Top Gear USA, Sucks.

[Liv]

Okay we've got to talk about this. Last night was the premier of the American version of the British show "Top Gear" called "Top Gear USA". I just finished watching it with Chance, and while I'm still open to the possibility of my opinion changing, personally, I thought it sucked. It appears to be regurgitated content with new commenters, who might come across as "posers" to most of the automotive community. Sure Tanner has some credentials, but they're the wrong kind. In my opinion they went wrong in not hiring a automotive journalist. Instead we have a drifter, an analyst, (cough NASCAR reporter) and a actor. We would have done better with that guy on Youtube who builds dirt hills and jumps his Geo Tracker over them. This is more like 'Dancing With The Stars' but for cars.

I kept waiting for a twist in the segment where they were racing "3 bulls": Lamborghinis being dragged race. That's just it, there was none. I could go visit track day with the NC Lambo club and see the same thing. I fully expected them to pull some twist out at the end similarly to the original Top Gear where a modified Ford Taurus comes screeching up behind them and surprises us all. It didn't happen. Hell Buzz Aldrin didn't even get in a fist fight with anyone.

My prediction: It will get canceled. My hope: is it gets better.

It's nice to see British telly come to America, but doing so apparently means a faked, unbelievable automotive show populated by a pretty Hollywood face, a stunt car driver, and some numb-nuts whose job involves coolers, rednecks and Mark Martin crashing and who all lack the ability to identify with car enthusiasts.

Oh and FYI, Viper is sooooo 90s... So not a car that a real person would own or a proper producer would use in a premier of Top Gear USA. What's next? Knight Rider? Wait that's actually a good idea.

[Sanjuro]

I'm waiting to watch this.

Fact is, the on-screen chemistry is what makes Top Gear so good. If they didn't replicate that, there's no point in continuing.

[Liv]

Well apparently thats why they chose these 3 people, and yes there was a chemistry but it wasn't Top-Gear chemistry. They all seemed, bonded by the experience of the show rather than the topic. There was no sabotage, no "Captain Knob" taped on the side of cars. That's what makes the original so funny, so entertaining.

And again, I may be proven wrong... but I don't see these guys as tinkerers... building cars that float and such. I fully admit I could be wrong, I just don't see it.

[A Person]

Neither is Jeremy Clarkson a tinkerer. Clarkson couldn't drive a Landrover to the top of a mountain without 6 sensible guys to keep getting him unstuck. Clarkson is an opinionated twat, Hammond is a cocky twerp, May is a dweeb (and the one I identify most closely with) - but together it works.

Most of the time that is - some of the shows were just embarrassing (the drive across the Southern States for example) and it's usually when they try too hard. I'm sure Clarkson could find someone in Louisiana to throw rocks at him without painting 'Man Love' on his car. Just being himself in a bar and giving his honest opinion on American cars would do it.

The only connection the US version of the show has is the name, three guys and some cars. I've only seen the trailer but it's a loser.

It's like the cool wall - we may not agree on what is really cool - but we can all agree the PT Cruiser isn't, even if it has four wheels and an engine just like an Aston Martin.

[gedster314]

Man does the show blow. There is no chemistry what so ever. About the only high light was realizing that one of the test tracks was at the old Eltoro airfield, my own backyard. At least this show isn't alone, even the Australian TopGear bites.

Hopefully the new season of the real TopGear will start soon so I can forget about this abortion of show. Will American TV ever get a British show right? Thank god for usent and torrents so I can watch the real thing.

[A Person]

Will American TV ever get a British show right?

No - why do they keep trying?

What's wrong with Americans watching a British show - everyone else has to watch American shows. You don't see the BBC bringing out a version of Hawaii 5-0 based in the Isle of Wight.

Hopefully the new season of the real TopGear will start soon

Even the genuine Top Gear has jumped the shark, they're trying too hard now

[Liv]

What's wrong with Americans watching a British show - everyone else has to watch American shows.

I realize what I'm about to say may sound like Livvy stupidfying America again, but I honestly think it's the language barrier. The #1 comment I hear when I make recommendations, or talk to people who watch stuff on PBS is the difficulty in understanding the British. It's their accent, and the variants there of. (Welsh, English, Scottish and sub-dialects).

[Liv]

I've never wanted to see a show cancelled more than this one... They made fun of women, Brits, and blind people in the last episode. I swear the producers must be based in a trailer park.

[hockeycomms]

The people are not funny and they sound like they are reading something off of a script. Why would they drive a viper? It sucks. I just think they should get rid of the people and get new ones or just cancel the show. I hope the BBC one comes back. The whole USA top gear is just really cheesy.

[Liv]

The whole USA top gear is just really cheesy.

Again... effing... Shakespeare... yet I've heard nothing like this coming out the American version:

Rather enjoyable read of quotes from Jeremy Clarkson, the host of Top Gear:

1. “I’d like to consider Ferrari as a scaled down version of God.”

2. [On the Porsche Boxster] “It couldn’t pull a greased stick out of a pig’s bottom.”

3. [When driving the Mercedes SLR McLaren through a tunnel] “When they debate as to what the sound of the SLR engine was akin to, the British engineers from McLaren said it sounded like a Spitfire. But the German engineers from Mercedes said ‘Nein! Nein! Sounds like a Messerschmitt!’ They were both wrong. It sounds like the God of Thunder, gargling with nails.”

