Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV

[Submerged]

..... Er, whatever he says isn't actually meant to be serious.

Plus, he is pandering to the society of always wanting the newest, brightest, better things.

So it was more of an observation that the car he was driving, wouldn't really have been that impressive in comparison to the best in class, which DID have electronically adjustable side mirrors. Additionally, he did say that instead of spending that amount of money (6,500 quid from what I remember) on a new car that was very basic and very sparse, it would be better to buy a used car that has been looked after (but not the mega expensive ones that Jezza and Hammy brought!) as you would get a higher trim level and a better driving experience.

That was the whole thing of that section of Top Gear. Don't spend the money on the cheapest, newest car. Spend it on a used car that is a few years old to get a better deal!

I am quite surprised you didn't notice that.

 

[Moot]

He was making a joke about how cheap it was that it had manually adjustable mirrors with a lever, not electric. My point is that levers are a fancy bonus thing to have in a car, as they are not essential to basic motoring, as many models of car have proven. The car would be cheaper if it didn't have them.
Yes I did get the point of the overall piece, but I was mentioning this specific error of his in my view.

 

[ExigeEvan]

He was making a joke about how cheap it was that it had manually adjustable mirrors with a lever, not electric. My point is that levers are a fancy bonus thing to have in a car, as they are not essential to basic motoring, as many models of car have proven. The car would be cheaper if it didn't have them.
Yes I did get the point of the overall piece, but I was mentioning this specific error of his in my view.

This is the 21st century, he's presenting a show focussing mostly on contemporary cars (or contemporary re-engineering of older models in recent episodes) so by saying manual mirrors are a budget thing is very true.

I also think you'll find there's EC law saying mirrors, at minimum the drivers side, have to be adjustable from the drivers seat.

 

[Submerged]

Well.... nowadays, it is considered cheap to have manually adjustable levels for the mirrors to most people. If you gave them a car that had mirrors that couldn't be adjusted from the inside, most people wouldn't really particularly want to drive it if they had to share it with people. Or drive it either as they know that nowadays, its relatively simple to get another car that does have electronically adjustable mirrors.

I do understand your point Moot, about it being a cheap car that could become cheaper without the manually adjustable sticks. Would kinda be a kick in the head for the buyer though, spending all that money and not having an option to adjust it when other cars in similar price brackets does....

 

[Moot]

I'm not talking about ancient cars though, the car I was in was a year 2000 Nissan. All right I suppose you can say it was not a 21st century design. But it's a mainstream maker and a mass market car, it was the norm recently (depending what you call recently) for cheap cars to not have internally adjustable with levers mirrors. Luxury I tell you.

But now I think about it, been awhile as my current car has electric. That you don't have to get out of the car to adjust the mirrors, it just requires effort.

There is no requirement in the UK MOT inspection for any mirrors to be adjustable or internally adjustable. Think of the many track type cars with fixed mirror pods and glass in them. If they are aligned properly they do not need adjustment.
If a tester finds a mirror not showing a good view (perhaps because it has been disturbed as it's adjustable) then it must be adjustable from the drivers seat, which is done by winding down the window, with the manual winders, and using your arm as a lever to press on the mirror glass into the desired direction. Only 1 mirror side is required. But I would have thought if 2 are fitted they must be tested. Which leaves an thought that those with internally adjustable with manual levers (such as on the car Clarkson tested) could fail MOT as you can't adjust the passenger side mirrors while still being in the drivers seat....
Before presenting the car for inspection you would have to adjust that mirror to be good angle I suppose or it will fail. But most (nice) garages would do the resetting for free and then give a pass. Or maybe not even bother mentioning they did it.
I know when you have illegal headlights that are out of alignment that gives a MOT fail and they print off a fail sheet. Then they immediately open bonnet and align them and print off a pass sheet, they don't charge for this unless they are unreasonable.

 

[Touring Mars]

Aside from being dull, a couple of things annoyed me about this episode - and speak volumes about how Top Gear has gone downhill for me.

The first, and probably most strange thing I've ever seen on Top Gear, was the fact that they have digitally removed the disabled parking signs from tonight's replay of Sunday's episode. I just saw it on BBC HD now, and having heard about the (admittedly silly) controversy about them using disabled parking spots in the show, I was looking for them... nothing to be seen, except for one or two slightly odd looking 'shadows'... I couldn't help looking on iPlayer to check, and lo and behold, they're back...

The second is the fact that the Nissan Leaf breakdown was faked. Given that the electric car review was the only decent part of the show, it really irks me that they haven't learned their lesson about faking stupid crap like this in order to make their point that they don't like electric cars. Very disappointing...

 

[iScoRcHv]

Given that the electric car review was the only decent part of the show, it really irks me that they haven't learned their lesson about faking stupid crap like this in order to make their point that they don't like electric cars. Very disappointing...

