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[paddy wright]

cars would be a hell of a lot better- but slightly less funny!

 

[GAZA62]

Watch the show not a major fan and not keen on Clarkson PMSL when he fell off but that was a really good episode LOL a lot through that and what awesome views

 

[bmwmike]

to further prove my point about clarkson (his car of the year is the Corvette ZR1):
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article5400290.ece

p.s. if you like hearing what he has to say that site publishes a new one each week with him and theres hundreds from the past!

 

[peartreeproductions]

I think Lou demonstrates the difference between US and UK humour - irreverance. As quite rightly posted earlier we dont take ourselves too seriously on this side of the pond. As long as the person making the joke, in this case Clarkson, doesnt mean any harm by what he is saying then it is considered funny over here.

There is another trait in british humour which is that if someone 'bites' then the ribbing will continue even more.....glad to see Lou has stopped biting then

 

[Topshelf]

Thanks for the link Mike! Just bookmarked it as it's a good read. Looks like I have hours of entertainment now.

 

[Topshelf]

Just found JC's review of the Z4M Coupe. Let's just say he wasn't in love with it. :lol:

Sadly, I’m unable to be quite so enthusiastic about the limited edition BMW Z4 M coupé — a hard-top, hardcore version of the Z4 M convertible. The idea’s good enough. I reviewed the soft-top car a few weeks ago and thought it quite comfy, more a rival for the Jaguar XK than a Honda Fireblade. So the notion of beefing up the suspension and adding a roof to create a stiff road-going racer — yes, that sounds grand.

Hmmm. The first problem is that its back end appears to have been styled by someone who wasn’t concentrating. The old Z3 M coupé was deliberately ugly, like the bastard son of Gérard Depardieu and a bread van, whereas this new one’s just plain, like a supermarket checkout girl.

The second, bigger problem is one of expectation. It’s a long-nosed, short-tailed, two seater in the mould of, say, the old Austin Healey. You know it’s been stiffened up and you know it has the engine from an M3. You can see the fat tyres and the four exhaust pipes, and as you sit there gripping the almost absurdly thick rimmed steering wheel, you are expecting greatness.

And it doesn’t come. Drive it normally, on reasonably smooth roads, and it feels like a normal Z4 M, only with a hard roof and an ugly backside. And you can’t see why you might want to spend nearly £42,000 on such a thing.

Then you find the sort of twisting, bumpy back road that the Ramblers’ Association would like to see governed with a 3mph speed limit and you think: “Yes. Here we go.”

But it won’t. Oh sure, the engine’s a masterpiece but the traction control light flickers constantly, suggesting that the suspension is so stiff the rear wheels are actually airborne half the time. So it lurches and pitches and is generally pretty horrid. Couple this to brakes that are too sharp, a clutch that requires practice and a steering system that’s been toughened up — but not enough — and you’re left with something rather underwhelming.

It’s probably the first disappointing BMW M car I’ve ever driven.

If you want this sort of car, the Porsche Gayman is an obvious rival. It goes harder but is deeply embarrassing to be seen in. So what I’d do is buy the soft-top Z4 M instead. Or if you want something really fun for the weekend, buy a digger.

 

[Swami]

In Clarkson's defence, he went to USA on his Motorworld documentary and iirc showed some affinity for Detroit and its motor history. As another poster has pointed out he loved the GT40 and bought one of the new ones for himself. He is biased, but is not afraid to slate English cars (the MG SV supercar springs to mind, where he confessed his hate of all MGs!)

Whether this gives him any right to jab our cousins across the pond or not is not for me to say, but in my opinion the jokes are just that and are a facade to at least *some* underlying respect for the USA.

As for the show, i think it would be hard to keep the show interesting if all it did was review mundane cars (and i'd argue there aren't enough interesting cars to sustain a series) and i find i enjoy the pan-continental races / pole expeditions etc just as much as the supercar reviews, whether staged or not!

On Tesla, as they were built with Lotus development i'd argue he'd want to like it, Tesla would dispute the faults wouldn't they? They'd be mad not to...

 

[bmwmike]

oh hes not afraid to say bad thing about british cars at all. He's made fun of just about all of them and is actually blamed for the demise of Rover!