Not sure if everyone saw this but Top Gear was shown on the Discovery Channel last night, and it will be on again at 10:00pm EST today. I am not sure how many people have seen Top Gear, but I love the show, having watched it quite often in Europe. I am so excited that it may be coming over here. Not sure how we should promote this?

Why is this in the Mini Talk section? Because Jeremy Clarkson (the host of Top Gear) has placed the Mini as one of his all time best cars ever (and that is hard to get).

 

I saw the show on Speed channel the other night.

 

While I do enjoy watching the show as I do most car shows, their biased views and dislike of American cars is obnoxious and ignorant. They show most of the negative and gloss over anything thats right, unless its a Euro car. I have seen this on several occasions.... but I love it when the "inferior" American car achieves better track times than most of their cars and they cant explain it.... I watch it for its entertainment value, not for its factual information.

 

They cut a lot out on speed. I get the full epiodes from www.mininova.org and you can view all the episode guides at www.finalgear.com . I think it's the best car show I've ever seen. Yes they find a lot of faults with the VERY FEW americal made cars that they review - but I have never seen theb be unfactual. When a car feels cheap with lots of mismatched plastics, they say so. They are quick to point out LOTS of faults with Euro cars too, I think they are very accurate.

 

Are there any good American cars?

You may not like them, but at least they tell it how they see it, which is far different from any American show. Plus they have such unique episodes.

 

Here is an example of what I am talking about. They reviewed the new vette.
They laughed and said it used leaf springs same as the old horse and buggy used and then they pushed on the bumper and saw it move and made fun of that calling it cheap and worthless.
The vette used a composite material for a single transverse mounted band spring. It reduces weight and keeps the wheels pinned to the ground. It is a sophisticated layout and is very light, highly adjustable and works very well. That fact was never mentioned, of course. The bumper on the vette they were pusjhing on is nothing but a skin that covers the bumper underneath! so they were pushing on the slack of the cover, never bothering to mention the facts. But when the vette reached near the very to of their tree.... they had nothing to say as it beat many supercars costing way more. The vette also had run flats, funny how they never tested the 04 Z06 which would have really embarrassed their performance tree....

 

Yeah, it's definitely a nice change from all those shows on Speed. The bad part is most of the cars they show aren't available in the US. . Man I want an Exige... It looks like they're running the series every Wed at 10:00.

 

can't watch it on mac.

 

Top Gear is great in fact its about one of a very few good reasons for moving over here (I moved to the UK last April).

The show is hilarious, yes very opinionated which makes it even funnier its format is great, we have all been there before, just group of guys sitting around talking cars and everything about them. I certainly hope it will stay on the US tele when I move back in 5 to 8 years!

And Mikem53, I think you drew a too quick conclusion about Top Gear, they reviewed a new Focus yesterday over here and loved it. And besides all Corvette's drive like a tanks anyway.

 

The point is, a leaf spring, as 'sophisticated' as they made it, and a super flexing plastic bumper cover is NOT the type of quality the rest of the world recognizes. You will not find such things on other Euro sports cars. It illistrates the point, that there are different goals for typical American and Euro car makers, and different expectations from the typical buyers. American manufacturers and buyers are a distinct notch below the average Euro.

Case in point, most Americans are gloriously happy with the quality of the Mini, in comparison to American cars. This level of quality is only average for Europe.

So yes, the average American buyer would think nothing of a leaf spring suspension or bumper cover that you can deform with one finger on your new $55k sports car. The average Euo buyer would be SHOCKED to find such things on a new M5.

 

Yes you can, download the VLC Player, or get a DIVX CODEC for Quicktime.

Steve

 

Its not an issue of quality, but of design. It hardly resembles a leaf spring setup for one and the bumper cover is just that. My point is that none of these critiques were ever explained as to why or how they work. Just the put down and nothing more. That is bias reporting..
I could understand it if the handling wasn't there, but it was and the results shut them up. So those in the know just smiled.
I still enjoy watching the show and take it for what it is...

 

OK, then it's a high-quality, poor design. Oh that's SO much better.

 

Yeah, I couldn't believe that rally EVO almost beat the bobsled (bobsledge) down Lillehammer. They must have been flying down those curves at an average of 80 mph. On ICE! Sideways! And 6.5 Gs in the sled?!?! nuts.

Looks like a great show. And I agree about American cars: not so good.

 

Why is it poor design? Cause you don't understand it? nuff said.

 

What is there to understand about a bumper cover that is so flimsy you can push it several inches with your finger? If that isn't an issue to you, you definitely fall into the typical American catagory. It is laughable at best to people with higher standards, especially at the kind of price point and segment a Vette commands.

 

Enjoy your show and keep on believing eveything you hear. I owned two of these cars and can speak from experience. I'm sure you know better thanks to your show. Enjoy!
over and out....

 

My future father-in-law has a Z06. It doesn't impress me from a design/quality standpoint. Both my Mini and the woman's Beetle have 10x the build quality - the Vette has different paint tone between the panels, inconsitent panel gaps, interior squeaks, cheap plastics all around, buttons that are already wearing out, sqeaky seats...the list goes on. I have owned previous new GM cars and driven over 100 as my father would bring a new one home every few weeks when I lived with them. No GM, even his new CTS impresses me with the quality of some other cars.


I don't need a show to tell me what GM quality is compared to others, I know and have known for the last couple decades.

 

Personally I like Vettes, but I think they have fallen in recent years. Come on, my friends '04 Z06's interior looks just like my 2001 Chevy Venture Van. Same look and feel and even some of the exact same controls. While I understand sharing components is a cost savings measure, not sure why a $50,000 sports car has to look like a "soccer mom" van.

 

Every time I hear the Allman Brothers Band's song "Jessica", I get a feeling that Jeremy Clarkson is about to drop round for a quick chat and ask to use my MCS.

Top Gear is one of the few shows I really, really miss since coming back from living in Europe. I'll check it out tonight.

 

Top Gear in 10 minutes.

 

The biggest downer to the series is - they are OLD shows! Wow, the introduction and test of two year old models, how cool...two years ago when I saw the show when it aired! LOL


The actual new episode this weekend was fantastic!

 

I would watch Top Gear in the mornings on the speed channel and was very impressed at their crash testing. They ran a BMW head on into a Mercedes at about 60 mph (both cars were doing 60) to show what a head on collision would to to 2 very well built cars. They also showed what happens in a fog with a car running into a pack of other cars stopped. Then they ran another into the mix. One car in particular took the brundt of the damage )it looked like europe's version of an Escort) and the wheels were touching each other. That is the rear wheels were touching the front. It would have been some very good videos to show todays new drivers.

 

Are you sure you aren't referencing "Fifth Gear"? Another great UK motoring show BTW.

 

5TH Gear = TV5 & Speed Channel (Tiff Needell, VickI and Tom)

http://www.five.tv/home/frameset/?content=2278491

Top Gear = BBC2 & Discovery Channel (Jeremy Clarkson & company)

http://www.topgear.com/

Both shows are British and both very entertaining. I wish we had one show like that here in the colonies! And the NOPI show on Speed doesn't count.