4. “I’m sorry, but having an Aston Martin DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch. If you’ve got even half a scrotum it’s not going to happen.”

5. “Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you.”

6. “Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what… being stabbed?”

7. [On Detroit] “God may have created the world in six days, but while he was resting on the seventh, Beelzebub popped up and did this place.”

8. “Owning a TVR in the past was like owning a bear. I mean it was great, until it pulled your head off, which it would.”

9. [On the Renault Clio V6] “I think the problem is that it’s French. It’s a surrendermonkey.”

10. [On the Enzo Ferrari] “I rang up Jay Kay, who’s got one, and said: “Can we borrow yours?” and he said, “Yeah, if I can borrow your daughter, because it amounts to the same thing.”

11. [On the Porsche Cayenne] “I’ve seen gangrenous wounds better looking than this!”

12. “The air conditioning in Lamborghinis used to be an asthmatic sitting in the dashboard blowing at you through a straw.”

13. “Whenever I’m suffering from insomnia, I just look at a picture of a Toyota Camry and I’m straight off.”

14. “If you were to buy a [BMW] 6-series, I recommend you select reverse when leaving friends’ houses so they don’t see its backside.”

15. “That [Pagani] Zonda, really! It’s like a lion in orange dungarees. Kind of fierce, but ridiculous all at the same time.”

16. [On a Chevrolet Corvette] “The Americans lecture the world on democracy and then won’t let me turn the traction control off!”

17. [On the Alfa Romeo Brera] “Think of it as Angelina Jolie. You’ve heard she’s mad and eats nothing but wallpaper paste. But you would, wouldn’t
you?”

18. “A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”

19. “This is a Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Oh good, I’ve got syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases!’”

20. “In the olden days I always got the impression that TVR built a car, put it on sale, and then found out how it handled – usually when one of their customers wrote to the factory complaining about how dead he was.”

21. [On the Mercedes CLS55 AMG] “It sounds like Barry White eating wasps.”

22. “I’d rather go to work on my hands and knees than drive there in a Ford Galaxy. Whoever designed the Ford Galaxy upholstery had a cauliflower fixation. I would rather have a vasectomy than buy a Ford Galaxy.”

23. “Usually, a Range Rover would be beaten away from the lights by a diesel powered wheelbarrow.”

24. “Racing cars which have been converted for road use never really work. It’s like making a hardcore adult film, and then editing it so that it can be shown in British hotels. You’d just end up with a sort of half hour close up of some bloke’s sweaty face.”

25. “I don’t understand bus lanes. Why do poor people have to get to places quicker than I do?”

[Sanjuro]

Just a reminder that the REAL Top Gear started season 16 last week and is 2 episodes in. Torrant away!

[Liv]

Watched the Australia VS UK episode today.... Wow. That last scene was intense. Not sure if it's just filmed and edited great, or it was really that bad-ass... Why can't they do that in the American version? If you didn't catch the soundtrack during the race, it was Hans Zimmer's Molossus.... from BAT MAN!!!!

How effing cool was that. Seriously awesome.

[Sanjuro]

Watched the Australia VS UK episode today.... Wow. That last scene was intense. Not sure if it's just filmed and edited great, or it was really that bad-ass... Why can't they do that in the American version? If you didn't catch the soundtrack during the race, it was Hans Zimmer's Molossus.... from BAT MAN!!!!

How effing cool was that. Seriously awesome.

Great episode.. and just as I thought, full of backlash:

Top Gear sparks Mexico complaints

Top Gear Ferrari joke 'offensive'

Mexico's ambassador in London has complained to the BBC over "offensive, xenophobic and humiliating" comments made about his country on Top Gear.

Eduardo Medina Mora has written to the BBC about "insults" made by Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May.

Discussing a Mexican sports car, Hammond said vehicles reflected national characteristics so "Mexican cars are just going to be lazy".

The BBC did not comment but said it would respond directly to Mr Mora.

Reviewing the Mastretta on Sunday's show, Hammond said: "Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."

The presenters, known for their edgy jibes, then described Mexican food as "refried sick".

Clarkson said he was confident he would not receive any complaints about their comments because the Mexican ambassador would be asleep.

However, the ambassador did complain, and demanded an apology from the BBC.

"The presenters of the programme resorted to outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults to stir bigoted feelings against the Mexican people, their culture, as well as their official representative in the United Kingdom," he wrote.

"These offensive, xenophobic and humiliating remarks only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes and perpetuate prejudice against Mexico and its people."

It is not the first time the driving programme has caused controversy.

Hundreds of viewers complained in 2008 after Clarkson made a joke about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes.

Last week, the programme was named most popular factual show at the National TV Awards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12338053

[Liv]

I so want to drive the "reasonably priced car" around the track....

[Liv]

Apparently they've issued an apology to the lazy Mexicans.

[hateustopgear]

yes i agree us top gear sucks very much, i have watched 2 episodes and not only are the host gender challenged but they offered no education what so ever. no specs on the cars they were driving, no comparisons, nothing. this show is an embarresment to the original and i cant wait for it to be cancelled!!!

[wow]

yep, terrible terrible show. just awful. worse then the justin beiber movie.