[10x07] November 25th, 2007

[Martin]

Though the door falling off HAD to be scripted I dont believe for a moment that the hinges could be that bad.

Which time? The time Jeremy was doing the "egg" test on the cobble street or the "wet" run? Is it that unbelievable?

One time I was driving to a friends house and just after entering the neighborhood the car in front of me had its rear-left wheel suddenly break off and roll away. The car landed hard on the axle and gouged a huge cut in the asphalt. The people in the car where fine, they were going maybe 15 mph thankfully. Nonetheless, what happened was that the entire wheel assembly broke off, not just the bolts holding on the wheel hub. The entire wheel, brakes, bearings, etc broke off and rolled away into oblivion.

So, a 25+ year old car that was never made that well to begin with having its door fall off while going fast over cobblestone shouldn't be that big of a stretch (especially if it was not mended well). Jeremy in some ways is lucky that only the door fell off. Though having said all this its possible it was staged, though they insist that nothing is faked anymore (I can't tell if they are serious about that or not ).

 

[thedguy]

How many more excuses can they use to feature an Aston Martin on the show? It's rare when they do a car review these days and some how it feels as if it's only when a "new" Aston Martin comes out.

Any Brits mind finding me a Dolly and shipping it back to the states? I don't care if it has an engine or gearbox.

 

[edkwon]

Did anyone notice the white Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster at time 47:20 in the background. I think its Jezza's wife's car. She wrote in the sunday times about owning a Vantage Roadster in her westfield article.

I always assumed she owned a V8 Vantage hardtop because at the time Jeremy first mentioned his wife owning a Vantage, the roadster wasnt officially for sale yet. but she could have changed cars and the roadster is a very appropriate car for her anyway.

btw, i loved this ep and share the opinion of many that the reason why its so great is because it reminds me of an older series 4 or 5 ep, esp with the cheap car challenge. It's something i've been yearning to see for a while.

I think the poll is an excellent idea! I just think that if people go straight from the end of the episode to the poll they'll probably vote a bit inaccurately. I wonder how so many people think this was worth a 10!

Was it really flawless?

no, it wasnt a 10, i voted an 8 myself, to be a 10, it would have to match the best of the older series eps, but i gave it an 8 since it recaptured a lot of that old feeling.

Ppl who voted a 10 either 1) clearly haven't watched enough of the show to have a good comparison 2) have low standards or 3) didn't really think thru their vote before clicking on the poll.

 

[h-p]

That was hilarious! I must watch that again now.

 

[Phila]

This episode was good solely because the news is back to form.

 

[edkwon]

This episode was good solely because the news is back to form.

Yeah it was nice to see stuff mentioned from as recent as the LA auto show, which i had attended last week.

 

[mautzel]

I nearly died of laughter during the BL report, that was marvellous. I'm not so sure about the Aston report, though. I can see why they have it on the show - although owned by a foreign company, Aston is a traditional British brand producing some of the finest cars that money can buy. But there were so few news about that particular model that it didn't really deserve a test on its own, especially when the V8 Vantage Convertible only has been on two shows earlier. Instead, I would've liked to see another short review of the Korean line up which they did three years ago. But then they'd have to admit that some of the cars took a big step forward since then, so meh.

 

[Hauton]

To revisit a classic Clarkson style argument....I'd rather pretend I'm James Bond with...

I'd rather pretend I'm James Bond with...

 

[Matt2000]

loved the BL challenge, and how James won. i thought Clarkson's car was the funniest with it's detachable doors and how it fails to go up hills

i think maybe he needs to buy some stronger tape if he wants to try the water challenge again. News was good, but kinda spolied by the korean kays (only joking some looked okay) and i liked the DBS review. still seems a pretty pointless car though.

 

[edkwon]

i think maybe he needs to buy some stronger tape if he wants to try the water challenge again. News was good, but kinda spolied by the korean kays (only joking some looked okay) and i liked the DBS review. still seems a pretty pointless car though.

I love the DBS and its cool as hell, but unfortunately, i can't help but agree with Clarkson's analysis.

Ppl who get angry with his point of how the car is pointless, are just in denial that he has a good point. If youre just rich enough to afford the DBS, its a very hard sell and an extra 50K pounds is hard to rationalize for that little extra exclusivity and a 6 MT.

If youre ridiculously rich, then more power to you, why not buy two of them?

