact is that it out-sold any other car in the history (and is highly unlikely to be out-sold in the future). As a 4*2 car, the engine is in the back and it is rear wheel drive, which gives it extremely good off-road ability. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kübelwagen has some details about the fact that the military car based on beetle (also a 4*2) is better than American 4*4 Jeeps.)

I'm glad they finally realize the beetle is the best.
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agreed! But, personally I'd go for a beach buggy... ;)
 
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Anden1986 said:
They are also VERY reliable cars... My dad had a C, my mum a D and now I have an E :) Not especially pretty or "special" but they start EVERY time and always get you to your destination. Plus they are cheap and easy to service and get good mpg...
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You have got an Kadett E and you don?t hate it? They are cheap to service? Sorry, but I?ve had an Kadett E (1.8i 90hp) about 8 Years ago, and that made me poor and misrable due to bad quality and high Spare-part prices. They get better mpg than a Golf or an Escort, that?s true ... and they are a good drive ... I?ll give you that ... but what I experienced and buddies of mine, reliability, rust, quality and spare-prices are issues a Golf or an Escort of that time will do much better.

The older Kadetts are great, but the E was terrible. That?s why you don?t see them around anymore ... Golf MarkII ... still a lot running ... Kadett E ... you can spend hours on the roads without seeing one.
 
Great episode! James's shirt in the studio was a whopper!
I loved the bits with the Opel's horn and the bit in the river :D
I don't understand why Jeremy bought a Lancia Beta since he always hated this car and has bashed it many times. Also how did he find it in Africa???

Oh and by the way, I know there is a special place for these but since we are discussing the episode, we could also discuss the Lancia. Look what I found on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1976...oryZ6292QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

LOOK AT THE RUST! I am really curuious how the undercarriage looks...
 
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Great episode, it must have been so much fun making that. Anyway I'm not suprized the Beetle was the only car that made it without trouble as it's a pretty ragged car with high ground clearance and lots of weight over the drive wheels. They just will not stop, as long as they get fuel and electricity. I mean, the one I have had been in a barn for 20 years, and we just put a battery and some fuel in it and it started on the first attempt.
 
Geez, you Finalgear folk are a tough crowd to please!!
 
i dunno if it's been posted, but hammond loved oliver so much that he's.... having him shipped back home....
 
Wonderful episode. Had tons of laughter and Oliver...:lol:

Somehow, I was really wishing Jeremy's car dies and he ends up in the Beetle, but oh well.
 
I also found it boring. I dont think Ive ever said that about TG. It was filmed nice as usual but I just missed the tests, the news, the interesting celebrities and so on... Polar special was great and so was the Us adventure but Africa.. I dunno.. not really.
 
I thought it was pretty good. much better than that awful first episode of season 10.
 
Sony said:
I also found it boring. I dont think Ive ever said that about TG. It was filmed nice as usual but I just missed the tests, the news, the interesting celebrities and so on... Polar special was great and so was the Us adventure but Africa.. I dunno.. not really.
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Agreed, and i'm not a "Finalgear" fan.
I watched it twice, thinking that I was stupid for not finding this interesting the first go around.

it was the same shit theyve been doing, but with no special quips. Yeah, they got stuck in water but they got out of if pretty quickly, jezza's car broke down a bunch but it was always fixed.

In the American episode, they had some good times with Jeremy's dead cow, etc, but none of that here...
 
swordznsorcery said:
James said that he hates them because the design was stolen by the Nazis, and then the factory was run using Russian slave labour. And it was the same factory that built the V1 rocket, one of which landed in the place where the house he grew up in was built.

The other two just don't like them. Probably because they don't really like Volkswagen cars in general.
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The design wasn't stolen by the Nazis. The Nazis PAID Dr. Porsche to design the KDF-Wagen. Adolph Hiltler admired Henry Ford (and Ford admired Hilter, but that's another story) for motorizing America and wanted to put Germany on wheels.

There was a savings scheme where Germans bought stamps every week and stuck them in a Strength Through Joy savings booklet. When the booklet was full of stamps they were supposed to exchange it for a brand new KDF-Wagen.

The Nazis built the KDF-Wagen plant and the town of Wolfsburg specifically to build the car. Only a handful of civilian cars were delivered to Nazi Party officals before the factory switched over to Kubelwagen and Schwimwagen production. Slave labor and arms production came to the Wolfsburg factory later.


That's Dr. Porsche pointing to his efforts for the Nazis.

HitlerPorscheVW1938.png
 
Well, if they would have decided not to air it because it came out not as epic as they hoped it would, it would be a pretty good waste of money and everyone would be complaining why they didnt show it.
If they would have placed some faked scenes in it, to make it more interesting, everyone would be complaining why they always have to put faked stuff in it and so ruin the whole thing.
So its a loss-loss all three ways.
 
That was some great TV. Almost as good as the polar ep, which is probably the greatest hour of television in history.

Kudos TG!
 
I love the fact that every episode this season has had a dig at Fifth Gear. I think that it is amusing. Especially this episode, where James goes on about the fact that there is no "Fifth Gear" in his car.
I also watched Clarksons new DVD and he even has a crack at Fifth Gear aswell..

Pure gold !!
 
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