• The development of any software program, including, but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system, is prohibited using the contents and materials on this website.

[11x02] June 29th, 2008

[11x02] June 29th, 2008

  • Total voters
    431
edkwon said:
This is what's wrong with the new breed of Top Gear fans, :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Well hold on. I'm a veteran Top Gear fan and I still enjoy their cocking about segments just as much as the actual reviews, if not more.

The reviews are always more artistic and better made, but you gotta admit, the African Safari, British Layland Cars, Amphibious cars, etc, etc. They're all great and hilarious. Speaking of which, can't wait for the new race AND the cheap Alfa Romeo challenge.

On the topic of James May leaving: I highly fucking doubt it. Unless he actually wants to leave, they're not kicking him off or anything. Plus, this is how it always is with him. He doesn't review a car every single episode. And with the police car thing, he was shown just as much as the other two, plus, his car was obviously the best, with the ice cream truck siren. Everyone loves James, and if he were to leave, I'm sure the shows ratings would drop considerably.
 
Magnificant !!

Magnificant !!

Just finished watchin't and i think it was epic
subaru vs evo X very well put funny smart
audi rs6 was good they always talk about 0-60 times and 155 mph spped limit but they never tell us about the bit in between which is all torque i wonder why ???????
stuntman just got a lot better this time great effort
SIARPC much better ....
cool wall as always :D
now to my favourite part THE BLACK .... at first i thought he was gonna talk about its 525 horsepower or its mountains of torque .... but near the end it made sense it's not just about the numbers .... it's about the feel of the thing u , the car and the road no compromise nothing to worry about just pure petrolheadness !!!!!! i dream of such a ride.....
the filming grrrreat both the audi and merc segments well put together ...
one thing though the merc's noise could have been better louder and more ............ u know


overwall Top Gear is back in business
 
I absolutely loved it. I knew this episode would be a lot better than the first one, and I really really enjoyed it tot he fullest. The races have all become predictable, but I reiterate from before: Since when was it ever about the result? :)
 
BlaRo said:
Those French guys have absolutely terrible taste in music. Jack Johnson sucks.
Click to expand...

otispunkmeyer said:
i think the jack johnson was a joke that tied in with their preparations to seduce the chalet girls
Click to expand...

I'm with otispunkmeyer.

Concerning the episode, I give it a solid 8.
The Evo doing circles around the STi was phenomenal!
The AMG review had me misty eyed, but I've been a little girlie lately...:lol:
 
Arctor said:
If you go back and look at the first 5 seasons or so they had a nice mix of supercars and everyman cars. Unfortunately the past 3 seasons it's been just one very expensive car after another. While I love watching supercars around the test track, I honestly think the reviews of the 'normal' cars are a lot more honest and enjoyable.
Click to expand...
I agree that the "cheap" car reviews are also very enjoyable. I loved the Hammond and May convertible tests in the rainiest part of Britain. But my point was that before the supercar reviews were also more interesting.
 
Well well...I guess I might want to give some nitpicking into the EVO/STI test, even if I drive a Mazda 3 :lol:

The film review makes me want a blue EVO...but my god the rear end of that thing is ugly, still looks like Yao Ming was plastered on the back. Of course Clarkson's view wouldn't change, especially if he's tearing around in the FQ360, would eat a stock STI alive. It's also really sad that the UK version doesn't even get the wheels or tires from any other market, they get left to two year old rims and who knows for tires. To be brutally honest, I think the STI in red is hideous, and that car was absolutely base model. It looks almost nothing like my car.

But I am suprised that it was faster, even if by .02 seconds. It died of oversteer at the hammerhead.

Let's get this straight though, the EVO and STI out of the box are one in the same. There are quirks with each of them, but they pretty much mirror eachother. Fanboys this and that...I like both cars, but I love the Subaru.

The RS6 review was pretty good, that car is a beast. Did you see those ceramic brakes? God I would kill to have a scenery and car like that to trounce on as I race crazy French Skigliding nutters to a bar to get wasted :mrgreen:

SIARPC isn't working for me...are they running out of bigger named people to get? I'd really love to have just one, with a nice chat with them and their car history. It was better than the last episode, which didn't even flow...all cut together.

TG stuntman was serisouly cose to getting that spin done. I'm still torn on whether it is comic relief and a bit of time to take up, or some bit of seriousness. It was good to see the cool wall back in it's new form. Lol on the Fiat and May. Suprised to see all the Astons go from Sub-Zero fame to Seriously Uncool...a big push for the DB9 to drop out of the fridge.

The Black Series is an awesome car, those Welsh roads are always the best for car reviews. I enjoyed the camera work on that review too. I bet though, if I ever saw one I would have to look again to know it was a Black Series. It's definately an agressive looking car, but from a glance I might mistake it for a standard CLK. I guess that's a bit of the point though, it's not a stripped out racer MB, it's still civilized enough to live with.

