Top Gear/Grand Tour

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Any fans of the old Top Gear or the Grand Tour now? Basically the Clarkson, Hammond, May shows?

I’ll admit it. I am and have been for a long time. Now I have a 16 year old son who loves all their old shows so I’ve been seeing them again.

Apparently there is a new special hitting Amazon before the end of the year. Just one episode, probably because the footage is bare since you can’t travel all around the world and drive vehicles as easily on the world of COVID.
 
The original was.so much better.

Fav was the big food testing a 3 wheeled POS that turned over on every corner.
 
The original was.so much better.

Fav was the big food testing a 3 wheeled POS that turned over on every corner.
The original was indeed so much better. Though I am glad they got rid of the celebrity guest driver thing....the attempts they made to replace it/make fun of it were horrible.

Getting rid of the studio part was a very smart idea to me. Whenever I’ve gone back to Top Gear episodes I’ve always looked for the ones where they are traveling through a place and there is no studio component.

I was hoping to see another year or two of good travel episodes before they really lose the magic, but COVID might put that out the pasture.
 
The original was indeed so much better. Though I am glad they got rid of the celebrity guest driver thing....the attempts they made to replace it/make fun of it were horrible.

Getting rid of the studio part was a very smart idea to me. Whenever I’ve gone back to Top Gear episodes I’ve always looked for the ones where they are traveling through a place and there is no studio component.

I was hoping to see another year or two of good travel episodes before they really lose the magic, but COVID might put that out the pasture.
Yeah, I think everyone standing around the studio was mostly just to kill time and save a few bucks. The celebrities thing was gay - but Brits are into that kind of thing. The pandering to UK vehicles was understandable but also pathetic because they mostly suck.

The US version was kinda' ruined by the little guy who was always arrogant about being a pro driver. As if drifting is some kind of road to riches.
 
Yeah, I think everyone standing around the studio was mostly just to kill time and save a few bucks. The celebrities thing was gay - but Brits are into that kind of thing. The pandering to UK vehicles was understandable but also pathetic because they mostly suck.

The US version was kinda' ruined by the little guy who was always arrogant about being a pro driver. As if drifting is some kind of road to riches.
Yeah....the US version just proved what the UK version has been proving for a few years....if your trio doesn’t have the right chemistry it’s going to be hard to keep viewers.

Some of the challenges and cars in the US version were really great. But the three of them sucked together. And, yeah, the little arrogant guy was bullshit.
 
So I decided I’ll check out the new Top Gear America on Motor Trend. I’ve watched four episodes, and I’ll say it’s better than the first Top Gear America. Slightly better.

At the end of the day it’s traveling around and testing out amazing cars. And they do that well here. Dax Shepard....I kind of like him on this. Dude can drive. Rob Courdry is good for the humor guy. And I don’t hate the Brit car writer they have for the third role.

If I measure it against the original three in the UK (because that’s what we do) you can see this group is missing the camaraderie and ass busting Clarkson, Hammond and May have always had in spades. But, that is kind of unfair.

It’s been an OK show....I don’t really have much hope that the three of them will gel better as the shows go on.

But, it’s good on the basic formula of such a car show.
 
I’m a truck guy, so the UK version didn’t do much for me, I just don’t give a shit about economy cars and super cars.

The US version had a couple episodes that I liked, the one where they were taking the old beater trucks to the top of Alaska and the one where they were testing out the diesel trucks
 
I’m a truck guy, so the UK version didn’t do much for me, I just don’t give a shit about economy cars and super cars.

The US version had a couple episodes that I liked, the one where they were taking the old beater trucks to the top of Alaska and the one where they were testing out the diesel trucks
Those were clever episodes. The interaction between the three guys, not as much.

The new one.....no trucks yet (well, except for one that gets creamed in the first episode) but they did do SUVs on one. Granted, they were a Cayenne, Bentley and Lambo SUV (yes, Lambo SUV).

So you might not care much for this version.
 