I wouldn't say this was the only decent part of the show, personally I thought the amputee rally team section of the show was very entertaining since it shows that Top Gear work at both ends of the military scale so to speak. Since Top Gear have been slated for overusing military equipment (the apache helicopter, the eurofighter typhoon and the marines amphibious landing to name a few) I thought it was very nice to see them show some soldiers who had fought for our country and suffered life changing injuries and see them bond through motorsport which was a nice and different touch. But hey that's just my opinion

 

[Submerged]

The first, and probably most strange thing I've ever seen on Top Gear, was the fact that they have digitally removed the disabled parking signs from tonight's replay of Sunday's episode. I just saw it on BBC HD now, and having heard about the (admittedly silly) controversy about them using disabled parking spots in the show, I was looking for them... nothing to be seen, except for one or two slightly odd looking 'shadows'... I couldn't help looking on iPlayer to check, and lo and behold, they're back...

I did see them on iPlayer and I was wondering why they were being a bit dumb using the disabled parking bays.

I mean, its painted. On the road. That they see when they drive up to it.

The electric car segment was a bit odd as it didn't quite fit into the rest of the show I felt. Also, they could at least presented more of an option rather than just the two. It seems to be a bit of a limitation with their research that they just go and "choose" those two, but not say what the other options were. It kinda feels like you aren't really been given the full view of the choices available... But then, it is more of an entertainment show than anything else.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Waiting for Lamborghini to complain about the review of the Aventador too... Of course Nissan will complain when they're car is made to look bad (thus reducing sales), but they offer no defense other than to say don't run out of range. They wanted the cars to run out of charge in order to demonstrate that aspect of owning a fully electric car. I have nearly been caught in my car before, driving home from somewhere not knowing the roads and when next station would be available. I would be annoyed to see 40 miles of range left though, and Sat Nav to tell me the next charge point is 60 miles away! And then not to be able to tow the car when it did run out... and then finally have to wait 13 hours to charge the car again (though as a one off it could be given a shorter charge to finish trip home / to destination).

As they say, the battery just isn't good enough yet, Hydrogen is the way forward seemingly at the moment. Thats not to say electric cars can't work though if issues raised by the show are addressed.

As for the handicapped spaces issues, there probably wasn't a reason to use them (probably just because it was the widest space available to shoot that section without other cars in the way) but there were other unused disabled spaces anyway? I'm sure they weren't there for very long at all and would have vacated the spaces if required.

 

[McLaren]

I doubt Lamborghini will say anything. Everything they touched on as being a surprise & positive, was exactly what Lamborghini set out to do. The car is still stupid fast & I have no doubt the power distribution has remained similar to the Murcielago & Diablo VTs making the cars just as touchy for those unfamiliar with them.

The only people who will more than likely catch on to what Hammond was talking about are folks who have already owned several Lamborghinis & those folks are usually more bothered by the lack of a 6-speed manual than the car actually losing the "fear" element of driving one. And if that's the only negative thing you can bring up about a car like this, then Lamborghini must be quite proud.

BTW, did they actually touch on the BMW & Mercedes? Or was that mentioning about the needed service for Clarkson's Merc in the episode directly after the one where both cars were bought, it? I figured they would have done more with the 2 Germans about their reliability.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

I doubt Lamborghini will say anything. Everything they touched on as being a surprise & positive, was exactly what Lamborghini set out to do. The car is still stupid fast & I have no doubt the power distribution has remained similar to the Murcielago & Diablo VTs making the cars just as touchy for those unfamiliar with them.

The only people who will more than likely catch on to what Hammond was talking about are folks who have already owned several Lamborghinis & those folks are usually more bothered by the lack of a 6-speed manual than the car actually losing the "fear" element of driving one. And if that's the only negative thing you can bring up about a car like this, then Lamborghini must be quite proud.

I was attempting sarcasm, Lamborghini won't actually complain of course but you can imagine if every negative review was followed by [car manufacturer] issueing a statement of their car being misintrepeted.... "Following last night's episode of Top Gear, Lamborghini would like to correct the review. It was stated that the car is not wild enough. Here is our own image of the Aventador, in the wild of Africa, having freshly killed a wildebeest. Emma Watson is driving it naked. Wild enough, Hamster boy?"

BTW, did they actually touch on the BMW & Mercedes? Or was that mentioning about the needed service for Clarkson's Merc in the episode directly after the one where both cars were bought, it? I figured they would have done more with the 2 Germans about their reliability.

That was it, Clarkson was made to look a fool whilst Richard's BMW survives.

 

[Submerged]

Well, technically, the whole segment of having a super expensive car as a bargain priced used car was a fool's errand, as when James May questioned Clarkson's on the cost of replacing a simple item, it ran up FAR more than the price of the (used price) car would have indicated....

