Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV 

  • Thread starter ExigeEvan
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Trust me. Its the most hardcore and ridiculous of all countries...

... dont look at me.
Not the reply I was looking for but thanks....

I have quite good hopes that this episode is a good one, will watch it on iPlayer after the France match.
 
I don't see much strange about Sabine...


TopGear.com to host future Chris Harris/Neil Carey videos.

- - - - -

Reid and Harris will now feature every Sunday.



I'm glad Chris is still able to do online videos. This latest online series will be a very good opportunity for him to throw back from his time with Youtube.

Even better that Rory and Chris will be featured more in the main show. Basically what I asked for when the new season started.
 
Vulcan segment is quite good. Europe tour segment is underwhelming but funny at times. Model X segment is amazing (thanks Rory Reid). And SIARCC segment was bad and forced in.
 
The more I watch it the more I get used to the new hosts. Even Evans doesn't seem too annoying anymore. Loving Matt's deadpan humour as always. Sabine's studio segments can seem a bit forced, but she's a racing driver first and foremost so it's really to be expected. Harris & Reid spot on as always with their reviews.

I was expecting the Vulcan to be much faster though. All that power, downforce and slicks and it got beaten by the 675LT? The conditions didn't look that wet but it could've compromised the slicks a little.
 
Definitely getting better episode by episode. That was the most entertaining and less awkward so far.

My constructive criticism would be that I'm not enjoying the SIARCC as much as SIARPC. Having two 'stars' isn't as entertaining as it might sound and just makes the whole segment too long. The Mini as the rallycross car is too competent to be funny. It's a crap car on circuit - that's what was funny, just as the Liana/Cee'd etc were.
 
I was expecting Brian Cox the actor (Played Hannibal Lector in Manhunt) - So nice to see the former pop star on the show.
Eddie Jordan... meh.
Ron Dennis would be Hilarious as a guest.
Sabine - cute as a button but I expected a bit of comedy needle between Germany and England over which car was better - The "Chips" music for Matt le Estrada was perfect. Would have preferred a track battle of some sort rather than the TV chef nonsense.

Aston Vulcan... just the job! I don't mind it is painted high altitude white .... though I'd like it in Dark Green.

Bear Grylls - lucky he didn't gut the car and drink the radiator fluid for survival purposes.
 
Europe Tour thing was a little eh, Vulcan film was really good and I'm liking Chris Harris a lot having never watched him before, Model X film was also good but I don't think too much of the car and the SIARCC was decent

Viewership down slightly to 2.34 mill from 2.4 last week, it was up against two live Football games last night.

Best part for me last night, 'Some say he thinks that Brexit is a Laxative'. :lol::lol::lol:
 
Just watched episode 4. Europe challenge started nicely, but ended up quite boring. Chris Harris doing what he likes and excelling at that, as always and he is getting confortable with studio work. Tesla segment was very good, Rory is an excellent reviewer. Eddie is quite funny and quirky and I'm liking him. Chris Evans isn't as shouty and I don't mind him anymore. Sometimes I can't understand a word that Sabine says (she's not german, but still) and she's a bit forced. Matt has a nice monochordic sense of humor. When there's something funny it involves Matt.
 
Chris Evans is calming down at last and relaxing slowly in to this role (laughing in car cooking :sly:etc) not copying Clarksons mannerisms too much now but still needs a few driving lessons and not shouting across the studio..I do like his sense of humour though.

Matt- Great dry sense of humour- "freezing my cubes off here" needs to liven up a touch and not look too bored or nervous :D

Chris Harris- I used to love all his reviews for autocar and his Chris harris on cars channel and I think he could easily run most part of the show just with his car reviews and track sessions and love of cars. Very laid back and excellent speaking tone on camera, clear and very clever guy- Great 👍

Rory-Enjoyed both of his reviews of the RS (great car and I can see why chose it and explained well about the awd system) and this weeks Drag 0-60 in 3secs in electric car vs SRT supercharged - "Hellcat who?":bowdown:

Sabine and Eddie- not sure if there are too many presenters now and if they fit in with the format.??:indiff:

Stars in a car- 2 people don't work and need to use a classic car or something funny and shorten the time.:ouch:

Stig- (Is the joke getting thin?):boggled:

Overall I am slowly warming to the show and as others have said..Is Top Gear improving each time:cool:?

Who is going to watch Clarkson & co on Amazon?:ill:
 
...The episode 4 was a remarkable improvement from the third one. With the exception of "the race to Venice!!" segment, I enjoyed the show a lot. And one of my main gripes, too-quick jump cuts have eased with slight relaxing of the overall running time. THANK YOU, You were listening. 👍👍👍

Quite frankly, get Harris to front the show, from the beginning til the end - he's the best thing that's happened so far for the new new Top Gear. His clip with Aston Vulcan was one heck of a fun segment, a proper highlight of the show.

