The "Top Gear", Season 24/25/26 thread

[Semple]

It really hasn't. I don't think any of us are expecting it to go back to the "old" top gear or even fifth gear style of drab reviews, but it hasn't been like this for 10 years at all. It's got massively more childish since these three took over, and whilst I had hoped it would improve as time went on, if anything it's going the other way.

The jokes are fine, and I could even cope with the wetting himself gag. But as others have said, the BMW, vs Tesla, Vs Volvo might as well have been a bunch of 20 year old £1000 saloons and you wouldn't have been able to tell the differnce. Keep the silly karoke, keep the wee wee jokes, and remove the stupid ripped pants climbing from car to car scense and give us a bit more about the cars! It could easily go back to a middle ground giving us just a bit more information about the cars thmeselves and keeping the gags without having to be as over the top childish as it is now.

The show got a bit too boring when it's all focused on the cars. If you want to know more about the cars then read the manufacturers marketing materials.

The whole point of top gear, even back to the day's of Clarkson/May/Hammond, is to add a bit of immaturity to make it entertaining. Let's face it, you're never going to do any of the three of them did with the "company cars" in the 24 hours. And if they did a normal review on each car, lots of people will say it's boring.

Edit: Yes they could have just used three very old/cheap saloons, but I'm fairly sure they've done plenty of stuff before with low priced/budget cars.

 

[Semple]

I don't expect a review. I just expect the car, in some form or another, to factor into the program. 45 minutes of the program was dedicated to the BMW, Tesla and Volvo and what did we get from that? Or to put it another way, swap those for a 2005 Mondeo, Vectra and Passat and what would the difference have been? Nothing, because the cars were just something to clamber over and **** in.

I know they are only press demo cars but the wanton damage reminds me of when I used to work with kids who got kicked out of school. Stamping all over them, whacking the doors into each other while playing 'hot lava' with the floor , coating the inside with coke and bodily fluids, driving it like an ape and smashing the side off it. Even the hot laps which might have given us the slightest insight into something car related were ruined by tooling around.

The script having Harris as the bullied nerd because he's into cars seems an odd direction to take... in a car show

Its only a TV show so I don't really care, my biggest annoyance was that it was this or Long Way Up with my hour of TV time and I definitely picked the wrong one!

I'm really not sure why you bother watching it then. The show has had the same format for decades regardless of which presenters are currently in.

This time they've got a trio that actually bond quite well. I think the statement about bullying Harris is a bit extreme. All three of them give it as much as they get it.

 

[lordrobs]

I'm really not sure why you bother watching it then. The show has had the same format for decades regardless of which presenters are currently in.

This time they've got a trio that actually bond quite well. I think the statement about bullying Harris is a bit extreme. All three of them give it as much as they get it.

These [the car feature specials] and the challenges are why I'll carry on watching. Not to LOL at Freddy Flintoff rubbing his urine soaked crotch against a wincing Harris.

I'm not saying Harris is being bullied, I'm saying that he's playing the bullied character (an oh so original idea spun off from Hammond always being the target of Clarkson) but it has been ramped up to "frat boys in their forties" level which just doesn't work for me. You can't please everyone when you make a TV show and I don't particularly like the "humour" as it is now. I'm allowed my opinion and I don't think its out of place to voice it in a discussion thread about the program

 

[Shadowness]

Pretty sure the internet rule is say positive things about TG or shut up basically.

 

[NVP]

 

[booyaka]

Watched last night - it's an entertainment show these days which is fine, with some cars thrown in but first episode was pathetically poor and immature behavior.

It was proper cringeworthy stuff at times...

I don't mind the nonsense to an extent but that was a shockingly poor hour of TV - very disappointing.

 

[NVP]

I'm not sure I've sat through a "shockingly poor hour of TV" before


Oh people love their drama, hey?

 

[Basher]

I'm not sure I've sat through a "shockingly poor hour of TV" before


Oh people love their drama, hey?

Yeah, surely if you're that upset about in 10 mins in, you'd turn it off, right? Or maybe stick it out for the entire hour then complain to the Internet, whatever works.

I don't enjoy their humour and don't enjoy the show so what I did, is ... not watch it (mental, I know.)

 

[IC3]

Since there's still a few days left till the next episode is out...

I wish they gave him his own show...

 

[Basher]

Since there's still a few days left till the next episode is out...

I wish they gave him his own show...

Great video. What do you mean by his own show? What’s wrong with the YouTube channel?

 

[IC3]

Great video. What do you mean by his own show? What’s wrong with the YouTube channel?

TV Show would mean more budget and possibilities, even if Amazon or the likes would do something with him it would be interesting.