Overall I give this episode a 8/10

Heh, and if we're showing screencaps...the lady over Richards left shoulder ruined her 2 seconds of airtime :lol:
https://pic.armedcats.net/g/g0/g00b3r/2008/06/30/winamp_2008-06-30_13-14-05-96.jpg
 
Excellent show, A-. I think I would have given this show a 10 if it hadn't been for Top Gear stuntman, he just came off to be way too homogenized. The planning leading up to the stunt was interesting, as was the stunt itself, but it was definitely lacking something. I think more of an air of excitement is needed, something like what was in the Evel Knievel stunts, fireworks, a live crowd audience, flames, etc. I'm sure Hammond, having met Knievel, might have a few ideas in that area.

SIARPC was much better this week, and was definitely watchable, though when two people are on, it seems to get a little lost. It's much better with a one on one interview, though I don't want to come off as though I'm complaining, as this week was leaps and bounds beyond last weeks duo.

Great to see Clarkson back on form with his car reviews, I don't know what exactly went wrong with the F-430 interview, though I can see that driving the third rendition of a car, it would be hard to say a whole lot that hasn't already been said, no matter how much better it is than the other similar models. It also seemed like the wide screen shots with the Scuderia weren't quite right somehow

Anyways, thank you Top Gear, for a much better show
 
When Clarkson asked "When was the last time anyone went for a drive just for fun?" (or something like that) I thought to myself all the times I have done that in the past couple weeks, or found an excuse to go out - but always on the motorcycle.

I got a big grin when he said that riders still do this all the time. Of course, it's Clarkson so he had to imply that we aren't people, but it got me thinking. I don't know anyone that goes driving for fun, either they don't like driving or they can't afford it. As a community, bikers are more in touch with motoring for pleasure than any other group.

As for the rest of the episode, I liked it. The cocking about is fine, but it was nice to see the focus go back to the cars. Also, there was a hot girl standing behind Clarkson during the News. Watch her face when he puts up his mysterious internet find.
 
In a lot of ways you can compare Doctor Who and Top Gear and the main one is the 'fanbase' there are hardcore fans on both sites - although you guys aren't quiet as nuts as the DW guys - although I can't say the same for the people on the James May Boards :)

But the other is also Mass Appeal - Top Gear and Doctor Who both appeal to an amazing wide and diverse audience covering male/female and old/young (the ratings breakdown proves it).

Also both have a long history and a pretty geeky original subject matter. Which brings me to the point I wanted to make - I knew I'd get there in the end.

If you take a geeky show + a history + a hardcore fanbase + a mass varied audience = two sides wanting different things from the show.

In the Doctor Who fanbase those outside of the hardcore fans are called Not We's - basically the people that just watch the show every week because it's a great piece of entertainment and don't particularly care about the subject matter.

If we only take the UK audience into account (sorry guys outside) as they're the ones that the show is made - I would suggest that about two thirds of the total Top Gear audience is made up of the Not FGs.

And I would suggest that they prefer the cocking about episodes that don't really focus on the cars - but are more about three middle aged blokes having a laugh.

God I wrote a lot to get to that point.

Which made me wonder whether it was worth finding a friend/family member each week who only watches Top Gear casually (doesn't assess and strip it apart each week) and ask what they thought of it.

I have several people like that in my office and their reaction to this weeks episode was 'yeah it was alright but last week was much better'.
 
Blind_Io said:
I don't know anyone that goes driving for fun, either they don't like driving or they can't afford it.
Click to expand...
I just came from a 2 hour drive like that. Just drove into one direction for the hell of it, til i got hopelessly lost (the gravel road ended with a huge tree), then used the gps to come home. Didn't have music playing, turned the phone off and just enjoyed the drive. :)
 
Great episode, I'd like a bit more of mister May but other then that just excellent.

Only really down point I found is the editing of the clips. In this case the Black-Series CLK and the RS6, the shots and camera work themselves are terrific. But why switch angels every 2 seconds? Gives me an headache, as a casing point take the moment when Jeremy overtakes the Range-Rover, 20 switches in less then 10 seconds or so.

I'm I the only one who feels like this?

Also it the CLK really called "The Black" in the UK? Over here it's called the "CLK63 AMG Black Series". "The Black" sounds a lot more menacing.
 
Evo and the Impreza - I watched it on the plasma with the surround sound pumping and god, it was good. Beautiful music, beautiful shots. As for the Evo? I want one.

News - excellent news segment, once again Jez showed a picture that we could not see. "I've been tossed by squirrels" sure, James. Squirrels, now, is it?