The novelty of having two guests in SIARCC is now wearing off. Get back to having a single guest, I say, and focus on asking more imteresting questions instead of playing "WHO'S GOT A BETTER CAR" top trumps knockoff.

As for Extra Gear, I wish it was slightly longer as well - clocking at just over 23 minutes, I feel the show could do with couple more minutes added to the running time and give the presenters a little more breathing room to land a few more humorous lines.

I gotta say, when Rory or Harris is on, I don't miss the old trio one bit. When Sabine or Evans is on, however....:indiff:

At least Evans has toned down his kindergarten teacher shouting antics just a bit, which is a plus.
 
Great episode. Harris' segment was exactly that of what I would expect on his YouTube channel. It is funny though that a British brand built such an amazing car and it can't actually be used anywhere in Britain. Props for still putting it through a lap; I can't recall if the Trio were allowed that with the Zonda R. Also, it did sound like the car was so loud, that the audio at Dubai sounded a bit distorted as the car would go by; perhaps the echo. At the track, it sounded perfectly clear as did Evans' commentary; didn't sound like he was in the studio.

The Venice trip was a nice little retro rendition of the old Car vs Transport challenges, except they allowed 3 presenters different cars to go against the train. On this segment, got to see more of Eddie & Sabine's presenting chops.

Rory is fantastic. I love his presenting style & his overall joy he brings. The only thing that bugged me about his segment was all the camera cuts, even when he was mid-sentence.

SIARPC is still the weakest bit, but I think they had 2 solid guests that were laid back and themselves.

Evans is definitely getting better, and much more enjoyable to watch. I still wish there was some of the competitive spirit, but I keep remembering I'm not watching the Trio so this isn't something I should keep expecting.
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I heard the Vulcans going around Yas when I was at a cafe right next to the track, but figured it was just their Formula car that you can pay to drive. Had I known it was the Vulcans I would have definitely tried to watch.

Also, it did sound like the car was so loud, that the audio at Dubai sounded a bit distorted as the car would go by; perhaps the echo. At the track, it sounded perfectly clear as did Evans' commentary; didn't sound like he was in the studio.

The car was VERY echo-y. You could hear it for miles.
 
TG4 : Like the episode, Vulcan was fun but it's pointless imo. A car you can't drive never appealed to me. Exactly like the 599x or the zonda R. Good game car, bad real life car. Is it a GT VIsion car tho ? It does look like one. Been several month since I last logged on my gt6.

Road trip was a bit better than the south african one but still not on par with the 3 idiots ones imo.

Liking Leblanc more and more, he's really fitting Top Gear more than I was expecting.

Chris Harris is definitely the guy to do review as he's easier to understand than Sabine, even if I would like to see some racing between both of them to test the car like they do in the US version.

Rallycross car, I can't be bothered with that segment. It's annoying and badly made, fast forwarding it.

Didnt had time to properly watch EG yet, did it in fast forward and wasnt that impress. Didnt really fancy the Aston as it's a stupid concept for me to tune up a Aston and put that yellow on. Far too show off for me, which is the opposite of what an Aston should look imo, it's fine on a DS3, not so much on an Aston. But that's just my opinion.

Enjoyed the driving around Monaco with Eddie. And that's all I could get.
 
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Loved the episode (apart from SIARCC, I think that should go back to the old format), but I don't like Eddie. Evans is growing on me but Eddie just seems full of himself.
 
Loved the episode (apart from SIARCC, I think that should go back to the old format), but I don't like Eddie. Evans is growing on me but Eddie just seems full of himself.

Man I love Eddie, probably because I already loved him on F1 when he was a team director. Always loved his team because they were quick and he could always bring new talent to F1. I can understand you dont like him tho.

Evans I still struggle with him a bit less than before but he's just too special for me I guess.
 
Yeah I like new Top Gear so far,Rory Reid looks like a seasoned youtube reviewer;(which is nice)I find that Matt Le Blanc doesn't really fit in.His laid back attitude makes him look as though he dislikes cars.Eddie Jordan is a wally!
I don't really care for Chris Harris.(even though he's the youtuber!)Sabine seems ok,if a little disengaging at times but understandable and Chris(Evans) carries the show fine for me.
 
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Forgot to add, I'm getting tired of The Stig's "some say" jokes. It worked with the old cast, but with the new one it's just so forced. Drop it and cut to the chase. Better still, get Chris or Sabine to drive the cars and provide commentary during the lap.