But as much appealing, as Chris' videos are to petrolheads, non-petrolheads will struggle to understand most of the terms he uses in his videos. Seeing what direction TG is going, I'm guessing the majority who watch the show have no great interest in cars, it's just another entertainment show to them.

His actual channel hasn't had a new video since 2017, I believe around the time when he signed up with TG?

 

[DanTheMan]

I enjoyed it and prefer it as an entertainment show rather than focusing purely on car reviews.

There's enough car content on YouTube that I don't look to Top Gear for my car information.

 

[melchy]

Was that Edd China's electric Ice Cream van in the season preview in the opening episode?

 

[IC3]

I enjoyed it and prefer it as an entertainment show rather than focusing purely on car reviews.

There's enough car content on YouTube that I don't look to Top Gear for my car information.

No one is saying that it should just be car reviews, there's more possibilities for a show whilst keeping it informative to an extent.

Some ideas... Reviewing bikes, doing mods to cars like the M240i and than comparing it to an M2, like he did with the remapped S4 Vs RS4. Reviewing cars that never made it to the UK, showing automotive cultures around the globe. Doing bits on automotive history. There's loads of ideas that would keep it entertaining and would seem more interesting to enthusiasts, unless you enjoy pointless race where lube is sprayed in the presenters face. I believe there's already loads of content like that on the internet, if that's your thing.

The issue with most reviews on YouTube is how true they're, next thing is the low budget which is reflected in the quality of the content. Don't get me wrong, I still watch car related content on YouTube, but...

 

[Basher]

No one is saying that it should just be car reviews, there's more possibilities for a show whilst keeping it informative to an extent.

Some ideas... Reviewing bikes, doing mods to cars like the M240i and than comparing it to an M2, like he did with the remapped S4 Vs RS4. Reviewing cars that never made it to the UK, showing automotive cultures around the globe. Doing bits on automotive history. There's loads of ideas that would keep it entertaining and would seem more interesting to enthusiasts, unless you enjoy pointless race where lube is sprayed in the presenters face. I believe there's already loads of content like that on the internet, if that's your thing.

The issue with most reviews on YouTube is how true they're, next thing is the low budget which is reflected in the quality of the content. Don't get me wrong, I still watch car related content on YouTube, but...

The target market for TG is not car enthusiasts, though. That market is far too small.

 

[IC3]

The target market for TG is not car enthusiasts, though. That market is far too small.

I've mentioned this in my 2nd post, which was a response to your comment.

 

[Basher]

I've mentioned this in my 2nd post, which was a response to your comment.

Ah yeah, didn’t spot it was you on both parts. Cheer up

 

[BinnsY]

Didn't Clarkson and co write 'I am gay' or something along those lines, on each others car while driving through the deep south of America? I think perhaps we need to agree to disagree and move on?

**EDIT** You know what, I will concede though, it would have been nice to have a little more information on the cars. I still stand by the format and silliness, but give us 20 seconds or so about the car, how much they are, were the Volvo and BMW hybird? They didn't charge, just fill up with petrol, but surely the Volvo needs to elec power to get to 400bhp, or whatever it was?

They did, but that episode also had some really good bits focusing on the travelling, the challenge of buying the cars, keeping them going, and all the various other bits. The hillary for president style messages on the side of the car were indeed childish, but I felt like it was a "part" of a bigger story / idea if that makes sense? On this one it felt like the childish humour was all it had and thats where I think they differ unfortuntely. There's also the issue that they specifically badged it as a review of commuter cars, which is simply not what it was. If it's going to be a childish messing around session in a special or similiar than thats fair enough, but picking 3 cars that genuinely could be compared to each other seems a waste.

The show got a bit too boring when it's all focused on the cars. If you want to know more about the cars then read the manufacturers marketing materials.

The whole point of top gear, even back to the day's of Clarkson/May/Hammond, is to add a bit of immaturity to make it entertaining. Let's face it, you're never going to do any of the three of them did with the "company cars" in the 24 hours. And if they did a normal review on each car, lots of people will say it's boring.

Edit: Yes they could have just used three very old/cheap saloons, but I'm fairly sure they've done plenty of stuff before with low priced/budget cars.

Again, this post hits the nail on the head. Its needs to add a "bit" of immaturity. Not the whole segment being essentially nothing but.

My statement isn't meant to be black and white. There is an area somewhere between the "oh this one has 550 liters of boot space, and this one only has 549" and the "******* through a funnel and climbing through a window". It doesn't need to be one or the other.

Conversely I loved the ferrari segment, and I enjoyed some of the last season as well. I just think that segments like that spoil what could be a good format by simply going too far.

 

[NVP]

That Mustang Mach-E man!

 

[IC3]