 

[Akmuq]

I wonder if we will hear about Jeremy's car that Mercedes were supposed to service? He was supposed to service it ad Mercedes came and took it away ad services it. He got it back and the "time till service" indicator said 9 days, so he hid it in an underground car park and he won't tell anyone which one.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

I'd forgotten about that! If it waits until next series though he'll probably have forgotten!

 

[Moot]

I did see them on iPlayer and I was wondering why they were being a bit dumb using the disabled parking bays.

I mean, its painted. On the road. That they see when they drive up to it.

They were not being dumb, the disabled bays were the best place to film the cars. They had permission from the car park owners to park in the bays, they also did not use all the bays, and even if they did become needed, the production staff were constantly in attendance of the cars and would have moved them the instant they were needed.
Makes peoples complaints look a little foolish and presumptuous.

I'm annoyed that BBC money was used to digitally hide the logos for the benefit of people who don't have common sense.

If I was Clarkson the next show I would feature another car review, with the car parked in a bay with the broken remains of a wheelchair resting under the car.

 

[Machate-man]

Who'd like to see a TGUK vs TGUS?

Think Series 16, Episode 2

 

[AOS-]

I just saw Hammond driving around in a good town car also known as the Marauder.... left me in stitches.

 

[noisiaturismo]

Watched 2 specials yesterday, Bolivia and Vietnam. I like Vietnam better. Jeremy Clarkson about the animal noises and him failing riding his Vespa for his license were awesome.

Jeremy Clarkson, failed.

 

[jeffgoddin]

been watching a lot of TG lately and keep thinking, dang, that's good background music, and many times I know who it is and it's one of my favorite artists. so did a search and found a very thorough listing of songs you'll hear in Top Gear, enjoy!

 

[Wiegert]

so did a search and found a very thorough listing of songs you'll hear in Top Gear, enjoy!

Yes! I found that site a couple of years ago after searching for Top Gear BGM, and since then I've discovered so many great songs and various new artists because of it. If anyone wonders about a certain song they've heard on TG, then this site will almost certainly have the answer 👍

 

[thesrdic]

(Sorry if the live arena show has a different thread, I couldn't find one)
Just got back from Top Gear Live 2011, my fifth straight year Such a great day out as always, great show, great exhibitions and a great live track performance as well! Got to ride removed down a dual carriageway in a Ferarri P4! And got a ride in a Jag Mk II as well - for charity!, big up to the Sporting Bears!

 

[jus1029]

Check this spoof of Top Gear's Eco Challenge!

 

[Crispy]

When is this coming back?

 

[Wiegert]

When is this coming back?

It will return with a special episode on Christmas Day in the UK. I already know where the guys head off to and what vehicles they will be using on their journey (I won't spoil it for others who don't know yet though).


My guess is that series 18 will start some time around Mid to Late January like series 16 did earlier this year.

 

[jeffgoddin]

Don't know if this has already been covered in this thread, but has anybody else noticed that the studio audience seems to be deliberately set up so that in close camera shots of one of the presenters or guests there just happens to be a beautiful woman just to one side, fully on screen, and well lit? Happens so often, multiple times per episode, that I just cannot believe it to be coincidence...

 

[astrosdude91]

Don't know if this has already been covered in this thread, but has anybody else noticed that the studio audience seems to be deliberately set up so that in close camera shots of one of the presenters or guests there just happens to be a beautiful woman just to one side, fully on screen, and well lit? Happens so often, multiple times per episode, that I just cannot believe it to be coincidence...

I've heard someone mention that. I've always noticed that.

 

[Submerged]

It is set up like that.

 

[Dan360]

The Christmas Special will be aired on the 28th of December, not on Christmas Day.

Source:

http://transmission.blogs.topgear.c...india-special-wednesday-28-december-8pm-bbc2/

 

[Tom]

The Christmas Special is in India by the way. 👍

 

[Pezzarinho17]

(Sorry if the live arena show has a different thread, I couldn't find one)
Just got back from Top Gear Live 2011, my fifth straight year Such a great day out as always, great show, great exhibitions and a great live track performance as well! Got to ride removed down a dual carriageway in a Ferarri P4! And got a ride in a Jag Mk II as well - for charity!, big up to the Sporting Bears!

I was at the show in London, a little bit disappointed with the Exhibition side of it.... The arena show and track session were incredible though!

Problem was that I booked arena show at 12:00, but was given a track session time of 5:00pm. After the show it left us with over 3 hours to kill within the exhibition, and there just wasn't that much to look at / do. There were about 4 different Forza Motorsport 4 stands, all with different driving offerings but not one of them had a steering wheel and pedals! Some overpriced F1 simulators (I did drive one as we really needed to kill some time!) and lots of cars to look around. the exhibition really needs a shake up next year...