I like the new Grand Tour better because it is only the "specials" that made the UK top gear so great. I hated the celeb in a moderate car, the Stig doing laps in cars, celebrities I've never heard of on this side of the pond, etc. I like their news segments and when they were out doing specials across countries. Some of their middle show bits about trying to make their own mods were great too.

I just wanted to see them being idiots, even if it were all scripted. I think the newest version of the US one would be great since I like 2 of the 3 on the show. But they have made it streaming only, so screw that. Dropped my subscription when I had to watch it on my phone, couldn't stream it through Prime without another subscription.
 
I’m a truck guy, so the UK version didn’t do much for me, I just don’t give a shit about economy cars and super cars.

The US version had a couple episodes that I liked, the one where they were taking the old beater trucks to the top of Alaska and the one where they were testing out the diesel trucks
Then you need to watch the UK special on the North Pole. Jeremy and James load up special built Hilux's for a North Pole trip. I LOVE when they do the Hilux episodes.
 
Then you need to watch the UK special on the North Pole. Jeremy and James load up special built Hilux's for a North Pole trip. I LOVE when they do the Hilux episodes.
I liked that. But I liked it better when they took the same Hilux type later to Iceland and drove up to the crater of a volcano. They had to set up a system to pour water over the tires to keep them from melting.
 
I like the new Grand Tour better because it is only the "specials" that made the UK top gear so great. I hated the celeb in a moderate car, the Stig doing laps in cars, celebrities I've never heard of on this side of the pond, etc. I like their news segments and when they were out doing specials across countries. Some of their middle show bits about trying to make their own mods were great too.

I just wanted to see them being idiots, even if it were all scripted. I think the newest version of the US one would be great since I like 2 of the 3 on the show. But they have made it streaming only, so screw that. Dropped my subscription when I had to watch it on my phone, couldn't stream it through Prime without another subscription.
You’re not missing much on the new American TG. It’s ok, and I like the same two guys (don’t know who the Brit guy is) but it’s nothing to write home about.

You are spot on about the new Grand Tour. I remember loving that they were on Amazon and still going. But, some of the same shit that I never liked much about TG they were doing here, even if they were mocking it.

The only good studio part ever was the news. And losing that is a small price to pay to lose the rest of the crap. The travel specials were ALWAYS the best. And I will rewatch those here and there. Not the studio shows.

Now we just need them to get vaxed so they can make more. Apparently there is one coming where they are traveling in Scotland in the next few months.
 
I generally scan through all the travel shit.

Go directly to nice cars and track tests.
 
Watched the (finally) new episode last night….Lochdown. It was standard fare these days….clever idea, great banter, but just old and super clearly staged in a lot of ways.

The banter is surely the best I’ve seen since they stopped doing the tent show format, a big improvement over the past ones on boats in SE Asia and the Madagascar treasure hunt.

They took clearly malaise era (post oil crisis) cars…a Continental Mark V (late 70s) a Riviera boat tail (only made 71-73) and a Coupe de Ville that I peg as mid 70s. The “premise” was to figure out why these cars never took off in Europe. It’s not a premise seeking a serious answer, but rife for humor, and they find it. They are gorgeous V-8 land yachts with engines that are choked out.

Typical staged happenings and banter ensues. Still, the banter and humor is better than it’s been. They also do a grass track “test” of three of the worst cars from USSR and USA (a Chrysler Voyager, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Pontiac Aztec) where the premise is that the first car out is the winner as “the worst car ever made” (the Aztec “won”).

Real bright car spot….the each drove favorite muscle cars (67 GT 500, 69 Camaro Z-28, 68 Charger R/T). That was beautiful.

Last trick was to reach their destination they had to build a pontoon style bridge across a rather long stretch. This was like past bridges they had to build where it was clear the three of them did not build it all by themselves, but it still has an interesting moment.

As with most of the efforts these days it ends with a whimper. But, it’s still worth the watch if you’ve still been sticking with these guys. They do shit on American cars (of course….but not super unwarranted IMO) but they also do speak positive towards positive aspects of past American cars.
 
I'll get back to it eventually.

Too much on the go right now.
 
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