motor

levensnevel · 12-22-2003, 02:03 AM

Been watching TopGear TV where- and whenever I can since Tiff and VBH joined. And it was only until yesterday's episode that it occured to me that sofar they never ever showed a name of a cardealer in their 'show'.
This nice 'independant' image was blown to pieces with their coverage of the Merc 280 SL as more than once the name of the company which supplied Jazza's testride was shown prominently
Am I too sensative or has TG TV gone commercial in a covert fashion

possessed_beaver · 12-22-2003, 03:12 AM

personaly i find top gear, is very comercial. or maybee "cash for comments"
the way jeremy favors certian cars, despite all the flaws they may have,
ie: austan martian.

Imre · 12-22-2003, 04:37 AM

I haven`t seen the sl 280 vid yet but i agree with you levensnevel.TG is independent show..Jeremy has praised one car maker in one show and next time he might be totally unsatisfied with the same manufactures product.He adores carrera gt but he doesn`t like cayenne because it`s so ugly.

geekdiggy · 12-22-2003, 04:58 AM

jc's favortism or lack thereof varies from car to car, unless there's humor involved (like last week when he mentioned ford a whole bunch). tg is still way independent and bar none the best motoring show ever

AlienDB7 · 12-22-2003, 05:03 AM

Not to mention Ford. Jeremy loves the RS cars but he hated the focus RS for the torque steer. On the other hand, he loves the new ford GT so much, he even ordered one himself. He's just another car guy, like most of us, he has his own preference. BBC doesn't need to rely on tv ads to survive, so it's probably a bit more independent than others. Just compare top gear to an american car show, you'll see a huge difference in the objectivity of the reviews

possessed_beaver · 12-22-2003, 08:00 AM

yeh u got a poing with the american show's, they are very biast to american fwd pieces of shit!

geekdiggy · 12-22-2003, 08:44 AM

let's not go there beav

stradale · 12-22-2003, 08:45 AM

Top Gear totally independant IMO. Their reviews have always shown that.

About yesterday's episode: I think they only did that because it fitted the item so perfectly. In a part of London with apparently an awful traffic situation and horrible cars there's a classic car dealer. They chose it for the contrast it provides I think. Not only JC, but lots of other motorists who are stuck there every day in a car they don't particularly like probably daydream about the classic cars they see there. Which makes the situation they're in even worse. The question TG wanted to ask basically was: should that remain a daydream or can you really own one as a daily driver? I don't remember the name of the dealer and it were just a couple of very brief shots, so I don't think there was any deal. If there was, the dealer got a lousy deal.

godspeed06 · 12-22-2003, 10:34 AM

yeh u got a poing with the american show's, they are very biast to american fwd pieces of shit!

no, they are extremely biased towards japanese cars. they like american trucks, which they have to, and the like the corvette, which they have to, but all other cars they bash. they bash the interior and reliability and smoothness. everything. even when they do their one year checkup, they had a japanese four door that had like three major things wrong with it and they just brushed them off. then in the next issue some guy wrote in a letter about how if that car was american they would have torn it a new asshole. the editors replied by saying that the problems with the car they got were very unusual. talk about not being biased. they take one car to test for the entire year objectively, and at the end they make the whole thing void, by not even judging it, they just say that the others cars wouldnt break down like the one they had. its the most absurd thing i've ever heard. if the car they are testing breaks down, then they need to write about the piece of shit breaking down, they can't write about how this was a fluke. no, believe me, they are definitely biased towards japanese cars.

this was car and driver by the way...

possessed_beaver · 12-22-2003, 01:23 PM

hahaha ok then, i knew i was at risk of opening pandora's box.
i will just put it this way, i don't watch car and driver, because thoes guys running the show are just tools (IMO)

and the quality of american cars is well (also imo) crap, but hey thats my opinion, and fortunatley im not in contact with many american cars.
but what would u rather, a ford fwd family sedan, or a audi sedan?
anyway...

mary christmas

godspeed06 · 12-22-2003, 01:54 PM

you're right car and driver blows... not all american cars are crap though... cadillac is really coming around - XLR, CTS (-V), SRX. american trucks are the best trucks you can buy. so we're not completely crap. but as far as compacts and hatchbacks go, other countries are certainly better.

ford fwd family sedan, or a audi sedan

i wouldn't consider that a fair price comparison, but i mean i'd obviously get the audi.

by the way, the new GTO shares the interior from the Holden Monaro i believe, so you might be coming into more contact with american cars if GM keeps stealing Holden's stuff

since you live in australia, do you still get all the japanese and european cars they don't import into the us?