The thing that annoyed me about last weeks episode was not having a stig drive those three cars around. Therefore the Abarth 500c looked faster than the Rennosport Clio, which it most certainly isn't!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow
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The thing that annoyed me about last weeks episode was not having a stig drive those three cars around. Therefore the Abarth 500c looked faster than the Rennosport Clio, which it most certainly isn't!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow
Blimey. The MP4-12C is awesome.
It's looked fast the few times I've seen it in development but that was shockingly quick.
I wantone sooooo much. I've never wanted a Ferrari or a veyron but I would sell body parts for one of them.
Perhaps if I kidnap Ron Dennis....
Great show tonight. This series has been good so far, big improvement over the last few.
I'm sorry but last weeks show was a bag of crap. This weeks was better but hardly an epic.Quote:
Originally Posted by christophulus
I emjoyed the segment on the hot hatches last week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
I found it annoying. I mean wtf was with the stupid scavenger hunt? They were driving to Monaco, do you know what that means? Monte FREAKING Carlo stages. Did they show us how these hot hatches handled on these roads though? No. They had a moronic scavenger hunt which wasn't even funny. Then there was the on track action. Did they do the right thing and have a Stig driving all 3 or get 3 professional drivers to show us what the cars can really do? No, we had the rather **** Abarth 500c beating the fantastic Rennosport Clio purely because May was driving. If May had kicked Flabio out of the car at speed in the tunnel that could have made it watchable, but Flabio still lives and it was a **** segment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brown, Jon Brow
It's a light-ent show which occasionally mentions cars. As such it's fairly good. I think you're setting your sights too high.
But the scavenger hunt wasn't fun, entertaining or informative.
I'm beginning to prefer fifth gear :arrows:
At heart Clarkson is an F1 fan boy and not rally enthusiast, plus they filmed the Col de Turini before. I still would have preferred more of that to the scavenger hunt, however.
You obviously haven't seen Top Gear before then. Clarkson likes motorsport, the Lancia segment a series or two ago shows that Clarkson likes rallying.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregor-y
I have indeed; remember the most recent Evo/STI comparison and his attitude toward rallying. It's not safe to believe anything on the show has genuine emotion behind it other than entertaining the viewers. There's no lap board for non-F1 drivers, and if you look back to the early seasons - I don't remember which one - you see Richard Burns wasn't given much air time or respect despite having won the championship. This is why I say while he may or may not dislike rally Clarkson does not go far out of his way to highlight or praise it.
But of course most people are probably bigger fans of F1 than rally. I certainly was, growing up.
When were you at the open day? I went to one back in 2007 :)Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I didn't enjoy this week's episode. The mid-segment with May and that Range Rover almost put me to sleep. One of the most boring segments ever in Top Gear. Vettel was meh.
What was interesting though was the first segment, with the amazing new Mclaren MP4-12C, of course ruined by Clarkson's Ferrari ass kissing. It looked, drove and sounded better than the Ferrari. What else do you want? Goo-Ferrari soul, passion, horse-goo. Idiot.
funny that... May and Vettel saved the show for me. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
The MP4 vs F458 was much better 2 weeks ago on fifth gear, where both potato and needle arrived at the very same conclusion. Traitors eh? :p
It's Potato and Tiffany Dell :pQuote:
Originally Posted by donKey jote
I also quite liked the bit with May and the Range Rover and also with Vettel.
And Féttle is pronounced Vet-L :p
Yup. Really enjoying this season. They seem to have made an effort to do something different this year, with a distinctly less prating about, and, if the trailer for the next episode (train cars) is anything to go by it could be the best episode since the original aqua car episode.Quote:
Originally Posted by christophulus
Probably I was snoring by the time May got to Vegas because I'm not interested in how nicely the Range Rover handles different terrains or how many rocks it can climb. Vettel's lines seemed to be rehearsed, so there was some obvious lack of chemistry. Besides Clarkson really didn't grill him like he did poor ole' Barrichello. :D So, it was all a bit vanilla and meh for me. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by donKey jote
On a side note, I watched it at the end of a very grueling work day, thoroughly exhausted and mind-bleeped, so that probably also played into it. :p
I stand corrected, then. Good to hear.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I liked the Range Rover bit, mainly because I've driven through that part of California before. I wasn't rock crawling but spent some time on unpaved roads. I have noticed Top Gear does spend a lot of time in the US when they go on holiday.
Or Wet-L. Webber is pronounced Web-Er.Quote:
Originally Posted by donKey jote
To be fair Evo magazine, in a couple of tests now, have said the same things, the McLaren is a technical masterpiece and rewrites quite a few rules, especially in terms of ride and the ability to corner at higher speeds than anything else, but is not as thrilling drive as the Ferrari and has less steering feel. and in contrast with Top Gear's times, they actually had the Ferrari a second ahead of the McLaren in a back to back test round bedford autodrome. Not saying the the McLaren in rubbish or anything, and as a first supercar from the company (not including the McLaren F1) its an incredible machine, but don't discount views that it is maybe "only" as good as the Ferrari , or even a close 2nd, as rubbish just cos its Clarkson.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Or Wet-L. Webber is pronounced Web-Er.Quote:
Originally Posted by donKey jote
Well the are both outstanding examples aimed at slightly different markets.
