Top Gear 2015

Nearly all the old cars there are rusty POS.

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Jerry wrote: I'm also of the Netflix-only crowd. And won't pay $60-100 a month for the 3 channels I might actually like. I was coping until Netflix removed all but 4 seasons from the instant stream. If I could buy channels ala carte I would totally be in. Even $5 each would be worth it. (I'd only spend $25 or so)

This is a step in that direction: https://www.sling.com/

Is there an actual list of channels they offer? All I could see was mention of 7-8 top channels "and more" (Don't care about sports or family). I want BBC America, some of the other car-related that I know exist but I've been cable free for so long, maybe Comedy Central and SyFy, ...

Just watched the new episode tonight. I'm really surprised to hear that the Silverado broke a driveshaft, but at the same time I'm not surprised, they really put those trucks through some deep snow with tire chains.

I'm guessing it was a front CV joint. You could see May's arms shaking as wheel moved around, front wheels must have been bouncing and digging for traction.

Suprised the Ford didn't overheat running that high of a load and RPM at low speeds even with the fans running. Then again they had lots of cold air to work with !

Is Gillian Anderson getting younger? Man, I'll have what she's having. And that rescue mission was a pretty entertaining bit. I've driven with chains, they'll definitely shake you around.

Had to rewatch the LFA segment tonight with the volume turned up.

Keith Tanner wrote: Is Gillian Anderson getting younger? Man, I'll have what she's having. And that rescue mission was a pretty entertaining bit. I've driven with chains, they'll definitely shake you around. Had to rewatch the LFA segment tonight with the volume turned up.

She has aged very well. I never knew she was British.

JFX001 wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Is Gillian Anderson getting younger? Man, I'll have what she's having. And that rescue mission was a pretty entertaining bit. I've driven with chains, they'll definitely shake you around. Had to rewatch the LFA segment tonight with the volume turned up.

She has aged very well. I never knew she was British.

Same here. I thought she was hot in the X-Files. She's still hot.

Very exciting to watch, as this episode is through many of my old stomping grounds. They even had breakfast at my favourite restaurant in Hope BC!

I was a little bit surprised that the RC-F was that bad. Pretty sad when they don't even care about it enough to do a power lap and most of the review is a ode to a car no longer made.

Gillian looked great. I didn't know she was such a sports car girl.

The ND miata is on next week.

So am I the only one who finds it odd they had the super modified truck (raptor) and a non modified 2500 diesel (chevy) doing the same job? I mean no knock against GM but it seemed a bit of an unfair fight.

Then again they are British so they have no earthly idea about "'murican truck life"

JtspellS wrote: So am I the only one who finds it odd they had the super modified truck (raptor) and a non modified 2500 diesel (chevy) doing the same job? I mean no knock against GM but it seemed a bit of an unfair fight. Then again they are British so they have no earthly idea about "'murican truck life"

I'm not- the trucks matched the character that each of them portray on the show.

I was rather stunned how much they liked them- especially considering the long time they drove them on normal roads.

I was concerned the Chevy would sink like a rock with narrow tires in the deep snow, but it did pretty good for a stock truck. The chains helped a ton of course.

I finally managed a new episode since I was visiting a friend last night. First episode past season 19 in a year...

I can't remember the last time I saw Anderson. I was disappointed with the blonde look, but yes she still has it.

Hell, if anything GA looks better than before!

I, too, enjoyed how much they loved the trucks. However, one of the things they liked about them is how cheap they are. I'd hate to point out how much the two they were driving cost, especially the Velociraptor....

Tom_Spangler wrote: However, one of the things they liked about them is how cheap they are. I'd hate to point out how much the two they were driving cost, especially the Velociraptor....

As they mentioned, the trucks are exempt from the gas guzzler tax. Most people have no idea how much more expensive American cars are in the UK--in the US, the base price for the Corvette is $55,000 (as listed at Chevy's US website). But Chevy's UK website lists the same car's base price as £65,510.00. At current exchange, that's $100,734.73.

Not just American cars, all cars are pretty expensive in the UK.

