The Grand Tour returns today...

PerryGunn

Elite
 By the seaside...
All six episodes are available now with three new presenters

YouTubers Thomas Holland & James Engelsman and social media star and train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois

I'm not really convinced by that trio but I'll give it a go and see what happens...
 
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Francis is also a massive car nut as well, tracks a modified Honda Jazz (think I saw someone say he'd spent tens of thousands on it?) and is pretty handy.

High hopes for it, although I see each of these reboots/changes as a new show rather than "it'll be the same with new people".
 
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Well, I've watched the first episode and part of the second - feels like it's been written for Clarkson/May/Hammond but it all seems a bit 'forced' as the presenters don't have their timing or basic charm on screen.

Francis Bourgeois, in particular, is very off-putting. He may be good on his own videos where he's talking about something he knows inside out, but they've got him doing the voiceovers and it's so obvious that he's reading a script, there's no natural flow to it and he sounds like someone doing a bad powerpoint presentation about the absorbsion properties of adult nappies.
 
Having watched the series he did with Chris Harris about restoring a train I'll give it a miss!
 
I’ve not watched it yet, but I watch videos on the Throttle House and Throttle House Extra YouTube channels quite frequently. James and Thomas clearly get on very well and they’re unpretentious with a self-deprecating, rather English sense of humour. They’re very likeable in that format so I hope the scripted nature of the GT doesn’t spoil that.

What little I’ve seen of Francis made me think that the producers where just trying to replicate James May as a contrast to the slightly dumb TH presenters.
 
Francis is also a massive car nut as well, tracks a modified Honda Jazz (think I saw someone say he'd spent tens of thousands on it?) and is pretty handy.

High hopes for it, although I see each of these reboots/changes as a new show rather than "it'll be the same with new people".
I read that he bought it for his girlfriend and got carried away modifying it whilst fixing corrosion and mechanical faults.
 
Watched first three episodes with the family, the intro was a little contrived I thought but once they got out into cars it got pretty enjoyable. Episodes two and three had us howling with laughter at the TV at points, I think its a really well put together show - 20+ years after "new" Top Gear - without trying to be a clone of what's come before too rigidly. For me its a great mix of presenters, and some good natured ribbing between them that feels natural rather than forced.

I'm really enjoying it, mad props to all involved. Could've quite easily been a write-off.
 
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