TG Stunt Man - it was better than the first time. But I can't help but think that showing so many gratuitous crashes cannot be easy for Richard to watch, especially since they seem to make light of the situation.

Richard's Audi review - gorgeous scenery and the mountainside wasn't half bad either :p I was literally scared for Richard driving along those icy roads. The car didn't impress me.

Cool Wall - Yay! It's back, but...perhaps they need to get into the swing of things again with it, as it wasn't their best cool wall to date. They haven't had it for a year!

Merc Black - from all the hype I've been reading about this car, I expected something astonishing. The black did nothing for me. I was disappointed. Cinematography was, as usual, lovely though.

Great episode - they are back to their roots and this was great to watch although I'm a huge fan of cocking about. The only thing I didn't like was Jeremy had two reviews and James had none. They should have balanced it out, I guess. Hardly saw James at all...
 
alright, I usually don?t post anything in the specific episode discussions, and I really can?t be bothered to read the last ten pages, but I just finished watching and I have to say that I loved it, specifically the segment about the mad Benz...

This car sent goosebumps down my entire body when I saw one used for suspension development in the KW factory last year, and even though I know that seeing and (most of all) hearing it on tv won?t compare to the real thing, I loved this segment to death. Apart from the supercars in france, and the lightweight cars in the alps, this is easily the best TG I?ve seen yet, because Jeremy has managed to pull the audience (or me at least) very close to the sort of experience it must be to drive a car like this. He then topped the amazing cinematography off with my favorite tg quote so far: "You can sit back and endulge yourself in what this shows?s all about: The absolute joy of driving a great car on a great road."

When I still lived in Munich I did this regularly... I would get up at 5 in the morning and just hit the Alps in my Mini... Me, the road, three pedals, a stick, and a steering wheel... the moments I live for...
 
IceBone said:
Evo lost to the equally powerful scoobie, but I'd say, the 0.02 second margin was down to the scoobie being set up in almost completely RWD mode, so it didn't bog down at the start (you can see that in the video too, the evo had to set off much slowly) and that gave it a few tenths of a second head start. I bet that on a flying lap, the Evo would be quicker. All previous reviews point into that direction as well.

Cue Jayhawk rebuttal in 3... 2... 1...
Click to expand...

Oh, I do not have an opinion worth arguing, but I do have this ,to show fans of the Evolution what will happen to their car. I give you...the Eclipse.
https://pic.armedcats.net/j/ja/jayhawk/2008/06/30/AkinaGhost376.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/j/ja/jayhawk/2008/06/30/2001eclipse1.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/j/ja/jayhawk/2008/06/30/2625_0.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/j/ja/jayhawk/2008/06/30/1990-Mitsubishi-Eclipse-pic.jpg

EDIT: pictures are in reverse order. You get the idea.

The EVO X is the beginning of the end of the hard core Evolution. With Mitsubishi setting it's sights on the Audi S4, this car will become less ferocious and more appealing to people looking for a $40k sports saloon. Anyone remember the Galant VR4? How about the GTO/3000GT?

Its a damn shame! I do not like the Evolution, but I can you, I have a lot of respect for it. Until now. What really pisses me off is that Mitsubishi will eventually alienate the very buyers who made the EVO a success.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MWF
I don't know if that'll happen for sure, i hope mitsu has learned from the past. I agree with you on this. But unlike the Eclipse and the 3000GT, the fattening of the Evo is primarily due to safety regulations. I seriously hope this isn't the beginning of the end... :( If it is, i'll just get an evo x in a few years, when it's still considered as the daddy. ;)
 
Loved every bit of this episode. Great leap beyond what they accomplished in the season opener. A show about cars, comparing cars, and talking about cars.

Clarkson's review of the Black Series was his best in ages. He didn't say very much about the technical specifics of the car, but his impression and emotions were so clearly conveyed. The music, the backdrop of the deserted streets--loved it.

Fantastic.
 
I liked it! They reviewed cars! What a strange concept! My only complaint is this new two guest thing they've got going on. It's asinine, and could we please see some guests that may have been heard from outside of the UK?

Suburu/Mitsu review: Great

News: Good

RS6 review: Nice to see Hammond do a power car for a change! And I wish they'd let the guys win one of these races just once. Having him pretend to get lost so he'd lose, come on!

TG Stuntman: Good stunt, not sold on him yet. And does James have to be his emcee every time? Captain slow needs to do road tests!

CLK Black review: Good one! I think Jeremy got the piano solo at the end right. Where's the Stig's lap in it? Or in the RS6 for that matter?

I'd say better than last week overall. Can't wait for next week.

Oh, and for those that complained about the rip being a tad late, piss off. Try being grateful for a site like this existing so you can watch the show at all. Thank you Viper and everyone involved for making it all possible!:mrgreen:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top