The US version of Top Gear....

[C.E. Evans]

If the U.S. version concentrates more on the challenges than anything else, I could see it working. But I seriously doubt they can duplicate the charm and the chemistry of the original hosts. The U.S. hosts will have to create something of their own in that department, IMO...

 

[TheGodBen]

Frankly, I think that Top Gear is overrated shit about a bunch of auto snobs going on and on about expensive high-performance cars that most of us can't afford while blasting more ordinary vehicles (their put down of the Ford Ranger pick-up truck rubbed me the wrong way, as does their denial of global warming.)

No, Top Gear is about three buffoons with fantastic chemistry that do silly things which happen to involve cars. Real auto snobs don't watch Top Gear, it's beneath them.

 

[FordSVT]

Frankly, I think that Top Gear is overrated shit about a bunch of auto snobs going on and on about expensive high-performance cars that most of us can't afford

I believe TG is the most watched television show on the planet if you take downloads into account, about 250 million per episode. A lot of people seem to love it to be classified as "overrated". You obviously haven't watched it, they talk about small A and B class cars like the Citroen C2, Fiat 500, and Ford Focus all the time. They have featured cars like the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Outback (their Cars of the Year a couple back, BTW), as well as people movers. Also, they are not a consumer review show, they are an enthusiast show, and what enthusiast would rather see a episode about boring cars when they could talk about Lamborghinis and Jags? And their best stuff is when they do something like take an old piece of shit car they bought for a grand and make it into a boat to cross the English channel, how is that "snobbish"?

while blasting more ordinary vehicles (their put down of the Ford Ranger pick-up truck rubbed me the wrong way)

I've seen every episode and frequent the website, I'm not sure what comments you're referring to as I've never seen a Ranger on TG. I take it you own one? Rangers are relatively solid and very cheap trucks. They serve a purpose but they're ancient and inferior at this point. People buy them because they are cheap, not because they are best in class.

I don't think that Top Gear UK is a show that could work on Speed anyway-the Americans that watch it would be getting very bitchy about anything said about the Big Three's products.

"their put down of the Ford Ranger pick-up truck rubbed me the wrong way"

Like you?

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Frankly, I think that Top Gear is overrated shit about a bunch of auto snobs going on and on about expensive high-performance cars that most of us can't afford

I believe TG is the most watched television show on the planet if you take downloads into account, about 250 million per episode. A lot of people seem to love it to be classified as "overrated". You obviously haven't watched it, they talk about small A and B class cars like the Citroen C2, Fiat 500, and Ford Focus all the time. They have featured cars like the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Outback (their Cars of the Year a couple back, BTW), as well as people movers. Also, they are not a consumer review show, they are an enthusiast show, and what enthusiast would rather see a episode about boring cars when they could talk about Lamborghinis and Jags? And their best stuff is when they do something like take an old piece of shit car they bought for a grand and make it into a boat to cross the English channel, how is that "snobbish"?

while blasting more ordinary vehicles (their put down of the Ford Ranger pick-up truck rubbed me the wrong way)

I've seen every episode and frequent the website, I'm not sure what comments you're referring to as I've never seen a Ranger on TG. I take it you own one? Rangers are relatively solid and very cheap trucks. They serve a purpose but they're ancient and inferior at this point. People buy them because they are cheap, not because they are best in class.

I don't think that Top Gear UK is a show that could work on Speed anyway-the Americans that watch it would be getting very bitchy about anything said about the Big Three's products.

"their put down of the Ford Ranger pick-up truck rubbed me the wrong way"

Like you?

It rubbed me the wrong way because it rubbed me the wrong way, not because I'm an American (I'm Canadian.) Oh, and yes, I have watched it, and I might watch it again.

They serve a purpose but they're ancient and inferior at this point. People buy them because they are cheap, not because they are best in class.

I guess that the construction companies don't matter then, since they use Ford Ranger F-150's a lot.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I watch the real thing on BBCA, and love it.

Too bad you only get to see about 3/4 of the show, it's edited for American television commercial breaks. The UK version is a full hour.

That I was not aware of.

Still, 3/4 of this program is better than 4/4 of most anything else on TV.

Also the UK version has a lot of different music used in the back ground that they have to take out for copy right reasons when TG is shown on a different channel.

 

[FordSVT]

They serve a purpose but they're ancient and inferior at this point. People buy them because they are cheap, not because they are best in class.

I guess that the construction companies don't matter then, since they use Ford Ranger F-150's a lot.

There is the F-150, and there is the Ford Ranger, they are not the same truck.

And yes, the F-150 Lightning they tested does one thing well: go in a straight line. All of their other criticisms about it were justified. The old F-150 had an interior made with plastic similar to what they make frisbees out of.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Also, Jezza doesn't deny global climate change; he just hates that the so-called "environmentalists" have made cars the scapegoats which, frankly, is a spot-on criticism.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

There is the F-150, and there is the Ford Ranger, they are not the same truck.

Point taken on what to call the truck. As for the other point....

And yes, the F-150 Lightning they tested does one thing well: go in a straight line. All of their other criticisms about it were justified. The old F-150 had an interior made with plastic similar to what they make Frisbees out of.

...Sorry, I still don't agree with the guys on that one; a truck is a truck, and most people/companies who use it really don't care about the points made, as long as it does what it's supposed to do, which is get goods from one place to another for said person/company. Maybe Japanese trucks are better than American ones as far as their put-downs are concerned, but if both probably still do what they're supposed to do, then what the Top Gear guys say means dick.

 

[TheGodBen]

But Top Gear isn't a show for truck enthusiasts, it's a light entertainment show. That's why the review for the F-150 included lines like this:

Most people who go for a walk in the American countryside are eaten by a bear, so they need a car with a gun-rack. But most people who go for a walk in the English countryside aren't eaten by a bear, so they don't.

Sure, they could have done a proper review and pointed out the merits of the truck and how it compares to other similar trucks on the market, but that would have sent most of the audience to sleep. People don't watch Top Gear for impartial advice on which car to buy, people watch Top Gear because it's fun. That's why the reviews sometime include a beach invasion, an attempt to do a loop in a sewer, trying to escape a hunt, and many, many explosions.

Top Gear isn't a show about cars aimed at car enthusiasts, it's a show about car enthusiasts aimed at everyone.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I also think Top Gear is especially funny when they really trashtalk a certain car they are supposed to be reviewing and I don't give a shit whether or not their criticism is fair.

 

[Owain Taggart]

They also throw in many twists. Just when you think Jeremy is in love with a car, he'll talk crap about it. And then there are cars that he loves so much despite the problems like the Ford GT.

 

[FordSVT]

The GT's problems were all related to the security and immobilizer systems the government over there mandates be on cars. It was imported and then they were installed by a 3rd party contractor and supplier that Ford uses. Big mistake going with them, apparently, thought there were never any other reports of people having the same issues in Britain with the others that were imported. It's like Jezza's car were haunted or something.

Funnily enough, because he'd dread living in the USA, if he had owned the car over here he'd likely have never had problems with his car. I think he still has the Lambo Gallardo Spyder that he bought after the GT, that car is amazing as well.

Lucky cock has the best job in the world, amirite?