I’ve been watching videos on youtube, mostly their reviews of American cars. Somehow listening to a bunch Brits say the same things I’ve heard US auto writers say (well, write…) is very insulting. Of course, it doesn’t help that Jeremy Clarkson is a loudmouth. Yes, US cars use typically low tech, or lower tech in the engines and chassis, handling is less important to US drivers and GM makes cars with cheap interiors. But when Jeremy Clarkson says it I get all defensive, but if Csaba Csere of Car & Driver magazine writes I go “yeah!”.
I think I’m going to have to stop. I don’t read cars mags any more, and it’s been fun catching up on the cool cars I’ve never heard of (esp the European ones we don’t get in the US), I just don’t think I can take it any more. Maybe I need to go read up on Lucas Electronics or something, make myself feel better.
The key to watching Clarkson is that you might agree with 20% of what he says, or you might agree with 80%. Either way, it’ll be good TV. And nobody will be left standing in the corner without an opinion.
Don’t watch Top Gear as a guide to buying a new car. Watch it as a piece of really good television. Any good-car-porn, count it as a bonus.
(And yes, the Americans are an easy target, but so are the Germans, the French, the Italians, the Swedish, and the British. They all get slagged off. I’ve only seen one Aussie car reviewed, and they loved it. Just imagine if somebody started making cars in Ireland…)
Huh. I watch Top Gear and I love it. Who cares if he insults Americans? We can’t take a little insult? I like to think we’re a little tougher than that; unfortunately as a country we seem to be very sensitive. Not really picking on you, OP, but just an observation.
If we started making our cars better then there’d be nothing to make fun of.
I’m more amused at my own defensiveness, really, and I certainly don’t watch “Top Gear” as a buying guide, most of the cars I’ve watched cost more than my house even if they are available in the states. I’m watching for entertainment. Clarkson likes to make brash statements for the shock factor and I find it rather tiresome, esp after watching several videos in a row. And I refer not just to the US baching, but to statements about anything and everything.
It sounds like you’re coming over to the dark side, DaddyTimesTwo…just roll with the punches, and see how it goes (Especially when they play Car Darts, or the attempt to destroy the Toyota pickup)
I’m thinking of a Mythbusters episode, I think. They had two cars, one got completely lifted off its wheels and blown down the runway. And I didn’t find anything for Top Gear, anyway.
Top Gear did it. I believe they got a 747, and pulled one of those Citroen 2CV pieces of crap behind it. The thing got blown a few hundred feet and rolled.
Whenever Top Gear does something that Mythbusters has done, they usually do it way better. Mythbusters tried to launch a chair with rockets. Top Gear built a space shuttle with a car on its back.
Clarkson is always entertaining if you just listen to him right. He’s not Rush Limbaugh - most of his brash statements are nothing more than character, meant to entertain the audience. His role is that of brash loudmouth. James May is the nebbish smart guy, and Richard Hammond is the young impetuous one. Those are the characters of the show, and they play off each other brilliantly.
Clarkson has done other shows not affiliated with Top Gear, and he comes across significantly different. I watched one older car series he did a few years ago, and he looked more like the smart interesting guy talking to car people than a blowhard.
Both Top Gear and Mythbusters tried it. Mythbusters couldn’t arrange a test using a real jet airliner (their insurance company wouldn’t allow it, they said). So they used a wind generator - basically a small jet engine mounted on a truck. They didn’t manage to flip the car, but they had parts of the car flying off. I think the car was a Ford Crown Vic or something similar.
Top Gear tried it with an actual 747 and flipped over a Ford Mondeo. Here is the video clip.
This video isn’t an official Mythbusters release in any way, but the guy says it was MB and you get to see a school bus get blown away. And it was Top Gear I was remembering, I can’t believe I forgot about the 2CV. Now that is great TV. Or telly, whatever…
I prefer to think of it as a comedy show about cars, rather than a funny car show. Clarkson’s cracks about US autos are as offensive as, say, Jay Leno making fun of Toyotas and Nissans while he goes on about his latest muscle car.
The thing about Top Gear is that actually there is very little mention of American cars. Really the crazy things they get up to (various races, etc) are the most interesting to me.
And what about what Clarkson said? I kind of tend to agree with his opinion of American cars. We’re normally unaware of the quality of European cars in the US. For instance, Mercedes makes sedans that aren’t exactly luxury in Europe? Yet they have the same build-quality that they are known for. Your Peugots and Citroens etc are actually usually very good cars. Nothing fancy, but generally of nice quality with a nice suspension. Reminds me of a VW in the US nowadays.
As an avid Top Gear viewer, let me tell you one thing. Top Gear loves pretty much every car that Ford UK gives them. Ford is supposedly an American car company.
There’s a reason why the ford.co.uk lineup is almost ENTIRELY different than the ford.com/ford.ca lineup. I think the Ford Ranger, a rebadged Mazda B-series small pickup truck, and the Ford Escape are the only vehicles they have in common. They share nothing in the way of cars except the recently discontinued Ford GT. The same can be said more or less for GM.
Europeans prefer European cars, and the automakers, including the American ones, give them what they want. Ford doesn’t make a big effort selling F-150s in Britain, just like Toyota doesn’t spend a lot of money trying to sell those 900cc 3 cylinder microcars that make up most of the market in Japan. That European consumers dislike a car made for the US market is hardly much of a suprise.
It sort of reminds of the the CAW head honcho recently talking about how the world markets were so unfair because “they” are allowed to sell cars in North America while North American car companies are not “allowed” to reciprocate.
Because you know, if the Japanese government would only allow it, the streets of Tokyo would be awash with Malibus and Impalas and giant American body-on-frame trucks.
The European Focus is a completely different vehicle on a completely different platform(based on the Mazda3 and similar to the Volvo C30) compared to the US Focus.
(Especially when they play Car Darts, or the attempt to destroy the Toyota pickup)