Ok, I just got done watching the show and this is tough because I was so taken with the last segment, it made me proud to be British, and I'm not even British! But, I shall try to gather myself and give the show and the series a fair critique.
Range Rover Sport: It was hypocritical. As much as they have gone on about how it's a footballer's car, and the whole first part of the segment was dedicated to reinforcing that, what would make anyone think that that aspect of the car would change just because it's a new model? It's still going to be bought entirely by footballers. Honestly, I have never seen a Range Rover Sport on the roads in the U.S., but I have seen plenty of the standard one. It's amazing what it can do off-road, the features were impressive and nice to hear about, but driving it around a racetrack? Who cares? It's less likely a buyer will do that then take it off road.
News: You know what? I'm glad I live in a country that doesn't have these traffic "wombles" they keep going on about. If they're as bad as they make out to be, I pity you Brits. And there was a bit too much hero worship of Eric Pickles just because he agrees with Jeremy. Either that, or Jeremy just wanted to make fun of a fat person.
NBFL: Honestly, I didn't care. BUT, I don't live near a lot of cities with buses. I must remind myself that this is a British car show and that people in Britain may be interested in them. And it went along with the whole British Built theme of the show (in case no one else noticed that was the theme for the whole show). I thought it was a waste of a segment, but again, I'm not British. What did British viewers think of it? I'm sure they tell us.
SIARPC: I have a feeling Mark Webber would have been a more exciting guest if Jeremy had been more interested in interviewing him instead of rubbing in how great the Brits were (reinforcing the show's theme?). And as someone who doesn't follow Formula 1, I didn't understand who Mark's teammate was until the end when they started talking about Seb. I also noticed how Jeremy pointed out that Mark is Australian "but he chooses to live in Britain." (More show theme, no doubt.)
F-Type: Best looking car ever? No. I think Jeremy was closer with the Eagle Speedster, not that I think that's correct either. It looks like fun, sounded like a straight 6. I was hoping for a straight 6. Jeremy is right that it is too expensive for what it is, and he has said that before so at least he's consistent on that.
British Built segment: That was just very cool. As I said, if I were British, I'd be proud of that turnout. I did not know that IndyCar ECUs were British, I would have put my money on them being German. I'd love to see the Top Gear US guys do that at some point, but I don't think there's a spot big enough where they could film all the stuff that we make and be able to make anything out.
I gave it an 8/10 with much bias going toward the last segment. Not as good as last week, but nowhere near as bad as the first 4 episodes. If Mr. Andy Wilman does happen to read this or anyone from the TG production staff, can I just say:
James once stated on the show regarding Ferrari, "If you've only got 50 employes and all of them are dedicated to making sure a windscreen wiper on a road car works properly, you haven't got enough left to win the F1 World Championship." The same thing has happened to Top Gear. James and Richard especially have so many other side projects going on all the time that they clearly don't have a lot of time to dedicate to making Top Gear anymore and so we are treated to things like James watching a TV strapped to his chest of two people racing through an abandoned building or Richard doing yet another crash and bash race with touring car drivers. In other words, things that can be filmed in less than half a day. But I don't fault the producers, I fault the presenters for taking on too much. If you want to make Top Gear, commit to making Top Gear. If you half ass the next series and don't give it the attention it deserves (like you did with this series), it will cast a black mark on the show that it will never recover from. And if you can't commit to doing Top Gear the way it deserves to be done, wrap it up. I would much rather keep the memories of all the great shows than suffer through another series as bad as this one was.