Despite the episodes getting better, viewer ratings are steadily declining it seems. From 6.42, 4.06, 3.44 and this week 2.34 :crazy: Unless things get better soon will we even see a second season?

TG4 : Like the episode, Vulcan was fun but it's pointless imo. A car you can't drive never appealed to me. Exactly like the 599x or the zonda R. Good game car, bad real life car. Is it a GT VIsion car tho ? It does look like one. Been several month since I last logged on my gt6.

Not Vision GT, but definitely inspired by it. The LED taillights and the paint scheme for example are inspired by the DP-100 VGT.
 
They are still not criticising the cars and doing too much brochure reading IMO. Much of the viewership will be people who already know or don't care about the cars specs and are tuning in for the mocking and the joking around.

I was looking forward to the Tesla Model X segment and it was a big let down, it was as if a Tesla dealership had taken you for a test drive. Also he was wrong, the future is Hydrogen and not Electric. He totally contradicted May's segment a few years ago with the Honda FCX Clarity which shows how much they really know about cars.

Clarkson would have said the doors are stupid and are just something waiting to break, the front looks like Rio Ferdinand's face and the car is actually running on clubbed seals because that's what they are chucking into the furnace at the power station to charge your 'green' car :lol:
 
That's a big claim.

For the foreseeable future it really isn't. Power stations are a long way off running on 100% renewable energy. The battery manufacture and disposal process is still environmentally damaging, the range is still relatively poor and most crucially you can't fill it up in 2 minutes. Hydrogen has none of these issues... it's only lagging behind because electric is the easier option right now and more money has gone into it's development to bring prices down.



Elon took it like a champ, other car companies would be like... how dare he! etc :lol:
 
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I was looking forward to the Tesla Model X segment and it was a big let down, it was as if a Tesla dealership had taken you for a test drive. Also he was wrong, the future is Hydrogen and not Electric. He totally contradicted May's segment a few years ago with the Honda FCX Clarity which shows how much they really know about cars.

I'm not so sure hydrogen is the future at all give how energy intense it is to produce it. Saying the Tesla Model X is the future is a little weird since it's a $100,000 SUV, but electric cars are probably the solution in the near future, especially with battery technology getting better and hot swaps becoming a thing. Hydrogen may be a thing way down the road but we need to figure out how to actually produce it cleanly first.

As for episode 4, the series still isn't doing it for me, but I'm trying to keep an open mind on it and I figure I'll give it at least till the middle of next season to decide on whether it's a write off or not. Very rarely the first season of something with a new cast goes well.

I do like Harris and Reid though, both seem to capture what I like about car shows and provide it in an entertaining way. I'm glad they are going to be on the show more and I really think it will help bring it back around. Chris Evans is still probably the most annoying man I've ever heard on TV and I still think he makes Richard Hammond incredibly tolerable and I really don't like Eddie Jordan, he just seems like an enormous d-bag.

This coming week's show seems like it could be good since they have a good line up of cars that will be featured.
 
For the foreseeable future it really isn't. Power stations are a long way off running on 100% renewable energy. The battery manufacture and disposal process is still environmentally damaging, the range is still relatively poor and most crucially you can't fill it up in 2 minutes. Hydrogen has none of these issues... it's only lagging behind because electric is the easier option right now and more money has gone into it's development to bring prices down.

Errm, that's probably a discussion for something in an Automotive thread, but FCEV's use batteries, Hydrogen is currently not globally mass produced using renewable sources, and refuelling and it's infrastructure, is all but non-existent.

I like the idea of Hydrogen, and it will come on leaps and bounds when mass production is taken care of by waste heat from Nuclear Power, but it's taken decades for Electric to get where it is. For sure we'll see more FCEV's over the next 10 years, but if they reach 10% of EV sales by then I would be surprised.
 
Tonight's show, Rory Reid delivers the Jag F-Type SVR to the Geneva motor show, Evans and LeBlanc compare the new Rolls Royce Dawn to the 1976 Corniche, Harris in the new BMW M2 and Paul Hollywood and Jennifer Saunders are the guests, up against the Hungary-Belgium game on BBC1 tonight...
 
Just seen last week's episode, bit meh. Harris stole the show yet again, the car vs train segment was boring to be honest, and not really feeling Sabine.

The Tesla Model X review was the seen that before, we get that review on Top Gear every so often, look at this the future is here, it's impressing the cool kids, it's so quiet wow.
 
Harris and Reid should be good tonight, Evans/LeBlanc might turn out OK, SIARPC (or whatever it's called now) sounds a bit crap.
 
Anything about the train race being a shoe-in for the abandoned Kazakhstan trip? Not one to follow these celeb-spotting outlets, so no idea what order they filmed everything in...
 
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