27/01/2013

bnt

1) Pagani Huayra: who buys those things?
2) Bentley Continental Speed: footballers buy them, apparently.
3) Damian Lewis: like they said: slow but entertaining
4) Jeremy's "Peel P-45": generated some well-deserved swearing, 2 minutes before the "watershed".

IvySlayer

Poor episode.

Shzm

Actually didn't think it was that bad tbh.

youreadthat

Top Gear is great Sunday night entertainment. People who feel the need to grade and over analyse every single episode are boring as f***.

keithsfleet

They're beginning to focus more on cars than entertainment by the looks of it.
Good for them.

Ardennes1944

Damian Lewis you say?! Hon Winters!

Osborne

I thought it was very entertaining which I believe is it's aim. I don't like it when people complain that it isn't about cars the every day Joe Soap buys. It isn't about that anymore and I don't think they claim it to be so.

partyatmygaff

Although not at all related to today's episode... also released today (And even more entertaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZZaAad8N7U

homer simpson

That was a horrible episode, too much acting and fancy camerawork.

youreadthat wrote: »

Top Gear is great Sunday night entertainment. People who feel the need to grade and over analyse every single episode are boring as f***.

There in lays the problem. Top gear isn't supposed to be an entertainment show, it is predominantly a show about cars not entertainment. Sadly I'll take fifth gear over top gear any day of the week now.

The Black Oil

Poor Damian Lewis...

I'd be pretty useless at the pace notes thing, to be honest. Surprised they let them throw the Bentley around the rally stage, but I guess they were confident about its abilities.

Laughed at Jeremy's vacuum cleaner when it went into the library (or rather, some of his comments), the Dragons' Den promo was bollocks and the sort of RTE canteen thing people often knock that particular station for.

bnt

Osborne wrote: »

I thought it was very entertaining which I believe is it's aim. I don't like it when people complain that it isn't about cars the every day Joe Soap buys. It isn't about that anymore and I don't think they claim it to be so.

Is that aimed at me? I know what the show is about, I just thought that Pagani is seriously overpriced for what it is. £800k is not just beyond Joe Soap, it's way off in to footballer / rock star / third world dictator territory.

Osborne

bnt wrote: »

Is that aimed at me? I know what the show is about, I just thought that Pagani is seriously overpriced for what it is. £800k is not just beyond Joe Soap, it's way off in to footballer / rock star / third world dictator territory.

It's not aimed at anyone. It's my opinion.

The original post was just a synopsis of the episode so I shared what I thought of it.

Myrddin

homer simpson wrote: »

Top gear isn't supposed to be an entertainment show, it is predominantly a show about cars not entertainment.

Not really, it hasn't been a car show since the 90's. Top Gear is as much about arsing around & having a laugh as it is about cars in its newer incarnation.

Sadly I'll take fifth gear over top gear any day of the week now.

Personally I'd find an hour spent watching paint drying more entertaining than an episode of Fifth Gear, its really boring.

Tonights TG episode wasn't great, but I've seen much worse. At least it looks like they havn't blown the seasons budget in the first show, which they've tended to do of late

flazio

Point of order, does the UK not have the same 'Cars under 50mph (80km/h here) 500cc rule for motorways as we have?

Myrddin

flazio wrote: »

Point of order, does the UK not have the same 'Cars under 50mph (80km/h here) 500cc rule for motorways as we have?

Isn't it 50cc? The P45 was 100cc

pixelburp

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would tbh; the P45 sketch was heavily scripted of course, but it still made me laugh a few times so can't complain. The Rally-Bentley was fun (and surprising the company were happy with it driven like that), I nearly drifted away at that point as I'm not a fan of test-drives at the best of times, nevermind two in a row.

But hey, it's possibly the most predictable show on television - I mean that in a good way - so tbh if people are still tuning in expecting something other than "3 middle-aged idiots fart about with some sketches on cars for an hour" the problem's with the viewer, not the show

That said, TG has declined in recent years & so a little criticism is valid when past series have been such high quality. And those super-critical of the critics should remember that even the presenters themselves have acknowledged this (eg, admitting the recent Indian Special wasn't their finest hour)

demanufactured

Good first episode

kaimera

the pagani - full manual tho would be nice.

and fair ****s for the Bentley on the Welsh WRC stage. Impressive for a 2ton bus.