As someone who came to American pickups late in life, they are something special. They're tools, honed from years of experience and competition. They're really, really good at doing what they're designed to do with lots of little refinements that make it easier to do what you need to do. If you've been living with them all your life, all you see is the little problems with each version or to concentrate on how much you can drive up the price with options. But man, they're good. Toyota hasn't quite got it yet, they're still building big cars instead of trucks.

The Velociraptor was used because 1) Hennessey has enough clout to get one on the show and 2) it was shouty. The Silverado was the right tool for the job and well chosen. I was impressed with how well they did in that snow.

As for Gillian - apparently she is actually a natural blonde.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

What I thought was crazy was that they said the Chevy broke a drive shaft. I'm curious as to how. I wish they had elaborated on it a bit more. I'm a GM guy and it's hard to hear something like that, especially with a brand new HD truck, which should have way more beefier components than the standard trucks. I feel like it was because of the chains and thrashing on them, in what looked like some deep snow.

I wasn't surprised that Jeremy took the tire off the bead with the Velociraptor.

I really want to know what the film crew was in, it had to be a Snowcat or something.

Gearheadotaku wrote: I was concerned the Chevy would sink like a rock with narrow tires in the deep snow, but it did pretty good for a stock truck. The chains helped a ton of course.

I thought about that, but sometimes tall skinny tires fare better in deep snow than big fat tires. I noticed though that the Chevy had more aggressive mud-terrain style tires on it than what comes stock.

Gillian is one woman who is getting better looking as she ages.

On the cost of vehicles. Cars are massively more expensive over there than here, but not as bad as it first seems. I keep pointing it out, but part of the reason is TAX. Over here there VAT (Value Added Tax) of 20% is baked into the sticker price of the car/truck. But over here you need to add your State's sales tax which is some areas is 0%, here in Michigan it's 6% and in some States as high as 8.5%. So if you go to buy a $20K truck here in Michigan it will cost you $21,200 by the time you write the check. If you go to buy a £20K car in the UK, you will write a check for £20K.

That is also why used cars appear to have much higher depreciation over there. You only pay the VAT on new cars, not used like over here. So in reality your £20K was ‘only’ a £16,667 car plus your added 20% of £3,333 for a total of £20K. So when your new car loses 40% of its value over 3 years and you go to sell it, it’s worth £10,000 which looks like 50% depreciation compared to the original price.

But cars are more expensive over there to begin with.

The Focus ST starts at $24,370 over here before Sales Tax. In the UK the base price for the comparable gas Focus ST (You can get diesel and Wagon versions of the ST over there) £22,195 which appears to be $34,121 or 40% higher than over here . Take off the 20% VAT and it’s really ‘only’ £18,496 or $28,435 which is 17% higher than here. Still a lot higher, but not as bad as it at first seems or Top Gear like to report for the shock factor.

If you were to import a car to the UK, you would pay for the car. Pay a £2K+ to transport it, pay another £2K+ to convert it, get it inspected via SVA (Single Vehicle Type Approval, the same as a kit car over there). Then you can pay your 20% VAT on top of the whole lot and suddenly it doesn’t seem so cheap.

It was a great episode. A lot of the 'drama' lately has looked a little too scripted (as we've all dragged on about), but Richard looked legitimately PISSED to be stuck up there so long.

bigev007 wrote: It was a great episode. A lot of the 'drama' lately has looked a little too scripted (as we've all dragged on about), but Richard looked legitimately PISSED to be stuck up there so long.

he also looked legitimately pissed when he got to see what they were up to when they were supposed to be on their way up to rescue him.. i saw genuine hatred in some of those shots in the studio..

He knew exactly what happened before the show. There was a one hour special that aired before the season where the three presenters were interviewed panel style. They showed clips from that film and talked about editing the series. He may have been genuinely passed as it was happening, but it was all acting come showtime.

So there is an episode on tonight that I have never seen. It's a special with just Clarkson and Hammond. It's called "The Perfect Road Trip: Italy".

They are playing it because the current Season has been cancelled, but it must be one that was a post season special or something that hasn't been aired on BBCA.

It was released on DVD last fall (I think). They generally do one of those "specials" between each regular series of the show. Here's a list of them: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=season&seriesid=74608&seasonid=22070&lid=7