As has Car magazine too, but then every mid engine supercar that's been the equal of a Ferrari has been labelled as soulless, the Honda NSX, Audi R8 and now the McLaren.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
I'd like to see how the McLaren compares to a top of the range Porsche. I know they aren't the same but the Porsche is the epitome of teutonic efficiency vs Italian passion and doesn't seem the worse for it.
But that's always been the McLaren way, I have the Official McLaren F1 book called Driving Ambition and basically Gordon Murray set out to make a car with supercar performance but which you could drive every day if you wanted to. Bonkers supercars/hypercars are fun if you're 11 and need something to put on your wall, but if it were your car and you were wanting to drive it every day then you'd choose the McLaren every time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Robinho
The review of the BMW M coupe was utter poo. It was as if it was aimed at estate agents. And why did they not test it properly with the Cayman?
Yup, it was pretty obvious that they didn't 'race' the M Coupe against the Lotus and Porsche around a track because the two mid-engined cars would have creamed the BMW.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge
Its because of the way they skew roadtests to make whatever point they want to make that I only watch Top Gear on iPlayer skipping most of it. Its a shame quite a few people probably take what they say about certain cars at face value.
I reckon you're right. A lot of people probably take the reviews at face value.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dylan H
Really? I very much remember Ron Dennis referring to the Ferrari 430 laying down the benchmark for McLaren.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Ferrari 458 Italia v Porsche 911 GT3 RS | evo videosQuote:
Originally Posted by Dylan H
http://www.evo.co.uk/videos/supercarvideos/251458/
Again, refer to Evo/Chris Harris' review above, especialy the last part and its conclusion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Even the Megane 250 vs. Focus RS.
Something that's easy to drive is all well and good but some people - driving enthusiasts as well those with more money than sense - want something that's a bit lairy. Its the greater test of skill and therefore more rewarding and satisfying to drive.
Another analogy, (when time rich, no problems with traffic, etc) why drive on an A road when you can have more fun on a B road?
To be honest, I don't believe a certain car has "zing" or passion or soul just because somebody else says it. You can be passionate about anything you want to, even a certain box of crayons because they color so well. I have never owned a supercar, and I don't think anybody else on this forum has, but if I ever was to buy one, I would like to buy the one that handles the best, so that I know when on a sneaky evening if I want to open the throttle on the highway and make a sudden turn, I won't end up in a ditch. So, I would choose a Porsche 911 or the new Mclaren every time. The joy of driving is knowing that your car has that handling sweet spot that would allow you to put it through its limits.
Anyway, I never take what Clarkson says seriously ever. It's pretty obvious he is pro Ferrari and anti Porsche and probably anti Mclaren. Going by his logic, the ill handling 16 year old Mclaren F1 would be the most passionate car and the car with the most "zing" in it, but it is not. He criticized the old Mclaren because it handled bad, and he didn't like the new one because it handles too good. Well...
Also, how he went on about the Mclaren factory being spick and span, futuristic, engineers not knowing what fun is, blah, blah, blah, it's not like the Ferrari factory is on the top of a mountain and they have Catholic monks carving engines out of a slab of iron. Both factories are technologically sophisticated and similar in probably each and every way. It's just that Ferrari has this aura around it that too many people buy into blindly. I prefer the Zonda R much more than any recent Ferrari model, from the way it looks, the sound, the characteristics, at least from what I have seen, not experienced. :D
Is this the same McLaren F1 which in GT form won Le Mans...???
I'm sorry but the McLaren F1 was never criticised for handling badly.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
By Clarkson it was. I remember on an old Top Gear episode him and Tiff Needell having an argument over the Mclaren's handling, where Needell of course loved it, but Clarkson said it was twitchy, had no rear end grip, and he much preferred the Ferrari F40.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Then he criticized its handling again later, I Googled his quote from what I could remember here: Top Gear: Series 5 Episode 2 Episode Summary - TV.com
Quote:
Jeremy Clarkson: [Describing the driving experience of the McLaren F1] You know that bit in Dr. Strangelove where Peter Sellers is astride the nuclear missile? That's what it's like. You don't know where you're going, you have no real control you just know that the journey's going to end very soon... and very badly!
OK I shall rephrase that, no one of note has ever criticised the F1's handling :DQuote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Yep. I'm talking about Clarkson's idiotic comments anyway. I know the Mclaren F1 is a brilliant car. Tiff Needell and Mika Hakkinen have said so, so I'd take their word over the Ferrari loving baboon any day. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Well Mika did work for McLaren you know ;) I've always liked the McLaren F1, the whole singlemindedness of the design is fantastic. If you could get a copy of Driving Ambition it would be well worth it but I think it was a limited edition book so 2nd hand copies are expensive!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Well, there's always the internet *cough* scanned PDF *cough*, although I doubt anybody is bothered with it that much for me to be able to find it anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
I also have always loved the Mclaren F1 ever since I saw it for the first time, and got to know the nitty-gritties. Plus, it has the best seating position of any supercar ever. At that time that was as close as you could get to driving an F1 car, also if you had $1 million. ;)