Wonder when TSIARPC was shot; track was shockingly bad. The sleet and **** that kicked up coming into hammerhead. lol. Looked like fun!!

The season preview did look very very good.

Did I misread the signs by thinking 2 specials at least? US/South America and Egypt?

SuperGrover

pixelburp wrote: »

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would tbh; the P45 sketch was heavily scripted of course, but it still made me laugh a few times so can't complain. The Rally-Bentley was fun (and surprising the company were happy with it driven like that), I nearly drifted away at that point as I'm not a fan of test-drives at the best of times, nevermind two in a row.

But hey, it's possibly the most predictable show on television - I mean that in a good way - so tbh if people are still tuning in expecting something other than "3 middle-aged idiots fart about with some sketches on cars for an hour" the problem's with the viewer, not the show

That said, TG has declined in recent years & so a little criticism is valid when past series have been such high quality. And those super-critical of the critics should remember that even the presenters themselves have acknowledged this (eg, admitting the recent Indian Special wasn't their finest hour)

Major free publicity. Showing a wide audience that it's not 'just for old folks'. If yer man had crashed it, they would have happily handed over a spare for that shoot, I reckon.

Tzar Chasm

another one in the 'feckin loved it' camp here

just one thing is bugging me though, was the p45 actually smaller than the p50 it seemed to be taller and wider, so maybe it was shorter, but yit was definitely taller

ScumLord

homer simpson wrote: »

There in lays the problem. Top gear isn't supposed to be an entertainment show, it is predominantly a show about cars not entertainment. Sadly I'll take fifth gear over top gear any day of the week now.

Top Gear stopped being a consumer car show a long, long time ago. It is essentially and has been for some time a show about 3 weird guys that have unlimited access to all the best cars and locations every where in the world. That's the show, if you don't like the hamminess of Hammond, if you find Jeremy Clarkson annoying rather than funny and don't think Captain slow is interesting then there's literally nothing for you in Top gear and you might as well not watch it.

bnt wrote: »

I just thought that Pagani is seriously overpriced for what it is. £800k is not just beyond Joe Soap, it's way off in to footballer / rock star / third world dictator territory.

It's not over priced, it's very, very expensive but not over priced. Each part is made from the most expensive materials and hand made or made using the most expensive (but best) techniques. Those titanium screws they mentioned would probably cost in the region of €100 each. The time and low production run makes these things that expensive. It's more of a engineering masterpiece than a car at the end of the day.

Myrddin

bnt wrote: »

I know what the show is about, I just thought that Pagani is seriously overpriced for what it is. £800k is not just beyond Joe Soap, it's way off in to footballer / rock star / third world dictator territory.

Thats the whole point. I'd rather not listen about the boot capacity in litres of the new Opel Insignia etc, there's plenty of sterile information like that out there on the net. I wanna see cars I'll never be lucky enough to own, lighting the tyres off themselves in places I'll never be able to go.

I wanna see Lambourghini's, Ferrari's, Paganis', I wanna see stuff I'll never be able to afford. I wanna be bowled over, for everything else...there's Fifth Gear

BKtje

It's more of a engineering masterpiece than a car at the end of the day.

It's an amazingly beautiful car. Much more so than the Veyron which I would also stick in the engineering masterpiece category. Cheaper too!

bnt

Clarkson's going Viral again:

philstar

was that angry spat in the rally car between may and meeke staged?? or was it genuine?

_Kaiser_

Only caught up now and watching the bit with the P45 now - brilliant stuff!

Have to agree with others here though - Top Gear is an entertainment show featuring cool cars, crazy challenges/adventures and 3 lads having a laugh as they drive around the world.

People whinging about the lack of reviews of the latest Focus, MPG numbers of a Golf vs a Punto, complaining about the scripting etc are looking in the wrong place. It's like complaining that an Arnie film doesn't make you think after watching it!

Great start to the new series.