 

[edkwon]

Did anyone notice at timestamp 47:19 (Dolomite Sprint finishing up the Belgian Parve course) in the background there appears to be a white Vantage roadster (i think, or maybe a DB9 volante) and then another car to the right of it, silver in color and a sports car, but i couldnt tell from the brief glimpse, even on pause.

 

[Matt2000]

If youre ridiculously rich, then more power to you, why not buy two of them?

that's exactly what i would do, then find some sort of over-complicated method for choosing which one to drive, like playing monopoly against yourself for 10 mins, you drive whichever car has the most cash at the end.

Anyway...

 

[pepitko]

great episode, in-line with high top gear quality level

The cheap car challenge was great, I didn't mind at all that they did some of those already. And the score board has finally returned!

I must say I felt a bit confused with the aston DBS review, but I suppose that was the whole point. I also felt there were some bits missing, so is it better than a 599 for the similar money? JC didn't even praise aston for putting a proper manual instead of the hated flappy pedal box. But the filmography was just brilliant.

 

[Eye-Q]

I'm just wondering: did anyone notice that James didn't state the second best car of the year in the news?

In general this episode is great, it's definitely the best episode of the season, apart from the african special.

The ride comfort challenge was hilarious, even better than the one with the 1500 Pounds coup?s that weren't Porsches (that was with a bowl of water in the lap). :lol: Although I think the doors which fell off from the SD1 were staged the rest was just brilliant.

"You've been lapped - lapped by Captain Slow"
"In an Austin Princess full of water..."

Unfortunately I'm fed up with Aston Martins on the show, too, it was the third time in seven episodes of this series that an Aston was on the show - it's just too much. Astons are beautiful cars but when you have one in every second episode you get a bit bored of them since they all look basically the same but with some body panels on them.

 

[Polly]

I'd rather pretend I'm James Bond with...

So her neck is like messed up or what?

 

[Interrobang]

Did anyone notice at timestamp 47:19 (Dolomite Sprint finishing up the Belgian Parve course) in the background there appears to be a white Vantage roadster (i think, or maybe a DB9 volante) and then another car to the right of it, silver in color and a sports car, but i couldnt tell from the brief glimpse, even on pause.

It?s a DB9 Volante, you are right about that ... the other one ... you can?t really see any features that would give away what it is ... it kind of reminds me of an R8 in white with that thing behind the door in silver ... but who knows ...

 

[LoneWolf]

How many more excuses can they use to feature an Aston Martin on the show? It's rare when they do a car review these days and some how it feels as if it's only when a "new" Aston Martin comes out.

Unfortunately I'm fed up with Aston Martins on the show, too, it was the third time in seven episodes of this series that an Aston was on the show - it's just too much. Astons are beautiful cars but when you have one in every second episode you get a bit bored of them since they all look basically the same but with some body panels on them.

x3

 

[reventon]

OMG, i cant belive u guys are moaning about there being too many astons this series. The N24 wasnt really a review on its own, the vantage roadster was a review, albeit a short one considering he was racing a human with pratt n whitney on his back, and now the DBS was a proper review of the car.

anyway, i liked the news, i like how the news in this series is getting a proper look in, and i also loved the trail by egg and water

8/10

 

[Vltros]

Brilliant episode!!

I hadn't laughed so hard with a Top Gear episode since the cheap mid-engined Italian supercars challenge. I've got terrible throat sore and I was really painful to laugh so hard. But it really was worth it!

 

[transtek]

I don't know how Pirlo and Kai gave it a rating of 1?? Maybe they jut shouldn't be members of a forum dedicated to Top Gear?
Anyways, everyone has the right to express their opinion, so enough on that.
I thought the ep was v.good. I liked the DBS, but I couldn't justify spending another 50K for one over a DB9: a lot of money for a bit of "in-house tuning".
British Leyland, ah the memories. We had a Triumph 1300 and a Herald before that, and in the late 80's I helped restore a gorgeous Dolomite Sprint, in yellow, which actually ran very well, good roadholding for the day, and a very fast engine. The SD1's were run in British Touring Cars for a while as well, so not slow when sorted, just the electrics and general shoddy work putting them together that let them down. And the Princess? (no-one bought an Allegro, I noticed!), now that's a car worth forgetting!
On the other hand, all three cars are now about 30 years old, so it's no surprise they weren't that good at the challenges. Would have been fairer (but not as funny) to compare them with the Datsun on all the challenges, and with an Alfa, or Fiat or something else from that time (probably all rusted into oblivion by now!).
All-in-all, good stuff, easily the best thing on the TV (or Interweb) anywhere in the world, so who could give it anything less than a good rating?