NEW New new new New top gear ON HOLD, RIP?

[HMC]

New series. Banter. “Bantz?” 

Silverstone / F1 track day and possibly some old car stuff today.

[Chris2cv]

As a long time viewer, I'm not going to say that the trailers filled me with excitement. I'm in tonight, so I watched it, but I probably wouldn't have bothered with catch up if I'd been out.  The first section, racing cars didn't do a lot for me, it seemed to go on for too long and I was soon back to the laptop, but I've got to say that  the Eddie Kidd bit was good. I'm not the biggest fan of Paddy, but I thought that it was well done and felt like he genuinely was a fan. I've got a bit more hope for the rest of the series now!

[St.Jude]

Don't know who Eddie Kidd was, but hands down that's the best tribute/documentary I've seen of a sportsman.

It's above Finding Jack Charlton for me. And I cried at that.

[wesacosa]

I swore I wouldn't watch it again with those two clowns but my word the Eddie Kidd section was both compelling and heartbreaking

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

Don't know who Eddie Kidd was

Ah. Am watching TG for first time in ages, taking it off series link.

[bunglebus]

The Eddie Kidd bit was great, made me sad as much as anything seeing the state of Avon Park dragstrip, many a happy weekend there over the years - now about to have houses built on it. Great tribute though.

[HMC]

xmas special- bx 4x4 gti content

[Yoss]

I wonder how wrecked that'll end up?

[captain_70s]

Watched as I'm at the parent's place.

It's all a bit cringy... Shame the BX got beat up, they must be quite scarce.

[Dave_Q]

3 4x4 BX GTIs still taxed and 22 on sorn according to how many left.

Decent telly, as per the CHM days all these challenges are now just overly staged, the big xmas tree bit in this one for example

[MisterH]

Well I am in a good mood, for once they didn't actually destroy the cars, and the BX at least seems to still be taxed. I know Harris restored the R4 that got wrecked in Nepal, and I reckon he might have held onto this one for his own collection, which wouldn't be unprecedented for TG challenge cars (if you remember the Ibiza classic rally), and we know he is a fan of AS-worthy cars among other things. For once I can breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, I was considering buying that very car after selling the Rover, but decided the passion wasn't quite there yet for me. 

A TG fate is always unsettling, but this series has had quite a good track record of keeping the cars intact, comparatively, as mindless destruction doesn't seem to be a gag they're running anymore

As for the GT, that's another story

Still, this is a positive post, so I am not putting a downer on it

[Zelandeth]

Haven't seen it yet, but wouldn't surprise me if Harris kept hold of and restored the BX.  He's pretty well known to be a fan of the marque, and it's very much the sort of thing that seems up his street.

Might have a look at some point if I get bored enough.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I haven’t seen the new Grand Tour special mentioned anywhere on the forum, I think it’s the best thing they’ve done in some time.

[HillmanImp]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:28 PM, MorrisItalSLX said:

I haven’t seen the new Grand Tour special mentioned anywhere on the forum, I think it’s the best thing they’ve done in some time.

I switched it off. It was like a longer version of their awful Peugeot drivers bit, which was so painfully unfunny, it was the straw that broke the camels back and was the last top gear I watched until they changed presenters. 

[Ghosty]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:18 PM, MisterH said:

I know Harris restored the R4 that got wrecked in Nepal,

When? Six months ago that thing was on display in Beaulieu in a very sorry state. 

[somewhatfoolish]

Weird choices; I was expecting the BX to lunch its transmission, which given they're made of ripe french cheese was a distinct possibility.

[Dan_ZTT]

I enjoyed the Christmas special. Challenges a bit silly but that's always been the way.

Harris seemed well chuffed with the BX, he's definitely a Citroen fan. It got my dad reminiscing too about the white one he bought new, not 4x4 sadly but I can still remember the plate H28 ELF, very festive.

Out of the three I'd have the Range Rover personally, though I do like the Citroen too. Never really understood the Ford fanboy thing.

[MisterH]

3 hours ago, Ghosty said:

When? Six months ago that thing was on display in Beaulieu in a very sorry state. 

Can't be sure, but I have heard a few people say it on the grapevine, whether or nor not they were correct however, remains to be seen. However, looking at the website, it seems that was a temporary display in Feb, so probably after that I'd imagine

 

[Sham]

I thought the end of the show a bit shaky.

 

Ba dum, and indeed, tish.

[GMcD]

Harris seems to have some mechanical sympathy, I like to think he let's his cars "warm through" before he boots them.🤣

He didn't seem particularly amused at Paddy giving the xr3i full bore revs as soon as it was out the Xmas wrapping. Was it silver resprayed diamond white?

BX was lovely and glad it got through relatively unscathed. 

[Barry Cade]

It looks like he's kept the Niva too!

 

[St.Jude]

14 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

It looks like he's kept the Niva too!

 

The best bit of that segment was the cricket fan riding in the car with Flintoff, and not knowing who he was. Freddie looked a little crushed.

I did enjoy the Christmas special, it was good escapism. 

[HMC]

On I player right now appears to be every episode of post 2002 top gear. I’ve been dipping into them; episode 1 series 1 is interesting to see how the “studio” evolved and how they got into their stride gradually with trips and challenges.

[colino]

The chemistry is beginning to work, they can do the sound and audio, what they are short of is a good editor and three new, good ideas per episode.  Too much filler for an international money generator and feels like 30 minutes of content squeezed into an hour slot.

[stuboy]

On 12/26/2021 at 4:54 PM, Gerrymcd said:

Was it silver resprayed diamond white?

i think its not an xr3i but just an 1.6i cab

[chodweaver]

I remember them being new. Were they essentially the same spec but not badged as XR cos, well, you wouldn't rally in a cabrio?

Sent from my BV9900Pro using Tapatalk

[AndyW201]

3 hours ago, chodweaver said:

I remember them being new. Were they essentially the same spec but not badged as XR cos, well, you wouldn't rally in a cabrio?

Sent from my BV9900Pro using Tapatalk
 

The earlier, MK3 based cabrio was just badged as 1.6i for the injected version, but with the Mk4 facelift, it was badged as an XR3i, as with the tin-top version.

[MiniMort]

18 hours ago, colino said:

The chemistry is beginning to work, they can do the sound and audio, what they are short of is a good editor and three new, good ideas per episode.  Too much filler for an international money generator and feels like 30 minutes of content squeezed into an hour slot.

I do think they've still got more ideas than The Grand Tour have (given their last special about French Cars). We watched Top Gear as a family on Christmas Eve and even those who have no interest in cars found it pretty funny. 

I can only really re-iterate the point others have already raised that I'm just really pleased they no longer completely destroy all the cars they use - I think that BX only suffered a little shunt from the Escort and a mangled door mirror from when the tree fell off the roof. 

[Rusty_Rocket]

I hate seeing them destroy (usually very nice) cars and I hope these three survived, but I'm guessing fitting a roll cage into each of them will have effectively ruined dashboards/ interiors and floor pans etc.

I've worked on TV and film sets and cars are only even treated like any other props, that is, with the view of disposing of them after the filming is wrapped. 

[andy18s]

Worth watching for the 1st minute..